Messages

61

Off Topic / Re: What are your top 10 favorite musical artists/bands/composers?

« on: April 28, 2022, 05:36:03 pm »

Here's my (somewhat) definitive list.

10: AC/DC
-I haven't listened to much of their songs, but I REALLY liked what I heard.
9: The Beatles.
-They're The Beatles, that's why.
8: Ludwig Van Beethoven.
-Because Beethoven (DUN-DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUUUUN!)
7: Christophe Heral/Billy Martin
-Only on here through their work on the Cayman Origins and Legends soundtracks. Absolute bangers.
6: Ralph Stanley.
-A bluegrass artist I was introduced to through his performance in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" I don't much care for his old stuff, but his post "O Brother" stuff is wondrous. He has this golden voice that sounded even better as he aged. His covers of O Death and I'll Fly Away are spectacular.
5: P.O.D. (Payable on Death)
-A Nu-Metal/ Rap-rock fusion band. They're my dad's favorite and was lucky enough to see them in concert. I've listened to practically their entire back catalogue.
4: Modest Mussorgsky
-A Russian composer from the mid-1800s. His works can be described as grandiose and chilling. I adore Night on Bald Mountain to Death, but also fairly enjoyed Pictures at an Exhibition.
3: Queen.
-Freddie Mercury has the greatest voice mankind was ever graced with, not exaggerating.
2: Weird Al Yankovic
-He's amazing and no one can convince me otherwise.
1: John Williams
-The true and undisputed king of the film score (though he may one day be dethroned by Hans Zimmer).

Honorable mentions: composers Ottorino Respighi and Anatoly Lyadov respectively because they each have one piece I really really love (Pines of Rome and Kikimora respectively).

First off, had to reply because yes, Weird Al is amazing. He’s my #1 and I have VIP tickets to his concert next month (will be my 3rd Al concert, first time meeting him in person)

I’ve never been big into commercial music and my tastes are a bit strange. (Plus, this may be my old age showing but 95% of music made after 2005 is moronic trash). So I don’t really have a top 10 of individuals/bands, just a list of artists I like.

1) Weird Al, naturally.
2) Jim Johnston, Jimmy Hart, CFO$, def rebel, and anyone who’s made entrance music for WWE. I collect the music as a hobby, do my own editing and remastering, organize and curate it. I possess a number of entrance themes that have never been released.
3) Yuzo Koshiro, Michiru Yamane, Nobuo Uematsu, and other video game composers.
4) John Williams, James Horner, Danny Elfman, and other movie composers.
5) Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World and Shout are two of my favorites
6) Kiss - they have some cool stuff and God Gave Rock & Roll To You 2 is another one of my favorites
7) The Birthday Massacre - only discovered their stuff a couple years ago but it’s right up my alley.

Most everything else I like is individual songs, not particular artists.

62

Modern Video Games / Re: TMNT: Shredder's Revenge and Cowabunga Collection

« on: April 25, 2022, 12:12:11 pm »

Then I'm going to say it: Personally, for $150, I would've expected some type of deal with NECA to include a figure, an actual limited one unique to this release that I'm sure would've been the deciding factor for many when mulling whether getting the CE or not. But then again, it's Konami and we've learned not to expect much from them over the years. Other than that, I'm sticking to my guns reiterating this needed a soundtrack—physical copy, not a download; I can rip the music myself from the games, and have done it before. As much as the book is covering the history of the games, so would the soundtrack covering over 330+ minutes of shell-shocking audio, which translates to around five CDs. If the CE had included the soundtrack—by that I mean lossless audio and not a transcode—coupled with the contents currently advertised, then I would've happily forked over $100.

In all honesty, given this is a compilation-type game, I wasn't expecting it to get a limited-type release, so the fact that it's going to is incredible. But they're obviously crazy if they genuinely believe their idea of a "limited edition" is a box filled with cheap items thinking they're worth the $150 price tag.

Regarding the Uncharted 4 vs. Resident Evil 2 collector's editions, I think inflation, greed included, were possibly the culprit, but the crux of the matter is that their contents were, and still are well worth more than what the Cowabunga Collection CE is offering; and in the case of the two aforementioned collector's sets, the quality of the statues is actually good. So, even if we were to use inflation as an excuse for this collector's edition, what they're asking is still too much for what they're offering.

That said, this collector's set truly exemplifies the usual believe that these type of releases are just cheap, lazy cash grabs, which is honestly why I've never really cared for them, albeit I reckon there are exceptions to that rule. My advise would be to just give it a few months after release and maybe you'll be able to get this one off eBay for a cheaper price, possibly even find someone selling the book.

I agree 1000% regarding the soundtracks.
Not kidding, the first TMNT arcade game has one of my absolute favorite soundtracks ever. When I played it I would clear the screen of enemies and just listen for a bit, especially the kick-ass Technodrome level.
SNES TMNT IV’s soundtrack is iconic. Even Fall of the Foot Clan on GB had great music (by the legendary Michiru Yamane, too). Definitely a missed opportunity. These soundtracks deserve to be heard.

63

General / Re: What are your dream developer/Series pairings?

« on: April 25, 2022, 11:56:15 am »

I have one I LITERALLY dreamed about when I was younger…
A Konami or Capcom-style beat ‘em up featuring the Transformers. The one in my dream used the X-Men engine, but I personally would prefer the Cadillacs & Dinosaurs engine (with the X-Men graphical style) because IMO that game has the most fun fighting system of any in the genre.

I imagined who the main characters would be, what their special attacks would be, and the bosses. I dreamed this up before Beast Wars was even a thing, so I’m talking strictly G1. I guess Optimus Prime would have to be a playable character, but I was thinking characters like Jazz and Mirage would be fun; both have hand-to-hand fighting skills and their special attacks could be based on their powers (a disorienting sound-and-light show for Jazz, invisibility for Mirage). Regular enemies could include Insecticon clones, Reflector clones, generic Seekers, etc. Bosses naturally would be Soundwave with his cassettes, Starscream, a multi-part fight against Devastator, and of course Megatron as the final boss.

Nowadays, I guess the most realistic possibility is the developers of Streets of Rage 4 getting the Transformers license and making the game. I’d be good with it in that hand-drawn style

64

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2022

« on: April 23, 2022, 04:01:57 pm »

15. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 4/23/22 (PS3)

Beat this together with my 9-year-old. It worked out well because I played as Sonic and did the legwork, while he tagged along as Tails, who is virtually indestructible, and helped take out bosses.

65

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2022

« on: April 19, 2022, 08:39:04 am »

14. Streets of Rage 4 (PS4, on Hard with Max)
God this game is so good. That is all.

24. Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth

Symphony of the Night is my favorite Castlevania and my favorite "Metroidvania/Castleroid/whatever" but Deedlit's adventure is locked in at second favorite. The adventure was over too soon - that's my only complaint about it. I'll probably double-dip and get it on PS4 so I can get its platinum.

I keep hearing mixed things about Deedlit that have made me hesitate to get it. Some people adore it while others say there’s not much to it. As much as I love SOTN, I figured I’d probably love it, thanks for the reaffirmation

66

General / Re: Games you almost Finished but gave up on.

« on: April 18, 2022, 11:03:23 am »

I have abandoned games in the past that I was nearly done with, but over the years I’ve gone back and finished many of them. A major example is Final Fantasy IX. I’ve had a strange relationship with that game; I love the characters, music, setting, all that stuff. But about 2/3 of the way through, the story suddenly becomes “chase Kuja around the world” which came off as blatant padding and was so boring it made me quit. Started over a while after that, and got all the way to Memoria (just before the end), immediately lost interest and quit.

Finally got back to it around 2012 and completed it.

In a similar vein is Final Fantasy VIII, which I ended up beating using a friend's file after I realized I went about the game the wrong way.

I assume you’re referring to the junction system? That’s the same problem I had. The game’s instruction book and the in-game tutorial both do a lousy job of explaining what Junctioning is and how having more of a spell increases stats. Not understanding it was a major reason I abandoned the game (though I wasn’t anywhere near the end). Years later, after reading up about how Junctioning actually works, I came back to it around the same time as the aforementioned FFIX and pushed through to the end. Still can’t stand that game, though….the Junctioning system is stupid, the characters are dumb, the plot contrived…

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General / Re: Games/Series you love, but also don't...

« on: April 18, 2022, 10:09:38 am »

For me that would probably be Zelda, because it’s so up and down to me.
Link to the Past is legit one of my top games of all time. Link’s Awakening is great. Ocarina of Time is good (if overrated).
But OTOH…
Zelda II is a tedious chore. I don’t like Majora’s Mask. Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild put me to sleep from boredom.

68

General / Re: Consoles/Handhelds That You Hate

« on: April 18, 2022, 09:52:05 am »

Yeah, hate is a strong word. Any gaming device that I truly would have hated…I would never have bought in the first place.

But, I can point out the 2 that I dislike:
Virtual Boy - With all due respect to Mr. Yokoi, this thing was a terrible product. Played it once at my nephew’s house and never wanted to play it again.

3DS - OK, hear me out. I first played one at a demo kiosk in Fry’s and the 3D effects gave me a headache within seconds. For that reason I refused to buy one, and ignored everything to do with it…including the 2DS (which would have eliminated my reason for not liking it in the first place). Now, years later, I see all the great games that came out for it and I want to play them, but even buying a used 2DS is hella expensive. So I dislike it for making me believe it would be a POS back then and being difficult to obtain now, not because the system itself has any problems 
And for the record, I’m aware it was possible to turn off the 3D effect on the 3DS, I just honestly thought the 3D thing was a gimmick and the handheld would fail….turns out I was right about the 3D but not about the failure.

69

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2022

« on: April 13, 2022, 07:53:24 pm »

13. Mass Effect 3 Legendary Edition
Just finished the entire Legendary Edition.
WOW, I enjoyed these back in the day and they’re still great now. IMO the best 3-game trilogy ever. First time I’ve ever played any DLC and it really adds to the experience, especially the Citadel DLC in ME3. For the record, by the end I was about 3/4 Paragon, romanced Liara in ME1 then Miranda in 2 & 3, and Zaeed was my only team member to die (not including automatic deaths like Legion or near-automatic like Mordin)

70

General / Re: Let's Talk About Your On Site Collection Status

« on: April 01, 2022, 12:48:38 pm »

I’m not going to make lists on the site because I just don’t have the time to keep up with them, but I can discuss my backlog because right now is the biggest backlog I can recall having for probably DECADES. I just turned 46 and it’s actually a really exciting time in gaming for me, because I’m learning so much about particular games, series, and genres that I had either ignored or been ignorant of.

As for backlog, I’ve been playing through the entire Mass Effect Legendary Edition for the last 2 months, so I had to put Tales of Arise on hold. And before that, I put the latest DLC for Blasphemous on hold to play Tales of Arise. So when I’m done with Mass Effect, I need to get back to those 2 games. In addition, I still need to go back and finish Timespinner and Sonic Mania, and I’ve barely touched Momodora. I want to try to get back into Nier Automata (which frankly bored me, but I want to give it another try). Also, in addition to all that, I still have not even tried all the games on my Coregrafx Mini, mainly because (tying into what I said before about discovering new genres) I was floored by games like Lords of Thunder, Soldier Blade, and Seirei Senshi Spriggan, which showed me what shmups could truly be after mainly playing Gradius and Life Force my whole life, which weren’t my cup of tea…badass soundtracks, screen-filling weapons…damn I wish I had known about these TG-16 shooters 30 years ago.
PLUS, I’m still discovering new Genesis games after I got Sonic’s Genesis Collection for PS3 (Golden Axe 3 isn’t as bad as I thought it was), AND I’m motivated to go back and play Lunar 2 Complete, which I never finished.
WHEW, that’s a lot of backlog, and that’s still not everything

As for my wishlist:
I’m looking forward to TMNT Cowabunga Collection and Chrono Cross Radical Dreamers Edition. I want to get Horizon Forbidden West at some point. I really want to play the upcoming Metroidvania The Last Faith. Also, after Dragon Quest XI blew my mind and became maybe my second favorite RPG ever, I’ve wanted to go back and play some of the entries I missed, but the DS/3DS games are SO flippin’ expensive I might have to cave and resort to emulation until Square Enix wises up and releases some kind of compilation of DQ4-6 for modern consoles (like they did with DQ1-3 on Switch)

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Classic Video Games / Re: What is the hardest RPG you Ever Completed?

« on: March 31, 2022, 10:12:36 am »

I honestly don’t know which RPGs are generally considered the hardest, but RPG difficulty can be subjective anyway since it’s usually possible to just grind until the game is a piece of cake.
But I can say which ones I had the most trouble with:

Probably the hardest time I ever had actually completing one was Dragon Warrior 1. I don’t remember if I got DW or Final Fantasy first, but they were my introduction to RPGs and I had no clue what I was doing. Thanks to Nintendo Power’s strategy guide, I was able to finish DW, but it was just a tedious experience to stick with. IMO Final Fantasy was harder but I never finished it so it doesn’t count for the purposes of this thread. In FF, I would grind for HOURS and I could still never get more than 1/3 of the way through the game. It’s the game that soured me on RPGs for the next few years so I never tried Dragon Warrior 2-4.

Final Fantasy II (IV) was the game that got me back into RPGs, but it was REALLY hard for me at the time. I know it sounds kinda pathetic when the game was made easier for western players, but I absolutely could NOT get past those three F***ING black orbs in the Giant of Babil. Eventually finished it about 17-18 years later.

The only other one I can think of that gave me a hard time (but I finished) was Legend of Dragoon. That final boss battle isn’t necessarily that difficult, just REALLY long.

I did get stuck in Dragon Quest VIII when I kept losing the 2-part fight against Dhoulmagus, but once I left the dungeon and did some grinding I got through it. Still one of the best RPGs I’ve played.

None of the other RPGs I’ve completed has been exceptionally difficult. Final Fantasy VII did have a handful of hard parts, but the endgame bosses are pushover pansy-asses if you invest the time to get Knights of the Round.

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Classic Video Games / Re: Have You Ever Played (Earthbound) ROM or SNES Cartridge?

« on: March 24, 2022, 10:34:14 am »

Strangely, even though I was big into the SNES back in the day, I never heard of EarthBound until I encountered all the internet hype years later. I tried it on an emulator but only for a short time. I’m glad it’s on Switch now so I can experience it properly. I’m planning to start it at some point soon.

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General / Re: Cheapest game or console you ever bought?

« on: March 24, 2022, 10:17:32 am »

Shortly after EBay became a thing, on a whim I bid $500 on a full size TMNT arcade cabinet, having no question I would end up outbid by quite a lot…. I unexpectedly won the auction. Still have the game in my parents’ basement but it doesn’t work anymore…one of these days I’ll see about getting it fixed.

Not sure if this counts since this was only a few years after it came out and I wasn’t really a collector yet, but I borrowed Final Fantasy II (IV) for SNES from my high school friend around ‘94 or so. He could tell I loved it and he hardly ever played it anyway, so he let me keep it. Even though I didn’t actually finish it until maybe 15 years later, FFIV ignited my passion for RPGs after I absolutely could not get into the first FF on NES.

It's one of the most joyful things collecting retro video games, when you're able to get an item way below it's actual value/price.

It sure is. The worst (or best??) case of a mispricing I've personally encountered was in 2018 at Book Off in Torrance, CA. They had a sealed copy of Golden Sun: The Lost Age with its original $19.99 price sticker still on it. I brought it to the register expecting them to reveal the actual ludicrous price, instead they rang it up for that amount and I walked out of there as fast I could with a giant grin on my face.

Not a game, but I did encounter a case of mispricing.
In the early 2000’s I was big into Marvel Legends figures and I had a number of the rare variants.
One day I’m looking through the figures at a comic shop and see a Marvel Legends Cable variant. Normally this store would WAY overprice any variant or less common figures (typical for a comic shop), so I assumed it would be expensive…apparently whoever priced the figures totally missed that this was a variant and it was like $17, not hugely over retail. I quickly snapped it up and hoped no one would notice while I checked out (the store owner was nearby and if she saw the error I can guarantee she would NOT have honored the price tag and would have immediately upcharged me).

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General / Re: You guys ever get stuck in like a gaming rut?

« on: March 21, 2022, 11:38:08 am »

Yeah, I usually tend to get in a gaming “rut” after I spend a long time on one game, like after finishing an RPG or something. I’ll aimlessly jump from one game to another, playing each for a bit until I end up focusing on something again. Or sometimes I’ll go back and retry a game I had abandoned.

Currently playing through the whole Mass Effect Legendary Edition which is obviously taking a while, but I’m not expecting a rut this time since I have many other things lined up; I took time out of Tales of Arise to play ME, and I took time out of the latest Blasphemous DLC to play Tales of Arise, plus I haven’t even tried all the games on my Coregrafx Mini yet. So no rut in sight for a while.

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General / Re: Retro and semi-retro game compilations you want to see

« on: March 15, 2022, 06:27:03 pm »

The Konami Beat ‘em Up Collection

- Metamorphic Force
- Asterix
- Bucky O’Hare
- Gaiapolis
- Violent Storm

Capcom Beat ‘em Up Bundle 2
- Alien vs Predator
- Cadillacs & Dinosaurs
- D&D Chronicles of Mystara
- D&D Shadow Over Mystara
- D&D Tower of Doom
- The Punisher

Yeah, these won’t happen due to licensing issues. I can dream.