Games that aged/not aged well.

[COMboy112]

These days I usually lurk on 4chan but NG is a good place for discussion, considering /v/ is a total warzone.

Anywho, I've been playing some oldies lately, and I was wondering what you guys still enjoy.

My list:

Fine Wine Tier:
Castlevania: SOTN- One is more than capable of putting in alot of hours into this, provided they don't rush it and find the 2nd castle. The soundtrack reminds me of Christmas music though, werid.

Metal Gear Solid 1/2/3- I find myself skipping the cutscenes these days (cause I know everything.) but everything still holds up nicely, the cinematics in MGS1 still looks great too!

Crash Bandicoot: Warped- Beat it after 13 years of last playing it, the humor is still there, and animations still look great as well!

The PC versions of GTA Vice City and San Andreas- Playing SA makes me excited for GTA V, can't wait for that kind of depth and scale with the tech of the now.

Sentimental Tier
Armored Core 3- I LOVE this game, but the controls are brutal, plus just get hover legs and a machine gun and you're set.

Battle Arena Toshinden- Pretty much everyone agrees that this is now a REALLY bad game, but I like it! (sorta) and I'll admit, having you and your opponent perpetually rolling and circling each other is derp.

Old Ass Hag
WWF Attitude- Might as well add the one that came before it too (I forgot the name, but I played it.) I spent hours on this thing as a kid, but nowadays it's unplayable everything feels forced and slow, it's no longer fun.

I'll add more later (probably) what say you guys?

[ill]

I absolutely LOVE the Descent/Freespace series.

[Cyberdevil]

At 2/24/13 05:16 PM, COMboy112 wrote: Crash Bandicoot: Warped- Beat it after 13 years of last playing it, the humor is still there, and animations still look great as well!

Judging by what I remember it just might be one of the few games for PSX which wouldn't look completely outdated if I booted it up again. The controls at the time were smoother than any other game of similar dimensions I knew about. Definitely one of the few timeless games for that console.

The PC versions of GTA Vice City and San Andreas- Playing SA makes me excited for GTA V, can't wait for that kind of depth and scale with the tech of the now.

I actually decided a few months ago to play through the third-generation trilogy a final time. Was planning on starting with 3, then VC, then SA. I didn't have the patience, so I am currently venturing through all three games simultaneously. They're still surprisingly playable, though it's a shame that 3 and VC didn't age well in hardware terms and don't work at all for Windows 7 64-bit. After a lot of searching and experimenting I decided that I wasn't capable of doing anything about it, so I had to dig out an old Win XP computer to play them. The lack of map in GTA 3 is also a big vice, and the way cars can suddenly explode, but in terms of graphics and control they're all pretty much timeless. SA especially. That's the one game I wouldn't mind playing again next decade.

Haven't played those other games you mentioned, but as for games that aged well:

Metal Slug - Any sprite game should be timeless in terms of graphics, but the older ones don't seem to have the pace that is required for modern gaming. Metal Slug though, never seems to age, it's just as intense now as it was twenty years ago.

Resident Evil - The first three games were remade a few years ago, with new graphics, but the old ones still match up. That's another timeless series.

Doom - It's probably all thanks to the ports and the gigantic modding community it has that this game has managed to survive for so long. The Hexxen and Heretic counterparts didn't last that well.

[Kunera]

One of my favorites to go back to is the Donkey Kong Country series. I feel like the graphics still look nice, all things considered, and the controls are still fluid enough that I still enjoy it. Plus, all the games in the series had an amazing soundtrack that will always stick with me.

[Sense-Offender]

dude

But yeah, I agree on SotN and Crash Bandicoot.

I'd say any 8 bit or 16 bit game that was good then still holds up perfectly now.

Here are some others that I think have aged well.

Tomba!
Mischief Makers
Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair 2: Time Warp
Space Ace
Heart of Darkness
Oddworld: Abe's Odyssey
Oddworld: Abe's Exodus

And here are some games that have not aged well.

Morrowind
Silent Hill
Turok (Turok 2 is probably still alright)
Virtua Fighter 2 for Sega Genesis

[Oolaph]

Goldeneye has aged terribly, it's near unplayable now.

Though I may be a bit biased considering I've never really enjoyed the game.

[TheEnkian]

At 2/24/13 09:40 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: Tomba!
Mischief Makers
Heart of Darkness
Oddworld: Abe's Odyssey

These so much. It's worth noting that they're not fully 3D, they're side-on games which may attribute to them holding up graphically. Their controls were also pretty smooth from what I remember of them. Tombi! and Mischief Makers I've actually played at some point within the past few months.

[Sense-Offender]

At 2/24/13 10:28 PM, Oolaph wrote: Goldeneye has aged terribly, it's near unplayable now.

I dunno. I haven't played that in ages, but I've played Perfect Dark somewhat recently and I think it's still good, despite the graphics not holding up and the frame rate being pretty bad. It's still fun. So, I imagine I'd still enjoy Goldeneye.

At 2/24/13 10:39 PM, VoidForce wrote:

At 2/24/13 09:40 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: Tomba!
Mischief Makers
Heart of Darkness
Oddworld: Abe's Odyssey

These so much. It's worth noting that they're not fully 3D, they're side-on games which may attribute to them holding up graphically.

I was thinking that as well. Even if they didn't hold up in terms of graphics, I'd still say they're great games even for today.

Their controls were also pretty smooth from what I remember of them. Tombi! and Mischief Makers I've actually played at some point within the past few months.

I've probably played Mischief Makers no longer than 3 months ago. I still haven't beaten Tomba, though, and it's been collecting dust. I keep getting distracted by other games. I think I was stuck the last time I played it. something about people being turned into mice, I think.

[Chdonga]

Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 haven't aged well. I just obtained copies of these games and they're really buggy. The fans must jizz all over the remakes because the originals are really bad.

[Oolaph]

At 2/24/13 10:51 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: I dunno. I haven't played that in ages, but I've played Perfect Dark somewhat recently and I think it's still good, despite the graphics not holding up and the frame rate being pretty bad. It's still fun. So, I imagine I'd still enjoy Goldeneye.

Like I said, it could just be a personal thing since I never liked it from the beginning.

The last time I played it, I just couldn't stand it. The controls were incredibly clunky and the graphics were really straining on the eyes. I'm not normally one to complain about graphics in a game, but when I risk getting a headache just trying to focus on the screen, I'd say it's pretty justified.

So yeah, might just be me being sour because I don't have those wonderful memories of 4 player shoot outs with my buddies, but it's not for me.

[Ceratisa]

At 2/24/13 11:07 PM, Oolaph wrote:

At 2/24/13 10:51 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: I dunno. I haven't played that in ages, but I've played Perfect Dark somewhat recently and I think it's still good, despite the graphics not holding up and the frame rate being pretty bad. It's still fun. So, I imagine I'd still enjoy Goldeneye.

Like I said, it could just be a personal thing since I never liked it from the beginning.

It is, hell spawn.

Diablo 1 and 2 aged well
Good 2D is basically eternal
the early 3D stuff in general aged very poorly.

[HeavenDuff]

I've played Act Raiser on the SNES, recently. And I felt that the simulation part was kind of lacking. The SNES is still my favorite gaming system of all time for various reasons. One of those is the absolutely brilliant RPGs released on this system. With games like Secret Of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Super Mario RPG Legend of the Seven Stars and the likes, it was just obvious that they masterd this kind of games. But simulators like Act Raiser do feel kind of old nowadays. There isn't much stuff to do in the game, and the replay value isn't very high.

Not a bad game per say, plus the action/platformer sections were rather good. But it didn't age as well as other games.

[HeavenDuff]

At 2/25/13 01:59 AM, Natick wrote: Super Smash Bros

You mean the original on N64 ? Some of my friends still play this... and I just can't understand why. The game didn't age too well. There was very little possibilites with this game. The GameCube version SSBM is by far my favorite and I'd still play this with 3 friends anyday !

Not Aged Well:
Baldur's Gate
Diablo

I firmly disagree with this. Diablo is great in so many ways, even though D2 is better. And Baldur's Gate is an absolute classic. Advanced D&D rules are very well applied to this game, the main story is great, the NPCs are pretty cool and it's still very interresting to go through this game with different build, classes, races, etc. With human caracters you can dual class, which also adds another very interresting aspect to the game. I'm playing through the Enhanced Edition right now, and it's just as good as it ever was, but with better graphics !

[Ceratisa]

At 2/25/13 01:59 AM, Natick wrote: Aged Well:
Thief
Super Smash Bros
CS 1.6 if you don't like the physics engine

How has thief aged well? but the excellent 2D sprites in Diablo haven't?

[Ragnarokia]

At 2/24/13 09:40 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: Oddworld: Abe's Odyssey
Oddworld: Abe's Exodus

True

And here are some games that have not aged well.
Morrowind

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, sure, I bet that game hasn't ages well, obviously.

Going back to that now and it's still far superior to the newer ones.

[Ihatedapatriots]

Most of the classic NES games are still fun, so I'll stick to my other great love: PC games:

Aged Well:
Diablo 2
Warcraft 2 and 3
Fallout 1 and 2
Baldurs Gate 1 and 2 and the Icewind Dales
Homeworld(very much so, try playing now, gameplay wise it could have came out yesterday)
Half Life
Thief
Age of Empires 2
The Ultimas(maybe just me, I love the gameplay of those games)

Not aged well:
Any of the Quakes
Morrowwind(not it's fault though, Oblivion and Skyrim make it look worse than it is)
Soldier of Fortune
Revenant
The Duke Nukems
Dune 2000
Max Payne 2
The WIng Commanders

Kinda in between:
Diablo 1
Alien vs Predator
Hexen 1 and 2
Heretic 1 and 2
Fallout Tactics
Deus Ex(oddly enough)
Neverwinter Nights
The Gabriel Knights

Then.......there's Doom. To me, it is still incredibly fun to play from time to time, particularly in the background while I do other things. But to play in an engaging manner is almost impossible. Still a great game, though.

[Ragnarokia]

At 2/25/13 02:18 PM, Ihatedapatriots wrote: Not aged well:
Morrowwind(not it's fault though, Oblivion and Skyrim make it look worse than it is)

Again, people have no concept of a good game.

Kinda in between:
Deus Ex(oddly enough)

Deus Ex has ages very poorly graphics wise, since it wasn't amazing when it was created either. Everything else is pure gold, but it takes some getting used to the graphics.

[Sense-Offender]

At 2/25/13 11:05 AM, Ragnarokia wrote: Going back to that now and it's still far superior to the newer ones.

lol Get the fuck out of here. It looks terrible, anything relatively far away from you is just grey nothingness, and combat works like a roll of the dice. *miss *miss *miss. Don't let nostalgia cloud your judgement. It used to be one of my favorite games until Oblivion came along. The only thing it has against it is the fact that you can mix up the pauldrons, grieves, cuirass, boots, gauntlets, and helmet, and you can wear clothing underneath and a robe over it.

At 2/25/13 02:35 PM, Ragnarokia wrote: Again, people have no concept of a good game.

You disagree so we must be wrong.

[Ceratisa]

At 2/25/13 02:35 PM, Ragnarokia wrote:

At 2/25/13 02:18 PM, Ihatedapatriots wrote: Not aged well:
Morrowwind(not it's fault though, Oblivion and Skyrim make it look worse than it is)

Again, people have no concept of a good game.

Kinda in between:
Deus Ex(oddly enough)

Deus Ex has ages very poorly graphics wise, since it wasn't amazing when it was created either. Everything else is pure gold, but it takes some getting used to the graphics.

You seem confused. sub-par graphics really only effected the early 3D games. And some games are designed to age graphically very well.

[Blitzkrieg667]

At 2/24/13 11:06 PM, Chdonga wrote: Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 haven't aged well. I just obtained copies of these games and they're really buggy. The fans must jizz all over the remakes because the originals are really bad.

I thought Sonic Adventure 1 aged quite well, actually. The only thing I found to have really aged badly is the graphics and the extremely god-awful camera, because Jesus Christ it was terrible.

I can agree about SA2, but to be honest it isn't really the game aging badly so much as it is SA2 being a really horrible game in the first place.

[Deadly-Shadow]

The first Spiderman game on the original PlayStation. I remember that game was awesome growing up, but now the controls and camera make it near impossible to play.

[TheEnkian]

At 2/25/13 01:59 AM, Natick wrote: Not Aged Well:
Baldur's Gate

Strongly disagree here, I can still get days and days of fun out of that game (both 1, 2 and their respective expansions) when I get in the mood for playing it. I usually still find something new every playthrough.

[Ihatedapatriots]

At 2/25/13 02:35 PM, Ragnarokia wrote:

At 2/25/13 02:18 PM, Ihatedapatriots wrote: Not aged well:
Morrowwind(not it's fault though, Oblivion and Skyrim make it look worse than it is)

Again, people have no concept of a good game.

Kinda in between:
Deus Ex(oddly enough)

Deus Ex has ages very poorly graphics wise, since it wasn't amazing when it was created either. Everything else is pure gold, but it takes some getting used to the graphics.

I wasn't referring to graphics. Morrowind isn't very deep compared to the latest two(i still love it btw) and Deus Ex(which I used to be fanatical about) plays kind of boring to me now for whatever reason.

[HeavenDuff]

At 2/27/13 07:03 PM, VoidForce wrote: Strongly disagree here, I can still get days and days of fun out of that game (both 1, 2 and their respective expansions) when I get in the mood for playing it. I usually still find something new every playthrough.

I'm wondering if I should play it hardcore :P

[Lumber-Jax12]

Lol, Morrowind is unplayable.

For starters reading the text get's annoying, sure it allows more 'depth' into the story and what not, but it adds none of the personality that voice acting does. I mean we can all agree that Sheogorath is easily more fun heard, than read.

Secondly, combat, give me a fucking break. As if blatantly missing a clearly well placed hit simply because the game decide's too, or that my athleticism/acrobatics (whatever it was) is too low.

Third, the people were sticks in the game, they barely did anything but lounge around in their house all day, at least the other games give them schedules.

But the best games to have aged:
-Paper Mario: TTYD
-Wind Waker
-Doom (always a classic)
-Pokemon Emerald,

[Grotty]

Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven. It was the shit when I was a kid, and now, not so much.

[DeIirium]

At 3/2/13 02:25 PM, Grotty wrote: Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven. It was the shit when I was a kid, and now, not so much.

Bullshit, that is still a great game, and so are the PS1 Tenchu games.

I don't think any game has aged badly, in fact a lot of old games have become relatively better with time, the PS1 Resident evil and Silent hill games are so much better than the modern ones, it's too bad that they don't make those types of horror games anymore.

[Zhon]

I love Tenchu... I have only played the original and Wrath of Heaven but they both were the greatest things ever when they came out. Honestly I have somewhere around 80 PSX / PS2 games and I only grew out of at most 20 of them....
A few games I still absolutely love playing despite their age:
Diablo 2/LoD
Final Fantasy Tactics / 8 / 7 (in that order)
Chocobo's Dungeon 2
ADOM (old ass freeware DOS game that is still in production today)
Starcraft/Broodwar
All the NES and SNES Kirby titles
The original Legend of Zelda
Age of Empires 2

... And a bunch of extremely obscure PC titles I bought in the dollar bin one day 10 years ago (among them Gateway II: Homeworld, my first experience with a graphic adventure, which was released in 1993)
Speaking of Gateway, another great title is Deja Vu for the NES.
... I could go on for hours.

Only game I can think of off the top of my head that has aged badly is the entire Syphon Filter series 2004 and earlier. I love their story progression and UI but the controls are just atrocious compared to current day games and for a game like that, controls mean quite a lot.

[Sense-Offender]

I think the Tenchu games still hold up.

[Rational-Delirium]

Aged well:
Jak X (but it's not that old)
Age of Mythology and 2
Ratchet and Clanks
SSX Tricky and 3
Super Smash Bros
Super Mario Cart

Not aged well:
Sim Ant
Most SimCities
PinBall for Win XP
Most Star Wars games?