Games You Are Nostalgic For
- Thread starter Lord of Elves
- Start date
While I've loved computer games since the mid-eighties, my fondest memories come from the early nineties..
Master of Magic. Loved the variety, the glorious sense of escalation and the cavalierly approach to balance (Plenty of clearly overpowered starting choices. But also many options for clever tricks that have a chance of turning out even better).
It was rough around the edges even for its time... and I didn't care. Since then, I have a soft spot for games to full of content that they don't need streamlining or getting the little things right.
UFO: Enemy Unknown. Very tight, very atmospheric, still plays extremely well - we don't need any remakes.
Shows that modest technology is enough if you use it sanely. Imo the graphics are functional enough to avoid registering as 'ugly', and I like the tactical implications and visceral pleasure of letting us level a map with explosives.
Rather than removing that feature because even with 1000 times the computing power we can't do it in a way that's pretty enough.
Ultima7. A living, breathing world that leave you free to do as you please, with a compelling storyline, great attention to detail and excellent implementation. The technological standards of the time work in its favour because they appear grown-up and offer consistency.
Most characters have unique dialogue, enough to draw you in but never becoming overwhelming. You get a complete world, instead of having a limited number of characters and objects to interact with before extensive backdrops. There are no jarring quality contrasts (gorgeous lightning and pretty character models are apparently easier than convincing animations and not getting stuck in waist-high fences).
At the time the game was criticised for being resource-demanding and tricky to run without having a gimmick that would justify this... but 'no holding back' coupled with 'no gimmicks' make it timeless.
Cannon Fodder: Basic and unrefined gameplay, imprecise controls, ugly and unclear graphics even for its time, inconsistent and mostly fake difficulty... objectively it's a rather bad game. But thanks to its charm and attitude, I have to agree that war's never been so much fun.
Master of Magic. Loved the variety, the glorious sense of escalation and the cavalierly approach to balance (Plenty of clearly overpowered starting choices. But also many options for clever tricks that have a chance of turning out even better).
It was rough around the edges even for its time... and I didn't care. Since then, I have a soft spot for games to full of content that they don't need streamlining or getting the little things right.
UFO: Enemy Unknown. Very tight, very atmospheric, still plays extremely well - we don't need any remakes.
Shows that modest technology is enough if you use it sanely. Imo the graphics are functional enough to avoid registering as 'ugly', and I like the tactical implications and visceral pleasure of letting us level a map with explosives.
Rather than removing that feature because even with 1000 times the computing power we can't do it in a way that's pretty enough.
Ultima7. A living, breathing world that leave you free to do as you please, with a compelling storyline, great attention to detail and excellent implementation. The technological standards of the time work in its favour because they appear grown-up and offer consistency.
Most characters have unique dialogue, enough to draw you in but never becoming overwhelming. You get a complete world, instead of having a limited number of characters and objects to interact with before extensive backdrops. There are no jarring quality contrasts (gorgeous lightning and pretty character models are apparently easier than convincing animations and not getting stuck in waist-high fences).
At the time the game was criticised for being resource-demanding and tricky to run without having a gimmick that would justify this... but 'no holding back' coupled with 'no gimmicks' make it timeless.
Cannon Fodder: Basic and unrefined gameplay, imprecise controls, ugly and unclear graphics even for its time, inconsistent and mostly fake difficulty... objectively it's a rather bad game. But thanks to its charm and attitude, I have to agree that war's never been so much fun.
ercolesptr
Chieftain
TBH, Spoonwood. I would, but it'd have to be something worth it.
Getting an old Amiga 500 and finding Deuteros...I'd advocate it.
In fact, after the discussion on this thread, i'm looking for legitimate ROM's for an Amiga Emulator, or a nice 500 or 500+...mainly to play Deuteros and Syndicate. It was one of my favourite systems.
But they do say NOT to meet your heroes...but i KNOW Deuteros will still rock, 'cause i still play it's prequel. Millenium 2.2.
Since you seem to like games like Millenium and Deuteros I thought you might be interested in my current project called "Solar System" which is a realtime 3d strategy game project on the path of Millenium and Deuteros. If you want to see it download the source code from here:
http://www.adrive.com/public/a06d628db13bd13bb2563e0121004cc88178916a80cb3e9b0eadcf6b9f64f904.html
You will need the free edition of Gamestudio A8 to run it, which you can download from here:
http://www.3dgamestudio.com/
As I told you this is an open source project and still in early alpha stage, but you will get an idea of what it will be. Also if you like to help you are more than welcome.
ATC1983
Chieftain
Powermonger.
Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom
and
Darklands! Truly amazing game. *Sigh*
Awesome soundtrack too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QZLd0xC-T0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70L7GHR1eUE&NR=1
EDIT: I forgot Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. Man that was a great game back in the day. SWOTL FTW ^^
and
Darklands! Truly amazing game. *Sigh*
Awesome soundtrack too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QZLd0xC-T0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70L7GHR1eUE&NR=1
EDIT: I forgot Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. Man that was a great game back in the day. SWOTL FTW ^^
remake20
:)
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2008
- Messages
- 4,901
These for one. I actually found my collection of these about 2 months ago and played through every one.
This sparked a very faint memory. I think I played this when I was like 2-3, however my family never owned a windows computer.
Other games:
The entire Sly Cooper series
Rollercoaster tycoon 1
Backyard sports series
Zoo tycoon 1
Civ 3
Calis
on time
C64:
Pirates!
Amiga 500:
- Populous
- Pirates!
- The Bards Tale I
- Fate - Gates of Dawn
- Dungeon Master
PC:
- Civ I
- Might and Magic IV & V (as a combined world (of Xeen))
- Heroes of Might and Magic III
- Betrayal at Krondor
Probably some more, but came to mind quickly...
Pirates!
Amiga 500:
- Populous
- Pirates!
- The Bards Tale I
- Fate - Gates of Dawn
- Dungeon Master
PC:
- Civ I
- Might and Magic IV & V (as a combined world (of Xeen))
- Heroes of Might and Magic III
- Betrayal at Krondor
Probably some more, but came to mind quickly...
I tried playing Betrayal at Krondor again recently and um... Didn't quite age well. The other games on your list aged better. Still like those Might and Magic games for instance. Even Bards Tale. Populous is still great fun.
Akka
Moody old mage.
Master of Magic has aged extremely well. I even manage to still find the graphics "cute", despite their horrid 320x200 resolution.
Maniacal
the green Napoleon
Tides of War was a fun age of sail type game, not terribly complex but I really enjoyed it as a kid. Too bad I haven't been able to get it working since I upgraded to Windows XP all those years ago.
Gold Version, OoT, and Battlefront II are the most prominent. I was born in the 90's, so my list is rather small right now.
I ate up HeartGold, but it wasn't as fun as Gold for whatever reason.
I might actually buy a 3DS just for OoT. Also, Robin Williams told me to.
I ate up HeartGold, but it wasn't as fun as Gold for whatever reason.
I might actually buy a 3DS just for OoT. Also, Robin Williams told me to.
schlaufuchs
Break My Heart
All his crap movies aside, that is one classy man.
You know, last night I was playing Spore, and I felt the first twinge of nostalgia for a game that isn't old enough or dead enough to be nostalgic yet- then the game crashed, and I got tired of repeatedly playing 'Simon Says' with NPC creatures, and the feeling died. 
Hmm... on the SNES, I feel nostalgia for Super Mario Kart, Rock 'n Roll Racing, and Pilotwings. N64 gives me Mario Kart 64... and on the computer I imagine that Civ3 and Sim City 2000/3000 fit the ticket. Also, The Next Tetris, the weird Tetris variant that I learned to play with, that has now permanently screwed up my Tetris skills due to an expectation for the bricks to fall apart on landing.
Hmm... on the SNES, I feel nostalgia for Super Mario Kart, Rock 'n Roll Racing, and Pilotwings. N64 gives me Mario Kart 64... and on the computer I imagine that Civ3 and Sim City 2000/3000 fit the ticket. Also, The Next Tetris, the weird Tetris variant that I learned to play with, that has now permanently screwed up my Tetris skills due to an expectation for the bricks to fall apart on landing.
keneticpest
Chieftain
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2011
- Messages
- 20
Heroes of Might and Magic III
Save_Ferris
Admiring Myself
See my avatar.
Hmm, Spore. I'm very nostalgic for the game we were promised.
Twenty years ago, Maxis wasn't afraid to make things like SimEarth and SimLife. Ambitious, proper simulations to make little nerds dream, but more than a little rough and primitive in places.
A logical continuation after 20 years of technology and design progress could have shown just how far games have come.
A logical continuation after 20 years of technology, design and marketing progress showed exactly how far games have come.
Twenty years ago, Maxis wasn't afraid to make things like SimEarth and SimLife. Ambitious, proper simulations to make little nerds dream, but more than a little rough and primitive in places.
A logical continuation after 20 years of technology and design progress could have shown just how far games have come.
A logical continuation after 20 years of technology, design and marketing progress showed exactly how far games have come.
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