What Game Do You Love? 350
It's that time of year again, when a person's fancy turns to new games. It's still nice to think of old flames, though, and eToyChest wonders about games you've loved. From the article: "In 1992 I was spending time getting my gaming legs on a then-aging 486 PC. It was loud, ugly, and far from state-of-the-art. But it could still run games off the shelf, and when a friend of mine brought over what he was calling the "best role-playing game he had played since Ultima V", I knew I had to check it out. What began that afternoon stands out as one of the most important events in my life as a game, for as I installed each of the two high density diskettes comprising Sir-Tech's Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant, I somehow knew that I was in for a treat. What followed were two years of swords, sorcery, and the slaying of many humanoid rats." So what game do you still remember fondly, even if you haven't played for quite a while?
Half-Life 1 + 2 (Score:5, Interesting)
Half-Life 2 blew me away again
Other worthy mentions
M.U.L.E.
Diablo
Quake 1/2/3/4
Re:Half-Life 1 + 2 (Score:3, Insightful)
Half-Life, that's like... yesterday, not "good old times"
Damn, I thought you'd say "Wolfenstein" or, at least, maybe "Doom"...
Classics (Score:3, Interesting)
As for modern games:
Diablo2 and d2:LOD
KoL [loathing2.com]
and now, WoW
Re:Classics (Score:2)
Re:Classics (Score:2)
obviously... (Score:3)
I recently completed Occarina of time again and its as good today as it was all those years ago. Easily the best games I've ever played and truely defining moments in me growing up.
Wizardry VII rocked my 386 yo! (Score:2)
-Rick
Re:Wizardry VII rocked my 386 yo! (Score:2)
Nethack is the ultimate classic game.
It has been the game for me 15 years now starting from that day when I got kicked off the Uni Vax for compiling and installing it and till today. Other games came and went. Nethack remained. And it will stay.
Walk softly and carry a +7 Tsurugy of Muramasa.
Re:Wizardry VII rocked my 386 yo! (Score:2)
-Rick
FFII (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:FFII (Score:5, Funny)
Thank you ever so much for sharing that.
Re:FFII (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:FFII (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes! But emphasis on the "were."
I love anything by Square-Enix now.
That does not compute.
TIE Fighter (Score:4, Interesting)
This was of course back in the day when LucasArts made good games. If only that was still true.
Re:TIE Fighter (Score:2)
Re:TIE Fighter (Score:4, Interesting)
However, I spent most of my high-school afternoons playing TIE Fighter with a mouse. It actually plays quite fine, even if it's not a Wing-Commander-like mouse control, and you end up with muscle fever after a few hours
Speaking of which, mmmmm, the Wing Commander series.... those were also nice.
And with the mouse "displacement from center" steering method, you just don't need a joystick at all.
Heck, I find it more enjoyable than actually having a joystick.
Re:TIE Fighter (Score:3, Funny)
Seconded.
Re:TIE Fighter (Score:2)
I remember the frustration of trying to complete one mission where you had to protect a transport that was carrying some priceless cargo or something until it could jump into hyperspace. This poor thing was floating defenseless in space as wave after wave of TIE fighters came after it. You furiously dogfight, trying to draw them away, but one would always get through. It made you want to rip your hair out.
But I kept
Re:TIE Fighter (Score:3, Informative)
What I found quite annoying in Dune 2 was the inability to control more than ONE unit at a time.
Then came Warcraft 1 (another fine RTS game, but a different style... and then Warcraft2), which "extended" this to 4-unit selection (and 9-units selection, respectively).
After that, the Command&Conquer (1) appeared, where each type of unit had its specific uses (i.e. 100 infantry vs 20 tanks could be a viable strat either way), and
Freddy's Rescue Roundup (Score:2)
Here are the games (Score:2)
Simcity, Original/2000
Descent, All Versions
Wolfenstein
Zelda, all versions
Mario, All versions
Mario Party All Versions
Animal Crossing
Chibi-Robo
Those are the ones I can name off the top of my head.
Re:Here are the games (Score:2)
Games that stick out in my memory... (Score:3, Interesting)
-Da3vid-
TAZ Atari 2600 (Score:2)
My runners up would be: Warlords, Combat, Katamari Damacy, and Donkey Konga.
Doom (Score:5, Interesting)
Doom was the first game that really blew me away, and I still have a copy of it that I play from time to time. What made it even better was that there were a host of different maps for it, so even when you got to the point of being bored with the original, there was always something new. It's nice to see that there's still ongoing development for it.
Favorite games around 1992 (Score:2)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure (LucasArts - this one included a copy of Henry Jones' diary
LucasArts' Classic Adventures: Monkey Island, Loom
Leyend of Kyrandia (Westwood)
Flashback: Quest for Identity (Delphine)
Lemmi
Re:Favorite games around 1992 (Score:2)
By the way, most, if not all, of the VGA DOS games you mentioned can be played using the DOSBox emulator [sourceforge.net]. With a decent computer and proper scaling (hq2x from a DOSBox patch does wonders for games that don't have a lot of scrolling) the games keep all their game
My top three: (Score:2)
2. Shining Force, Gene
By far (Score:2)
I've put ~200 hours each into the 3 DW games and later Samurai Warriors. Wading into a crowd of enemies and slashing until you get tired will never become boring.
Now, if only they combined it with Diablo/Champions' limitless equipment system, then I'd simply quit my job and wait for the Man to repossess everything out from under me.
Digger (Score:2)
Re:Digger (Score:2)
Dungeon Master (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Dungeon Master (Score:2)
I only played DM very recently... but I did like the runes system. Heh one of the things I remember was making my barbarian learn magic by lending him some MP and making him try to "create water" many times.
Sim/Civ (Score:3, Interesting)
Being nostalgic (Score:3, Interesting)
Metroid (NES)
Dragon Warrior (NES)
JetFighter
Rogue
GoldenEye (N64)
Tetris64 (N64)
Tony Hawk 2(DC)
Warcraft II
Command & Conquer
FFIII (SNES)
Bard's Tale (Score:2, Interesting)
And of course, by extention, I played quite alot of Wasteland.
Total War (Score:2)
Re:Total War (Score:2)
Here's some (Score:4, Interesting)
Fallout
Quake 1
Privateer
All three Descent games
Commander Keen
All three Thief games
Mechwarrior 2
Tyrian
I hate making lists like this since I always know I've forgotten lots of great games.
Tyrian! (Score:2)
Man, I miss the Foodship 9.
Re:Tyrian! (Score:3, Informative)
The only game I ever stayed up all night playing (Score:2)
Civilisation ... and other Turn-Based Games (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Civilisation ... and other Turn-Based Games (Score:2)
Mine... (Score:2)
Phantasy Star(any on the genesis)
Total Annihilation
The football game was just darn fun(I want to be the Chiefs, go JJ Birden!). Phantasy Star had great stories, and great game play. I have yet to find a better RTS than Total Annihilation.
Surprised i haven't seen... (Score:2)
1. Street Fighter II - Did anyone *not* care about this game in 1992 or whenever that was?
2. Bomberman - Maybe the multiplayer Bomberman phenomenon wasn't as widespread as i had thought.
I . I (Score:2)
Everything else is just a rip-off.
DosBox (Score:2)
Great oldies (Score:2)
Star Control 2 (Recently reborn! I'm getting addicted to this all over again!)
Loom (Can't find my old copy, probably couldn't run it on modern OSes anyway)
Fallout (I keep coming back to this! And the sequel wasn't bad, either.)
System Shock 2 ("Why do you serve the machine mother?")
Thief (Oh man, this series has consumed more of my hours than any other, period.)
People vs. Games (Score:2)
That said,... after my wife goes to sleep I can be found playing Civ 3 or Enemy Territory. :)
Re:People vs. Games (Score:2)
Enemy Territory!
I could dig out some old games that I loved on old systems, but I keep marveling at ET's power to draw me back.
Strong FPS, good team mechanics.. and it is freaking free...
What a deal... (lets see WOW at 50 bucks plus 13/month vs. Free)
Sure I have paid for plenty of games since ET came out, but I keep coming back.
Easy. (Score:2)
Master of Orion 2 (Score:2)
To THIS day, it remains a game I (would) still play at any given time, given the right (i.e. skilled) opponents... sadly, the only problem is "time"... for an engaging and "serious" game, you either have to hot-seat an entire weekend (that sucks badly, trust me), or get it on "on IPX" (bleah, disconnects and load from saves galore). Either way, it's a
Re:Master of Orion 2 (Score:2)
Imagine this:
- keep ship design akin to MoO2 (ship sizes, stats, system and weapon fittings, firing arcs, etc) as it was the most rewarding (player-wise) design style ; OPTIONALLY, have each "design" require researching and/or prototyping before actual manufacture can begin ; EVE-Onli
Little Big Adventure a.k.a. Relentless (Score:2)
A with a little luck we can expect the start of a sequel soon (3rd in the series; after 10 years).
No Games For Me!! (Score:5, Interesting)
Until my buddy asked me to advise him on the purchase of a new PC. When I asked him what he was looking to use it for, he named all the regular Office stuff, and then added, "And of course, games. I want to be able to play games."
So I studied up on graphics cards -- in the computer magazine articles I had always skipped prior to then -- and made my recommendations. When his box arrived, naturally he invited me over to configure it, for a few beers. In the course of my new research, I learned that the "Game of the Year" in everybody's graphics categories was something called "Mechwarrior II," so on my way over I picked up a copy for him to christen the new box with. He had a state-of-the-art graphics card and monitor, so I wanted to see what a state-of-the-art game looked like running on it.
When the opening cinema played, "I Am Jade Falcon," and that unbelievable by anybody's musical standards score hit, our jaws hit the ground and we did this kind of Beavis-and-Butthead-Watching-NIN-Video take to each other. It was nothing like anything we old dice-throwers had expected in the least.
So, um, yeah, about 400 BattleTech miniatures, countless PC games, and several dozen console games later, I guess I'd have to say that "MechWarrior II" was the most memorable, if not the most, influential, in my experience.
Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams. (Score:2)
Re:Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams. (Score:2)
Wasteland (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Wasteland - Get me some of that! (Score:2, Insightful)
Load Runner -- On Apple II of course (Score:2, Interesting)
Castle of the Winds I and II (Score:2)
I received both games with my first IBM PS/2. It was the first game, after Solitare that I ever played on windows. I probably spent upwards of 100 hours playing through both games, and even have it loaded on my laptop right now.
Both games are now freeware and can be downloaded leagaly. (Drop the author, Rick Saada http://www.e [exmsft.com]
Most of them I still have (Score:2)
Dune 2
Quake [1-2]
Doom [1-2]
Descent [1-2]
Total Annihilation
I still fondly remember LAN parties where the trash talk was as fast and furious as the game action, possibly more so. TA with four players and bots for each, with select mods installed is insane.
Dungeon Keeper (Score:2)
I miss that game, it was great fun to play and, while it wasn't the most original design, and had the best sound effects and voice work.
*goes to see if the disk is somewhere around*
Of the past 10 years? (Score:2)
X-Com (Score:2)
Re:X-Com (Score:2)
Is there not a market for essentially the exact same games with updated graphics and subtle tweaks?
Isn't that what's driven the success of World of Warcraft? They didn't do anything new. They just polished it to the point of doing it better than anyone before them.
Anyway, I have got to get me some of that turn-based goodness again. Wasn't there some effort to ressurect the X-com world?
Zeliard (Score:2)
I had a fond memory of it when I was playing it about 15 years ago, and only until recently I recalled its name "Zeliard", and promptly found and downloaded it from Underdogs.
The music still makes me warm and fuzzy but the graphic is a bit disappointing now.
Earthbound (Score:2)
L.O.R.D. (Legend of the Red Dragon) (Score:2)
Ah, here is the original FAQ for it:
http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/bbsdoor/file/legen d_of_the_red_dragon.txt [gamefaqs.com]
Star Control 2: The Ur-Quan Masters (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Star Control 2: The Ur-Quan Masters (Score:3, Informative)
What a shock the first few minutes of play must have been. I remember seeing Earth under the slave shield, being approached by that Ur-Quan drone, with that apocalyptic theme playing in the background... That was quite a moment.
Cel-animated and Rotoscope! (Score:2)
Diablo (Score:2)
The Greatest Real Time Strategy Game of All-Time (Score:2)
But to be f
Games I remember best... (Score:2)
Propeller Arena: Aviation Battle Championship (Score:2)
A few of my favorites: (Score:4, Informative)
Duke Nukem 3D - best multiplayer FPS (out of the box)
Total Annihilation - best RTS. Ever. Well, until Supreme Commander comes out.
Full Throttle - The last great adventure game.
Half-Life - best single-player FPS.
Spider Solitaire - best waste of time.
Civilization II - best improvement upon a great game
Medieval: Total War - best Braveheart simulator.
X-Wing - Most entertaining space sim
Babylon 5: I've Found Her - most realistic space (combat) sim
X-COM: UFO Defense - most addictive game, best turn-based combat
Honorable mention: Civilization, Master of Orion, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Half-Life 2, Unreal, Far Cry, X-COM: Apocalypse, Lode Runner, M.U.L.E., Yar's Revenge, Adventure, TIE Fighter, Wing Commander series, Jane's flight sims, Falcon 3.0 and 4.0, Sid Meier's Pirates, Homeworld, Homeworld 2, a few dozen others I can't think of at the time.
Inner Space anyone? (Score:2)
Others:
Fallout 2
Deus Ex
FF9 (Freya owns you)
Quake
Half-Life
Morrowind!
Man, I love Morrowind. Take all the crazy crap USERS have made for the game and add it to the already huge and lore-rich world Bethsoft made. Wonderful. How can you not like a game that has a bunch of _moogles_ as a fan plugin?
There're just too many to
My votes (Score:2)
This was a game with depth, with true player freedom, and with a perfect sense of there being something cool always around the next corner.
- Out of this World
From the very first scene in this all-assembler gem, the atmosphere was the focus. The game mechanics, graphics, sound, were all good, but the integration and eerie presence was superb.
- Star Control II
An open universe, moddable ship, super fun arcade combat, and the best writing, hands down, of any game I've ever played.
- Wing Commander
This
Marathon (Score:2)
Marathon! (Score:4, Interesting)
My List... (Score:2)
TRS-80 Outhouse
TRS-80 Defender
TRS-80 Blasteroids (a freeware game I wrote in BASIC)
TRS-80 Escape From Death Star (another I wrote)
TRS-80 Night of the Living Dead (yet another I wrote)
Amiga Turrican
Amiga Frontier Elite II
Amiga F/A-18 Interceptor
Amiga F-16 Combat Pilot
Amiga Blood Money
Amiga L
Phantasy Star (Score:2)
Total Annihilation
Virtua Fighter 2
And I'm more then sure there are a few others...
1980. MU,CCOMBAT,USMK031. Thanks, Clay! :-) (Score:2)
*GILDOR*/UN=H7LT263
Sierra On-Line Ruled the Day (Score:2)
Those were the days....
Old and new (Score:2)
Elite (C= 64)
Elite Frontier (Amiga)
Tempest The Theif Series (PC)
Alice (PC)
Medal Of Honor multiplayer (PC)
Halflife 1,2 and Counter Strike (PC)
There's always something out there good but this is a short list of the really pivotal games.
Island of, then Legends of Kesmai (Score:3, Insightful)
SGI Flight Simulator. (dog) (Score:3, Interesting)
1024x768 in 24bit color (8 for the low-end Personal Irises) made these machines the cat's meow back then.
The worst bug on the sim was that that the guy who did the aerodynamics equations didn't know how to handle stalls, so he just turned it into a uncontrollable spin. This made landing without crashing really difficult. The correct way to land (as I understand it) is get above the runway and go into a controlled stall. (spin - splat!). Unfortunately, a decent (touch) landing was the only way to refill your missiles, so you had to learn how to do hot touch landings (often while under fire).
I wasted hours on that game!
The early version of dog also had a watcher program that gave you an AWACS type view of a dogfight. I don't know why they got rid of it. (perhaps the military convinced them that it might give 'the enemy' some ideas -- the cold war was still on back then).
My favs. (Score:3, Informative)
Worms 2 & Armageddon: I'm suprised no-one has suggested this one already. I got into playing Worms 2 about 9 years ago, when I was in either 7th or 8th grade (I forget which), and bought Worms: Armageddon when I was in High School. They're absoutly wonderful games, and if it wasn't for pricks on WormNet (and no way to have admins ban the fuckers), I'd play Armageddon online more often.
NetHack: NetCrack more like. Killing Grid Bugs has never been more fun (unless you read that Scroll of Punishment. Oh, and I always avoid the Gnomish Mines, they still give me nightmares, damn gnomes).
Gabriel Knight 1 & 2: Two of the greatest adventure games ever. Period. (Alas, I have not found a copy of #3 yet.
Extreme Warfare Revenge: The greatest booking sim ever, and has none of the atrocious copy-protection crap that was put in Total Extreme Warfare.
Civilization Series + Alpha Centauri and Colonization: Must... play... just one more turn!
Starfleet Command: I was always a fan of Star Fleet Battles, and this game did not disappoint in the least.
Fallout 1 & 2: Two of the greatest PC RPGs ever.
Smackdown vs. Raw 2006: Possibly the best console wrestling game outside of...
Fire Pro Series: Which is the best console wrestling series. Ever.
And that's all I can think of for now. I'll probably come up with more later.Falcon 3.0 and SimCity 2000 (Score:4, Insightful)
Same with SC2K, what I liked was getting the freeway onramps to look right. Or I'd spend $250K to deepen a river so I could get a suspension bridge on it. The reverse interest money cheat made sure I wasn't constrained by cost.
It wasn't really the way the games were meant to be played, but I loved them for it.
Star Control II (Score:3, Insightful)
When I found out the music in SC2 was MOD files, I found a ripper on my local BBS and promptly extracted the music. That was in June of 1994, and the files have followed me from drive to drive, filesystem to filesystem, with their timestamps intact. I still love listening to that music, having burned bits of it to CD for the car, and all of it still enjoying a place in my Winamp playlst.
Occasionally when a discussion of game storylines crops up, I'll pitch in a few kind paragraphs for Star Control 2. The conversation archives on The Pages of Now and Forever still relate the same compelling story, and I still remember my horror when I initially learned of the Kohr-Ah's plight. The most convincing villain is one you feel sympathy for, and they had that going, for sure.
A few weeks ago, I downloaded the most recent build of The Ur-Quan Masters. The first build I tried a year or so ago wouldn't start up, but this version ran flawlessly. The music was perfect, the graphics were just as I remembered them, and the interface took a little getting used to but then felt very comfortable.
So why did the game bore me? I played for probably half an hour, and couldn't seem to get interested. It's not that I knew the ending -- I played the game through 3 or 4 times back when it was new, and it didn't seem any less fun the second time around. I haven't been much for games in the last few years, and I'm still struggling to figure out why.
Tribes 2 (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:BloodNet (Score:2)
That being said, the game itself IS very involving, and you "feel" for the protagonist,
Re:BloodNet (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Tough Decision (Score:2, Funny)
What do you mean, "nothing says WOW! [worldofwarcraft.com]"?
Okay, okay, bad pun.
Re:Neuromancer (Score:2)
http://www.virtualapple.org/neuromancergsdisk.htm
Runs the game in an activeX Apple II emulator. Otherwise, you can just download the ROM.
Re:GK, NWN, The Realm and X-COM (Score:2)
By the way, The Realm Online is still running. Checkout www.realmserver.com for a 7 day free trial.
Re:GK, NWN, The Realm and X-COM (Score:2)
Norseman had big plans, but they just never materialized. They got it a couple good patches, then nothing happened.. ever.. I think it's been over a year since the last major patch.
Re:GK, NWN, The Realm and X-COM (Score:2)