Community Playthrough Suggestion Thread

[JerryGreenwood]

I have a suggestion about how these playthroughs are determined. Techwizard and others might already be on the same page considering the way January is shaping up.

Instead of a bunch of us trying to decide on one game out of thousands for a month, perhaps we should pick a system for the up coming month. Then discuss games for that system and choose 5 which would be put on a ballot to vote on.

Example - February is NES. We all toss out a bunch of titles. From there, the mods can choose 5 titles (or whatever number works). Then we all vote on those 5.

I want to play a bunch of different games, but I'm sure other people want to too. It can get too congestive if everyone throws out 10 different titles on various systems. As I said in a different thread, if I have one vote, it's always going to be for Phantasy Star. It's a waste of a vote.....unless of course there is a month for SMS and Phantasy Star is an option.

Side note - This also might eliminate the option to vote "other". In January's poll, I voted other, but again, it's basically a waste of a vote because I didn't vote for an N64 game. Using my February/NES example, if the mods can choose 5 games that seem to be the most popular among us, there should be no need to vote "other".

[techwizard]

when i first thought of doing a poll that was more or less how i imagined doing it, but i added the other category in case there wasn't much enthusiasm to play n64. i really wanted to make sure whatever we played was something most people wanted, or at least a lot of people. i do see what you mean though, there are quite a few suggestions for "other" popping up now. maybe we'll try that next time we do a poll.

[Fleach]

I know loads of people here are Zelda and Mario fans so how does everyone feel about playing through all the Zelda games, or all the major Mario games starting from the NES all the way up to the recent consoles?

Dezorian's idea about console themed months is excellent. I like it!

[singlebanana]

I know loads of people here are Zelda and Mario fans so how does everyone feel about playing through all the Zelda games, or all the major Mario games starting from the NES all the way up to the recent consoles?

Dezorian's idea about console themed months is excellent. I like it!

I'm not for playing all Mario or all Zelda titles. I'm a Nintendo fan and do love both series, but the point of the playthroughs is to experience some "new" games as a community. I think playing an entire series would be rather dull and quite "fanboyish." Not saying that I mind playing a Zelda or Mario title in upcoming playthroughs (all for that), but saturating the playthroughs with these games defeats our intended purpose IMHO.

As far as Dezorian's idea, this is pretty much what we are doing. As we have discussed in back and forth PMs and during our playthrough meeting, we are very concious about choosing a different platform/developer each month and trying to spread it out. So far the Retro group has done Nintendo, Playstation, and now Sega, which are pretty much the big three, and we may throw in an Atari month or two in the future. The Modern group has also been concious of mixing it up in their selections with the Nintendo Wii, XBox 360, and now PS2. The Retro group is planning to head back to Nintendo next month with an N64 title and will continue to provide a solid rotation.

All in all, the playthroughs are about the community and if members like the idea of a poll each month to vote on a title from a small group of options (mainly from the suggestions in this thread), I am all on board for that.  I want everyone here to feel as if they have a voice in helping to determine the title(s) we will play, but I think we still need to mix up the consoles to help maximize participation each month. My thought is that the moderators should pick the system and then gather a list of games suggested on this thread or in PMs and then determine which of those are fit for a playthrough (i.e. price, lenth, availability, etc.). Once we have about 5 titles, we run a poll to see what the community wants to play. I think it can be as simple as that and everyone should be happy. I think that if we use suggestions from this thread to help form our poll, we can eliminate the "other" category.

Dezorian, we will be sure to put Phantasy Star in the poll for the SMS month. I think that having the option to play it on a more modern system as well makes it a nice fit. I think that most of us probably only experienced early NES RPGs such as Dragon Warrior or Final Fantasy. It's refreshing to think of playing a game that is noted as being a solid RPG and being able to compare it to its contemporaries.                                    

[JerryGreenwood]

@ Fleach - I'm not opposed to playing those games, but I see what singlebanana is saying. Maybe it should be games that we all haven't played a million times.

@ singlebanana - I agree. Especially about the mods picking the system, then gathering a list of games from the thread or PMs.

I know part of the point is to get as many people as possible involved, but it's impossible to please everyone. I don't own an N64 and I probably won't be able to do the January play-through. Life's tough, but I think I'll survive 

[singlebanana]

I know part of the point is to get as many people as possible involved, but it's impossible to please everyone. I don't own an N64 and I probably won't be able to do the January play-through. Life's tough, but I think I'll survive 

Yeah, we certainly understand and don't expect people to be able to play every month. Hopefully, you have a current gen console and could join the Modern playthrough next month. We're just doing our best to spread the love around.

[JerryGreenwood]

Yeah, we certainly understand and don't expect people to be able to play every month. Hopefully, you have a current gen console and could join the Modern playthrough next month. We're just doing our best to spread the love around.

I'm trying to track down a cheap PS2 (is that still modern?  ) and I do own a 360 which I will be playing Streets of Rage 2 on

[singlebanana]

Yeah the PS2 is considered "modern" by where we in the playthrough group kind of drew the line. So few people have the PS4 right now and it seemed reasonable that the Modern side would have 2 Sony consoles to showcase. I could see the PS2 falling back to the Retro playthrough a year or two down the road.

Good luck in finding a PS2, not scarce, but if you can get one for under $30, you're doing okay. Pawn shops are flooded with them. Grab a cheap copy of Crazy Taxi as well and join the current Modern playthrough.

[techwizard]

i agree with everything singlebanana said

@fleach i love those games but agree with singlebanana, it would get a bit stale and push away anyone who isn't very big fans of them for a long time. with the amount of games in both series we could be looking at a year at least for each. i'm actually partway through doing that with zelda myself, and it's very slow going...partially because i tend to be slow when a game is long, but they're also just fairly long games.

[Fleach]

I guess I'm alone in enjoying marathoning a game series. Oh well.

Bring on the suggestions, guys. They're very helpful.

[techwizard]

I guess I'm alone in enjoying marathoning a game series. Oh well.

Bring on the suggestions, guys. They're very helpful.

oh i'm all for going through a whole series, i'm just bad at doing it in a short period of time, i need games in between to make it more manageable

i had gone through the entire call of duty series, and the main games for some other FPS series like Killzone and Resistance

[Link41]

I guess I'm alone in enjoying marathoning a game series. Oh well.

Bring on the suggestions, guys. They're very helpful.

Hell I'm marathoning 007 atm

[JerryGreenwood]

Maybe this should be posted in the December Retro thread but whatevs.

I think the format for December is being conducted very nicely. I think it shows that playing a few shorter games, like the SoR trilogy, can work as well and be as entertaining as one longer game, like Super Mario RPG.

Using high scores really makes things interesting too. Beating SoR is fun, but for me, competing for a high score is where the real excitement lies. 

I guess my suggestion is - the next time we do a trilogy of games that keep score, we should use this same format. One game a week and the final week is a battle royale.

[singlebanana]

Thanks for the feedback Dezorian and I hope that everyone else is enjoying the formats of both playthroughs. I agree, high score competitions are challenging and fun, especially when you figure out that specific moves or strategies can earn you more points. As you know, before game "endings" people competed for high scores. While I think there is a lot of value in finishing a game, there's just something about being the one to own that high score that brings out the competitiveness in everyone and makes the game more fun!

Though this is game suggestion thread, your post is awesome, because it tells me that we really need a feedback thread so that you guys can let us know what you like and don't like. Traditionally, I will usually post a message on the specific game thread asking for feedback. However, I think this kind of gets lost in the mix and we would be better served having a central feedback thread. As stated before, we really value the feedback of this community and it can only help us make our playthroughs better. The playthrough moderators are actually meeting tonight, so I will be sure to bring this up.  Thank you.

[JerryGreenwood]

Though this is game suggestion thread

Lol yeah, I wasn't sure it really belonged here. That's why I added my "suggestion" on the last line