No, I never played Panzer Dragoon saga, though I played every other game in the series and enjoyed them because of the setting, I sort of feel that Star Fox 64 did everything the shooter aspects of the series did but better, even if I like the setting and concepts behind PD more. Mysterious biological monsters beat furries every time.Have you played Panzer Dragoon Saga, Zeta? I'd also be curious as to how you played the original NiGHTS. Did you do the bare minimum, or did you go for high scores and A ranks on every level?
As for NiGHTS, this last summer I borrowed it, Christmas NiGHTs, and a Saturn from a friend for a week and a half. I enjyoed myself, but I'm not a gamer who enjoys trying to get high scores for the sake of high scores. I'm an exploration/experience gamer. I don't play to try to challenge myself, so much as to immerse myself in an interesting setting. I only shoot for high scores/extras if there's extra content for me to view should I complete it. Otherwise I just feel frustrated. I did replay NiGHTs several times and enjoyed it, but I don't quite think it's on the level of untouchable masterpiece like everyone claims. I don't know, maybe I just can't appreciate arcade-style "challenge me till my fingers bleed/hardcore" games. I also replayed NiGHTS a couple of times for scores, but soon bored of it and tried to toy around with the A-Life system, only to become frustrated that it basically felt like random chance if you ever actually accomplished anything with the fucking Pians. In general, I HATE the idea of scoring someone's gameplay experience. You shouldn't be penalized or judged because you're not playing the game the way the designers wanted - and they want to shoo you along the path. You can give them a goal and the means to accomplish that goal, but taking apart what they did piece by piece and assigning arbitrary numbers to their actions always seemed silly to me, and I never paid attention to scores in ANY videogame growing up. I got my satisfaction from looking around or just watching the story and enjoying the world.
When I originally played the game as a preteen, I was just out and out FRUSTRATED with NIGHTS because here was this vast 3-D world I found interesting, but ultimately were NOT SUPPOSED to truly explore since they wanted to keep you on a track. That's ultimately what drove me towards Mario 64 and a Nintendo 64. NiGHTs promised the freedom of flight but ultimately gave you a "fake" sort of restricted freedom instead of allowing true flight. And I thought Mario 64's Wing Cap actually captured that experience better even though it wasn't the focal point of the game. Playing NiGHTs when I was younger, I would avoid actually using NiGHTS because I found hopping around and exploring as the children more interesting and relaxing. Playing it in my 20's, I do enjoy th feeling of acrobatics and flow more, but I still think it's a weird premise because I don't think a game on a track or in 2D could ever really capture the feeling of true flight.
In short, I like NIGHTs, but prefer exploration to score/speed running levels in any game series, so perhaps that part of the game went over my head? The reason I'm enjoying JoD right now is because I'm collecting Dreamdrops and Pians for my garden. It's more interesting to me because I get a visual, physical reward for my accomplishments instead of a grade or set of numbers or letters. It's more satisfying to me and makes me want to replay more.
