Games that have aged well

Baked.noodle

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I played X-Com UFO Defense for the first time a few weeks ago. Despite an interface that I had to look up a manual to figure out it's pretty much in my top 20, maybe even top 10, best games ever made.

If you haven't already download OpenXcom. It fixes bugs and adds many features you may like. You need the original game files.

pajor

Bob.Carcass wrote: »

Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow on the Gameboy, still as enjoyable as they were when i was 10

Have been playing Red with an emulator on my Android tablet recently (have a game cartridge so perfectly legal :P). The graphics and design etc etc are really no hindrance to how enjoyable it is.

Ken Shamrock

pajor wrote: »

Have been playing Red with an emulator on my Android tablet recently (have a game cartridge so perfectly legal :P). The graphics and design etc etc are really no hindrance to how enjoyable it is.

There pretty much irrelevant, it's just such a good concept and so enjoyable even tho the strategy is limited, i still have my GBC and all three games, i even have a link cable! yet nobody to trade with haha

Fate Amenable To Change

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I played X-Com UFO Defense for the first time a few weeks ago. Despite an interface that I had to look up a manual to figure out it's pretty much in my top 20, maybe even top 10, best games ever made.

Speaking of which did anyone ever play x-com interceptor? Always thought it was a cracking game ahead of its time.

Mazer_

The first Unreal game still looks pretty good, despite the low poly models and tiny, tiny textures. Goes to show why the original Unreal engine was in use into the 2000s. And the game is still amazing, some of the biggest levels I've seen in an FPS and incredible world and enemy design.

Retr0gamer

I played the original Unreal a few years ago. Have to say it was ropey as **** and really has aged incredibly poorly. FPS games have come a long way since then.

CiDeRmAn

Metal Arms on the Xbox is still a cracker, looks pretty nice too.
I think the Xbox version is the best looking of the various editions across the formats of the time as well.

Fakman87

Just finished MGS 2 there. I actually think the first one aged better than 2. Not graphically of course but the absurdity of the plot in 2 was just too much.

I can remember as a 14 year old thinking I was stupid for not being able to figure it out. This time I didn't even try.

partyatmygaff

MGS1-3 have aged brilliantly. MGS4's still too recent to comment on.

Quake's still just as playable as it was when it was released. Some Mid-00 games like CSS and BF2 are nearly a decade old now and are still very playable by today's standards.

The Pokemon games have aged brilliantly, even back to the original red/blue they're still just as enjoyable to play today as they were then.

J_E

Bob.Carcass wrote: »

Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow on the Gameboy, still as enjoyable as they were when i was 10

On a sidenote, I don't think many games have come close in terms of how memorable the glitches were either! There are so many, but the error handling is so good in the game that nothing seems to stop it unless you really start mashing hex codes into it. Someone even found a way to program code into the game, using the game's own glitches;

Just incredible!

Sand

Baldurs Gate 2 - I've been playing it recently and for an old game, I'm struck by how beautiful and colourful the area maps are. They age very well because they are 2D images rather than (what would be now) hideous clunky textures stretched over horrible looking 3D models. The character models themselves don't look as well.

The characterisation and plot is still good - Irenicus is a strong villain: from very shortly in the game, you have a strong dislike of him. Yet what was done to him was very cruel. You understand his motivations: he is doing what is right for him.

Fate Amenable To Change

Fakman87 wrote: »

Just finished MGS 2 there. I actually think the first one aged better than 2. Not graphically of course but the absurdity of the plot in 2 was just too much.

I can remember as a 14 year old thinking I was stupid for not being able to figure it out. This time I didn't even try.

Its been a long time since I played it so I might have got the wrong message from it but I was affected by the plot and can't help but think how it reflects a growing control over information by corporations and the NSA scandals show that the US government is doing almost the exact same thing.

I like to think of it as a 1984 for the gaming community. Not a dystopian future but one that is more likely. I always considered myself to be the anti-hero in the game and was shocked by the how everything was reversed.

Timmyctc

Fate Amenable To Change wrote: »

Its been a long time since I played it so I might have got the wrong message from it but I was affected by the plot and can't help but think how it reflects a growing control over information by corporations and the NSA scandals show that the US government is doing almost the exact same thing.

I like to think of it as a 1984 for the gaming community. Not a dystopian future but one that is more likely. I always considered myself to be the anti-hero in the game and was shocked by the how everything was reversed.

I sincerely hope you're not on about MGS2 because if so. You're a wayyyyys off :P

Dave_The_Sheep

I downloaded Dungeon Keeper 2 there from GOG, first time in a while I've gone back to my catalogue there. Their patch is quite good, along with a registry change and a small tweak for zooming out (here), it works like a charm. Just remember to set the exe compatibility to XP SP2/3 and you're golden.

Relevant registry settings:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bullfrog Productions Ltd\Dungeon Keeper II\Configuration\Video

"Screen Height" and "Screen Width"

The graphics work nicely, angular but it's aged well. The gameplay doesn't get old.

Adamantium

Moneymaker wrote: »

Final Fantasy IX

Masterpiece, starts like a fairytale and ends up having proper dark undertones, the cast always

arriving before disaster or when they do, getting their asses handed to them the whole way

and all of them change multiple times over the 60 hour journey in real ways. Definitely the most philosophical and complete of the series. The pacing is perfect, atmosphere is unparalled, the twists tasteful and the foreshadowing/character development subtle, and it feels lengthy in the best possible way.

Despite the fact I've always loved the modern fantasy cyberpunk/european feel of FFVII and FFVIII and in RPGS in general as opposed to the more medievil settings, I loved the setting, the storybook but 3 dimensional characters and world. It's a very special game.

The whole Stenier-Zidane relationship/dialogues and

how they become uncertain bros after many hours of forced proximity and begin to see the good in each other is so good

Played over 3+ times as a young one, and was glad it was just as good as I finished last month again.

Square seemed to be the videogame equivalent of Pixar in the 90's.

Retr0gamer

Getting a bit too gushing of ff9 there. It's got a terrible story and decent characters. It makes up for it though just by being heaps of fun and that's all you really need.

Fate Amenable To Change

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Getting a bit too gushing of ff9 there. It's got a terrible story and decent characters. It makes up for it though just by being heaps of fun and that's all you really need.

:mad: How dare you! The character development is out of this world... which is also true about the plot, sadly in a different way.

Still though every character in that game changes quite dramatically in realistic ways which is a lot more than you can say for most games, films or books.

Daith

Fate Amenable To Change wrote: »

:mad: How dare you! The character development is out of this world... which is also true about the plot, sadly in a different way.

I'd agree with you here. It's up there with FF6 in terms of characters and story. Love to replay it.

Loughc

sweetie wrote: »

loved that game, can remember some scenes still from playing on the xbox.
I wonder is it backwards compatible with the 360.

It sure is backwards compatible I've played it on my 360, cracking game!

chrislad

Fate Amenable To Change wrote: »

:mad: How dare you! The character development is out of this world... which is also true about the plot, sadly in a different way.

Still though every character in that game changes quite dramatically in realistic ways which is a lot more than you can say for most games, films or books.

I agree. It's one of my favourites, though I do slightly rank VIII above it. Something about it that I just love.

Adamantium

chrislad wrote: »

I agree. It's one of my favourites, though I do slightly rank VIII above it. Something about it that I just love.

VIII was the first one I played and RPG too for that matter, (I was over at a friend's house and was intrigued by what do you in this game, a story? and somehow wrestled him into giving me VIII, despite the fact he just bought it, he still hadn't fnished VII, as he got stuck on it, so I helped him focus on it if anything:pac:)

VIII setting is rare enough to see and was full of mystery, a modern fantasy with a European/French art direction and its set after a world war with mercenaries and political assasinations/mission/intrigue/warring nations. That card game. The mystery of Esthar/Balamb Garden was mindblowing as a kid, and the game has this weird hard/melancholic feel to it. It jams so much I had no idea where it was going to go. Space? Warring schools? Possesion? No ability to have radio communications? Breaking battle systems, Limit breaks spamming, drawing magic, turning cards to magic. GF's, summons became pokemon like in how you trained them and had a connection to individual characters

You could play it in a dozen different ways. XII gets lauded for its ambition to push the gameplay of the series in a new direction, but VIII is more radical/less handholding about it I think. They throw the full toolbox at your feet and say "fiddle around and figure it out". It still managed to do all this within the framework of a turn based system.

Great soundtrack, which might be the best in the series too imo.

Conbhar

Shadow of the Colossus for me. Hard to believe its nearly 10 years old but I could happily just sit there playing it and get lost in it even today. Beautiful looking game and holds up very well imo.

Kiith

VIII had a pretty terrible story, but i still really enjoyed it when i played it.

Anything on the Infinity Engine has aged really well, especially if you add the widescreen mod to it. Baldurs Gate 2 still holds up extremely well today, and is a joy to play.

pablomakaveli

Adamantium wrote: »

VIII was the first one I played and RPG too for that matter, (I was over at a friend's house and was intrigued by what do you in this game, a story? and somehow wrestled him into giving me VIII, despite the fact he just bought it, he still hadn't fnished VII, as he got stuck on it, so I helped him focus on it if anything:pac:)

VIII setting is rare enough to see and was full of mystery, a modern fantasy with a European/French art direction and its set after a world war with mercenaries and political assasinations/mission/intrigue/warring nations. That card game. The mystery of Esthar/Balamb Garden was mindblowing as a kid, and the game has this weird hard/melancholic feel to it. It jams so much I had no idea where it was going to go. Space? Warring schools? Possesion? No ability to have radio communications? Breaking battle systems, Limit breaks spamming, drawing magic, turning cards to magic. GF's, summons became pokemon like in how you trained them and had a connection to individual characters

You could play it in a dozen different ways. XII gets lauded for its ambition to push the gameplay of the series in a new direction, but VIII is more radical/less handholding about it I think. They throw the full toolbox at your feet and say "fiddle around and figure it out". It still managed to do all this within the framework of a turn based system.

Great soundtrack, which might be the best in the series too imo.

It was ruined by the characters though. Bunch of annoying teenagers particularly Squall who was just a miserable moody git.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I ended up playing Blood Money on my old PS2 recently and enjoyed more than ever, I'd rate it above Absolution.

Timmyctc

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I ended up playing Blood Money on my old PS2 recently and enjoyed more than ever, I'd rate it above Absolution.

Such an underrated game. The last mission too. Dat slowmo and dem Ballers :P

Retr0gamer

pablomakaveli wrote: »

It was ruined by the characters though. Bunch of annoying teenagers particularly Squall who was just a miserable moody git.

I'm a bit more forgiving of 8 these days. The story is awful but it's never really been a strong point of the series. Ff8 though is gloriously broken and its tonnes of fun exploiting it. However if you just play the game using summons you won't enjoy it and will end up stuck later on.

chrislad

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'm a bit more forgiving of 8 these days. The story is awful but it's never really been a strong point of the series. Ff8 though is gloriously broken and its tonnes of fun exploiting it. However if you just play the game using summons you won't enjoy it and will end up stuck later on.

Definitely. It's so easy to one hit the last boss. Aura with Squall and his Lionheart weapon will close to one hit kill the final boss. The last 'dungeon' was challenging in that a lot of abilities are blocked until you killed certain bosses.

I don't really judge FF on their story, generally they're not great or they're just out there, but as an experience, the run of FF6 through FFX was fantastic and those 5 games are essential.

Future1

call of duty 4, still more fun than the like of titanfall!

deathrider

Doom and Duke Nukem 3d. An amazing amount of craic to be had with those, even these days. Also, The classic sonic games. A lot of old school arcade style games still play brilliantly too- Metal Black, Street Fighter II (pick one), Eco Fighters, Final Fight, Root Beer Tapper; the list goes on and on.