...but I have never played NiGHTS into Dreams... despite owning at some point and extensive library of Sat games, and still owning not one but 2 Saturn consoles. Also very fond of platformers.
To those who have played the game recently, here's a question: Do you honestly feel that the game has aged well? Would the game retain its magical touch for a gamer discovering the game nearly 20 years after the fact?
I'm contemplating buying a copy of the game (3D controller bundle) and wanted honest opinions before taking the plunge.
Thanks!
Muchos años después, frente al pelotón de fusilamiento...
or you could just get the saturn version and develop an appreciation for early 3d anyway, because people make any kind of "aging" out to be way more of a horror story than it actually is
Played it, don't understand it that much. Cool concept though.
little things I noticed: it runs with the same kind of 30/60fps split that Outrun does, where the backgrounds are scrolled at 60 but the actual gameplay runs at 30, haha
Come check out my website, I guess. Random stuff I've worked on over the last two decades.
Nights is a platformer without platforms. It's all about squeezing the time bonus. It takes a bit to get used, but then it's great. Also, the remake looks excellent.
I really tried to get into it several times over the years but it never clicked with me.
Always saw it as some kind of graphic demo on the Saturn with boring gameplay.
And I love Sonic and platformers but as others have said Nights isn't a platformer.
WTB: Arkanoid II Revenge Of Doh PCB, Outzone PCB, Fixeight PCB
The gameplay itself is timeless, it's great fun when it clicks. Superb soundtrack and will take you right back to the mid 90's... Sure the graphics are rough, as they were at the time but it is a Saturn classic. Don't bother with the ps2 ver, it's looks good but there's something missing from the gameplay that I can't put my finger on. Get the Saturn ver as its the best and quite cheap nowadays.
EDIT: it does also depend on where your game tastes lie... In the early 90's I loved a bit of everything, in the mid to late 90's it more fighting games and these days more or less solely shmups. It's a good game but must be played with the analog controller. Ultimately, only you'll be able to decide if you like it or not. If not its an inexpensive mistake to make.
Last edited by Jonst on Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
I played it a lot when a port came out on XBLA. I think it's aged well, there really isn't anything like it. The gameplay rendering in 30fps even on the HD ports is a big shame though considering how fast the game is..
It's very much a game where you have to play for score to really enjoy it. Basically that means racing through 'laps' on the stages while picking up as many points as you can by going through tricky routes for items.
There's a chaining system similar to dodonpachi except for picking up items, it's possible to full chain most stages. Since you don't want to trigger the next track section until the timer is just about to run out scoring becomes a matter of squeezing everything you can out of the seconds you have. Basically a racing game with boss battles indeed.
I think it gets really hectic once you go for higher scores, too bad about the framerate though.
It's a very short game if you just want to do a single playthrough as well, maybe a couple hours to unlock the final stage and clear it if you're new to the game.
Nights is one of those games that I just can't understand.
Why is it is so universally loved?
I bought it way back in the day and tried and tried to like it, but to me it was just a limited action game with puzzle elements and some bad 3D.
It's an extremely opaque and baffling single player, no-momentum racing game collectathon with loads of redundant nonsense. It is a badly flawed bundlefuck of a game that relied a lot on its audio/visuals (which were messy at the time). It is by no means essential or some unfairly cast aside classic - which didn't stop me convincing myself that it was for years. Still worth playing though.
nights is a much better game than radiant silvergun yet it has always been treated as much worse, and it seems to be entirely because of the graphics. it's kinda sad that people hate early 3d to such an extent they can't see that nights is really a classic arcade game in disguise... had the exact same game been a scaling-based system 32 product instead, nearly every single critic against it would not exist
They would have had a hard time making those awkward walking segments (where you control the children) good in any form. They do look particularly hideous in the Saturn's 3D though. That's easily my biggest (only?) gripe with NiGHTS; forcing you through that ugliness (if you run out of health).
One of my favorite 1st party SEGA titles of all time, and yet I totally understand why it just isn’t for everyone. I prefer a short, fast, and a score based challenging experience over something like Mario64 which I think of as sleep inducing emptiness. NiGHTS is rare experience that is too unique to simply call “basically a racing game”. Soft Museum is one of the most magical stages in video game history, and music and atmosphere is timeless.
As for the 3D pad, it is my favorite console controller of all time.
"I've had quite a few pcbs of Fire Shark over time, and none of them cost me over £30 - so it won't break the bank by any standards." ~Malc
sm64 is a short, fast, and score (time)-based challenging experience. it's been misinterpreted as a completely different game for a very long time because sadly this wasn't advertised like it should have been
it's all about forcing things, people. noone's going to understand if you don't tell them
edit: of course, i try to be "neutral" for the sole purpose of not seeing you needlessly get all uppity, and look what happens. btw a statement like that is completely at odds with what you're doing here, but you'll make all these weird justifications and put up so many boundaries, and that's exactly my point
Last edited by Despatche on Sun Oct 12, 2014 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
chempop wrote:One of my favorite 1st party SEGA titles of all time, and yet I totally understand why it just isn’t for everyone. I prefer a short, fast, and a score based challenging experience over something like Mario64 which I think of as sleep inducing emptiness.
Scoring in Nights is stupid at best. There are clear, calculable and reachable limits to scoring and they have been pretty much reached. A lot of it involves twirling around like a spaz before the timer ticks down with no opposition from the game - not unlike playing with a ball of string. Mario 64 is still being explored, records still being set. Mario 64 speedruns are riveting and fascinating to watch, Nights score attack runs aren't in the slightest bit interesting or surprising to anyone who isn't an absolute beginner at the game - nothing has really been done with it in a very long time and there isn't a current score attack scene because there's nothing there to build a scene around. Nights was all about simple execution with little creativity, which is funny considering what the stunt system seemed to promise. Oh well.
Attempting to get "A" rankings on all of the levels was challenging and fun enough to return to the game again and again.
Discovering the slight variations in tunes as you made friends with the Nightopians was almost wonderful at the time.
The fact that one of the levels displays the actual time of day on the game board was quite unique.
The ability to milk extra points and throw a little personal flair into your runs by linking acrobatics is something that separated the novice from the experienced.
NiGHTS is a brilliant game which still offers lots to appreciate and enjoy.
Koa Zo wrote:Attempting to get "A" rankings on all of the levels was challenging and fun enough to return to the game again and again.
Discovering the slight variations in tunes as you made friends with the Nightopians was almost wonderful at the time.
The fact that one of the levels displays the actual time of day on the game board was quite unique.
The ability to milk extra points and throw a little personal flair into your runs by linking acrobatics is something that separated the novice from the experienced.
NiGHTS is a brilliant game which still offers lots to appreciate and enjoy.
fwiw I agree with (just about) everything here too, I came off as unnecessarily shrill and weird. I tend to do this kind of shit.
Yeah, I don’t actually judge games on how they are played on superplay/worldrecord/speedrun levels of expertise. I judge them mainly on my own experience with them. What a concept, huh?
I can still appreciate things I haven’t experienced, but I tend to form most of my opinions on first hand basis. As a kid, NiGHTS was confusing at first but I caught on quickly enough to enjoy for years. Mario64 I just didn’t find compelling, maybe someday when all my reflexes are gone I’ll give it a whirl.
"I've had quite a few pcbs of Fire Shark over time, and none of them cost me over £30 - so it won't break the bank by any standards." ~Malc
Well I just bought Nights and an Analogue controller from another member here, so I can report in 2 weeks or so how it holds up, and I can do it without nostalgia clouding my judgement since I've never tried it.
Can't say I enjoyed what little I played, but it's not saying much. I like the Saturn 2.5D graphics (on RGB CRTs).
P.S.
In comments under this article, the alleged writer said:
Also, for anyone who feels like their skills have atrophied between the original Saturn game and the PS2/PS3/360 re-releases, they are slightly slower and mechanically different to the Saturn version (I believe the HD remake is based on the PS2 edition) so you can always blame the game. I know I did.
Last edited by Obiwanshinobi on Mon Oct 13, 2014 10:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
The rear gate is closed down
The way out is cut off
... despite owning at some point and extensive library of Sat games, and still owning not one but 2 Saturn consoles. Also very fond of platformers.
