Stuff I Regret I Missed Out On
This is more about stuff that can't be played on the current line of consoles and computers. I realize there are ways, many ways, to play old games, but I'm talking the straight and narrow here.
List items
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One of the first games with save points, nice branching caverns, different styles of obstacles in addition to just different things to jump over. Really catchy, dynamic soundtrack. Man, bummer.
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I remember Dad gave me a choice between this and Night Driver. I picked Night Driver because, get this: I wanted to be an adult, and the only way I could do that was to turn my back on more fanciful things and pick the boring one. Actually, from what I've seen, Night Driver was pretty advanced and moody for its sparseness. Slot Racers was kinda weak when I got down to it, although to be honest I still would have probably had more fun playing Slot Racers.
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While there are tons of games out there that I can't quite play anymore, somehow this game keeps popping up in my head when I think of stuff I'd wished I'd played. Guess that says something.
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I actually got a chance to play this puppy, but I was having near visions of the screenshots from this thing, I wanted to play it so much. It's aged a bit, but I consider it to be one of my better RPG experiences even after so many games have surpassed it in other ways. It may not be for everyone, but in my mind the free-roaming style, strange humor, and cliche-bending world is really hard to beat.
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For a Light Cycle connoisseur like myself, this would have been a nice surrogate. The Sears catalog had this in there, which I could tell was taken directly from a concept drawing, but it still looked interesting. There are now better Light Cycle games out there I think, including online competitive ones, but I still regretted not getting this when I had the chance.
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I'm trying to keep it within games that I regret not getting NOW, then. There are some games out there that I know now are bad that I don't mind missing in hindsight, but I think I really would have dug this one.
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Weird cover. I mean the 2600 version of this, where you actually had a secret way of getting much more points with a certain type of "enemy", that I read about in an ad for the game in one of the video game magazines I liked to read. The Rainbow Serpent solution was a really clever idea that sort of informed what game design I've managed to do since then (nothing you'd know about, although hopefully I can delete this parenthetical statement before too long).
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Saw it in the catalog, judged it. Shouldn't have. I had no idea what I was missing. Now there are probably better games like this out there (funnily enough, Brutal Legend sort of follows the tradition of RTS with strong central avatar you control directly), but still, I think I would have had a lot of fun with this one.
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I was actually a bit of a pre- D n D kid, mainly through the board game Dark Tower. I'm not sure what I would have made of this game, but I guess my imagination loved making up new roles for the things I saw onscreen anyway, so the skies could have been the limit. Yeah, but I totally would have called the dragons Big Birds or giant ducks, though, so who knows?
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No spiky-haired kids here. Assemble the honored dead for the final battle... man, the regret's building up just writing about it. I hear the PSP's version has interminable load times, so I'm loathe to get a PSP just for that. Still, this game's interesting enough it would be one of the games I got if I ever had a PSP...
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Just tried to install this on my aging PC and it ran way too slowly, even on minimum settings, to be playable. I still remember seeing the XBox version, discounted, and hesitating to buy it. Should have bought it, since the next time I was there it was gone. I realize folks who love RPGs don't necessarily love this game and what it signaled for RPG development, but I'm about all cool experiences. I think what the simplification wound up doing in the long run was bringing in a new generation or five of gamers who are now demanding more in-depth RPG experiences. The world's interest sort of has to be renewed through bridge products, I think, otherwise the market shrinks. Since I first wrote the preceding I've since played the game on the XBox thanks to my lovely wife, and I have to say that despite the bugs and despite the painfully limiting attempts at 24-hour fan service, they managed to insert some SIGNIFICANT character into this. Our favorite was Jolee's well-written dialogue about how love is regarded in the Jedi order. I think the prequels could have benefited from that kind of wisdom.
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Went to a rather boring yard sale in my home town, and I abandoned it pretty quickly. On the drive back to his house, my friend wondered why I hadn't got that Game Gear and that pile of games with it. I was flabbergasted; I hadn't even seen it there. Say what you like about the GG, if I was given the opportunity to buy cheap game hardware and games, I'd pretty much do it without thinking... argh.
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The most I've seen of this game was watching my friend play it all without offering for me to play it at all. Gar.
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Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross are linked in my mind as twin failures-to-capitalize, back when video game stores, even the chain ones, felt friendly.
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Some pretty bad bugs on release mean I was probably spared some torment, but once past that I think I would have loved this game. It's possible the bugs would have ruined my opinion, though, since I've come to appreciate what a gem this game is only after it's been fully patched.
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It took one screenshot for me to be interested. Only later I learned that this actually had designers from Starflight, one of my favorite games. The art design in this one looks phenomenal, although from what I've seen it's a bit more arcade-y than its spiritual predecessors.
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This came out during one of the biggest moves of my life, so I didn't even know it actually came out until maybe six months later. The more I learn about it, the more I want to play it, and not just because I'm fond of Ivalice from FFT or its anachro-tech look. The character development system looks crazy deep, which might be overwhelming, but I'll give it a shot if I ever get the chance! :)
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I think the screenshots from this game were what helped increase my lust for an Amiga, which we never got. Turns out the game would have probably disappointed me, but I still like a lot of its ideas. No one makes puzzles like those anymore.
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I guess you can still find it, but since I don't actually have a DS, chances are probably slim there. Looks like a fun, party-based dungeon crawl, which I'm all for.
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