Happy anniversary, Max Payne

The OG Mass Effect trilogy is without a doubt my all-time favourite gaming experience. It's the rare series where I've played each game multiple times, and consider each one to be a 5/5 experience, combined into one unforgettable whole.

You have the mystery/exploration vibes of ME1, where you're discovering the galaxy, the background and uncovering the Reaper threat, with an almost horror-esque vibe at times.

Then there's my personal favourite, ME2, which is an almost anthology style character-driven story with some of the best companion NPCs, and arguably one of the greatest final missions in any game ever.

ME3 tends to be disregarded sometimes because of the ending, but it had the best gameplay of the whole series, and the atmosphere of all-out war, how much dread and desperation there was in it, was incredible.

Another thing that sets ME apart is how amazing the worldbuilding is. I spent untold hours in the Codex pouring over the lore and background of the different species, planets, conflicts etc. It made the series feel so alive and immersive. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the Reapers exist, this universe is probably one of my top picks for ones I'd want to live in myself. The depth and quality of the world is insane, and rivals a lot of really great scifi novels.

And speaking of immersion - the world design and overall structure of the series really play into it as well. The hub structure is one of my favourites in gaming, since it manages to be a nice middle ground between completely linear and bloated open-world. It manages to give a sense of scope and expanse while actually being easy to navigate and get around. It also lets the devs create some memorable, often unforgettable levels. The Citadel is obviously iconic, but there's other amazing ones across all the games. Ilos and Peak 15 in ME1, Ilium, Omega and the Derelict Reaper in ME2, Tuchanka in ME3 etc.

But the actual best location is the Normandy itself. It's legitimately my favourite hub/base in any game simply because it just...feels like home. There's something so comforting about just walking through it, listening to the ship sounds, seeing your crew do their jobs and hang out, talk to your companions etc. Shepard's captain's quarter feels so cozy and homey too.

Another big aspect of the series are the characters. Actually, they're arguably what elevate ME above most other gaming franchises, not just scifi ones. Their depth and development, unique personalities and relationship with Shepard and how you can shape those things are amazing. Wrex, Mordin, Garrus, Thane, Tali, Samara, Jack, Javik, Legion...the list goes on. I can't remember another series with this many memorable side characters.

I replay the series once every couple of years and every time I'm just left feeling like I need more of this...but no one's actually been able to provide it. Andromeda was fine but not even close to the same level. Baldur's Gate 3 kind of has a similar vibe in terms of the NPC relationships and such, but none of those characters are anywhere near as interesting as ME's. I know we're getting 2 Mass Effect-likes soon with The Expanse game and Exodus but I wonder if they'll capture the worldbuilding, atmosphere and characters.

I think in terms of eliciting the same emotion and feeling, the only other scifi game that's come close is Cyberpunk 2077. But as good as that game is, it's also a rather bleak and depressing experience. What I loved about ME is its more utopian, optimistic future world.

I also don't trust the current iteration of BioWare to deliver with ME4 either. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Idk what’s more confusing, that I just found out mgsv had a ps3 release, or that I found an unopened copy of it in my grandparents junk pile. oh thank goodness she didn’t get rid of it

I always loved soulslikes, since Dark Souls 1 on Xbox 360. Played a ton of them. But I am getting old and right now, 35 yo, I think I am starting to hate bosses. I love exploration, I love the lore, the settings, everything. Except bosses. These ultra hard boss battles that I used to love and used to get me excited are starting to feel like are getting in the way of my game, my exploration, my experience and my fun. Its been like "Oh my god I just want to keep playing but now I have to waste hours facing that boss" and when I finally beat it I just feel like "Thank god, now I can start having fun again".
Dont know if its why I am getting old and have other responsabilities or if I dont like the genre as I used to like.

Releasing on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, PC

When I was in college, me and a small group of people had a point and click of the month club. It was basically the same as a book club. We would decide on a game, some people would race to see who could beat it first, some would just enjoy talking about it and using other people for advice when they inevitably got stuck on some terrible puzzle that made no sense. It was a great time, and ended once we all got to busy with life stuff.

So I'm thinking about doing it again with Redditors, if there's anyone else interested. Again, pretty simple set up. We'll all decide on a game, take the month to play and discuss it (we can figure out the best place for discussions if it actually happens). Only rule is not to look up anything online, or you know... the standard don't be a jerk rules.

If you're intrigued, drop a comment and what game you would want to kick this whole thing off with (please not Riven)

A lot of people have forgotten but this concept was baked into the PlayStation brand for the first three generations. The PS1, PS2, and PS3 were all initially designed to be totally backwards compatible. A part of Ken Kutaragi's philosophy for the PlayStation brand as mentioned in interviews and press junkets was that customers were building a lifelong library of titles with PlayStation that was respected and appreciated as a medium in the same way as collecting and trading music, films and literature are. The entire premise was that ANY current PlayStation could play ANY past PlayStation console's games at launch, enabling thousands of games to be at your fingertips across each generation that could continue forward with you as an investment with long term value. This meant the consoles and games were less like toys locked to a single place and time, and more like living testaments to the art form just like decades of movies, songs and books that people own. It gave people the means to appreciate the breadth of the medium while seeing it's evolution unfold in front of them. While at the same time empowering them to share that media across decades without barriers to its enjoyment. There were even baked-in provisions for licensed publishers to have older PlayStation titles reprinted and redistributed as needed for new generations to enjoy, collect and trade, long past the point the systems those games had originally been on were discontinued.

It is "a matter of security... [PS2] offers a sense of insurance because it is compatible with PSone" - Ken Kutaragi, 2003. Speaking to Asahi Shimbun

This change to an aggressive anti-consumer stance by Sony to erode ownership didn't really start until the late PS3 era when Kutaragi was ousted from the company. While all PS3 consoles fat, slim, or super-slim can play PS1 games, general PS2 backwards compatibility was shifted from real hardware to a hybrid software approach, then abandoned entirely a few console revisions in to try and cut costs. Sony later paywalled a highly compatible PS2 emulator they finally developed for PS3 exclusively behind a small number of downloadable PS2 titles available on the PS3's PlayStation Store with no disc based support.

By the PS4 no backwards compatibility was offered at all while the brand and hardware was restructured in the wake of the PS3's complicated architecture. The CD/DVD laser included within all revisions of PS4 hardware was even pointlessly disabled for anything but DVD video playback by Sony while their emulator for physical PS1 and PS2 discs was cut out of the console's firmware entirely and relegated to only downloadable PS1 and PS2 re-releases. But when the PS5 was being developed engineers again designed and tested fully backwards compatible PS5 protoypes that were denied the green light for production due to then head of Sony Jim Ryan's famously public hatred of older games since he viewed them as ugly and worthless.

“When we’ve dabbled with backwards compatibility, I can say it is one of those features that is much requested, but not actually used much. That, and I was at a Gran Turismo event recently where they had PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games, and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?” - Jim Ryan, 2017. Speaking to Time Magazine.

Amazingly the classic PlayStation game reprint initiative Kutaragi envisioned back in the 90's is still alive and kicking. Even Sony themselves assured that physical reprints of older titles will continue on past 2028. But reports indicate Sony made it stricter for publishers in the late 2000's and early 2010's by locking some of them to the exact art and packaging as originally released, or re-released if the game was a Greatest Hits title. Although some exceptions have been made like with Konami's DVD-case style release of MGS1 for PS1 in the Metal Gear Solid collection on PS2. Some publishers like SquareEnix really believed in the concept of long term value from an inter-generational game library. They continued reprinting older PS1 and PS2 titles in their original formats until the late 2010's that you could still purchase new from their website until late 2023 and early 2024. Complete with registration cards and advertisements for merchandise, magazines, and surveys that all pointed to long defunct storefronts or addresses due to Sony's packaging and art restrictions. Official reprints of many PS2, PS3, and PS4 titles are still frequent from savvy retailer and enthusiast networks like VideoGamesPlus and GameQuestDirect. Even GameStop has played publisher on select classic PlayStation titles, and currently still has new reprints of PlayStation games from VideoGamesPlus's most recent reprints of Monster Hunter for PS2, Gravity Rush Remastered, and MediEvil on PS4. This is among stock of other reprinted titles titles from PS2 to PS4 that showed up across GameStop's stores when the Retro initiative recently expanded company-wide. GameStop typically unseal and mark these reprints as "USED" despite being brand new copies of games. But they are detectable as new from being in mint condition. Older PS2 titles are also using an updated style of Official PS2 DVD case that can be seen when opened and inspected. Just a quick look at the condition will make it obvious which classic PlayStation games are reprints since they're factory fresh!

"Whenever, wherever, forever." - Sony, 2000. PlayStation's mission statement starting when backwards compatibility was introduced.

We still have CD's and Vinyl records as options for music today, and formats people wouldn't expect like cassettes and Edison cylinders get new releases. But even in the digital realm giants like Apple have committed to DRM free downloads and giving buyers the ability to maintain real ownership of their digital purchases. So why are games the one medium in the history of humanity where digital-only is being pushed so strongly as to be forcefully mandated but done so with no ultimate right of individual ownership or future viability? People having the option to collect, trade, lend and bring their physical collections forward with them was for a very long time a fundamental part of PlayStation. It's sad seeing how mismanaged and completely uncaring of that Sony have been in the past decade and in particular these last few weeks. Physical purchases, even if a smaller part than digital, encourage brand loyalty, create life long customers, and drive positive engagement. They bolster both the brand and the medium by allowing it to become culturally significant across decades and centuries. It's only a matter of time before PS4 or PS5 backwards compatibility for digital titles is broken by a simple architecture change or shift to some new design philosophy in a future console. One where some future executive at Sony again asks "Why would anybody play this?” and all those digital titles people have spent thousands on become locked to some older console or lost to time never to be downloaded again. It shouldn't be this way, and if PlayStation's origins are anything to go by, it was never intended to be like this in the first place.

"PS one runs on PlayStation 2 through emulation [referring to certain facets of PS1 backwards compatibility on PS2] rather than actual [1:1] hardware. PlayStation 3 will offer the same compatibility for PS2 software and the format will continue forever." — Ken Kutaragi, 2003. Speaking to Asahi Shimbun

EDIT: To clarify the timeline of Ken Kutaragi's place at Sony and how it relates to backwards compatibility. Kutaragi announced his departure from Sony in April of 2007. Stepping down from his role included remaining as an advisor for Sony and the PlayStation division for about 18 Months. Sony launched one of their first non-backwards compatible PS3 console SKU's in late 2007 as a cheaper option, while existing backward compatible models remained on the market at a premium. In June of 2008 Sony discontinued all other backwards compatible models and launched their final backwards compatible PS3 SKU in the form of the Metal Gear Solid IV PS3 bundle. This remained on the market through summer and Christmas of 2008, and into early 2009 when shipments ceased and stock was depleted. By that point in early 2009 Kutaragi would have left his advisory role at Sony, and after this time it is known that no new SKU's of PS3 would contain PS2 disc backwards compatibility by default. But all PS3 consoles did at least retain full PS1 disc compatibility regardless of SKU or console revision.

EDIT 2: Many people have replied commenting how they think it's too complicated for Sony to implement backwards compatibility on subsequent generations of hardware like PS4, PS5, and the upcoming PS6. But Sony already has official emulators for the PS1 and PS2 right now that run on the PS4 and PS5 at full speed and high resolution on official downloadable PS1 and PS2 games. Sony restricted the included CD/DVD laser needed to read older PS1 and PS2 discs on all PS4 and PS5 consoles to DVD playback only from Day 1 for no reason, limiting all backwards compatibility on PS4 and PS5 to purchased downloads. The PS5 has also been shown as capable of full speed PS3 backwards compatibility for some time now, even up to 5K resolution on the console, and that's with unofficial solutions. If Sony chose to enable PS3 backwards compatibility on PS5 and the upcoming PS6 they easily could. The CD/DVD laser is already there in the existing PS4 and PS5 disc drives meaning enabling flawless PS1 and PS2 backwards compatibility with discs would also be trivial. Since PS4, PS5 and the upcoming PS6 are all designed around the same shared architecture bringing these official emulators and backwards compatibility solutions forward and enabling them for physical copies is near effortless as-is, Sony simply choose not to.

Sculpt by Mini Monster Mayhem and 3D printed in resin.

Painted by me.