Reply With QuoteThe original Fallout is still the best of the series.
As a fairly recent convert to PC gaming, I've never played a lot of the classics. Thanks to GoG and the like, I've been able to go back to some of them, but very often these games just don't hold up for me. Given that, I'm always very impressed when I come across an old game that I find to be as good as it's cracked up to be. The textbook example would be Star Control 2, which I played for the first time two years ago, and continue to play on a regular basis.
What other games have people played years after the fact that proved to be enduring classics?
The original Fallout is still the best of the series.
Star Control 2 is the sine qua non, but I'll give props to the squad-based tactical combat trio: X-Com UFO Defense, Jagged Alliance, and Jagged Alliance 2.
I like Fallout 3 better than 1 and 2, so I disagree. But I DO think it holds up well. I also don't think Star Control 2 holds up well, and I too played it for the first time relatively recently. I just don't like the controls for space fights at all. So I guess this is pretty subjective.
I'll say that every Civ game holds up well, including Alpha Centauri. In fact, I think TBS in general is a genre that holds up well.
The space fight controls do take some getting used to, but I found that they still did a good job of giving different ships a different feel, and the combat was usually quick and infrequent.
So, so many. Here's a random list of mine...Originally Posted by sinfony
Starflight 1 and 2
Star Control 1 and 2
Wing Commander 1-4 (I was meh on Prophecy)
Wing Commander Privateer
The X-Wing and Tie Fighter space sim series (especially Tie Fighter, second favoritest game evar)
Freespace 2 (favoritest game evar)
Emperor of the Fading Suns
Missionforce: Cyberstorm
X-Com: UFO Defense
Any of the Jagged Alliance games
Any of the Janes's simulators, especially Longbow 2
Any of the Digital Intergration simulators, especially Hind
EF2000 2.0
Imperialism 1 and 2 (but especially 2)
SimCopter
Uprising
Dungeon Keeper 1-2
All of the Star Wars first person shooters (Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, etc...)
Alpha Centauri
The entire Close Combat series
M.A.X.
Interstate '76
Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries (the best of the entire series, IMHO)
Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns
Master of Magic
Darklands
I could keep going...
Last edited by Brian Rubin; 01-03-2010 at 10:54 AM.
I wish I still had TIE Fighter. Lost that CD long ago.
I actually have two copies of the Collector's CD-Rom. Want one?
Interesting. I'm always curious about hearing new reactions to Star Control 2. I played it back in the day so I have objectivity in the matter myself. I do admit that back in those days games used the keyboard and cursor keys and numpad a lot, so the controls for space combat felt pretty intuitive to me at the time, but I could see how I'd feel the same as you if I played Starcon 2 for the first time these days Robert.
Why don't we just list half of Mobygames and be done with it?
Last edited by scharmers; 01-03-2010 at 10:28 AM. Reason: *campers* always *play* *retarded threads*
I am sorry that you do not enjoy the sauce.
I have to say, I still find the isometric graphics of Baldur's Gate 2 to be magical. At least for me, the environments give me a great sense of wonder to this day.
So far, it's Freespace 2 and Jagged Alliance 2.
Syndicate was close and almost holds up against modern games, but the path finding is atrocious by today's standards.
Crusader: No Regret
I'm this >< close to putting dosbox on and going on a rampage.
This will sound self serving but .. Wheel of Time! I installed it the other day and started it up and I'm amazed at how good it still looks. Even though it's all BSP and basic textures (no normals, or specular, etc), it still holds up well. The levels are HUGE as well. I can't believe we actually shipped that game with 4 level designers!
Oohhhh, good call, I definitely wanna load these up now. ^_^
Sadly, I often find that older games do not impress, Star Control 2 being the notable exception. I'm talking about gameplay, not graphics, which I will always cut slack for.
For example, I re-played XCom: UFO Defense a few months ago. It wasn't fun. Not because of the early lethality, which I fully expected, but because the missions got repetitive in a hurry, the fact that autofire is superior to aimed fire at long distances (barring nearby civilians), the way the Heavy Plasma is better than any other weapon option, and of course the grotesque way mind control skews the game for both sides.
It was really ground breaking for its time, but I've played tactical games that are better since then (i.e. Silent Storm), and XCom has lost its luster.
Might and Magic 3 wasn't nearly as fun as I remembered, and I only lasted about 30 minutes with Might and Magic 6 before I dropped it. The half-assed implementation of turn-based combat is what bugged me with M&M 6, with critters continuing to slide down slopes when I paused, sometimes dropping out of line of site entirely. That, and the Monty Hall design features like the fountain that gives permanent +Luck stat increases.
Fallout 1 didn't grab me, even though I loved Fallout 3. But then, I wasn't a fan of Fallout 1 when it first came out, mainly due to things that disturbed me about combat.
- Gus
Oh, duh, I also need to add Master of Magic and Darklands to the list, come to think of it.
Any LucasArts adventure from their golden age.
I don't know which one is Darklands, but I don't think Master of Magic holds up well at all. It's ridiculously low-res. Much more so than later 2D games. My reaction when I installed my roommate's copy in 2004:
"What is that?"
"That's you. You're a wizard".
"It's just 8 pixels, how can you tell he's supposed to be a wizard?"
"He's got a pointy hat, see?"
Wow, I just couldn't even tell what things were supposed to represent. If there is such a thing as too low-res, then Master of Magic definitely fits that bill. I also tried to go back and enjoy Master of Orion since Master of Orion 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, and some people say that the original is better, but again the first one is way too low res for me.
If I could get past the super-low-res, I'm sure those will be wonderful games, but it is very tough to invest anything into a game where you're just wondering what the pixels are supposed to represent.
Tetris
Minesweeper
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darklands_(video_game)
http://www.mobygames.com/game/darklands
I always meant to go back and play this when I had more time (it came out at a time when i was super-busy). It was beautiful back then, but I remember what bothered me most when I went back a couple of years ago was the combat. I can't remember if it was melee combat or what, but it just didn't seem fun to me. The environments were beautiful, so I wanted to keep playing, but just like with Morrowind, I have trouble playing a game if I can't enjoy its core gameplay, and with Wheel of Time that was the combat.
I tried replaying it recently, and it doesn't hold up well, imo. Too difficult. I no longer have the patience I used to have to reload ten, even twenty times in one hour.
Xenogears.
Balasarius: not sure what is wrong there. Try turning the difficulty down. I reloaded far more in fallout2 (normally when my companions died). In either game until you have very heavy armor, you can die pretty quick if you get bursted at close range, but the reverse is true as well and you can always stay at long range.
I never actually got to play Wheel of Time, would it be worth digging up? Sounds neat.
Maybe you should have pulled some of the guys off doing dozens of redundant spells and interminably long boring cutscenes and that snooze-inducing Enya-wannabe soundtrack and had them doing level design instead.
Starcraft. (Fuck da haters. Still enjoy getting my ass kicked in it. Still enjoy watching replays of masters of it.)
Super Mario Bros 3 (Ah...the joys of convincing your 10 year old nephew that older games are more fun than the Christmas gift he just got for his Wii.)
King of Dragon Pass. Still charming. Still engrossing.
Fallout 3 was good, but becuase was a good Elder Scroll type of game (like Morrowind, and unlike Oblivion), not because it was a a particularly good Fallout game. The things it took from Fallout were positive (dialogue, some quests with variation in solutions, setting), as increased variety in the gameplay and improved the overall experience, but that's it: "increased the variety". It was still in quests, interaction, and charisma in the setting pretty below both Fallouts.
Civ 2, Master of Magic, Xcom, Jagged Alliance 2, and Master of Orion 2 are all good bets in strategy.
System Shock 2, Thief and Thief 2 are great.
And of course the old Dooms, if you didn't play them in the day.
OH SHIT, NO YOU DI'INT! DAMN SON!!!1!Maybe you should have pulled some of the guys off doing dozens of redundant spells and interminably long boring cutscenes and that snooze-inducing Enya-wannabe soundtrack and had them doing level design instead.
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