Which older RPG surprised you with how well it has aged?

[Grokalibre]

Mass Effect 1 & 2 are still great rpgs by today's standards.

 

[Sigourn]

Not RPGs but the Thief games do. The surprising one was Thief 3, that despite its flaws it's still better than most shit today that shows how far things have fallen (while showing the early signs of today's design diseases).

This. Despite interface issues, I was surprised at how GOOD Thief was. Incredible game, way ahead of its time.

Yeah, that's unquestionably a tautology. But "better interfaces are better" =/= ""modern interfaces are better" or even "more streamlined and used-friendly interfaces are better".

A modern interface won't always be better, of course. But the keyboard+mouse combination brought massive improvements, and interfaces becamse very user-friendly. You can have a streamlined and user-friendly interface without sacrificing complexity. It's all in the way of how an interface is presented. Keep the important stuff visible, quick access/convenient ways to access the secondary stuff.

Arcanum, another game with serious inventory management issues which completely break the pace of a playthrough: I don't want to know how much time I've spent reorganizing shit in my inventory because the game wouldn't do it for me

There's a button that does it for you, btw. Maybe not in a way you like?

The "sorting" button only seems to group everything together, quite literally. When you need to place a big item into your inventory (say, a huge ass armor) the game doesn't know to wrap the inventory around the armor. So as a consequence you have to manually move stuff around, which is fairly annoying. I got over the inventory not grouping items of the same kind together (like the different potions) by simply using the quick access menu on the main interface, but having to sort the inventory manually got annoying very fast.

Zenith While I understand what you are saying, I simply disagree. We have to evaluate games on a case by case basis. Fallout 2 offered small but convenient improvements (streamlining), and there was no dumbing down.

 

[Xeon]

Most games in 8bit or 16bit I think(?) look and play like ass.

Infinity Engine games and Fallout 1 and 2 look pretty good and play great for the most part as well. Maps in IWDs are some of the most beautiful arts there are still.

Old 3D games look pretty shitty most times as well.

 

[Lilura]

The funny thing is that the current gen Unity RPGs don't look as good or play as well as RPGs released two decades ago. Interplay's Fallout and Sir-Tech's Jagged Alliance 2 beat them all.

 

[Black Angel]

Although I haven't really played much of the older RPGs, I gotta ask: does this whole 'aging' situation counts unofficial and fanmade patches that fixed all the bugs which the developer haven't, and allows the game to play better on more modern system?

 

[Neanderthal]

I'm playing Witcher 1 right now an its fucking amazing how quick interface declined in following games o series from firsts fairly pure un. Plus idiot vision implemented.

 

[Scroo]

Wizardry VI. Seriously. I first played it in 2009 I think and I found it extremely enjoyable and accessible. Sure, it requires you to read the manual but I don't count that as badly aged

Also how on earth can you say M&M VI has aged badly

 

[SomeDudeandHisHamster]

Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines: Unique World, great artstyle, great writing. It has clunky but pretty okay combat. The facial animations here thou are better and more realistic than most games today, Jeanette> Every Character in Skyrim/oblivion.
Neverwinter Nights 2: NVN 2 plays alot like a modern version of Baldur's Gate and is a more fitting successor rather than Dragon Age; the camera is still shit thou.

 

[HansDampf]

So... Which games actually did age badly but were great back in the day?

 

[undecaf]

I gotta ask: does this whole 'aging' situation counts unofficial and fanmade patches that fixed all the bugs which the developer haven't, and allows the game to play better on more modern system?

Is it really "aging" anymore after an outsourced facelift? You can of course think of fan-patches as part of it, but the real (honest) test of time is when the game stands firmly on its own feet still after all this time.

 

[SomeDudeandHisHamster]

So... Which games actually did age badly but were great back in the day?

Wolfenstein 3D, Persona 1/2, Mega Man 1, Medieval Total War and basically almost every non rpg. Havent really seen any cRPG that didnt age well other than really old ones.

 

[SomeDudeandHisHamster]

But anyway, yeah maybe Fallout 1's inventory and original trading UI are the worst designed parts of the game. Though it never bothered me while playing, really (except when trading for an expensive item and shuttling caps over and over).

I dont really see how Fallout's inventory and trading were bad, it felt more comfortable than the one in the modern Fallout games.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

So... Which games actually did age badly but were great back in the day?

Medieval Total War

M:TW has not aged badly, it still remains the most beautifully designed TW game ever made. It has the most interesting character traits and the most useful non-combat characters. Its AI is better than most of the games that came after. It is complexity within simplicity in that it it is easy to grasp but takes months to master. You are a gigantic faggot and Joined Oct 18, 2017.

Regards the thread so far @ a lot of other people:

Threads like this would be much more useful to folks like me, who haven't played many games pre-1995, if you'd all stop with this mindset that you don't need to explain yourself and all you need to do is name a game and everyone is supposed to just take your word for it. It's fairly meaningless to also get so butthurt by the mere asking of the question itself that you don't even feel the need to write any replies other than "how dare you even ask the question". It's like browsing IGN for a good game to play "they're all 10/10 mate", no, fuck off you demented fanboy. There's been some interesting posts, but the ratio is extremely small, probably about the same ratio as the number of games that survived the test of time versus those that are comically shite.

"Good games will always age well" - no shit sherlock. Shame when I browse for a game to play there's no game called "Good game".

 

[Sigourn]

But anyway, yeah maybe Fallout 1's inventory and original trading UI are the worst designed parts of the game. Though it never bothered me while playing, really (except when trading for an expensive item and shuttling caps over and over).

I dont really see how Fallout's inventory and trading were bad, it felt more comfortable than the one in the modern Fallout games.

Modern Fallout games implemented mouse wheel scrolling and conveniently sorted items in different lists for you to browse through. That made it much more comfortable than the classic Fallout titles. It also automatically trades caps for you to make up for price differences.

Compare:

Three items visible at once, no chance of browsing through categories, having to manually add caps, no visible value for each item.

To:

Many more items visible at once, ability to browse through categories, caps are automatically added to make up for price difference, you instantly know what is each item's worth (and in the case of equipment, its stats so you know what you are getting).

 

[Fowyr]

Now compare it to Fallout Tactics' trading screen:

 

[Zenith]

Compare:

Is this some five-dimensional trolling? You take a reasonable argument (more descriptive and responsive UI is better) and then continue to provide completely asinine examples.

F3/NV trading screen displays 4-7 items at once. Now, at first that seems like a huge step up over 3-6 items in F1, but then you factor in the shitty mouse implementation and general unresponsiveness - and suddenly the 20 year old interface doesn't seem so bad anymore.

By automatic cap amount balancing you mean they were too lazy to actually make a barter system and left money intact from Oblivion, except renamed it.

And as for scrolling through inventory - just bind PageUp/PageDown to the wheel with AutoHotkey or your preferred macro tool. Takes like 5 seconds.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

FFS Fallout isn't even the kind of game being discussed in the OP, Fallout is pretty much agreed to be the start of the modern style of gaming.

 

[Sigourn]

Compare:

Is this some five-dimensional trolling? You take a reasonable argument (more descriptive and responsive UI is better) and then continue to provide completely asinine examples.

F3/NV trading screen displays 4-7 items at once. Now, at first that seems like a huge step up over 3-6 items in F1, but then you factor in the shitty mouse implementation and general unresponsiveness - and suddenly the 20 year old interface doesn't seem so bad anymore.

Mods fix that. What mods fix, any developers can do as well.

By automatic cap amount balancing you mean they were too lazy to actually make a barter system and left money intact from Oblivion, except renamed it.

Automatic cap amount balancing works perfectly, at the end of the day I'm guessing that's how most Fallout players played the game. I know that's how I played the game: trade my goods for the other vendor's goods+caps.

And as for scrolling through inventory - just bind PageUp/PageDown to the wheel with AutoHotkey or your preferred macro tool. Takes like 5 seconds.

You mean "use external tools"? Good advice.

 

[Sigourn]

Now compare it to Fallout Tactics' trading screen:

Still has the "a handful of items on the exchange screen" and the "no visible stats and value for items".

 

[Zenith]

You mean "use external tools"? Good advice.

I do.
Custom hotkey software has been there since win95 at least, so it's as much a part of the "original experience" as it is a part of the current one.
That's in case you were implying some sort of hypocrisy on my part. Not gonna bother with the rest, not sure you're being serious.

 

[Sigourn]

Custom hotkey software has been there since win95 at least, so it's as much a part of the "original experience" as it is a part of the current one.

How? The "original experience" is how the game shipped. The only reason I mentioned mods is because nothing stops developers from making good interfaces, as players make interface improvements on their own.

That's in case you were implying some sort of hypocrisy on my part. Not gonna bother with the rest, not sure you're being serious.

I'm serious. No wonder when faced with facts people prefer to turn a blind eye.

 

[DemonKing]

Sadly I don't have enough time to finish most of the new games I buy these days so if I do go back to "the classics" it's more to dip my toes in than anything else.

Maybe in 20 years when I'm retired and the kids are grown up I'll be able to sit back and do a massive survey of my gaming life and go back and try some of the golden oldies of my youth again.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Replaying old games gives me some insight into how Dark Age Europeans must have felt when they encountered the crumbling remains of a Roman aqueduct. How did the ancients manage to build such wonders when the current generation can only build huts composed of cow shit and twigs?

I want to print this on a shirt. This might be the best thing I've ever read on the Codex.

 

[SomeDudeandHisHamster]

But anyway, yeah maybe Fallout 1's inventory and original trading UI are the worst designed parts of the game. Though it never bothered me while playing, really (except when trading for an expensive item and shuttling caps over and over).

I dont really see how Fallout's inventory and trading were bad, it felt more comfortable than the one in the modern Fallout games.

Modern Fallout games implemented mouse wheel scrolling and conveniently sorted items in different lists for you to browse through. That made it much more comfortable than the classic Fallout titles. It also automatically trades caps for you to make up for price differences.

Compare:

Three items visible at once, no chance of browsing through categories, having to manually add caps, no visible value for each item.

To:

Many more items visible at once, ability to browse through categories, caps are automatically added to make up for price difference, you instantly know what is each item's worth (and in the case of equipment, its stats so you know what you are getting).

I guess it's just my personal preference.

 

[SomeDudeandHisHamster]

But anyway, yeah maybe Fallout 1's inventory and original trading UI are the worst designed parts of the game. Though it never bothered me while playing, really (except when trading for an expensive item and shuttling caps over and over).

I dont really see how Fallout's inventory and trading were bad, it felt more comfortable than the one in the modern Fallout games.

yeah go on keep comparing birds to fish

Fish swim faster than birds, which means birds suck.