Games that have aged horribly

[snave]

Im surprised Deus Ex made the list so prominently to tell the truth. The graphics settings in that game go up incredibly high for a game of its age, far further than the sequel. Bump them to the max and its as good as the polygons allow. Definitely no poorer than other 3d modelled games of that time although I wonder if perhaps seeing low polycount at higher res rather than stretching lower res alters the overall impact.

To me FF7 is the quintessential "shit that aged bad" game. I'd rather look at FF6.

 

[run_forrest_run]

The first Zelda game just plain sucks. I don't know how anyone had the patience to play that shit. The combat is horrible: Link has such a tiny sword and he just stabs things with it, never swings it. It's way to cryptic as well. Metroid's a much better adventure game than that piece of crap.

 

[Trolldor]

Deus Ex beyond a doubt.
It plays like a paraplegic walks.

 

[Shilkanni]

On that note: Fallout 1 and 2. The stories are great, the ideas are cool, but turn-based isometric RPGs make me contemplate death.

Totally agree - I have played Fallout 1 just recently and it felt like I had to fight to control it. Mouse to move everywhere, hard to see the doors, getting blocked by NPCs at every turn. Also it seems very difficult to get NPCs to recognise you had completed quests for them (it seemed like I did things in the wrong order). Then I entered the Hub with my weapon out, which makes all the guards in the city attack you for the rest of the game. Oh, and I love how I got critted for all my health and I get to watch the little dials with my health on it scroll all the way from 70 to -5 before I can reload.

It was still some fun and I did finish it, but interface/controls was a struggle.

 

[Netrigan]

You know... I doubt i could ever say that 8-bit games have not aged well. They have their own charm that just looks good. Even if 8-Bit I will always love:

8-bit or no. Megaman will always be good by me.
Except in Battle network. Fuck that franchise.

Hell even 16-bit are good by me.

Just games that entered the world of 3D graphics can age bad.

A game from that era (or earlier) with a good visual design holds up even with the pixelization. I've often noted that you can't really make Pac-Man look any better, apart from smoothing out the pixels. It's a good, simple design that works no matter what year it is.

The original Super Mario Bros. looks a bit ass, something I noticed back in the day after spending far too many hours playing Super Mario Bros. 3 and trying to extend the fun by back-tracking to the first game. It's not bad exactly, but the colors don't pop as well as they could.

But early 3D... man, those were some rough years. I was big into FPS back then and I used to seek out the 2.5D shooters like (Duke, Shadow Warrior, Blood, Redneck Rampage) to supplement the eye-assaulting games that were pushing the industry forward. A game like Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight (a favorite of mine) is one of the ugliest games ever made and I remember resisting the game for a long time simply because it looked so horrible.

Spoiler

Which is why I have absolutely zero problem with HD remakes of a lot of these games, so long as they don't touch the core game mechanics. If they could update that game to look like its sequel, I'd be a happy man.

 

[Netrigan]

Crysis 2.

The multiplayer is already a fucking ghost-town >.>

This is why a new up-and-coming FPS franchise should always, always, always focus on making the Single Player campaign as good as possible. The MP gods only smile on a limited number of franchises and few are admitted into their ranks. Only way you're going to crack that club is by creating a game so good that they want to check out the MP.

 

[Wayneguard]

Deus Ex.

Good god, Deus Ex.

/thread

Also, broodwar hasn't aged well at all, a fact that has become clear since the release of wings of liberty. I can't hardly play broodwar anymore

 

[Mandal0re]

Morrowind is my favourite game of all time and the core of writing, atmosphere and fantastic environments which makes it great is still very much there but the graphics and game play have not aged well. It was clunky and the character models were ugly in 2002 and nine years have not sweetened it.

 

[steevee]

*Flame shield up*

KOTOR. Good god, KOTOR. I know I'm missing out on an experience, but I just could not play the game. The graphics and the control scheme made it impossible to enjoy.

 

[PatchlingZoon]

Deus Ex.

Good god, Deus Ex.

Driver and Driver 2. Those games... did not age well. Most ps1 games didn't

The rendering power of PS1 is laughable compared to modern tech. No surprise on graphics as the most cited aging consideration. We like pretty people and we hate ugly things. Unless mediocre/simple visuals is a core, artistic gimmick (i.e. Minecraft, Parappa) people really hate ugly-looking (digitized) people. As such: FF7 and Deus Ex.

Do genres count for this thread? I think the JRPG (in America) has fallen out, along with rhythm-based games (Guitar Hero, RB). In terms of gaming mechanics, I think the fixed, isometric screens in Resident Evil 1-3 is just brutal compared to "smart" over-the-shoulder cams.

 

[Songbird-O]

I'm gonna get flak for this, but Legends of Dragoon.

If you never played this game, it's a massive four disk game for the PlayStation that has really not aged well in graphics or game play. I'm sure it was cutting edge at the time, but even with that in mind it looks like a Final Fantasy VII rip-off (I'm unsure which came out first, so that's probably inaccurate).

The people who like this game are probably looking at it with nostalgia glasses like most hard-core FFVII fans. Then again, Final Fantasy IX is my favorite of the PlayStation era so I'm in no position to be too harsh.

I disagree, but for an unorthadox reason.

FFVII hasn't aged well at all.

LoD has enough narm and translation hilarity to keep it afloat, in my opinion.

Other badly-aged games include:

Dragon Warrior 2

Fire Emblem: Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light (as Shadow Dragon DS has shown us)

And dear god, Super Mario 64. Not just graphic-wise, but gameplay-wise too. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks this. Super Mario Sunshine was better in every way.

 

[scorptatious]

Pokeom Red and Blue. I still love the games and all, but I didn't realize how ugly most of the sprites were in that game until recently. Especially compared to the later generations.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Planescape Torment,Baldur's Gate 1&2 and same goes for the first two Fallout's.

I have tried playing those now and I really can't get myself to play more than 1h.I guess I have a certain graphic tollerance that I have gained by playing over average high graphic detailed games.

A pity though.

 

[Count Igor]

Deus Ex still rocks!
You people are ker-azy...

OT: GTA games.
And AoE stuff.

 

[veloper]

Age of Empires

It was the last game in the RTS genre to ignore all the common innovations like production queues for units.
As such the controls are very clunky and the whole is a huge cluster fuck.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

American McGee's Alice. It was awesome in its heyday, but zoom from 2000 to today, and oh dear god, it looks horrible. Still better than Daikatana; then again, that game looked and played terribly in its era as well.

 

[hermes]

Star Wars The Dark Forces... It just doesn't live up to my childhood memories.

 

[Atticus89]

I'm gonna get flak for this, but Legends of Dragoon.

If you never played this game, it's a massive four disk game for the PlayStation that has really not aged well in graphics or game play. I'm sure it was cutting edge at the time, but even with that in mind it looks like a Final Fantasy VII rip-off (I'm unsure which came out first, so that's probably inaccurate).

The people who like this game are probably looking at it with nostalgia glasses like most hard-core FFVII fans. Then again, Final Fantasy IX is my favorite of the PlayStation era so I'm in no position to be too harsh.

I disagree, but for an unorthadox reason.

FFVII hasn't aged well at all.

LoD has enough narm and translation hilarity to keep it afloat, in my opinion.

Other badly-aged games include:

Dragon Warrior 2

Fire Emblem: Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light (as Shadow Dragon DS has shown us)

And dear god, Super Mario 64. Not just graphic-wise, but gameplay-wise too. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks this. Super Mario Sunshine was better in every way.

Oh I agree with how VII hasn't aged well. And Super Mario 64 I can understand as well, though I'm not sure if I'd say Super Mario Sunshine is better in every way.

 

[Mister Benoit]

I'm gonna get flak for this, but Legends of Dragoon.

If you never played this game, it's a massive four disk game for the PlayStation that has really not aged well in graphics or game play. I'm sure it was cutting edge at the time, but even with that in mind it looks like a Final Fantasy VII rip-off (I'm unsure which came out first, so that's probably inaccurate).

The people who like this game are probably looking at it with nostalgia glasses like most hard-core FFVII fans. Then again, Final Fantasy IX is my favorite of the PlayStation era so I'm in no position to be too harsh.

I've found quite a few PS1 games that now have what I find to be added charm.

I've recently started new saves on both Crash Bandicoot 2 & FFIX and although they are indeed pixelated. They still look pretty fantastic on my 46inch 1080p Samsung.

A lot of Snes games look perfectly fine also due to the graphics used. Until you start playing pre-rendered games like Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct or Stunt Racer FX you should be fine.

 

[Ubermetalhed]

I'm rather confused by all these posts.

I have no problem playing any game, I could say a game has aged badly graphically but it wouldn't ever put me off playing it again. Plus no game is unplayable, if you say it is then you have little patience. It usually takes a little while to adjust to the mechanics once more.

Also is everyone here so superficial? I personally love the painted environments in FFVII and the blocky characters are as charming as ever. Gameplay wise it is perfect.

Furthermore, I don't understand all the Deus Ex comments, the graphics are dated but its nothing game breaking and the gameplay is still great.

The thing is with all these old games, graphically they're poor by todays standards but in terms of gameplay, story and level design they are better than alot of the stuff at the moment. I think alot of people have gotten to used to the all style, little substance nature of most of the new generation of games.

Personally I've been recently replaying System Shock 2, Tombraider, Starwars Jedi Knight: Dark forces 2, FFVII etc. and had a great time with them all again.