Do you play old games?

[NPC009]

I play a lot of new releases, because it's kind of hard to be a critic if you're stuck in the past without a funny persona.

I dunno, Channel Awesome is full of them.

Don't most of them fall in the 'funny persona' category?

I write (somewhat) serious articles about retro games sometimes, but the last time I discussed a SNES game people started a fight about DLC in the comments and the admin had to ban people...

 

[Dalisclock]

Both. Thanks to Steam and GOG, now I can buy games I never had a chance to play back in the day and I try to throw them in the mix with the newer ones. I just played FFIX and FFX last year for the first time. (Loved IX, X was not so much).

And then there's the weirdness of buying a game when it was new(ish) and not getting around to it until years later. I bought the Witcher not too long after it came out. I'm just now playing it for the first time(which is kind of weird, considering how much it reminds me of KOTOR).

 

[fenrizz]

So I ask: do you play any game from no matter when?, or do you just play what is new?

I play whatever game I think might be fun or interesting.
Hell, at this point I consider myself more of a retro gamer than a straight up gamer, though I obviously still play new releases.

 

[Sharia]

Well, I'm currently playing through Company of Heroes again, which is a 2006 game. Is that old?

Sure I guess I'm mostly thinking anything pre 7th Generation though. Nice to see so many people here confirm they play a bit of everything though, everyone I personally know in my life hasn't thought twice about selling anything pre XBOX 360/PS3 and has no desire whatsoever to play anything from then or back.

It's hard enough to keep up with all the new releases, so I don't want to spend too much time playing through old games, especially if I've already played them.

Don't forget, I'm not really talking so much about replaying old favourites, but more about simply choosing to put on something you've never seen or played before, without thinking twice about when it was made. When I browse Netflix for a new movie to watch, I personally don't pay attention to the date it was made, even if I know the effects and such might be outdate; that's exactly how I am with games too. From what you said, it seems like you see the "new releases" as more important, even if the older game is still just as "new" to you and I guess that is what I question.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

just putting on something you've never seen or played before, without thinking twice about when it was made.

if thats the case then i have played system shock 2 for first time 2 years ago after i played bioshock infinite which to me was worst shooter ever made. I then really enjoy SS2 despite dated mechanics. the level design was genious.

 

[Sharia]

the latter is in most cases likely to eat less time?

Hmm, I'm not sure I can really agree to that.

 

[MeatMachine]

I still play my old Game Boy Color games very frequently when I am out. Sometimes people make snide comments about me being a hipster, but for some reason, everything after the Game Boy Advance just doesn't seem like a proper handheld gaming experience.

8-bit processing on a lime brick with 2 buttons is what mobile gaming is supposed to be for me, unlike these tiny laptops that have taken over the market.

 

[Stewie Plisken]

Absolutely, GOG is my god and savior.

There is an issue in that the games industry moves at such a pace that catching up makes older games harder to sit down and play (because of time constraints), but with rare exceptions, I don't ever play the newest releases; so I guess I only play old games?

Right now I'm playing FFXIII. It's an old game, but I only got it now on Steam (the port is recent, too). Before that I was playing Inquisition, which is two years old. I have yet to buy GTAV, so when I do play it, does it count as old? By old, do you mean purely based on release date or generation?

I also play Neverwinter Nights, at the moment. I was playing Fallout and Baldur's Gate before that. Or Jade Empire.

And then, how do MMOs factor in this, since a good deal of them are old? WoW is gigantic and favored, but it's definitely old. At the same time, it gets expansions frequently. So, does it count as old? These days I'm trying to get back to Dungeons & Dragons Online. Definitely pretty old, but it's still going strong.

Most of the PC market, particularly the core gaming side of it, probably play older games for a number of reasons. You're right though; just like with movies, a good product is good regardless of when it was made. It's actually kind of rare for a game to be entirely obsolete, because a newer game does everything better and offers a better experience.

 

[Something Amyss]

Don't most of them fall in the 'funny persona' category?

Pretty sure most of them fall into the "no personality" category.

 

[stroopwafel]

Not really. Most of the old games I wanted to play I already played. Maybe one day when I have enough time to replay all my favorite old titles I will but that..isn't going to happen anytime soon. Currently prefer to just play the new stuff. There are some exceptions though that I replay practically every year like Super Metroid, Super Castlevania 4 and Super Contra 3. Though none of these games are really huge time investments and can be completed in just a few hours.

When they re-release/remaster a favorite old game of mine for a current system I usually pick it up though. When RE4 is released for PS4 I'm already sure I can't resist.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

I'd be willing to guess that anyone who has been playing video games within the last 10 years would probably play "old games". We all have our favorite title from a previous generation.

However with the decreasing possibility of backwards compatibility in consoles I think playing older games has died out a little bit, unless you're a savvy PC user who can work around an older titles compatibility with modern hardware.

I'm one of those people that has an entire area of a room dedicated to a giant CRT TV and a handful of older game consoles for when I feel like playing them. PS2, N64, Dreamcast, Wii, Genesis, you get the idea.

 

[Something Amyss]

Hmm, I'm not sure I can really agree to that.

Okay, can you at least elaborate?

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Breath of Fire and Final Fantasy remake for the GameBoy count, right? As does Breath of Fire 3, Wild ARMs and Grandia?

Play them periodically, here and there. Splitting my time between old games and Project X Zone 2, at the moment. It's funny I discover this thread just after I get to the chapter with Segata Sanshiro in it.

Also considering getting my brother and uncle on board for when I get my week off and do some Timesplitters custom maps. Those are so fun with friends. ^_^

 

[Sharia]

Hmm, I'm not sure I can really agree to that.

Okay, can you at least elaborate?

You would need to first I just don't agree that contemporary games, in general, eat less time. Most games I have on the backburner at the moment, I have on PS4 and they are on that backburner because they all feel rather daunting to complete (DA:I, The Witcher 3, MGSV, AC: Unity & Syndicate, Shadow of Mordor, Batman: AK, Fallout 4)

There really are an awful amount of timesink games about now, more so than I personal remember on the likes of the SNES or even the PS1 and I played a lot of RPG's too. Seeing people unknowingly creep up over 100 hours on a single game actually seems quite common now.

 

[charmander25]

Its also a mix for me. But, I prefer old games. I downloaded different consoles for PS1, Family Computer games even Sega games on my PC. I'm still a Mario fan with NES games on my Android phone. LOL

 

[ObserverStatus]

This week I've played WarCraft III, Fallout 2, Final Fantasy VI, and Majora's Mask, great stuff.

 

[Sharia]

I pretty much only play new games, but really its because I played a good number of the "old games" back when they were new. Fact is with work and other stuff to do, I barely have time to play new releases, I dont have time to go back and play stuff I beat 10-15 years ago already.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Despite playing and owning some of the third and fourth Gen systems (i.e. NES, SNES), I was still a kid, so my gaming funds were understandably low. So I only had a handful of games at any given Gen (with the exception of game rentals) at any time until I started working after high school.

There were several games that I was always interest in playing, so the years after high school I've spent some time getting those games (either in a physical or digital form) and getting the chance to enjoy them.

Although I enjoy a lot of new titles, I cannot deny that the joy and fun that I get from older titles that I had been anxiously waiting to play is almost without comparison.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

If I play an old game, it's typically going to be a game I've already played and have fond memories of. I prefer to play something current and new, but I do like going back to some old favorites. I've played through the Mega Man X and Zero series more times than I can count and there are several Castlevania titles that I go back and play. Every Christmas Eve I have a tradition where I bust out an older game to have fun with, the stipulation being that it be at least ten years old. If it's an older game I've never played before, then it gets kind of tricky as to whether or not I'll want to invest the time. Heck, I was enjoying Jade Empire just fine, but it got buried in my back-log of games when I set it down to play some newer games I was really excited for.

Of course it's harder to play through certain RPGs again when you play as many games as I do - I fired up Final Fantasy VIII not long ago and after I started grinding and drawing magic, I realized how much time I was going to end up putting into a game I've already played through several times. Also, being a full time student with a couple of part-time jobs, it makes it really tough to actually have free time to play any games, so I usually dedicate my free time to newer games if I can afford it, and play the older games when I can't.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

Hmm, I'm not sure I can really agree to that.

Okay, can you at least elaborate?

You would need to first I just don't agree that contemporary games, in general, eat less time. Most games I have on the backburner at the moment, I have on PS4 and they are on that backburner because they all feel rather daunting to complete (DA:I, The Witcher 3, MGSV, AC: Unity & Syndicate, Shadow of Mordor, Batman: AK, Fallout 4)

There really are an awful amount of timesink games about now, more so than I personal remember on the likes of the SNES or even the PS1 and I played a lot of RPG's too. Seeing people unknowingly creep up over 100 hours on a single game actually seems quite common now.

Common? Of the games you used as examples, only 4 are games that manage to go over the 50 hour mark, with games like Assassin's Creed and Arkham Knight filled in with a lot of fluff to make them seem longer than they actually are. It's not common at all for people to hit the 100 hour mark. Why do you think most people were surprised at Dragon Age: Inquisition's length? Heck, I was shocked I got 40 hours out of Dying Light.

Rare is the game these days that takes more than 25 hours to finish. In fact one of the more common complaints of this generation is that games aren't long enough. Monolith Soft specifically made Xenoblade Chronicles X to be a meaty, 100 hour game because they wanted to cater to the crowd of gamers that want a slow-burn, lengthy experience.