Ask HN: What older games are you playing through?
Recently finished FFX and now playing through FF7 for the first time. I feel like the games from that era tend to be more engaging - they cannot rely on the graphics to sell themselves and had not yet been 'hollywood-ised', so tend to be more creative, not take themselves too seriously and are just more fun.
Plus, there is the test of time - easier to know what the gems are after some time has passed.
I find that after a few hours, you stop even noticing the older graphics.
Any older games you have recently enjoyed for the first time?
76 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 145 ms ] threadThese have been on my to-play list for quite a while, but there's too little time these days... I'll probably never finish them all (TES, Gothic, FF7, Golden Sun 3 are on there as well).
There's also so many mods, ROM hacks and guides still around for older games. Trying to save some of it. Doesn't take much space after all.
You might also the enjoy the Talos Principle games, which are also on GFN.
And the first Dungeon Defenders game has a Portal Gun tie-in (it's tower defense, not a puzzle game, but you can make portals to send mobs into lava or whatever).
Anyway, have fun! I wish I could play through Portal again for the first time.
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - to me a perfect mix of exploration, building and your own power creep. I've tried some of the later iterations but they all just weren't as good
Darklands - early RPG based on 15th century HRE/Germany with a magic system based on christian saints and miracles. Made in 1992 and amazingly an open world game
FF7 - Always amazing to play again
Alpha Centauri - Not played this for a decade or so, so don't know how it's held up. I kept coming back to this game for a long while. Newer versions such as Endless Space and Stellaris are good but just don't seem to have the same wonder that this original civ in space did, but might be because I've seen it all before.
From the next 'era' of games I would say look at Bioshock 1/2/3 and Deadspace (which I think has been redone recently to rave reviews but unfortunately poor-ish sales so that's probably nixed a Deadspace 2 remake which was even better)
Though the kids seem to get to spend more time playing than I do. These games hold up really well.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Meier%27s_Colonization
[1] https://github.com/FreeCol/freecol
[2] https://www.freecol.org/about.html
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeCol
I do like the nostalgia but for me playing something new or something that is replayable, like random loot based games that pull me in, is more enjoyable.
The mechanics were much simpler but also didn't have massive room for errors/odd conditions to manifest like modern games.
I understand Square is re-making FF7 in a multi-part release over several years (not sure why it takes so long)? https://ffvii-remake-intergrade.square-enix-games.com/en-us/ Once it's all out, I might play through that again just for nostalgia's sake (and for the soundtrack, of course! Twenty years later, I still have Aeris's Theme stuck in my head from time to time)
They're making the original 30-40 hour game into three 40-60 hour action RPGs. I don't know enough about game development timelines, but I'm assuming that it's just large to juggle, especially since it has crossed console generations.
I've only played part one, but they did a great job with it! A warning though: they add a good bit of "filler" compared to the original to turn the 5ish hour Midgar sequence into a full game. It can be a bit draining at points since I wanted to just relive the original game I love, but if you know that going in, it's not bad, just different.
There's some weird stuff they do with Sephiroth to make the end of part one feel more substantial as it's own game, but again, if you can look past it, the game is excellent.
Also note that it's an action RPG now instead of being turn based. Sometimes I missed the old turn based gameplay.
I might just go back and play the original, then.
Um...Final Fantasy games, ever since at least 7, were absolutely selling themselves on their amazing graphics. Hell, 7 was maybe the first time that games got cinematic commercials on mainstream TV, because the graphics were that amazing for the time.
That being said, since I've gotten a Steam Deck and hooked it up with RetroAchievements (which gives thousands of retro games achievements you can get), I've been playing through a lot of older games again. A few weeks ago I got a ridiculous (for me at least) high score in Kirby's Pinball Land for the original Game Boy, for example (it was >800,000 points).
Some others I've replayed recently are Wave Race 64 (the gameplay and waves in that still hold up, I actually appreciate it more than I did then), Wendy: Every Witch Way on Game Boy Color, started yet another playthrough of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (I've replayed that game so many times), got about halfway through Donkey Kong on the original Game Boy, tried Puzzle Link for the Neo Geo Pocket for the first time and got addicted to that for a little while, played a good chunk of the way through Kirby and the Amazing Mirror on Game Boy Advance, played through most of Kickle Cubicle for the original NES (I remember finding it too hard to figure out when I was a kid, but it really isn't, and it's a lot of fun).
The achievements are nice because they serve as a bit of an auto documentation of what I've been playing (I was able to share that list because I looked through my achievements on RetroAchievements).
Game reviewers have always been saying that games rely too much on graphics, at the expense of game design. It was already a trope in the early 1990s.
From that era I recommend Ultima 7 Serpent Isle
It is amazing what some games managed to do with the limited graphics capabilities of the time. Metal Gear Solid 1 used a colour palette so well to hide the graphics limitations. Many games shined with clever use of pre-rendered backgrounds (FF7 is one of them, but also the Resident Evil series come to mind).
Even from an earlier time, Monkey Island is all the funnier for the pixelatedness. System Shock 1 is still amazingly immersive and atmospheric (and was way ahead of its time!).
I think part of what makes games from late 90s so special is that the tech was good enough to allow plenty of creative freedom, but still simple enough to allow for relatively small teams with relatively small budgets to make the games and add their personal touch to them. That is why Deus Ex 1 is much more personal than the later more polished installations etc.
I had originally played both the PC and the Playstation 1 port.
Monkey Island 2 was a personal favorite that I did replay somewhat recently. There's something special about those old Lucasarts games.
I enjoyed Monkey Island 1 a lot, but with 2 there was a combinatorial explosion of items/locations, and it just seemed too difficult/unfair. I got the impression they wanted you to have to call the hint phoneline.
That said, it executes at times considerably better and you can see the seeds of what would become some of the legendary Lucasarts games to follow.
I am not even sure I can finish it due to some timing sensitive buggy quirks towards the end, It would be rage inducing but it's not, just awww. It's obvious the game is reveling in its own unraveling. In a really special way.
Dying Breed looks like a homage to Red Alert https://store.steampowered.com/app/2088550/Dying_Breed/
I have a stack of 3DS games that I never got to play, but now I'm taking some time every once in a while, because the system has some really good titles.
The King is voiced by Sir Patrick Stewart.
I love the game and played it several times.
Everything was low-res. Things moved so slow. shooting lobbed pixels across the screen.
and it was still challenging and fun.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_The_First...
(that said, I play red alert 3 single player for fun from time to time)
Last year I finished NES Super Mario Bros 1 and Zelda 1 for the first time. I grew up with later generation games, so the difficulty was quite a shock. But it made mastering them more rewarding.
There are weeks that I play this 2-3 times a day, and then a couple of months of not at all. I usually win it. If I am overwhelmed, I joust and bet a land (and 90% I win - this gives me the opportunity to 'conquer' 3 counties per round, instead of just 1 with normal attack).
EDIT: I don't know if this counts as old, but I've restarted playing FTL - Faster Than Light. I sometimes also play StarControl II, but once every couple of years for a weekend or so.