One console, one game
If you could only re-experience from new one game (like total immersion, wide-eyed wonder-at-the-majesty-of-it-all re-experience) and had yet to pick a console (Xbox versus PlayStation), what game on which console and why? (and feel free to remark on ideal controllers, add-ons, etc.)
I was hoping Starfield might be that kind of galvanizing experience, but the reviews are pretty underwhelming. So now casting about for the real deal.
Chrono Trigger on the SNES.
My mind went straight to this at well instinctively. If I had to pick an alternate it would be Final Fantasy 6. The twist for me half way was so unexpected I was blown away.
Easy game choice for me, Outer Wilds. I’ve regularly said that I wish I could go back in time and experience it again. I am a PS5 fan personally, Xbox has too much overlap with PC gaming.
There are some games that truly cannot be re-experienced. Once you know what happens in The Outer Wilds, it never hits the same on a replay. Anyone reading this who doesn't know exactly what I'm talking about needs to play the game before someone spoils it
Definitely Outer Wilds for me too and it isn’t close. Such a great experience.
Super Metroid on the SNES. Still my favorite game to this day
Fuck yea, I was just thinking the same thing.
I'm gonna go with a more out there option and go with The Return of the Obra Dinn on the PC. Easily the best game I will never play again. The mystery and presentation were everything.
This is easily my pick.
Hell, if I could just re-live the moment just after the tutorial section when you look up and see what is happening during the storm, that would be enough.
I would like to play a finished dark souls 1 (like the team imagined) with dualsense 5 controller support.
When a weapon hits your shield the trigger pushes your finger up. Or the to raise a shield or swing a weapon the triggers are hard to press initially but get easier on the way, to mimic velocity.
That would be my dream. Of course with ps5 graphics.
Morrowind, full VR headset, extra cliff racers, game drugs feel like real drugs.
Well I'll never accidentally use moonsugar again.
Phantasy Star Online: Episode 1 & 2 for GameCube. Its not exactly what you asked for, but its the ultimate game for me.
You are correct. I really want someone to convince me to go out and buy a console and game today but I thank you for your reply and if I come into a game cube, “Phantasy Star Online Episode 1&2” will be at the top of my list! Was the game that special or was it more of a beautiful time-in-the-life kind of impression?
The game was that special, I mean it originally released for DreamCast and it had online play! Its a special kind of RPG that actually defined what Phantasy Star would become in the coming decades.
The novelty of being one of the first online, somewhat massively multi-player persistent rpg, was very special for 2000-2001, at least for the minimum wage earning, console-only teen that I was.
Did you play it online, and was the community active in GameCube? (Was it cross platform with dreamcast?)
I played the shit out of pso episode1 on DC, but sisnt have access to a credit cards, or funds for that matter, for episode 2.
I didn't get to sadly. It was actually before my time and I had a friend get me into it around 2010 in high school.
I don't think it was cross platform, as each console version was a different version of the game. The GameCube version differed greatly in some aspects from the DreamCast version. There are online servers for the PC version (Blue Burst) still in existence today. That version had all the content of the previous iterations with an extra last boss fight and level.
I actually bought a PS1 and dance pads strictly for playing DDR.
I inherited a PS2 and tore some SSX up, probably 10 years after release. May never get that soundtrack out of my mind.
I drive to another state just to find an arcade with a DDR machine nowadays, this is a good call.
Yes, so rare now, I just ordered a connector id lost so I can play ddr on my old PS2 again.
This one is sorta cheating, but Xbox360 and Final Fantasy XI. Haven’t been sucked into a game and its world as deeply since I took that plunge.
There's an extremely popular private server called HorizonXI that is the game as it was in '04. The community is amazing and it's always easy to find a party. If you have the time to spare, I definitely recommend it.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice on the Xbox One. Playing that with stereo headphones was a trip and a half, and it's an experience that simply isn't the same a second time through.
I still think Fenrir is the coolest damn boss ever, and the "in your sword still beats a heart" poem is my favorite piece of audio from any game
Easily San Andreas on the PS2. I still go back and play this game at least once a year
Just follow that damn train, CJ!
8 year-old me was stuck on that mission for ages, among many others. Nowadays I can reliably jump the bike up on top of the train and get it done before the end of the first tunnel
Planescape: Torment on PC
Locking this thread /s
SNES. Chrono Trigger. If you've played it you know just how impactful it is. Music, story, graphics. It is a perfect game. I bought a physical cartridge a few years ago—even after having beaten it dozens of times—because the game means so much to me.
Removing the console limitation, I'd go for Half-life on a Nvidia TNT 2 and CRT monitor.
Now, if it has to be console, then Persona 3 FES on the ps2.
Ah yes, celebrating the turn o’ the century with cutting edge gameplay on state of the art equipment. The future was bright!
Morrowind GOTY on the OG Xbox.
Just remember to keep you stamina bar above 50% or it will be unpleasant.
I was going to say Halo: CE on the OG Xbox, but I think Morrowind is the better choice.
Honorable mention: JetSet Radio Future on the same console, that game rocked.
Red Dead 2. I prefer Xbox controllers so I will say on the Xbox One X.
Would I be missing out by having not played the first one, or should I just dive right in?
You are missing some of the backstory, but the he game is still perfect on its own.
I personally prefer the first Red Dead Redemption. RDR2 was good and has a great story but the game itself felt sluggish and bogged down by side quest nonsense. Granted they’re side quests so they only slow the game down as much as you let them.
No man’s sky on pc
Not a console but that game still wows me
Was a tech weenie in yesteryear, but not willing to commit to the cash/time/optimization that pc’s require. So self-limited to consoles. Thanks tho!
That in VR was quite the experience.
Well, I'd pick a Steam Deck. But luckily Baldur's Gate 3 is also available on the PS5. I'd really like to play that game blind again. It's so wonderful to discover all the stuff. And when you're done you have only found about 50 % of the content this game has to offer.
I'm just done with my third playthrough in which I would still see new stuff in every play-session. I'm gearing up for my fourth by playing Baldur's Gate 2. I want to continue playing the same character in BG3. Not officially supported, but I want to play her with the same race and class and personality. I already know of some things I want to explore that I haven't seen before. And I wonder what new unknown details I will find.
Breath of the Wild on Switch. It had been a long long time since a game felt that immersive. I'd start a session, say to myself, "I'm gonna head towards this objective," and four hours later I'd be in a completely different direction yet still entirely satisfied. Even the tutorial felt huge and weighty... at least until I was dumped into the wider world with only a suggestion and a general direction in which to go. I loved the hands-off approach. Everything felt organic. I remember being giddy playing Wind Waker at release, excited to get to explore the map once it opened... only to find that the first few far-off places I visited were locked behind items I didn't have yet. With BotW, it felt like that decades-old disappointment was finally righted.
Hard agree that BOTW on switch was, at least at the beginning, a feeling I may never replicate. The scale, the detail, the never ending variety of the landscapes, the wistful post-apocalyptic loneliness, the near-absence of boundaries. I have an embarrassing number of hours logged, multiple playthroughs, the DLC, master mode, etc. I’m afraid nothing else will even come close ever again; to be honest, this was part of my motivation for my original post, because I seek something like it.
TOTK is awesome and a fitting continuation; in fact, is so rich that I have a better appreciation for having some kind of attention deficit disorder, because there is always something beckoning, and it is nearly impossible to stay on track. But ultimately it lacks the grandeur? the completeness of the original.
Great reply.
I think TotK put my jaw on the floor more times than BotW overall. And the mechanics are amazingly well thought out. But yeah, BotW has something TotK doesn't. And that's okay.
Probably Persona 3 or 4. Leaning more towards 4 with the Vita.
Probably Pokemon Emerald, or Diamond.
These were the last exploration Pokemon games and I would love to be immersed in their worlds again discovering all their secrets for the first time.
From uncovering the braille in the under water ruins, to the changing water levels of seafoam cave.
To finding the shop keepers of the underground mines and the last safari zone of the great marsh.
Now-a-days replaying them is still fun, but not as exciting as they were before, since I remembered where everything is.
The first time playing Gothic 2 NotR (on PC) was a fantastic experience for my younger self.
If you insist on a console game I would chose Wii Sports or Wii Sports Resort because I had so many fun game sessions with friends and I think it would still be a lot of fun today.
Portal 2
Nintendo DS, The World Ends With You. That game made a difference in me imo
I think I'd go back to experiencing the Dreamcast for the first time. Probably one of the sports games, actually. I was so pumped and it delivered.
Hard to pick, but it's between 2, with a couple runners up. N64 Zelda OoT or PS2 Final Fantasy X
I played each so many times, and would love to have that experience for the first time again.
Easily KOTOR on the original Xbox for me
I would have to say Elden Ring. Just walking out to see limgrave and all of it's glory and the pure joy of a non linear souls like with exploration I've never experienced before made this a top 5 best game ever.
I played it on PlayStation 4 and quite honestly it felt great with the trackpad and the placement of the sticks where I could really feel responsive with my movement in PVP.
Playing new game is fun but man I would pay to have a brain injury to forget everything about Elden Ring just to experience it for the first time.
Probably Bioshock. First thing that came to mind. Such an amazing experience.
Xcom 2 or maybe 3, PC
Omori, granted I did play it on Steam, but god damn I've never felt more of a childlike sense of wonder for many years than when I first played it.
Tough one.
Probably a tie going to Beyond Good & Evil and Shadow of the Colossus on PS2.
Best I can narrow down to