unpopular retro opinions

[QuaketallicA]

8 hours ago, Koko Ricky said:

@QuaketallicA, on the subject of music videos, it's worth noting that there are three formats from the older era: Clips shot on film and preserved on a master reel; clips shot on film and preserved on SD tape; and clips shot on tape at SD. This results in some pretty wide variance in quality, and may not match how you remember them on a CRT, where the combination of scanlines and everything being reduced to a 60i SD broadcast is just an aesthetically different look. 

 

Older YouTube uploads tend to screw up remasters, because even though they have access to 16mm or 35mm prints, the bitrate of uploads was lower back then, leading to blotchy artifacts. Some uploaders zoom in on 4:3 videos to make them 16:9, a bad move made worse if the original video is limited to SD. Official videos that are old should be replaced with a higher bitrate version, but it doesn't seem to happen. 

 

Recently, the best quality I've seen of older music videos has been on Pluto TV, a free TV app with scheduled programming. A number of videos on their 80s and 90s channels, although rarely broadcast in HD (either because the masters are SD or the network doesn't have access to the scanned film reels), seem to have a really decent bitrate, possibly better than YT.

 

I'm not talking about uploads by random Youtube channels though. I don't know if you've noticed, but ever since this year or starting last year, the official music videos (i.e. VEVO) uploaded directly by the bands or artists, or at least the channel that represents them, have been replacing the original videos with "HD" versions that imo plain look worse.

 

I first noticed it when Michael Jackson's Thriller and Beat It got replaced and it threw me off. They removed the "feel" of the video that had that 80s look. Light bloom gone, coloring dramatically changed so that the iconic orange jacket looks red. The cool werewolf metamorphosis and zombies just look like tacky halloween costumes in HD. It completely ruins the feel. 

 

The problem isn't that these HD versions exist. The problem is that rather than being posted as new videos, they are taking down the original videos that were uploaded to the site usually around 2009-2012 in 480p with good bitrate, and you can now only see these HD versions. They are lying saying these new versions have been there since 2009 (or whenever the old one was originally uploaded) when in fact the new versions have only been up since this year or last year.

 

Iron Maiden and Ozzy took music videos e.g. Number of the Beast, Bark at the Moon, etc. that were originally on their channels on Youtube in 4:3 with black bars on the side, and they merely cropped the top and bottom off to make it "widescreen." Ridiculous. Cropping information off the video to make it "widescreen" should be criminal, and the irony is I usually watch music videos on a 4:3 iPad screen, so it is entirely counter-productive to make it widescreen.

 

But it's being done everywhere. I challenge you to look at any "Remastered in HD" music video, copy and paste the link into web.archive.org, and select a date that is from around 2019 or earlier. Compare for yourself the difference between how it used to look versus now, and you will see what  I mean. 

[Optimus]

I just realized after replaying Dark Souls 2 SOTFS that they shouldn't have remade this version. There is some discussion about which is better, and most people do agree SOTFS is the definite edition, but many times I prefer to play the original and say this should have been it and nothing else.

 

But the issue is not that I prefer one over the other, but the enemy placement is so vastly different that it creates a schism in my brain. I can play either of the two versions and enjoy my time with both, but now in my memories of what enemies to expect or where do you find certain sould item are split. Imagine if ID did two vastly different versions of classic Doom where the enemy/thing placements are so vastly different that you didn't recognize which is the original and which a pirate bootleg of the original where a kid vastly altered things in a WAD editor.

 

Or a better phrase to put it, it's like I am stuck in a double mandela effect world, where both Berenstein and Berenstain Bears exist.

[Vostyok]

The next Nightdive remaster should be TekWar.

 

Don't change anything. Just more HD William Shatner yelling at us.

[fishy]

The Nintendo 64 is complete and utter trash, 99,9% of it's games are trash and most people pretend it's not because they had one growing up and are unable to be objective about it.

 

PS1 owns nintendo 64

[Bucket]

19 hours ago, Vostyok said:

The next Nightdive remaster should be TekWar.

 

Don't change anything. Just more HD William Shatner yelling at us.

 

Yes but no. Good concept, awful execution. The animation was terrible, the weapon feel was weak, and the objectives often confusing. Plus there was that game breaking bug that caused every NPC to become hostile if they got hurt by any means (almost always getting hit by a bus).

[tzen]

On 4/15/2024 at 12:33 PM, fishy said:

The Nintendo 64 is complete and utter trash, 99,9% of it's games are trash and most people pretend it's not because they had one growing up and are unable to be objective about it.

 

PS1 owns nintendo 64

 1997 was a long time ago, bro. Calm down lol

[fishy]

On 4/17/2024 at 6:16 PM, tzen said:

 1997 was a long time ago, bro. Calm down lol

i'm not even a 90s kid lol, please excuse my rude language i just really hate the n64

[tzen]

On 4/18/2024 at 8:48 PM, fishy said:

i'm not even a 90s kid lol, please excuse my rude language i just really hate the n64

 

I was around for the release of both. I was pretty underwhelmed by the PS1 at the time after playing the Sega arcade ports on a Saturn first. Ridge Racer frankly looked a little stiff and primitive after playing Sega Rally Championship. Gran Turismo 2 replays were probably the only time the PS1 truly made me stop and stare in awe. Of course I enjoyed Resident Evil 1 and 2 and FF7 and Metal Gear Solid, but when I saw Mario 64 and Shadows of the Empire and Turok I was in sheer disbelief at what I was seeing. Especially on the CRTs of the day.

 

Now of course I see the glaring weaknesses of the N64 rendering hardware like blurry textures and short foggy view distances, and the impressive artistry of many PS1 games shines through despite the wobbling polygons and skewed textures. Kind of like how I truly thought GLQuake was objectively better when I got a 3Dfx Voodoo2, but now I prefer software rendering with its truer real-time lighting and crisper more saturated look and color palette -- just more faithful rendering to the original vision (software Quake on PC I mean).

 

I find all 3 systems have their own good original games and ports. But yeah PS1 has the biggest library of both straight up broad appeal classics and weirdo niche shit.

Edited April 24 by tzen

[ApprihensivSoul]

15 hours ago, tzen said:

Just more faithful rendering to the original vision.

 

 

In your younger self's defense, the smother colouration of n64 games WAS the original vision. I have no limit of complaints about Mario 64 and its visual design, but it's understanding of smoothing is not among them, and that was not limited to that game. If you force off blending on games like Ocarina of Time, boy howdy are you rewarded with a mess. The entire texturing process was designed with the expectation of the blending in play. Now, this isn't universal. Obviously mutliplatform games couldn't afford two different texture schemes, but the real problem with blending isn't it being used at all, but it being slapped onto something like Quake where the art never accounted for it.

[Aaron Blain]

I have a low opinion of the N64, but between the fairly large core roster of Nintendo/Rare hits and a few standout niche titles like Mischief Makers and Ogre Battle, I have to admit it's actually a pretty decent system. The library doesn't hold a candle to the PSX, which is one of the all time greats, but it's definitely viable.

[Optimus]

Even if I am a Nintendo fan, I only recently tried to play games in either a N64 or PS1 and I somehow prefer the visuals of PS1 in most cases because of crispy instead of blurry textures. Even if N64 has the superior GPU with proper perspective correction. But really, I tried some games side by side and I like the crispiness of PS1. I also find more PS1 games I would be very interesting to invest time to.

[ALilGrayBoi]

Street fighter 1 sucks. Games that make you grab a special item to do something as little as scratching your ass suck. Games that make you go on an Easter egg hunt to progress suck. Games that are extremely hard unless you find secrets suck. Games that make upgrading weapons the main focus of the game suck. Games that make you memorize a whole button combo to scratch your ass suck. Games that are outrageously hard to the point where it’s not even fun suck. Games that pull plutonia level tricks every second suck.

 

Games that suck suck.

 

Games that games. 
 

games

 

game

 

gam

 

ga

 

g

[jupiter_ex]

the surprising amount of proficiency and familiarity Gordon Freeman has with military grade weapons while being just a MIT physics graduate strongly implies he was the quiet guy at the office who's a firearms fanatic and maybe was even planning to snap at work one day when the invasion happened and now he's hailed as a hero.

I mean, look at the apathy at his job he displays by showing up 30 mins late on the day of the experiment with the purest sample.

And yes he has a baby photo in his locker and you think it's his son (and I was honestly waiting for this "the son of Gordon Freeman" plot to be brought back in any of the sequels) but it's probably a nephew. Nobody seems to have missed him the time he spent in stasis showing he had no close family or friends (?)

 

EDIT: even if this isn't true I would definitely be using it for a story "guy who was going to kill everybody ends up saving humanity and being a hero and nobody will ever know"

Edited May 25 by jupiter_ex

[Taw Tu'lki]

Did you know that the first mod of Wolfenstein 3D has a pornographic content? It was also the first mod in history of 3D shooters where were a pornographic pictures.
It was published on 11th May, 1992, the six days later after the publishing of the first episodes of the game.

Edited June 9 by Taw Tu'lki

[Lura_Lura]

I never liked the water levels in games back then. Especially not in Shadow Warrior or Blood. Big, empty levels that are also dark and dangerous - no. I don't like that.

[yakfak]

been doing so much looking into the stuff of '77-'84 for an rpg setting like mmm
popular birth of home computing and early arcade games

furry !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

post-punk, industrial stuff, dance punk stuff, EBM, progressive electronic, dub reggae (and prog guys going insane and trying various combinations of these things + their own arch senses of humour and thereby making terrible things)

dungeons and dragons getting big and the magazines which accompanied it and started hosting supplements, fan rants and fic, battle reports etc

fan fic and fan artists becoming gods in their own right (so many science fiction people I thought of as these peerless geniuses were squirreling away in zines and small publications and just part of a convention scene)

 

my professional opinion is that i hope another one of those eras is taking place right now and someone will help me identify it

 

edit: because I'm looking for a time I was never part of and can't nostalge for which is nevertheless full of fascination =P and today is really hard to navigate

Edited June 10 by yakfak

[whybmonotacrab]

-Symphony of the Night isn't that good. It's not as good as the Aria of Sorrow or the DS Castlevanias, and it doesn't hold a candle to Super Metroid.

 

-Capcom makes better 2D Zeldas than Nintendo does. I really wish they got to try their hand at a 3D one.

[FourLoko Salad]

On 4/15/2024 at 11:33 AM, fishy said:

The Nintendo 64 is complete and utter trash, 99,9% of it's games are trash and most people pretend it's not because they had one growing up and are unable to be objective about it.

 

PS1 owns nintendo 64

In my opinion, Playstation is best for singleplayer experiences, and N64 is best for multiplayer.

 

Of course there's good singleplayer games for N64 (Mario and Zelda) and good multiplayer games for PS1 (Armored Core and CTR), but as much as I love my N64, I definitely got more mileage out of my PS1 (mostly because I don't have any friends who want to play N64 games with me)

[fishy]

1 hour ago, FourLoko Salad said:

In my opinion, Playstation is best for singleplayer experiences, and N64 is best for multiplayer.

 

Of course there's good singleplayer games for N64 (Mario and Zelda) and good multiplayer games for PS1 (Armored Core and CTR), but as much as I love my N64, I definitely got more mileage out of my PS1 (mostly because I don't have any friends who want to play N64 games with me)

the problem with n64 multiplayer games is that there's like 2 or 3 total, it has a really poor game library.

[FourLoko Salad]

9 hours ago, fishy said:

the problem with n64 multiplayer games is that there's like 2 or 3 total, it has a really poor game library.

Super Smash Bros

Goldeneye

Killer Instinct

Perfect Dark

Mario Kart

Mario Party

Duke Nukem

Tony Hawk Pro Skater

Quake

Diddy Kong Racing

Pokemon Stadium

Wave Race

Battletanx

Pretty much any sports game

 

Just to name a few off the top of my head.

[bobstremglav]

I find Knee Deep in the Dead episode kinda overrated

Spoiler

Probably doesn't fit thread much, but I meant that while 1st episode is still good it blends a lot more than 2nd and 3rd episodes, something which was problem for me in Quake as well, where huge bad addition is brown palette. 2nd and 3rd episodes provide much more visually interesting levels with something which wasn't common in science fiction of time, and gameplay best for me at 2nd episode, with best OG boss, experimental secret level and many many gimmicks and interesting design choices, like fake exit, horror alien atmosphere of M4, M7 being one of oldest levels, and much more...

For me id started to die after peaking at Doom 2, when Quake became less interesting at many aspects and even cloning doom, and while Quake 2 stood the ground id story went downhills after all.

 

I feel like I deriaved from thread theme too much, if so I'm glad to delete this nonsense

Edited June 12 by bobstremglav

[Sonikkumania]

Counter Strike Source is the best CS.

[june gloom]

1 hour ago, Sonikkumania said:

Counter Strike Source is the best CS.

 

Gotta agree. I just wish it had some of Condition Zero's features.

[Sonikkumania]

Tekken 2 is the best Tekken.

E: Maybe I over estimated, but T2 is the best classic Tekken.

Edited June 13 by Sonikkumania

[Astar]

14 hours ago, Sonikkumania said:

Tekken 2 is the best Tekken.

E: Maybe I over estimated, but T2 is the best classic Tekken.

I guess I agree, although my favorite is still Tekken 3, because it has Bryan motherfuckin' Fury, who is already a meme

[octosquidfunni]

GoldSrc games look way better without texture filtering

Super Mario 64 controls like garbage

[tzen]

7 hours ago, octosquidfunni said:

GoldSrc games look way better without texture filtering

Super Mario 64 controls like garbage

 

Agree about GoldSrc textures. Actually the water looks better in software mode in Half-Life too.

 

Ur crazy wrong about Mario 64 tho. Did u play it back when it came out?

[Optimus]

I don't like most JRPGs. I prefer certain even janky western RPGs, like yesterday I was playing Eye of the Beholder on GBA version, or Fighting Fantasy on DS, or previously I played Dark Spire and skipped Etrium Odyssey even if the later is more beautiful in colors but first one is stylistic b&w and grim. I look at new or old RPGs to get into and somehow I am not attracted on the style and mechanics of many JRPGs even if I try few of them. Strange also to make that FromSoft a Japanese company does Dark Souls or newer series that all feel more of a western RPG with dark themes rather than JRPGs. It's the only exception of RPGs from Japan that I love to play (although it's more like an action RPG rather than retro turn based).

[june gloom]

Other way around for me. I actually just don't like RPGs in general I tend to tolerate jRPGs a lot more.

 

That being said, a lot of newer jRPGs are overdesigned with pointlessly complex systems that need hours-long tutorials to understand, and that's considered a selling point rather than an obvious design failure, further reinforcing my dislike of RPGs (which are often overdesigned regardless of national origin or subgenre.) This is a big reason why my FF7-loving ass doesn't play a lot of jRPGs made after whenever Shadow Hearts Covenant (my 2nd favorite jRPG) came out.

 

As far as wRPGs are concerned (yes this includes Dark Souls -- considering how much jRPGs and wRPGs both have cross-cultural representation these days we probably should reconsider the terminology we use for them, especially since jRPGs wouldn't exist with Ultima and Wizardry ) I like them even less. I love soulslikes, and I like roguelikes on paper if not so much in execution, but I find most western style RPGs to be deliberately designed to be as unfun as possible, especially if they're trying to evoke the so-called "golden age" of the late 90s/early 2000s. Also ugly as sin -- at least jRPGs are nice to look at.

[Sonikkumania]

On 6/14/2024 at 3:26 AM, Astar said:

I guess I agree, although my favorite is still Tekken 3, because it has Bryan motherfuckin' Fury, who is already a meme

Bryan is cool, though in 3 he was kinda like Bruce copycat. Personally I like King and A King.