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

[Sigourn]

Actually, Gothic's interface is one the best if you have a strong preference for fully keyboard driven interfaces, including the inventory. Yes, unusual at first, but I reckon you would spend a lot more time familiarising yourself with the game's systems than the interface, which takes like 10 minutes max, with practice?

I disagree, but then again it's been a few years already since I've played Gothic and I may be misremembering the clunkyness.

 

[Adenocaulon]

Games can be dated if you require several actions to do a simple task with the interface.

Or if you feel that you are loosing your time with other features that were just to increase the game duration without providing more content like the requeriment to grind to progress, etc.

Then there is the concept of quality of life improvements if there is a remake of an older game, or a sequel, I think this is the most important issue.

Graphically I think is more controversial with different opinions, obviously there were technological limitations, but the visual and artistic design can be imperishable sometimes.

Late 2d games graphics have usually aged better than earlier 3d, but it depends because sometimes they can look bad in a flat monitor as they were designed for CRT display. In general more graphic realism in older games usually look worse than more cartoony graphics. Fallout and Diablo are ugly in comparison to Ultima 7, because the artistic design of the last game was appropriate for the graphic limitations.

In my opinion if most of the game have no graphics at all but mostly just text and numbers and a few figures it loose the appeal as a computer game, because it would be better to be playing tabletop games instead. If the content is deep enough a remake could be desirable. Might and Magic III in comparison do not require a remake at all for its pictoric design with good artstyle.

I disagree with the idea that good games now will be good games in the future, some of them will just be a product of their time, and other that can be lesser known will be more appreciated in retrospective.

 

[grim1234]

Deus Ex. I thought that stealth will be absolutely atrotious and will basically lack any kind of real thought out mechanics behind it - to my surprise it was the opposite. The guards, for example, have a very short sight, which allows you to actually sneak around effectively and their paths and positions seem to be well thought out. Simply put, I thought sneaking will be non-gamified at all and near impossible or a pain in the ass. Was pleasantly surprised.

 

[Contagium]

Divine Divinity. I fire this up every few years and still have a blast

 

[Harthwain]

Actually, Gothic's interface is one the best if you have a strong preference for fully keyboard driven interfaces, including the inventory. Yes, unusual at first, but I reckon you would spend a lot more time familiarising yourself with the game's systems than the interface, which takes like 10 minutes max, with practice?

I disagree, but then again it's been a few years already since I've played Gothic and I may be misremembering the clunkyness.

I agree with Rincewind on this one - Gothic's control scheme is confusing at first, but after that it's easy to use, despite using tank controls for literally everything. I never had any problems with it when I got the hang of it.

But what I find kind of funny is that in today's day and age it'd be accused of being influenced by consoles. I mean, just look at this:

Spoiler

 

[Rincewind]

Actually, Gothic's interface is one the best if you have a strong preference for fully keyboard driven interfaces, including the inventory. Yes, unusual at first, but I reckon you would spend a lot more time familiarising yourself with the game's systems than the interface, which takes like 10 minutes max, with practice?

I disagree, but then again it's been a few years already since I've played Gothic and I may be misremembering the clunkyness.

I agree with Rincewind on this one - Gothic's control scheme is confusing at first, but after that it's easy to use, despite using tank controls for literally everything. I never had any problems with it when I got the hang of it.

But what I find kind of funny is that in today's day and age it'd be accused of being influenced by consoles. I mean, just look at this:

Spoiler

It has literally nothing to do with consoles, agreed. The control scheme is optimised for the keyboard, that's as clear as daylight. Mouse-look is an afterthought, and you can easily play the game without it most of the time.

Like I said, what I love about the control scheme is that I can play the game, *including* managing the inventory, without taking my hands off the keyboard.

 

[Diggfinger]

Hey all. In my honest opinion, ALL RPGs have aged well. From Phantasie to Gold Box to however far back u want to go, the difference is YOUR ATTITUDE. As a kid, everything excites u, then u grow up and FORGET that you're just a human, as u were when u were a kid. We have to remember and recognize our true BEING, that will instantly add a freshness to all things. The world can be exciting, thrilling and NEW for anyone, but u have to silence your critical and even often hateful, jaded and bored mind. That is the source of games not aging well, your own mind. Approach like a child and a game from 1984 can be just as exciting as Wrath Of The Righteous etc.. Trust me, I live it. Love u guys, peace. <3

 

[Bad Sector]

One game that i found surprising how well it has aged, considering its age of course, is Wizardry 1 - at least the DOS version.

The thing is i do not mind graphics that much, i can play games that look like line art renditions of bad VHS recordings made by colorblind artists on LSD, but one thing that i can't really stand is convoluted and overcomplicated UIs that need way too much fiddling to do things that would otherwise be trivial in something better thought out. Note that i do not mind keyboard-only or mouse-only or gamepad-only or whatever else (though if a UI can work with all of those that'd be great), it is more about what you do with those UIs.

Which is mainly why i had a hard time playing many RPGs from the 80s - and why Wizardry 1 surprised me considering it is one of the oldest RPGs on PCs.

 

[Bigg Boss]

Baldur's Gate 1 and 2. I barely played them at launch but they still hold up without restoration patches unlike fucking Fallout 2.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

The keyboard, an elegant tool for a more civilized age.

But....

 

[Inhabitants of Khorinis]

Visually, Temple of Elemental Evil still looks really good. So does Icewind Dale. Most isometric games could go on the "aged well" list.
Most 3D games start to look like shit few years after they come out, unless they're heavily stylized.
In terms of gameplay, JA2 is a surprisingly smooth experience, Wizardry 8 and System Shock 2 as well.

Gothic 1 and 2 didn't age well in either department, but goddamn have I been replaying them every couple of months for the last 10 years.

 

[jackofshadows]

Baldur's Gate 1 and 2. I barely played them at launch but they still hold up without restoration patches unlike fucking Fallout 2.

But what's wrong with Fallout 2? To be fair though I haven't launched the OG for years, and the steam version already have some serious alterations even if it works well out of the box.

 

[Bigg Boss]

Baldur's Gate 1 and 2. I barely played them at launch but they still hold up without restoration patches unlike fucking Fallout 2.

But what's wrong with Fallout 2? To be fair though I haven't launched the OG for years, and the steam version already have some serious alterations even if it works well out of the box.

Fallout 2 needs the restoration patch (minus the EPA shit) to be enjoyable without bugs.

 

[luj1]

Wizardry 6
Dark Sun

They are 31 and 28 years old, respectively

 

[luj1]

Now compare it to Fallout Tactics' trading screen:

Tactics very underrated

Graphics and UI were tightened up nicely, it could have been an ideal platform for FO3

 

[Bad Sector]

Most 3D games start to look like shit few years after they come out, unless they're heavily stylized.

That is subjective, personally i like how early palette-based 3D texture-mapped software rendering looks like as well as early 3D GPU rendering looks like. Well also how later 3D GPU rendering looks like (think last fixed-function GPUs like GeForce 2 ti)... or early programmable shader GPUs... though the more recent it becomes, the more picky i get.

 

[Cael]

Now compare it to Fallout Tactics' trading screen:

Tactics very underrated

Graphics and UI were tightened up nicely, it could have been an ideal platform for FO3

FOT was a missed opportunity. I actually play it more these days than I play FO2.

 

[Zlaja]

When I think of "aged well" I don't really think much about the graphics, but rather the game's UI. If I can fire up and enjoy some really old game that I never played before, WITHOUT feeling like I'm trying to set up a piece of furniture that has instructions only in chinese, then I'm bound to find it has "aged well".

One good example is Arcanum. Say what you want about the game as a whole, but it's interface is nicely done and will not on it's own deter any player from giving it a go (the clunky ass combat might do that, tho).

 

[Black Angel]

Actually, Gothic's interface is one the best if you have a strong preference for fully keyboard driven interfaces, including the inventory. Yes, unusual at first, but I reckon you would spend a lot more time familiarising yourself with the game's systems than the interface, which takes like 10 minutes max, with practice?

I disagree, but then again it's been a few years already since I've played Gothic and I may be misremembering the clunkyness.

I agree with Rincewind on this one - Gothic's control scheme is confusing at first, but after that it's easy to use, despite using tank controls for literally everything. I never had any problems with it when I got the hang of it.

But what I find kind of funny is that in today's day and age it'd be accused of being influenced by consoles. I mean, just look at this:

Spoiler

It has literally nothing to do with consoles, agreed. The control scheme is optimised for the keyboard, that's as clear as daylight. Mouse-look is an afterthought, and you can easily play the game without it most of the time.

Like I said, what I love about the control scheme is that I can play the game, *including* managing the inventory, without taking my hands off the keyboard.

I really couldn't comprehend how anyone couldn't into Gothic's control scheme, but I guess it's possible since there's people who can't into Fallout 1's UI and stuff.

I was also intimidated by Gothic's control at first, but once I sit down and take my time to experiment with it, it just clicks with me. I'd even say the control scheme somehow made Gothic into its own thing/genre, in a world where muscle memory somehow dictates these kinds of games to have the exact same control scheme.

 

[Zlaja]

I really couldn't comprehend how anyone couldn't into Gothic's control scheme

I was also intimidated by Gothic's control at first

 

[Black Angel]

I really couldn't comprehend how anyone couldn't into Gothic's control scheme

I was also intimidated by Gothic's control at first

Yeah, I was a casul a long time ago

 

[Zlaja]

Yeah, I was a casul a long time ago

What I meant by that is that you ended up kinda contradicting yourself. First you say that you can't "comprehend" that ANYONE can't get into Gothic 1 because of the controls, but then you continue by admitting that you yourself were "intimidated" by the game when you first tried it.

 

[Black Angel]

Yeah, I was a casul a long time ago

What I meant by that is that you ended up kinda contradicting yourself. First you say that you can't "comprehend" that ANYONE can't get into Gothic 1 because of the controls, but then you continue by admitting that you yourself were "intimidated" by the game when you first tried it.

Right, my bad, I should've clarified:

How come anyone can't into Gothic control scheme to *this day*. My case is that I decided to spend some time trying to figure it out. The other guys seems more like he tried it for a bit, can't figure it out, and then just nope'd the fuck out and never look back.

 

[Inhabitants of Khorinis]

I posted this before on a different thread, but most of Gothic 1 can be played with one hand only. The game is quite user friendly. I would also recommend not using the mouse. What makes the combat feel clunky is the fact that you are a literal gimp who sucks at everything at the start . The combat becomes more responsive as you improve your combat skills and become more used to it. It's similar to Kingdom come in that regard. Quite risky for a dev to gimp the player like that just for the sake of realism, risking that people might drop the game due to what they perceive to be a shit combat, but I can see the logic behind it.

 

[Black Angel]

I'd even go as far as saying that Gothic is the direction that all *action-RPG* should be going for; you have the RPG mechanics gimping even player's control of the action combat gameplay, but as the character level up and invest more and more into the skills, the controls become 'easier'.
Supposedly New Vegas have the same idea, but turns out the final execution is lacking because even at low Guns skill you could simply crouch to eliminate the effect of the swaying completely.