"Talk about 'late to the party'..."

[Alucard von Elru]

Last year I bought a Nintendo GameCube. I didn't really sink my teeth into a game until the summer, when I played Twilight Princess. It was my first Zelda game, my first Nintendo game played to completion, and ended up being one of the greatest and most inspiring games I've ever played in my life.

Fast forward to, uh, last week. I've been playing through Resident Evil 4. My first time with the game. I've played countless games released in the years since RE4 that I was aware ripped off many elements of the game. I assumed when I picked it up finally that there was no way it could have aged well. Too many have done the "same thing", right? I don't even know if I'm halfway through the game yet, but I don't feel it's premature to say this: I think this is the best game I've ever played. It rewards (and occasionally punishes) every single idea I have. It's alive and unpredictable, and forces me to rely on intelligence and cunning I wasn't even aware I had. There's nothing else like it that I've ever encountered.

So, has anybody else ever been "late to the party"? Good or bad experiences welcome.

[Mo-Nercy]

I wouldn't say the GameCube was much a party to begin with. xD

But yes, I'm always late to the party. I don't usually purchase consoles as soon as they're released because I like to wait until there's a healthy selection of games to choose from. Price is also an issue, especially this gen. I only got my PS3 a few months ago.

When it comes to games, it's pretty much the same story. A lot of my PSX and PS2 games are Platinum with the exception of all the Final Fantasies and a handful of fighters and racing games. And that's further compounded by the fact that I live in Australia and back in those days, PAL regions received games many months after the rest of the world.

Oh yeah, I remember being late to the party with first gen Pokemon. I only got it after everyone had pretty much finished with theirs. But when the other kids started to find out that I had Pokemon Red, the fad came back for a little while and I became a trade-pimp (everyone else had Blue, because Red was for girls).

[KentaRawr!]

I'm late to the party with most older games I like. Metal Slug, Resident Evil, most of the Final Fantasies, Snatcher, Metal Gear, and many more. :p

I love my Gamecube. It's so warm and cuddly.

[Mikeneko Rocker -- Tim]

I'm somewhere between being late to the gaming party (I joined it by the time the PS1 is dead) and an arcade gamer.

However, I made up for it by dedicating myself to consoles I can realistically own.

[Levian]

Lots of great games for the gamecube! I sold mine in 2007 and kept the best games so I could play them on my wii.

Eternal Darkness is one gamecube game I've always wanted to play but just never have, so I suppose I'll be late to that party.

I was a bit late to the Silent Hill party too. I started playing right before Silent Hill 4 got released, and it was amazing. Being late to a party only means you have tons of juicy goodness ahead of you :D

[Bolivar]

Man I thought I was late to the gamecube party, I got it when Wii/PS3 were coming out I think, and even then, only to buy the GBA player to play my FF games I had on GBA. I still haven't played Twilight Princess or RE4 although I do really want to.

I did the same thing with N64, bought it years later for cheap, got Goldeneye, Super Smash Brothers (BEST IN THE SERIES). Basically games I already played the crap of but just wanted my own home version.

I've been late to the party for a couple games series. I just recently got into the Gran Turismo series in the last year, I really can't wait for GT5. Also got into God of War last summer I believe, I really underestimated those games.

[Bastian]

If "the party" = GameCube, then no.

But if "the party" = any game that is considered "old" and you're only JUST now finding out how wonderful it is, well, then yes! Constantly!

Right now I'm playing the Legend of Spyro series. Scoff if you must, but I played the old school Spyro series on the PS1 a decade ago and loved them and so was a bit turned off by the new series . . . it looked like a completely different style of game. And it is. While the first Spyro series was more Mario the newer "Legend of" series is more Zelda. And I LOVE Zelda, so . . . I'm loving this series!

[Alucard von Elru]

But if "the party" = any game that is considered "old" and you're only JUST now finding out how wonderful it is


lol For the record, yes, this is what I'm referring to when I speak of "the party." Hell, even if you've had a negative experience with a game you discovered years after everyone else. :P

But good to see some GameCube love around. I could hug my GC daily now, Kentarou. It's the cutest thing in the world, and has soul, damnit.

[Agent Proto]

I'm late to be starting some games as well. I recall starting Final Fantasy X this year, and that's been out for 9 years, is it? yeah, about 9 years.

[Rase]

I didn't own a PS2 until this last summer, and had only played some games on friends systems before that. Needless to say I was late to God of War, Zone of the Enders, Dragon Quest 8 (and in general), and many other games. It's provided me with a good deal of fun.

[Quindiana Jones]

I still have yet to buy RE4. xD

[Shoeberto]

I didn't get into MGS until 4 came out. I didn't play 4 for a considerable time, but I bought the box set of 1-3 that coincided with its release. I had played the first game before, but didn't enjoy it too much. When I bought the box set, though, I really fell in love with the series.

Generally, I'm late to the party because I'm very frugal. I wait for the best deals, even if it takes 2-3 years. I save a lot of money that way.

[kotora]

The GameCube is awesome. Go get Wind Waker for it, it's so much better than :bou::bou::bou::bou:ty princess.

I don't play a lot on it nowadays though. Games kind of look crappy on an hdtv.

[VeloZer0]

Late to the party is the story of my video game career.

I didn't own a video game console until I picked up my PS2 in 2003. Prior to that my video game experience had been limited to Mario/Donkey Kong on the SNES when I was a kid, FFVII and FFVIII on PC, and FFIV-FFVI and Chrono Trigger on an SNES emulator. So all through 2003-2005 I was getting into all the wonderful PSX RPGs.

I also played my first Mega Man game (MMX) in 2005, and despite the fact that I got into the series 15 years too late I became a MM fanboy.

I am just now starting to pick up all the games for the PS3/360/PSP/DS that have come out in the last 5 years. As a matter of fact I probably only buy one or two games a year while they are still new.

[Wolf Kanno]

Persona is probably the big one for me. I knew of P1 and P2:EP long before I owned either and finally bought a copy of P2 when Gamestop bought out EB Games and both decided to finally shelve out all their rare PS1 and 2 games that had been hiding out in their warehouses. I fell in love with P2 and eventually bought P1 and later P3. :cool:

Bad story? Before I got my Wii for the sole purpose of finally getting back into Zelda for Z:TP, I borrowed a N64 and finally played OoT. I played a demo of it years ago when it first got introduced but didn't care for the shoddy 3D controls (I don't care if they were the best at the time, they still sucked) and finally played through the game that fans and critics hail as not only the best Zelda game but the best game of all time. What I instead played was a stripped down LttP whose main draw was that it was in 3D with a crappy targeting system and sub-par controls. The story was good but nothing so grand that I felt it deserved its following.

To this day, I'm curious to know if the game came with LSD laced on the cartridge cause I can't fathom how a sane person could say its the best Zelda let alone the best game of all time and actually have played through the whole thing. :p

[black orb]

>>> I liked Tales of Symphonia..:luca:

[Alucard von Elru]

@Kanno: Still haven't played Ocarina of Time! XD

[Wolf Kanno]

Its not a terrible game its just not the epitome of excellence people make it out to be. Course, I guess I'm a heretic among Zelda fans anyway since I adore Twilight Princess; which every Zelda fan I know seems to dislike the game immensely for strange reasons. :confused:

[kotora]

OoT - pretty damn impressive when it first was released
TP - not so impressive when it was released, because it's basically a remake of OoT without all the awesome stuff from OoT.

[Wolf Kanno]

Having played both I can't fathom what "awesome stuff" you are talking about from OoT. I also feel TP feels more like LttP than Oot on account its you know... actually fun. :p

[Jiro]

The majority of my games are picked up late(ish). I'm usually too poor to afford new games, so I look to older stuff I wanted but never picked up. I think some of my most recent purchases include Persona3, Persona4 and Disgaea2

[Hollycat]

Lets get this party started hot, lets get it started in here, go buy smash bros. melee