The Thread of Re-visitation!

So, I just started up Panzer Dragoon Orta today, again. I can't believe how wonderful this game is. It's giving me that feeling all over again. The boss battles, the level design, the characters, the visuals, and my goodness the story!

It's not often that I decide to revisit games I've already beaten, as I usually get rid of them. And even the ones I keep just sit there upon the shelf, collecting dust and empty promises of "I think I'll boot this up tonight and play it again," but I never actually do.

From what I've gathered here, you guys, most of you, go back to older games and play them repeatedly, and I was just wondering if it was worth starting a topic about. Talk about your second impressions, after all of the initial wonder and excitement has all leaked away. Did the game hit you the same way it did when you first cracked the shrink-wrap? Did it turn out to be a turd?

Panzer Dragoon Orta is definitely the former. It's such a beautiful game. I'm glad I've forgotten nearly all of the levels and characters and story bits, as I can genuinely experience it all over again as though it was new.

Anyone else?

Well, I'd like to elaborate alot on one title but for now I'm really busy playing Gunstar Heroes for the 18th squillionth time. My personal favorite game by far. It's so beautiful :D, back to playing!

I speed ran Silent Hill last night, ended up getting the shitty ending because I totally bypassed the hotel and Dr. Kaufmann. I did manage to finish in 5 hours though, a first for me. I'll probably skip SH2 (which I've played to death) and just go beat SH3 again.

My impressions? Meh, the game's aged well but after having played the sequels it just seems like a blueprint to me. There's not as much of a developed story, the voice acting is standard instead of superb, and the audio cues aren't as striking as in SH2.

Does any of this make SH bad? Not at all. It's was the foundation on which one of my favorite games of all time was built.

Also, I hadn't noticed it before but a friend of mine pointed out all the similarities between SH1 and the movie Jacob's Ladder. Weird.

After that? Hmm, well I've only got a week or so before Ninja Gaiden so I may go for something light, like American McGee's Alice or do some leftover side missions on my Xbox GTA3.

I started back into Burnout 2 and SSX3 (both cube editions). All the reasons why they're my favorite racing and snowboarding game quickly came rushing back.

I started playing Donkey Kong (GB) again on my GBA SP last week. It's still one of the best handheld games ever made. Taking the simple formula that made the original so great and just barely expanding on it and adding in about a hundred new levels. I'm 3/4 of the way through and already have 99 lives. It's not no difficult but still loads of fun to play. Isn't there a sequel coming to the GBA sometime?

I've gotten re-hooked on Crazy Taxi over the past week thanks to the West Coast area in CT 3 jogging my memory as to how great that area's design was. I'm also getting back into playing Animal Crossing and the Sonic Mega Collection again, and I usually play through the original Shenmue every year as well. I used to do a similar thing with Strider on the Genesis, trying to beat it in one shot at least once a month or so. That's something that's since fallen by the wayside, sadly.

Whenever I put in Gitaroo Man (once every other month, more or less) I play the whole thing through all over again.

Hmm... Gitaroo Man... MP3... Nuon N501 with MP3 compatibility... VLM...

Experiment time! If this works then it's straight off to the Rez OST thread for me. :)

James

I can't stand it, but I'm on my, like, 5th character on PSO. Between the Dreamcast version, the GC version, and just buying the Xbox version, I can't believe how many hours this game has taken away from my life. I'd probably be playing like Herbie Hancock if I took all those hours and practiced piano instead.

I can play Guardian Heroes forever.

I must have put in hundreds of hours playing Perfect Dark back in the day, and would still if I owned it (I played on my friend's N64). That goes for Mario Kart 64 too.

Super Mario World is easily one I can up and play still, with no loss of that original magic.

Halo rules my life. Hell, I'd be playing it right now if it weren't for PSO.

I plan on going through KOTOR again, this time as a dark male soldier.

And to add to the original post, I like to revisit PDO every now and then (using the original Blue Dragon baby!!). I love the visuals, music and the story so much; it's all quite breathtaking.

I haven't played P.N.03 since a little after I wrote my review on it and just picked it up again a couple days ago to try and earn those suits that I never got to. I had forgotten how much fun this game is, I spent all day Wednesday at work thinking about how badly I wanted to go home and play more of it. Greatness.

I also busted out Steel Battalion after months of inactivity and hot damn did that feel good. Sitting at those controls and starting it up again made me all tingly, I really need to build a custom folding table so I can play whenever I feel like it.

How do you set your controller up, Mech? I just kind of sat mine across my lap (when I owned it). Do you construct some sort of makeshift cockpit with a couch, coffee table, and whatever else you might need?

Halo rules my life as well. It's a fun game, but even more fun at work while playing a round robin elimination match with 8 or so people. :)

James, Gitaroo Man is the best rythm game ever. That second stage on hard mode owns my nuts. I love it!