ShreddieMercury

19 hours ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

I did.

I haven't played the remake, but I hated the controls in the original game when it was released, and caused me to stop playing the game fairly early on.

I understand that my opinion is not universal, but I also think there is now a pretty broad consensus in that the controls were bad.

In terms of being one of the best games of all time -- if you're saying it's one of the top 2-300 games -- sure.  If you're saying it is top 10 or 20 -- I don't think its close.

If the controls were your main issue, I would encourage you to try the remake, because they've updated it to play like modern games but it still retains the same kind of encounter design and mechanics that made the original so beloved.  If RE is not your thing then go ahead and skip it, but the controls shouldn't give you any issues at this point.

I would also absolutely put it in the top 10 games ever made.  Everything is subjective, but I think you can easily make the argument that it's up there given the game's widespread influence in the industry.

1 minute ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

I think there are a lot of people who think the controls of the original RE4 really held it back from being a "great" game.

I'm sure there are, but it's an opinion that only seems popular in retrospect now that control schemes are almost completely homogeneous.  And that opinion doesn't seem to have affected the game's reputation.  The controls of RE4 are the game, because the core mechanics are all balanced around them.  More restricted movement increases the importance of positioning and the tension involved in the encounters.  I think the remake did an exceptional job of still retaining the risk/reward aspect of the first game's limited movement by making you wait for critical hits (brought over from RE2 Remake), while also changing the enemy behavior to account for your increased mobility and the knife parry.

It's fine to not like it, but I think people forget that tons of games used to have unique control schemes, and these differences allowed for unique approaches to game design.  If you don't like the controls of the original, the remake updates them to be in line with what all games use now, so you can enjoy it either way if you're inclined.

2 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

I always thought the ranking systems in the RE games were to add replayability and to challenge your self on replays. Never appealed to me but I got it.

I agree and I think that's the point of all ranking/scoring systems, I just find it bizarre that RE's ranking is based almost single-handedly on speed, when I don't think that being fast is the most fun way to play the games.  Rewarding the player by tracking accuracy, hits taken, healing items used, etc. I would think makes more sense, because that's what playing "well" feels like.  I don't understand the structure they have in place that rewards the player for actively ignoring the core gameplay.

2 hours ago, best3444 said:

I never pay attention to any ranking or anything in this realm. I play games how I see fit. That being said, RE4 is not as good as people say it is. I beat it twice in the last year to confirm this. 

You played a game you don't like twice through to completion?  Taste and enjoyment being completely subjective, RE4 is widely recognized as one of the best and most influential games of all time, and I would say the remake is nearly as good as the original. 

Totally respect your opinion, but it's one of my favorite games in the last 5-10 years.  I find it to be mechanically nearly perfect.  The game design is still shockingly sophisticated today, which is crazy to say for a remake of a nearly 20 year old game.

I can definitely understand with the early games that trying to optimize and speed through could extend the life of the game given that they were short and more about the puzzles than the moment to moment gameplay.  But playing the more recent games, I just enjoy the atmosphere, gameplay and exploration so much that I haven't been compelled to try and speed through them, even when replaying them several times over.

I recently played through RE Village again (fun!) and started RE4 remake again (the best), and for the umpteenth time I'm still confused about why it ranks the player based on speed.  I've always ignored the rankings, but paying more attention now, I just don't understand how it would be fun to speed through these games?  My view would be that the gameplay that feels the best should be what scores highest, and that's how rankings generally work in something like a character action game.  But to achieve high ranks in the RE games, you kind of have to just not play the game at all, and instead commit everything to memory and just run through.  I've never understood the appeal of speedrunning generally, but in these games especially it seems bizarre given how exceptional the gameplay actually is.

Do you all play the RE games like this?

If the consensus is "flawed but interesting", I'll for sure bite.  Like Robocop last year.

Wow I just found out about this, doesn't seem to be much coverage.  AA?  Jazz soundtrack?  Cosmic survival horror??  What I've read doesn't inspire much confidence, but my interest is piqued all the same.

Awesome.  The development costs required to push these specs will surely continue to be sustainable.

21 hours ago, stepee said:

This came out and it’s a very well done package and it’s super super cool they are doing these and I hope they keep it up.

 

That said, I do want to express a little disappointment that besides a new remake of Gridrunner based off the original code - the collection cuts off at 1994 with Tempest 2000. 
 

For the most part, I suppose these older games are more important to have from a preservation standpoint especially since they adapt some pretty obscure controllers to play normally on gamepad here. And I get that in the British personal computer scene he was a legend based off of the output presented here. But for me, and I have a feeling a lot of people, it’s actually in 1994 when his games really started to become timeless classics that aren’t held back by the hardware he was working with. Tempest 2000 kind of established the look going forward as well as the quality, so it’s sad to see it end there. And this style is sort of what I wanted specifically to play on the deck oled.

 

I ended up fixing this by getting Akka Arrh, Polybius, Space Girrafe, Gridrunner Revolution, Tempest 4000, Moose Life, and Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 on Steam. This ended up pushing the price to about a full priced game to get what I wanted here. But more than the price, I would have been happier to pay a full price game that included these all in the same launcher which is what I was hoping for. And still also it’s missing some more lost to time stuff like Tempest 3000 would have been great to have. 

 

But it’s still about 50 games (and some of the older non Tempest 2000 ones are also fun!) for a bit under $70, and three of the games are VR, and of course the interactive documentary so it’s not a bad deal going this route. 
 

Also fyi Tempest 4000 is one of Amazon’s free games of the month. 

Excellent summary of what's great and simultaneously disappointing about this.  Aside from 2-3 titles in this collection, the games do not hold up.  Still, as somebody who wasn't around for this era, and knows very little about the 80's UK computer industry in general, it's fascinating. 

The Jeff Minter games from the late 90's - today are evergreen, and are essentially updates/reworkings of his earliest ideas.  If anything, this collection does confirm to me that he's one of very, very few actual artists working in video games.  Meaning, his games are ultimately a form of pure artistic self-expression that were miraculously able to find an audience.

I will say, I think these Digital Eclipse people are a little high on their own supply.  I don't really understand what they mean by "interactive documentary", because this is literally a museum exhibit.  It's definitely a cool niche that they're carving out, but I think "museum" is a much better term than "documentary".  What's most disappointing about this is how limited it is.  It feels like the first part of a trilogy, but there's absolutely no way that such a niche figure is getting another treatment as handsome as this one in the near future as the industry continues to collapse.

Hold on, a fun looking sports game in 2024?  What's the catch?  Are backhands paywalled or something?

If you like racing games in any way, I can't recommend New Star GP enough.  The full version is out now, and it's probably the most fun racer I've played this generation.

On 2/26/2024 at 5:47 PM, DPCyric said:

I'm definitely getting this! Been a fan of Minter for a long time now (and a member of his forums as well). Easily one of my favorite developers. 

What's your favorite Jeff Minter game?  I was made aware of him when Space Giraffe came out, and since have played Tempest 4000 and Akka Arrh.  But I'm curious what people who really like his stuff gravitate toward the most.

10 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

Also interesting that you didn’t address any of the posts in response to your silliness. 

It's curious indeed.  I don't really have much else to say!  Yuzu only seems useful for people wanting to play commercially available Nintendo games at higher resolutions on different platforms, or pirates.  It's beyond me that there is somehow surprise or consternation that Nintendo is going after Yuzu's highly profitable operation, which at this stage doesn't seem to have any kind of virtuous aim like digital preservation, consumer protection, etc.  People are free to disagree.

How can big bad Nintendo keep getting away with all of the bullying?

The first episode of this was stunning and disturbing.  Amazing show.

Games have always been able to run better and look better on PC.  Again, just because you don't like Nintendo's hardware, or think it should be more powerful, does not entitle you to play their games on different hardware.  People are talking about this issue as if we have some sort of right to access and play any and all games however we choose, which is wild. 

While the legality of emulating a video game that you own is already settled, something much more gray like Yuzu, which makes money emulating commercially available software and is directly enabling piracy for the vast majority of users, is not nearly as clear cut.

Video game graphics in particular are at the point of diminishing marginal returns.  More and more resources will need to be poured into them to achieve at best minimal improvement.  Hopefully this tipping point leads to shorter games that utilize unique art styles and favor replayability and engaging mechanics.  AA basically.

48 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

I take issue because I’m a fan.

 

Let’s put this another way: If they doubled or tripled the price of their online subscriptions overnight, would you say it’s not their responsibility to make it affordable?

A company decides where to price their product, and you get to decide whether that cost is worth it to you.  Nobody forces you to buy anything.  Nintendo doesn't have any sort of "responsibility" just because you don't like it.

Yeah, I don't really understand emulating games that are still commercially available.  I'm so thankful to be able to emulate games that are no longer playable or purchasable on any service, but having an emulator for a current generation system where surely the majority of all uses are purely for piracy seems strange.  Nobody is entitled to Nintendo games on PC, it's such a weird discussion.

Bumping this because New Star GP hits 1.0 and comes to consoles next week.  I've been playing it in early access, and it's a phenomenal game top to bottom.  It has, no exaggeration, the most fun and well designed campaign in any racing game I think I've played. 

The racing itself is fantastic, reminiscent of Virtua Racing but with dynamic and aggressive AI, boosting, and slipstreaming opponents.  On top of that are very light management mechanics that add a ton of complexity to the game without making it overbearing.  You have to change tires and fuel, and adjust your strategy depending on the length/complexity of the track and weather.  The campaign is split into decades spanning the 1980's to 2020's, and each decade has a separate set of opponents and races.  Off the track you have to manage your relationships with your team, upgrade your car, and select different perks that affect how you play the game.  Again, these elements are extremely well thought-out and do not bog the player down at any point from my experience.  The design is air-tight, and everything is in service of making the game fun.

Easily the best early access game I've supported, and one of this generation's best arcade racers.

New Star GP on Steam

STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM

---

New Star GP is a fast and exciting arcade motorsport game with crisp retro visuals. Play career mode and work your way through decades of racing while upgrading your car and your support team... or chase high scores in championship mode on your own or in split-screen with up to three friends!

It's incredible to be getting this.  Jeff Minter is a legend.

It has the best shooting mechanics and is the best feeling of the three games, but it's stripped down in terms of the immersive-sim-lite elements that Bioshock and Bioshock 2 favored.  It's a much more linear shooter.  This is not a bad thing, it's just a different approach that was adopted based on the game's arduous and overambitious development.  The game's politics are definitely flawed but I really didn't think it was nearly as egregious as more modern criticism would have you believe. 

3 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I don't think you can play it wrong. It may just not be for you. It's nice it's on gamepass!

To be fair, the list of things that are for me is extremely slim at this point.  Mostly these are me problems

Returnal had the same problem, where excellent gameplay runs up against needlessly long "cycles" or "runs" that become repetitive because the game cannot sustain itself for the amount of time it asks from the player.  It's a bummer to hear that about this game too since it seems like such a promising concept.