Man I used to play the shit out of ravenloft and ravenloft 2 for dos. Anyone got any games like that? I'd like to play them.
If you're talking about dungeon master clones or similar ones, it' pretty much a dead genre. Legend of Grimrock is the only modern equivalent I can think of. If you're okay with diving into the realm of old obscure DOS/Amiga games, there are a ton of them though.
One of my favourite DOS games in that regard is Mean Streets, the first Tex Murphy game. It's part flight simulator, really. You MUST take notes of names of people, locations and their coordinates, things to ask for and who stand in what relation to other people. So while you're letting the autopilot fly you to your next place, you'll likely scribble some notes down about things you've learned and what new clues could tell you.
I guess that kind DIY stuff is pretty rare these days but it seems at least some indie games are trying to retain classic mystery/puzzle solving.
Maybe we need a genre name, like textbookadventure-like or something to differentiate them from adventure games with classic bullshit ridiculous impossible puzzles.
I think cat girls have never been the thing in JRPGs. Female sidekicks are generally generic kawaii human without any malmutation. (I brought up SMT as an example of cat girl a few pages back but it's actually a male dog (cerberus), yes I lied. Kinda.)
I guess that kind DIY stuff is pretty rare these days but it seems at least some indie games are trying to retain classic mystery/puzzle solving.
Maybe we need a genre name, like textbookadventure-like or something to differentiate them from adventure games with classic bullshit ridiculous impossible puzzles.
It's really a funky game. The latter Tex Murphy games are more proper point and click adventures. But Mean Streets was made to be a flight simulator. They quickly found out that just wouldn't cut it because there were way better ones out there at the time. So they crammed that adventure stuff in there.
It just feels so super appropriate. You're flying around in your Blade Runner car but you're some shlubby noir detective and you're sitting in front of your computer scribbling shit on some notepad because the game doesn't keep track of anything. All you're given is a list of things to ask for in the manual but you've got no clue why so finding that out is also part of the outside of the game experience.
I really liked that and wish more games did something like it, even though it was mostly just by accident in Mean Streets.
Oh and if somebody here ever wants to give it a try, play it on easy. All it does is make the "run and gun" segment much less tedious which you'll have to do several times and is just no fun. Everything else is the same.
SpoilerShow
Cannons bray, the mighty quake!
Centuries of blood becomes erased!
I am the white ghost!
Final party is looking pretty lit in Star Ocean: First Departure of the Catgirls.
Got Roddick and Ashlay to kill the shit out of everything with swords. Angel of choice Ioshua or Erys can sit back and nuke everything while also being able to heal the entire party. Fourth character is pretty much whoever I want. Been using catgirl but I could swap to a better character. If I put two casters in the party, the game devolves to FF8 levels of watching magic casting cutscenes.
I do really wish this psp remake had used the original sprite art:
The sprite work for star ocean 1 was second to none. I'll always prefer good 2d art to any attempt to integrate early 3d. Star Ocean 2 used a mix of pre-rendered, early 3 and some 2d sprites which I don't think looked nearly as good.
Can I just make clear that early 3D shit looked just as fucking atrocious back then? I often hear stuff like "it has aged poorly", which I'd be fine with if we're talking controls. But early 3D didn't look any more appealing at any point in time. I remember seeing Ocarina of Time and thinking it looked like straight up garbage. I thought that my Amiga back then had far superior-looking games.
SpoilerShow
Cannons bray, the mighty quake!
Centuries of blood becomes erased!
I am the white ghost!
That's a good point. Games like mario world, chrono trigger and illusion of gaia looked far better than final fantasy 7.
There were a few early 3d games that looked good though. Spyro 2 and 3 have a nice art style that works for them. F-Zero X used very simple models which looked decent, and it had hand-drawn portraits for the characters. Vagrant Story looked "bad" but had a strong sense of atmosphere and surprisingly detailed modeling for a ps1 game.
It's low-res jaggy textures that ruined everything imo. Early 3D games with simple textures aged relatively well, they would easily pass as modern indie/mobile games.
I would take this over any 2D racing game pseudo 3d graphics. This art style (ore technical limitation) doesn't work well with rounded objects though.
It's low-res jaggy textures that ruined everything imo. Early 3D games with simple textures aged relatively well, they would easily pass as modern indie/mobile games.
I would take this over any 2D racing game pseudo 3d graphics. This art style (ore technical limitation) doesn't work well with rounded objects though.
Case in point, not only does this game look pretty solid for ps1 era, it's in a genre that couldn't exist without 3d.
How well an early 3D title has aged visually probably boils down to how far it is on the cel-shaded spectrum, or really any style that goes for simplified textures instead of trying to look "realistic".
Autism attracts more autism. Sooner or later, an internet nobody will attract the exact kind of fans - and detractors - he deserves.
-Yours Truly
I wasn't and am not strictly against 3D games, of course. There are obvious benefits in terms of using those additional dimensions. I am fully against much of the shit that it brought with it, like 3d-rendered 2D platformers. It's ugly and works much better with traditional sprites.
SpoilerShow
Cannons bray, the mighty quake!
Centuries of blood becomes erased!
I am the white ghost!