[GlendaleViper]

The iron grip. "Nintendo thumb". A severe case of Giantbossitis.

I have to get it off my chest: They just don't make games like they used to (mostly). I've been gaming since I was barely old enough to talk, so it was with great disdain that I noticed my love of videogames slipping over the last few years.

Since 1995 I have owned a Playstation (x3), SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Colour, Gameboy Advance, Advance SP (x2), DS, PSP (x2), Game Gear, Atari (x2), Sega Master System, NES, PS2, Xbox, Dreamcast (import), Dreamcast (domestic, x2), Gamecube (x2), Xbox 360 and for the love of Pete, even a Neo-Geo Pocket Colour.

Needless to say, when I started to notice that I was playing any given game for a week before boredom (and dust) settled in, I started to assess myself, my priorities and my outlook. Was I growing up? Am I just not interested anymore? This is a startling discovery for a big kid like me. I thought I was just a geeky weirdo whose appreciation for this stuff would never fade like in so many others. Bizarre, too, since the average age of gamers seems to be steadily increasing as every new generation of console sucks the last non-gamers in with its realism and graphics.

But it's something else. I still love videogames. I just don't like NEW videogames. I get bored. Even if I can appreciate all the work and innovation that goes into a specific title, most games are too free-form and WAY too damned easy to keep my interest.

Well, I have come to grips with it. Call me a crusty ol' geezer if you like, but from this day forward, I am saying it loud and proud...

I am a retro gamer, and proud of it!

Come on folks, I know I'm not the only one. Pop in and profess your loathing of the third dimension. I want to hear about thumb arthritis. Confess your old-schooledness with pride and laud the superiority of the sprite!

My name is GlendaleViper and I am a classic game addict.

 

[Fitz]

I like the older games more myself too, maybe I should go get my old consoles out of storage.

 

[pedalhead]

I can kind of associate with what you're saying. I've been gaming since, well, the beginning, pretty much. It's a rare game these days that can keep me hooked as long as some of the classic Speccy & BBC games of old did.

But that doesn't tend to matter much, because these days I do find that I prefer the "quick hit" kind of game, where I can play for maybe 30 or 60 minutes at a time & still get something out of it. That's why I tend to favour FPS games nowadays. I guess this is due to the time pressures of being an adult with a family etc. I'm pretty much a die-hard PC gamer though, the closest I got to console gaming was Gran Turismo on the PS1/2. These days it's mainly the Battlefield games, FEAR & so on. I'd love to dust off my Amiga or my BBC, which are still in the attic, but I suspect the "classic" games of old will seem a bit rubbish in reality these days. I think the most retro I'll go is back to the original Unreal Tournament, Instagib mod. Pure playability.

 

[rsaavedra]

The video games I´ve played the most in my life were (in chronological order) Digger, Prince of Persia, Lemmings, Wolfenstein, Doom, Doom II, Civilization, and Civilization II, all on a PC platform.

As an adult I got a PS2, and have enjoyed some of their top ranked games such as Metal Gear Solid, Twisted Metal Black, all the Jaks (Jak & Dexter, Jak II, and Jak III), and especially Grand Theft Auto III. In none of these, however, I´ve spent as much time, and been so engrossed in the playing, as I did with the older games on a PC. Maybe age, maybe gameplay related? Not sure.

Lately I´ve been playing mostly one of the arcade modes in Timesplitters II, very fun first person shooting runs of 5 minutes. Have yet to finish Jak III, GTA San Andreas, and Shadow of the Colossus, but haven´t been in the mood to tackle them for months now.

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pedalhead /img/forum/go_quote.gif I can kind of associate with what you're saying. I've been gaming since, well, the beginning, pretty much. It's a rare game these days that can keep me hooked as long as some of the classic Speccy & BBC games of old did. But that doesn't tend to matter much, because these days I do find that I prefer the "quick hit" kind of game, where I can play for maybe 30 or 60 minutes at a time & still get something out of it. That's why I tend to favour FPS games nowadays. I guess this is due to the time pressures of being an adult with a family etc. I'm pretty much a die-hard PC gamer though, the closest I got to console gaming was Gran Turismo on the PS1/2. These days it's mainly the Battlefield games, FEAR & so on. I'd love to dust off my Amiga or my BBC, which are still in the attic, but I suspect the "classic" games of old will seem a bit rubbish in reality these days. I think the most retro I'll go is back to the original Unreal Tournament, Instagib mod. Pure playability.

Instagib UT.. now that is fun. I use CS1.6 for my "quick hit" gaming though, since I can just pop in on a server, play for as long or little as I like, and quit.

 

[RedLeader]

I bought a Wii and an x360, and I bought a bunch of awesome games for both that I play a bit, but I always end up going back to my old consoles or the VC. Simple, TOUGH games are just.... more fun!

 

[jmmtn4aj]

I don't like most new games too, because the focus is too much on graphics rather than storyline, progression, and variety (characters, props and weapons). My favourite game is by far Half-Life, because the game offered a storyline that was deep, strung together awesomely, and had a diverse range of enemies, allies, landscapes, and sectors (of the base). Far Cry came close in that it felt great discovering new locations and such, but the character balance was so insane that it was near impossible to win without cheats. Everything else that I've tried was too repetitive, shallow, linear, or offered too little in the way of variety. This include the sequel to HL, HL2.

MGS looks awesome in storyline. I found great joy just reading the summaries and stories on Wikipedia, so I guess I'll be playing that soon with an emulator or a borrowed PS2, but the controls are bound to be a problem.

Currently I play multiplayer games like Day of Defeat: Source and Counter-Strike: Source. Nothing more fun than racking up a hundred kills in a go

 

[Ice Max]

I still own and use my original NES and SNES systems

 

[gloco]

It all started going down hill when the PSX came out. There were a few great psx games (castlevania: symphony...and resident evil), but FF7 blew chunks and so did everything that square started releasing (minus ff tactics, which was fun). I used to be a huge gamer too, now I am definitely a retro gamer. I bought a used x box to get it setup for emu's and stuff, but haven't gotten around to it.

I knew we were headed straight for the gutter when 11 yr old kids thought FF 7 was the greatest game ever and the final nail in the coffin was xeno gears. That "rpg" truly sucked. I gave up on my psx after that pos, then the dreamcast came out and I was an early adopter, but sega let that console tank.

Am I the only one that really wants to play all those awesome looking rpg's that never came out on the sega saturn?

 

[laxx]

My problem with current games are like jmmtn4aj's, too much focus on graphics and not enough of story/character development. Long gone are the games that take 50+ hours to beat (Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, etc.), replaced with a plethora of visually stunning games with an underdeveloped story line. Games now are either ridiculously easy, or ridiculously hard. Where's the median?

I'll admit I've been a PC gamer since I got my 286 (Decathalon 4tw), then a 485, Pentium, Pentium II, Athlon T-bird, Pentirum 4, AMD X2). I've dabbed my foot in console gaming (NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, Sega CD, Playstation, Dreamcast, Playstation 2, Wii), nothing's held my attention like a good PC game. The games I cherish are Full Throttle, Leisure Suit Larry's series up to 7, Starcraft/Broodwar, Warcraft I/II/III/Frozen Throne. What happened to games like Myst? These games (minus RTS') were all replaced by generic FPS' that are just rehashed of other FPS'. Of course there are some good ones, Counterstrike (though I find it pretty boring now, I've played from CS 0.4 beta through CS 1.0 competitively, but 1.0-1.6 was just a turnoff), Battlefield, Farcry, they just aren't on the same calibre as older games.

It's a shame. I've never thought, damn, I really want to go play some Counterstrike, like the way I reminisce about King's Quest. At least there's still ROM's and emulators to run my old school favorites. =] Quest for Glory is soooo fun.

 

[hudsong]

PC > Console.

 

[Vicomte]

Baldur's Gate is the greatest game ever. The whole anthology.

Graphics? They get the job done. Story? Possibly one of the best RPGs ever written. Gameplay? Fun as Hell.

Yes, your computer can handle it. Yes, you can find it easily on the net for less than twenty bucks. Yes, you should buy it right now.

 

[rsaavedra]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vicomte /img/forum/go_quote.gif Baldur's Gate is the greatest game ever. The whole anthology. Graphics? They get the job done. Story? Possibly one of the best RPGs ever written. Gameplay? Fun as Hell.

Actually I played Baldur´s Gate Dark Alliance on the PS2. Graphics were great (water effects especially, and the reflections on icy walls, stunning). In fact I remember reading that the 3D graphics engine in BGDA was quite a remarkable one. But the story and gameplay I didn´t find it special. RPGs in general were never to my liking though.

 

[GlendaleViper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by laxx /img/forum/go_quote.gif Quest for Glory is soooo fun.

"So You Want to Be a Hero", eh?

A Classic. Did they ever do more than one of those?

You know, beyond Racing sims (Forza, GT - plus Wipeout, no, not a sim), I thought about the games I've really sunk my teeth into over the last 5 years, and the results, considering they've all been on "next gen" technology, speak volumes:

Playstation: Elemental Gearbolt, Einhander, Wipeout XL, Castlevania SotN
Dreamcast: Ikaruga, Bangai-O, Marvel vs. Capcom 1&2
Playstation 2: Viewtiful Joe 2, Gradius V, R-Type Final, Katamari Damacy
Gamecube: Ikaruga, Viewtiful Joe
Xbox: Metal Slug 3
Xbox 360: Geometry Wars, Robotron, SFII, Galaga, Pac Man, Dig Dug
PSP: Metal Slug Anthology, Gradius Collection, Loco Roco, Ghosts 'n Goblins
GBA: Basically just the Megaman Zero series, and Megaman and Bass, Gradius.

It's really kind of sad. I got more use from my 360 out of the Live Arcade feature than from any packaged game.

 

[GlendaleViper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rsaavedra /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually I played Baldur´s Gate Dark Alliance on the PS2. Graphics were great (water effects especially, and the reflections on icy walls, stunning). In fact I remember reading that the 3D graphics engine in BGDA was quite a remarkable one. But the story and gameplay I didn´t find it special. RPGs in general were never to my liking though.

Dark Alliance was a dumbed-down-for-the-console-market dungeon crawler. It was nothing more than a hack n slash. Trust me, the comparisons between Dark Alliance and Baldur's Gate (1&2) are of name only.

BGII is hands down the deepest RPG experience on the market.