MystValkyrie
@MystValkyrie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
- Comment on Anyone a fan of Wizardry, or other first-person dungeon crawlers? 2 days ago:
Ultima, if it counts, are some of my favorite games of all time. In particular, I love Ultima 1’s bite-sized first-person dungeons that you do in between overworld exploration. Ultima 4 has you going through first-person tailor-made around eight thematic moral vices. Since the stat-boosting orbs of virtue you’d find at the end of the dungeon respawned, I had fun going back and maxing out my stats.
I’ve been gradually working through the old Might and Magic games. I really enjoy the “scavenger hunt” gameplay loop of that series with how you’re given riddles in the environment to figure out where to go next. I just wish they were a little shorter, so I get the feeling that The Bard’s Tale trilogy will be even more up my alley when I get to them.
I did try Wizardry 1-5, minus 4, and found them all really repetitive, even for the time they came out. You just kill a wizard and draw maps and there’s not much else going on with it. I’d love to try the later games someday, though.
For modern games, I haven’t played Etrian Odyssey yet, but I did play The Dark Spire on DS, from the same developers, and loved the dark tone and horror-esque art direction.
- Comment on If every video game was to be destroyed but you had the chance to save five games, what would you choose to save? 2 weeks ago:
It’s impossible to pick out just five of the most important games ever, but I’d try to pick games that have important historical significance, have some degree of genre diversity, all while still being fun and thought-provoking games you’ll always want to pick back up.
- Ultima IV.
spoiler
The first RPG that wasn’t a giant dungeon-crawling grindfest where you slay a wizard at the end. It has a big open world, fun NPC interactions, and fun tactical RPG gameplay for the time. Has a really good philosophical storyline that integrated with the game mechanics, and it shows how creativity can form under constraints.
- Resident Evil 2.
spoiler
One of the problems with choosing only five of the most important games is that the horror genre and the point-and-click adventure genre both are important in the history of gaming, but there isn’t room for both. Resident Evil 2 blends both genres exquisitely in a really compelling, but also endearing B-movie story.
- Flower.
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The indie revolution was an important era of gaming history, and motion controls were really big back then. Beautiful, subtle story about overcoming depression. Roger Ebert was wrong and video games could be art. Any indie game would fit here, but I picked Flower because, at the time, it challenged what people’s expectations of what a video game was supposed to me. Games don’t have to be challenging or about fighting to be legitimate. Doesn’t have a ton of replay value, but it’s the sort of game you’ll always come back to during hard times.
- Nier Automata.
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A really engaging action-focused game with a good story and tons of replay value. Bloodborne and Bayonetta would have also been good choices, but I ultimately went this one because you’ll spend more time on it, and there’s a co-op mod.
- Baldur’s Gate III.
spoiler
I would put an open-world, choice-based game here. Because even though it’s not a true open-world game, it has all the sandbox features open-world players like short of a fun physics system. It’s the third entry in the series, but the game doesn’t expect you to have played the first two games. Great mod support. I didn’t choose other popular open-world/open-zone games because many have paper-thin quests that lack player agency (Daggerfall, Oblivion, Skyrim, Dragon Age: Inquisition), don’t work as a standalone experience (Mass Effect Trilogy, the Witcher 3), are too controversial (Grand Theft Auto, which railroads you into being a bad guy) or have a strong open world and player choices but terrible gameplay (Morrowind). I gave BG3 the edge over Cyberpunk and Fallout: New Vegas due to built-in co-op and endless replay value that would last a lifetime.
- Comment on Square Enix says it wants generative AI to be doing 70% of its QA and debugging by the end of 2027 4 weeks ago:
Moment for silence for David “Ribs” Carillo 🪦
- Comment on My AYN Thor 1 month ago:
I feel like in the 2000s before the monetization of the internet took off, people were more able to share their art and writing in forums.
Yes, grifters exist, but we’re all so cynical these days and I hate it. I miss people just sharing things with each other without any suspicion that dark money is involved.
- Comment on My AYN Thor 1 month ago:
I’m so happy we’re finally getting a handheld that’s genuinely portable! I watched a disassembly video and really appreciate that the battery isn’t glued down, too. And have you all seen gameplay videos? Ocarina of Time 3D at 7x native resolution looks about as close to those Unreal 5 Zelda tech demos as we’ll likely ever get.
I skipped the Switch line, but I’d eventually pick the Thor up to replace my 3DS. (If I don’t hold out for an Ayn Freya 😅 .)
- Comment on Fact 1 month ago:
- Comment on Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors 1 month ago:
Bangs are helpful, but my problem is that I previously used search engines to find informative articles and product suggestions beyond the scope of Wikipedia, and so much of that is AI slop now. And if it’s not that, Reddit shows up disproportionately in search results and Google is dominated by promoted posts.
Search engines used to be really good at connecting people to reliable resources, even if you didn’t have a specific website in mind, if you were good with keywords/boolean and had a discerning eye for reliable content, but now the slop-to-valuable-content ratio is too disproportionate. So you either need to have pre-memorized a list of good websites, rely on Chatbots, or take significantly longer wading through the muck.
- Comment on Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors 1 month ago:
I wonder if it’s just AI. I know some people moved to backing up older versions of Wikipida via Kiwix out of fear that the site gets censored.
- Comment on Are there any games you don't play as it was intended to be played? If so, what game and how? 1 month ago:
I beat X-COM: Enemy Unknown by sniping the final boss in the first turn with an 8% headshot through a door. In the process, I skipped what I discovered later was a room full of aliens you were supposed to fight before taking out that enemy.
- Comment on Are there any games you don't play as it was intended to be played? If so, what game and how? 1 month ago:
In the item-farming regard, it really did feel like Sword and Shield copied Crystal’s homework without understanding the assignment.
- Comment on What's your favourite menu music in a game? 2 months ago:
Final Fantasy XII, not just for the amazing menu music but also due to how the opening cinematic blends seamlessly with the menu UI in the PS2 version. It all comes together perfectly.
- Comment on Google just broke *all* third-party web clients, including yt-dlp; a full JS implementation is now required. 2 months ago:
I am so glad I had the foresight to use yt-dlp to back up most of my favorite videos. Not all of them, but I just thought we’d get more time.
But yeah, I knew this would happen. The age verification thing was really controversial, so Google would have had to expect that people would try to find other ways to access YouTube.
I’m pretty much done with YouTube. It’s just not what it used to be. All my favorite YouTubers are either gone or changed. It’s mostly just slop, and I won’t miss it.
- Comment on "Behavioral Conditioning Methods to Stop my Boyfriend from Playing The Witcher 3" 2 months ago:
First of all, I love everything about this, including Mambo No. 5.
Second of all, climate change kind of ruined winter. Where I live, it’s too icy to bike and too cold to go camping, but there also isn’t consistent enough snow for skiing and snowmen. So winters for me and my partner have turned into hibernation mode with slow-cooked meals and long RPGs.
So, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Chad is right. 😅
- Comment on What's *your* favorite way to play old games? 2 months ago:
Yeah, I think the most that would be possible is running Duckstation or something using a VR headset and controller, and not being able to turn in-game using motion controls.
- Comment on What's *your* favorite way to play old games? 2 months ago:
Cool! I want to play Baroque in VR someday.
- Comment on What's *your* favorite way to play old games? 2 months ago:
I’m holding out hope for a good Linux build of the 360 emulator. Because, like, I love Fable II, but not enough to keep an entire console in my collection for.
The original XBOX emulator struggled too, but now runs well on Linux, so I think we’ll get there before long.
- Comment on LOTR: The fellowship of the ring. The game that people and history forgot. 2 months ago:
I kind of love the GBA Fellowship of the Ring game. My parents got me a GBA SP when I was very young, and this was the first game I ever had on it. The beautifully crafted world, especially in the early part of the game, sucked me in. I’d find out later that every NPC’s name is based on an actual book characer in Tolkien’s lore. I loved the riddles, I loved the puzzles, I love having to play music on stumps to summon Tom Bombadil and the elves. I figured out the money duplication glitch all on my own, without the internet or guides.
The SNES and GBA eras of games were a wonderful era where games were text-heavy without voice acting, and this game along with any others jump-started learning to read, and actually really helped me out in school. Eventually this game would get me to read the Lord of the Rings books, which is to this day my favorite book series ever.
I wouldn’t have gotten into turned-based RPGs without this game. It’s a little janky, sure, but I really like how the minimalist mechanics encouraged an almost Resident Evil-style resource management mindset. And, especially by the time you got to the Barrow Downs, every encounter was a serious threat and you would want to avoid them whenever possible, unless they were blocking where you needed to go. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this game is one of the better-executed, um, horror RPGs, and it did a wonderful job of invoking the same dread the Hobbits felt in the books when they left the shire.
- Comment on What's *your* favorite way to play old games? 2 months ago:
That would be awesome! I love my Steam Deck, but it’s too big for my taste, and I keep it docked all the time. So it’s my “desktop PC” lol.
I’d totally get a retro handheld if they made a good one around the PS Vita’s size.
- Comment on What's *your* favorite way to play old games? 2 months ago:
I used to pick up remasters of games on Steam, but now I’m almost 30 and find the original hardware and non-remastered games really nostalgic.
The PS3 and Wii are such an all-star combo for playing Sony and Nintendo’s huge back catalog. Hacking them gives me access to nearly everything up to the seventh generation. I also play a lot of romhacks, fan translations, and mods on the original hardware, and it’s wonderful playing MSU-1 SNES games using SNES9x on Wii. Both consoles look amazing on CRT TVs too. The Wii and especially the PS3’s UIs are really special to me, and hearken back to an era where users were allowed to heavily customize the vibes of their devices.
I also have the Sega Genesis Model 1, since that’s the best way to experience those games’ music, with the Genesis soundchip not emulating well on modern consoles. Plus I love the headphone jack. More consoles should have that!
I used to have a bunch of old consoles hooked up, but I sold them because the Genesis, Wii and PS3 work together to create my ultimate minimalist retro setup.
I do still buy remasters and emulate games on PC occasionally, but it’s on a case-by-case basis. I use my PC to A) fill in gaps in my retro library, B) play a rare remaster that’s actually the definitive version of the game (which doesn’t cut content or downgrade the experience in any way), and C) if a game really benefits from upscaling options only found on PC emulators.
- Submitted 2 months ago to retrogaming@lemmy.world | 33 comments
- Comment on Anyone else from Europe feels the same while browsing the "All" feed? 3 months ago:
I would love to see less America doom and gloom on lemmy. Why should we be the center of everything? More European-centric posts, please.
- Comment on Mozilla under fire for Firefox AI "bloat" that blows up CPU and drains battery 3 months ago:
Same thing with the idea of “use a monopoly growth model”. What is the alternative? Actively making a product worse because everyone else is? Because that is collusion.
This question really highlights the danger of the growth-at-all-costs model in forcing every company to race to the bottom when one company does. The future of the human race may one day depend on killing progress.
- Comment on Mozilla under fire for Firefox AI "bloat" that blows up CPU and drains battery 3 months ago:
A huge problem with America’s and many other economic systems is that companies are incentivized to undercut the competition, use a monopoly growth model, acquire or push out competitors, and then screw the customer when the competitors are gone.
Without guardrails, some other “affordable solution” will just show up to replace streaming, and then we’ll start all over again.
I don’t know what the solution is, but as a consumer, I’m exhausted. I wish there were options to just buy products, sometimes more expensive ones, for piece of mind that the company won’t stab me in the back someday.
- Comment on Mozilla under fire for Firefox AI "bloat" that blows up CPU and drains battery 3 months ago:
Instead of trying to get Google money, I actually wish they would offer a monthly/annual/lifetime membership as the cost of not enshittifying to stay in business. And then severing ties with Google as a company.
A lot of tech companies are holding onto unsustainable business models from 10 years ago, and it’s forcing them into AI now. End users paying a fair price for the products they use is a better alternative than this because it puts the power back in our hands as opposed to tech bros and shareholders.
- Comment on Age Verification Is Coming for the Whole Internet 3 months ago:
I’m sorry. I suppose I should have said “I don’t need the internet outside of work.”
- Comment on Age Verification Is Coming for the Whole Internet 3 months ago:
No one needs the interet outside of work. The moment I’m forced to show my ID or get my face scanned, I’m done.
- Comment on What's your preferred way of buying games? (digital/physical/physical digital) 3 months ago:
Physical these days is mostly dead, so long-term I’ve been going for DRM-free digital. GOG, 7digital or ripping via Foobar2000 for music, ebooks.com plus Calibre, and MakeMKV for DVDs. Steam’s DRM is lenient enough where I’m okay with using that.
I do still like physical for some things. I prefer physical for PS3 games versus digital because most games read straight from the disc, and install sizes a significantly smaller if you go that route. That generation of gaming really respected your hard drive. I don’t like buying a disc and then still having to install 100 GB to my hard drive – at that point, why bother?
I also prefer buying CDs and DVDs physical because I can display them in my collection, but also easily back them up in digital form. Best of both worlds.
- Comment on Fairphone announces the €599 Fairphone 6, with a 6.31" 120Hz LTPO OLED display, a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip, and enhanced modularity with 12 swappable parts 5 months ago:
This is what I do and have had vastly better experiences than with Bluetooth.
- Comment on Fairphone announces the €599 Fairphone 6, with a 6.31" 120Hz LTPO OLED display, a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip, and enhanced modularity with 12 swappable parts 5 months ago:
Fairphone has lost all its good will with me at this point. They still aren’t making their products available in the U.S., and Murena is a borderline scam company and I am genuinely shocked Fairphone works with them.
I would sooner recommend feature phones from Sunbeam as it also has user-replaceable batteries and you can send it in for repairs. Or just any phone used.
- Comment on Fairphone announces the €599 Fairphone 6, with a 6.31" 120Hz LTPO OLED display, a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip, and enhanced modularity with 12 swappable parts 5 months ago:
I would not recommend Murena for U.S. customers. I attempted buying one from them, and they put $6000 in charges to my credit card. Customer service was terrible and tried to blame me. Had to get my bank involved.
