/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.6252614]

Has a video game ever left a profound emotional impression on you? To the point that it you have cherished memories of it? Or even to the point that you could say it impacted or changed you or your life?

[Anonymous No.6252649]

Too many to count, most are sad and bittersweet.
Let's quote Miyazaki and agree gaming was ultimately a horrible disappointment.

[Anonymous No.6252657]

>>6252614
The original Tomb Raider was an unforgettable, powerful experience. Lara Croft felt like a real person to me, and I felt actual sympathy for her because of that whole plane crashed and stranded in the Himalayas for 2 weeks in a fight for survival-backstory that ended up changing her life. Mind you, it was the beginning of the era, where games were turning more cinematic, and western game devs actually started to give a shit about their characters feeling more like actual characters in a story, whereas before it had almost exclusively been the domain of the japanese. And at the tender age of 16 in 1997, I was just the right age to experience it all. Great times, bro.

[Anonymous No.6252665]

>Game feels like it was made in a different time almost a different universe
>It ends
>Want more but know this shit ass industry can't put anything worth a damn out anymore

Also something about watching these people who have never played video games before get together and play Mario music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffwVKDP8nzQ

[Anonymous No.6252673]

>>6252665
Tom Brier survived a car crash and is not in piano-playing condition anymore. This is from the Discord of the friend of his that uploaded the videos of him playing the piano back in the day.

[Anonymous No.6252675]

No because I read books and watch movies, go to art galleries and museums.
Video games are pointless timewasters that have very little artistic merit. They're fun for a little while but people who believe them in any way deep or profound are low IQ dimwits who lack real emotional and life experiences.

[Anonymous No.6252686]

what's that one on the lower left from?

[Anonymous No.6252689]

>>6252673
Yeah I saw that in one of the comments of another video of his. The worlds fucked.

[Anonymous No.6252692]

>>6252675
Too be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand books, movies, art galleries and the museum.

[Anonymous No.6252697]

The night before last I listened to the orchestra version of Fisherman's Horizon from Final Fantasy VIII and bawled my eyes out.

I'm sick and use old anime ass videogsmes to hang in there. My neighbours dogs have kept me awake foe the last 2 months they dont give a shit that I'm literlaly dying because OH NO THE PUPPERINOS. I've been in pain for the past 2 years and it's only getting worse. Shit like this is my only escape. I really loved Chrono Cross a few months ago and Final Fantasy X before that and dumb ass anime bullshit like Kingdom Hearts.

[Anonymous No.6252698]

>>6252697
What's wrong with you, fren?

[Anonymous No.6252708]

This bruh. Played this stuff alone in my dark room. What a trip it was.

[Anonymous No.6252721]

>>6252697
One of my favorite tracks from the game. Hang in there brotha.

[Anonymous No.6252735]

>>6252614
>Radiant Silvergun
Holy shit I remember playing this and expecting a good shmup, no one told me there would be kino

[Anonymous No.6252736]

>>6252614
Yes, many games have over the years.

[Anonymous No.6252880]

Actually people only play games as a replacement of movies, so imagine.

[Anonymous No.6252918]

>>6252614
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time greatly expanded what games I'd consider playing from that point on. Until Super Smash Bros. taught me what the series was really about, I'd written it off as a girly, Barbie-like game just because of the title. It was basically my biggest "don't judge a book by its cover" experience and made me look more into the details and merits of any game I heard about.

For cherished memories, Yoshi's Island is basically the game that goes best with happy, carefree days of childhood, when everything was old enough to be remembered well but young enough to have tremendous brightness and freshness of spirit. It's a game of wholesome, "all is right with the world" fun, and it's a really good game too that can even provide a good challenge if you go for 100% completion.

I have fond memories of a lot of niche N64 games. To name one, I enjoy Mace: The Dark Age, and found its story, told in the manual, through the various character bios and endings, and so on to be really engaging. The game play was more based on rule of cool than depth, but I overall enjoyed the game a lot, and the various hidden characters, stages, and features made it a game that always had a lot of stylistic charm to it. On the more chipper side, Glover is another game I love from childhood, as well as the Chameleon Twist games, and ClayFighter was a venture into the bizarre. Getting Sculptor's Cut from Blockbuster felt like winning a Golden Ticket. There's more I could say, but I don't want this to be too long. To wrap it up, Killer Instinct was even more vivid than Mace, and its music was amazing, and I loved the characters, dialogue, and adventures of Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie.

[Anonymous No.6252919]

FFIX

[Anonymous No.6252947]

>>6252675
^^^ this

for maximum cultural absorption, one must aim for the most powerful mediums to retain proper data and filter out insufficient data which video games are filled with. this is how one becomes a higher human and not a plebeian creature

when forced to listen to a terrible soundtrack in a film, i simply replace it with the highest quality classical music to ensure i walk away with as much merit as possible. likewise for novels: i immediately tear off poor cover art to spare my eyes from wasting brain cells on retaining its image so i can fully focus on the literary merit within the pages

[Anonymous No.6252962]

>has art ever affected you
Yes you retard

[Anonymous No.6252973]

>>6252735
Is there any possibility to play the original Saturn version in english?

[Anonymous No.6253012]

MGS 1 and 2, FF6, Silent Hill 2.

[Anonymous No.6253123]

I would often have strong suicidal thoughts in grade school. I cried my little eyes out at this scene.

[Anonymous No.6253132]

Yes you stopped Banglar BUT AT WHAT COST

[Anonymous No.6253163]

[Anonymous No.6253325]

>>6252880
As opposed to playing competitive games as replacement for real life achievements, we're all equally pathetic here.

[Anonymous No.6253387]

>>6252675
It goes without saying that there's definitely more artistic merit to be found in reading, cinema, and museums than video games. Still, it seems subjective to say as a whole video games are pointless timewasters relative to other mediums. I can spend the same amount of time reading, going to galleries and watching academically lauded film, but the only tangible difference in how my time spent doing so is less "pointlessly wasted" is that I have approval from a different crowd that assigns a higher value to those things. So for one that strikes me as elitism.

That being said I of course agree that the vast majority of games have little to no artistic merit. But we have to distinguish between people who think all or nearly all games have artistic merit, usually assigning it to ones that obviously don't, and the few that do. These games are a minority but since the fourth generation and every generation following there have been at least a few games that at least debatably fall into this category. Put another way since the days of the Super Nintendo, games on that platform and the PC have sometimes aimed from the start to be aesthetically beautiful or emotionally impactful. There are games that are valid to consider deep and profound, just few and far between.

That people think that video games aren't an artistic medium with potential just boggles my mind though. It's audio-visual, and can create dense, realized two-dimensional or three-dimensional worlds, and it's interactive? Has that potential largely been untapped and are most games that even tell a story do so merely to entertain? Of course. But to say that this interactive medium has no potential is a ludicrous idea to me.

>Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong Nou, Grim Fandango, Chrono Trigger, Silent Hill

[Anonymous No.6253397]

>>6252686
Final Fantasy VIII. It's the very beginning of the second disc, the third Laguna sequence, when Kiros and Laguna are in Winhill.

The other games are, clockwise, Radiant Silvergun, Final Fantasy VII, and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

>>6252973
The only thing that's in Japanese are the two opening and closing cutscenes, and in between stages dialogue. The Xbox 360 version subtitles all of these. Play through that once or look up a video of it. Honestly, just pause your emulator or Sega Saturn and look at the Youtube video and go back to see what they say. The stage dialogue only lasts a matter of seconds. You can just play through the Sega Saturn version and know what they're saying that way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmbtRW0noRw

[Anonymous No.6253505]

>>6252697
Good taste, FFVIII has one of my favourite soundtracks of all time. I don't know why the songs always make me want to cry though.

[Anonymous No.6253540]

>>6253387
>More autistic merit in cinema
Fucking kek

[Anonymous No.6253826]

Ocarina of Time is painfully bittersweet but I didn't play that until I was an older teen. From my childhood I think Shining Force had the most impact on me, particularly whenever it became obvious that the people of runefaust weren't bad, but you still had to fight and kill them anyway.
all the other examples I can think of are not /vr/

>>6253387
>cinema
movies are, as a whole, dumber and with less artistic merit than video games
The film industry brute forced itself into being considered art, by the way, while the novel took centuries to be considered an artform on par with poetry or sculpture.

[Anonymous No.6253831]

>>6252708
This more so than anything. Not retro but yeah. Astounding game. I get chills just hearing the soundtrack.

[Anonymous No.6253836]

>>6253826
Even then most poems and novels are generic trash. An extremely small percentage (0.00000001%) could be considered artistic, which is a lot easier to do for writing considering it doesn't need a team of people funded by share holders to create.

[Anonymous No.6254098]

>>6252675
What are you doing here then? Serious question

[Anonymous No.6254718]

Does this include forming an attachment to a waifu?

Because for some reason I really, really fell in love with Luna from Knights of Xentar. As in I felt physical pain in my chest when the game ended and I realized my adventures with her were done.

And then a few years later, Morgan Le Flay from Tales of Monkey Island.

[Anonymous No.6254729]

>>6253505
This track always kills me. God fucking dammit, Laguna. You fucking stupid idiot. You fucking fucking fucker. God dammit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAQqxUsXWqQ

[Anonymous No.6255391]

>>6253387
The thing people don't understand is that art is so loosely defined that it is simply pointless to discuss what is art and what isn't. For most people art is synonymous with "entertainment" and for the rest art has some kind of nebulous positive connotation that no can buy into. That being said, if games are art, is sports an art? A game like Mario Kart or Smash Bros has more in common with basketball than a Michelangelo. But obviously there are many single player games (which cannot be turned into a competition aside from speedrunning) where an experience can be carefully crafted into something we can call interactive art.

I think people also overestimate the advantages that come with combining multiple mediums into one. Just having more mediums would definitely not mean a superior products. I love many soundtracks to death, but something like the FF soundtracks are downstream of Uematsu's inspirations, like classical music and prog rock, which have the room for more elaborate compositions and exploring sounds. FF songs are simple chip tunes by comparison. It's elitism, but any group of people that value quality would by definition be elitist, or gatekeep what is good and what is not.

[Anonymous No.6256201]

>>6252614

>>6252657
This gave me a newfound appreciation of Tomb Raider. Especially how definitive it was of both the technical and cultural crossroads the medium was in at the time.

>>6252697
>>6253505
>>6254729
It makes sense because video game soundtracks directly connect you to and remind you of the time in both the game world and in real life that you first experienced it. Versus standalone music or a film soundtrack, which is more passive/spectated.

>>6252918
>>6253826
The story of Ocarina of Time is told through the game itself, making the most memorable parts of the story told through cut scenes that much more memorable. When Zelda sends you back in time so you could relive your childhood...it was a lot more impactful than if that had been something you read or watched a movie character going through.

>>6254718
Sure, it does. Anything that made you care about it beyond merely occupying you, challenging you, or being fun.

>>6255391
Right. I think the whole "are games art" argument is more revealing to people's preconceived notions about video games, the people who play them, and what we define as art than any video game that is or isn't artistic or inspiring itself. You also make a good point about how the less limitations there are, often makes opportunities for mediums to have artistic messages even more narrow. the creator of FEZ said, "It's the sum total of every expressive medium of all time...made interactive."

Hideo Kojima said that video games are essentially providing a service, so unlike art it isn't ok if 100 people pass by it and only 1 person appreciates it. Perhaps their interactivity, the most unique place they have potential as a medium, is also their boon: most people would rather use that opportunity to give them things to do than to leave them walking away with something. From the same guy, I think "Death Stranding" is a possible example about how both of those things could be accomplished.

[Anonymous No.6257942]

>>6252736

This. We'll hear similar responses from all those who have made vidya such a huge part of their lives in general.

[Anonymous No.6257945]

>>6252675
>>6252947

Ya'll n'wahs need to leave this place unless ya'll trollan

[Anonymous No.6258005]

>>6256201


Art doesn't exist. It's always been a con.

There are only things, and you like things or you don't like those things.

[Anonymous No.6258045]

>>6252614
I feel like I learned a lot from Pokemon gen 1 and 2, in terms of wildlife and so on. It was pretty cool

Zelda Ocarina felt like an epic film.

[Anonymous No.6258564]

>>6258005

>There are only things, and you like things or you don't like those things.

Yes and somehow your statement supports the negation of a human being's power to create? I think not.

The "con" you speak of is that of money and the ways spineless turds manipulate reality in order to obtain piles of it while squashing those who believe they have no other choice but to bow to them. Malicious psychology in action.

Worry not though - this world is being cleansed of such falsity. But even after that toxin is gone from this place I know that all those who are truly slaves at heart will find another object to break themselves against.

After all: we're not here because we're free. We're here because we are not free.

Question is: are you a nigger for fear? Or are you a nigger for love?

[Anonymous No.6259849]

>>6253163
>>6253325

[Anonymous No.6259915]

>>6252614
FF8, but I wouldn't say it changed my life

[Anonymous No.6259923]

There are a lot, but FFVII is probably the absolute pinnacle of it.

The age at which I got to experience this game and the friends I experienced it with was almost too perfect. Just hearing the music now is enough to basically hypnotize me.

[Anonymous No.6259952]

>>6252692
It's called being cultured you philistine.
>>6252697
See a psychologist.
>>6254718
No weeb.
>>6258045
>>>/vp/ pokeweeb.

[Anonymous No.6260063]

>>6252962
>art
lel

[Anonymous No.6260363]

>>6256201
Games shown in the image:

>Super Metroid, Another World, Diablo, Xenogears, Shenmue, Panzer Dragoon, Castlevania IV, Myst, Deus Ex

>>6258005
The definition of the word art and the classification of things thereof is much less significant than if the products of the medium, in this case video games, leave people with something. Because that experience is completely personal and subjective, it actually becomes objective: you can't deny how someone felt about something. That was why I made a deliberate point of not asking if people thought video games were art in the OP post, because we're all tired of that "debate" but rather if a game impacted you in some personal way beyond providing entertainment value.

>>6258045
I've heard that a lot, that the appealing art style, world and gameplay of the series gets people to appreciate fields like zoology and entomology. Once I was reading about a main editor of Bulbapedia that is a professional biologist and classifier of real creatures, for example.

>>6258564
Art is a product of creation that is valid if one person likes it even if everyone else doesn't. In the medium of video games, this could be considered a commercial failure, but enough of them take risks and find niche opportunities for appreciation that it certainly falls under those terms.

>>6259923
I think games, because of their interactivity, vast worlds, and long narratives offer a possibility for people to share experiences with one another for their appreciation for it that are unprecedented in other mediums like film and books.

>>6259952
>It's called being cultured

This. "Books, movies, art galleries and museums" are products of culture. Being "cultured" therefore simply means you have knowledge of and immerse yourself in them. It's a mark of active interest, as opposed to raw intelligence.

Games shown in this image:

>Final Fantasy IX, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Alone in the Dark 2, Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet, LSD, Fallout 2

[Anonymous No.6260603]

>>6259952
>reeeeeeeeeeee
Take your pills

[Anonymous No.6260740]

>>6252614
honestly my main motivation for playing games. why isn't there a good "essential profound" list for /v/ or /vr/?

[Anonymous No.6261389]

>>6252614
>>6260740

I made one. It's my first time making an image like this so it's welcome to criticism, either for design or selection of games. I aimed for variety for both platforms, time period, region and genre, and my three rules besides only including games from the year 2000 or before were: one game per series, no anime, (like Persona 2, Policenauts, Chrono Trigger or Dragon Quest V, which otherwise might have found a place in the image.) and no Final Fantasy. Not that I have anything against anime or Final Fantasy. But it helped to keep things focused while also including variety. For the same reason, I didn't put Ocarina of Time, though that, Majora's Mask, and the three Playstation Final Fantasy games happen to be my personal favorites.

I'm OP. I plan to keep this thread alive by replying to constructive replies until its time has come, and then I'll cease to invest any time in /vr/. It's been a good solid year of reading and posting here, but the time it's consumed has been too much for other things I want to do in my life, even including getting through games. It's nice to have a concentrated community that appreciates the bygone days of the medium, and my hope is that I've helped people appreciate them just as others have helped me to the same.

[Anonymous No.6261467]

>>6252614

>>6260740
>>6261389
I forgot one game. (Myst) Disregard the initial image with only 29 games. This is the real one, with the complete 30 games as originally intended.

[Anonymous No.6261680]

>>6260740
With profound you mean emotional?

[Anonymous No.6262038]

>>6261389
I really like it, but I don't understand why you would exclude "anime" if you want variety. Besides, that's very vague when you're already including games like SMT, Nights, Terranigma etc, so I'd consider dropping it. The Final Fantasy are such a strong pick, and especially if you're going to limit yourself to one game per franchise. Majora's Mask and FF7 are probably the most profound game experiences I've had personally so I'd rather adjust the rules to see them on the list, and if not, MM is a stronger pick than Link's Awakening in my opinion, even though I adore Link's Awakening.

[Anonymous No.6262095]

>>6262038
My guess is he doesn't want his list to end up like the smash roster and be half anime.

[Anonymous No.6262449]

>>6261680
(Not him) profound either describes something intense/deep, whether something is deeply X or purely deep for insight, or on am emotional, philosophical level. Originally I meant it more as an adjective to describe the possibility of a game leaving an "intense" or "deep" impression on the player. To me, the essence of the whole "can video games be art?" argument actually rests on whether or not games can emotionally touch the people who experience them in some way, because since the hobby is relatively enclosed, those from the outside who do not understand it assume that every game is shallow compared to their personal favorite film or literature.

>>6262038
Right, I see your point. I could foresee as I started making the list the end result being: "anime game, Final Fantasy VII, anime game, Ocarina of Time, anime game, Majora's Mask, anime game, Symphony of the Night, anime game, Super Mario 64." Like >>6262095 pointed out, the list would have less merit if it reflected popular culture as opposed to reflecting the merit of the design of each game included on an individual level.

It's possible that I went too far in the other direction, but part of that is that the N64 Zelda titles, PS1 Final Fantasy titles and games like Alundra and Persona are my personal favorites, and of course that isn't what I wanted the list to show. Maybe boomer and Miyazaki inspired resentment of anime got to my head, too. Not that it's entirely unjustified.

As many famous games as the list ended up having I also wanted to show both people who prefer Eastern and Western games something they may have not heard of before. Everyone talks about Final Fantasy VII and Majora's Mask so much, and we share them being the games that have affected us the most, that I found it reasonable to assume anyone reading the list would either find their inclusion redundant or unnecessary.

Pic related: it's the 9 games that have affected me emotionally or personally inspired me the most.

[Anonymous No.6262461]

>>6260740
>>6261389
>>6261467
>>6262038
>>6262095
>>6262449
Worth mentioning, I was inspired by this image.

[Anonymous No.6262474]

>>6262461
>the worst Seiken Densetsu

[Anonymous No.6262490]

>>6252614
yea this game is probably the most important thing in my life

[Anonymous No.6262493]

>>6252697
hang in there brotha, if you have to go i hope you don't suffer too long

for some reason, i can listen to blue fields basically forever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNdGoENQNQ4

[Anonymous No.6262536]

>>6262474
Which Seiken Denstesu do you think is the best? I consistently see 2 ranked as the most classic.

>>6262490
>that Aerith's house
>that atmosphere
>that music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr0pNEnJ2dI

>>6262493
It's interesting to compare Blue Fields to the overworld theme of Final Fantasy VII. It's very gloomy, and reflects the tone of Final Fantasy VIII. It's clear how much thought Uematsu put into to establishing the mood of the game through the music, not just to appropriately accompany individual scenes but in a broader sense.

[Anonymous No.6262547]

>>6262536
SD2 is the definitely the most classic, it's a glitchy mess but it has that "magic" that made the series popular. My personal favorites are LoM and SD1 though.

[Anonymous No.6262624]

>>6262536
i've literally never heard something like blue fields before blue fields. uematsu at the top of his game is almost unbeaten.

what i loved about the ff7 soundtrack was its SNES sensibilities on a fresh MIDI set. the main theme was special, though. uematsu did long compositions before, but this one had a certain subtlety that only worked because uematsu not only made, but mastered this strange sound config.

[Anonymous No.6262663]

>>6261467
Add King's Field

[Anonymous No.6263095]

>>6262663
Then subtract it because it's shit. People just want to pretend those games were good because of Demon/Dark Souls.

[Anonymous No.6263190]

NoX is better than Diablo 2.

[Anonymous No.6263242]

>>6252675
Dweeb.

[Anonymous No.6263863]

>>6252614
The first for me was King's Quest V. The beautiful backgrounds and fantasy elements really dragged me into that magical world as a kid on my dad's PC. After that it was Final Fantasy IV (2 in US), VI (3 in US), Chrono Trigger and Link To The Past and Secret of Mana. For those games it was the story and the music (mostly the music). Same goes for FFVII and Legend of Dragoon (Dragoon has tons of great music and beautiful backgrounds to look at and get lost in). Silent Hill scared the crap out of me and still does at times when I go back to it. There were a ton of other games that were just great and that I just found to be a lot of fun (Grandia II and SOTN for example) but those had less emotional impact. As far as the art thing, I am a novelist now, have read a ton and love all kinds of art and music. To me these games represent an important part of history and contain a ton of individual artistic elements that represent the unattainable hopes dreams and desires of a successful society that longs for simpler times in a way that no other medium could. Just sayin'.

[Anonymous No.6265362]

>>6261389
I appreciate the heart you're putting into this thread and this board. When will be rejoining us, amigo? And when you do, you better tell us what you accomplished while you were gone ^_^

[Anonymous No.6265382]

When I look back in retrospect, I realize that I've only ever really loved games that could give me those feels and chills. Was never that skilled of a gamer so it was really about that feeling of total immersion that made me love the medium. When I have dreams about my favorite childhood games, they often resonate with me more than most other kinds of dreams. So, it's basically all about that emotional impression.

[Anonymous No.6265426]

I honestly feel sorry for anyone who thinks video games, especially retro videogames, are in any way profound.

[Anonymous No.6265465]

>>6265426

more profound than your wagecuck "profession" bruh

[Anonymous No.6265480]

>>6252675
Reminder that we will never be able to properly articulate the artistic merit of most games until we develop a critical framework with which to describe the aesthetics of game design, the intersection of mechanics, level design, and the games "mise en scene" so to speak. This anon is speaking from a place of profound ignorance.

Lacan's a real bitch aint he pleb?

[Anonymous No.6265487]

>>6265426
Define "profound". Videogames can be showcases of grace and skill, a joining of design and performance. Just because many of them lack textual themes doesn't make a Picasso or a Russian Ballet incapable of being "profound"

[Anonymous No.6265501]

>>6252614
if ikaruga made an impact on you you one one fucking sad child

[Anonymous No.6265529]

>>6253387
I think the issue is a combination of the way in which video games are looked at and the mechanisms by which video games are created. Take a book, for example, a novelist essentially needs only a pen and paper to write, and an editor if he gets published, an extremely low barrier. Now, this low barrier means there will be a lot of shit the comes out, but it allows for someone to create their work with minimal impediments beyond their own motivation and creativity. In contrast, video games are large affairs, consisting of large teams, differing responsibilities and visions, and millions of dollars, not the best environment for the creative over commercial. Moreover, they don't seem to attract the best talent in some areas such as writing, a lot of those who failed in film or writing seem to make their way to the videogame industry. And for even a small indie, where you naturally get more creativity, you still have issues of, say, the needs of music, graphics, sound, and writing, which don't necessarily coincide in one person. I do think one advantage to something like novels is that a single person can easily excel.

That being said, I think that, while as you said, that vast majority of games contain no artistic merit, there is great potential in the unique aspects of the medium. I think the problem comes from the way in which a video game could be created and the way many devs go about it especially when they want to try for an "artistic game." Too often it takes the form of attempting to mimic the conventions of books or movies, as in many walking simulators, text dumps, cutscene movie games, etc. Each medium has aspects which are unique to it and are impossible to translate to another without changing it almost entirely. Take, for example, a novel like Pale Fire, and the impossibility of translating its prose (and poetry) and textual metanarrative, and conversely, translating something like the emergent gameplay of a grand strategy into anything else.

[Anonymous No.6265605]

>>6265426
get the fuck out of my imageboards nigger pleb

[Anonymous No.6265608]

>>6263095
Not everyone have your mindset anon, not everybody wants to pretend something. Game is just good.

[Anonymous No.6266234]

>>6261389
>diddy kong's quest

[Anonymous No.6267023]

>>6263863
>>6265382
>represent the unattainable hopes dreams and desires of a successful society that longs for simpler times in a way that no other medium could.

I love that. I feel like this track, and without a doubt a lot of others, from Chrono Trigger perfectly illustrates what you expressed. Like you both said, there is something about the worlds and narrative of games that wistfully harkens back to a collective past of human memory while also leaving an impression on the memories of individuals in a way that other mediums cannot accomplish in the same respect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrkOOAA7oY8

>>6265362
Essentially, I was studying art and had an art practice, but for a variety of reasons that fell by the wayside. I told myself I was done with video games, and essentially that holds true, but there were some I missed out on, like Final Fantasy VI and the Alone in the Dark Trilogy for example, that I always wanted to experience. Because of the time it would take I don't have any near plans of creating my own game, but I did want to write reviews about my favorites such as Majora's Mask, and perhaps what they mean to me. When I do so the reviews can be found on Gamefaqs.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/community/MrSaturn33/

I also wanted to make videos about obscure games, like Yamada Kamachi's Museum for the 3DO. But mostly I'll write reviews since I also sadly lack the time or means to make many videos.

https://www.youtube.com/user/MrSaturn33

Without getting cultural or political I'm generally disillusioned as to the climate of this website as a whole. On a more narrow level the negativity is inescapable, and is virtually nonexistent on countless other internet forums while it is always a mainstay of this one in particular.

>>6265480
That's right. I think that the progress towards such a framework is held back by detractors who judge what they don't understand or fail to give it a chance.

[Anonymous No.6267070]

>>6263863
>a ton of individual artistic elements that represent the unattainable hopes dreams and desires of a successful society that longs for simpler times in a way that no other medium could

you've summed it up well, you should write for a living

[Anonymous No.6267073]

>>6252675

[Anonymous No.6267076]

>>6253163
This ending fucked me up

[Anonymous No.6267085]

>>6263095
King's Field is a legitimately comfy series though.

[Anonymous No.6267103]

>>6252614
Target Earth
FF7
RE
Front Mission Gunhazard
The epilogue to Shining Force
Phantasy Star 2
Thunder Force 4

[Anonymous No.6267110]

>>6252675
How are you able to read books or watch movies with your head so far up your ass?

[Anonymous No.6267128]

hey i just wanted some recommendations of retro videogames if i have too much free time

[Anonymous No.6267359]

Not sure if nostalgia or legitimate kino. A game unlike any other.

[Anonymous No.6267384]

>>6267359
Sometimes I feel bad that I was stuck with a saturn growing up but then remember this game and am so glad I got to experience it.
Now as an adult I got to play all the n64 and psx classics I missed out on. Had it been the other way around, adult me would at most only check out Nights and Panzer Dragoon so I guess in the end it was all for the best. Thanks mom and dad

[Anonymous No.6267395]

>>6252614
Yes, weirdly that game is Earthbound. It wasn’t the first RPG I played, but something about the tone, how relentless the enemy is and how steadfast the characters are really hit something with me. It was the first game that really made me cry at the end. The walk back to bring Paula home. Biking around a peaceful world. It all came together in a way other games just never did for me and still kind of haven’t. The other pieces of media that made me feel the same way have been BoJack Horseman as a whole. the entire Hitchikers Guide series even the strange chaotic last book. Apocalypse Now. It’s satisfying, sometimes dark, happy but just clean and satisfying. They all evoked some really weird emotions in me in a really similar way. And they all feel really complete. It’s a pretty wonderful feeling and it’d be great if a game could make me feel that way again.

[Anonymous No.6267398]

>>6267395
Also Cowboy Bebop and FLCL to add to that. I watched both as an adult but it’s just something really wonderful to see things so perfectly realized in any media. Mother 3 to a lesser extent than Earthbound feels that way. Earthbound was just lightning in a bottle though.

[Anonymous No.6268123]

>>6267359
>>6267384
exquisite taste

[Anonymous No.6268750]

>>6267085
>>6265608
>>6262663
This.

[Anonymous No.6268910]

>>6256201
What are the games on the top and bottom right?

[Anonymous No.6268913]

>>6268910
Diablo and Deus Ex.

[Anonymous No.6269314]

>>6265529
I've also thought a lot about how the reality of how much funding and staff with a variety of necessary skills it takes to produce a game. It's no wonder the most narrative driven or artistically inspired games were the exception to the rule, and more common on PC than consoles.

Games like Silent Hill for example, were produced in unique circumstances. The initial idea produced was very distinct from the final product, so it was a rare case of a team that was interested in such a thing being left with the money, time, and freedom to explore their ideas.

The instinct of many developers that want their stories taken seriously to simply imitate cinema, which just gets you "Interactive cinema," like Heavy Rain. As opposed to finding unique potential for the medium, catering to the perceived established asscociations of what a sophisticated narrative is.

To bring it back to why we are all here though, the unique appeal of older games when the medium was more in its infacy. I read a post here last October, about how development teams used to be different also, particuarly in Japan. Because you didn't need so much funding, time, and staff to render details just to keep graphics competitive, and because there were less demands, expectations and standards for game design, you had a lot of interesting ideas, particuarly from designers on consoles like the Super Nintendo and Sega Saturn. I forget exactly how he put it, but it was a good post.

Because of Indie games this is still a great time for games. As much work as it is the ease of anyone having a computer and designing their own work is unprecedented. Most indie games of course, are crap, but to think how many of the great ones wouldn't otherwise exist makes you realize we still live in a great time.

[Anonymous No.6269319]

>>6252614
Yes

[Anonymous No.6269325]

>>6252614
Yes!

[Anonymous No.6269327]

>>6253123
Game?

[Anonymous No.6269330]

>>6252614
yeS

[Anonymous No.6269335]

>>6252918
>>6253132
>>6254718
>>6262663
>>6263190
>>6267103

>>6267359
>>6267384

>Mace: The Dark Age (N64)
>Ninja Warriors: The New Generation (SNES)
>Knights of Xentar (PC)
>King's Field (PS)
>NoX (PC)
>Target Earth/Assault Suit Leynos (Genesis)
>Dark Savior (Saturn)

The games I learned about from this thread. Honestly, most of them don't look particularly great. But they're valuable and interesting pieces of history for sure. And just the fact that people have good memories of them justifies their mentioning alone. Dark Savior looks fascinating and gets back to what I was saying about how there was ironically less in the way, ironically because of technological limitations, of developers getting interesting ideas off the ground and out the door. Or it's not ironic. The technical limitations help creativity, both because without any restrictions there's no result and because as much as it was a race to showcase good graphics then as it is now, back then that actually meant a stylized, interesting looking and aesthetically pleasing world as opposed to everything being copy-paste brown-grey gritty realistic. Man, games sure did used to have a lot more color and soul. Even if the vast majority then just as much as now are mediocre. Now we can just more easily sift through the bad to find the good.

[Anonymous No.6269337]

>>6252614
>>6269325
the menuuuu

[Anonymous No.6269340]

>>6269337
the INSTALLER

my god, whats everyones favorite installer!?

[Anonymous No.6269341]

Omikron gets a special mention

[Anonymous No.6269343]

>>6269337
GOD I'll always remember this

[Anonymous No.6269345]

>>6269341

[Anonymous No.6269346]

>>6265426
The phrasing and very existence of the OP makes it abundantly clear that such experience is an anomaly and an exception to the rule. I hope you aren't another kin to the school of thought "I read books" per artistic merit of other entertainment mediums--because that you would even make a comment like that in this thread shows that you don't read them very well.

[Anonymous No.6269350]

>>6269325
>>6269337
>>6269340
I played the hell out of this game from 2000-2014 and the game finally gave out from the surface being all scratched to hell.

[Anonymous No.6269351]

>>6269345
https://youtu.be/lJEu_31I0mo

The installer alone for Omikron created some amazong atmosphere.

[Anonymous No.6269356]

>>6269350
Mine too , friend, mine too

[Anonymous No.6269361]

>>6267395
>>6267398
Interesting, I hadn't heard of FLCL but looking it up not surprised you like it if you like the MOTHER series. I was also thinking, I feel like the reason you respond to Earthbound, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Apocalypse Now, as you put it evoking "weird emotions in a really similar way" might be because they all concern the 70's. Even though Hitchhiker's (the novel) and Apocalypse Now were both 1979, they both came out of the 70's, and the creator and writer of Earthbound Shigesato Itoi was born in 1948 so America in the 70's was his most profound influence for the way the worlds are in the first two MOTHER games. Give or take some years are parents generation is the 70's. Mine met in 1983, so the 70's most profoundly influenced who they were before they had me. Perhaps those lost, sentimental feelings you have are connected to that. Personally the end of Earthbound where you have to leave your bodies for robots and Paula prays to people to defeat Giygas when all hope seems lost was among the most intriguing moments ever in a game. Also, the entire Magicant sequence and talking to your past self. It's too pervasive for its own good. I think you'd like Persona 3. (yeah, not retro. 1 and both parts of 2 are good also) A lot of the themes and vibes are similar to Earthbound and the final boss and ending has major parallels to the prayer sequence I mentioned of Earthbound.

>>6269327
Final Fantasy VI. (Initial North American release called it III)

[Anonymous No.6269362]

The first two Harry Potter games on PC ar every special to me, as is the OST

https://youtu.be/-OXElwscFuY

[Anonymous No.6269375]

>>6252675
>>6252947
>>6259952
>>6265426

[Anonymous No.6269381]

>>6252614
I wouldn't say a game has ever made me rethink life or change my opinion on anything, but I can give one game the benefit of actually being a life changing game beyond me finishing it and actually made me believe that I have some form of dumb luck that'd make sure I get through anything I should fail/die at, and succeed. It's an odd way to put it but whenever I think about the odds of any of this happening and turning into my favour it must be pretty low.

Back in 2012 I found Skies of Arcadia for £10 in a charity shop. A place I shouldn't have been at the time and only went there because my mum told me a game was there and I should check it out if I want. I bought it, and finished it throughout the year. It instantly became my favourite game of all time due to the feeling of adventure this game gave off that I had never felt before or since.

Fast forward to 2015 I enter uni for the first time and hated everything about it, didn't like the people I was with and disliked the whole ordeal, I wanted to drop out. I decided despite /v/ saying otherwise to attend the vidya soc at uni, and when I got there I found some people discussing vidya I liked, which led me to question their tastes and turned out one guy's favourite game was Skies of Arcadia just like mine and we become good friend over this. Completely turned around my uni experience. By the end of the year I had around 10+ friends with great taste in vidya, anime, movies etc. Friends that I still keep in contact with to this day. To add onto this, one of these friends even helped me out in my final year project to achieve a very high passing grade just because we were friends, and was the reason I basically graduated.

Always wonder what the odds were of going to this specific uni, meeting these specific people with one having my favourite game as their favourite and even having a friend give me help to pass when I needed it most.

I honestly wonder where my life would be without Skies of Arcadia.

[Anonymous No.6269386]

Adding another to Earthbound, I was a child when ssb came out, so seeing ness when I had no idea who he was was a shock to me. I had searched for a few years trying to find it until my local Game Crazy had it. I would proceed to play it every day after school at my grandma's house, getting stuck and having to read the hint man multiple times, especially for fourside. It's deeply nostalgiac for me, I've replayed it so many times and it's hard not to remember the different points in my life when I was.

[Anonymous No.6269402]

>>6269362
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p47mjXTDVz0

So many warm memories from these games

Jeremy Soule really made it special

[Anonymous No.6269405]

>>6252697

[Anonymous No.6269418]

I still replay FFVIII so that I can walk around the towns and cities. I love the European vibe they have, it's incredibly comfy. I agree with the other posters here that the soundtrack is amazing, probably my favourite game soundtrack. It's a game world I would genuinely love to live in (post-Sorceress War perhaps).

[Anonymous No.6269430]

>>6252614
Too many to count but for some reason the first one that came to mind is Ragnarok Online, that was a beautiful journey

[Anonymous No.6269447]

>>6252614
>Has a video game ever left a profound emotional impression on you?
Ultima Online (and many jrpgs) offered me medicine for teenage angst/depression.

Basically any game that goes beyond mere twitchy gameplay can be profound if interaction, characters and stories are used correctly. And I think games are superior to books in terms of immersion & escapism because you become part of their world, part of the story itself and can make choices, while reading books is entirely passive.

[Anonymous No.6269454]

>>6259923
I know what you mean

https://youtube.com/watch?v=vcEGFAaSpzI

[Anonymous No.6270162]

>>6269454
:')

[Anonymous No.6270664]

>>6269402
>Jeremy Soul