smoreon

This has been (unofficially) ported to PC under the name "Severed Chains". It has QoL and performance improvements over the original, apparently, with more to come!

@Kelrics90 You can buy PS1 and PS2 games outright on PS4/5 for about $10-20 each, no subscription required. I'd expect that this will apply to PS3 games as well, if they ever get them running locally via emulation.

@ilyn Why does it need to be one or the other? What about something more Sega-like? They did sleek-looking systems that were more than just a plain black box, yet were simpler than... whatever the PS5 was going for, with its weird edges and angles and curves all over.

It would be great if they added the option to switch to original graphics this time. Nothing against the remade graphics, even, but the originals looked like they had a lot of character and style, and unlike the original PD (playable via PD Orta on modern Xboxes), Zwei has no modern release.

I would've even been happy with the original "trilogy" presented basically as-is, with just HD rendering and 60fps as the only enhancements.

@UnlimitedSevens Two generations ago, maybe. Lots of people were talking about framerates 3-4 gens ago (back in 2000 or so), however! I distinctly remembered magazines and online reviews alike mentioning them, and a bit of browsing old issues of EGM just recently has confirmed this.

In the PS3 era (two gens ago), everyone became obsessed with HD, and game performance tanked: most games were down to sub-30fps, and load times were slower than the previous generation. Some of us absolutely did care about smooth performance, even back then, but you're right that it didn't hold the same mainstream interest.

But eventually, games started to perform well again: the PS5 and Series X are obviously much more powerful than the previous gen, but graphics and physics tech (especially at launch in 2020) hasn't evolved enough to really warrant trashing the framerate, plus more players have been "spoiled" by having a generation where 60fps is more common than ever.* 60fps is not only very attainable, but also expected.

I can't say I care about >60fps ultra-high performance and UHD pixel counting, but going from 30 to 60 fps is absolutely transformative, both to the visual clarity and to the perceived speed and responsiveness of the gameplay. 60fps should always be the baseline, and then devs can build from there. It's not like any games out there are pushing game-changing design concepts that couldn't run at 60.

*60fps is more common than ever... except for maybe the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.

@ryan_nil "Detachable" = "You have to pay $100 extra for it".

It's surprising to see Phantasia ranked so low in the poll.
Isn't the GBA version still its only western release, even to this day?

It would be great to see literally any other version used as a base for a remaster (since they all had much better graphics/audio than the GBA), with the opening song left intact this time. Though I'm conflicted on the voice acting, as the English acting in the GBA version was so wonderfully awful. I kind of want to see that come back, assuming the source files still exist.

@PuppetMaster After the Gigaleak, Nintendo probably deleted all of their old stuff, just to make sure it would never fall into any hands, ever.

@Wiceheid Japanese is left-to-right, just like English.
There are cases where they read the lines/panels in a right-to-left order, like manga, as well as that old-fashioned vertical text you see on scrolls or whatever, so that might be where the confusion comes in. But even then, each line is read in what we'd consider the "normal" direction.

@NEStalgia Yeah, B before A has always been a bit weird. I guess it's because the primary function is usually jump, and it feels better to have it to the right of the secondary?

Speaking of which, what I meant is that putting the B button sharply down and to the left of A is uncomfortable. I've always felt that B/attack should be higher than A/jump (a la N64), or at least roughly level (NES, GameCube).

Considering that Nintendo suddenly started mapping a lot of "A" functions onto B with their SNES games, it would seem that they agreed.

@NEStalgia Considering that even Nintendo themselves apparently realized their layout was nonsense from day 1, yet went with it anyway, I'd say to get mad at them.

To elaborate, Super Mario World used B as the jump button, seemingly acknowledging that it was uncomfortable to have A (the primary button) on the right. Same deal with F-Zero, which also broke the NES conventions by mapping accelerate to B. And these games were developed alongside the hardware!

To this day, most action games seem to put jump on the bottom (B for Nintendo) and attack on the left (Y), even on Nintendo systems, but it can vary.

@kenniekayoz Is she actually your ex, or your cross?
(Sorry, couldn't help it.)

Always fun to act as an interpreter when diehard PlayStation players are trying to adjust to Xbox layouts!

I've played enough of all three that I'm usually fine with the button names themselves... but nonsense like putting the jump/confirm button on the right isn't ergonomical at all!

PS: Obligatory mention that the oldest PS1 manuals said that it's pronounced "EKS".

Sly cooper was 60fps on PS2, and from the bit of new footage I've seen, it's still 60fps on PS5. Rare screw-up from DF, it seems.

@AhmadSumadi @Truegamer79 They did that weird modern trailer over five years ago... but there were other trailers before that, going back to 2008!

@Korgon It's fitting that you'd call GOW2 the GOAT, considering its launch party...

@Rich33 This gets missed a lot. Gone are the days of massive leaps in fidelity- now, each new system can either run last-gen games smoothly, or it can push the envelope a little further at the expense of performance.

There was only one time in gaming history when we had a huge, transformative leap in graphics, resolution, and performance, all at the same time. (That being the jump from 5th to 6th gen.) It was unprecedented, and I can confidently say we'll never see that happen again.

EDIT: Just want to add that I've been happy overall with the quality of game graphics ever since 2001, and I agree that the PS5 and Series X are perfectly fine and capable. All the games have to do is run smoothly, and preferably look somewhat decent, and I'm fine with them not being loaded with cutting-edge ray tracing and whatnot.

Even with the patch, this menu just sounds like all the same option, repeated four times in different wording.

I haven't played it, but I assume the first two will drop you right into the current battle, the third will kick you back to before the encounter (allowing for some last-minute grinding or stocking up), and the fourth just takes the loss and gets you kicked back to the inn with some money lost?

@IndoorEnthusiast Yeah, the glitch I encountered kept happening by accident! I didn't know there was another way.
Oh, well, an hour's worth of attempts is still a decent amount of time saved, considering the alternative of not using the glitch! 😅

@IndoorEnthusiast That last mission seemed literally impossible: between the car's sluggish handling, the weather conditions, police cars spawning in at every intersection, and the length of the mission, it's like it was tailored to be as awful as possible. (I was also playing on a pretty bad TV, which can't have helped.)

I'm guessing you also beat it by driving in the void outside the walls?
I tried to pass the mission fully legitimately, but after the cops pushed me through the wall for the second or third time, I just headed for the goal and never looked back!

"any games downloadable within emulators"
This should be a non-issue for any reputable emulator out there, at least going by this description of the rules!

@Melee_Ace I think I get where you're coming from, and I at least partially agree. There are plenty of classics that we missed the first time around, and I'm just happy to see that they're made available again!

Whether a game needs upgrades and bonuses depends- at least for me- on these criteria:

• Some games hold up really well, and only need HD/4K/widescreen support added, if even that.
• If a game ran poorly in its original form, it should also be bumped up to 60fps or higher.
• If I already own a game, then the remaster needs to either add a significant amount of bonus content, or boost the framerate.
• The above criteria are a lot easier to forgive/ignore, if the game/collection is cheap enough (see the $6 PS1 games on the PS3 store)!

Taking Mega Man Legends 1&2 for example, I've been on the fence. If they were under $10, or if they were boosted to run at 60fps, it'd be an instant buy for me. As-is, they're a bit steep for being so barebones, though I'll probably get them eventually.
If they were being sold for $50, with no enhancements, I'd simply say "forget it"!

Major necropost, but it needs to be said that the actual instruction manuals for early PlayStation games called it "EKS BUTTON". Check your long box manuals, or online scans of them if you don't own any.

I've seen this in both Raiden Project and Ridge Racer, but there are no doubt many more.

I don't think TLoU2 is for me, but I have to say that it's great to see cut content being added back in as a bonus feature. This should become the norm!

I don't doubt that it's usually impractical to finish or even just clean/patch up the prototype content to make it suitable for players, but I know I'm not alone in just wanting this stuff to be made available, even as-is.
Make the cut content or betas unlockable (i.e., require the player to finish the main story first), put them in the back of the Extras menu, and slap on a big disclaimer saying that it's all WIP.

@Theaussiegamer92 Nice of you to assume that they actually make games.

@AhmadSumadi Who wouldn't want to play as a character with hot Witcher powers? (I can see it's a typo, but I couldn't resist.)

More seriously, I find "empty vessel" characters (like you see in a lot of JRPGs) to be really bland and immersion-breaking. I don't think player-created characters specifically are the issue itself, but rather adjacent to the issue. I do see where you're coming from, though.
And ironically, a defined character like Geralt- just with the ability for me to make choices and shape his approach to different situations- can actually put me in the game a lot more effectively than those empty vessel types.

@naruball Thanks, that makes a lot of sense for your use case.

I'm guessing you have a bigger living room, with the TV fairly far from the couch... in a lot of smaller/shallower living rooms (such as my own), a second monitor could be placed near the couch without being a total eyesore (or distraction), but I could see that not working in a lot of cases!

Of course, there's also the matter of having to be in the same room while doing separate activities, which I find is a "YMMV" thing.

I get that many households have more people than TVs, but for $200, why not buy a good secondary monitor instead, for a better experience?
Or, you could just get a decent budget monitor for half that!

The advantages of physical have been eroding for a while now:

• Many games have bugs/issues (or don't work at all) without internet.
• Flimsy cases, with no manuals or extra goodies
• DRM-free digital games on PC are possibly the best choice for longevity.
• Deep, deep discounts on digital stores, if you wait a while

I still find it baffling that so many people will pay full price for digital games, though. Why pay $80 for "nothing", when you could at least get something for that money?

@rjejr What it says on the box: "Immortals of Aveum"
What we see: "Champions of Legends"

@rjejr Similar situation. I don't know if it's the title, the relative lack of coverage, or what, but I saw a mention of this game recently, and immediately thought it was some online hero shooter thing. It took a second to go, "oh, wait, didn't I see before that this was a decent-looking single-player game of some kind?"

@nessisonett Yep, it's definitely not warm.

@BlueBeemer I mentioned being able to get good performance on outdated hardware, as well as picking up a few old consoles... not sure how you got "hardware enthusiast" from any of that.
But yeah, I'm totally a super 1337 gamer, with my 8-year-old PC (3 teraflops, baby!) and Xbox One S.
(Sorry, I'll dial down the sarcasm now.)

This obviously doesn't prove a wider trend, but it seems clear to me that many, many people have both a gaming-capable PC and a recent console (most often a Switch, but PS4/5 is also common). I'm going both by online chatter, and by people I know.

@BlueBeemer Those are some really broad, general statements.
I played exclusively on consoles for years, but jumped over to PC after I got turned off by the "HD" consoles running games poorly, and the Wii... being the Wii.
For me, it's about the choice to turn the settings down and keep hitting 60fps on mid-range or outdated hardware, and about the massive back catalogue that carries over from past generations, often getting better when installed on newer hardware.

For others, it may be about having the best graphics, installing loads of mods, or even getting into gaming without spending a cent (pick up a PC on the side of the road, and start your library with some Epic/GOG giveaways).
That's the beauty of PC: its flexibility. "Have it your way."

I know that there are many who are firmly in the PC or the console camp, but I'm not convinced that the two markets are exclusive, with minimal overlap.

EDIT: Oh, and I've since picked up a few used/discounted consoles, to catch up on some of the better exclusives that I missed... though I usually go with the PC version if there is one.

@xDD90x @ItsBritneyB_tch
The existing PC version of Prince of Persia 2008 still looks great (just replayed it last year), and it only costs $2 on GOG!
Sands of Time, Warrior Within, and Two Thrones are there as well, at the same price.

Though I have to admit that it would be nice if PoP 08 had the option for better shadow quality, as it appears to be locked to the original Xbox 360's standards. Just a minor gripe.

@doctommaso Late '80s clothing, music, and cars were retro in 2006, despite being the same age as 2006 stuff is now.

Is it subjective, and we just feel like things take longer to become "retro" as we get older (as 10-20 years seems so short now)?
Or are certain aspects of culture and tech objectively changing at a slower pace? (Perhaps both?)

@__jamiie Almost every 2D console and arcade game ran at 60fps, actually, even long before the N64 came along!
But yeah, as far as 3D is concerned, 60fps wasn't seen too often on consoles until the Dreamcast and PS2 made it commonplace. F-Zero X was pretty special in that regard.

@mcdreamer Always good to see someone who remembers that 60fps gaming existed long, long before PS5 came along.

I was pretty late getting into the world of PC gaming, myself, but consoles' abandonment of 60fps gameplay was the main factor when I did switch. (Not that I don't still play on consoles, but PC is my first choice now.)