VOTE - Holiday & NEw Year Retro Game Festivus

PICK TWO- GAMES you will PLAY and DISCUSS!

  • Final Fantasy V

    Votes: 7 31.8%
  • Romancing SaGa 3

    Votes: 2 9.1%
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

    Votes: 8 36.4%
  • Wizardy I

    Votes: 4 18.2%
  • Lunar: Eternal Blue

    Votes: 2 9.1%
  • Quest for Glory V

    Votes: 1 4.5%
  • Baulder's Gate

    Votes: 4 18.2%
  • LOOM

    Votes: 2 9.1%
  • Blackthorn

    Votes: 3 13.6%
  • Little Nemo: The Dream Master

    Votes: 1 4.5%
  • King's Quest VI

    Votes: 3 13.6%

  • Total voters
    22
  • Poll closed .

Siliconemelons

Avatar of War Slayer
10,846
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You get TWO VOTES - we will choose 2-3 games to play throughout this season of retro festivus and the new earth cycle. Choose wisely, no vote changes allowed...
 

Siliconemelons

Avatar of War Slayer
10,846
15,260
Amod Amod swap stickies plox

Votes close Nov 28 --- remember to tag your forum bros and get votes in-- we start after we recover from our turkey-itus comas.
 

Denamian

Night Janitor
<Nazi Janitors>
7,192
18,977
giphy.gif
 
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pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
<Bronze Donator>
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if we do Final Fantasy V, anyone that wants some extra fun could do a "Four Job Fiesta," the name given to challenge runs where you're assigned four jobs, one from each crystal, and need to stick with those. unlike most games, straight class challenges like this are actually really fun and DOABLE in FFV, adding just the right amount of challenge most of the time (unless you get really unlucky on your jobs haha)

the charity fundraiser Four Job Fiesta event happens in June, but there are FJF class generators out there on the internet that one could use to roll your jobs


Should I play FFV before trying the Fiesta?
Most Fiesta players have completed the game many times, but I think the Fiesta is fine for FFV newbies for one specific reason: Fiesta rules help alleviate Decision Paralysis.

There are lots of jobs, abilities, equipment, magic, and combinations of all those things in FFV. The game does very little to explain how any of this works or where the good synergies are. It isn’t like Final Fantasy III, which clearly signposts what jobs to use with gimmick dungeons. It isn’t like Final Fantasy Tactics where you constantly see your jobs in use by enemy opposition, cluing you into strengths and weaknesses. I’ve known several players who stalled out on the game because the prospect of exploring 20 jobs’ worth of mechanics was too daunting a task.

In the Fiesta, you are locked into your jobs. Rather than a huge, expansive puzzle of “find the good abilities”, the game is reduced to a series of smaller, more meaningful puzzles involving using and combining abilities from the small pool you’re allowed to use.

Playing by Fiesta rules is technically a challenge run, but it’s a very different kind of challenge than playing the vanilla game, which is what I think makes it appropriate for new players. Instead of the nagging feeling that you could be blitzing the game if only you knew the ins-and-outs of your big massive list of jobs, you have a focused series of challenges involving knowledge of only a very few. It’s not, “what on this huge intimidating menu is helpful to me right now, and will it be helpful again later?” But rather, “here are the eight things I can do, what combination of those things will get me through this next boss fight?”
 
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Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,574
5,382
I just played BG1 over the past couple weeks. The game definitely holds up and it still awesome. The enhanced edition on Steam lets you make some of the new classes, which changes things up enough to enjoy multiple play-throughs.

They don't make games with the care, effort, and depth like they use to.
 
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Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,574
5,382
It its 20th anniversary, I would implore you to do the right thing. Vote Baldur's Gate. Vote for a prosperous future for you and your kids.

3h4ziq.jpg
 

Mudcrush Durtfeet

Hungry Ogre
2,428
-758
Come vote for Wizardry I and defeat the evil wizard Werdna.

The wizard is *in*.
werdna.jpg


It doesn't get more retro than this.
 
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pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
<Bronze Donator>
16,306
-2,237
if no more activity in votes we can close and start sooner during turkeytrottime

Says 19 total voters responded, looking at polls from last year that's kind of low, but maybe there's just not many people interested anymore. Maybe the board scared away all the casuals that lurked for stuff like this, too, lol.
 

pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
<Bronze Donator>
16,306
-2,237
Only three more votes since Friday, let's just get started for Thanksgiving :)
 
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pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
<Bronze Donator>
16,306
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Vimm's Lair: Preserving the Classics continues to be the best online resource for classic ROMs. For the ultra lazy, here are links directly to the ROMs/emulators haha:

Emulators: Vimm's Lair: Preserving the Classics
GBA FFV: Vimm's Lair: Game Boy Advance Vault
Steam FFV: FINAL FANTASY V on Steam
GBA Zelda: Vimm's Lair: Game Boy Advance Vault
SNES Zelda: Vimm's Lair: Super Nintendo Vault with an option to play the game right on the site without a download, lol whoa

For Final Fantasy V, the GameBoy Advance version is widely considered to be the best version in the US. The original Super Famicom version never got an official translation. There is a fan-made translation floating around the internet, but it was made before the official one, so a lot of the names are inaccurate. The Steam version has the same "upgraded" 2D sprites that FF4 and FF6 Steam ports have, but otherwise is a decent alternative if you don't want to fuck around with emulation.

For Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, there's a bit more debate as to which version is better. Here's a list of differences between the two:


GBA has a better translation and a new dungeon, but altered sounds (including a grunt when he swings his sword that some people find annoying) and an altered resolution / screen size that ends up displaying less of the world at once.

This one might be the deciding factor for some:

13.) In addition to being able to start off at various places upon starting your game (as we were in the SNES version), such as Link's House, the Sanctuary, and the Pyramid of Power, Link can now start at the very place he saved, called "The Saved Place." This is VERY useful if you saved at the beginning of a far-away dungeon or other annoying area. A great addition into the game by the Nintendo team.
 
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Siliconemelons

Avatar of War Slayer
10,846
15,260
FYI the bilineal filter in FF5 steam ver is what makes the pixle art all smooth edged etc...it takes that away so it's pixle-y again...also I am sure helps big time with "getting stuck" in corners and landscapes on the map.

I will continue my steam version play as I never finished nor got past the "tree" part I got stuck on my psx playthru
 

pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
<Bronze Donator>
16,306
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I saw some other good mods once upon a time but haven't been able to dig them up via Google yet (haven't tried real hard yet tho). Biggest one I remember is about how the game "tiles" things incorrectly in a way like... I.e. something like the game draws things in 16x16 tiles but all the art files are 20x20 so repeating tiles/textures end up looking funny.

One day left in the current MTG:Arena season, not gonna start playing these til tomorrow :)
 

pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
<Bronze Donator>
16,306
-2,237
Oh yeah, and a reminder about this option before everyone gets started:

if we do Final Fantasy V, anyone that wants some extra fun could do a "Four Job Fiesta," the name given to challenge runs where you're assigned four jobs, one from each crystal, and need to stick with those. unlike most games, straight class challenges like this are actually really fun and DOABLE in FFV, adding just the right amount of challenge most of the time (unless you get really unlucky on your jobs haha)

the charity fundraiser Four Job Fiesta event happens in June, but there are FJF class generators out there on the internet that one could use to roll your jobs


Should I play FFV before trying the Fiesta?
Most Fiesta players have completed the game many times, but I think the Fiesta is fine for FFV newbies for one specific reason: Fiesta rules help alleviate Decision Paralysis.

There are lots of jobs, abilities, equipment, magic, and combinations of all those things in FFV. The game does very little to explain how any of this works or where the good synergies are. It isn’t like Final Fantasy III, which clearly signposts what jobs to use with gimmick dungeons. It isn’t like Final Fantasy Tactics where you constantly see your jobs in use by enemy opposition, cluing you into strengths and weaknesses. I’ve known several players who stalled out on the game because the prospect of exploring 20 jobs’ worth of mechanics was too daunting a task.

In the Fiesta, you are locked into your jobs. Rather than a huge, expansive puzzle of “find the good abilities”, the game is reduced to a series of smaller, more meaningful puzzles involving using and combining abilities from the small pool you’re allowed to use.

Playing by Fiesta rules is technically a challenge run, but it’s a very different kind of challenge than playing the vanilla game, which is what I think makes it appropriate for new players. Instead of the nagging feeling that you could be blitzing the game if only you knew the ins-and-outs of your big massive list of jobs, you have a focused series of challenges involving knowledge of only a very few. It’s not, “what on this huge intimidating menu is helpful to me right now, and will it be helpful again later?” But rather, “here are the eight things I can do, what combination of those things will get me through this next boss fight?”
 

Siliconemelons

Avatar of War Slayer
10,846
15,260
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Final Fantasy V
And bonus game
Blackthorn (because genera mix, and I wanna, neener neener )

New post thread with info and discussion tonight/tomorrow
 
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