Are older games better? Or is that just the Nostalgia talking?

[Silent Biohazard Solid]

I'm immune to nostalgia goggles. I know that sounds bold and pompous, but it's true. Yes, I do appreciate nostalgic things, but here's an example. Going back to my old JRPG example. Final Fantasy 8 has always been my favorite JRPG. I liked the setting, the characters (some of them), the storyline, etc. The gameplay was a lot of fun, and I loved the junction system. And yes, I did consider the fact that perhaps I liked it the best because it brought up some nice nostalgia as well.
But after playing Persona 3, I said, "Okay, this game has just officialy become my new favorite JRPG," that fast. FF8 is still up there. But I didn't let the 'nostalgia' factor keep me from enjoying a newer game more.

Just the same, I've recently for the first time played and finished Parasite Eve 1. No not when it came out on the PSN, before that, but it was still fairly recently. And it's a great game. I have absolutely no nostalgic ties to it, but I loved it.
Same with the origignal Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. I thought it was an awesome game, and wish there was a port of it on PSP or something. I had lots of fun with it. And nostalgia played no part. Same with the original Jak & Daxter, which I only played this past summer for the first time, and haven't played any of the games in the series before.

 

[ShadowDude112]

Older games aren't really better, it is largely just nostalgia. Even I can admit to that.
The potential of games has grown massively- however it is important to note that the word 'potential' was in there, that doesn't always mean they will be.

For example, compare FFVII to FFXIII. Despite being decades older, the combat system is better, the musical score is somehow more impressive, and even a lot of the scenery looks better! Comparing the Ancient Woods to anything in FXIII is rather clear evidence of this.
There is one advantage older games do have in this regard; they aren't as highly rendered, and so they can be of a larger scale. Can you imagine a modern remake of Legacy of Dragoon? It would be a quarter of the original games length, at least.

So it really does come down to finding a decent middle ground between 'ohhh this looks nice' and 'wow, this is deep'.

Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, and 3&K are all better than 4. And 4 was made about 16 years later. So, no, it doesn't matter on years apart. 4 is a bad game because it has a bad physics engine (It's the Rush engine with just a few small tweaks.) I mean, don't you remember in the classic games where if you stopped holding down right in a jump you'd lose all your momentum? I sure don't. I also don't remember coming to a complete stop while I'm at my full speed when I stop holding right in the classics. See, this is why I think DIMPS just sucks at classic Sonic games. Sure, the Rush engine fits with Rush, Rush Adventure, and Colors since they're just speed based, but not on a platforming game where Sonic can't run as fast as in those games. If they wanted to make me think that that game was better than the classics, then they would've used the classic physics, and not made the levels rehashed. In all honesty, it's not age that matters, You need a company who cared about those games. DIMPS and SOJ would rather make a decent game and not make it any better than the previous episodes, while SOA and SOE are trying to take feedback when it's obvious the stupid fucks that are the higher ups at SOJ are just going to veto is and keep it the same.

 

[BestOfWest]

The only way to know for sure that it isn't nostalgia would be to play it now rather then as a child. Seeing on hows that's impossible there is no clear way to know if you truly like it or it's just nostalgia.

Even that wouldn't work are you're now prejudiced by current expectations, you expect certain control conventions, certain gameplay mechanics and certain graphics fidelity. Armed with those expectations you're almost certain to be disappointed with older games, that doesn't mean the older games are not good.

Well I guess it all depends on the person because not everyone expects those certain things.

 

[Rad Party God]

I like to play older games from time to time, even old games that I never got the chance to play back in the day. For example, I NEVER even heared about Planescape Torment until 6 months ago when GOG started to sell it and everyone said that it's the best story ever crafted, blah, blah, blah. They were right.

Having absolutely no nostalgia for it, I found it amazingly good, same for both of Baldur's Gate games. Neverwinter Nights became one of my favorite RPGs and I play it quite a lot (until I get DA2 obviously).

Same for Fallout 1 & 2, I never even knew they existed until FO3 was looming into the distance. Long story short, I finished FO3, my video card melted a day after and I bought both FO1 & 2 and I found them to be more fun than FO3 itself, wich is not bad by itself, but FO1 & 2 were amazing in their own right.

Heck, I even got the chance to play the 2D Sonic games for the first time when I got the Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the 360 and I LOVED them, especially Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles.

BUT, there's also the nostalgia factor that more often than not, can get in the way. The most recent example of this may be the re-release of Perfect Dark for XBLA. I played the hell out of PD back in the early days of high school, but when I got the chance to play it again, with slightly better graphics and slightly better controls, it just wasn't the same. All the amazing memories I had of it was pure nostalgia bullshit. Back then I didn't even cared for the story, the bad design decisions, the shallow characters, the amazingly broken and ungodly harder than hard bots the multiplayer has.

But still, it has an amazing soundtrack and the local multiplayer is still as fun as ever, but there are already much, much better FPS out there.

Don't get me wrong, I still like the newer releases, I'm eagerly waiting to get paid to get Dragon Age 2, I can't wait to get Brink and I'm still waiting to get an official release date for Guild Wars 2. I like older and newer games alike.

I recently started a thread about games that can stand the test of time, but I got to the conclusion that only a few have the privilage to say that they succesfully stood up the test of time.

 

[Prof. Monkeypox]

Older games tended to be more creative, in my opinion. Since the medium was new, there was more room for experimentation (rather than the sequel machine that guarantees mediocre games for mediocre profit).

That said, new games are objectively better in their programming, sophistication of their mechanics, and ease of access.

There's good and bad from both areas though.

 

[spm1138]

Older games tended to be more creative, in my opinion. Since the medium was new, there was more room for experimentation (rather than the sequel machine that guarantees mediocre games for mediocre profit).

That said, new games are objectively better in their programming, sophistication of their mechanics, and ease of access.

There's good and bad from both areas though.

Sometimes they were. Back in the Z80 era I think I played more games where I had no idea how they worked.

8- and 16-bit eras though I think I played a lot of very similar games (generally platformers).

 

[Wayneguard]

some older games are better than some newer games but not by virtue of their age.

 

[Nopraptor]

@zpucek you forgot about the Baldurs Gate series and Icewindales theyre up there with it

 

[ThePirateMan]

While a lot of old games havn't aged well, there are some that are still unmatched by current games.

For example, Classic RPGs such as Planescape Torment, Fallout 1&2 and Baldur's Gate.

Hmm.. I can't really think of anything else but RPGs where the old games still often can be much more enjoyable then recent releases.

 

[Ace of Spades]

The problem with retro-games is that people only tend to remember the stuff they liked, and pointedly ignore everything else, so it's no wonder that some people think that it's better. My first console was the N64, and I loved playing games on it. Do I think that those games are inherently superior to the ones made now? No. Current and future games have the potential to be much better than anything we've seen so far, and recent games are fun in vastly different ways than classic 2D side-scrollers and the like. Our limitations now come from the need for a safe investment rather than working within the parameters of the hardware.

 

[liveslowdiefast]

yeah i think a lot is nostalgia, but really i have no day in that as i'm only 15 and hence don't really have that much nostalgia to take from so my opinoin is bound to be screwed.

 

[Kayla Herrera]

just got out the good old PS2 and PS1 and have been playing nonstop this entire week. There is nothing wrong with reliving some good old games

 

[Merkavar]

there are those few games that seem to be playable 5 10 or 15 years after release but thats probably the same about todays games but we arent going to know which games they are until 15 years into the future.

 

[DaJoW]

A mix of both I'd say. Truly great games are the ones you can both say "Remember how much fun we used to have playing [game]?" and just pick up and enjoy much later. Super Mario Bros. 1 and 3 are still huge fun to me, and my family had it on the NES way back when (our NES broke a couple of years ago, sadly). Heroes of Might and Magic V I had a lot of fun with a couple of years ago, but now I can't stand it.

Then of course, there are simply brilliant games that stand on their own much later. I didn't play Deus Ex until 2008 I think and still had a blast (and love it still for that matter).

 

[RowdyRodimus]

I don't think it's nostalgia that I can lose hours playing Moon Patrol, Q*bert or Pac-Man. I really think that the major games from the early period of gaming stand up today then we got to a bronze age where there was a bunch of shit and have entered another golden age where the people that grew up in the early period are the ones in charge of development and want a return to lasting, good games.

 

[Macedon]

I love to go back and play older games for the 10th or 15th time. The games I go back to the most are Suikoden 1, 2, and 3

 

[The Night Shade]

Both,MGS is my favorite game of all time but now i can see that the game hasn't aged well with grhapics and gameplay but the story is great has always.The only reason i would consider playing it now would be only nostalgia

 

[Ironman126]

Depends. Some older games are legitimately better than new ones (like Homeworld, best Relic RTS ever) and some we just think are good because we forget how truly bad they really are (like Homeworld: Cataclysm, worst RTS I've ever played, also not made by Relic).

Unless we are taking graphics, but do i really need to say anything there? Of course new games are better.