Games that have aged horribly
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Goldeneye is the live example of a game that I thought was pretty cool and now is completely, absolutely unplayable to me. Weird controls, weird physics, eye-meltingly bad graphics, Rock-stupid AI and-- WOULD YOU STOP RUNNING INTO BULLETS FOR A MINUTE, NATASHA? I'M TRYING TO DECONSTRUCT SOMETHING OVER HERE! JESUS!Giantpanda602 said:
I'm going to say that yes, the graphics are pretty awful by anyone's standards today, even if you don't really care about them. It's not just the graphics for me though: It's the sloppy hit detection, the awkward animation, the mentally impaired NPCs and the desolate streets that kill it for me. I will repeat, however, that the graphics do have something in all this dislike.Lucien Pyrus said:
I got Morrowind with my first salary, way back in 2002. Tried it and just didn't get it. Flash forward to 2008 and after playing a while with Oblivion + Oscuro's Overhaul I tried to go back and give the old chap a try. It isn't the graphics, it's the fact that it's impossible to shoot a straight arrow, that, even if that arrow goes straight the actual possibility of hitting something is pretty much random, it's the fucking assassin attacking me after my first sleep if I forget to not install the Tribunal expansion before reaching some respectable level. And what killed it for me? Laugh all you want, but not being able to pick up the arrow you just shot to the ground is insulting by today's standards. Tried it again this year with Morrowind 2011 but I just can't. It's too much for me.-Drifter- said:
Now, about games I liked and that I can't believe look that shitty to me right now:
(Yes, I do find Starlancer nigh-unplayable. Repetitive pilot one-liners, awfully pre-rendered 3D, awful ship models. It still has one of the best gameplays out there mind you, but I just find it so utterly cold and depressive, I can't seem to enjoy it anymore)
Any PS1-era Tomb Raider. I got the original for just a few bucks, but good god I want my few bucks back. It doesn't hold up one bit. The controls are horrible, the levels are extremely big yet practically empty, and even if you do explore every inch of a level and find every necessary key or trinket, figuring out where to put them is another matter entirely. Unless you have an extreme amount of patience, an FAQ is almost required. Otherwise, it ends up feeling like an extremely boring and clunky adventure game once you clear out the enemies.
Also, just about any licensed kid games from the 90's. I would buy and love just about anything so long as it was based on a show or movie I liked, but whenever I pop one in for nostalgia's sake I feel like barfing.
Though I completely agree about the graphics. Good god, the lip synching. The lip synching!
Also, just about any licensed kid games from the 90's. I would buy and love just about anything so long as it was based on a show or movie I liked, but whenever I pop one in for nostalgia's sake I feel like barfing.
I'm going to have to stop you right there. I still keep my Dreamcast hooked up almost exclusively for that game alone, and I don't really play for the sake of nostalgia anymore. I'll admit not all of the characters have aged well, Gamma and Big in particular. But I think Sonic's levels are exactly what 3D Sonic should have always been, though with a bit less linearity.PlasmaFrog said:
Though I completely agree about the graphics. Good god, the lip synching. The lip synching!
Sonic Adventure
Why the fuck were fishing levels put in the game? Why are the Tails race levels so easy? Where the fuck am I supposed to go? Who thought making Amy playable was a good idea? Why do the Knuckles levels suck so bad? To top it off, the Chao garden wasn't as fun to dick around with in Adventure as it was to play with in Battle. Wretched game as a whole.
Morrowind
The graphics are horrible, but I can deal with bad graphics. What I can't deal with are the same problems I had when I first played it. Why do I need to spend 2 minutes swinging at a guy to do damage? Why do I move so freaking slow? I love how open the world is, but the combat and movement is so bad that I prefer Oblivion despite it having a worse setting.
Why the fuck were fishing levels put in the game? Why are the Tails race levels so easy? Where the fuck am I supposed to go? Who thought making Amy playable was a good idea? Why do the Knuckles levels suck so bad? To top it off, the Chao garden wasn't as fun to dick around with in Adventure as it was to play with in Battle. Wretched game as a whole.
Morrowind
The graphics are horrible, but I can deal with bad graphics. What I can't deal with are the same problems I had when I first played it. Why do I need to spend 2 minutes swinging at a guy to do damage? Why do I move so freaking slow? I love how open the world is, but the combat and movement is so bad that I prefer Oblivion despite it having a worse setting.
Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat kick my ass now. I used to be so good at that shit.
Just putting it out there, but it might be because it was an unfortunate victim of the Dreamcast...Justanothergamer300 said:
Oh my god it doesn't play like my childhood remembers, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
The Morrowind/Oblivion thing has come up alot, so I'll say my bit. As far as combat goes, Oblivion has the better system, in that everything is playable and BALANCED. I remember in Morrowind not being a combat specialist was like giving you a near crippling handicap, whereas in Oblivion both Stealth and Magic are viable choices, Stealth mainly through the subtle addition of the visibility eye thing, and magic with the fact that it, by default, regenerates automatically. The one big hit I found with Oblivion that Morrowind did not have, however, was the scaling difficulty. I understand why they implemented it, as they wanted you to be able to go anywhere you wanted without having to grind, but I found that it removed some of the drive from the game. In Morrowind yes you would accidentally stray into a level 50 dungeon as a lowly level 5 and get your face eaten by zombies, but once you were able to go back there, it felt all the more satisfying. In Oblivion, you don't really have that.
Anyhow, back to the original topic. Games that have not aged well. In my opinion, graphics will rarely be the cause of a game ageing poorly. The culprit is either Gameplay or Story. In that respect, the first 2 Zelda games fail. Zelda 1 in particular is so annoying its almost unplayable, and while there is a large open world, it just gets dull if you can't find the one square where you're supposed to go to next.
Anyhow, back to the original topic. Games that have not aged well. In my opinion, graphics will rarely be the cause of a game ageing poorly. The culprit is either Gameplay or Story. In that respect, the first 2 Zelda games fail. Zelda 1 in particular is so annoying its almost unplayable, and while there is a large open world, it just gets dull if you can't find the one square where you're supposed to go to next.
The main things that seem to mess with a games' ageability are control innovations and artistically questionable uses of 3d graphics done seemingly because it was impressive for its time.
So yeah, I totally get the Goldeneye 007 complaints.
Though I admit I'm a little surprised by all the complaints on the original Starcraft. I just tries it again, and while it's controls aren't as helpful as modern RTS's, they're still quite tight and by no means an interface screw. And I guess I'm a minority, but I still think that game looks and sounds gorgeous.
So yeah, I totally get the Goldeneye 007 complaints.
Though I admit I'm a little surprised by all the complaints on the original Starcraft. I just tries it again, and while it's controls aren't as helpful as modern RTS's, they're still quite tight and by no means an interface screw. And I guess I'm a minority, but I still think that game looks and sounds gorgeous.
Hmm. I can't say I agree. Pathways into Darkness (1993) might be a good contender for that spot, and its immediate successor (and in the same universe), the Marathon trilogy (1994-1996), arguably has some of the most complex storytelling in video games ever; the first two games are extremely deep and interesting with a healthy dose of mind screw, and the final game in the series, Marathon Infinity, is just plain absract.Zenn3k said:
Though it hasn't been too long, I feel like Fallout 3 looks like absolute piss now, and New Vegas really doesn't look much better. I thought it looked decent at first, but now the constant brown/green everything and the ultra convoluted inventory crap just seems so outdated (even though some games are still doing this).
Also the Myst series. I remember when these were the most incredible graphics anyone had seen. Now they look so flat and airbrushed and stiff.
Also the Myst series. I remember when these were the most incredible graphics anyone had seen. Now they look so flat and airbrushed and stiff.
Fallout 2. That interface is a nightmare. I haven't revisited GTA3 in a while. I never liked the controls of the ones that came after it though. I had a hard time getting used to having to stop the car or bike to get out -- or else I'd be pitched at 80mph onto the street. I did hate the difficulty curve though.dt61 said:
FFVII so, so hard.
The graphics are terrible, the mechanics are clunky, the storyline is a mess, and the tone is incomprehensibly bad. The game just cannot make up its mind whether it wants you to take it seriously or take it as vulgar humor. It's possible to do both well, but it's very hard to do both at once. FFVII tries to cover all of them with ridiculous dating games and (not particularly good) slapstick humor and "funny" dialogue right alongside a supposedly tragic and dramatic story. It only got away with it at the time because there was nothing better to compare it to.
In short, it was groundbreaking at the time, but the Seinfeld Effect has set in. Everything it did has been done so much better by now.
If I were to pick a single game that has held up, it's Morrowind. The story and setting are still great, there are plenty of mods if the graphics really bother you that much (the setting is so exotic and nifty that it rarely bothers me much), the mechanics are actually pretty playable still, and the sheer variety of things you can do, weapon types you can wield, spells you can make, etc. is still pretty mindblowing to me.
I think the main problem people have with it is that it isn't an FPS. Yes, most of your shots miss even when your reticle is on the enemy, but that's because your skill is so low. Spoiler alert: this is an RPG and your skills actually matter. In many ways, I think it's preferable to games where you're supposedly someone with no skill at, say, archery, yet since it's player-controlled aim, you can have near perfect accuracy anyway.
The graphics are terrible, the mechanics are clunky, the storyline is a mess, and the tone is incomprehensibly bad. The game just cannot make up its mind whether it wants you to take it seriously or take it as vulgar humor. It's possible to do both well, but it's very hard to do both at once. FFVII tries to cover all of them with ridiculous dating games and (not particularly good) slapstick humor and "funny" dialogue right alongside a supposedly tragic and dramatic story. It only got away with it at the time because there was nothing better to compare it to.
In short, it was groundbreaking at the time, but the Seinfeld Effect has set in. Everything it did has been done so much better by now.
People really overplay how hard that assassin is. If you're even slightly careful, you can easily win and score yourself some very nice equipment to boot. Also, it defaults to saving when you sleep, so it's not like you can't just go back and sleep again unmolested or try to fight the assassin again. But seriously, it's very possible - going back, I usually play Morrowind with the difficulty slider all the way up and even then it's still very possible to kill him with just starting equipment (playing that way requires a lot of quicksave/quickload, but makes the world awesomely lethal and makes you really strategize).Kilgengoor said:
If I were to pick a single game that has held up, it's Morrowind. The story and setting are still great, there are plenty of mods if the graphics really bother you that much (the setting is so exotic and nifty that it rarely bothers me much), the mechanics are actually pretty playable still, and the sheer variety of things you can do, weapon types you can wield, spells you can make, etc. is still pretty mindblowing to me.
I think the main problem people have with it is that it isn't an FPS. Yes, most of your shots miss even when your reticle is on the enemy, but that's because your skill is so low. Spoiler alert: this is an RPG and your skills actually matter. In many ways, I think it's preferable to games where you're supposedly someone with no skill at, say, archery, yet since it's player-controlled aim, you can have near perfect accuracy anyway.
fallout 3Addicted Muffin said:
Fallout NV
dead space 2
Mass effect 2
assasins creed 2
saints row 2
hardly bad games at all
I have no probelm with uncannyess in say fallout or MELucien Pyrus said:
but god Deus ex....those polygon people give me nightmares (I think its a childhood thing..)