Video Game Chat Thread - Pre-Alpha Experimental Version

[Marissa Moira]

Pull ahead of what in 1997? The completely dead Saturn or the newly released N64 that had a total of two games?

Final Fantasy 7 killed the Saturn, that's part of it's legacy. The Saturn was indeed struggling in many markets prior to the release of FF7, but the playstation was still competing with it in a few up until then. I mean Sakura Wars only came out the year prior and it's sequel came out in 1998. The saturn fucking lingered around until the dreamcast, but it never recovered. Mind you the saturn had releases the same year the dreamcast was launched.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Final Fantasy 7 killed the Saturn, that's part of it's legacy. The Saturn was indeed struggling in many markets prior to the release of FF7, but the playstation was still competing with it in a few up until then. I mean Sakura Wars only came out the year prior and it's sequel came out in 1998. The saturn fucking lingered around until the dreamcast, but it never recovered. Mind you the saturn had releases the same year the dreamcast was launched.

Saturn was stillborn, not killed by FF7. If it weren't for the 32X I would call it Sega's Jaguar.

 

[Marissa Moira]

Saturn was stillborn, not killed by FF7. If it weren't for the 32X I would call it Sega's Jaguar.

That really depends on the market, in the US and Europe I'd agree, but Asia kept it alive longer than it should have. It had some sizable traction in the early years of playstation. But once FF7 came out it really had no where to go at that point. They had nothing coming out that was of equal quality to what Playstation was offering.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 on the saturn costs you an arm and a leg due to it being one of the last games released for the system. It had way more support than the 32X and Sega CD.

Dreamcast I would say was closer to being stillborn because that had the weight of the failures of it's precursors on it's shoulders and only lasted two years before global support ended. Saturn was the only post genesis console to have a significant lifespan. You had shit like Karous come out years later for the Dreamcast, but that's closer to what companies like Limited Run Games and Strictly Limited do nowadays.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

That really depends on the market, in the US and Europe I'd agree, but Asia kept it alive longer than it should have. It had some sizable traction in the early years of playstation. But once FF7 came out it really had no where to go at that point. They had nothing coming out that was of equal quality to what Playstation was offering.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 on the saturn costs you an arm and a leg due to it being one of the last games released for the system. It had way more support than the 32X and Sega CD.

Dreamcast I would say was closer to being stillborn because that had the weight of the failures of it's precursors on it's shoulders and only lasted two years before global support ended. Saturn was the only post genesis console to have a significant lifespan. You had shit like Karous come out years later for the Dreamcast, but that's closer to what companies like Limited Run Games and Strictly Limited do nowadays.

FF7 was no Halo like you make it out to be. The PSX would have been fine even if FF7 came out after DQ7.

 

[Water-T]

FF7 was no Halo like you make it out to be. The PSX would have been fine even if FF7 came out after DQ7.

The PS was doing very well by 1997, but FF7 is what put the system into the mainstream. Even my non gamer friends knew about and talked about the system after FF7 came out.

 

[Scanline]

FF7 was no Halo like you make it out to be. The PSX would have been fine even if FF7 came out after DQ7.

You're right. Total lifetime sales for just the PlayStation version of FF7 were over 10 million.

The most generous estimate I could find for Halo: Combat Evolved was a little over 6 million.

FF7 certainly was no Halo.

 

[Marissa Moira]

That's kind of the thing Final Fantasy 7 made RPGs more maintream by bringing awareness about them. This in turn is what did kind of fuck Working Designs who decided to back the Saturn originally. Final Fantasy 7 caused them to port stuff that they were not planning to port.

It's one of those rare games that wind up defining a whole genre like street fighter 2 did. You had a severe uptick of RPGs releases from Final Fantasy 7 onward with many companies trying to ride the popularity wave of JRPGs. I mean even SNK released some.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

You're right. Total lifetime sales for just the PlayStation version of FF7 were over 10 million.

The most generous estimate I could find for Halo: Combat Evolved was a little over 6 million.

FF7 certainly was no Halo.

Yeah, an attach rate of 1/3rd is nothing to sneeze at. Compare it to FF7s 1/10th. Halo sold Xboxes, that's my point, without that game things would have looked grim. PSX would have done fine without FF7, the PSX was already hugely successful despite not having the game that you people say made it able to finally slay old man Saturn.

 

[Marissa Moira]

Yeah, an attach rate of 1/3rd is nothing to sneeze at. Compare it to FF7s 1/10th. Halo sold Xboxes, that's my point, without that game things would have looked grim. PSX would have done fine without FF7, the PSX was already hugely successful despite not having the game that you people say made it able to finally slay old man Saturn.

Xbox was only around a couple years compared to PS1's 8+. It's why they ended Live so early so the 360 version of their online service could take over.

They didn't start at the same time and both were different generations.

 

[Scanline]

Yeah, an attach rate of 1/3rd is nothing to sneeze at. Compare it to FF7s 1/10th. Halo sold Xboxes, that's my point, without that game things would have looked grim. PSX would have done fine without FF7, the PSX was already hugely successful despite not having the game that you people say made it able to finally slay old man Saturn.

I didn't say anything about the PlayStation's relationship to the Saturn, mostly because I don't give a fuck.

 

[Water-T]

Sega fucked up so many times, starting with the Sega CD. It was obviously rushed in response to beating the then-upcoming SNES CD (which later got cancelled and turned into the PlayStation thanks to Nintendo bailing on their deal with Sony, creating their own worst enemy). A lot of Sega CD games were shitty FMV games with almost no replay value, relying on the OOOOH IT'S LIKE PLAYING A MOVIE! gimmick to push sales.

The 32X was another Sega fuck-up. Why release that when the Saturn was literally around the corner? They cut into their own market! All for a $150 add-on with a library that was mostly slightly better looking Genesis ports? At least when Nintendo dropped the equally stupid and pointless Virtual Boy, it was as a stop-gap for the N64, which got delayed from April 1995 to September 1996. Plus VB had a library of unique exclusives that other systems could not play, even if most of them were mediocre at best.

The Sony PlayStation was only out in Japan a few months in 1995, and on the verge of debuting in the US, and the competition got so flustered by it that they just sat there eating shit like morons and offering it to their customers like it was manna from heaven.

 

[Marissa Moira]

that they just sat there eating shit like morons and offering it to their customers like it was manna from heaven.

Well to be fair Nintendo uses this same strategy even today.

 

[Foxymophandlemama]

Sega fucked up so many times, starting with the Sega CD. It was obviously rushed in response to beating the then-upcoming SNES CD (which later got cancelled and turned into the PlayStation thanks to Nintendo bailing on their deal with Sony, creating their own worst enemy). A lot of Sega CD games were shitty FMV games with almost no replay value, relying on the OOOOH IT'S LIKE PLAYING A MOVIE! gimmick to push sales.

The 32X was another Sega fuck-up. Why release that when the Saturn was literally around the corner? They cut into their own market! All for a $150 add-on with a library that was mostly slightly better looking Genesis ports? At least when Nintendo dropped the equally stupid and pointless Virtual Boy, it was as a stop-gap for the N64, which got delayed from April 1995 to September 1996. Plus VB had a library of unique exclusives that other systems could not play, even if most of them were mediocre at best.

The Sony PlayStation was only out in Japan a few months in 1995, and on the verge of debuting in the US, and the competition got so flustered by it that they just sat there eating shit like morons and offering it to their customers like it was manna from heaven.

It was all a matter of too soon, or too late. It happens in the market. A lot of people said that the RE4 was better in Game Cube than in PS2. but the latter was more popular due to being DVD-Disk than the Mini Disk. A lot of stuff in market depends, also, in timing.
Also I think it depends on release dates, but I'm far too drink to remember them. Anyways, I think most of it is dumb decisions that you wouldn't have a vision later on, so it's kinda hard. Maybe a matter of luck, also, lol

 

[Pissmaster]

Plus VB had a library of unique exclusives that other systems could not play, even if most of them were mediocre at best.

Everything on Virtual Boy was an exclusive, though the only game worth playing was Wario Land.

The Sony PlayStation was only out in Japan a few months in 1995, and on the verge of debuting in the US, and the competition got so flustered by it that they just sat there eating shit like morons and offering it to their customers like it was manna from heaven.

Something I've always maintained is that the PlayStation itself wasn't a very good console, but it was the most competent one on the short bus. It just didn't insist on using some kind of overcooked hardware with fuck-all for cartridge storage, and didn't overwhelm customers with a bazillion different expensive add-ons to their console from 1989. The 5th generation of consoles were graded on a curve, and PlayStation won for having the least amount of drool on its paper. But it still had long loading times, controllers with uncomfortably stiff D-pads, and very ugly 3D with no hardware antialiasing.

 

[Water-T]

Everything on Virtual Boy was an exclusive, though the only game worth playing was Wario Land.


Something I've always maintained is that the PlayStation itself wasn't a very good console, but it was the most competent one on the short bus. It just didn't insist on using some kind of overcooked hardware with fuck-all for cartridge storage, and didn't overwhelm customers with a bazillion different expensive add-ons to their console from 1989. The 5th generation of consoles were graded on a curve, and PlayStation won for having the least amount of drool on its paper. But it still had long loading times, controllers with uncomfortably stiff D-pads, and very ugly 3D with no hardware antialiasing.

There were several reasons Sony beat the Saturn like an ugly stepchild and kept ahead of the N64:

1. Nintendo was supposed to have the N64 ready on April 1995....but then got pushed back to SEPTEMBER 1996. This gave Sony a huge head start.

2. "$299". All Sony had to do to steal Sega's lunch was go onstage at E3, and announce that their system was $100 cheaper than the Saturn. The crowd lost their damn minds and Sega couldn't recover from that.

3. Sony rode the 3D BLOCKY VECTOR GRAPHICS EXXXTREME SO KEWL! trend and milked it for all its worth. By the time it fell out of favor, Sony rode in with the PS2 and its more realistic graphics.

4. Final Fantasy VII. No, it's not THE BEST GAME EVAR! In fact, I think it's overrated. But it sure as shit brought the system into the mainstream and helped push system sales. People who didn't game bought a PS1 just to play it. Capturing the non-gamer audience is how Nintendo succeeded with the Game Boy and the Wii despite the competition offering much more powerful systems (like the Lynx and Game Gear)

5. Sony courted the RPG audience that Nintendo cultivated with the SNES but abandoned on the N64. The SNES gave us Chrono Trigger, FF IV and VI, Breath of Fire 1 & 2, Super Mario RPG, and many more....but then the N64 gave us shit like Quest 64 and very little else in the RPG genre. Sony continued with the Mana and FF series from Square, as well as SMT series started on the SNES. The Persona series also began on the PS1.

 

[Jimbobaggins]

Teardown part 2 is finally going to release on December 2nd. Looks to be a bunch of cool new features and maps too. I gotta say the industrial hilly map and robots look the most exciting to me. Also not shown in this trailer, but theyre also adding wires as well which is another idea

 

[trent]

There were several reasons Sony beat the Saturn like an ugly stepchild and kept ahead of the N64:

1. Nintendo was supposed to have the N64 ready on April 1995....but then got pushed back to SEPTEMBER 1996. This gave Sony a huge head start.

2. "$299". All Sony had to do to steal Sega's lunch was go onstage at E3, and announce that their system was $100 cheaper than the Saturn. The crowd lost their damn minds and Sega couldn't recover from that.

3. Sony rode the 3D BLOCKY VECTOR GRAPHICS EXXXTREME SO KEWL! trend and milked it for all its worth. By the time it fell out of favor, Sony rode in with the PS2 and its more realistic graphics.

4. Final Fantasy VII. No, it's not THE BEST GAME EVAR! In fact, I think it's overrated. But it sure as shit brought the system into the mainstream and helped push system sales. People who didn't game bought a PS1 just to play it. Capturing the non-gamer audience is how Nintendo succeeded with the Game Boy and the Wii despite the competition offering much more powerful systems (like the Lynx and Game Gear)

5. Sony courted the RPG audience that Nintendo cultivated with the SNES but abandoned on the N64. The SNES gave us Chrono Trigger, FF IV and VI, Breath of Fire 1 & 2, Super Mario RPG, and many more....but then the N64 gave us shit like Quest 64 and very little else in the RPG genre. Sony continued with the Mana and FF series from Square, as well as SMT series started on the SNES. The Persona series also began on the PS1.

It's interesting how different the marketing for the PS1 was over in the UK/Europe. They focused very much on ingraining it in "lad culture" which was huge at the time.

The Wipeout series was huge, FIFA started to become the behemoth it is today, Lara Croft became a thing outside of videogames, Gran Turismo was massive etc, etc.

Sony basically won the market by aiming at late-teens/20-something men.

 

[jje100010001]

Is there a thread for video game suggestions? Will repost there if necessary.

Anyways, question, I recently watched the new Dune, and I now have an itch for the aesthetic.

Any relatively recent games out there that have these elements:

1.) Carry a vast, megalithic aesthetic. Lonely landscapes, mysterious lands. Something like Shadow of the Colossus and Journey.
2.) Have a sci-fi feudalistic feeling to it, possible even primordial and mystical in feeling. If it's sci fi, then something with strong lines and not too fussily designed. There were some games from the late 90s and early 00s that carried this tribal-mystical feeling in their designs (i.e. some of the Myst games, Halo, Quantic Dream's The Nomad Soul).
3.) Emphasize exploration with characters and immersion?

So far, I only have No Man's Sky, Homeworld, and Deserts of Kharak. I think the latter two hit the spot aesthetically, but they not really exploration games. EVE Online maybe, Freelancer as well, but something focused more on the planets would be my cup of tea. The next Beyond Good and Evil might be one as well, but the aesthetic is a bit different, and that's far off into the future.

I wonder if I should be also looking more at the MMO realm, possibly in some of the older MMOS out there?

 

[Marissa Moira]

Is there a thread for video game suggestions? Will repost there if necessary.

Anyways, question, I recently watched the new Dune, and I now have an itch for the aesthetic.

Any relatively recent games out there that have these elements:

1.) Carry a vast, megalithic aesthetic. Lonely landscapes, mysterious lands. Something like Shadow of the Colossus and Journey.
2.) Have a sci-fi feudalistic feeling to it, possible even primordial and mystical in feeling. If it's sci fi, then something with strong lines and not too fussily designed. There were some games from the late 90s and early 00s that carried this tribal-mystical feeling in their designs (i.e. some of the Myst games, Halo, Quantic Dream's The Nomad Soul).
3.) Emphasize exploration with characters and immersion?

So far, I only have No Man's Sky, Homeworld, and Deserts of Kharak. I think the latter two hit the spot aesthetically, but they not really exploration games. EVE Online maybe, Freelancer as well, but something focused more on the planets would be my cup of tea. The next Beyond Good and Evil might be one as well, but the aesthetic is a bit different, and that's far off into the future.

I wonder if I should be also looking more at the MMO realm, possibly in some of the older MMOS out there?

The Panzer Dragoon Remake exists and the original was inspired by the art work of Moebius who did the concept art to the Original Dune Movie.

There's also Sable which is another Moebius inspired game

 

[Gender: Xenomorph]

Steam awards time

Spoiler: votefags

GAME OF THE YEAR AWARD




LABOR OF LOVE AWARD




BETTER WITH FRIENDS AWARD




OUTSTANDING VISUAL STYLE AWARD




MOST INNOVATIVE GAMEPLAY AWARD



BEST GAME YOU SUCK AT AWARD




BEST SOUNDTRACK AWARD




OUTSTANDING STORY-RICH GAME AWARD




SIT BACK AND RELAX AWARD