Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is the official prequel hailing back to the origins of the genre-defining, critically acclaimed series of turn-based strategy games. Recruit heroes, conquer fantastic lands, and overcome your foes in this single player demo.
I mean, not advertised as a demo but any beta you get access to as a preorder bonus and it is close to release, I consider more of a paid demo. Has become less common now though.
The Zone of the Enders series is most remembered for ZoE1 being the game everyone bought to play the MGS2 demo.
And the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro games on the PS1 tended to have the demo for the latest of the other unlocked with a button sequence on the main menu.
I want to say Final Fantasy also did that nonsense with one or more of their numbered installments?
And all of that forgets that, in the days prior to the internet (or, the internet arriving on consoles), it was very popular to subscribe to a magazine to get a monthly demo disc.
ZoE1 had moments of genius broken up by horrendous gameplay. It was very obvious they were trying to do classic “I don’t want to fight in this war. I just want to protect innocents” Gundam but also needed to have gameplay and challenges which just led to massive ludonarrative dissonance and REALLY annoying rating systems. The game itself was “fine” but suffered horribly from the re-release that added achievements to getting S ranks. Also the ending is some of the biggest blue balls in all of gaming.
Whereaas ZoE2 was a more modern (for the time) mecha in that you are a jaded and grizzled ex-soldier (Dingo Egret!) who knows he has lost his humanity long ago but is trying to regain it by being a protector instead of a killer. So you get to rock Jehuty in all its glory as you feel like The White Devil himself as you single-handedly win what feel like musou scale battles.
The PC (probably also PS4?) re-release also had a VR mode that I tried once that was really cool but also fairly “weird”. Not so much disorienting as just very clearly not a game designed for first person views outside of codec calls.
For those wondering about those blue balls. Obvious spoilers for ZoE1 and 2… and Jedi Survivor and Infamous 1+2 apparently.
spoiler
ZoE1 is all about Nohman (?) and his gang terrorizing a space colony in their hunt for the Orbital Frame Jehuty. You find out they have one of their own, Anubis, and it is the sister of Jehuty. I want to say it actively damages Jehuty’s systems to be near it and it is just on a completely different level when you finally clash with it. So… the ending sequence is all about running away from Anubis and the colony you just spent the entire game trying to save. As an anime?
That shit would be FIRE. As a game? Jedi Survivor got away with it because Rogue One did all the work of reminding us how fucking terrifying Darth Vader is if you aren’t his son he actively does not want to hurt. That was more or less our first encounter with Anubis and it is just so anticlimactic.
Which is why ZoE2 is an entire game about unlocking the potential of Jehuty so that you can fight Anubis. And when you do… it is so frigging good. Shades of Younger Toguro as you simultaneously use every single trick while also realizing that now you are the unstoppable godlike force.
It was probably closer to ten years later than not, but I feel like Infamous 1+2 did a MUCH better job of it. 1 ends BEFORE you fight The Beast but is all about making sure you understand just how outclassed you are and why the events of the first game happened. 2 starts with The Beast and it beats the ever loving shit out of you and makes you realize that all the horror and suffering was for nothing before spending an entire game preparing you to actually stop the threat… until the sequel where Troy Baker is in brownface.
Oh shit. Free demo too. I’ll see if it has the same magic for my kid that it did for me
The day they start charging for playing a demo…
I mean, not advertised as a demo but any beta you get access to as a preorder bonus and it is close to release, I consider more of a paid demo. Has become less common now though.
The Zone of the Enders series is most remembered for ZoE1 being the game everyone bought to play the MGS2 demo.
And the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro games on the PS1 tended to have the demo for the latest of the other unlocked with a button sequence on the main menu.
I want to say Final Fantasy also did that nonsense with one or more of their numbered installments?
And all of that forgets that, in the days prior to the internet (or, the internet arriving on consoles), it was very popular to subscribe to a magazine to get a monthly demo disc.
Haha I absolutely bought ZoE1 to get the mgs2 demo.
I then forced myself to play ZoE.
I remember telling everyone I liked it. But at my age, I can’t remember if I actually did.
ZoE1 had moments of genius broken up by horrendous gameplay. It was very obvious they were trying to do classic “I don’t want to fight in this war. I just want to protect innocents” Gundam but also needed to have gameplay and challenges which just led to massive ludonarrative dissonance and REALLY annoying rating systems. The game itself was “fine” but suffered horribly from the re-release that added achievements to getting S ranks. Also the ending is some of the biggest blue balls in all of gaming.
Whereaas ZoE2 was a more modern (for the time) mecha in that you are a jaded and grizzled ex-soldier (Dingo Egret!) who knows he has lost his humanity long ago but is trying to regain it by being a protector instead of a killer. So you get to rock Jehuty in all its glory as you feel like The White Devil himself as you single-handedly win what feel like musou scale battles.
The PC (probably also PS4?) re-release also had a VR mode that I tried once that was really cool but also fairly “weird”. Not so much disorienting as just very clearly not a game designed for first person views outside of codec calls.
For those wondering about those blue balls. Obvious spoilers for ZoE1 and 2… and Jedi Survivor and Infamous 1+2 apparently.
spoiler
ZoE1 is all about Nohman (?) and his gang terrorizing a space colony in their hunt for the Orbital Frame Jehuty. You find out they have one of their own, Anubis, and it is the sister of Jehuty. I want to say it actively damages Jehuty’s systems to be near it and it is just on a completely different level when you finally clash with it. So… the ending sequence is all about running away from Anubis and the colony you just spent the entire game trying to save. As an anime?
That shit would be FIRE. As a game? Jedi Survivor got away with it because Rogue One did all the work of reminding us how fucking terrifying Darth Vader is if you aren’t his son he actively does not want to hurt. That was more or less our first encounter with Anubis and it is just so anticlimactic.
Which is why ZoE2 is an entire game about unlocking the potential of Jehuty so that you can fight Anubis. And when you do… it is so frigging good. Shades of Younger Toguro as you simultaneously use every single trick while also realizing that now you are the unstoppable godlike force.
It was probably closer to ten years later than not, but I feel like Infamous 1+2 did a MUCH better job of it. 1 ends BEFORE you fight The Beast but is all about making sure you understand just how outclassed you are and why the events of the first game happened. 2 starts with The Beast and it beats the ever loving shit out of you and makes you realize that all the horror and suffering was for nothing before spending an entire game preparing you to actually stop the threat… until the sequel where Troy Baker is in brownface.
I was randomly up at 4, shouldn’t have been on my phone at all. Word salad.