whichever you want.
recc. starting with original on PSP, PS2 or possibly PC after a couple more months tweaks/smoothes. DS version not tops.
Disgaea 1 is still probably my favorite in terms of characters and tone. When it comes to disgaea it really comes done to what kind of SRPG experience you want. They’re not “good” in the way FFT, Tactics Ogre or XCOM are good but I feel NIS games serve a different purpose of gameplay. They are much more simpler but they are alot of different ways to play with the toys they give you if you’re willing to grind some numbers. At first it helps to approach maps tactically but eventually you’ll hit a point where it all comes down to what has the biggest numbers.
After D1 there are just a few mechanical changes and additions but still keep the basic gameplay loop of playing story maps and hitting the random generated Item World if you get stuck.
Did Doom have as much to find in terms of secret rooms, etc., as Wolfenstein 3D did? It’s been decades since I’ve played Doom and I can’t really remember.
Doom has tons of secrets. As much as Wolf3D, I can’t really say, I only have experience with the shareware episode.
It had probably more secrets, and usually more involved secrets (It wasn’t just wall frotting)
Yeah, that’s the big thing. The nature of the engine making it better able to show you things with no obvious path does a lot for secrets along with the switches, both of the kind you actively flip and the kind that trip when you cross a linedef.
Quake in some ways was a step backwards probably, but it still took advantage of its engine and the verticality it offered to do some new things, like stashing shootable buttons up in a high dark corner, or putting some barely noticable steps you had to jump up to get to some hole that was hidden in shadow.
Slightly related, I think Return to Castle Wolfenstein had some great secrets in the vein of tantalizingly locked doors or windows and such that you can see what goodies are beyond, but not necessarily how to get there.
Neu Wolfenstein also has some pretty dece secrets, but in general I think the idea of “secrets” in FPS level design gets harder to pull off the more high-def the games get.
Hard Reset also had a bunch of secrets that were all either about creative jumping or blowing things up, because those are basically the only two verbs in the game. I liked them a lot.
This issue was brought up on the most recent episode of the insert credit podcast, but I too am pretty bummed out the fans didn’t vote for the cooler Doom 4 alternate cover
yeah it’s not like everyone doesn’t own a color printer or access to a Kinkos.
I’m more making a value judgement on those who chose the schlocky alternate cover in place of the black one, but you can bet I’m going to be visiting a Kinko’s upon release.
But DooM is all about schlock!
I feel like the cover picked probably fits more what the game wants to be than the DOOM 64-style black one. Even if it is better.
Yeah there is nothing better about the black one.
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Oh man, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder but that black one is pretty rock n roll to me and I love that. It’s like the cover to some conceptual Norweigan Black Metal album about transporting to hell and fighting demons with chainsaws and shotguns.
The other cover is just nostalgia…
Speaking of nostalgia clouding judgement, now that Ocarina of Time is 20$ I wanted to ask whether it’s hot by today’s standards or whether it was just seminal upon release and doesn’t really hold up today. I’ve never played it before, so I feel somewhat obligated to play at some point.
While the 3DS port makes it less grating, I don’t think it holds up nor do I think you’ll enjoy it. As for historical curiosity, would you play FF7 for the first time as an adult and find it worthwhile? That’s the test.
it holds up today to yesterdays standards
if you’re not looking 4 what was cool/revolutionary/imperfect in 1998 then you could 
elsewhere
I’m not really a metalhead, but on the Metal Scale, Doom/2 definitely lands way closer to the Iron Maiden zone than the black doomgaze whatever zone. I mean they literally ripped off an Alice in Chains song for the soundtrack.
Unfortunately for all of us 4 is looking like it lands a lot closer to the Killswitch Engage zone, but we’re all hoping for the best right?
I enjoyed Ocarina a few years ago, but I also have the tastes of an only-partially-unfrozen caveman. Still, though, I’d say it’s worth playing if only to see how Majora’s Mask (which you should definitely play) changes things.
Ocarina of Time is more fun moment to moment than Majora’s Mask y’all.
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The most mysterious part of OoT is that Z-targeting makes the game a lot harder, and makes it look way better.