PixlBit

Thank you for reminding me to download Farewell. 

Stage Select: So, I actually liked this game's story, atmosphere and mask system a whole awful lot, but the time mechanic in Majora's Mask was always a huge turn off for me. To the point that, despite having a Prima strategy guide when I bought it, I didn't finish it until 2013. In fact, at some point in my youth, I opened the back part of that Prima guide with ending spoilers because I knew I wasn't going to finish the game.

I have since come to ... appreciate ( notice I didn't say like) the time mechanic for what an innovative idea it was, especially given how samey 3D Zeldas can be. When I finally did beat it, I wound up finding some of the puzzle-solving that used it fairly clever. Just wish they'd been more considerate of my real life time ...

Case in point, I've never liked the time mechanic in MM, but I've sort of kind of learned to accept it. Sorta. I still want to play the 3DS version that supposedly fixes some of those time issues. 

As for Dishonored, I only played 2 via rental and couldn't get into it. I got stuck on some puzzle involving an electric tower in the middle of town. So, once again, I have no opinion on this week's Pak Watch.

I didn't necessarily hate it, but I bought Final Fantasy Tactics when it was on sale at Target in 1998. I had just finished Final Fantasy VII and wanted another RPG to play. So I picked up this one. At first I found its gameplay very confusing and strenuous. It was my first real experience with SRPGs. I missed out on earlier games like Ogre Battle and Shining Force. And it was easy to get killed by one mistake. So I rage quit it for about 3 days then tried it again. This time, I got the hang of the game's mechanics and I was hooked. I almost rage quit for good when I got into an unwinnable situation with Wiegraf at the end of Chapter 3 and had to start all over, since you couldn't backtrack and I had saved my game. I learned to keep two save files going especially before going into boss battles. But I played it through all the way to the end.

Not only did FF Tactics go on to be one of my favorite games of all time, it was my gateway drug for SRPGs. Since then, I've played Disgaea, Fire Emblem, Tactics Ogre, FF Tactics Advance, and then I played my two favorite games in the genre, Sakura Wars, and Valkyria Chronicles, which was my favorite 7th generation game and one of my top 5 games of all time. But FF Tactics is where it started for me with SRPGs, and it is still one of the best out there.

Pak Watch: I played a little bit of Dishonored, but it got buried under other games. So I don't have much here.

Stage Select:

3. Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest. I had no idea what this game even was when I played it as a kid, and then a friend showed me FF6 and it all clicked. I know this isn't the best game, but I have fond memories of playing it after it sat on a shelf for years while I learned what RPGs were.

2. Mass Effect. For as big of a fan as I am of this series, I really didn't like the first game when I originally played it. I had played through all of the OG XBox Bioware games and this one was a lot different from those. I'm not sure if I was expecting more from it, or what, but I played it for about an hour and stopped. Months later I decided to give it another go and... Then I got it. I played through it about 3 times after that and it's still one of my all time favorite games.

1. Saints Row 4. Hate is a strong word, and that's exactly how I felt about this game the first time I played it. I. Absolutely. Hated. This. Game. I loved Saints Row 3, and this was just not what I wanted from the series at all. I didn't want super powers. What was the point of even having the cars in the game? What's this computer simulation crap? "This is really stupid" I thought to myself. I don't think I've ever taken a game back to a Redbox so fast... Then a few years later I was really, REALLY bored and it was on sale for PS4. Something inside me said to give it another chance and... Yea I loved it. I totally got it. It all just clicked and I played it for an ungodly amount of time. This was a case of being wrong, and I'm glad that I gave it another shot.

Pak Watch: Dishonored is the perfect example of a game that looks super cool, and is probably very good, but I have no interest in playing it. I will continue to take a hard pass on the first person stealth genre unless a life threatening situation occurs where I am forced to play it. In which case I'm doomed, and I will be asking the heavens "Why couldn't my kidnappers be Hitman fans!?"

Episode Comment: I definitely played Megaman 4. I remember trying to beat Skullman a million times when I rented it as a kid. I immediately remembered the game when I saw him on the stage select screen. Thank you for your Chun Li wall scroll link. I appreciate it. It will not go to waste I assure you of that. Now if you will excuse me, I am gonna go have a run at Into the Breach because it's great and I'm hooked on it. Keep up the good work you radical dudes!

3. Super Metroid- I didn't get a chance to play this until 2007 when it hit the Wii Virtual Console, but I felt it was overhyped. I kept hearing it was the greatest game ever made, but I was really thrown off by how much stiffer the controls were than Zero Mission's and I would have rather played that or Prime. I picked it up again in 2014 on the Wii U and enjoyed my time a lot more. I didn't enjoy it as much as Prime or Zero Mission, but consider all three to be near perfect games

2. Dark Souls- I refused to play it before based on how much I hated Demon's Souls. But I saw it for $2.50 so I gave it a shot and was hooked, becoming one of my favorite games ever. I never returned Demon's after the fanbase ruined it by legitimately insisting something was wrong with me for not liking it, but enjoying Dark is good enough to warrant a spot here.

1. Jak 2- I never got a PS2 until 2010 and this was the game I was most excited to play. I liked 1, but I had played other collect-a-thon platformers and I wanted to see what 2 did different. And was instantly disappointed. The checkpoints were far too infrequent, aiming weapons felt dated, and driving portions were frustrating. I gave it another shot in 2012 and everything just clicked. I stopped trying to play it like it was a more modern game and adapted to its differences and the game stopped being frustrating. I could then see how this and 3 are Naughty Dog's most unique games, even though they took elements from GTA, the way its combined with platformer mechanics felt like nothing else I've ever played and it might have my favorite platforming levels of the 6th gen.

Pak Watch: I still haven't got around to playing Dishonored 1 beyond around half the first level. 

1. MEGA MAN (SERIES) – I posted late in the comments for Pak Watch for the last podcast regarding Mega Man 4, but that was the first Mega Man game that I played in the series and it was so difficult that I gave up on it and never played another main Mega Man game (except Mega Man Legends) until the Mega Man Anniversary Collection game out for the PlayStation 2, which I then grew to appreciate the games more. I bought Mega Man 9 & 10 and beat both of those and I would say the series is one of my favorite classic franchises. I also bought Mega Man Legacy Collection and will buy Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 eventually, would be nice if they were released on Vita.

2. DARKSIDERS – I am not a huge fan of the Legend of Zelda series and everything I heard about this game was that it is a more mature themed version of those games. I played Darksiders for about 10 hours then put it aside thinking not too much of it. Giant Bomb really does have a huge influence on my game purchases and games I play I realized (as well as this podcast) and once they started talking about it again I jumped back in out of curiosity. I beat it the second go-around and ended up buying the sequel but I have not played it yet. The God of War-like combat is one of the main reasons I enjoy it.

3. MASS EFFECT (SERIES) – I will admit that to this day I have not yet beat the original Mass Effect and the reason being is that I fell off the first game probably a little half way through. I did enjoy the story but it was the difficulty that got me. I don’t know if my crew was under-leveled or what but I always had a very hard time beating some of the enemies; I would die time and time again and eventually I just got sick of it. Mass Effect 2 comes into the picture and I picked it up a year after it was released and played non-stop to completion and same with part 3. It is definitely one of my favorite series in gaming (Mass Effect 2 is in my all-time top 5). I would like to go back and play through the whole series and finally complete the original, still waiting for that Mass Effect Collection for PS4/XBONE…. 

Pak Watch:

DISHONORED – I do not have a whole lot to say about Dishonored except I bought it for PS3 with intention to play it, got it digitally for free for PS Plus for PS3 and then bought it again for PS4 on sale with still the intention to play it lol. So I own 3 copies of it and I really want to play it, I just haven’t yet, so I am interested in hearing what everyone has to say about it in this segment.