"Classic" Catch Up

[Combine Hunter]

For me, it's very important to experience the "essential texts" of any medium you love, regardless of what your opinion on said texts ends up being. Doing so gives you a better sense of how that medium has evolved and innovated, the trends within certain eras, and how these evolutions, innovations and trends manifest in more modern examples of said medium. Plus, sometimes you discover media that ends up being amongst your all time favourites.

Recently with Video Games, this has become a bit of challenge for me. I'm not a student anymore, I have a full time job, I'm living with my girlfriend and great games seem to be coming out every other week. Time has become a bit more precious, but mainly it's my motivation that's diminished. I imagine there are a lot of you out there in a similar position. You want to play these "classics," but just don't have the motivation to do so.

So here's my idea, why don't we all list the unplayed or unfinished classics on our piles of shame, and motivate each other to play through them. We can give each other updates on how we're doing, offer advice on tricky sections and once some one knocks one off their list, we can offer suggestions as to which game they should tackle next.

I aware this may end up looking similar to "Whatcha Been Playing?", but I think the focus is different enough to warrant it's own thread.

So here are the games that I own, that I hear people talk about in enough reverence, that I'd consider them "classics," and how far through them I've got:

Advance Wars - Mission 7
Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Very early, maybe an hour in.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay - Not Touched
Company of Heroes - First level
Demon's Souls - Half way through, I think
Deus Ex - First area.
Earthbound - Not touched
Final Fantasy VI - Not touched
Katamari Damacy - First 2 levels
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - 3 hours in.
Mega Man X - One boss defeated
Nier - Not touched
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - very close to the end.
Resident Evil (Remake) - Just started it.
Resident Evil 2 - Just started it.
System Shock 2 - 2 hours in.
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - One mission
Xenoblade Chronicles - 1 hour in.

What about you guys?

[Todinho]

Man I have the same problems and no matter how much I try to catch up I can never do it the list only grows XD, if it's worth anything in A Link to the Past do yourself a favor and try to explore as much as you can because later on you're gonna need a certain Item to progress but that's completaly "optional" item and I had to look it up. When it comes to Resident Evl remember that just like silent hill avoiding enemies is key to preserving your ammo to when you need it but this way more important in Remake then 2 and this goes without saying but use your saves wisely...I learned that the hard way when I was a kid.

As for the classics Im aiming for:

Oddworld:Abe's Odyssey-1 hour in
Grim Fandango-1 hour in
Vagrant story-3 hours in.
Final Fantasy VI-alot of hours in always get kicked by the first boss.
Final Fantasy VII-Not touched
Devil May Cry 3-not touched
System Shock 2-not touched
Persona 2 innocent sin&Eternal Punishment-not touched
Comix Zone-first stage
STALKER:shadow of chernobyl-2 hours in
World Ends with You-not touched

[KSubzero1000]

For me, it's very important to experience the "essential texts" of any medium you love, regardless of what your opinion on said texts ends up being. Doing so gives you a better sense of how that medium has evolved and innovated, the trends within certain eras, and how these evolutions, innovations and trends manifest in more modern examples of said medium.

I certainly agree with that. Ideally. Though it's easier when it comes to cinema than video games, for example.

Advance Wars, Demon's Souls, Xenoblade, and any classic RE or Ace Attorney all receive my seal of approval.

As for myself, of all the classics I have lying around and actually want to play through at some point instead of merely pretending to *coughZeldacough*:

Chrono Trigger
DMC 1 and 3
Silent Hill 2 and 3
Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2
Ghost Trick
Õkami
And I'll add God Hand because the podcast got me all hyped.

[Flabyo]

Interesting idea, I have a fair mixture of stuff about the place...

Catherine - not started.
Dark souls - not started.
Skyward Sword - got to the end of skyloft, hated it.
Xenoblade Chronicles - not started.
Fragile Dreams - not started.
Landstalker - not started.
Pier Solar - not started.

Bunch of other not started games, but they're mostly off games for gold and not considered classics.

[Combine Hunter]

Is Catherine considered a "classic" ? Lol

[dezm0nd]

I think i'd need to see a list of "classics" and go from there. I know there are some but I can't for the life of me think of which. If we're going by your list, Josh.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Can't bring myself to play these non-combat scary games. I don't find running away very enjoyable.
Company of Heroes - Tried a bit, online, I think? Didn't grab me.
Deus Ex - I recall running about like a melon when it was first released. Drowned in a training area?
Earthbound - Played for about 8 hours and it got rock hard. Really enjoyed its style though.
Final Fantasy VI - I don't think I ever will.
Katamari Damacy - I've played Katamari... not sure which one though!
Mega Man X - I fell off the series after 3. Surprised to see X on your list.
Nier - Not touched
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - I tried. I can't.
System Shock 2 - Literally the first time I got scared in a videogame. I wouldn't leave a room
Xenoblade Chronicles - Got the 3DS version. Got about 20 hours in a hit a brick wall. Very typical of me and JRPGs

[gallo_pinto]

Love the idea of "Classic" Catch Up and like everyone else, I've got my own list I'm trying to work through. I didn't get a Nintendo console until the N64, so most of the classic games I'm trying to catch up on are NES and SNES.

Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels - I'm on World 4, using save states liberally. Really difficult.
Super Mario Bros 2 - Downloaded on 3DS, but haven't started.
Metroid - Haven't touched.
Metroid 2 - Haven't touched
Super Mario World - Haven't touched
Super Metroid - Haven't touched
Persona 1, Persona 2 IS+EP - Downloaded on Vita, but haven't started
Metal Gear Solid Series - Going to play through most of it on Vita, then switch to PS3
Okami - I got to the halfway point on Wii, want to play it all the way through on PS3

Catherine - not started.
Dark souls - not started.

I played through both of these games over the summer. As most people on this forum would probably agree, Dark Souls was phenomenal and it very much holds up even if you play it in 2015.

As an Atlus fan and a puzzle game fan, I fully expected to love Catherine. It turned out to be my least favorite game of all time. In my opinion, it's not even worth playing on easy mode just to see the story.

[Combine Hunter]

Mega Man X, not Mega Man 10. Mega Man fans tell me it's the best of the SNES era Mega Man games.

[Flabyo]

Is Catherine considered a "classic" ? Lol

If you can have Nier, I can put Catherine

[Todinho]

Eveybody knows that Catherine it's "objectively" the best puzzle game of all time so I think it's worth the classic title

[deacon05oc]

Classics to catch up with for me:

Ratchet and Clank Original Trilogy
Sly Cooper Original Trilogy
Jak and Daxter Trilogy

Have them all on Vita. Never played before on ps2. Afraid my patience for platformers may have dissipated over time. Unless it's Classic Mario or Sonic.

Also add Chrono Trigger. Def long overdue.

[Todinho]

those series are less plataformers then you might expect though only the first game in each one is really mainly a plataformer in the later titles each goes it's own route so if oyu find yourself unable to enjoy the first one in each instalment give the second one a try because you might like it more.

[MagicianArcana]

I have the same problem. Since I graduated college and got a full time job, I don't have the amount of free time I used to have. My time spent gaming after work has lately been devoted to Tales of Zestiria and World if Warcraft.

But I have a huge list of classic games that are still on my backlog. I've started most of them just to make sure the copy I had was working. I'll list some of them:

Dragon Quest VIII - I'm at the fight against Dhoulmagus in the dark ruins. He destroyed my party so I need to go grind for exp which I really don't wanna do. So motivating myself to play this one is hard right now.
Xenoblade Chronicles - Same deal as DQ8. On a tough boss fight and need to grind for exp.
Every Wild Arms game
Every Grandia game
God Hand - I recently beat the second boss.
Silent Hill - I think I just got out of the school
Chrono Trigger - I think just met the frog
Persona 1 and 2 - it's been a while I can't remember
Digital Devil Saga - I got to the theme park castle
Tales of Destiny - the bard character recently joined my party
Baten Kaitos - I got to some academy. Again I'm not sure it's been a while (This one I really wanna finish so I can start playing Origins)
Skies of Arcadia - I recently got to that village in the trees

I'll stop there. The list goes on. I have such a large collection of games I've played but haven't finished. I don't think I'll be able to finish all of them in my lifetime

[Combine Hunter]

For those of you attempting to play Persona 1 and 2, in my honest opinion, they aren't worth it. Persona 2 is good, but don't expect anything as special as 3 or 4.

[KSubzero1000]

Baten Kaitos - I got to some academy. Again I'm not sure it's been a while (This one I really wanna finish so I can start playing Origins)

You're in for a treat. Both games have their share of flaws and oddities, but they offer a very special experience unlike most other JRPGs. Nobody played them, though. Good luck!

[Alex79]

I can't really think of many classics I haven't played and wish I had. Usually I just play them. Chrono Trigger I want to finish though.

[mikeleddy83]

I've whittled my list down to a rare few, think it's just:

Shining Force 3 - Played the start about 20 times
Skies of Arcadia - Played a good 10 hours in multiple times
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together - Booted up probably more times than the number of seconds played

I've always played the older games in tandem with the new but I can easily say my list 5 or 6 years ago would've been a solid 20+

Not sure how many classics I've missed but with the amount of games I play it can't be that many (obligatory I've played 90% of this thread wankery ending sentence)

[MagicianArcana]

Baten Kaitos - I got to some academy. Again I'm not sure it's been a while (This one I really wanna finish so I can start playing Origins)

You're in for a treat. Both games have their share of flaws and oddities, but they offer a very special experience unlike most other JRPGs. Nobody played them, though. Good luck!

Yeah I've noticed that it is a very unique game. I really like it. tri-Crescendo is one of my favorite developers because they tend to make very unique games. Eternal Sonata and Fragile Dreams, two other games by them, are also on my list.

For those of you attempting to play Persona 1 and 2, in my honest opinion, they aren't worth it. Persona 2 is good, but don't expect anything as special as 3 or 4.

Yeah I didn't expect them to be as good as P3 and P4. They're still good games, but I don't like them nearly as much as I liked 3 and 4. I'm having a hard time getting into P2 because I find the music boring lol I really like the music in P1 though. I'm playing the PSP versions.

[Scrustle]

EDIT: Thought I should probably just get rid of this post. I don't see an easy way to flat out delete it, so this will have to do. I don't know if it really matters much now since I posted it a while ago, but I realised that is was kind of a waste of time and didn't really add anything to the discussion. It's best if it isn't just sitting here stinking up the place.

[DomsBeard]

Persona 4 Golden.

Stuck on a boss early on (Yosuke) I think which is a bird in a cage.

GTA V.

Bought it at release but stopped playing at the same point as before as Trevor just irritates me.