There are a handful of older games I’ve always regretted not playing (or just not playing to completion). Either due to time constraints, my own patience, money, or other life-focused reasons, there are three games that I’d like to finally finish this year. Considering we’re in a global pandemic and I’m fortunate enough to be able to effectively work from home, why not?
Some quick ground rules
- When I say finish, I mean complete the main story or ‘to see credits’. I am absolutely not a completionist nor am I really interested in playing the games multiple times on all difficulties, getting all alternate endings and collecting every piece and parcel the developers worked on. I have a lot of respect for those that do (if you’re interested in that, please check out Jirard ‘The Completionist’ Khalil – he’s phenomenal) though it’s just not me.
- With life being life, I’m setting 2021 as ‘the year to get this done’. Hopefully I will be able to hit this target, as these games are not known for being short quick games and there are new games that will hopefully be ready to play before 2021 is done – like Cyberpunk 2077. (Future Monty here… sadly still haven’t played cyberpunk… waiting on the next gen update as of Jan 2022!!)
- After I finish each game, I will create a post with my thoughts. I’m sure it will be nothing incredibly new or fresh since these games have been out roughly 20 years – though it will be from my perspective today with no nostalgia glasses on.
The Three for 2021
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- Platform To Play in 2021
- 3ds – the 3ds version of Ocarina of Time appears to be the superior version of the game to play due to graphical updates and minor tweaks.
- Initial Thoughts Going In
- I’ve been a huge fan of the Zelda series since I played and finished the first entry in the late 80s. While I did have an n64 and picked up a copy of this game back in the 90s, I struggled severely with the shift from my favorite game in the series (Link to the Past) in 2d as Link made his transition to 3d. Everything felt worse and incredibly clunky to me at the time – and frankly as a teenager I had no patience for what I considered nonsense. Being a bit older and (slightly) more patient, I’m thinking I will be able to adapt and overcome as I want to have the appreciation the rest of the world seemingly has for this title.
- Platform To Play in 2021
- Final Fantasy IX
- Platform To Play in 2021
- I honestly struggled with this one, as I was torn between the excellent mods and upscaled pre-rendered backgrounds on PC vs an ‘official’ licensed version from PS4. I ultimately decided to play the PS4 version on the PS5. Having dipped my toe in some of the modded versions of classic games, there can be odd bugs that I didn’t want to influence my thoughts due to my annoyance in the moment (or the complexity of figuring out whether it’s an original game issue vs mod, etc.).
- Initial Thoughts Going In
- After finishing Final Fantasy VIII, with the more realistic art style/rendering of humans – I honestly struggled with the concept of going back to a more ‘classic’ type of art style. With annoyance I had felt that if we had the technology to advance, why take ‘a step back’? Now that I’m a bit older and have the capacity to respect differing forms of art – this concern isn’t a problem for me at this point and I look forward to enjoying this game.
- Platform To Play in 2021
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Platform To Play in 2021
- It looks like today, the only options that really exist here is mobile, xbox platform and the PC. Unfortunately I don’t presently own an xbox and while I do own a tablet the impression I have reading reviews of that version is that it’s not an ideal way to play (maybe *after* you have nostalgia glasses for it). While I’d much prefer to couch surf through my experience of this game, it looks like the PC version doesn’t offer controller support so I’ll be tackling this one via my office PC. I know there are workarounds, and having used a few (steam controller, controller mapping software, etc.) though I’ve never had a great experience with them for games designed for mouse/keyboard. So I’m going to use a mouse and keyboard.
- Initial Thoughts Going In
- This game came out in late 2003 during a time in my life that I was just starting out professionally. I was working anywhere between 9 and 12 hours a day and socializing with friends from work when I wasn’t working – so I completely missed the KOTOR boat. After I was married, settled down a bit socially and had more free time, I got into the Mass Effect series which came out in 2007. Mass Effect was my personal introduction to the BioWare games (and I was in love!). I had heard a lot of people talk about the Baldur’s Gate series in the late 90s, though as a teenager I didn’t have the patience for the slower and more considered pace those games offered so I never ventured into them. Those could be a 2022 goal…
- Platform To Play in 2021
I’m really looking forward to getting into these games and seeing what the hype is all about!