Replaying the old ones

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These days I'm not a Hardcore gamer, but when I was around 20, I spent every free time front of my PC. My first was a 80286 CPU based one in the early '90s. Those were the times! Determinative game was for me: F-15 SE II, X-WING, STUNTS, WOLFEINSTEIN 3D, Half-Life, Operation Flashpoint, Jane's Longbow, F-14 Fleet Defender, Starcraft. After that long period the life has come: marrige, building a house, kids and games gone. After my kids were born I didn't played at all those years. Back then that was all right, I didn't feel I need to play anything. Around two years ago started when sometimes happend I have some free time for some hobbies, and touched games again. CRYSIS come to my mind what I missed during the years and I love the trilogy! X-COM was an other title what is a great game and one of my college offered me The Witcher 2 for a try, but I started with the 1. Was a good choice :)

Next to these came the old titles and I tried a few from old times, but I found memories are much better than the actual games :)

What was the 10+ years old title what you replayed last time? Could it give back the same experience as it did back then?

I just started the third play of The Witcher. Yes, the first episode. Not the umpteenth occasin but I'm not a hardcore player :)

Geralt.jpg
 
Every 5 years or so I play through a bunch of old games, some have held up for me, some haven’t. Some that I think held up the most are Dark Sun 1 & 2, Fallout 1 & 2, Castles, X-Com 1 & 2.
 
I replay oldies every time modern gaming has nothing interesting to offer. It's getting worse and worse. Starting with 2015, I bought only 5 new games. The Witcher 3 (plus it's expansions), Nier: Automata, Uncharted 4 (plus it's expansion), Until Dawn, Overwatch. Plenty of opportunity to play oldies. So if we're speaking about 10+ years old stuff that I played instead, it was:

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. One of my favorite oldies (can't believe it's an oldie already). Unrivaled atmosphere. Replayability. Great cast of weirdos.
Thief: The Dark Project. Along with Bloodlines, one of the most amazing worlds to revisit.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein. This game is harder for me these days. Reaction just isn't the same, lol.
Full Throttle. They remastered it not long ago, but I played it in the classic (pixelated) mode with new controls and audio. It was my favorite quest in 90s. After replaying it last year, it felt really short.
Max Payne. Still one of my favorite shooters. Very smooth gameplay and amazing dark atmosphere, that sequels just didn't have.
 
Do remasters count? Namely Planescape: Torment, one of the best games of all time. In the same vain, also Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 and Icewind Dale.
 
Fallout 1 & 2
Back then these were another favourites but I played them only one time. I played Fallout Tactics more gladly. I know on this forum mostly are RPG fans but in my younger age I never had enough patience for RPG-s.

But one of an other good title which was enjoyable is Giants: Citizen Kabuto. Oh, man those cutscenes! I never met such humor in any other game :D

My favourite genre was combat flight simulators! I remember those times this games comes with 200+ page manuals. First week of gameplay was about learning. Today this is impossible. If after half an hour you still can't play the game you quit. No wonder hardcore simulator genre died around 2000 :(
 
Do remasters count? Namely Planescape: Torment, one of the best games of all time. In the same vain, also Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 and Icewind Dale.
BG2 was my favorite fantasy game before Witcher 2 (and then Witcher 3) arrived.

Also, don't throw stones at me, Planescape is the biggest example when developers craft incredible visuals and write exemplar texts, but forget about gameplay. I couldn't play this game because all I do there is read. It's a text adventure. Which is probably fine for a lot of people, but for me it was the reason why I vastly preferred BG2.
 
Also, don't throw stones at me, Planescape is the biggest example when developers craft incredible visuals and write exemplar texts, but forget about gameplay. I couldn't play this game because all I do there is read. It's a text adventure. Which is probably fine for a lot of people, but for me it was the reason why I vastly preferred BG2.

It's ironic that one of the best games (for me) actually lacks in gameplay. Still...

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Nowadays, we are at the opposite end. I would still choose Planescape: Torment anytime.

Anyhow, I also really like Baldur's Gate 2. The Baldur's Gate series still has the most complex party affiliation system ever created in a game (unless you count Dwarf Fortress). It's a shame it was only a small aspect of the game. But it did feel like your party members actually had a mind of their own.
 
right now there are two ancient games that I still go back and play every year or three... Civilization (the first one, requiring DosBox now) which was IMO the birth of all TBS games (and the forerunner for all RTS), and System Shock 2, which was the pinnacle of FP-RPG mechanics (and IMO still has the best balanced AI of any game I've seen since). despite the aged graphics and sound, both are still mechanically engaging to the point you forget the dated visuals.

I still have a special place in my heart for the old bards tale and baldurs gate series (can't remember which, but one has a spider sound effect that STILL sends shivers down my spine which you would hear long before you saw them). and a few others like Xenosaga, Wild arms, Solar Jetman, and Ehrgeiz, which I no longer have access to.
 
I'll plug again for my favorites. (Most of these almost always find a way onto my drives and never leave.)
  • Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic. It's my 4x of choice. I consider it the ultimate version of Master of Magic.
  • Jagged Alliance 2. RPG meets XCOM-like tactics in a totally open island map.
  • Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The game has flaws, but the combat and the world are aaawwweeesssooommmeee.
  • Dawn of War: Dark Crusade. Probably my favorite RTS of all time.
  • Mount and Blade: Warband. A thing of absolute brilliance unto itself.
  • Freelancer. There are "space" games with better stories and better flight mechanics, but none of them click the same way.
 
It's ironic that one of the best games (for me) actually lacks in gameplay. Still...

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Nowadays, we are at the opposite end. I would still choose Planescape: Torment anytime.

Anyhow, I also really like Baldur's Gate 2. The Baldur's Gate series still has the most complex party affiliation system ever created in a game (unless you count Dwarf Fortress). It's a shame it was only a small aspect of the game. But it did feel like your party members actually had a mind of their own.
And BG2 was somewhere in between. It gave you options in conversations, but didn't pin you to a wall with endless text. Again, nothing against people who enjoy reading in games, but I prefer something more balanced. If reading is 90% of a game, I'd rather pick a book.

BG2 keeps solid 3rd place in my top of fantasy games behind W2 and W3. I really love it's party system, the adventure, likable characters (both good and bad), wonderful locations, MUSIC. There was good gameplay versatility when it comes to role-playing. Are you a band of heroes who travel the world to right the wrongs? Or rogues, who would slit a few throats for good coin or even for fun? And aforementioned party system really added to that. Party members indeed felt like persons. Not just walking armor and weapons.
 
Party members indeed felt like persons. Not just walking armor and weapons.

Minsc is one of my all-time favorite characters. As silly as the concept was, the execution was brilliant. I liked him waaay more than any of my own characters. :LOL:
 
Minsc is one of my all-time favorite characters. As silly as the concept was, the execution was brilliant. I liked him waaay more than any of my own characters. :LOL:
Minsc was amazing. It was so hard not to take him with you. And his ending is just...
 
Minsc is one of my all-time favorite characters.

Go for the eyes Boo, GO FOR THE EYES!!!

Take heart fellow adventurers, for you have curried the favor of Boo, the only miniature giant space hamster in the Realm!
 
Mechcommander? I love her so much! One rare from the old titles which even today can evoke the same feelings as back then! Besides the isometric graphics still looks good at high resolution (at least for my old eyes)

Why 2D or 2.5D (diablo 2) isometric died from RPG genre? I think a well drawed 4K game could be so beautiful as any other 3D! Besides less resource needed for running the game engine! From the money they save they could pay better scriptwriters, story writers!
 
Go for the eyes Boo, GO FOR THE EYES!!!

Take heart fellow adventurers, for you have curried the favor of Boo, the only miniature giant space hamster in the Realm!

My favorite:

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice...WATCH IT...I'm huge.

Minsc was amazing. It was so hard not to take him with you. And his ending is just...

Whatchu mean? I don't remember any bad endings...:eek:...
 
Baldur's Gate. Hmm. The name what I heard so many times but never played.

Have you any experience with the EE edition? I read that on release it was full with bugs. Or should I search for the original version?
 
Have you any experience with the EE edition? I read that on release it was full with bugs. Or should I search for the original version?

Not sure about the bugs. The devs did release a few patches that made things better. Regardless, surely the original release is even buggier.

This game is over 10 years old. It has aged well if you include the community mods that improve the graphics, UI and some other bugs. But why take the EE over the original game + mods?
1. It's easier (no need to install custom mods and whatnot)
2. It's more stable (the game is optimized for Windows 10 and has a better UI)
3. The EE has a few extras: a few new fully voiced playable characters with extra quests. There is also an arena mode. But I don't really like it.
 
Have you any experience with the EE edition? I read that on release it was full with bugs. Or should I search for the original version?
I recommend purist approach. :p Original games are perfectly fine. I barely encountered any bugs.
 
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