Having a bit of an in-between day today (busy the next three days and struggled to start Deus Ex yesterday) so I listened to my gut and ended up playing Tomb Raider Chronicles.
I've got a half-finished playthrough of Tomb Raider II which I was gonna chip away at, but fonder childhood memories of Lara's PSone swansong drew me back to the opening Rome chapter. I also remember it being much easier than all the other classics (a common criticism which I obviously never minded, as I prefer spectacle over challenge).
Sure enough, over the course of a lazy hour, I'd cleared two of the three Rome levels without having to reach for my nearby shelf of Prima Strategy Guides (remember them?). Some of my success was thanks to nostalgic recollection, but other parts I genuinely drew a blank on. When I reached Trajan's Markets, I had absolutely no clue where to go or what to do, which only confused me further when I reached the final boss fight against Larson and the three-headed serpent and knew it off by heart, line for line, shot for shot. We all joke about my Dad's selective deafness, but selective forgetfulness is a new one. Maybe I'm just getting old.
Chronicles has always drawn flack for being the last, exhausted hurrah of a developer so very, very fed up of making the same game for half a decade (seriously, go read some of the interviews with Core Design staff... you'll never see the phrase "contractual obligation" used with more loathing) but I'm grateful that it exists. It's a light, easy reminder of a particular era of gaming, a condensed pick-up-and-play version of four previous epics which themselves are becoming increasingly difficult to wrestle with as time passes and technology advances.
I've got so much else in my backlog that I'm supposed to be playing, but I may stick with Chronicles when I get back after the weekend. At the very least, I wanna see Rome through and, if memory serves, the second chapter is the Russian submarine (another short, punchy childhood favourite).
Just wish auto-pilot didn't have me reaching for a non-existent Photo Mode every thirty seconds.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@Th3solution It varies. My preferred method is playing a PSone Classic downloaded from PSN to my PS3, because I know it's gonna work.
That's how I'm playing Tomb Raider Chronicles, as all five of Lara's original adventures are available on PSN and were on sale for £2 each a couple years ago (such a bargain). I've also got Metal Gear Solid on my PSP and PS3, as well as a host of other classic platformers on the bigger console, like all of the original Crash and Spyro games.
I have quite a few PSone discs lined up on my shelves, roughly twenty or so, but no PSone to play them on; I use a PS2 Slim and a PS3 Super-Slim. Alas, the backwards-compatibility software in those consoles isn't perfect, so some of the old games develop interesting glitches (Star Wars: Episode I - Jedi Power Battles will randomly remove all enemies from a level before freezing, whilst the two Medal of Honour games often mute all sound effects, leaving only the beautiful score and making some of the levels oddly haunting as a result). Most of them work fine, though.
For all my OCD and doing things properly, having two consoles which played (or purported to play) PSone games was enough for me to give my PSone to my brother. Finding those occasional games that glitch out is a little disappointing, but it isn't enough for me to go foraging for original hardware, not when there are other retro consoles that I've never even owned before (like a Nintendo64).
Never even considered using my PC, though. I'm guessing that'd take some kind of third-party emulation software, which'd likely make me nervous about trying.
Why'd you ask (he casually drops in after yet another wall of text, sorry)?
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger I was just curious. I thought to myself that I ought to revisit the original Tomb Raider games but didn’t know how to do so. I have a PS3 slim which I almost never use. My Vita would also seem a decent option. Crossing my fingers about the PS5 having full BC for all generations other than the PS3, since the pesky cell processor will surely make it unrealistic for last gen.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution I'd imagine playing them on PS Vita might be quite neat, providing the rear touchpad makes for a decent-enough L2 and R2. I personally prefer the PS3 because then at least the controller is almost identical to the original (and you can't use the analogue sticks... okay, you can, but the grid-based design of the classics makes analogue control too erratic for me, so I'd say the D-Pad is a must).
But I, too, am hopeful for the PlayStation5 and better backwards-compatibility. I'm also thinking that, now the reboots have concluded, there might be a re-release / upscale / remake of Lara's original adventures in a couple years, to keep the franchise ticking over until they figure out what to do next.
Just checked the US PlayStation Store for you; there are four of the five PSone Tomb Raider games available as PSone Classics for PS3, PSP and PS Vita. For some reason, America doesn't get Tomb Raider Chronicles, it's missing from your store. They're $5.99 each, except for the first one which is $9.99 (I'm guessing because it's likely to be the one most folks will buy out of curiosity and / or nostalgia).
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger Thanks for checking on that. That’s kind of you. I wonder why Chronicles is missing - especially since the port exists in Europe already.
It would be nice if they patched trophies into the games. It would motivate me a little more to give them a try. Surely if they do a re-release or upscale for PS4 or PS5 it will have trophies (a la the PS1 Final Fantasy games); and we need the same treatment for Metal Gear Solid, btw. Since Sony flubbed the PlayStation Classic so epically, maybe they will get working on that.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Doom 3 went in a slightly different direction and is more of a horror game @KratosMD from what I've heard, never played it myself. Still a First-Person Shooter mind you but might be a bit slower then DOOM 1 or 2!
Probably a good idea to get it on PS4 unless it works great with a pro controller or something? (Don't have a switch so I'm not sure about any of your controls and the likes)
@Th3solution I did a little more Google work (always happy to help) and word on the digital street is that Tomb Raider Chronicles is absent from the American PS Store because the game never reached "Greatest Hits" status (meaning it never sold more than 250,000 copies in the US market) whereas the previous four had done so, and comfortably.
The game did sell enough copies to earn a "Platinum" re-release (our version of "Greatest Hits", but to qualify a game needed total worldwide sales exceeding 400,000) which is why it appears on our PS Store, because it's inside that different arbitrary bracket.
And you're absolutely right; as somebody with a half-finished save file on one and now currently and somewhat randomly playing another, trophies would definitely give me a little extra focus to play through them from start to finish, and play them properly. In the opening Rome level of Chronicles, I reached a point where I remembered a little backtracking for a secret item... and then promptly ran in the opposite direction, thinking "What's the point? It's for an art gallery I can see online now." As ashamed as I am to admit this, I'd have gone back if it contributed towards a silver trophy.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Tagging @Th3solution because this morning, I started inFAMOUS on PS3.
First impressions are pretty good. I haven't progressed very far, but I've taken care to familiarise myself with the controls and Cole's abilities (those he starts with; I notice a heck of a lot of greyed-out stuff on the Powers menu). There were two surprises; first, the environmental movement, which is super-smooth and fluid, affording me a grace I didn't expect from nearly two generations ago (but I perhaps should've expected, what with it being a Sucker Punch game and all). I guess it's been long enough that "early PS3 = clunky retro gameplay" in my head. My mistake!
Secondly, knowing very little about the game or its sequels, for some reason I expected a combo-based brawler... not the cover-based third-person shooter I seem to be playing, at least this early in the game. Took me three combat encounters to even find my melee button, at which point I was promptly dumped in a sewer system with little room to indulge it. I've noticed that a lot of the upgradable skills do things like add lightning blades to my arms and whatnot, so I'm assuming I'll have a lot more variety as things progress, but blasting away at villains on rooftops and getting +5 XP for headshots was not something I expected to be doing at all.
That's not a complaint, though. The controls are a little loosey-goosey for my tastes but, after some tweaking of the settings, I'm adapting. The rapid-fire establishment of the premise has drawn me in, and it looks pretty darn great, too (put it forward as another footnote in the "Good Lighting Makes Anything Gorgeous" dissertation).
Will be carrying on this evening, most definitely.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@KratosMD Yeah, a couple folk around here reacted with shock when I admitted to never having played the series, so I downloaded them all (the first, second and the Festival of Blood, whatever that is) before Sony inevitably switch off the PS3's Store. Beyond seeing posters on the sides of bus shelters and the occasional clip in a sizzle reel, I knew almost nothing about them, but can see why people like 'em and can only imagine how gorgeous Second Son is gonna be on PS4.
I shall look forward to the sequel as I forge ahead, thanks!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger I will not say the series developed like Uncharted did (not even close), but it gets better from the second game on. I'll keep looking back in this thread for more impressions.
@RogerRoger Thanks for your Infamous impressions. It sounds very much like my my first impressions. And yes, I initially thought it would be more of a brawler or combo builder (akin to Arkham Asylum and Spider-Man), but I think the first infamous came out pre-Arkham, so yes - get used to it because the melee is definitely secondary to the third person shooting. Like you say, it’s not a criticism of the game necessarily, but it plays a little bit different in the combat part of things. And the different power ups / super moves add some nice variety too. How do you find the climbing / scaling / parkour? I remember thinking it was a bit “sticky” and it took some getting used to also.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@KratosMD Thanks for the information, particularly about where to play Festival of Blood as the PSN bundle wasn't specific, and I thought it was an expansion to the first game, so I'd have played it first and been rather confused as a result. Bullet dodged, cheers!
@Kidfried I do an awesome Palpatine and a passable Mr. Burns and Smithers from The Simpsons and... wait, you're talking about my impressions of the game, aren't you?
@Th3solution I like the variety in combat because, as you forewarned, this is a game of its time and nowadays, many of the side quests and open world sandbox mechanics would feel incredibly tired. When I reached a building and had to remove twelve surveillance devices from around its walls, I thought to myself "that was actually kinda fun... maybe there'll be one of these per island" but three more buildings in the same neighbourhood later and yeah, I can see what you were talking about. So it being primarily a shooter and not a brawler is mixing things up in a good way. Helps it feel unique in my back-catalogue.
The parkour works really well for me, mainly because I just point in the direction I wanna climb and hammer X until Cole gets to where I wanted him to go. I don't really mind whether it takes five or ten seconds to watch the traversal animations, and it's nowhere near the most imprecise or sticky climbing I've ever encountered before. As I said, Cole's movement in general was a little loose at first, but I've played a good three-ish hours now and so I'm settling in nicely.
Couple of additional observations, though.
After I'd finished rushing the bridge at the beginning, whilst on my way back along its underside, the game paused and told me that, based on my performance thusfar, it was automatically increasing the difficulty level from Normal to Hard. You what...?! Get away from my settings!
I'm glad I decreased things back to Normal right away, as some of the side quests I've been doing have gotten really challenging. There was one where somebody lured me to a graveyard for an ambush and I just couldn't survive the sudden onslaught. Another tasked me with chasing down and destroying a tanker truck, but said truck was constantly protected by respawning high-level enemies of multiple types (grenadiers, conduits, rocket launchers, the lot). By the time I'd thinned the herd, it had driven a further three blocks, allowing everybody to pop back in again... rinse, repeat, etc. and there's no way in heck I'm ever playing this on Hard. I don't even wanna think about how omniscient the enemy couriers would become!
One neat-yet-frustrating touch is that the more of the city I make crime-free, the higher the concentration of enemies in the remaining areas. It's making my commutes between objective markers more of a puzzle, because now cutting the odd corner of some red-outlined streets could (and has, twice) resulted in me getting a face full of truck-mounted minigun.
Anyway, that's enough rambling for now. I wanna play more, because it's really fun!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
It's an RPG with Monster Catching Battling... But with Flutes and lutes!
You play as Levant
Though he's renamable! and well... His home village gets attacked by the Locusts Of The Apocalypse, The Onibubu, so he's quickly married to his friend Mahbu (She's voiced by Michelle Ruff in english! (Yukari Takeba in Persona 3, Rukia Kuchiki in Bleach, Velvet in Odin Sphere and Sadayo Kawakami in Persona 5 to name a few other roles))
Made into a Cocoon master and sent into the nearby Beetle, Dragonfly, Spider and Moth forests that contain monsters or Divine Beasts, to find a cure to the sickness that has taken hold of the village!
Expect a coming of age-y story from the game, with pretty heavy religiousy themes along with honour, duty and tradition with plot points that include reincarnation, the evils of man & the darkness in people's hearts, Divine Spirits and even an upside down tree!
Oh and ya know... You seal monsters into cocoons using your flute and use them to fight and can merge your monsters together to change or add new skills, make your monsters attributes change, give them joint elemental affinties and even change your monsters appearance
Here's the opening to show it off a little more
Now... ya might be thinking "Scotchy that looks a lot like Studio Ghibli... but they only did the animation for Ni-No-Kuni!" and technically you're correct (the best kind of correct).
But the game had a collaboration with artist Katsuya Kondō who did character designs for Kiki's Delivery Service and I Can Hear the Sea
And yeah... It's fun... Pretty rare to find nowadays too (Least it is the UK). It only got onto the japanese store of the PS1 classics on PS3... So... Good luck finding a copy if you're interested
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Oh my god, do you ever, like, COMPLETELY forget the existence of something until someone mentions it, and then you just get this rush of memories and emotions and whatnot?
That's me right now.
I LOVED this game as a kid. It has to have been... 16 or 17 years since I played it. I probably actually still have it on my shelf, come to think of it, and never paid the box a second thought when I was unpacking it between moves.
The PS1 had a lot of great monster collecting/raising/battling games. Also really love Dragon Seeds and Monster Rancher 2.
Ha! I love it too as a grown woman, discovered it on an Official Playstation Magazine Uk Disc @Ralizah alongside a demo for Crash team Racing!
Managed to snap up a copy on holiday for £15 like four years later and it honestly made that rather crummy holiday worth it :')
It's what I'd consider my first RPG! (I don't count Pokémon for some reason).
I... Think I've heard of Monster Rancher? Did it get an anime with like a little pink duck like thing with a leaf on it's back and a yellow eyeball monster? Never heard of the other one though... You americans got a bunch of stuff we never did... Honestly I'm surprised Jade Cocoon got over here
You played Jade Cocoon 2 on PS2? Cus it's hopefully what I'm gonna play after this once I'm done seeing as it's fairly short at like 15-20 hours
Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I... actually had no idea there WAS a Jade Cocoon 2. I'll wait your impressions. If it's as good as the original, I'll keep my eyes peeled.
Dragon Seeds was super niche even here in the U.S., so don't be surprised you haven't heard of it. It was mainly a game where you bred dragons for combat purposes. The battles were intense rock/paper/scissors-esque affairs where you had to try to predict your opponent's next move and counter it with your own. Not the best game ever made, but it had a pretty good soundtrack.
Monster Rancher did, indeed, have an anime adaptation (which sucked), but the games were probably the closest thing to true monster raising sims I've ever played, considering your trained, fed, played with, and battled your monsters (as in, used them to battle other people's monsters, ala Pokemon), and you can stick with them through their entire life cycles (people moan about Aeris getting skewered by Sephiroth, but, let me tell you, nothing in a game will ever shock me as much as when I discovered that the monsters you spend so much time raising can actually die of old age; they can also die in battles if they go particularly wrong, and the monsters will sometimes run away if you're especially strict and uncaring toward them). The gimmick of the series was that you generated monsters from "disc stones," which, on the PS1, meant CDs and other PS1 games at the time. In the PS2 sequels, I believe this expanded to include DVDs as well. Anyway, the game would generate a unique monster based off something in the disc's data, so you could actually keep elaborate lists of what discs contained what monsters.
All-in-all, it's an INSANELY cool little series. Top of my list for pie in the sky announcements for me would be the announcement of a PS4 or PS5 current-gen Monster Rancher game.
Just looked it up @Ralizah Monster Rancher 2 came to the UK. It was the only one of the series to do so though and so it was just called Monster Rancher. Also it's like £60-100 for a used copy of it... with a sealed one going for £600! 😂
Jade Cocoon 2 was/is... different to say the least. I'll have to put my all into that review/impressions for you!
Just got in the Beetle Forest in Jade Cocoon and got that weird blue little mushroom like monster so I can get some healing skills now... Gonna merge it with my the insecty one that's right at the start
I love the fact merging in this actually puts them together not just gives one or or the other with a slight recolour like most games do... It's pretty neat
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy@Ralizah Ha, I also played the demo copy of Jade Cocoon loads of times and have never heard of it anywhere else since. There were a few games I knew like that with Tombi (or Tomba outside of the UK I think) being another. The demo for that game was so long and I completed it far too many times.
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