Omega
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I got a Vita TV recently and hacked it to put a larger memory card into it. I’ve been using it as a small PS1.
I didn’t really want to hack it with emulators because it’s extra work and their actual PS1 catalog is quite expensive. But a few games that I own physically were never made available. Or in a couple cases, the digital games were blocked from Vitas for some reason.
I felt like Morrowind struck a great balance between clunk and depth. Skyrim was polished but had no depth.
Something like Kingdom Come Deliverance feels way more clunky to me, but has far less appeal to general audiences than the Elder Scroll games. Although, there are extremely passionate fans of it, so there’s obviously still a market for that kind of game.
I love the inFamous games. inFamous 2 in particular is in my top 5. I’m trying to remember some of the choices, but some of them are execute the mass murderer or not in one (or multiple) cases. But also, they have a variation of the trolley problem which I thought was a nice touch. The ultimate decision in 2 is pretty extreme, but it’s also the culmination of two games worth of selfish vs selfless decisions.
The biggest morality question though is whether to use area of effect vs precision damage.
Having said that, I think it’s interesting how these two games are so similar on a surface level. But in my experience, most people heavily prefer one or the other. I remember my friend and I were each obsessed with one of the two franchises when they came out, but neither of us were interested in the other.
Side note: inFamous 2 had a standalone DLC which just used the map from 2 with an entirely new powerset, and it was awesome. But it was a lot shorter than a full game. However, I remember losing interest in Bioshock 2 because it felt like I was just replaying the first game.
https://www.thegameawards.com/nominees/best-independent-game
Balatro (Winner)
Animal Well
Neva
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
UFO 50
I kind of love the early game. If I see a particularly difficult room, usually it’s a treasure room and you can back out or take the challenge. The two real objectives are get gold or kill a boss.
RL2 feels a lot bigger and more dependent on longer marathon runs and more strategic builds. For me it’s still a lot of fun, but not nearly the same cozy feel. Plus there are other challenges that seem mandatory for progression. Having said that, I have not touched the difficulty sliders.
I’m going to give a possibly controversial opinion. But my favorite casual game to play is Rogue Legacy.
If you accept that you know you’ll die a lot, it’s a lot less stressful. Outside of that, it’s extremely player friendly. It’s not too complicated. There’s progression. You have runs that end and give you a place to stop. You can turn it off anytime without needing to worry too much about losing progress. It has platforming.
Consoles are just a consistent standard. Developers know what they’re developing for, they know their constraints, customers know all the games will play on it, it will look good on a standard TV, they know the games will play well with their controller, they know the digital store, etc, etc, etc.
Everything is standardized, everything works.
That’s ignoring the console support for exclusives, which Xbox has severely fallen behind on compared to the others.
Considering the controversial mechanics and the protagonist with trust issues, that opinion is pretty opposite of what I expect to hear generally speaking.
I love the mechanics too. But I found the cast to be pretty relatable either for myself or for people I deal with. I thought the story, particularly Squall’s evolution and internal conflict, to be fascinating and cause for self reflection.
In 7, Tifa and Aerith and interesting. Both anesthetics that are polar opposites of their personalities, and story appropriate too. Aerith in particular giving off major “preacher’s daughter” vibes. But outside of those two, I can’t imagine being able to identify with a single other cast member. I didn’t particularly like the story either after Cosmo Canyon.
Probably 80%-90% of 13-2 is its own story. One of the main characters was a side character and largely uninvolved in the original. The other main character is an original character. The enemy is original. The very ending is relevant, but summed up with a little bit extra.
The biggest thing you’re missing out on is the context of random characters from the first game showing up in the second.
Rogue Legacy does it for me in a pinch.
The Last of Us does too, but I tend to zone out and take my time sneaking around or observing stuff. So I don’t play it unless I know I have a lot of time to waste.
Sound Shapes did it for me too, but I haven’t played in awhile.
Monster Hunter World once I got down the controls/equipment well enough that I didn’t have to think about them. But once I dropped it, I didn’t go back because I don’t have time to relearn.
Halo Reach would take my time for hundreds of hours back in the day. It’s a unfortunate/fortunate that the Master Chief Collection doesn’t include multi-team in matchmaking.
Xcom was a good one too during missions. I have some great war stories from that game. My first encounter with chryssalids was straight out of a horror movie. Quickly went FUBAR and barely got one soldier out alive.
I won’t spend top dollar on digital games. I’m giving up a lot, so I demand lower prices.
I’m curious what the split is on new games though. I know there’s a 90% digital metric that gets thrown around. But I think that’s a lot of cheaper games and sales. I want to know what the split is on full priced games.
I assume it doesn’t work anymore. But you would set your PSP to ad-hoc, go into ad-hoc party on your PS3, find someone in a lobby with your game, and your PSP would act as if it found a local connection.