Discovering "Old" Things

One day, a few weeks ago, my mom and I were bored, and we were channel-hopping and happened upon a movie being shown on Syfy.

This movie was named simply "Serenity" and neither one of us had heard of it, and we caught it, just as it was signing on. Having nothing to do, we started watching it, and I wound up enjoying it (especially that really awesome girl in that bar fight scene lol).

Anyways, while browsing TvTropes, I learn that the movie is actually a "sequel" to a series named Firefly.

Well, in talking with a coworker a few days after that, she asks me if I ever saw Firefly and I told her "No... but I did see Serenity" and she goes "OMG, I'm going to have to let you borrow it!" and I'm like "Cool!"

Well, she let me borrow her Firefly boxed set, and honestly... I was reluctant to give it back to her. lol. I plan on buying it as soon as I get the chance/time to browse a store like FYE, etc... heck maybe even Walmart would have it. Either way, if I see it (and Serenity), it is so MINE.

I love discovering things that are "old" but yet absurdly cool at the same time. Firefly and Serenity are definitely those (2002-2005ish).

Anyone else enjoy discovering old things that they found awesome, and/or have similar stories to tell?

Welcome to the right side, Browncoat. :D

Good to have another Browncoat among us :) Truth be told, I didn't discover this series till after it had finished airing. I now have two sets of DVDs- the one I can lend out and my copy.

*sigh* Firefly is one of the best TV series ever. Sucks it was cancelled so soon.

Btw, does anyone watch the TV show Castle? Nathan Fillion is the star in it and in the first season Halloween episode he dresses up like Malcolm Reynolds. His daughter asks him what he's dressed up as and he says "Space Cowboy!" and she replies "Oh, dad, thats so 5 years ago." Heheh, was really funny.

Love "Castle". Reminds me a bit of the show "Moonlighting" with Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis.

The "Space Cowboys" made us all crack up when we heard it, too.

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Originally Posted by AmonGwareth

*sigh* Firefly is one of the best TV series ever. Sucks it was cancelled so soon.

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I completely agree with this statement.

I have a sudden urge to dig out my Firefly DVD's

I started watching it AGAIN!

And I have Castle season 1 on DVD too.

Joss is boss!!! :p

firefly was the reason i didn't watch network tv for almost 10 years......

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Originally Posted by velveeta

firefly was the reason i didn't watch network tv for almost 10 years......

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Babylon 5 and Space: Above and Beyond were the reasons I stopped watching Fox (I refuse to watch anything on Fox, period).

They *purposefully* canceled B5 one season short of its pre-planned ending, regardless of its popularity. The show was doing well in the ratings, and people were all loving it, then at the end of the 4th season, WHAM. Cancelled.

Thank God SciFi (I think?) was willing to pick it up, but sadly I didn't have any sort of cable or satellite at the time.

Then, the DVDs came along and I snatched em all up... well I'm missing one of the seasons... #3 I think.

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Originally Posted by Dhalin

Thank God SciFi (I think?) was willing to pick it up, but sadly I didn't have any sort of cable or satellite at the time.

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It was actually TNT.

I've re-watched Babylon5 (all 5 seasons) over and over about as many times as I've re-watched Firefly and Ghost in the Shell (tv series) and Deep Space 9.

SciFi (er, SyFy) actually saved Stargate SG-1 when it was going to be cancelled. But, they also oversaw Battlestar Galactica (which started good and went bad IMHO). But, I'm loving the new Caprica series.

*nods* I assumed it was SciFi that picked up B5, since it is, well, science fiction. lol. Like I said, I didn't have Cable back then, I'm just glad that *somebody* saved it, and held it through its planned ending. It was too awesome to die one season short.

Either way, Fox sucks. The only thing they care about are those stupid Simpsons and their Sitcoms.

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Originally Posted by Dhalin

*nods* I assumed it was SciFi that picked up B5, since it is, well, science fiction. lol. Like I said, I didn't have Cable back then, I'm just glad that *somebody* saved it, and held it through its planned ending. It was too awesome to die one season short.

Either way, Fox sucks. The only thing they care about are those stupid Simpsons and their Sitcoms.

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FOX cancelled the Sarah Connor Terminator Chronicles really annoying

HBO cancelled Carnivale (amazing show) after second season.

UPN cancelled Enterprise after 4th season (it was starting to get good season 3 and 4)

As for Deep Space 9, really enjoyed it but the very last episode was a disappointment, mainly becuase it was like two separate stories stapled together and they reused space fight footage that they had used before (like the original BSG and Buck Rogers used to do in the 70's :P)

Babylon 5 was amazing, I remember watching it when it first came out and I was like Wow. The final season did suffer and just wasnt as good as the previous seasons (should have stretched the Shadow War across all 5).

I havent found a good Scifi series to watch for a while (need to finish watching V and download Caprica at some point).

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Originally Posted by AmonGwareth

It was actually TNT.

I've re-watched Babylon5 (all 5 seasons) over and over about as many times as I've re-watched Firefly and Ghost in the Shell (tv series) and Deep Space 9.

SciFi (er, SyFy) actually saved Stargate SG-1 when it was going to be cancelled. But, they also oversaw Battlestar Galactica (which started good and went bad IMHO). But, I'm loving the new Caprica series.

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You seem to rather enjoy space/SciFi themed stuff Amon. Have you ever heard of the X series games by Egosoft? Such as X3: Reunion and X3: Terran Conflict? You might enjoy those, I certainly do as they're the only space games that allow such freedom (Other than a modded Freelancer, maybe).

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Originally Posted by Akrion

You seem to rather enjoy space/SciFi themed stuff Amon. Have you ever heard of the X series games by Egosoft? Such as X3: Reunion and X3: Terran Conflict? You might enjoy those, I certainly do as they're the only space games that allow such freedom (Other than a modded Freelancer, maybe).

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Yes... Absolutely hated X3: Reunion. The controls, the dialogue and the tutorials all really really annoyed me so much I couldn't continue. And I can't bring myself to try Terran Conflict because of that.

Freelancer, though, that was a classic great game. Still have the disc around here somewhere. Alongside Freespace2.

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Originally Posted by AmonGwareth

Yes... Absolutely hated X3: Reunion. The controls, the dialogue and the tutorials all really really annoyed me so much I couldn't continue. And I can't bring myself to try Terran Conflict because of that.

Freelancer, though, that was a classic great game. Still have the disc around here somewhere. Alongside Freespace2.

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Yeah, unfortunately the controls have turned a number of people off, and the tutorial is horrible. xD But for me, the drive to be able to captain a capital ship was far more powerful and made me push through the above until I got used to it, mainly because there's no other game where I really can to my knowledge (Eve Online doesn't really count).

X3: Terran Conflict is rather improved over X3: Reunion (in my opinion), but it could still be better. If you use Steam at all, perhaps you might get a good deal on TC during one of their big sales in which case it might be worth giving a try. At the very least, you might like the controls more, for it has an option to use freelancer style controls (To the celebration of many in the community). It's got a much better interface as well.

I haven't played Freespace.

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Originally Posted by AmonGwareth

Yes... Absolutely hated X3: Reunion. The controls, the dialogue and the tutorials all really really annoyed me so much I couldn't continue. And I can't bring myself to try Terran Conflict because of that.

Freelancer, though, that was a classic great game. Still have the disc around here somewhere. Alongside Freespace2.

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heehee i still play freelancer - have it on both puters....snake plays it too

Elite!

On Commodore 64!!

With *gasp* RASTER LINES!!!

On the subject of discovering old things, mine's more a rediscovering old things.

I've had this slight hankering to play Suikoden 3 again for like a couple weeks due to hearing the first part of the opening song on a music video. You know how hankerings get when they get a little stronger the more time goes by...

I'm subscribed to Gamefly with the current game being new Vegas. NV's load screens are horrible. Seems like I spend more time behind one than in the game. My PS3 also has this fun habit of freezing during gameplay so having to re do something I've already done is never fun.Yesterday after watching the load screen, I decided that enough was enough.

Went though my cabinet to fish out the game. Found out quickly the PS3's PS2 emulator isn't great. Put it in the PS2 only to spend and hour looking for memory cards. Was worth it though. Pretty game (for its time) and the load screens were nearly instant. No freezing, no coffee breaks for load screens, just the game.

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Originally Posted by Shian

On the subject of discovering old things, mine's more a rediscovering old things.

I've had this slight hankering to play Suikoden 3 again for like a couple weeks due to hearing the first part of the opening song on a music video. You know how hankerings get when they get a little stronger the more time goes by...

I'm subscribed to Gamefly with the current game being new Vegas. NV's load screens are horrible. Seems like I spend more time behind one than in the game. My PS3 also has this fun habit of freezing during gameplay so having to re do something I've already done is never fun.Yesterday after watching the load screen, I decided that enough was enough.

Went though my cabinet to fish out the game. Found out quickly the PS3's PS2 emulator isn't great. Put it in the PS2 only to spend and hour looking for memory cards. Was worth it though. Pretty game (for its time) and the load screens were nearly instant. No freezing, no coffee breaks for load screens, just the game.

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Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever play a game on Console when there's a PC version out. Ever.

PC versions of a game offer more, in terms of being able to download free mods, making your own mods, and decently-equipped PCs will play them far, far better than the consoles would.

On average, in FO:NV, my load screens are no more than 5 seconds long and my PC is 2 years old and when I put it together, it was a 'best bang for buck' instead of top-of-the-line.

I have watched every episode of The Highlander on the television and on DVD after I bought the boxset, same goes for Babylon 5 and was truly sad when I found out that Crusaders was never finished after the initial season. I actually like it more then most episodes of B5. Oh well life is full of disapointments.

Always liked Space: Above and Beyond except for the final episode were the whole group goes out in a blaze of glory (or at least that is the last episode I saw) that kinda ruined it for me.
Never was a real startrek fan… The original startrek (including the movies were fun’ish for something that old), The next generation became annoying after a few seasons. Voyager could have been fun had they been a little bit more human and gave some tech for new tech (borg adaptive shield anyone?? Steal it and use it!!)… The only series from startrek I really liked was DS9, I guess the same fascination I have for B5… A lone spacestation fighting for survival.

As for games, well my oldest favorites are all PC games… Colonization, Reunion (which I tend to suck at but still like and no not X3: reunion) and UFO enemy unknown / X-com 1 (which I suck at even more. Always have money issues, not lack of fighting skill).
All of these games I still tend to play from time to time, with either DOSBOX or straight from win XP. Other games I liked, but never play anymore would be the Wing Commander series, with its best game “Privateer” which I liked, but never managed to find the patience to play honestly in order to get that super upgraded fighter craft. My not so legal copy came with a savegame giving me loads of money… lol

To be honest… I only liked Freelancer because I had played Privateer before that and was hoping that to be a good substitute, the online stuff was cool until I learned of a way to make loads of money smuggling stuff between homeplanet and some spacestation 2-3 systems away. However got annoyed with playing online because I was smuggling my behind off and then some newby 12 year old would cry “cheater” near home planet with loads of other players around because I had that “spanish” pirate fighter craft with mostly tachyon guns if I recall correctly.

As for pre-PC games… I always liked Carrier Command on the ZX Spectrum, the graphics that game had brought “bad” to a whole new level and would make many gamers today cry for mommy, but it was fun to play. Starting from scratch was boring, but waiting fully armed for that enemy carrier to arive was fun… Especially when you dropped some big bom on the command tower and thus sinking the carrier, the dog fighting was fun, but could become tedious because you cannot go to far away from the carrier.

I suppose one game I found recently on youtube that I used to play was Cybercon III. I played it on the atari st, but it was on amiga and pc too. Here is a youtube link to the pc version, running far far too fast... and the sound was nicer on my atari to be honest! Urgh... Midi...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmZ3LjlMFW4

Freespace II ... now there's a first class game... never got far in it myself, but it was probably the last game where I was just happy to watch someone play it, and then complete it. But hey I used to watch my brother type in game listings itching for when he'd finish, save, and run it... only to find there was another hour or so of error finding!

Freelancer was awesome, but never finished it... oh and X-Wing Alliance. :)

I agree about pc vs console... if there's a pc version it's almost always worth going for that. However there's a pc/xbox title called Windhaven...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Zb_usd7Os

It looks like I would get the xbox version simply due to how he's done the controls ... just hope it releases! Fantastic looking stuff.

Rakku

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It looks like I would get the xbox version simply due to how he's done the controls ... just hope it releases! Fantastic looking stuff.

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You do know that xbox controllers are compatible with the PC and any game worth its salt should have a customizable UI/controls settings right?

You could get the PC version, plug your 360 controller into your PC and go to town all you want.

Back on the original topic:

I went to FYE yesterday and bought Firefly and Serenity both (got the Collector's Edition for Serenity even!). Firefly was on a BOGO rack, so I had to get something else... wound up getting the Die Hard Ultimate Collection, woo-hoo. Now I got all 4 Die Hard movies too!

Also bought Avatar the extended version from Wal-Mart too.

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Originally Posted by Dhalin

You do know that xbox controllers are compatible with the PC and any game worth its salt should have a customizable UI/controls settings right?

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Huh... no I didn't know that. It's good to hear!

I watched Avatar Extended version yesterday... I liked it, and I guess with the sequels on the way it may make them make more sense, however the non-extended version works better as a film. In fact they could have added some of the scenes from the Extended one into the original, and then not have bothered with the extended one at all (not as much money of course!!).

Going back to "old things" ... the extended Aliens. Now that was an extended version truly worth having...

Rakku

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Originally Posted by Spirit

Huh... no I didn't know that. It's good to hear!

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Well I don't know about the original xbox controllers, but I know I've heard that the 360 controllers are indeed compatible.

I think you might need the optional USB power pack adapter though. But those are only a couple bucks from Gamestop, Walmart, etc.

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Originally Posted by Dhalin

Well I don't know about the original xbox controllers, but I know I've heard that the 360 controllers are indeed compatible.

I think you might need the optional USB power pack adapter though. But those are only a couple bucks from Gamestop, Walmart, etc.

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Even in case one does not have an XBox (ie me), they also sell Microsoft controllers that look like the XBox ones, have PC drivers and so on.

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Originally Posted by Spirit

Going back to "old things" ... the extended Aliens. Now that was an extended version truly worth having...

Rakku

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Many movie makers would envy ever being able to produce a movie of a quality comparable with Ridley Scott's discarded pieces, even just once in their life.

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Even in case one does not have an XBox (ie me), they also sell Microsoft controllers that look like the XBox ones, have PC drivers and so on.

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Since Microsoft makes both controllers, it probably doesn't apply to them, but most other knock-offs that they sell for PC are far, far less quality than the real thing.

I remember back during the PS2 era, that many so-called "USB PS2 Controllers" were quite lacking in quality. One common mistake is that they'd make the + pad all one control that senses where you're pressing down upon it. See, the PS2 controller has 4 separate buttons for a reason -- when pressing left, you DON'T get Left-Up or Left-Down unless you are pressing both left AND up/down. With these cheap knock-offs, it is virtually impossible to get a "true" direction like that.

I'll tell you what freaking rocks -- a PS2->USB adapter (not to be confused with PS/2) if you don't own a PS3 (but you do own a PS2 or PS1). I have one, and it works perfectly, I use a PS2 controller hooked up to my PC in this manner to play emulated games lol.

Another "new" Old Thing I found:

I found another SNES emulator, and this one actually works: BSNES. It is touted as being almost 100% accurate, and can play nearly anything made for the real SNES.

Games finally started to look and sound 99.9% correct (including Lufia 1's 'enemy death' sound that every other emulator screws up on), so I started doing more SNES gaming.

Anyways, I was reading TvTropes one day, and saw entries for a game called "Terranigma". Living in the USA, I never was able to get my hands on this game. Heard of it a couple times, but it turns out, it was never released over here, even though English versions of it exist. No Fan Translations needed. So, I downloaded it and I'd have to say that I've been enjoying the experience thusfar. It plays a lot like Illusion of Gaia with some Soul Blazer (it is supposedly a Spiritual Successor to both), but also has XP and Levelups, weapons and armor too.

Interesting game, been liking it. I know it sure had a couple nice upbeat tracks for being a SNES game (Zue, for instance). I always love nice upbeat music in a game, especially the adventuring kind. Boss battle themes too. That's one of the main things I miss about MMORPGs compared to Single-Player RPGs. Anywaaays, I digress lol.

Ohh nice. Illusion of Gaia was one of my favorite games growing up. I'll have to see if I can get a hold of this Terranigma and an emulator.

personally i will never be truly happy until i can slap some imps again....

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Originally Posted by Shian

Ohh nice. Illusion of Gaia was one of my favorite games growing up. I'll have to see if I can get a hold of this Terranigma and an emulator.

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Try coolroms or romnation. Either of those two should have it. I know coolroms does, and it doesn't appear to be ESA-protected.

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Originally Posted by velveeta

personally i will never be truly happy until i can slap some imps again....

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As in you want to play that game (you could use Dosbox), or you want them to release a sequel?

Rakku

This isn't really a "discovering", more of a "re-discovering", but...

Call me crazy, but with all of the re-releases around, I still can't help but to feel the charm of the very first Final Fantasy for NES.

Yes, there's a lot of graphics and gameplay improvements that have been made, but I still... there's just something about the original NES cart that always makes one go back to that world for one more adventure.

I'll pick up and play the newer versions of it on a seldom occasion, but I find that I just.. don't enjoy it as much, not sure why.

For those of you who've never seen it, and are a fan of the Non-MMO Final Fantasy games, especially the older (FF6 and before), highly suggest you take a look at it. Will warn you though, the game is hard. It is fairly harsh, and unforgiving, but yields some fun once you get the hang of it. Those looking for a challenge will find plenty of it in this game.

It may not look pretty, it may not have PS3 graphics, but I still find it fun. It is a lot more strategy than action, with some exploration mixed in.

It is also interesting to note that some of the things that appear in this game, set milestones that were used in later FFs (and also some non-FF games as well!). Even Istaria uses things that originated from (or was made known/popular by) good ole Final Fantasy I.

I actually have Final Fantasy 2 installed on my ipod touch. And we don't currently have it hooked up, but my wife still has her working Nintendo and SuperNES with all of the Zeldas.

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Originally Posted by AmonGwareth

I actually have Final Fantasy 2 installed on my ipod touch. And we don't currently have it hooked up, but my wife still has her working Nintendo and SuperNES with all of the Zeldas.

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I was never a big fan of FF2.

I like how they gave you greater control over buying stuff (no more spending half an hour plus to buy 99 potions every other dungeon), but it is the character growth system that absolutely turns me off on the game.

They made it so that to get any HP or MP gains, you have to spend most of your resources in one single battle instead of gradually over time.

This meant, hanging around towns and wasting HP/MP to make it go up. MP, that's simple... cast Cure over and over again, levels it too anyways. But HP... you wound up attacking yourself over and over again while fighting mobs too weak to kill you.

Try fighting anything that can hurt you, and you're likely to get killed if you're not strong enough.

Also, it removes any sense of balance from the game; you can have maxed out stats at the very beginning if you don't mind a lot of grinding. Then the rest of the game (including the final dungeon and final boss) is utter cake-walk.

Not to mention, it takes quite awhile to actually get the game started to where you can handle more than the first couple areas, more time than it takes to get FF1 started.

If they would have left it at a normal XP-Levelup system, that game would have been a lot better.

don't forget, tis 'hug a gamer' day!!! :cool: