.

Sounds like you’ve got some classics lined up but I’d suggest throwing in some more casual stuff too, especially if you’re losing interest in the long-form, story-based games. Something like excite bike or crazy taxi or road rash (I’m partial to old racers) or anything where you just pick it up, play a few rounds and move on. Think arcade style.

I made a favorites list in retroarch and cycle through it. I’ll play the story-based classics too but sometimes it’s difficult to get invested with dated graphics and sound. The pick-up-and-go games I find more accessible as I’m getting older.

Vagrant Story and Parasite Eve

Played them as demos back when that was a thing and I didn’t get why there’s spheres popping up making battle stop (semi-turned based combat) and why there’s a dude named Ashley.

Tried again a couple years later after playing FF7, connecting that they were all by squaresoft, and it all made sense. Absolutely became a couple of my favorites.