TR2014 Retro-spective

[noiseredux]

well, at the end of every year I like to start a thread like this to hear what everyone thought of the closing year's Together Retro calendar. I'm always curious how many people played each game, which ports they chose, and what they thought of the games. I'll start...

Jan - Phantasy Star Online
This was definitely my favorite TR game of 2014, and honestly one of my favorite TR experiences since I joined the site in late 2008. Of course PSO wasn't new to me at all, but I'm not saying this because I nominated the game. What I really enjoyed was that I played the PC port and this allowed me to get to actually play the game online with many members who I had never had the chance to play games with before. Sadly, there were server problems that made the second half of the month really difficult to get online. But I still have some great memories of taking down the asshole raft boss with SB, or grinding for loot with Violent By Design, AlienJesus and JayRed.

Feb - Metal Gear
This one really surprised me. Then again anytime I play a Metal Gear game I'm pleasantly surprised. I swear I'm a fan of the series who forgets that he is. I played the PS2 port (so I guess that's the MSX port right) on PC. So uh, the MSX game emulated on PS2 emulated on PC? Whatever. It was really cool and I actually beat it.

Mar - M.U.L.E.
Unfortunately I skipped this one. I downloaded the PC remake and just never got motivated to boot it up. Participation was low that month and I don't know if that led me to lose interest. I'm sorry that I never gave it a shot though. Maybe I will someday.

Apr - Shock Troopers
Surprisingly, I really didn't enjoy this one. Played the NG original emulated on DC.

May - The Lost Vikings
Played the DOS version. I liked it but wasn't compelled to get very far. It was one of those things where I'm glad I checked it out, and I feel like I could very well try it again in the future, but just wasn't in the mood that month.

Jun - Psychonauts
Bought the Steam version. Lost interest really quickly. Sorry but I just couldn't get into the characters or the art style. I'm sure a lot of you think that makes me a terrible person.

Jul - Ikaruga
Um... Now I'm really gonna lose points with y'all. I think that Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun are possibly the two most overrated shmups of all time. I'll say that Ikaruga is the better game though. And I do enjoy it from time to time. But sadly I only like it for survival, and don't enjoy playing it for score. This makes it really low on my shmup-list, as I really prefer playing shmups for score. Played it on Steam.

Aug - Dungeons and Dragons ToD and SoM
Steam versions... OMG I hated these games. I know I sound like a really negative gamer, but man there was a string of games I couldn't get into. This was def my least favorite month of the year. I like beat-em-ups and all, but this was not fun at all to me. Seems stupid hard to the point of not fun.

Sep - F-Zero Series
Didn't play much of this month either. Ripped GX and played it via Dolphin. Seemed pretty damn hard. I don't know if my patience for difficult games is diminishing each year or what...

Oct - I Have No Mouth & Typing of the Dead
Ok, good month. IHNM was great. A really interesting game that I'm glad I got to play through. Played the Steam vers. TOTD is a favorite of mine from way back. Played the PC version this time. Never got around to beating it - but I will!

Nov - Ultima IV
I wanted to enjoy this. Ultima IV just seemed like too much work to me. I pretty much never got off the ground. I feel like maybe had it been in another month I could have, but November starts to get really busy with the approaching holidays, and it was also the shmup competition we do on here so I was pretty busy. Attempted the GOG re-release.

Dec - Space Harrier
Been dicking around w/ the 32X version on my Shield. I've played this game many times over the years. But oddly, I feel like it hasn't held up to me. It's a game I liked a lot when I was much younger, but something doesn't click with me now. It's not that I dislike it really, just doesn't do as much for me.

...so damn. Looking back at the whole year, I sound pretty negative Nancy huh? I guess this wasn't really a great year for me. But on the bright side, I still got to try a lot of games that I'm glad I did - even if I found out I didn't like them. And the ones I did enjoy I seemed to enjoy a lot.

[Blu]

I was able to participate in January, February, July, October and December's Together Retros. I think that's an increase in my participation from last year. I sat out Lost Vikings, since I had played it on Genesis before but it hadn't stuck with me. I sat out on F-Zero because I wasn't able to find a copy locally. My one regret is not being able to get into Psychonauts as well, I just never had the chance to go out and find a copy. I loved all of the selections that the community picked.

My favorite was PSO, for obvious reasons and I'm happy we got to get it going with people. Metal Gear wasn't bad. TotD is a classic for me, same with Space Harrier.

A great year!

[dsheinem]

worst TR year ever

[BoneSnapDeez]

Jan - Phantasy Star Online
Played offline on DC, which means I actually got to finish it (from what I recall the rest of yous had PC server issues). PSO is insanely ludicrously addictive in a way no other video game is. Easily one of my top three video games of the year.

Feb - Metal Gear
I find the whole series to be a complete snooze. Skipped it.

Mar - M.U.L.E.
Said I would play it if I found a cheap NES copy by the time March rolled around. Didn't happen.

Apr - Shock Troopers
Love it. Probably my favorite Neo Geo game. Didn't have much to say about it though. The game is about an hour long and I'm not to type to play and replay for high scores.

May - The Lost Vikings
Well, this was my nomination. One of my favorite childhood games. Rolled through the SNES original in like 2-3 days enjoying every minute of it. I also completed the Genesis port. Somewhat inferior to the SNES version, but lots of fun regardless. Wanted the try the CD32 port as well, but then I saw how expensive it was.

Jun - Psychonauts
Nope. Didn't look like a game I'd enjoy.

Jul - Ikaruga
I own it and wanted to play it, but I ended up buying a house in July and it took ages to pack / unpack my gaming stuff.

Aug - Dungeons and Dragons ToD and SoM
Great games! Bought the Japanese PS3 collection specifically for this month. Like Shock Troopers, I enjoyed playing them but had little to say.

Sep - F-Zero Series
Meant to buy the first game so I could play it. Didn't happen.

Oct - I Have No Mouth & Typing of the Dead
Not sure why I skipped this one. Was likely just playing other games instead.

Nov - Ultima IV
Started it. Didn't finish it. Got distracted by another club (Together RPG).

Dec - Space Harrier
Played through the arcade original via Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. Still screwing around with the TG16 and PS2 ports.

[noiseredux]

worst TR year ever

I don't disagree, but would be interested to see yr own month-to-month take?

[ExedExes]

worst TR year ever

Came to see to see his reaction, first thing I thought of when I saw the thread.

But seriously, highlights were MULE, Lost Vikings, Psychonauts, F-Zero series, and IHNM. Ikaruga got some love too.

[Sload Soap]

It was a good list but the games I enjoyed the most were ones I'd previously played like Psychonauts and F-Zero.

Ultima and Mule kind of proved for me that I do have a cut off point insofar as how retro I go. The shame.

[alienjesus]

Jan - Phantasy Star Online
I enjoyed my time with this one a bit, although I feel it's badly balanced between classes. I liked playing the mage class, but it requires so much money for new spells and mp resotring items it was silly. And then everyone else was a ranger and all had guns that shot like 9 people at once at double my range for free. Boo. Its a shame that the server went down, or I would've finished this. Motivation was low to get through it on my own though.

Feb - Metal Gear
I enjoyed this month. I played the game on Vita. The original Metal Gear has aged pretty well, and Metal Gear Solid is practically a remake of it it's used so many ideas from this. I also played the MSX sequel and the GBC's Metal Gear Solid game and found them both to be pretty enjoyable too. Like Noise, MGS is a series I enjoy a lot, but I always kind of forget I do and I'm apprehensive whenever I start a new game in the series XD

Mar - M.U.L.E.
I had no interest in this and didn't play it. Sorry! Like Sload, I have a definite retro cut-off too, and this was just a bit much for me.

Apr - Shock Troopers
This is where it all went wrong for me. I love Shock Troopers, I think it's fantastic. But I barely played it because ...well, I already have. Together Retro for me is all about the new experiences. When I have to play a game I've already beaten a bunch of times before I lose interest too quickly.

May - The Lost Vikings
I couldn't find a copy of this on time and then just kind of didn't play it.

Jun - Psychonauts
Like above. I didn't want to play on PC, heard the PS2 port was bad, and didn't have my XBox to hand.

Jul - Ikaruga
I love me some Ikaruga, but like Shock Troopers I couldn't muster the enthusiasm to give this more than a quick play or too because I've played it a bunch before.

Aug - Dungeons and Dragons ToD and SoM
I enjoyed these two, I played them on the Wii U. Im kinda sad I never got to play them online with anyone, although I played them in co-op with my girlfriend. I think they're pretty good, but they're definitely a bit cheap too. The second game in particular is really unfair sometimes, and I feel without 4 great players beating it a reasonable number of credits seems unlikely.

Sep - F-Zero Series
See Shock Troopers and Ikaruga. I've played all 5 F-Zero games within the last few years, so I just couldnt get into the idea of spending all month playing them over newer releases.

Oct - I Have No Mouth & Typing of the Dead
At this point I just stopped joining in. Couldn't be bothered with IHNM, Typing of the Dead wasn't localised (to my dismay).

Nov - Ultima IV
Too obtuse for my tastes.

Dec - Space Harrier
I've played this before and thought it was pretty bad then. I didn't bother playing it again.



This has been a pretty bad performance for me in TR this year. I started out reasonably involved, but past the first third of the year I barely joined in at all. I'll definitely try to get more stuck in next year. There's a lot less games I've already played next year, and a lot more I'm actively interested in playing (unlike most of the non-replays this year where I had no more than a passing interest for the most part).

[BoneSnapDeez]

Yeah PSO is totally broken in favor of guns. I was a hunter who could only use some of the weaker firearms, but next time I play I'll choose ranger.

I don't have a cut-off point regarding game age. Would love to see some Atari / Intellivision stuff up in here sometime.

[dunpeal2064]

I think Force is the most broken class in PSO. Sure, the Spread Needle is really powerful, but at higher levels a Force can deal insane damage, apply Freeze very consistently, and never run out of Tp... and none of that requires a weapon! They can support with Shifta, Deband, Resta, and Anti on top of that.

only downside to Force, imo, is that their weapons aren't as useful, and therefore I don't find myself hunting for certain rare stuff as fervently, which is a large appeal to the game.

Ranger is the most fun I think, but Hunters get the coolest weapons, so I usually roll with them. No matter what I played, though, my friend's Force just outweighed me, even when I had better gear.




And, as for TR, I fell in love with F-Zero GX thanks to it. Its now a regular in my gaming sessions. Sadly, that was about the gist of my participation, hopefully I can join in more next year.