Are Older Games More Satisfying? 300
Kwirl asks: "While the computer and console gaming industry is growing at a remarkable pace, the focus is usually on better graphics as opposed to stronger gameplay and plot development/story arc. I personally have several titles (Sims2, Half-Life2, Doom 3, MSFS2004, Unreal 2004) sitting on my shelf that were amazing games, but just couldn't hold my interest for long enough to really be considered a worthwhile investment. In the last couple of years I had thought that the answer to my gaming needs would come in the form of MMORPG's. I have purchased and played many of them, but all seem to come to a stagnant point where I recognize that only addiction would drive me deeper into the game, and not better gameplay (Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, Everquest II). In truth, I have found myself spending more time playing old MUD's (TorilMud, Medievia) again, or even amusing web-based games ( KingdomofLoathing, PimpWar, NeoPets). I am curious to know how many other people here find themselves walking intentionally backwards along the technological timeline of games for your personal expenditure of free time? What games/sites do you feel give you the best return of satisfaction versus time spent playing the game over the long haul?"
Nethack.... (Score:5, Informative)
In the 90s, it ruined my college GPA as it must have done other people. Everyone once in a while I download it again and play for a few weeks. Then I'll erase it after never getting past the mines and not think about it for a few years.
At least now it only ruins my normal sleep cycle. I work in land development so being awake isn't a major requirement.
There is one advantage for slow development cycles like with Nethack. You can pick it up years later and it'll be pretty much the same.
Before Pimp War was a web game (Score:1, Informative)
Hell, Yeah! (Score:3, Informative)
For example: The Marathon trilogy, made by a few guys whose company went on to make another pretty popular game. [bungie.net] This game was the "thinking man's" Doom, complete with aliens, serious weapons (many of which have returned in one form or another in Halo), and a deep storyline that enriched play [bungie.org]. Marathon was also one of the first (if not THE first) multiplayer FPS game, introducing the concept of the mouse-as-head game control to make for rapid movement.
The coolness of this game is that it's now freeware (not open-source, however). [bungie.org] The game originally appeared as an original Mac OS game. That game is available and (currently) playable only a Mac that can run Mac OS 9 or Classic (in Mac OS X). However, Bungie also released the second game, Marathon 2, as a Windows game. So Mac and Windows users can download a special Mac OS X-native or Windows-native application (thanks to enterprising programmers who loved the game and wanted to play on) to play the original code, complete with a few modern graphic pick-me-ups.
Bungie still puts in a few Marathon in-jokes in their games. The first one you'll see is the insignia on Captain Keyes' uniform in Halo, and later, look closely at the Monitor's eyeball. Familar?
I'm still fond of old-school Zelda games on NES, SNES, and Game Boy, too.
Frog blast the vent core!
Finally! A subject I'm expert in! (Score:3, Informative)
- Neverwinter Nights - I have a PW Server that I have been playing on for years now. Still a ton of fun. I play this several times a week usually.
- Jagged Alliance 2 (and its mods) - Every couple months or so I get heavy into a game of this for a week or so. This game is brilliant! Been playing it regularly for years now.
- DOSBox - While not a game per se, I use this to run X-COM, Master of Orion, Privateer, and Ultima Underworld. If you have DOSBox and a good PC then abandonware sites are like gold mines. I regularly rotate through the above games as the whim strikes me.
- 4X Games - These tend to have lots of replayability. Master of Orion (DOSBox), Space Empires IV, and Galactic Civilizations are some of my personal favorites.
- Bioware and Black Isle games - Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Fallout. These series are great to replay every so often. Fallout 1 is always cool to play through because its a quick game compared to the rest.
- Shooters - I think the most fun ones are Quake, Quake2, Serious Sam, Fortress mods, and Duke Nukem 3D. Others are cool but I keep coming back to these for some mindless blasting. I gotta say I'm burned out on shooters right now though.
There's no doubt that the replayability of most new games has suffered. It seems like the old ones always had randomizers and scenario generators while new ones just trust that they will live on in multiplayer and user-made mods.My hope for the future: Duke Nukem Forever, Jagged Alliance 3, Fallout 3, Quake IV, and Elite 4. They all come from a long lineage of "fun" games and hopefully they will uphold the tradition.
Re:Old games ARE better (Score:3, Informative)
The Ur-Quan Masters [sourceforge.net]
I've spent a lot of time with this one and I was just considering playing it again soon, actually.
Re:Before Pimp War was a web game (Score:3, Informative)
Hit "A"
...A...B...C...A...B...C...A(whap spacebar)
You hit the Hydrite with your Herculean!
The Hydrite is flurried by the infernal blast!
Man that game was fun. I contacted the author, one "Dustin Nulf" once and suggested that a Overkill themed Half-Life multiplayer mod would be really awesome. He wrote back and agreed but I gathered he was too busy with other things and he had put OOII behind him. Pity, it was really a nifty game. Once again, your imagination did most of the work.
No, games really are getting "streamlined" (Score:5, Informative)
1. Games are becoming more and more simplified, I assume for the benefit of the casual gamer. I'm all for cattering to casual gamers, since I like a good intuitive interface myself. But often it means degrading gameplay as well.
E.g., look at a single series of games, from the same company, not even going that far back to be a case of nostalgia. Look at the (d)evolution that happened between Patrician 2 and Port Royale 2. (And if you're nasty, trace it all the way back to Elite, since Patrician 2 to Port Royale 2 are basically Elite on water.)
The economy got over-simplified. Basically while Patrician 2 was _hard_ and actually a trade and economy simulation, in Port Royale 2 you pretty much are guaranteed to make money as long as you don't actively try not to. It also doesn't help that the whole strategy element of leading a _fleet_ in Patrician 2, eventually devolved into a sea arcade game with a single ship in Port Royale 2. (The rest of the ships in your fleet are basically extra lives in that arcade fight.)
2. As an additional reason for that, there's a bunch of stuff that's just hard to implement properly in 3D, or not obvious to the casual player in 3D, so it either disappeared or got the equivalent of a big neon sign saying "use it HERE ==>"
E.g., I can think of old 2D games where you could scale any wall, or (try to) blow up walls, or use a grappling hook on any ledge. Nowadays you have clearly marked "you can climb this one" walls, e.g., in Sudeki. Or if you get a grappling gun, there will be a big marking where you can use it, and typically not too often.
3. There's a lot of stuff that gets streamlined because everything today has to be real-time. Actual strategy tends to be replaced by whack-a-mole clicking without a plan. E.g., whereas a PC RPG used to involve basically squad tactics and use of a whole range of spells (status effects, buffs, etc), nowadays you get action-RPGs where you have to run, hit and block in real time, and if you get any spells they're direct damage.
Compare for example, the old D&D games from SSI, which were practically a turn based tactics game, to, say, Demon Stone. Right. Nothing says "D&D" like having to do attack combos, and all spells being nothing more than a weapon upgrade for the mage.
4. Variety _is_ shrinking. Games tend to be easily dividable in narrow "genres" lately, often meaning a clone of other games that sold well. While it doesn't necessarily say "new games are bad", playing an exact clone of a game I've already bought before, does somewhat reduce my satisfaction.
Re:One word and a Roman Numeral (Score:2, Informative)
Aah, then you just need to find a girl that can challenge you [pmsclan.com] in that category.
Then again, finding a gamer girl is, I believe, the holy grail of most guy gamers out there. At least the ones that don't get a bruised ego by being beat by one of us.
MU* still alive and kicking (Score:2, Informative)
These games have to attract people solely on gameplay, content, and quality of characters/players in their little world. You'll also find that most of these places ask for no money at all, and are often paid for entirely by the owner. A few have made the leap to pay for play, but those are rare compared to the free ones. Finding them is pretty easy, just look for any MU* listing out there.
http://maelstrom.areth.org/mud/ [areth.org] is a small list of active places that even includes 'talker' based chats rooms, while http://www.mudconnector.com/ [mudconnector.com] is one of the larger ones and even lists pay for play. If you want to see an interesting MUD that is a mix of a few of the more geekier genres in one, I recommend http://www.areth.org/ [areth.org] as something you don't find everywhere else.