The Bill's Now Playing Video Game Thread (Now with Bames)

[caldwell.the.great]

I remember playing SoTN around the time it came out. Loved that game - never played any of the sequels. Makes the DS look very attractive.

[Wang Mandu]

Play Police Quest 4, caldwell. I will never forget that main villain.

[caldwell.the.great]

cool - maybe I will jump to that one next. I'm taking a bit of a break from Baldur's Gate. Not sure how much further I have to go, but I felt the need to detective work and wanted something along the lines of Gabriel Knight + more detective style puzzles. Police Quest 1 just didn't hit the mark.

[The Bill]

Why does the PSOne version of SOTN look and sound better than the 360 version

The colors, man, the colors.

Going to have to do something about this.

[copstache]

the 360 version is a pretty shitty port. it's serviceable but there was a lot of random crap about it that bothered me

[FVBTVS]

i thought it was just me.

[The Bill]

PS3 has the graphics smoothing option, so the 360 actually holds no advantage. I'm 99% sure I'm going to delete the 360 version and start anew with this one. Why not. I even think there's stuff in the background that wasn't in the 360 version.

Do all the PSOne classics have the graphics smoothing?

[copstache]

Ugh what is wrong with you? Pixels look just fine.

[caldwell.the.great]

anyone running into this flickering graphics problem on Dark Souls right now?

[The Schwartz]

yep its pretty dumb

[caldwell.the.great]

just read that if you play offline it disappears
guess i'm going to play offline until this shit resolves

last thing i need starting up is an invasion
i'm starting as a cleric just because, but i get the feeling i'll be starting new characters as I go in and discover what effect my choices have had

[The Bill]

Ugh what is wrong with you? Pixels look just fine.

Not so much stretched out on my HDTV, if I can help it. I preferred a smooth shaved pussy... Um, I mean pixel.

[riley-o]

Just inverted the castle

[The Bill]

Just inverted the castle

I'm going to play from scratch via the PSOne version. Silly, I know, but I find the game to be such a master piece that I want the true experience. Even if it is an extra bird flying in the background or more bass in the soundtrack. Come on, though, Dual Shock's D-Pad is a game changer.

[valgalder]

I just looked at Dawn of Sorrow on youtube and the thing looks just like SOTN. ORDERED.

Aria of Sorrow comes before it, and is in the same style. So are Circle of the Moon, and Harmony of Dissonance (though I think they came after). Konami realized the hit formula they had with SotN and developed these DS titles to be subtly improved versions/sequels. All are awesome and worth playing.

Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission are excellent as well.

Here is my ranking of all the Metroidvania games.

1. SOTN - No question about it. I slightly prefer the Saturn import version, even though the graphics are slightly worse (no transparencies) but does have some cool extra stuff, and having a blast playing as Maria though the game right now.
2. Aria of Sorrow - GBA - not a hard game, but loved the soul collecting thing, and found it to add a lot to the game. Best one for GBA for sure.
3. Order of Ecclesia - DS - - back to being hard again - bosses are a fucking ass kicker. love that you can visit other areas, towns and stuff.
4. Dawn of Sorrow - DS - follows the Aria very nicely. The seal stuff is kinda dumb, that's a stupid way to add in touch screen support, but otherwise, really great game. Could possibly be better than Aria, but for whatever reason I have a soft spot for Aria.
5. Portrait of Ruin - DS - good game, but for some reason I don't think I ever finished it. I dig that you can switch between multiple characters at any time, but the way they utilized it kinda felt cheap. Will have to revisit.
6. Harmony of Dissonance - GBA - Not nearly as good or in depth as Aria and on, but good for a handheld. More playable than Circle, but not a favorite.
7. Circle of the Moon - GBA - the first GBA game in the series and the first CV game since SOTN in that style. Not bad, but I don't like the card system bullshit. graphics weren't very good, even for GBA. Honestly never finished this one either.

[Friendly Goatus]

where's metroid

sacrilege

[valgalder]

Super Metroid is all you need.

[guardianoftheblind]

Super Metroid is all you need.

basically, yes

[Friendly Goatus]

The GBA metroid's at better than at least half of the GBA/DS castlevanias. And ya, super metroid is the best. I'm not sure if it's objectively better or if it's nostalgia talking though.

[FVBTVS]

plugged in my snes the other day and started checking out all my games. all of my saved games from ff2 and super metroid etc are still there. f zero record times. fucking unplugged that shit right away. too much feel

[valgalder]

no, it's objectively better for sure. GBA Metroid games MAY be better than Circle or Harmony, but no way they are better than Aria and on. Honestly never finished either GBA metroid games though.

[copstache]

fusion and zero mission are both killer. good pull on order of ecclesia, that's one of my favorites

[copstache]

and to follow that up, either of those are better than harmony, circle, and portrait, easily. zero mission is worth about 6.5 circle the moons.

[The Bill]

I know for a fact SOTN PS1 was different and better backgrounds. I read up on it and they had to tweak shit in order to pass XBLA size limit at the time. Fuck you, Microsoft. You're lucky to even be graced with a port of this game at the time. They should have bendef over backwards to Konami in order to get additional content, not limit it.

[Spooky Apparition]

i'm starting as a cleric just because, but i get the feeling i'll be starting new characters as I go in and discover what effect my choices have had

i assume clerics are good for faith builds? i had a lot of fun with a faith/strength build... helped a lot of people beat bosses and leveled up the sun bros covenant for cool miracles and used a +15 demon's great axe that dropped from the taurus demon. the healing miracles are pretty damn useful too, especially in PVP/co-op