I used to play Shining Force, it's a good game. The Phantasy Star series is supposed to be good as well.
Not sure about the others, but I can always say I've played worse. From there, virtually everything can be a pleasant surprise. -laughs-
Might end up buying that along with you. =)

You should try that Theseus that you downloaded the other day, I think you'll like it at least for a while. I died about 40,000 times in an hour so it's right up your alley. ;-)

With a recommendation like that, how can I resist? ;)

I'll have to give it a try once I get out from under the pile of discs I'm doing at the moment.

Domingo!! Still my favorite magical flying jellyfish.

*ahem* I may have played Shining I, II, and CD once or twice. Phantasy Star is a good deal of fun, but all of the just-mentioned games are old-school HARD. I picked up the DotEmu RPG collection some months back when it was on sale, and other than loading them up to make sure they work, haven't touched any of them since. *sigh*

The first PS was for the SMS, so has 8-bit graphics and first-person POV dungeons. The other PS games are 16-bit and dropped the FP POV altogether. PS III, btw, is why I snickered at Agarest's description as something like "the only RPG to feature multiple generations"... um, no. PS III has three generations and I think four different endings.

PS IV is the only one I actually played on the Sega Genesis - I picked it up for something like $7 in the clearance bin at a KayBee Toys store years ago. (Yes, I gloat about this to everyone who's looking for one now, because I'm evil.) I've never beaten it because it has multiple save slots, and at the time I picked it up, the Genesis that was used lived at an apartment where several friends lived. We split the slots... and of course promptly saved over each other countless times. I played the other games via ROMs and then later on the Nintendo GBA. (I still haven't recovered from the universe-warping-weirdness of playing Sega games on a Nintendo device. It's been years and years, and it still makes me go "BWEH??")

Something to be aware of with the SF games is that they're very... sticky, movement-wise. You basically move on a square grid both on the world map and in towns, and it is one square at a time, period. If you play these, don't worry - they're supposed to be like that.

More OT:

I'm rambling a bit because my father-in-law just informed me that his stitches came out last night, but there's now another area of his foot that they're concerned about, so he'll continue on IV antibiotics for at least another couple of weeks. I'm successfully not freaking out, because that would accomplish nothing for anyone, but I can't help but worry that he may still end up losing his entire foot because of this. :S

Thanks for the game reviews, makes me want to try them even more just to see them for myself. ;)
Sorry to hear about your father in law, will hope for quick and happy outcome, I had a good friend with similar issues.

Well it's night night time for me, losing the fight with my eyelids so I'll see you all tomorrow.
Have a good time but stay off my lawn! ;)

Yeah, I'm figuring those won't be easy to beat games. That's okay, though, and I'm sure you'll be able to check them out more thoroughly when things aren't so chaotic for you.

First thought regarding Phantasy Star 4 isn't that you're evil, but, "Holy crap, someone else actually remembers Kay-Bee Toys!" -laughs-

Playing Sega on Nintendo hardware just makes me think of how hard Sega fell.
The Dreamcast, the Sega CD, the 32-X, the Saturn...It was all either screwed up, poorly marketed or frigging nuts in the peripheral department.

Not looking at your comments as rambling, by the way. If discussing games here is rambling, then that's what I do about 85 percent of the time. (Assuming that screaming about something can be counted as discussion.)

I'll hope and keep my fingers crossed that your father-in-law will respond well to the antibiotics so he doesn't have to go through more surgery.
Now that you say that, I am totally going to walk around the lawn while you're asleep. -laughs-

Goodnight, sleep well when you get there. =)

The RPG Collection has some other games that I've only heard of, so... someday. Someday soon, I hope. I am somewhat of a rarity - that girl who grew up with console gaming. (Rare in my experience, anyway.) I had an NES at age 11 and pretty much lived and breathed NES and SNES games, but I didn't get a Sega anything until I picked up a Genesis when I was about 19, and that and the Sega CD were the only things I ever got. I think we own Sonic (3? The one with the plug-in cart) and I played it maybe twice. Mario and Zelda just did it for me way more than Sonic or Alex Kidd ever did. I'm honestly sad that our Genesis and CD seem to have disappeared at some point over the last decade, because when we moved last fall, I found that we still own the Dark Wizard and Popful Mail CD games, which are both amazingly fun.

KayBee Toys... hah! That was the toy store in the mall that always had games on sale, so they got checked out constantly. I say I'm evil for it because the PSIV cart goes for rather a bit more than $7 nowadays. *eg* They also, at one point long long ago, sold (A)D&D 2nd Ed. boxed sets. (Yet another thing that disappeared at some point: I once owned all ten of the Planescape setting boxed sets in pristine condition. No longer, and that just makes me sad, because I absolutely loved that setting. No, I have not yet played PS: Torment. Yes, it is a crime. It's on my list for this year.)

By the time the Sega stuff hit Nintendo, I was ecstatic that I had a GBA/DS. Being able to pick up favorite Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, AND Phantasy Star games and play them on my GBA? Amazing. I have to get myself one of those New 3DS at some point, though; my husband stole my old DS and never gave it back.

I can ramble about random gaming stuff (computer, console, or P&P) at the drop of a hat even on good days. On bad days, the rambling is more obvious. My poor husband has had to sit through an hour-long discussion/lecture about the history of mages in different time periods in White Wolf's WoD more than once. Good thing he's just as bad when it comes to BattleTech. :)

And thank you. I appreciate the support. How about I join for you that jaunt around Endre's lawn?

ETA: Stupid non-working notifications.

One thing that Sega did better than Nintendo, hands-down, was RPGs. Nintendo had Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest and a few other random ones (7th Saga comes to mind....), but Sega had tons of excellent RPGs. I've always regretted not getting a Sega system much earlier because those games are just harder to find.

And thank you, as well. I appreciate the kind words. :)

So sorry to hear this. Crossing my fingers that the meds will do the trick and things won't come to that, and sending positive thoughts your way.

Following Endre's lead and going to bed; the struggle to get the account mess fixed left me exhausted.

See you all tomorrow.

Well it's quietened down so I might see what's in the fridge.WHAT no bloody ice cream again,heads will roll...

The actual ice cream goes fast around here. By the time night sets in, there's nothing left but Otter Pops.
And pretty much everyone knows that Otter Pops are one sad, sad substitute for ice cream.

Well if they have tiny otter's in them,then I'm glad they aren't heard of in Australia...

-laughs- No real otter bits to them, fortunately. They're just liquid in little plastic tubes that taste a bit like frozen Kool-Aid.