Believe it or not, the PS1 version of Diablo was great. It controlled well using the gamepad and I thought it looked better.
Diablo 1 is actually a terrible game looking back, but PS did get a solid port.
Yes! It plays so much better than you'd imagine coming from the PC version. My favorite thing is that it has dedicated potion buttons that even burn through the potions that are in the inventory and go through the belt last so you can see when you're running out. Every time I play through Diablo 2 I get annoyed that they didn't take that feature from PS D1. Stopping to mess with the potions all the time is so annoying.
Anyway, I wanted to talk about a super weird game that I never see mentioned anywhere.
And to be honest, maybe there's a reason for that. Say hello to Sentient by Psygnosis.
Gameplay starts at 11:40.
A bit of story from Wikipedia:
"There has been a breakout of radiation sickness on Space Station Icarus, and Garritt Sherova has been sent to investigate. After arriving at the station, it becomes apparent that radiation is only one of many problems; the captain is dead and a power struggle has ensued. To make matters worse, Icarus is on a collision course with the Sun and nobody is able to correct the station's course.
Sentient takes place in real-time. The player's actions in the early part of the game determine which path they will travel through later on. Which members of the crew are spoken to and what they are told plays a strong part in the plot's development. The player's performance through the game determines which of the nine endings they receive."
So it's up to you to take care of this mess, or you'll eventually crash into the sun and it's game over. As you can see in the video, you talk to people by constructing sentences with topics you have picked up along the way, almost like a point&click adventure. It's a big space station with loads of NPCs that have routines that they follow, so they wander around and have places to be and even have conversations with each other. It kind of feels like an early (or maybe even better) version of Radiant AI that Bethesda made for Oblivion. It's surprisingly complex for the time and if you are into these weird games, definitely give it a go. Just be prepared to get lost soemtimes and don't expect to beat it on your first try.
Oh, and the best/worst thing about the game are the NPC faces. Some look decent, but most of them are either hilarious or absolutely terrifying. Just scroll through the video and you'll see what I mean.
