Hoping to make your life's design a bit more dynamic!

Of those, only the story, visual effects, music, and sound effects matter to me. Any battle system will work, and 8-bit graphics are fine if those four attributes come together a certain way.

For that reason, two NES games are tied for my top favorites. Maybe it's because those are the games that captivated me in the beginning. Maybe it's because they're special in some way that strikes a certain chord with just me. I don't know. All I do know is that as much as we are alike, we are also different in key ways that account for our tastes in games varying greatly at times. It just comes down to the fact that certain games grab us in special ways that we can't always explain well or repeat with new experiences. Maybe it even has something to do with our subconscious and whatever else was happening in our lives during the time we played a particular game.

Jer said something that almost scared me when he mentioned his gaming preferences and experiences. He said he enjoyed two specific games that he never finished for some reason, Terranigma and Secret of Mana-II (SD3). Well, I didn't finish those either, and I still don't know why I wasn't compelled to drive through to the end, the same as I did with my favorites. I'm wondering if it's because they are action RPGs, or maybe the stories were lacking. To this day, I really don't understand what happened to my drive in those two games. I just became indifferent toward them and moved on to something else that I did finish.

BTW, years ago, someone mentioned that the Terranigma dump would freeze in an emulator during the final fight. That may be part of the reason I stopped playing. Is anyone aware of the current status of Terranigma's stability?

While I agree SD3's story isn't super-duper amazing, I felt it went adequately with the whole.
As for Terraingma I liked everything, the whole sense of terraforming (or re-forming, if you will) grants a responsability
that also made me think of several ideas back then that ended up manifesting completely when I finished MA, so I feel
many of the concepts in MA were also in Terrainigma in an embryonary form.

As for stability. I never had a single crash and I played it to the end more than once (my only grief with Terraingma is that it was too short in the end). Generally though, speaking of Zsnes, its of good measure to keep stereo sound off, it seems to be more stable, and also keep the sound rate the same as the one the real SNES uses (32,000KHz I believe).
A game I did observe this odd behavior in was Der Langrisser, so perhaps it applies to some dumps of Terrainigma,

I felt like sharing something similar and noticed this topic, neatly tucked away at the end of RPG Chit-chat from almost two years ago.

We all have our unique experiences. In the last few years, I have done quite a bit of soul-searching. Who I am, who I could become, what I want out of life. It brought me back to some of the earliest memories I have. Which these memories just so happen to be of an RPG I learned to play when I was only four - Ultima V:Warriors of Destiny, played on a good old Amiga computer. It was due to RPGs like Ultima and adventure games (ranging from Winnie the Pooh to Space Quest) that I really learned how to read. I didn't have many books. And even in early elementary school I didn't understand exactly how to read. It was just something I did when looking at a computer monitor. I once had to read Puss in Boots for some type of book report. I had no idea what to do with it! But at home, I could use these old computers, load up games and play them just fine.

What made Ultima the unique experience though, is the traditional start of the game. For any that haven't played the games centered around the Avatar, an encounter with a gypsy fortune teller typically follows the New Game option. The gypsy has 8 tarot-like cards that depict the 8 virtues present in Britannia. You're asked random moral / ethical / philosophical questions dependent on each set of two cards, that then follow a bracket type of ranking until you're left with a single card. This card then determines your class, stats, and (for Ultima IV and V) starting location in the world.

In short, this was a huge part in how I learned to read (I almost always started a new character) and had a further impact on who I've become. Even more so, since I continued to play the series up until it ended with the ninth game (I don't count or care for UltimaOnline at all). At first there were varied results- I might end up with Justice or Honor most plays, and occasionally Sacrifice or Compassion. I was young, and didn't understand the questions at first, of course. But like a seed, they were planted in my mind. As time went on, I felt myself looking at the world differently than others.

By the time I was in middle or high school, I consistently would end with the result of Sacrifice. Even now, the same still occurs, and it isn't surprising. For years, I've made sacrifices for family or friends. While some praise me for being a good father, despite being young, or dealing with most of my various life situations in a positive way... I look back and think otherwise. Typically, I didn't do these things for myself. College was the first real choice in my life that I made for myself. I've learned to regret it, actually, though that's another story. But I haven't tried to live as myself completely. Most of my life is the way it is due to this sacrificing.

The other virtues are still there, too. I have this unrelenting honesty that never agreed with my ex-wife's way of talking about others, quietly. Ideas of justice, honor, and valor that don't fit in with this corrupt and material world. I always want to give to those that don't have and to share my time with those that need someone compassionate to care. I hate to take pride in something- I hate to own things, occasionally looking at forms of entertainment as a blight; I'll ask why can't I have a simple life in the mountains, away from all these distractions. Somewhere I can really feel some humility without constant stress of money and temptations. All these and the things I've learned and accepted through Taoism and Buddhism, the spirituality that I crafted to be unique and free from restrictions. It simply is- and it simply is as pure as I can possibly be at the time.

Very unconventional, yet here is the foundation of how I've become who I am. Because of a computer RPG.

Xiados,

You should really try those remakes of Ultima 5 and Ultima 6 that they made using the Dungeon Siege engine. Their fantastic games and the NPCs are fleshed out so beautifully in the game that it feels like a living breathing world. Everybody has their own daily life schedule like they did for the later Ultimas and the world is absolutely huge.

You brought up one particular point that meshed well for me, but before I share it, I guess I was the person I still am long before I played my first RPGs. It's just that the messages conveyed in the Ultima series, Dragon Warrior-I, etc., resonated perfectly with my pre-existing attitudes and identity. As for that point I wanted to make, those who sacrifice much for others and thrash through voluntary ordeals to help preserve a nation and a way of life develop one major virtue that gets reinforced over and over, and that is patience. I don't believe that most people who lack patience have the wherewithal to persist through sixty-hour-plus RPGs without patience and a strong ability to accept delayed gratification as the normal state of affairs.

I was a shy teen. The few good friends I had did not know I played rpgs. Well, one did, and he gave me a little @#$% for it from time to time, but was cool in every other way.

Maybe it was my way of escaping. My friend moved away, I lost a few others, and rpgs were my world to go into. I think much like the OP, I can remember nights going on till 4 am playing..of all games.. Final Fantasy 8. I do not even know why as I can think of dozens and dozens of more memorable games, personally, that I liked much more. But it kept me up for whatever reason and I recall falling asleep in first period history class (and even 2nd period science class) all the time during that time frame. It was not pretty and I got a (bad) reputation for it amongst my peers.

I would say from around 12 until around 18 or 19 (1997 or so till 2003/4 or so) I just got any rpg I could, snes or ps. Slowly at first..zelda, secret of mana, but more and more as time went on. Action rpgs were my forte at first but slowly got more and more into jrpgs and even a few srpgs.

I left rpgs behind, 19-23, slowly but surly when I went to college. I picked up an snes when I had my own place, around 21-22 but more "friends over" friendly games like Donkey Kong, Mega Man, Mario world, mario kart, NBA Jam etc. (all amazing games in their own right). I think between 20-23, as far as rpgs, I maybe played and beat Star Ocean and Secret of Mana 2 (SD3) and that is it? could be forgetting some though.

Then I went to China for two years, did not even play a single video game

End of 2010: Got really sick, battled a beast a lot of us, in some way, are all to familiar with and had 7 or 8 months of treatment where I was just laid up in bed and ... within a month suddenly got the urge to play some classics I had missed from 12-18: Lufia 1 and 2, Treasure Hunter G, Breath of Fire 2 (had beaten 1, 3 and 4 years ago). also, emerald dragon, dual orb and wozz. Not to mention that amazing Star ocean ... lennus 2, tales of phantasia, dark law, dragon quest 6, tenchi muyo, adventures of hourai high, villgust, Montsania thanks to various translatiors..oh and evo and paladins quest.. and even replayed some old favorites like ff5, ff6 (even ff:mq), lunar: sssc wild arms and even a new games right after release, radiant historia which was really good.

So sickness did bring one good thing, rekindling of my love for the classic snes/ps rpg! And made those C---- (ugh don't wanna spell it) a little more bearable. Lufia 1 and 2 hold a special place for me as being the first games to get me to this point. (just like breath of fire 3 back in, like, 1999, was my first ps rpg).

Thanks various translators, for making a young mans recovery a little better! KUDOS! (my screen names pays homage to one such group )

I'll definitely have to check those out, finally! I remember hearing about Lazarus back in it's early stages. I also wonder if the Ultima IX 'remake' ever occured. When I first played Ultima 7, I was amazing at just how much they were able to throw into the world. I spent more time taking over Sentri's house in Britain and creating a treasure horde, than anything else. Though, thinking back on the other games, even in the original Ultima 5 and 6, everyone had a generic schedule. You could only find people at certain places during certain times. All this thinking about it, I might have to play one of these again.



I know I wasn't very patient as a child. It took years to really accept it, though I'm sure RPGs had a role. Especially those long, 18-hour long periods of just playing a single game. The idea of delayed gratification reminds me of one of the conflicts I had with my ex. Every so often she'd feel like she didn't know me, and was impatient to understand. I'd always explain that it'd take quite a few years for us to completely know each other.

@DoubleDvideogames I wish you a speedy and thorough recovery! RPGs can be a good way of taking a break from it all