4 ms·

If I wanted to give "old school" games a shot, which few should I try? I haven't played many -- Sonic as a kid, I watched FF7 and Symphony of the Night on youtu

If I wanted to give "old school" games a shot, which few should I try? I haven't played many -- Sonic as a kid, I watched FF7 and Symphony of the Night on youtube -- so I don't really have a good basis to judge from, but nothing I've seen obviously meets (let alone exceeds) the bar set by my favorite modern games, e.g. Soma: Story, Atmosphere, Thought Provoking Deus Ex HR: Story, Atmosphere, Thought Provoking BioShock 1: Story, Thought Provoking DragonAge 1,3 / MassEffect 1,2,3: Story, Characters Witcher 3: Story, Characters Portal 2: Story, Mechanics Undertale: Story, Mechanics Alien Isolation: Story, Atmosphere, Mechanics Mirror's Edge: Mechanics Braid: Mechanics Dark Souls / Bloodborne: Mechanics? (Haven't played) Blood Dragon: 1980s simulator I can identify the "commercialization" trend that you're talking about if and only if I focus my attention to a single franchise or a single aspect of a single franchise. Example: Mass Effect lost its hard SF edge in 2, 3 but the characters and mechanics got better. Starcraft lost its story and character edge in 2, but the mechanics got better. Bioshock lost its philosophical depth in Infinite but the story and characters got better. Overlaid on top of this is a trend of increasing production value. Every franchise gives you some facet to point at and say "devs don't care about X, only production value, boo." This ignores the boring explanation that it's hard to churn out sequels that exceed the original in each and every possible point of comparison. Sequels need to be evaluated on their own merits and the industry needs to be judged as a whole. Otherwise everything is guaranteed to look like it's going downhill. Or maybe I'm wrong. Let me know your favorites and I'll promise to give at least one a try.

adwf 11y ago
Try playing Pillars of Eternity. It's a modern take on some of the old RPGs, by the guys who made the old classics. Then there's Planescape Torment and Baldur's Gate 2. Between those you have some of the best western RPGs ever made. I find a lot of modern gaming to be incredibly shallow. Good for a single play session, but I put the game down and never return. It's a bit of a shame really; these companies spend a fortune on fancy graphics and it just doesn't matter one bit to me. I'd rather play Dwarf Fortress in all its ASCII glory than play Destiny or The Division.
- jjoonathan 11y ago
  Baldur's Gate 2 is on my list of things to try, I'll add Pillars of Eternity. That said, I've got reservations: > I find a lot of modern gaming to be incredibly shallow. Sturgeon's Law. > Good for a single play session but I put the game down and never return. You seem awfully quick to ascribe this to game quality even though there are significant confounding factors: growing up and having more demands on your time, the opportunity cost of abundant digitally downloadable games, youtube's ability to let you explore alternative choices without spending many hours on a replay, etc. Just so we're on the same page, though, have you played modern BioWare or CD Projekt Red titles? It's not uncommon for them to gate entire alternative chunks of the game behind player choices. 10x so with low-production-value assets. If someone can look at Witcher 3 and call it shallow and not replayable then I'm pretty sure that we're never going to see eye to eye on the subject of game quality. > It's a bit of a shame really; these companies spend a fortune on fancy graphics and it just doesn't matter one bit to me. That is a shame. Are you sure you're actually trying to appreciate the artwork, though? Being dismissive of graphics is certainly the "hip" position in most nerd circles I've been in -- something I became keenly aware of back when I was doing CG in academia and considering it as a career path. I can still picture the sneers on my friends' faces and hear their dismissive snorts when I would start to go on about the artistic accomplishments in this or that title. It sucked, although it wasn't what drove me away (the shit wages and working conditions did that on their own). There's nothing wrong with appreciating other facets of a game more than graphics, but if someone gives graphics 0 or negative weight then I tend to suspect they're primarily trying to build "nerd cred" rather than trying to enjoy games. Like the kid after a movie who can talk about nothing but loopholes. > I'd rather play Dwarf Fortress in all its ASCII glory than play Destiny or The Division. Are these unbiased samples or are you comparing your favorite from one era to a mediocre pick from another? How many of the games on my favorite list (addendum: I forgot Spec Ops: The Line) have you played and found wanting compared to your favorites from previous eras? In particular, would you apply the word "shallow" to any (in the facets I marked as strengths)? I'm genuinely curious as to whether our difference of opinion is due to different tastes or having played different titles.
  - kbenson 11y ago
technomancy 11y ago
Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI both have excellent stories and character development coupled with the best game soundtracks ever composed. The Marathon trilogy starts off a bit slow, but it's got some great sci-fi writing (if you like sarcastic AIs that are constantly making opaque references to classical literature) and twitch action. If twitch action is your thing though, it's hard to beat Descent and Descent II. I'm currently playing through Planescape Torment, which is less like an RPG and more like an avant-garde fantasy novel.
Umn44 11y ago
If I wanted to give "old school" games a shot, which few should I try? Freespace 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhAR8rWPluQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhAR8rWPluQ https://www.gog.com/game/freespace_2 https://www.gog.com/game/freespace_2 While POD is ugly by todays standards, it's a neat little racing game. It could have been taken to the next level with a sequel. https://www.gog.com/game/pod_gold https://www.gog.com/game/pod_gold If you like 4X style games like civilization, then you should check out Alpha centauri. https://www.gog.com/game/sid_meiers_alpha_centauri https://www.gog.com/game/sid_meiers_alpha_centauri

adwf 11y ago

Try playing Pillars of Eternity. It's a modern take on some of the old RPGs, by the guys who made the old classics. Then there's Planescape Torment and Baldur's Gate 2. Between those you have some of the best western RPGs ever made. I find a lot of modern gaming to be incredibly shallow. Good for a single play session, but I put the game down and never return. It's a bit of a shame really; these companies spend a fortune on fancy graphics and it just doesn't matter one bit to me. I'd rather play Dwarf Fortress in all its ASCII glory than play Destiny or The Division.

jjoonathan 11y ago
Baldur's Gate 2 is on my list of things to try, I'll add Pillars of Eternity. That said, I've got reservations: > I find a lot of modern gaming to be incredibly shallow. Sturgeon's Law. > Good for a single play session but I put the game down and never return. You seem awfully quick to ascribe this to game quality even though there are significant confounding factors: growing up and having more demands on your time, the opportunity cost of abundant digitally downloadable games, youtube's ability to let you explore alternative choices without spending many hours on a replay, etc. Just so we're on the same page, though, have you played modern BioWare or CD Projekt Red titles? It's not uncommon for them to gate entire alternative chunks of the game behind player choices. 10x so with low-production-value assets. If someone can look at Witcher 3 and call it shallow and not replayable then I'm pretty sure that we're never going to see eye to eye on the subject of game quality. > It's a bit of a shame really; these companies spend a fortune on fancy graphics and it just doesn't matter one bit to me. That is a shame. Are you sure you're actually trying to appreciate the artwork, though? Being dismissive of graphics is certainly the "hip" position in most nerd circles I've been in -- something I became keenly aware of back when I was doing CG in academia and considering it as a career path. I can still picture the sneers on my friends' faces and hear their dismissive snorts when I would start to go on about the artistic accomplishments in this or that title. It sucked, although it wasn't what drove me away (the shit wages and working conditions did that on their own). There's nothing wrong with appreciating other facets of a game more than graphics, but if someone gives graphics 0 or negative weight then I tend to suspect they're primarily trying to build "nerd cred" rather than trying to enjoy games. Like the kid after a movie who can talk about nothing but loopholes. > I'd rather play Dwarf Fortress in all its ASCII glory than play Destiny or The Division. Are these unbiased samples or are you comparing your favorite from one era to a mediocre pick from another? How many of the games on my favorite list (addendum: I forgot Spec Ops: The Line) have you played and found wanting compared to your favorites from previous eras? In particular, would you apply the word "shallow" to any (in the facets I marked as strengths)? I'm genuinely curious as to whether our difference of opinion is due to different tastes or having played different titles.
- kbenson 11y ago

technomancy 11y ago

Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI both have excellent stories and character development coupled with the best game soundtracks ever composed. The Marathon trilogy starts off a bit slow, but it's got some great sci-fi writing (if you like sarcastic AIs that are constantly making opaque references to classical literature) and twitch action. If twitch action is your thing though, it's hard to beat Descent and Descent II. I'm currently playing through Planescape Torment, which is less like an RPG and more like an avant-garde fantasy novel.

Umn44 11y ago

If I wanted to give "old school" games a shot, which few should I try? Freespace 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhAR8rWPluQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhAR8rWPluQ https://www.gog.com/game/freespace_2 https://www.gog.com/game/freespace_2 While POD is ugly by todays standards, it's a neat little racing game. It could have been taken to the next level with a sequel. https://www.gog.com/game/pod_gold https://www.gog.com/game/pod_gold If you like 4X style games like civilization, then you should check out Alpha centauri. https://www.gog.com/game/sid_meiers_alpha_centauri https://www.gog.com/game/sid_meiers_alpha_centauri