Tuesday, January 09, 2018

Eight old games I'm going to play (and hopefully finish) in 2018

I don't often set goals for myself regarding how many games I want to play or even "beat" in a given year, but I'm making an exception in 2018 in the hopes it'll push me to dillydally a bit less than I did in 2017.

The thing is, all but one of the titles listed below are RPGs, which means I'm unlikely to finish all of them even if I do somehow manage to start them by the end of the year. As such, let's just say I'll give it my best shot, OK?

At any rate, here are eight "old" games I'm planning to play (and hopefully) finish between now and Dec. 31, 2018.

Chocobo no Fushigi na Dungeon (Wonderswan)--Between March and July of last year, I published seven "Welcome to WonderSwan World" posts. I've published zero since. To get back into the swing of things, I'd like to play a WonderSwan game that doesn't tax my brain too much. I'm not entirely sure this Chocobo no Fushigi na Dungeon port fits that bill, but I'm willing to give it a go anyway. No matter what, it should prove to be less of a challenge than the WonderSwan versions of Makai Toushi SaGa (the first Final Fantasy Legend in North America) and Romancing SaGa.



Fragile Dreams (Wii)--This is yet another of those games I've meant to start for eons but have yet to get around to for all sorts of reasons. Granted, I was Wii-less for most of 2017, and that put a real damper on any plans I may have had for this intriguing, post-apocalyptic RPG. And then when I was reunited with my Wii, I used it to play Opoona and Tabemon rather than Fragile Dreams. Well, I doubt I'll ever finish Opoona, and Tabemon is the kind of game you put an hour or so into now and then when you crave something light and frivolous, so my Wii's disc slot should be free to accept a replacement.

Last Window (DS)--I wasn't sure what to expect when I started my way through Hotel Dusk back in the summer of 2015. After just a few hours with it, though, I was smitten. Combined, its atmosphere, characters, soundtrack, and aesthetic add up to something akin to perfection if, like me, you enjoy a good whodunit. I desperately wanted to gobble up its sequel the second I was finished with Hotel Dusk, of course, but I moved on to another game instead and have yet to return to my European copy of Last Window. Maybe I'll stick its cart into my 3DS as soon as I wrap up my Miitopia playthrough.

Mother 3 (GameBoy Advance)--In 2014, I finished EarthBound for the very first time. In 2017, I finished that game's predecessor, Mother, for the first time. Given that, I shouldn't be expected to finish Mother 3 until 2020. I don't want to wait that long, though, so I'm going to do my best to fit it into 2018. To be perfectly honest, I'd prefer to play the game in English, so I'm desperately hoping Nintendo finally sees fit to release a localized version of Mother 3 via the Switch eShop sometime soon. If not, I guess I'll have to break down and tackle the Japanese cart I've owned for a good while now.



Sekai wa Atashi de Mawatteru: Hikari to Yami no Princess (PSP)--If Sekai wa Atashi de Mawatteru doesn't ring a bell, maybe My World, My Way does? Hikari to Yami no Princess basically is an updated version of that Atlus-published (outside of Japan) DS RPG that puts you in the shoes of a pouty, landscape-altering princess. I'm always up for giving my PSP some love, and I thoroughly enjoyed the 10 or so hours I put into My World, My Way a couple of years ago, so I figure checking out my Hikari to Yami no Princess UMD over the next few months may well wind up being the best of both worlds.

Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS)--OK, so this isn't really an "old" game, but it seems like I've owned (and ignored) it for ages now, so for me it deserves to be included here. If I'm to be honest, I'd say the main reason I've dragged my feet on playing Shin Megami Tensei IV for so long is that all of the online chatter about the game being a bit of a nightmare has me spooked. Still, I spent good money to buy the damn thing, so I'm going to play it even if it kills me. On a semi-related note: I also want to boot up my long-overlooked copy of Bravely Second at some point in 2018.



Suikoden (PlayStation)--Konami's Suikoden series has never really been on my radar. To be frank, the visuals of its PS one releases, especially, never appealed to me, and that's basically prompted me to steer clear of them. At least, that was the case before social-media mutterings and PSN sales collided and convinced me to pick up digital copies of Suikoden I and II via my beloved Vita. I've read that Suikoden II is the better of the two games, but it just seems wrong to me to begin a series with its second offering, so I'm going to start with the original.

Super Mario RPG (SNES)--Can you believe I've never played this one? Hell, I can't believe it myself. And I can't even tell you why I've never played it. I recall being excited about it when it was announced, but I have no memory of why I failed to buy it after it hit store shelves. Maybe it was too expensive? Or maybe a bunch of other appealing SNES games came out around the same time and I forgot about it once I was done with them? Whatever the case may be, I really--and finally--want to experience what Super Mario RPG has to offer before 2019 arrives.

Are there any old games you want to put at least some time into by the end of this year? If so, share their names, and why you want to play them, in the comments section of this post.

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