Great games that have aged horribly?

[spartandude]

To be perfectly frank, a lot of 8 bit games have aged terribly. The Legend of Zelda, Metroid and even Pokemon Red & Blue are just crap these days. Sure the games that came after are fantastic and I played the shit out of Pokemon Blue back in the day. But dear god they are just bad now. There are other games, but these are the 3 series which really mean a lot for me.
Zelda and Metroid both really suffer from the same issues. With out a manual or map they are borderline unplayable. Samey environments (Metroid especially) and secrets which are practically necessary that you have no way of finding unless you use every item on every square in the game. And thanks to 4 directional movement and facing, combat is clunky as hell. See also Castlevania.
Pokemon is a little bit different. Most of the changes that make Gold & Silver great are small. Things like EVs which let your Pokemon get a little stronger and stop every member of each species the same. Small UI changes which means that you don't have to go into your menu constantly to activate an HM. Now if a Pokemon can surf you just need to look at the water and press A. Fixed balancing and glitches. Just a lot of small things but these small things really add up.

But there are other games and one game I am loathe to mention is Planescape Torment. Now I LOVE this game! But lets be honest it's gameplay really hasn't aged well... well to be honest it wasn't the best when it came out. However it's brilliant writing is what makes this game amazing.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

So many fallacies, so little time.

None of them. If it "aged horribly," it wasn't great to begin with. Games don't "age."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman

No. Also...

https://youtu.be/NWXkHp_1bT8?t=2m37s
https://youtu.be/yhUR92071tA?t=2m20s

Your staunch determination to not post in a thread which you totally don't want to be a part of is admirable, if outweighed by the fact that you keep posting (something, not that I'm clicking). A wronged woman in a soap doesn't take this long by an open door.
This is how you embed by the way (random example, don't take it personally):

 

[Vanilla ISIS]

Most pre-2000 3D games. They didn't have the technology to make it work yet (the best example of this is the N64 library).
Games that tried to look "realistic" (those early Call of Duty and Battlefield games are really ugly).
Games that were the beginning of a genre that was later greatly improved upon (Wolfenstein's controls are really outdated with no strafing or looking up/down).
FMV games (it's basically cheap movies with bad green screen and mostly bad acting, with some mediocre point & click puzzles thrown in between the clips).

 

[rosac]

Christ. I feel like I'm back in the bad old days when posters were far too edgy for their own good and putting others down/passive aggressively arguing for no reason. If your only purpose in posting here is not to discuss but to shut down a harmless conversation thread involving people reminiscing then why post at all? It is needless and comes across as a bit petty really.

OT- Pokemon games are a huge one. I cannot go back to gen 3 or earlier now because they still split moves into physical/special dependant on type, not the individual move. Hyper beam? Physical move. Fire punch? Special move and so on. It makes several of my favourite pokemon fairly redundant, and as much as I dislike gen 4 this was the most welcome change made.

 

[CaitSeith]

This is how you embed by the way (random example, don't take it personally):

I know how to embed here. How do you embed with a specific part ("Start at") of a video? I don't think you can.

Spoiler: You're welcome...

Put just start="number of seconds into the video" inside the tag. Ex: 55 secs into the video.

 

[CaitSeith]

This is how you embed by the way (random example, don't take it personally):

I know how to embed here. How do you embed with a specific part ("Start at") of a video? I don't think you can.

Spoiler: You're welcome...

Put just start="number of seconds into the video" inside the tag. Ex: 55 secs into the video.

Do I have to specify it in seconds? I tried doing it in minutes with the following:

X:XX
XmXXs
X.XX

So far I have managed to do it only in seconds (doing the math on converting the minutes into seconds)

 

[Squilookle]

I'm just going to state the obvious here: GoldenEye 007 was a great game, when it came out.

But holy fucking shit, is it a horrible game now.

I don't think Goldeneye was even great at the time. It was barely a shooter considering the entire game aimed for you.

Don't misunderstand, like anyone, Goldeneye has a very special place in my heart for its objective-based missions that intended to emulate what being Bond is like, and it's multiplayer fun, but it was severely limited by the platform it was on. I feel the same about Perfect Dark really.

Even one of my favorite games of all time, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is guilty of the obscene amounts of auto aim because of the platform. Replaying the PC remaster with auto-aim turned off has made the game feel much more involved than before. Like I'm actually playing something rather than relying on a crutch to get the game playable on a certain console.

Thank god for dual analog sticks later on, or I think console FPS games would have just been held back forever.

Yeah... no. Auto aim could be turned off at any time, and the hardest difficulty switched it off completely if I remember it right. This made it harder, sure. But the controls themselves were still rock solid.

It even allowed for controller configurations that used two controllers at once, delivering your beloved dual analog stick option before it even officially existed. Nobody opted for it though, because the C buttons -were- the second joystick, and they worked just fine, strafing, leaning and all.

 

[Buffoon1980]

Christ. I feel like I'm back in the bad old days when posters were far too edgy for their own good and putting others down/passive aggressively arguing for no reason.

Wait, are you implying there was ever a period of time when this wasn't the case? I must have blinked and missed it

Anyway, on topic: I'd really have to say Mass Effect. I probably can't comment too intelligently, as I've never actually played it much. All I know is I really want to play it, but when I load it up it just looks so fantastically ugly and primitive that I know I'm not going to be able to get over it. Yes, I'm sure this will earn me some hate, after all it's the story I want to experience, who cares how it looks?

Well, unfortunately, I do. Part of the appeal in a game like this is immersion in the world, and I just can't get that with how terrible everything looks. It's not that I have a problem with simple graphics, I'll still happily play RPGs from any era, but there's something about Mass Effect that is just off-puttingly ugly. I've honestly wondered if there's some bug or graphical error with the version I'm playing or something, because the textures and models look much worse than other games of the era.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

I'm just going to state the obvious here: GoldenEye 007 was a great game, when it came out.

But holy fucking shit, is it a horrible game now.

I don't think Goldeneye was even great at the time. It was barely a shooter considering the entire game aimed for you.

Don't misunderstand, like anyone, Goldeneye has a very special place in my heart for its objective-based missions that intended to emulate what being Bond is like, and it's multiplayer fun, but it was severely limited by the platform it was on. I feel the same about Perfect Dark really.

Even one of my favorite games of all time, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is guilty of the obscene amounts of auto aim because of the platform. Replaying the PC remaster with auto-aim turned off has made the game feel much more involved than before. Like I'm actually playing something rather than relying on a crutch to get the game playable on a certain console.

Thank god for dual analog sticks later on, or I think console FPS games would have just been held back forever.

Yeah... no. Auto aim could be turned off at any time, and the hardest difficulty switched it off completely if I remember it right. This made it harder, sure. But the controls themselves were still rock solid.

It even allowed for controller configurations that used two controllers at once, delivering your beloved dual analog stick option before it even officially existed. Nobody opted for it though, because the C buttons -were- the second joystick, and they worked just fine, strafing, leaning and all.

Yeah...no, I'm not using two controllers by myself for one game. No one used it because it's absurd. And yeah, the C-buttons worked fine enough for movement, ala Turok style, but the N64 controller was not suited to precise aiming. That analog stick is garbage, as much as I love and still play the system. It's the first 3D console I grew up on. Goldeneye was a okay shooter at the time, but I don't think it was a great shooter at the time.

 

[Cold Shiny]

If they age horribly, then they were never great games to begin with. The fans merely become more discerning and realize the truth.

 

[RedRockRun]

Gonna go with Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. I don't know how I was ever able to play shooters with one stick.

 

[immortalfrieza]

There has been so many gameplay and graphical improvements just in the last decade it would be easier to list the games that haven't aged horribly. Great stories are really all there is left for most of the games that have ever existed that hasn't and never will be outdated by now. For a specific example, let's look at Morrowind, constantly hailed as one of if not the best game Bethesda has ever made and one of the best Open World games ever... that has been vastly surpassed in graphics, gameplay, and worldbuilding, and even storytelling by every game in the Elder Scrolls series after it, not that fans of the game will ever admit that of course, the first 2 Fallouts are a similar case. This is why mods like Skyoblivion and Skywind are such a good thing, they take what's unique about Morrowind and bring it forward to the modern age, or at least closer to it.

 

[Basement Cat]

None of them. If it "aged horribly," it wasn't great to begin with. Games don't "age."

I'm probably not even gonna reply to any opponents, because I don't feel like having this argument again. You're wrong.

I concur. PONG RULES!!!

...

Unfortunately Pong is pretty much the only game that will truly ever stand up to the test of time over the years, decades and (hopefully) centuries to come.

It's beauty is its simplicity.

 

[Squilookle]

I'm just going to state the obvious here: GoldenEye 007 was a great game, when it came out.

But holy fucking shit, is it a horrible game now.

I don't think Goldeneye was even great at the time. It was barely a shooter considering the entire game aimed for you.

Don't misunderstand, like anyone, Goldeneye has a very special place in my heart for its objective-based missions that intended to emulate what being Bond is like, and it's multiplayer fun, but it was severely limited by the platform it was on. I feel the same about Perfect Dark really.

Even one of my favorite games of all time, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is guilty of the obscene amounts of auto aim because of the platform. Replaying the PC remaster with auto-aim turned off has made the game feel much more involved than before. Like I'm actually playing something rather than relying on a crutch to get the game playable on a certain console.

Thank god for dual analog sticks later on, or I think console FPS games would have just been held back forever.

Yeah... no. Auto aim could be turned off at any time, and the hardest difficulty switched it off completely if I remember it right. This made it harder, sure. But the controls themselves were still rock solid.

It even allowed for controller configurations that used two controllers at once, delivering your beloved dual analog stick option before it even officially existed. Nobody opted for it though, because the C buttons -were- the second joystick, and they worked just fine, strafing, leaning and all.

Yeah...no, I'm not using two controllers by myself for one game. No one used it because it's absurd. And yeah, the C-buttons worked fine enough for movement, ala Turok style, but the N64 controller was not suited to precise aiming. That analog stick is garbage, as much as I love and still play the system. It's the first 3D console I grew up on. Goldeneye was a okay shooter at the time, but I don't think it was a great shooter at the time.

To each their own I guess. For me it's as great now as it was then- not just for pioneering zoomable scopes, location based damage in an FPS and nonlinear open levels (sharing that one with Turok, let's be fair), but also for it's pixel perfect hit detection (which even modern games often bafflingly struggle with), different objectives per difficulty levels (again, games since never learned how much that does for actually bringing players back) and having stealth and objectives in the first place. Even PC shooters hadn't really worked that out yet. This game and Dark Forces dragged FPSes kicking and screaming out of the dark ages of 'kill everyone, find the key' and forced them to *think* their way through.

The stick wasn't nearly as good as the gamecube/ps2 onwards sticks, true, but I've looked after mine and they still handle fine.

None of them. If it "aged horribly," it wasn't great to begin with. Games don't "age."

I'm probably not even gonna reply to any opponents, because I don't feel like having this argument again. You're wrong.

I concur. PONG RULES!!!

...

Unfortunately Pong is pretty much the only game that will truly ever stand up to the test of time over the years, decades and (hopefully) centuries to come.

It's beauty is its simplicity.

What, no love for Tetris? That game doesn't even need to calculate trajectory!

 

[BrawlMan]

Most 3D games from the 5th generation of consoles.

RE 4 - Yet it stands tall against most of the COD 4 wannabes and it' sequels. HVGN said it best: the game is a certified classic, but it should not be.

<spoiler=Resident Evil 4 | Re:Certified Classic>
DMC1 - The game is still fun, but a bit limited in what you can do. Also, it is the best Devil May Cry game with the best atmosphere and enemy design. Ohs and Speaking of stylish action games...

Most stylish spectacle fighter action games (predating God of War). A lot of them had so much padding in their respective games. Though God of War clones suffered from the same issues.

Streets of Rage 1 - Yeah, the gameplay is really limited. The best thing going for it is the soundtrack and co-op. For those that don't know, Final Fight 1 on SNES lacked co-op and had a missing level. It's a great thing SOR 2 improved on ecerything and then some; nearly surpassing every 2D beat'em up at the time.

The Bouncer - Okay, not exactly great, but it did get some praise. The wondrous thing about the Bouncer now is the soundtrack and graphics. Everything else is not good at all.

 

[kilenem]

Every PS1 and N64 game that uses polygons. Ill be damned if that becomes a design aesthetic as popular as 8 bit and 16bit

 

[gsilver]

Every PS1 and N64 game that uses polygons. Ill be damned if that becomes a design aesthetic as popular as 8 bit and 16bit

Haha.

People are trying.
I saw one of Nitrorad's videos on Youtube where he was looking at a horror game that was trying to re-create PS1 jank in its graphics.

Whyyyyyy???

 

[FalloutJack]

Any great game that you actually think that highly of shouldn't age horribly, unless you have some ridiculously high standards, anyway. I'm not against random encounters. I'm for DOMINATING their asses. Look upon my works, ye mighty, in despair, for I can flick you away with nar'ly an effort...until the next section. THEN, the fun begins again...

 

[gsilver]

Really, the games that tend to age the worst are the ones that are the most innovative, whether that's in graphics, UI, mechanics, etc. Games that come after those are the ones that refine those elements, cut out what doesn't work, pull from other games, and polish the rest.

Like, I have to admit that the original X-Com and System Shock games have both aged horribly, but they're also and still are fantastic games that are still fun to play in 2017. XCOM (the new one) in many ways is a huge step down in terms of depth and mechanics from the original, but is vastly more palatable in the modern age due to the improvements made in the UI and presentation. They both have a lot to offer, but much was both gained and lost in the transition from one to the other.

System Shock to Bioshock is also a similar trend.

 

[kilenem]

Every PS1 and N64 game that uses polygons. Ill be damned if that becomes a design aesthetic as popular as 8 bit and 16bit

Haha.

People are trying.
I saw one of Nitrorad's videos on Youtube where he was looking at a horror game that was trying to re-create PS1 jank in its graphics.

Whyyyyyy???

PS1 horror gameplay is good, not visuals. I think people like that miss remember what made PS1 and N64 games great, its the gameplay not visuals.