That combined with the Final Fantasy Tactics opening music is 100% nostalgia fuel for me. Always that twinge of anxiety later on too when you weren't sure if you'd get the second part of the jingle to let you know the disc is working.
Any version aside from the the PSX version (as part of the Final Fantasy Chronicles package) is fine to play. That one has loading pauses, doesn't make for an optimal experience.
I've also had a few people from the EU tell me the original English script for the game was a bit too "American-ized" for their tastes, in case that's a potential issue. The DS and later versions all have the revised script.
Discord hasn't ever been trying to do what forums do; it's an evolution of text and voice chat rooms. Discord is for synchronous, live communication, while forums are asynchronous. Information gets lost in synchronous platforms because there's an inherent assumption that the value of that information is highest in the moment when people are communicating real-time. Getting the 50 message chat history isn't supposed to be about catching up on what everyone was talking about last week, it's intended to get you caught up in the conversation that's happening now. Twitter is the same way. It's not particularly easy to browse older conversations by design.
It's possible the format just isn't for you, but there are a couple things that could help. I think the most important part is finding the right size of community. I personally prefer servers in the range of 50-100 active people. I joined up with one as a part of the Reddit exodus and it quickly grew to 1,000+. Too chaotic for my taste, but I know people who love very active servers like that. Threads are designed to help with the reply problem. A large server that doesn't permit threads is probably not one you want to be a part of unless it has a mod team that's very on top of things.
Good channel and role organization is also important, but unfortunately a lot of the good tools are third-party. Because not everyone has the same tools, it can be challenging to find a server that's well-organized. For example, there a tool that allows people to highlight a specific message, listing a history of selected messages in a non-chat channel. If a server is good at using it, that sort of thing might help you catch up. Another thing we could see soon (if it's not happening already) is generative AI posting daily summaries of conversations.
It took me a while to get comfortable enough to contribute at will in my favorite Discord servers and not feel like I was interrupting. Cultures vary greatly by server, but no matter the server, there has to be some degree of willingness to jump in.
If you're developing a remaster of a game while you have the director of the original game on the payroll, that's not a breakdown in communication. That's intentionally keeping him out of the loop.
Trust me, I'd love it if you were right on this, but as far as I'm concerned, this means the leak wasn't accurate in this case or the project got axed.
This is one of my all-time favorites that I first played so long ago, so I sometimes wonder "is it nostalgia or is the game just that good?" Posts like this always make me think it's a big dose of the latter.
The game just gets so much right, especially a very satisfying last 10 minutes.
Indeed, the story was part of it, but the level design and the AI scripting was also a big deal in 1998. So much of today's single-player FPS experience can be traced back to Half-Life.
Something like Retro Game Challenge, but for Western games. The idea behind Retro Game Challenge is that you play clones of NES games with achievement challenges to "advance" the story, as clones of games in the style of later NES games would come out. It had clones of games like Ninja Gaiden, Galaga, Dragon Quest. It also had game magazines written much like those of the time. The whole thing is a nostalgia trip.
In this case, it probably would have to be PC games. It could even have a cute minigame where you unbox and drop in your first 3D card.
Closest thing I've seen to it has been Arcade Paradise, but the games (along with the rest of the gameplay) weren't as good in that one. They also weren't all retro-inspired, as there's clones of match-3 games and Vampire Survivors.
For this topic, it's far from what I would call an easy skill; I'm going on six years and it still feels like a weak muscle. But it can be really helpful.
If they go back to this IP, I'm definitely picking their next game. Especially if it's a similar narrative style.
I don't think I've ever played a spacefaring game in a setting with this kind of mega-corporate stranglehold, so I'm not sure how I'd feel about that. Maybe if the story involved some sort of game-changing technology breakthrough or discovery.
Since the Trails series is continuous, it's what I think of with this sort of thing. I bounced off of and had to nibble at Trails in the Sky over a good while until the third game hooked me. I never would have gotten rolling with that series without pandemic lockdowns.
Still playing Baldur's Gate 3. I was fully planning on picking up Persona 5 Tactica at release but I was immediately turned off once I heard about Day 1 DLC. Really not okay. The reviews are mediocre and I'm also hearing that it's short. I'll probably pick it up on a sale.
Anyway, in BG3, I keep wanting to tinker with new builds and see places/story branches I missed the first three times. I don't think an RPG has put me in replay mode like this since Final Fantasy Tactics. It's pretty nuts.
I also restarted my subscription to World of Warcraft: Dragonflight to see the last raid and the end of the story for the expansion. I've never been so disinterested on resub like I am this time. I'm getting currencies thrown at me with little explanation, the community is still toxic as hell, and I'm just not into the story.
That combined with the Final Fantasy Tactics opening music is 100% nostalgia fuel for me. Always that twinge of anxiety later on too when you weren't sure if you'd get the second part of the jingle to let you know the disc is working.