Old games resurgent!!

[Moriarte]

Yeah, the miss percentage does get less unreasonable as your in-game skills improved, but all that means is that the difficulty curve is upside down, which is another design issue.

I’d say that Skyrim has far more serious design issues, where from the early hours of play you become the superhero, Dovakhin, who slays dragons left and right, can kill multiple beasts, men and mer in one sitting without breaking a sweat, few hours after pressing New Game button. Morrowind also lets you become demi-god eventually, but there’s a longer character development arc, which tickles my fancy.

Yes, Morra is hard at first. So is civ. Impossibly hard at higher difficulties at first. Isn’t that why we replay them so much? Cracking complexity through constant self improvement.

 

[Moriarte]

weaknesses?

The early era of experimentation with simulated worlds leaves a lot to be desired. Bethesda didn’t have a lot of time to make Morrowind. Facing severe financial difficulties they had to hit on the brakes at some point, and release as is, leaving the initial promise of whole province of Morrowind behind and concentrating on just the central volcanic island of Vvardenfell. 20 years later though, modders corrected that oversight through Tamriel Rebuilt project. They also populated a lot of the emptiness, added much needed variety. In that regard Morrowind-release candidate is a relic of a far less enlightened age. And yet Morrowind inherited a very long and thought through table top game lineage, which shines through combat system and the skill system. Yeah, yeah, not everyone’s cup of tea, I know.

Anyway, it’s nice to chat with so many Morrrowind fans. Good day to you all.

 

[H4run]

By the way just before internet cafes there were mortal combat (and other old non-internet game) cafes over here. Imagine two fighters, armed with wired game pads in front of old TV, 20 people behind their backs cheering for one fighter or another, screams, cigarette smoke. Constant fights for who’s next. Epic. Most experienced fighters hid their gamepads under the table, so that others couldn’t replicate secret combos.

Lol I play lots of 2D fighting games I definitely can relate to that, I was more competitively playing King Of Fighter back then. The one that really good at it, almost unbeatable, was a Chinese who grow in Indo but later on studied in Singapore, he did teach me the combo but the timing and precision is too overwhelming that I can't execute it. I can play that game at max difficulty with ease, try to replay it again I'm no way 1/10 as good as I was back then now, and nothing beat PS1 and SNES controller, today controller are just clunky plastick.

There’s no need to hit over mudcrab excessively to get good once you know to attack with full stamina only and other small considerations picked up over the course of multiple replays. I observed many uninitiated youtubers hit npcs dozens of times unsuccessfully, while having empty stamina and then complaining that the game is broken. Ironic. It isn’t broken, just requires extra thinking between attacks.

Sigh, for years I really don't get how to play Morrowind because there's not much explanation and tutorial about it, not until I introduce the game to a friend of mine and he figure out if he hold the left click long enough and release it both the damage and weapon precision increase drastically, and he shared that with me, since that time I just understand that: 1-60 damage, is not meant it has a random 1-60 damage, but it's also determine by the weapon arc before it's unleashed.

The early era of experimentation with simulated worlds leaves a lot to be desired. Bethesda didn’t have a lot of time to make Morrowind. Facing severe financial difficulties they had to hit on the brakes at some point, and release as is, leaving the initial promise of whole province of Morrowind behind and concentrating on just the central volcanic island of Vvardenfell. 20 years later though, modders corrected that oversight through Tamriel Rebuilt project. They also populated a lot of the emptiness, added much needed variety. In that regard Morrowind-release candidate is a relic of a far less enlightened age. And yet Morrowind inherited a very long and thought through table top game lineage, which shines through combat system and the skill system. Yeah, yeah, not everyone’s cup of tea, I know.

Anyway, it’s nice to chat with so many Morrrowind fans. Good day to you all.

I used the other ready to use mods, I forgot the name, with that I finish the whole game and expansion, it's a crazy and nice ride but I haven't try Tamriel Rebuilt because during that time (iirc around 2014/15) it's still pretty much far from completed project.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Morrowind is my favourite CRPG. FONV and DAO come close to it.
I think Oblivion and Skyrim were very good action-RPGs but it came at the expense of a lot of the RPG elements. MW is the last Bethesda game where I felt the character abilities were more important than my twitch skills in combat and where I felt I could play any character I wanted and my poor reflexes and hand eye coordination didn't limit me.

 

[H4run]

FONV and DAO come close to it.

I used to be really obsessed with DAO, but after revisiting it, I don't get that same feeling. It's still a beautiful game, and I like the dynamic between Morrigan and her mother. It's a bittersweet caretaker/abuser complex dynamic, with lots of things to contemplate and explore in this game.

But FONV is just hands down a great game, although I still put Morrowind on top of that. As for Oblivion, it is very special to me. The world is simply the best among all the series. Morrowind's world is like a fantasy wasteland—bleak, tropical, and arid. Skyrim, on the other hand, is just meh, let's skip talking about that. While Oblivion's Cyrodiil is the ideal fantasy world for me, it's not just simply a game with lore, it offers entertainment and relaxation to the eyes, and the capital: the Imperial City, is the best city in comparison to others in the series. It's lively, divided into many quarters, and there's even a functioning Arena where you can roleplay your character as a gladiator when starting the game and arriving in the capital city. It also introduce the most ambitious AI project, yes now they make memes out of it, but when it first came out it's just mind-blowing, like the world is somewhat breathing (even though awkwardly).

 

[AmazonQueen]

I used to be really obsessed with DAO, but after revisiting it, I don't get that same feeling. It's still a beautiful game, and I like the dynamic between Morrigan and her mother. It's a bittersweet caretaker/abuser complex dynamic, with lots of things to contemplate and explore in this game.

But FONV is just hands down a great game, although I still put Morrowind on top of that. As for Oblivion, it is very special to me. The world is simply the best among all the series. Morrowind's world is like a fantasy wasteland—bleak, tropical, and arid. Skyrim, on the other hand, is just meh, let's skip talking about that. While Oblivion's Cyrodiil is the ideal fantasy world for me, it's not just simply a game with lore, it offers entertainment and relaxation to the eyes, and the capital: the Imperial City, is the best city in comparison to others in the series. It's lively, divided into many quarters, and there's even a functioning Arena where you can roleplay your character as a gladiator when starting the game and arriving in the capital city. It also introduce the most ambitious AI project, yes now they make memes out of it, but when it first came out it's just mind-blowing, like the world is somewhat breathing (even though awkwardly).

I'm probably a bit unfair to Oblivion (as a game rather than as a setting). After Morrowind it was such a let down to me, whereas I entered Skyrim with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised.

The setting was one of the biggest problems with Oblivion for me. Wardenfall was beautiful, original and exotic, everything fantasy should be. Cyrodil felt like another serving of the same old rehashed fantasy tropes we get given so often.

 

[H4run]

Cyrodil felt like another serving of the same old rehashed fantasy tropes we get given so often.

That's exactly why I like it, perhaps. The ideal RPG for me must offer both entertainment and leisure (fresh and relaxing side quests) as well as intensity (main quests, serious side quests). It shouldn't be continuous intensity; it should have a dynamic that pulls you in and lets you loose. This is something foreign to most Western RPGs, but Japanese RPGs have it. For example, in Persona, there are main missions where you dungeon crawl and bashing monster at night, while there are moments of friendship, socializing and dating at day times. Another great example would be the Yakuza series, which is an amazing game for me. Yakuza Zero easily ranks in my top 5 RPGs right now.

In Oblivion, the game world itself offers those leisure values—the part where you just want to enjoy the game world and let loose. Some of the side quests are also quite entertaining, like many of the Mage Guild quests. On the other hand, Morrowind is less entertaining in that regard. However, it is undoubtedly a game of very high quality. Objectively, Oblivion dwarf in comparison to Morrowind in term of game quality, but in the "fun" department, I find many fun moments in Oblivion and I find much easier for me to replay Oblivion than Morrowind, Morrowind require more commitment for me to replay.

 

[Plotinus]

I was reading some threads about Civ I the other day and realized that I can't stand to look at it. I got thoroughly spoiled with Civ II (and I must be the only person on the planet who loves the original Test of Time for its units and maps; I see no need to "upgrade" them).

A few months back I acquired the Zork game on Steam (along with whatever else is in there besides Zork).

Wow, this is the first I knew of Zork being on Steam! Looking it up I see the anthology includes the classic Zorks and Planetfall. That's pretty good value. Zork still evokes memories for me that no other game can do, even though playing it now I find that the writing isn't as verbose as I remember it, and there's less to do than I thought at the time. But still, Zork was the first game for me that opened up the possibility of a whole world sitting inside the computer waiting to be discovered. And the sparse prose is still extraordinarily evocative, even though it doesn't take itself very seriously.

Planetfall is still spoken of in hushed tones as the first game with a truly great NPC. Indeed I suspect that for many people Floyd is still the greatest NPC in gaming.

I really wish the text version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was available to play now. I only ever played it on my old Amiga, and that was a borrowed disk.

I never did manage to get off Earth before it was destroyed.

That is a brutally, deeply unfairly difficult game. However, if you're feeling masochistic you can play it online for free.

As for Oblivion, it is very special to me. The world is simply the best among all the series. Morrowind's world is like a fantasy wasteland—bleak, tropical, and arid. Skyrim, on the other hand, is just meh, let's skip talking about that. While Oblivion's Cyrodiil is the ideal fantasy world for me, it's not just simply a game with lore, it offers entertainment and relaxation to the eyes, and the capital: the Imperial City, is the best city in comparison to others in the series. It's lively, divided into many quarters, and there's even a functioning Arena where you can roleplay your character as a gladiator when starting the game and arriving in the capital city. It also introduce the most ambitious AI project, yes now they make memes out of it, but when it first came out it's just mind-blowing, like the world is somewhat breathing (even though awkwardly).

I'm a bit baffled by this. Oblivion was the first Elder Scrolls game I played, and while I liked it very much, I never felt very interested in its world, which seemed very generic post-Tolkien fantasy. When I first played Skyrim - having avoided all spoilers - I expected it to be the same, until I came across Bleak Falls, and then Whiterun, and realised that it was Saxon-themed (as I assumed, rather than Norse). That was an awesome moment for me. To me, the world and general design of Skyrim is vastly more interesting than Cyrodiil. The Imperial City may be nominally the biggest city on the continent but it really doesn't feel like it. And why fight goblins and zombies when you could be fighting falmer and draugr?

 

[Takhisis]

The lack of quest marks, coupled with poorly worded directions, is indeed one of the game's weaknesses. I also agree with you on the hit-or-miss combat dictated by dice rolls. However, aside from these issues, aspects such as the immersive world, dynamic guild interactions, engaging main quest, and the sheer freedom the game provides are simply mind-blowing. I hope they impress you as well (fingers crossed!). Morrowind truly feels like it was created by a team focused on crafting an incredible, grand-scale game, rather than just aiming for profitability. I highly doubt that there will be another game developed with such dedicated personnel, unless it's an indie game developed by a small team of fewer than ten devoted developers, or sometimes even just one person.

Why does this post feel as if it had been conjured through an AI?

 

[Synobun]

Why does this post feel as if it had been conjured through an AI?

Because it was.

 

[Takhisis]

Oh good, I'm not hallucinating.

 

[H4run]

Why does this post feel as if it had been conjured through an AI?

Not conjure, I just asked it to fix my grammar but sometimes it get too creative and I appreciate their initiative because I just cannot be bother with English anymore.

I'm a bit baffled by this. Oblivion was the first Elder Scrolls game I played, and while I liked it very much, I never felt very interested in its world, which seemed very generic post-Tolkien fantasy. When I first played Skyrim - having avoided all spoilers - I expected it to be the same, until I came across Bleak Falls, and then Whiterun, and realised that it was Saxon-themed (as I assumed, rather than Norse). That was an awesome moment for me. To me, the world and general design of Skyrim is vastly more interesting than Cyrodiil. The Imperial City may be nominally the biggest city on the continent but it really doesn't feel like it. And why fight goblins and zombies when you could be fighting falmer and draugr?

Plotinus, long time no see Skyrim do has some beautiful city one of my favorite is the one that has an orphanage in it, but the environment predominantly covered in snow and feel monotonous to me and I believe it's intentionally that way to fit the theme. Many of the city also feel too humble, White Run feel too small for such a celebrated city, compare Skyrim cities, to Oblivion with its crown the Imperial City or Morrowind's mesmerizing diverse cities and town and its capital Vivec, Skyrim just pale in comparison to those.

 

[Aiken_Drumn]

I can't be bothered to learn the intricate differences of a game of a genre I've already 'mastered'.

Only truely new gaming experiences get my attention and that barely happens a generation.

Going back to old favorites is quick and easy to scratch that itch, even if it's only fleeting.

 

[Arakhor]

Morrowind has been one of my favourite all-time games since 2003 or so, but its biggest flaw (other than Fatigue being really too important) is that it doesn't telegraph its mechanics well. Skill ranks in the game aren't just on a percentile scale for advancement purposes, they literally are a percentile scale, so if you try doing anything with a score of less than 30, you must expect disappointment. This is only compounded by Fatigue (a) affecting every single skill roll and (b) being drained for moving faster than a walk, so the early game feels like an endless litany of misses.

 

[Kyriakos]

Among the games being "remade", there is also Age of Mythology.
I had played it, back in the day (though not the Titans expansion). It was a nice game, but I prefer 2.5D in strategy games.

 

[Gorbles]

Been playing a little bit of Star Wars Battlefront 2. SWBF2. The classic one (from 2005).

I'm having fun, but I'd probably be having more fun if I dropped the difficulty down from Elite I already had to turn off friendly fire, because the problem (especially on Elite) isn't you killing your own troops. It's your own troops killing you.

Still, it's a good walk through history, especially given how difficulty used to be managed in older FPS games. The enemy AI is punishingly effective, and there are a bunch of games design (and actual mechanical / game engine reasons) why. Also, lightsabers.

 

[Plotinus]

I seem to be getting into Rick Dangerous 2 at the moment. Because why not?

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

I love SWBF2 (2005) and have it as well. What's really cool about it is you can jump into a fighter, fly over to the enemy capital ship and then board it. Lot's of fun.

I hear what you mean about the Elite difficulty. Too tough for me and definitely takes the joy out of the game (for me).

 

[Broken_Erika]

Original SWBF2 also had a custom Hyrule map.