Hi y'all,

I owned a PlaySation as a kid, but I don't remember playing it much. I was much more stuck to my Nintendo 64 playing Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and MegaMan 64.

Well, I got it in my head that I wanted to play MegaMan Legends 2, which only came out on PlaySation as far as I can tell. I've started playing through MegaMan Legends again before I get to the sequel, and I'm having a really good time.

I was hoping I could hear form y'all about some of your favorite games so I could dip my toes deeper into the PS1 library. What are some of your favorites? Anything particularly odd, unique, or with a very specific point of view? I'll try any genre. Some games I've dabbled with or had my eye on to play: Parasite Eve, Vagrant Saga, Xenogears, Koudelka, and most notably perhaps, Metal Gear Solid. I've never played any Metal Gear games, but the story and world building is so interesting from what I know about it that I really want to give it a try. Also, if anyone knows of some cool Japanese only fan-translate games, would really love to hear about those.

tldr: favorite ps1 game? any weirdo shit i should play?

edit 03/31: the love for ps1 is HUGE. thanks to everyone for all of the great responses. will respond in time. been taking time to sample a bunch of these. my experience with tildes's gaming community has been awesome.

The game approaches greatness -- it is within sight of excellence -- but something holds it back. Maybe it's a glaring, unignorable flaw, or maybe it squanders an excellent idea with subpar execution.

Whatever it is, the game could have been great but instead it's, unfortunately, something less.

What a game that's like that for you? Why?

I often starts playing a game, then quit because it simply doesn't feel like a PC game to me. Sometimes it is because it is a console port, but not always.

I just tried playing VAMBRACE, and got stuck when trying to open a door. There was an "open door" icon right at the door, but clicking it had no effect. Turns out I had to press the action button, which was the E on the keyboard. What's more, all the icons in the game works like this, having assigned a key you have to press. With me having a mouse which is designed especially to click on things on the screen, this makes little sense. It reminded me of the way early homemade DOS games let you use keyboard input, typically in this format:
<P>lay <M>anual <Q>uit
Obviously, VAMBRACE was designed to be played with an Xbox controller. But the end result is a control scheme which grew out of fashion thirty years ago.

I quite hate the Xbox controller. That wobbly thumbstick are just so so uncomfortable, with the forward direction forcing you to move your thumb forward and slightly left in the most awkward of movements. Despite most humans having 10 fingers, the majority of actions are performed by the right thumb which have to move between 4 different buttons. In the Xbox controllers defence, it had to have the wobbly thumbstick as a replacement from WASD + mouse first person shooter movement. But this doesn't change that I'm never going to like this silly gadget.

I can't say exactly what the difference is between PC games and console games. There are of course the controls, keyboard and mouse VS gamepad, but I also feel like there are also some differences in the basic feeling of the game. A lot of consolish games feel a bit like a tech demo with some light interaction throughout, sort of like a rollercoaster ride.

This was something I liked about NOITA. It is designed for PC from the ground up. The aiming requires a mouse cursor, and the wand tinkering would be pretty much impossible without a mouse.

I realized that some games I play fall into specific categories that could be their own sub-genre, but are either too specific, haven't been around long enough, or there's a "good enough" combination of genres that could be used to describe them that makes it impossible to find more in that genre.

I'm interested if anyone else has any of these weird little sub-genres that they enjoy and wanted to share.

Feel free to add any games that you think fit into sub-genres other people describe

For me it's bunny hopping. If I can't sail across a map at 100km/h in an FPS, it'll be very difficult for me to get into it. I get that I'm missing out on a lot of good games, but normal movement just feels so empty and slow.

For those who don't know what bunny hopping is, it's a mechanic in primarily FPS games where you jump repeatedly instead of walking/running. This allows you to move much faster and pull off some complex manoeuvres.

Anyway I'm curious to see if others have admittedly ridiculous requirements like this.

Looks like there was renewed interest in this idea as the old topic has seen some recent posts. It’s been my experience that older topics don’t tend to get a lot of attention when they resurface, so I figure we were due for a refresh.

As such, here’s round 2!

This is a thread for game recommendations, but not just any standard game recommendations.

This is a thread for game recommendations where you have a very specific thing that you're looking for.

Maybe you're looking for a certain type of experience that can't easily be summarized with genres and tags. Maybe you're looking for a game that will evoke a particular feeling that's hard to put into words.

Whatever you're looking for, share your desired specificity below, and let people try to recommend games that fit it.

This is a thread for game recommendations, but not just any standard game recommendations.

This is a thread for game recommendations where you have a very specific thing that you're looking for.

Maybe you're looking for a certain type of experience that can't easily be summarized with genres and tags. Maybe you're looking for a game that will evoke a particular feeling that's hard to put into words.

Whatever you're looking for, share your desired specificity below, and let people try to recommend games that fit it.

A "house rule" is one that isn't explicitly in the game but that you choose to apply nonetheless. The question can apply to either videogames or tabletop games.

What's the rule/ruleset?
How does it affect your enjoyment of the game?

My wife and I have just finished playing Chants of Sennaar together. I know it's a single-player game, but working on the puzzles together is very satisfying, and the controls are simple enough (i.e. point and click) that it doesn't feel like the person controlling the game is "playing" the game, and we can discuss what's going on at our own pace.

Does anyone have any suggestions for other, similar games with (a) relatively simple interactions that let us play the game together, and (b) an interesting, engaging, and beautiful story?

I've seen a lot of recommendations for Obra Dinn as a similar game around gaining and then applying knowledge in order to solve the puzzles of the game. I confess the style isn't quite as appealing, but maybe we should give that a go next. Alternatively, Heaven's Gate looks like it's more explicitly a similar game about translation, but doesn't look like it'll be as easy to play together. I also thought about more old-school point-and-click games, but from everything I remember about those, they were less about figuring out puzzles with logic, and more about trying all the items in your inventory until something works...

I'm traveling for the holidays and only have my laptop, which I don't really have many full fledged games I can run on it (it's a macbook, so a combination of poor macOS support in general + the 32bit cliff means many games just don't run on here). I'm also more interested in casual games while traveling anyways.

Let me know if you have any recommendations for browser-based games, ideally something a little off the beaten path. Multiplayer suggestions welcome too for completeness.

I find myself in an unusual situation wanting to play PC games that can't suck me in. Bear with me, this is a weird and specific request.

Ideally I want something I can easily pick up and put down maybe 1-2 times an hour between tasks. Chess or Risk came to mind, but I don't want something that mandates input or else you forfeit. Also thought of Civ, but in the past I've played that for hours at a time. I haven't found a setting that could force me to slow down, but maybe there's a mod I could use? Seems like I need something that either has built-in cooldowns or allows custom time controls.

Maybe there's some mobile games that are on PC that would fall into this category? I played "Egg, Inc" years ago, but remember the cooldowns started to extend into days which is when I stopped.

For reference, I typically play via Steam, Epic, or GOG and I like these game genres: strategy, RTS, tower defense, puzzle/logic, city building, simulation, automation, and exploration. But since there's probably not many games like this I'm definitely willing to branch out!

My weekly D&D group has been running for a number of years now and unfortunately our current DM is suffering from some pretty severe burnout at the moment (both in life and D&D in general). I think ultimately we're going to end up shuttering our D&D campaign, and may well never pick the game up again as we've almost all soured on WotC/Hasbro after the OGL debacle.

This week we entertained ourselves by messing around with image generation (velociraptor nun was a favorite result and became a bit of a running theme through the evening) but the fun in that can only last so long. We've also had some nights playing games like Dead by Daylight and Midnight Ghost Haunt but those are typically games we reserve for around Halloween. We also play some of the Jackbox Party Pack games, but they're only moderately fun to be honest.

We're usually a group of 7, and this particular formation of the friend group has been meeting almost exclusively online and will probably want to continue that way for the foreseeable future. I'd like some suggestions for games we could play together (either video game or TTRPG that works well online) that are: mostly cooperative or at least team based (we're not very competitive), something that won't become repetitive and dry after a couple of sessions (goal-oriented I guess), and something that we don't have to pay a subscription for. The ability to drop in or out as life dictates would be a plus too. Any thoughts?

How do people here keep up with upcoming niche games? Most of the blogs I've followed for this have been abandoned over time and I'm looking for new one(s). Ideally, I'm looking for something that:

• Supports RSS
• Highlights trailers or other creator-made pages showing off lesser-known games
• Focuses on the "hobby itch.io experiment" to "Annapurna / Devolver-published" segment of the Lo-Fi to AAA spectrum (nothing more AAA than that)
• Posts occasional reviews/interviews with games/creators (optionally)
• Has no/little focus on industry-insider news

I'm obviously biased towards "small-web" blogs or forums, but I'd love to hear about however you stay up to date with cool things creators are making!

Fair warning, some of the games are porn.

The one of them I've played, the fruit-themed twin-stick rogulike Resistance is Fruitile, is quite charming!

https://hot-soup-studios.itch.io/thehouse
https://krunchyfriedgames.itch.io/witches-and-bandits-and-swords-oh-my
https://kosmocat.itch.io/dont-beg-for-help
https://so-pa.itch.io/the-kitchen-of-sopas
https://l-a-r-i.itch.io/shape-of-the-circle
https://virtuaworlds.itch.io/cthulhu-frozen-nightmare
https://distant-dimensions.itch.io/cupid2-0
https://distant-dimensions.itch.io/rivet
https://jdmgames.itch.io/bones-in-the-boneyard
https://distant-dimensions.itch.io/every-second
https://daddarulekonge.itch.io/the-handheld-game-console-encyclopedia-vol2
https://pizzaandgames.itch.io/horror-fan-house
https://chriv-games-horror.itch.io/6knives-episode1
https://mydogstolemyliver.itch.io/visionsvol4
https://distant-dimensions.itch.io/quest-for-the-missing-piece
https://fiveluska.itch.io/second-wind
https://airman4.itch.io/hammertime
https://jarpdzonson.itch.io/mechanical-void
https://projectyaarj.itch.io/solraid
https://projectyaarj.itch.io/tank
https://manstersoft.itch.io/the-mini-game-3-in-1-fun-pak
https://maximilian.itch.io/inertia
https://q-les.itch.io/the-whispersmith
https://kasperv.itch.io/ball-down-hill
https://retrovr.itch.io/spitfire-dogfight-vr
https://xyxitchio.itch.io/flowfall
https://blak-gear.itch.io/uep1
https://teembeerlay.itch.io/erohina-basics
https://hippomobil.itch.io/elastic-egg
https://tonsomo.itch.io/jurl-hd
https://magnus-froelund.itch.io/the-drifters
https://kasperv.itch.io/kasperias-arenas
https://rockodagamer.itch.io/the-decompiled-ultimate-collection
https://tonsomo.itch.io/mille
https://kasperv.itch.io/the-simple-life
https://distant-dimensions.itch.io/area-41
https://tailot.itch.io/motorized-cake
https://tailot.itch.io/cube-orange
https://munegames.itch.io/virtual-coloring-book-for-kids
https://rizvn.itch.io/love-is-war-remake
https://tailot.itch.io/dice-soccer
https://snekjar.itch.io/scaffoldedge
https://magnus-froelund.itch.io/5-in-1-retro-games
https://maximilian.itch.io/side-shooter
https://sj-logo-transparent.itch.io/baldis-basics-songkran-in-education-and-learning-x
https://jdmgames.itch.io/expandoscape
https://hoglet.itch.io/river-strike
https://xxerikxx.itch.io/the-higher-society-v013 XXX
https://xxerikxx.itch.io/the-higher-society-v014 XXX
https://iamqqqqqqq.itch.io/classicgame
https://xyxitchio.itch.io/felix-the-toy
https://pinou007.itch.io/application-that-costs-a-lot-for-nothing
https://calmed-by-the-dark-games.itch.io/calmed-by-the-dark-infinity
https://ahsanmakesgames.itch.io/top-down-showdown
https://faustgabor.itch.io/potatoes-corruption
https://automaticgrasshopper.itch.io/alostgirl
https://krabovaypolochka.itch.io/long-forest-old
https://clevertop.itch.io/temple-of-the-silver-dragon
https://maximilian.itch.io/zombie-apocalypse
https://hempuli.itch.io/mobile-suit-baba
https://kyaniteheart.itch.io/i-think-i-need-your-help
https://thethil.itch.io/strange-toilet
https://icarus-dev.itch.io/the-present
https://phasepixel.itch.io/resistanceisfruitile
https://kyaniteheart.itch.io/a-potion-for-chamomile
https://asa-studio.itch.io/bff-or-die
https://oi01games.itch.io/antonio-anfiloquio
https://thethil.itch.io/strange-toilet-2
https://alexander-wiseman.itch.io/fear-assessment
https://evolvedustry.itch.io/evolvedustry
https://falsevacuum.itch.io/linda-joan-prologue
https://krunchyfriedgames.itch.io/bunny-hill-horror
https://0zanm.itch.io/still-alive
https://kyaniteheart.itch.io/potion-commotion
https://virtuaworlds.itch.io/columns
https://nnuk.itch.io/the-weird-gamma
https://distant-dimensions.itch.io/seclusion
https://krunchyfriedgames.itch.io/bunny-hill-horror-bunny-boiler
https://ibar.itch.io/solitude
https://kyaniteheart.itch.io/sunbeams
https://forwardinstinct.itch.io/panchin-is-frustrated
https://littlemuggames.itch.io/rylees-lunchboxes
https://manstersoft.itch.io/chimera-crusader
https://jdmgames.itch.io/orbital-paladin-melchior-y
https://seeone.itch.io/grav
https://shadowglass.itch.io/assassin-at-crimson-keep
https://thearesjej.itch.io/prosignal
https://manstersoft.itch.io/fun-pak
https://pyrthenix.itch.io/the-legend-of-the-hero-of-edoriam XXX
https://lyl-games.itch.io/color-mind
https://dragonaz.itch.io/the-convoy

I'm just going to assume that many of us have backlogs of games, whether on Steam or some other console, that we keep putting off in favor of the latest Shiny New Toy (game). In addition, as time goes on and we end up getting these newer games and consoles, you can definitely start telling the difference between old and new, whether it's in gameplay or graphics.

And yet... I have made an interesting discover. I don't know what factor it is, but I've been playing a lot of the ORIGINAL Metroid prime. Yes, the one made for Gamecube, of which I also have an original. The funniest thing for me is that between it and BioShock (okay, and Dishonored- anyone remember THAT game?), they're the only FPS games I find myself enjoying. I have never been able to get into and CoD games, and I've also never been an Xbox user... which rules out Halo.

But I digress. Considering how many generations back Gamcube is, the thing that has struck me the most is arguably where you'd normally see the biggest difference: the graphics. I'm well aware Metroid Prime was finally ported to the Switch... but even on Gamecube, I would swear I was playing a game with Switch-level graphics- which means that they are excellent despite the old system. Again, I don't know what factor it is- maybe GC was well-made, maybe Nintendo puts out good products, maybe it's because my TV is only about 19" (and I think LCD, but not actually sure)... but the fact that a game that is over 20 years old at this point can actually pass for a modern-day game fascinates me. I actually tried to compare with a few of my old PS2 games... and that graphics difference there was VERY noticeable (to be fair, I tried it with the PS2 original FFXII, and FF has always tried to be at the top-end of graphics... I should experiment with other games, but it may also be a Playstation thing).