after 17 years i finally beat Chrono Trigger..

[BD2003]

I actually prefer hq2x to hq4x for snes/gen/tg16 - 4x is too sharp, whereas 2x actually introduces some intermediate shades that look quite nice. Then use bilinear to get up to screen res. Better yet, there is a variant called Hq2xS that not all emus support, that has a really smooth look....in many cases youd never guess it's upscaled pixel art. 4X looks better on the SMS/NES though, since the art is so basic.

Definitely not for purists, but it can make some older games more bearable to look at.

 

[JD50]

What are you gonna play next OP? Has anyone played Secret of Evermore? I'm looking for some more games like Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, etc... I'd also love to get a copy of Earthbound but that's easily $100. Crazy...

 

[Anubis]

I liked Evermore, different feal to it, its most ARPG like

 

[BD2003]

What are you gonna play next OP? Has anyone played Secret of Evermore? I'm looking for some more games like Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, etc... I'd also love to get a copy of Earthbound but that's easily $100. Crazy...

Just know that evermore has zero to do with secret of mana, and is simply not as good.

For better games in the action RPG style, try illusion of Gaia, or the fan translation of secret of mana 2. For turn based, you can't go wrong with breath of fire.

 

[JD50]

Awesome thanks. What about for my psone? I was in high school and was too busy playing in a band to really get into it at that time, I think I missed some good rpgs. I've already got Legend of Mana and Chrono Chross on my radar, anything else I should be looking for?

 

[exdeath]

PS1?

Xenogears. Easily the best RPG there is, a once in a lifetime revelation. Yes it blows away all Final Fantasies. And ChronoTrigger.

It was the game that finally knocked Final Fantasy II (4j) off its 10+ year long golden pedestal for me to easily become my #1 favorite game.

The first 90% drags on but when you you start putting 2+2 together towards the end....o..m..f.................O.......O....M.....F......G!!!

I've never been so stunned and affected IRL by a piece of literature of any form like that before. That game permanently scarred my soul.

Yeah the graphics are aged, the game mechanics are clunky, but the scope and magnitude of the story will never be matched again in our lifetime.

 

[Nemesis13]

Exdeath you should start your own tread titled " When RPGs were RPGS" bc you know your shit.

 

[BD2003]

Exdeath you should start your own tread titled " When RPGs were RPGS" bc you know your shit.

Oh god, please don't encourage him.

 

[dighn]

Xenogears was awe inspiring and mind-blowingly good. No game has impacted me psychologically like that game has. Hell very few pieces of fiction in general have done so. It remains firmly at the top of the games I've played. Calling it epic would be an insult because of how over-used that word has become.

 

[Sulaco]

Xenogears is excellent, and one of the best PS1 RPGs, hands-down.

I can't agree it's better than the early Final Fantasies or Chrono Trigger. It's just a bit too convoluted, a little too "Japanese" (read: Anime influence that is often hard to take seriously), and sadly, and this really isn't the fault of the game, it was rushed at the end to make way for FF7, so much of the final disk is compressed into overlong text windows.

Anyway, as far as recommendations for other, great 16-bit RPGs:

The (unofficial) 'Gaia' Trilogy

-Soul Blazer
-Illusion of Gaia**
-Terranigma**

3 excellent, and seriously underrated, action-ish RPGs from Enix. Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma are two of the best and most underrated RPGs of the era, perhaps ever. Terranigma, sadly, was never released in the US, but can be imported on eBay from PAL territories. Anyway, it is simply one of the BEST RPGs of all-time, as is IoG, and neither should be missed.

Also look at the Lufia games.

Lufia and Lufia II. Ans funnily enough, play Lufia II FIRST. It's a better game overall, and actually, Lufia 2 is a prequel to Lufia.

Oh, and finally, while it's anything but a JRPG, it still has one of the best stories and gameplay on the system, Shadowrun should not be missed!

 

[Schfifty Five]

I'm a huge RPG fan and I'm ashamed to say I've never played Chrono Trigger. 🙁

This is something I must remedy this year.

 

[mmntech]

Xenogears was awe inspiring and mind-blowingly good. No game has impacted me psychologically like that game has. Hell very few pieces of fiction in general have done so. It remains firmly at the top of the games I've played. Calling it epic would be an insult because of how over-used that word has become.

Damn. I'll have to grab it off PSN. Good thing PS1 Classics are coming to the Vita. JRPGs seem to fit portables like a glove IMO.

 

[Tweak155]

Am I the only one who liked Super Mario RPG? I'd take a crack at that one. They made it really fun to play.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Currently playing a new game of Final Fantasy III (VI) on a real SNES on a Sony RGB monitor via SCART to BNC cable with Klipsch 2.1 sound system.

Incoming retro pics of some of the stuff I've unpacked.

Damn, I'm at work right now and all I can think about is seeing the Super Mario World for the SNES for the first time some 20+ years ago. And then thinking about all the games that came out for it and how much excitement and entertainment value it brought. So many classics. Wish I could temporarily go back and re-live those days.

 

[exdeath]

Today's generation will look back 20 years from now and think "that sucked, you could only throw one grenade at a time in those old Call of Duty games." :/

 

[exdeath]

I have FF6 OST Awakening stuck in my head.

 

[Schfifty Five]

I have FF6 OST Awakening stuck in my head.

Ah yes, that song has been on my playlist the past few days.

Can't believe it's been 15+ years since FFIII(6) came out to the SNES. I remember playing it on my tiny 13" TV that would go bad every 30 minutes haha.

Edit: oops, I was thinking of the opening theme for FF6. But Awakening is a good one too. Hell, the whole fscking OST was amazing.

 

[SandEagle]

FF6 i will play next. heard good things about it, but never played it.

 

[BD2003]

Damn, I'm at work right now and all I can think about is seeing the Super Mario World for the SNES for the first time some 20+ years ago. And then thinking about all the games that came out for it and how much excitement and entertainment value it brought. So many classics. Wish I could temporarily go back and re-live those days.

I actually recommend that you don't try to in most cases. There's a lot of games from that gen that don't hold up nearly as well as you think they would, and you end up overwriting your fond memories with the new ones.

Super Mario World isn't one of them, that'll always be an amazing game....but I'm not nearly as sure about some of the more story driven games.

For instance: the opera scene in ff6. Amazing for its time because nothing like that had ever even been attempted. But would someone playing it today for the first time really feel the same magic? Or would it be as awesome as you remembered, if looking at it with more experienced eyes? They accomplished so much with so little back then, but it's still so rudimentary.

I'd definitely love to see more full blown remakes, next gen. It'd be interesting to see what they could do with FF6 or 7 with the ability to render photorealistic faces and try to evoke some genuine emotion. Because if we're being honest, the characters in those old JRPGs are about as expressive as emoticons. I don't know if the scripts are really up to the task either, but I guess everything is fair game in a remake. Then they can impress in a less relative way, yet still scratch the nostalgia itch. Chrono trigger might be another good target, but I just don't think the silent protagonist can work in the modern era.

 

[exdeath]

Yes. Im replaying it right now. I got chills on the second verse when the strings kick in full power.

Still amazing and magical as it ever was. The music in that game is timeless.

 

[BD2003]

Yes. Im replaying it right now. I got chills on the second verse when the strings kick in full power.

Still amazing and magical as it ever was. The music in that game is timeless.

Well, you're kind of unique because as far as I can tell, you basically gave up on 21st century gaming. Most older gamers haven't, and the younger generation is simply accustomed to a higher technical standard. I feel like Id still be able to appreciate it on some level, at the same time, if it was remade into a fully choreographed and orchestrated CGI sequence...then I'm all in. It'll happen...eventually. It could be decades, but I bet you'll be old and wrinkly, sitting in wheelchair and shaking your fist at it. 😛

 

[Schfifty Five]

I actually recommend that you don't try to in most cases. There's a lot of games from that gen that don't hold up nearly as well as you think they would, and you end up overwriting your fond memories with the new ones.

Super Mario World isn't one of them, that'll always be an amazing game....but I'm not nearly as sure about some of the more story driven games.

For instance: the opera scene in ff6. Amazing for its time because nothing like that had ever even been attempted. But would someone playing it today for the first time really feel the same magic? Or would it be as awesome as you remembered, if looking at it with more experienced eyes? They accomplished so much with so little back then, but it's still so rudimentary.

I'd definitely love to see more full blown remakes, next gen. It'd be interesting to see what they could do with FF6 or 7 with the ability to render photorealistic faces and try to evoke some genuine emotion. Because if we're being honest, the characters in those old JRPGs are about as expressive as emoticons. I don't know if the scripts are really up to the task either, but I guess everything is fair game in a remake. Then they can impress in a less relative way, yet still scratch the nostalgia itch. Chrono trigger might be another good target, but I just don't think the silent protagonist can work in the modern era.

I agree with you. When I said "go back in time and relive those days" I didn't mean for me to go buy a SNES or use an emulator and replay those games right now in the present. I just meant I wish I could experience the wow factor, excitement, and amazement that I got from those games at that time.

Edit: Another way to put it is this. While games today are amazing, fun, and very enjoyable, I don't think I've had the wow factor that I got from the classics from SNES/N64. It's probably b/c I was a kid back then and now that I'm older (31), my perspective on things are different. Coleco/Atari/NES stuff never really blew me away, but once SNES was out, I was floored by how awesome the games were.

 

[exdeath]

Yeah I probably would because if they remade it I'm sure Locke and Celes would be packing grenades and M4s with holo sights and wearing dog tags. And the beautiful 1+ hour ending would be cut for a 13 second CGI clip of something blowing up.

But hey at least it will be in 4096p!

 

[exdeath]

I agree with you. When I said "go back in time and relive those days" I didn't mean for me to go buy a SNES or use an emulator and replay those games right now in the present. I just meant I wish I could experience the wow factor, excitement, and amazement that I got from those games at that time.

Edit: Another way to put it is this. While games today are amazing, fun, and very enjoyable, I don't think I've had the wow factor that I got from the classics from SNES/N64. It's probably b/c I was a kid back then and now that I'm older (31), my perspective on things are different. Coleco/Atari/NES stuff never really blew me away, but once SNES was out, I was floored by how awesome the games were.

Two things.

1. Its not just me being old and reminiscing over my childhood, because I don't care about the 2600 or NES or Genesis (save for Working Designs games on Sega CD) or Master System I also had. SNES was just special.

2. Its not because of my youth perspective and first time experience as a kid that I was in awe. I recently played Xenogears for the first time in my 30s and while the gameplay and graphics were horribly aged and clunky I was completely stunned. It became my #1 game of all time at age 30. Ergo in my 30s I played a 17 year old 16/32 bit RPG I had never seen before in the same time I had a 360/PC/PS3 and still got that OMG WOW experience from a game I hadn't played when I was younger. Its because the games were just awesome and stand the test of time. Just hearing Xenogears OST "Flight" or "Wings" or "Small of two pieces" makes my eyes water. This ain't no fond childhood memory.

Its not just rose colored glasses and fond memories. Xenogears for the first time at age 30 in the days where I played Xbox 360 on a 120" 1080p screen, and it blew me away and I got to genuinely recall and experience what gaming did to me in the 16/32 bit days, something that no modern game (read military themed FPS) has ever achieved.

God I about balled when the credits starting rolling in Xenogears. What a masterpiece. Breathless. Never has a game or any story from any literature made the hair on my neck stand so many times. Even right now I can utter the word Deus or Eldridge and prompt a faint buzz in my skin. I still wouldn't fully understand and fathom the depth and scope if the game without reading FAQs, story guides, charcter profiles, back story, Perfect Works, for months after. I reiterate for one last time I played this in my 30s for the first time, after being used to PC and 360 era games. Yes the mechanics and graphics are dated and clunky. But that has nothing to do with the substance. Today's games are all about glitzy presentation but they lack substance.

 

[BD2003]

I agree with you. When I said "go back in time and relive those days" I didn't mean for me to go buy a SNES or use an emulator and replay those games right now in the present. I just meant I wish I could experience the wow factor, excitement, and amazement that I got from those games at that time.

Edit: Another way to put it is this. While games today are amazing, fun, and very enjoyable, I don't think I've had the wow factor that I got from the classics from SNES/N64. It's probably b/c I was a kid back then and now that I'm older (31), my perspective on things are different. Coleco/Atari/NES stuff never really blew me away, but once SNES was out, I was floored by how awesome the games were.

Yeah, I'm with you 100%. The SNES will always hold a special place in my heart. That was Nintendo and the Japanese game industry at it's absolute prime. I might have a more critical eye nowadays, but I still get the wow factor pretty frequently with today's games. The industry as a whole is still pushing the limits, but the faces have really changed.