October's Weekly Topics

Every week, we discuss a specified topic with each other on the Discord server (#weekly-topic) and on the forums in the "Chat" section. In the RAnews, we are compiling all the reactions received to the topic, and see what the opinions are of the community! This month, we will be covering the topics of October.

October 7th - October 13th

What system do you have the most masteries for, and is there a particular reason for it or did it just happen?

"We all grew up in different generations with different systems, but does that reflect your progress thus far on RetroAchievements? Have you been sticking to the old familiar, or did you start checking out new systems that now end up being amongst your most masteries? Maybe you wanted to climb leaderboards like the ones in the RANews, or maybe, just maybe, it happened on complete accident"

A bunch of systems were mentioned during this week's topic, and some were not a surprise to hear. The top spots were unsurprisingly taken by the most popular systems we have on RetroAchievements, including the PlayStation 2 and pretty much every Nintendo system. And by technicality, ladynadiad has more event masteries than any other system, so take that any other system not mentioned!

One thing commenters noted during the discussion, is that a lot of their most-mastered systems ended up being a result of ROM Hacks. This was in particular for the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, and Game Boy Advance, all having either Super Mario or Pokémon hacks that would inflate their mastery count above any other console where hack masteries weren't counted. For the people who did mention hacks, it is absolutely their main reason why that console is the most mastered, as that's where their interests lay.

But what about other reasons for having one system on top of the rest? Let's see what the commenters had to say:

Quick, easy masteries - Of course on a competitive site like ours, having quick masteries will always be appealing and can certainly result in one system winning over the rest. Especially for events like Peak Streak, playing quick games on systems like Game Boy and SNES would be more beneficial for the grind than playing longer games on other systems. Events in general are a good motivator for people to look for games that they can quickly knock out to make progress. That's also how we have new players who have GameCube as their most-mastered system!
Childhood memories - It's also not surprising that a lot of us gravitate towards our childhood memories, with the first system we ever physically owned also being the one with the most masteries. It's similar for me, as the SNES was my first ever system so I also have the most masteries for it... albeit eight of them being Picross and also a bunch of hacks. But it counts!
No particular reason - Also not really surprising; these things just happen. Sometimes it's not your favourite system that ends up having the most masteries, but just one that has easier sets compared to other systems where you would stop at beat. Simple, yet completely understandable reason.

October 14th - October 20th

Who is/are your favourite composers, and can you share some highlights of them that you would like others to give a listen?

"Music is an essential part to video games, in some scenarios giving the game more memorability than anything else the game has to offer. Behind those pieces are talented people that more often than not have a slice of the pie in multiple games, and that is what the topic of this week is about. Which of these magical musicians means the most to you personally, and are there some songs you can share that demonstrate your love for the composer(s)?"

A highly subjective but fun topic to discuss. There were a lot of different answers to this topic, with many also including some pieces for the community to listen to!

Koichi Sugiyama (by Gollawiz) - A bit of a controversial composer due to his opinions unrelated to gaming, but separating the art from the artist gives us the main composer of the Dragon Quest series, as well as some one-off games like E.V.O.: Search for Eden and Shiren the Wanderer.
Yasunori Mitsuda (by Gollawiz) - One of the more well-known and beloved composers would be Yasunori Mitsuda. He has contributed to the video game industry as early as 1992, and shows no signs of stopping down, being involved with hit titles like Chrono Trigger and Chrono Chross, the Xeno and Inazuma Eleven series, and much, much more.
Yuzo Koshiro (by PasokonDeacon) - Now this is a personal favourite of mine as well. Yuzo Koshiro has also been a veteran of the industry, working back on composing as early as 1986, working for multiple Nihon Falcom titles up to 1988, then going freelance for two years, creating his own company, and just being involved in a lot of titles since then. Aside from Nihom Falcom games like Ys and Dragon Slayer, his contributions could be found in many Sega titles like Streets of Rage and Shenmue, as well as Quintet titles like ActRaiser. There is not enough credit I can give to this composer, as PasokonDeacon also shared a lot of very good songs. I picked a unique one for this topic from their list!
Shoji Meguro (by TheLooseGroose, jhonen124, healape, buttoncrash, Cerulean7) - Shoji Meguro ended up being mentioned a lot, who is involved mainly with the Shin Megami Tensei series and it's spin-off, Persona. One I'm personally not too familiar with because I'm not a fan of either series, but given the amount of people in the community who mentioned his name, this is undoubtedly one of the most beloved composers out there!
Alexander Brandon and Michiel van den Bos (by Alexdatadestroyer) - Two for the price of one with the main composers for the Unreal series of games. While their resume is not as big as the previously-mentioned composers, they did still work on big hits like Deus Ex, Overlord, and Neverwinter Nights. Both are still active, and Alexander even did some VA work for a few games!
Eveline Novakovic (by PasokonDeacon) - A somewhat overlooked composer not talked about much, but once you hear what games she has contributed to, that all changes. Eveline was employed under Rare, and as a result worked on many beloved titles like the Donkey Kong Country series, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, and several more. She is no longer an active composer, having stopped in 2007, but it's undeniable that she has left a mark on the history of video games.
Masayoshi Soken (by Atomik4) - A very well-knwon composer, mostly thanks to a singular game: the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, with an expanded free trial which you can play through the entirety of- yeah, you get it. Masayoshi Soken has been employed by Konami and Square-Enix even since 1998 and has been part of several titles like Drakengard and Lord of Vermillion, but undoubtedly his contributions to Final Fantasy XIV has gained him much fame.

Other composers mentioned:

The SMT crew (Ryota Kozuka, Toshiki Konishi, Tsukasa Makuso, Hidehito Aoki),
ZUN (Touhou)
Koji Kondo (Nintendo)
Motoi Sakuraba (A lot, mostly Bandai Namco),
Masafumi Takada (Danganronpa, Killer7 etc.)
Hitoshi Sakamoto (Final Fantasy and more)
Yoko Shinomura (Mario & Luigi, Kingdom Hearts)
Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill, Grasshopper)
Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy)
Matt Furniss (A lot of older DOS games)
Michiru Yamane (Castlevania)

October 21st - October 27th

Has the beat feature had an impact on how you approach achievement sets?

"The beat feature on RetroAchievements is arguably one of, if not the biggest change of 2023 that happened to the community. Now your profile will also list stats for beating games, even if you don't have every achievement. But this begs the question... has this has an impact on how you approach sets? Have you become less mastery-focused now with this feature, or is mastery still the be-all end-all for you? Maybe you were never that focused on masteries, or now have started playing sets you were avoiding because mastery was too tough? Or maybe you like the system, but feel it can benefit from a few more changes?"

The beat feature has made a big impact on the community, but has the community approached games differently? Yes, and no!

Several users mentioned that it has not changed how they approach sets, still going for mastery or just doing whatever they are satisfied with, be it beat or not. After all, achievements are more than only beating the game or going for in-game completion; some make you show parts of games you wouldn't know about by simple going for progression, as mentioned by user CopperMoon. It's a greatly appreciated feature, but for this group of users, the end goal still lays elsewhere.

For others, it actually is a game changer. They felt pressured into going for mastery, sort of as a mental block that won't let you stop before it, even if it comes at the cost of enjoyment. I can personally relate to that, but like this group of people, going for just progression turned out to give them a much more relaxing experience. And there is the additional benefit of the beaten leaderboards, allowing people to not only compete for points on the global leaderboard, but also for games beaten per console. For many users, it feels like a weight has been lifted off their shoulders, allowing them to stop earlier without a voice in their head telling them to continue. Especially new users have much appreciation for this feature!

And of course, the additional benefit is tracking. Users have mentioned this has been a great feature especially for events, where they no longer need to verify with the events team if something counts as beaten. Events have also embraced the beaten feature, often no longer requiring mastery or specific achievements, like the much beloved Challenge League 2024. Another benefit is that users now have a more clear view as to what games they have played are unfinished, giving them a backlog to slowly work towards, and likewise it's easier to keep a game on beaten and continue later.

The topic also asked for potential additions to maybe make them change their mind, and users delivered here as well. BacktoEdgar for example would consider it for the potential Quest system that has been teased, while CuddleBugs would like to take the backlog organizing a bit further by including filterable statuses in the Want to Play list. Spoorloos mentioned that for them personally, the retail leaderboard being the default gives them a little bit less reason to focus on hacks and homebrews, and fighting games would require beats with every character before the site will tell them "it's enough, you're done". But overall, it's safe to say this feature has been a great boost for many people.

October 28th - November 3rd

What media (anime/cartoon/film/book etc.) would you like to see get a game adaptation, and how would you envision it?

"It's very common for various media to get adopted into video games. After all, gotta generate as much money as you can from an IP right? But some anime, cartoons, films, books, or whatever you can think of are fairly popular... but somehow don't have a game adaptation yet! It's never too late for such media to get one, so share with us your interests on what you would like to see become a game, and how you envision it. Maybe you want an action RPG set in the world of Akame ga Kill!, or a superhero (or villain) game where you play as Homelander from The Boys?"

A more fantasizing topic that brings out the creativity of our users, and it worked out!

BacktoEdgar mentioned a few ideas they would like to see, like investigation games based on the anime/manga Darker than Black and Kara no Kyoukai, where the player would sometimes hunt, fight, or just explore a place and solving issues. Iria: Zeiram The Animation could work very well as a Resident Evil 3 clone, even mentioning that if a mod was made for that game to turn it into an adaptation, it would fit perfectly. And one that shockingly doesn't have a game yet is Trigun, which would work perfectly in a Gungrave-like setting. Funnily enough a game was once in development for this hit anime, but to this day the series has never once been adapted.

Other users also had interesting ideas. KlydeKadell always wanted to see a game based on the TV series Get Smart, where you're tasked to hunt down specific agents of Kaos in highly populated areas, with many side characters from the series being available as support. SpaghettiKing would like to see a Phoenix Wright-style game based on Paranoia Agent, and Kecleon352 a hack-'n-slash title based on Chainsaw Man. Unguided mentioned that the novel House of Leaves could work well as a mystery game, trying to unravel as many of the narrator's secrets as possible through commentary. ockerjj could also see a hack-'n-slash for Undead Unluck or, even better, a musou-like.

Ladynadiad would like to see the classic Legend of Basara manga turned into a turn-based RPG, with it giving off a lot of Suikoden vibes already so making it a perfect fit as a result. Similarly to Suikoden, the main protagonist rebels against tyrannical rulers, and recruits allies to help her achieve her goal. Lanius also had two suggestions for Bibliphilia and Blame!, which could work as survival horror but also as a game similar to Control. Other media mentioned would be Edge of Tomorrow, Underworld, and RRR.

Finally, there were a few media mentioned that technically already have an adaptation, but more could be done. John Wick for example has Payday and Hex but come on, more can be done with that property for sure. s0uth would like to see a more faithful adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, as the series has multiple games but none really follow the main story. Xeinok feels that more could be done with Cardcaptor Sakura, and likewise Kumaku feels more can be done with Serial Experiments Lain aside from the PlayStation 1 game.

And that's it for this month. See you again next month with more topics to cover, and be sure to check out the respective Discord channel or the forum post to have your thoughts heard!