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They don't make 'em like they used to [Old Games Thread]

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Posts

  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Speaking of old board games on the computer like the above Dark Legions, Robot Rascals and M.U.L.E. were great fun.

    Robot Rascals was a real-life card game that relied on a computer game. You get playable cards that tell you which objects your in-game robot needs to search for. Some of the objects had good effects on your robot, like increasing movement speed or shielding. Some had negative effects, like slowing you way down or keeping you from using the teleporters. Still others were just neutral items. If you took another players shield down, you could steal items from him/her, either because you needed them or you just felt like being a total prick. Cards were swapped around during play, usually with "pass the trash" cards that let you pass a card you disliked to your left/right. Whoever got all the items in their hand first won! God I wish that game would get a remake.

    I don't think I need to describe M.U.L.E. to you all.

    joshofalltrades on
  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Hyku wrote: »
    Ahem...

    Best Series :

    Quest for Glory - Way ahead of its time and I've yet to find someone who doesn't play to at least 4 if they give it a shot now.

    <3<3<3

    Spoit on
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  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I see a lot of Ultima mentions. There's a company out there (at least, there was a few years ago) called Spiderweb games that did a good job making turn-based Ultima 3-5ish games for windows systems. They're the Avernum (originally Exile) series and they're definitely good for weeks of play of that old Origins feel with more modern control and interface improvements.

    ETA: looks like they're still in business. http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/

    All of the Spiderweb Software games are awesome. They just released the sixth and final game in the Avernum series and they're starting work on a brand new game in a new world, etc.

    Also, Eschelon: Book 1 and 2 are out and are also lots of fun. They're made by Basilisk Games and everyone should check them out.

    Actually, all of those games have huge demos so try all of them out.

    Darmak on
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  • BritishDavidBritishDavid Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    who holds the rights to Dungeon Keeper and Theme Hospital? Especially in the age of Xbox live, these game's need to be remade, there's nothing like Dungeon Keeper on the market, you could have 8 a side multi-player, with one dungeon keeper and the other guys controlling the monsters/spell casters, possibilities are endless.

    And Theme Hospital, is actually a competitive strategy game that could work on a console without a mouse and keyboard, sure, it's not action packed, but again, nothing like this is on the market.

    BritishDavid on
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  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    EA UK. There were rumors about reviving some of them last year.

    enlightenedbum on
    Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
  • jerzakiejerzakie Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Orogogus wrote: »
    jerzakie wrote: »
    Back in the day I was a huge fan of Syndicate and the Darkseed series. The whole Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, Space Quest, Kings Quest, etc are all pretty much classics.

    <3 this thread.

    Dark Seed? Seriously? Yikes.

    The second one wasn't quite as good as the first, but yeah, I loved those they were neat games.

    jerzakie on
    "... it's better to regret something you did, than something you didn't do... " - Flea
  • Big ClassyBig Classy Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    MDK are on sale on steam and are worht anyones time. Flipping fantastic games.

    Big Classy on
  • KarlKarl Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Old PC games?

    There's only one worth playing.

    TIE FIGHTER.

    This.

    A million times this.

    Karl on
  • DixonDixon Screwed...possibly doomed CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I don't know if it has been said but Master of Orion 2 will consume you. Its so good' don't touch 3 though.

    Everything else I've seen listed seems awesome to. 8 want to say again however that diablo 2 is addicting as fuck but equally amazing

    Dixon on
  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Syphon Filter was one of my favourite PS1 games. And SF2. They were fun, the action and gunplay was amazing, and the story, while I knew it was cheesey, was so well presented for a game at that time.

    But I went back to it recently.

    And.

    Um.

    Don't.... don't go back to Syphon Filter. Any of them.

    Jesus.
    This makes me sad. Not that I currently have any means of playing them, but I always loved the Syphon Filter games.

    They were my first real excursion into stealth games.

    OptimusZed on
    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

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  • NylonathetepNylonathetep Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    "The Lemmings Series"... that taught me about management skills more then anything else.

    "Shining in the darkness" - a really old and unknown sega genesis game. It's a giant dungeon crawl that pretty awesome. Sadly I can't even find any more games like that now.

    I still play "Rome - Total War" occassionally. There's nothing like commanding an army in real time charging calvary causing a giant route... or act like 300 Spartans with pikemen holding up the battleline. Empire Total war was just too silly and not historically accurate enough it's predecessors; Riflemen do not clump together in 8 files... they do 2 files, taking turn shooting and reloading their gun. Also they try to stretch the line as much as possible instead of running toward the enemy and jab them with bayonette.

    I think people forgotten about Final Fantasy Seven and FF Tactics, Chrono-Trigger, and Fire Emblem Games, you know, games with actual good story lines in it instead of just fancy graphics.


    Also who else can forget ...
    Pong.

    Nylonathetep on
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  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    See, when I think of old games, I don't think of FF7, FFT, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario World, etc.

    I think of Space Hulk. I remember Modem Wars. I open up DosBox and play Maniac Mansion. No, not Day of the Tentacle, the original Maniac Mansion.

    I'm not superior or anything just because I've been playing video games for a long time. It's just interesting how some of us have grown up on Commodores and Amigas while others got their SNES or Genesis as their first system. I'm glad I grew up right when video games were starting to make a big splash in the world, mostly because people were trying things back then that would never fly today, except for maybe the odd indie production.

    I do feel old when I think of FF7 as "not that long ago", though.

    joshofalltrades on
  • AvegetableAvegetable Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Well...

    ...I'm not even going to start with what constitutes an old game and what doesn't, since that's more about your own age than anything else. Depends on wether you were a small lad or lass in the eighties, the early nineties, the late nineties, the early new millenium, etc.

    But I've read a rather nice and, in my opinion, conclusive article about what might keep modern gaming back in some regards at the escapistmagazine a while ago (Booo, another website, heresy!). The jist of it was the sheer amount of time companies have to "waste" on graphics these days. It's not like they aren't appreciated and well done and awesome, but the problem with many shooters that do not rely on copy-paste is the hundreds of hours of work that are simply wasted for five minutes of gameplay.

    Just look at one of the let's plays of a modern shooter if you don't have one of those. You spend around five to ten minutes in a room more focused on shooting the bad guys than anything else, then you move on. There's loads of often unique strategically placed and pleasing objects in these.

    Just gets me thinking. I mean, I'd need hours designing a home if I were to play "The Sims" and the industry produces whole worlds that kinda sorta make sense. Imagine the time could be allocated to improving upon gameplay. (Note: Letting animators come up with gameplay wouldn't work, admittedly, but we can always fire those and hire some programmers.)

    I think a problem is that the industry isn't a tabula rasa anymore. The hobby has grown its own culture, that, sadly, has its own sense of entitlement and preconceptions.

    The only game I can wholeheartedly recommend is Tetris, because that tought me just how much stuff I can put in a bag if I'm clever enough. Always amazing.

    Avegetable on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Don't worry, I wasn't trying to be an elitist or something. I'm still perfectly capable of being impressed and even amazed by modern games or games that other people grew up on. Just, when I think of FF7, I was late into High School. Yeah, that was a while ago, but it doesn't feel like it.

    And I guess to an extent developers are still taking some chances. The 3DS looks like what the Virtual Boy should have been. I'm almost jealous of my son for growing older with the Wii. If this is the kind of thing that he's growing up with now, what will be around when he's buying a console for his kid?

    And then there's things like the pervasiveness of online multiplayer. When I was a kid, if I wanted to play over a modem, it was a big freaking deal to get it going. You had to exchange phone numbers, you had to have a decent modem or forget about it, and even then you probably had to troubleshoot the shit out of things before you could get it up and running. Now you just log on to XBL and send an invite.

    But I'm also a firm believer in embracing limitations, and older developers did that much, much better than modern developers do. As the sky gets removed as a limit, I hope companies will see that it's better to have a focused vision instead of trying to be everything to everyone.

    joshofalltrades on
  • spiderj24spiderj24 Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    "Shining in the darkness" - a really old and unknown sega genesis game. It's a giant dungeon crawl that pretty awesome. Sadly I can't even find any more games like that now.

    I discovered Shining in the Darkness for the first time on the Ultimate Genesis Collection. It's one of the few on there I didn't know and I haven't played much of it but it certainly seems interesting. Immediately reminiscent of Eye of the Beholder.

    Which actually reminds me of one of the games I was obsessed with as a kid:

    Dungeon Master

    I sank so many hours into that game. And never finished it.

    spiderj24 on
  • MrVyngaardMrVyngaard Live From New Etoile Straight Outta SosariaRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Spoit wrote: »
    Hyku wrote: »
    Ahem...

    Best Series :

    Quest for Glory - Way ahead of its time and I've yet to find someone who doesn't play to at least 4 if they give it a shot now.

    <3<3<3

    Hell yes! Start with the first one (VGA remake, preferably) and then go all the way to the last one with the same character thanks to import/export at the end of each Quest game.

    Suggest to any interested that they look for the Quest For Glory Collection; it's very good stuff.

    MrVyngaard on
    "now I've got this mental image of caucuses as cafeteria tables in prison, and new congressmen having to beat someone up on inauguration day." - Raiden333
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  • SniperGuySniperGuy SniperGuyGaming Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    "The Lemmings Series"... that taught me about management skills more then anything else.

    "Shining in the darkness" - a really old and unknown sega genesis game. It's a giant dungeon crawl that pretty awesome. Sadly I can't even find any more games like that now.

    I still play "Rome - Total War" occassionally. There's nothing like commanding an army in real time charging calvary causing a giant route... or act like 300 Spartans with pikemen holding up the battleline. Empire Total war was just too silly and not historically accurate enough it's predecessors; Riflemen do not clump together in 8 files... they do 2 files, taking turn shooting and reloading their gun. Also they try to stretch the line as much as possible instead of running toward the enemy and jab them with bayonette.

    I think people forgotten about Final Fantasy Seven and FF Tactics, Chrono-Trigger, and Fire Emblem Games, you know, games with actual good story lines in it instead of just fancy graphics.


    Also who else can forget ...
    Pong.

    I think you were playing Empire incorrectly. You can research fire by rank. And spread your lines to be thin as two files. Though I believe three is the most efficient. I didn't find it to be that glaringly inaccurate.

    SniperGuy on
  • HykuHyku Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    See, when I think of old games, I don't think of FF7, FFT, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario World, etc.

    I think of Space Hulk. I remember Modem Wars. I open up DosBox and play Maniac Mansion. No, not Day of the Tentacle, the original Maniac Mansion.

    I'm not superior or anything just because I've been playing video games for a long time. It's just interesting how some of us have grown up on Commodores and Amigas while others got their SNES or Genesis as their first system. I'm glad I grew up right when video games were starting to make a big splash in the world, mostly because people were trying things back then that would never fly today, except for maybe the odd indie production.

    I do feel old when I think of FF7 as "not that long ago", though.

    You can play Maniac Mansion in Day of The Tentacle! No reason to saddle yourself with nameless characters first! Just load up Day of The Tentacle, get a good feeling for you peeps all nicely voice acted then go upstairs and load up Maniac Mansion on the pc in game! Best of both worlds :P

    Hyku on
  • HykuHyku Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    MrVyngaard wrote: »
    Spoit wrote: »
    Hyku wrote: »
    Ahem...

    Best Series :

    Quest for Glory - Way ahead of its time and I've yet to find someone who doesn't play to at least 4 if they give it a shot now.

    <3<3<3

    Hell yes! Start with the first one (VGA remake, preferably) and then go all the way to the last one with the same character thanks to import/export at the end of each Quest game.

    Suggest to any interested that they look for the Quest For Glory Collection; it's very good stuff.

    I'll probably get burned, but I like the original a bit better than the remake :P If only because you can type "pick nose" as a theif for a nice reward.. Although you better be skilled enough!

    There was a fan remake of QFG II http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/qfg2/ If you really dislike typing on your keyboard as well.

    Hyku on
  • MetalbourneMetalbourne Inside a cluster b personalityRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Orogogus wrote: »
    jerzakie wrote: »
    Back in the day I was a huge fan of Syndicate and the Darkseed series. The whole Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, Space Quest, Kings Quest, etc are all pretty much classics.

    <3 this thread.

    Dark Seed? Seriously? Yikes.

    I would easily pay my next three paychecks for a PC game with the giger-painted environments from darkseed and the open-worldedness and first-personedness of fallout 3. Hell it doesn't even have to have enemies or puzzles.

    Metalbourne on
  • TanolenTanolen Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I recommend Grim Fandango.

    Tanolen on
  • XagarathXagarath Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Orogogus wrote: »
    jerzakie wrote: »
    Back in the day I was a huge fan of Syndicate and the Darkseed series. The whole Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, Space Quest, Kings Quest, etc are all pretty much classics.

    <3 this thread.

    Dark Seed? Seriously? Yikes.

    I would easily pay my next three paychecks for a PC game with the giger-painted environments from darkseed and the open-worldedness and first-personedness of fallout 3. Hell it doesn't even have to have enemies or puzzles.

    Bits of Demon's Souls' prison levels are partway there, but I agree.

    Xagarath on
  • MetalbourneMetalbourne Inside a cluster b personalityRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    On a similar note, though, the first game to ever scare me was that Haunted House game for the Atari 2600

    Metalbourne on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Hyku wrote: »
    MrVyngaard wrote: »
    Spoit wrote: »
    Hyku wrote: »
    Ahem...

    Best Series :

    Quest for Glory - Way ahead of its time and I've yet to find someone who doesn't play to at least 4 if they give it a shot now.

    <3<3<3

    Hell yes! Start with the first one (VGA remake, preferably) and then go all the way to the last one with the same character thanks to import/export at the end of each Quest game.

    Suggest to any interested that they look for the Quest For Glory Collection; it's very good stuff.

    I'll probably get burned, but I like the original a bit better than the remake :P If only because you can type "pick nose" as a theif for a nice reward.. Although you better be skilled enough!

    There was a fan remake of QFG II http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/qfg2/ If you really dislike typing on your keyboard as well.

    You can just click the lockpick on yourself to pick your nose in the remake

    Therefore, there is no reason to play the original other than nostalgia!

    joshofalltrades on
  • HykuHyku Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Hyku wrote: »
    MrVyngaard wrote: »
    Spoit wrote: »
    Hyku wrote: »
    Ahem...

    Best Series :

    Quest for Glory - Way ahead of its time and I've yet to find someone who doesn't play to at least 4 if they give it a shot now.

    <3<3<3

    Hell yes! Start with the first one (VGA remake, preferably) and then go all the way to the last one with the same character thanks to import/export at the end of each Quest game.

    Suggest to any interested that they look for the Quest For Glory Collection; it's very good stuff.

    I'll probably get burned, but I like the original a bit better than the remake :P If only because you can type "pick nose" as a theif for a nice reward.. Although you better be skilled enough!

    There was a fan remake of QFG II http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/qfg2/ If you really dislike typing on your keyboard as well.
    You can just click the lockpick on yourself to pick your nose in the remake

    Therefore, there is no reason to play the original other than nostalgia!

    Heh, but I miss typing! Although really I think its cause I can bang out a QfG I char in the original in about 1 hour if I'm feeling like maxing everything. It takes a bit more effort in the remake ;) But yes the remake is decent, no reason not to play it.

    Hyku on
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