Best 12 month period of computer gaming?

[octavius]

Looking at my chronological play list the period from April 30, 1998 to April 1999 is very strong, certainly stronger than any 12 month period before:

Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven
Unreal
Fallout 2
Half-Life
Thief: The Dark Project
Baldur's Gate
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Jagged Alliance 2

Are there later 12 month periods that can beat this lineup?

 

[Kev Inkline]

How about the one almost immediately after:

July 1999 Jagged Alliance 2
August 1999 System Shock 2
September 1999 Homeworld
December 1999 Planescape: Torment
December 1999 Shenmue
November 1999 Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
November 1999 The Longest Journey
May 2000 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
June 2000 Deus Ex
June 2000 Icewind Dale

Either 1999 or 2000 is arguably the best calender year in gaming ever.


Jagged alliance 2 was released in july 1999, according to wikipedia.

 

[octavius]

How about the one almost immediately after:

July 1999 Jagged Alliance 2
August 1999 System Shock 2
September 1999 Homeworld
December 1999 Planescape: Torment
December 1999 Shenmue
November 1999 Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
November 1999 The Longest Journey
May 2000 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
June 2000 Deus Ex
June 2000 Icewind Dale

Either 1999 or 2000 is arguably the best calender year in gaming ever.


Jagged alliance 2 was released in july 1999, according to wikipedia.

That's the US release. It was released in April 1999 in the EU.
Yeah, the year following also looks very good, especially if you don't omit Age of Wonders.

 

[RatTower]

The time between 1997 to about 2004 was generally excellent for video games.
It contains basically all the classics that are now referenced in countless kickstarter campaigns trying to bring back some old glory.
I always wonder what it was that created so many great titles in that time period or if it is just nostalgia of the modern day audience.
After all the years before also had some great titles.

But what I like to believe is that, at that time the industry was at a point where creative freedom and financial feasiblity of game production was at a relatively good balance.
You could cater to a "niche" (which wasn't really a thing because the niche was the main audience) and still sell enough to keep a company up and running.

What I'm actually hoping for is that the rise of powerful "free" engines like UE4 and Unity can bring about the same balance.
Only problem are the developers. In the late 90s game designers were still mostly programmers.
And for a very odd reason those guys were excellent at it in a way that can't be reproduced by actual specialized designers.

 

[Modron]

What created all those gems was the fact that many medium sized development studios were still around and there was a surplus of money to be gotten in the tech boom-towns due to the dot-com bubble. Plus games didn't cost as much to make yet. You know basically the stars aligned in terms of developers, easy money, and graphical advancement but not to the point of costing tons of millions to produce.

Plus developers were still probably of a higher caliber than today's because game design schools still hadn't took off so developers were still coming from all walks of life instead of some tarded millennials being churned out by the same game design/creative writing programs year after year eager to claw over each other just to work 90 hour crunch weeks at rockstar.

 

[laclongquan]

I think it's the desperate effort to compete with that newfangled thingy call FMV that is trending in the industry. You need to have serious gameplay to compensate for the lack of graphical prowess.

 

[Blaine]

Looking at my chronological play list the period from April 30, 1998 to April 1999 is very strong, certainly stronger than any 12 month period before:

Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven
Unreal
Fallout 2
Half-Life
Thief: The Dark Project
Baldur's Gate
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Jagged Alliance 2

Are there later 12 month periods that can beat this lineup?

Nope, I think you nailed it. SMAC, JA2, MM6, and F2 are a killer combo (the others too, but those especially).

As much as we all love some of the other games listed there, SMAC is an absolute legend, it's still the king of its genre in my opinion, and its presence in the list seals the deal.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Looking at my chronological play list the period from April 30, 1998 to April 1999 is very strong, certainly stronger than any 12 month period before:

Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven
Unreal
Fallout 2
Half-Life
Thief: The Dark Project
Baldur's Gate
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Jagged Alliance 2

Are there later 12 month periods that can beat this lineup?

I'd think something involving the first half of 1992 would at least be a challenger (note that the below titles are just from 1992, fine-tuning can probably be achieved for better results, like say to include December 1991 to get Monkey Island 2 in there):

Wolfenstein 3D
Ultima VII
Ultima Underworld 1
Darklands
Dune 2
Indiana Jones & The Fate of Atlantis
King's Quest VI
Might & Magic IV
Star Control II
Wizardry VII

 

[Zero Credibility]

Bloody hell, 1999 and 2000 were awesome. Unreal, Deus Ex, SS2, Baldur's gate, Icewind Dale, PS:T, Fallout 2, SMAC, JA2, Homeworld. What a time that was to be a gamer.

What the fuck happened with the industry since then?!

 

[Vorark]

Bloody hell, 1999 and 2000 were awesome. Unreal, Deus Ex, SS2, Baldur's gate, Icewind Dale, PS:T, Fallout 2, SMAC, JA2, Homeworld. What a time that was to be a gamer.

What the fuck happened with the industry since then?!

Well, 2000 was the year right before the Xbox was released. Better go with a bang then on a whimper.

 

[Destroid]

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/game-of-the-year-1998.63586/

 

[octavius]

Bloody hell, 1999 and 2000 were awesome. Unreal, Deus Ex, SS2, Baldur's gate, Icewind Dale, PS:T, Fallout 2, SMAC, JA2, Homeworld. What a time that was to be a gamer.

What the fuck happened with the industry since then?!

The X-Box.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/game-of-the-year-1998.63586/

Heh, I had totally forgot about that thread. But I've learnt much since then.

 

[mondblut]

January 1 - December 31, 1993. Or 1992. Or 1991.

 

[octavius]

I'd think something involving the first half of 1992 would at least be a challenger (note that the below titles are just from 1992, fine-tuning can probably be achieved for better results, like say to include December 1991 to get Monkey Island 2 in there):

Wolfenstein 3D
Ultima VII
Ultima Underworld 1
Darklands
Dune 2
Indiana Jones & The Fate of Atlantis
King's Quest VI
Might & Magic IV
Star Control II
Wizardry VII

Wolfenstein? That is just nostalgia talking.
Also, Civilization 1 was released in December 1991.
1992-1993 were two very strong years for CRPGs (most of the best Gold Box games), but 1998-2002 was more diverse with some of the best FPS and and TBS games ever released.

 

[Severian Silk]

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, November 1998.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

1998-1999

 

[Kev Inkline]

Yeah, the year following also looks very good, especially if you don't omit Age of Wonders.

Apart from Shenmue, I tried to concentrate on games I have first hand experience in, but you are correct, AoW belongs to the list.

 

[Daedalos]

2004-2005 was pretty good, some great games came out

 

[CryptRat]

Interesting. Many if not most of my favourite games (the ssi games, Might & Magic 3, Legend Of Faerghail, Bard's tale 3, Blade of Destiny, Chaos Strikes back, Lemmings, Civilization, Another world, Future Wars, The Lost Vikings, Monkey island etc..) came around the 1990 mark, but this would be with a +/-3 year error margin (maybe more), I'm unaware of the precise release dates and even of the chronology and would be unable to give a 12 month period.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

2006-2007:
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Horse Armor DLC
Gothic 3: The Oblivioning

 

[octavius]

Interesting. Many if not most of my favourite games (the ssi games, Might & Magic 3, Legend Of Faerghail, Bard's tale 3, Blade of Destiny, Chaos Strikes back, Lemmings, Civilization, Another world, Future Wars, The Lost Vikings, Monkey island etc..) came around the 1990 mark, but this would be with a +/-3 year error margin (maybe more), I'm unaware of the precise release dates and even of the chronology and would be unable to give a 12 month period.

There were two very good periods, especially for cRPGs: 1998 (or let's say November 1987 and Dungeon Master just to annoy mondblut) to 1989, and 1992-1993, with lots of classic CRPGs. 1990-1991 was a period of much quantity over little quality, though,

 

[Exhuminator]

Bloody hell, 1999 and 2000 were awesome. What the fuck happened with the industry since then?!

Multiple factors.

Xbox and especially Xbox 360 enticed PC developers to focus on cross compatibility, and therefore non-exclusivity, the byproduct being PC game design devolved towards a less enlightened demographic.

Budgets skyrocketed to continuously attract the spectacle addicted masses, making publishers wary to risk game design outside a very rigidly defined set of genres. This is why the 7th gen is awash in cover shooters and FPS. Smaller studios that tried to be more experimental often didn't break even, and either collapsed or were bought up and dissolved by mega publishers.

The No Gamer Left Behind movement began in earnest during the 7th gen also, meaning most games leaned towards being piss easy cakewalks designed to make the player feel like a super hero, regardless of actual skill level. This lower bar for difficulty further restricted the types of games that would be developed, in order to cater adequately to average joe dipshit and his delicious disposable income.

Developers / publishers realized they could sell half-finished games to idiots and still make plenty of bank. Hence episodic gaming and huge chunks of what-should-have-already-been-there being sold as DLC. When you're developing a game piecemeal, with no true impetus to ever finish or polish the final complete product, of course that impacts the quality of the game and its holistic design.

Game development tools are now easier and more readily available then ever before. In theory this sounds nice, more people can make more games! But in reality it kind of sucks. The reason is, with so many constant releases (especially indie releases) the signal-to-noise ratio is more off-kilter than it's ever been before. It's extremely difficult to keep up with all the various releases across so many platforms, and know what's truly worth your time. For the consumer it's the whole paradox of choice thing. Even worse for the rare developer who does produce an awesome game, but is drowned out by the tidal wave of fly by night shit-tier releases every week.

Also special snowflake millennials / libtards assing up game design in general these days. (Can I please just play your game without you shoving your political agenda up my ass every five minutes?!) Ugh, I'll stop there and not even go off on that rant.

There are plenty of other reasons too, but 'eh fuck it.

 

[Daedalos]

Good post, bro. Would brofist if I could

 

[pippin]

Wolfenstein? That is just nostalgia talking.

I still enjoy Wolfenstein for what it is. In fact I feel the engine is still pretty comfy, even if you can feel how it has aged. Rise of the Triad tweaked it in all the right places, making that one my favorite shooter from the dos era.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

We had a similar thread about exact years. As always, 1997 is imo completely unbeatable, the sheer amount of quality games in pretty much every genre released in that year is insane.