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!

After years of not being able to play it (due to a busted import thingy), I finally got to play Vampire Savior again. It's all I played over the weekend, and I'm still playing it. The game is what, 5 or 6 years old? The graphics are amazing for that time, still are. No pauses for supers, healing life bars, Virtua Fighter style ground attacks, and no rounds keep the pace of the game up very nicely.

Dude, some of those supers have the most rediculous motions in fighting game history. More rediculous than Raging Storm, even.

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Originally Posted by Captain Vegetable

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?

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I currently use computer chair with a TV folding table (the small kind meant for a tray) with a slab of polished rock (the name of the exact kind eludes me) across it. I used to use two end tables pushed together with these odd enourmous really heavy black squares on top, but I have none of those components anymore. The toughest part is finding a setup that lets me use the foot pedals.

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Originally Posted by Captain Vegetable

Dude, some of those supers have the most rediculous motions in fighting game history. More rediculous than Raging Storm, even.

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Are you refering to the supers that require combos to use? For instance, Morrigan's and Lilith's wp, wp, f, wk, sp? I avoided them at first, but they're fairly easy with a little practice. I've had trouble pulling off some of Morrigan's during a fight, though.

The games I go back to most often are Sin & Punishment and Gitaroo Man.
Sin & Punishment is still one of the most fun games I've ever played and Gitaroo Man... well... is Gitaroo Man. That's reason enough, and if you don't understant, you're just a squirrel looking for an apple.

I keep coming back to JSRF to play it through one more time. I know others hate it, but though easy I enjoy the experience enough to repeat it. Same is true of JSR to a slightly lesser extent.

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Originally Posted by Green

Are you refering to the supers that require combos to use? For instance, Morrigan's and Lilith's wp, wp, f, wk, sp? I avoided them at first, but they're fairly easy with a little practice. I've had trouble pulling off some of Morrigan's during a fight, though.

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You know what? I just went a checked a FAQ out, and I see I am mistaken. Raging Storm still wins.

I've never had a problem with the combo supers, though.

I've been playing Tony Hawk 4 more now then I ever did when it first came out, and I'm thinking of getting back into part 3.

I just spent another night playing DOAX again!

That game is timeless. I will play it forever.

You're wrong, SSX3 is teh timeless!!!!

:|

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Originally Posted by Sl1p

I just spent another night playing DOAX again!

That game is timeless. I will play it forever.

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You like crap.

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Originally Posted by Mzo

You like crap.

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I concur!

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Originally Posted by Green

Are you refering to the supers that require combos to use? For instance, Morrigan's and Lilith's wp, wp, f, wk, sp? I avoided them at first, but they're fairly easy with a little practice. I've had trouble pulling off some of Morrigan's during a fight, though.

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I like jump kicking people, just to continue it with Darkness Illusion before I hit the ground, they yell at me saying "WTF this isn't MvC, you can't do that" I got the quickness, what can I say.

Last night I finished Klonoa: Door to Phantomile again. After playing through Lunatea's Veil, I thought I'd go back to the original. What a difference in quality, in spite of the crystal graphics & vast levels of Veil. It took me a while to get used to the visuals, but by the second level or so, I'd forgotten all about the sequel. DtP is such a beautiful and melancholy experience, and the ending gets me every time. The music, length, & challenge are perfect (Veil is just too easy), and the level design and atmosphere are sublime. Definitely a PSone highlight. (I rescued all 72 prisoners this time, and I'm trying for all 150 gems in the Extra Vision, which is an experience in precision timing.....arrrg).

I've played Metroid a second time. I don't play many games more than once since time has now become a constraint but back in the day I would play Mega Man 2 and Zelda: Link to the Past infinitly.

D

Every so often I pick up Frame Gride again... and after 500+ battles I STILL haven't unlocked everything (its that damn golden diamond... I think I've found 2 the entire time I've had the game. ARGH!!!!)



Still can't beat that boss though... :curse:

Games I'd like to play through a second time (off the top of my head):

Silent Hill
Super Metroid
Castlevania: SOTN
Resident Evil 1
Blackthorne

Yeah, the first Klonoa is rad. I did all those extras back in the day and had a great time. I could never get all the gems in that House of Horrors level in the sequel though. I couldn't even figure out how to get some of them let alone pull it off.

Anyway, I pretty much never replay old stuff. I'm too busy trying to find time to make new memories with games I haven't even played once. I'm always scared my favorites won't live up to my nostalgia too. That would be sad indeed.

Give me a desert island or an afterlife of eternity with games and I'll replay everything but until then, no, that stuff will have to live on only in my brain.

I revisit games all the time. I still play massive quantities of old fighters. That dosen't really count though does it? I have only ever gone through a RPG 2 times. That was Crono Trigger.

g0zen: Interestingly I am doing similar. Last weekend I finished my SH1 with both the Bad+ and Good+ endings. I am currently going through 2 again and hope to get the Dog and Rebirth endings this weekend.

Question: Is going back to play the game at a different difficulty revisitng it? Like for example in my Pile of Shame I have Halo sitting there with Legendary waiting to be beat. I have beat it in normal, and co-op normal but it is in principle the same game.

Some games I will probably never go back to.

Yeah, SH here, too. Hopefully, one more ending by tomorrow night.

So, what's the deal with Klonoa: DtP? I've tried to get one for myself in the past, but eBay prices at the time were too expensive. Then Icepick was going to sell me his, and I ended up not being able to foot the caish.

I keep hearing about the ending, and how wonderfully sad it is. Anyone care to spoil it for me (or sell me a damned copy)?

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Originally Posted by Shapermc

Question: Is going back to play the game at a different difficulty revisitng it? Like for example in my Pile of Shame I have Halo sitting there with Legendary waiting to be beat. I have beat it in normal, and co-op normal but it is in principle the same game.

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Of course it counts! That's the whole point of this thread! :p

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I keep hearing about the ending, and how wonderfully sad it is. Anyone care to spoil it for me (or sell me a damned copy)?

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Don't let anyone ruin it for you, the end is such a tear jerker you shouldn't deminish the moment. Oh, and don't payt more than $15-$20 for either.

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Originally Posted by Regus

Oh, and don't payt more than $15-$20 for either.

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That's much easier said than done.

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Originally Posted by Regus

Don't let anyone ruin it for you, the end is such a tear jerker you shouldn't deminish the moment. Oh, and don't payt more than $15-$20 for either.

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I concur with the former and disagree with the latter. I wouldn't pay more than $60, though.
Still, though... that ending... *sniff*... boyoboy...

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Originally Posted by Captain Vegetable

I keep hearing about the ending, and how wonderfully sad it is. Anyone care to spoil it for me (or sell me a damned copy)?

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Klonoa gets into hardcore porno acting, contracts teh AIDS, and spreads it to all of Phantomile. I cried for hours.

NO!!!!!!

Dole, that game has got to be the best game ever with an ending like that. I will spend anything to aquire a copy! ANYTHING!

:lol:

I just started playing Record of Lodoss War for DC. I had played only a few hours after buying it, and the game languished on my shelf for almost two years. But after having played Baldur's Gate and D&D Heroes, I decided to give it another go.

I'm very glad I did, as ROLW beats the others in terms of depth of gameplay. It's not as sharp graphically but the ancients system is very cool. It's got that neat medallion side quest and the main game is long enough. My +70 two-handed sword (+6 damage, +2 STR) makes short work of most enemies. I'm still having a bit of trouble using offensive magic though.

All in all, I'm glad I got into playing this game again. Hopefully BG 2 will drop in price and I can go through that one next.

I started my third play through of Kingdom Hearts. This time it seems totally different. For instance, I defeated Riku, Squall and Cloud. I don't think I've ever done those three things. This is probably my easiest time through the game yet.

I found CVS2EO for XBOX for 8 bucks a few nights ago, so I got that out of morbid curiosity (And once again, people saying it has improved). Yes, the lag is better from when I got it, but I'm playing with a PS2 controller right now.

Some old PSOne games, mainly Resident Evil 2 and Tomb Raider 1. Good times.

I played guilty gear xx for like, 30 hours from fri-mon. Well, i never really quit it, but, uh, its old? Sorta?

I heard some of our very own board members are revisiting "Teh Gay" by playing the hot, two on two man action that is FFCC.