6 ms·

When Half Life came out, it was amazing. I went back to retry it half a year ago, and it looked awful. And what was a wonderful intro sequence was now unskippab

by vacri 12y ago

When Half Life came out, it was amazing. I went back to retry it half a year ago, and it looked awful. And what was a wonderful intro sequence was now unskippable minutes of a slow ride past crude polygons and very low detail environments. It was interesting seeing how my opinions had changed.

dceddia 12y ago
Funny, as I was reading the parent post my mind jumped to Half Life too. What an amazing game! Part of me wishes I could un-see all the stuff that came after it, so that I could go back and play it with my original excitement intact. Instead, it seems my mind is happy to find flaws at every turn and compare how it actually looks to how good I remember it to be. It's even worse with older games. I tried to play the original X-Wing in DOSBox a while back, and wow, I couldn't believe it. Did it really look that bad back then? Maybe my 486 DX2 and 14" CRT made it look better somehow.
- jefurii 12y ago
  Part of me wishes I could un-see all the stuff that came after it, so that I could go back and play it with my original excitement intact. You're in luck: "Black Mesa is a re-envisioning of Valve Software's classic science fiction first person shooter, Half-Life. ... All-new music, voice acting, choreography and added dialogue give way to a more expansive and immersive experience than ever before." http://www.blackmesasource.com/ http://www.blackmesasource.com/
- mdpopescu 12y ago
  I've had this experience with Dune 2: it was amazing when I first played it but now it seems incredibly bad.
agumonkey 12y ago
I love when I revisit some old amazement and the magic is still there. When I see some old arcade games (SEGA chasing games) I'm still amazed at how pretty and swift they are.
- kibibu 12y ago
  Daytona USA still looks phenomenal in my opinion
Terr_ 12y ago
I think Deus Ex offers a contrasting example. It's almost as old as Half Life (2000 vs 1998), but I think it ages better because the appeal is different. Story/dialog/writing/role-play don't go out of style as quickly as graphics/gun-play.
- egypturnash 12y ago
  Your memory may be playing tricks on you. Check out this series at Rock, Paper Shotgun where a writer who remembers Deus Ex as the Best Game Ever!!!!! plays through it: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/deusexy/ http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/deusexy/
- Drakim 12y ago
  I replayed Deus Ex recently, and was surprised at how bad it looked, especially the character models. It was so bad that it was ruining my immersion. However, my brain eventually forgot about this and I could continue play, and eventually I stopped seeing crude low-poly models and instead saw just "people".
  - ascagnel_ 12y ago
    Deus Ex wasn't noted as a good-looking game at release.
  - Terr_ 12y ago
    I think the most bang-for-your-buck comes from upgrading the rendering system, so that the shadows/shading works better. Having ten shades of olive-black in dark environments was always annoying.

by vacri 12y ago

dceddia 12y ago

Funny, as I was reading the parent post my mind jumped to Half Life too. What an amazing game! Part of me wishes I could un-see all the stuff that came after it, so that I could go back and play it with my original excitement intact. Instead, it seems my mind is happy to find flaws at every turn and compare how it actually looks to how good I remember it to be. It's even worse with older games. I tried to play the original X-Wing in DOSBox a while back, and wow, I couldn't believe it. Did it really look that bad back then? Maybe my 486 DX2 and 14" CRT made it look better somehow.

jefurii 12y ago
Part of me wishes I could un-see all the stuff that came after it, so that I could go back and play it with my original excitement intact. You're in luck: "Black Mesa is a re-envisioning of Valve Software's classic science fiction first person shooter, Half-Life. ... All-new music, voice acting, choreography and added dialogue give way to a more expansive and immersive experience than ever before." http://www.blackmesasource.com/ http://www.blackmesasource.com/
mdpopescu 12y ago
I've had this experience with Dune 2: it was amazing when I first played it but now it seems incredibly bad.

agumonkey 12y ago

I love when I revisit some old amazement and the magic is still there. When I see some old arcade games (SEGA chasing games) I'm still amazed at how pretty and swift they are.

kibibu 12y ago
Daytona USA still looks phenomenal in my opinion

Terr_ 12y ago

I think Deus Ex offers a contrasting example. It's almost as old as Half Life (2000 vs 1998), but I think it ages better because the appeal is different. Story/dialog/writing/role-play don't go out of style as quickly as graphics/gun-play.

egypturnash 12y ago
Your memory may be playing tricks on you. Check out this series at Rock, Paper Shotgun where a writer who remembers Deus Ex as the Best Game Ever!!!!! plays through it: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/deusexy/ http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/deusexy/
Drakim 12y ago
I replayed Deus Ex recently, and was surprised at how bad it looked, especially the character models. It was so bad that it was ruining my immersion. However, my brain eventually forgot about this and I could continue play, and eventually I stopped seeing crude low-poly models and instead saw just "people".
- ascagnel_ 12y ago
  Deus Ex wasn't noted as a good-looking game at release.
- Terr_ 12y ago
  I think the most bang-for-your-buck comes from upgrading the rendering system, so that the shadows/shading works better. Having ten shades of olive-black in dark environments was always annoying.