Falling in Love with a Classic/Retro Game you have NO Nostalgia for.

[aozgolo]

Sometimes when I go on a little retro trip playing Earthbound or Baldur's Gate I often wonder what kind of experience someone playing these old games for the first time NOW would be? When I think back to my 16 bit days I have fond memories of playing many classic RPGs, but when I tried playing other Cult Classic RPGs of that era that I had missed, they failed to hook me, I grew bored, and without nostalgia goggles, I simply didn't progress very far. It makes me wonder sometimes how these games I love stack up today without nostalgia fueling my desire to play them.

So I am curious to hear of experiences people have had where they played a classic or retro game (let's say it has to be at least 15 years old for the sake of argument) that you never played when it was new, but you still fell in love with it despite it's age. I think it would be interesting to get a perspective on the timelessness of certain games devoid of the influence of nostalgia.

 

[Hawki]

"Falling in love with" is a bit iffy, but I guess I can nominate the following:

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn

This is technically a cheat, as I played this when it came out, but for like a grand total of 5-10 minutes, and on a friend's console at that. I played it 'properly' with the CnC pack, at some point after getting Tiberium Wars. At least at the time, I think it held up fairly well. Certainly much better than Orcs and Humans, and I'd even put it above Tides of Darkness.

Diablo I

This is also kind of cheating. I played Diablo I a bit after D3 was announced, but played it "properly" after D3 was released. It was my intention to jump straight into D3, but seeing the backlash against it, I decided to play the original games first, because if I did end up liking D3, I didn't want to be in the position of people saying "oh, you just don't "get it."

So, do I love D1? Well, not exactly. It does get into my top 10 RPGs, but I think that's more an inditement of how few RPGs I've played rather than the game's overall quality. But yes, I do like the game, and think it holds up quite well. I like the style of play, and the atmosphere is great.

Doom

Okay, another cheat, I did play some of Doom back in the day, but didn't like it much - I much preferred GoldenEye. I did a full playthrough of it when I got the BFG Edition, and...I like it. Like it quite a bit, and it gets into my top 10 FPS list. Unlike Diablo I, though, I'm far more comfortable with it being there. It's fun, it has good visual storytelling (well, for the time at least), and, yeah. Second favorite Doom game (the favorite being Doom 3, believe it or not).

Marathon

Okay, this I can say that when I played it, it was for the first time, as per when I downloaded Aleph One. Being a fan of Halo, I always heard a lot about Marathon, how Halo was basically the game's spiritual successor, some even theorizing they were in the same universe. So, downloaded it, and is it good?

Short version, yes. It hasn't aged perfectly, and it's an interesting counterpoint to Doom, which has the better gameplay, while Marathon has the better story. Granted, that's a low bar to cross, but Marathon is a nice game with a nice setting. Always had a fondness for the universe because of this game.

Super Metroid

Downloaded this onto my 3DS. This is very much a game that I can't say I love, per se (hold Zero Mission and Fusion as being superior), but I think this is a game that's aged very well. I can see why it's a big deal, and my preferences aside, it's clearly the game that set the stage for ZM and Fusion. So, nice game.

 

[Ogoid]

First example that comes to my mind is the first System Shock. I first played it in 2008, and though it took me a while to get into (it does play wonky as hell, and has a veritable wall for a learning curve), but once I did it immediately made it into my all-time favorites list; I actually found System Shock 2 kinda disappointing in comparison.

Also, couple of years ago (2013-ish?) I decided to finally give Planescape: Torment a try, and absolutely loved it. Its not without its flaws (the second half of it felt a bit rushed), but it was definitely worth every last bit of praise I'd seen heaped upon it.

 

[Dalisclock]

Well, I fell in love with Final Fantasy IX despite only getting around to playing it last year, a whole 15 years after release. However, I also liked FF7 and most of the FF games before that, so I'm not sure if it counts.

 

[hermes]

I wasn't much of a PC player during the late 80s and early 90s, so a lot of adventure games like Day of the Tentacle or Monkey Island were only familiar to me by reputation. Now that they are available in Steam (and even have a button to switch between old and new graphics), I am getting to know them and... just woow, no wonder they are such classics.

 

[chrissx2]

Fallout 2. I've played it as a kid and hate it (mostly because I didn't like turn-based combat). I've played it again before Fallout 3 came out and I loved every sec of it. It kinda make me hate the new Fallout games.

 

[Rick Blood]

Never played Chrono Trigger until last year. Absolutely loved it. Even as far as the genre goes it wasn't until FFX I got into JRPGs, which is obviously vastly different, so definitely not a nostalgic influence.

There is something about Chrono Trigger's art style, it's music and it's mechanics, along with obviously it's story, that made it a joy to play and experience even now.

 

[Saelune]

Does Daggerfall count? I started with Morrowind and it was awhile before I eventually tried Daggerfall, and I really do enjoy it. Arena sucks balls though. Daggerfall is where Bethesda started really shaping TES into what it is known for, adding skills that level independently and stuff like that. Daggerfall actually has alot of features Skyrim pretended to introduce, like radiant quests.

Shadow Warrior is another. Though thats kind of a cheat cause its just Duke Nukem 3D with a re-skin, but well, thats why its so fun.

 

[BrawlMan]

While I am not sure to call them retro, Double Dragon Advance & Astro Boy: Omega Factor are two games that I didn't play when they first came out. Astro Boy (2004) I did not play until 2009 when I found it at a GameStop, and DDA (2003) I didn't get until 2014 through Amazon! I knew about these games, but I was becoming more focused on console gaming. I missed out. What didn't help was that I had loss my feeling for Double Dragon, and was stuck on Final Fight One for the GBA; which I don't even bother with anymore.

Astro Boy is one of Treasure's better GBA titles along with Gunstar Super Heroes. Advance Guardian Heroes was not that good, and could've been much better. We didn't get a proper Guardian Heroes "sequel" until Code of Princess came out. If anyone has a GBA, DS, or GBA player, I highly recommend you get these games. The only problem is that DDA will cost you more due to the fact that only a few copies were made. I got luck and only had to pay about $30 bucks.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I honestly can't do it. I tried playing a bunch of old games from my childhood that either I never had a computer strong enough for, or my parents thought was too mature for me as a kid. And I found I'm better off forgetting about them.

Tried NOX, but the game called me a radical gamer and I ended up being a red sneakered dork running around a fantasy village. And wow, am I glad the 90s are over.

Starfleet Academy, Jedi Dark Forces I(2 is badass, but nostalgic as fuck!) DragonShpere, Ultima, Dungeon Keeper 1, Diablo 1...all aged as well as milk. Terrible controls, buggy, terrible dialogue and world building and plots all over the place in tone and understanding. I can give some of the graphics a pass because of the time it came from, but hi-res monitors are not kind of blurry grey pixels and colored splotches that are supposed to be blood.

 

[Recusant]

A big part of this isn't going to be about the games, but about the gamers; I can't tell you how many times I've heard young'ns who played XCom go back and try its hyphenated predecessor and griping about the "completely incoherent UI"; a lot of them don't seem to understand that reading the manual doesn't just tell you how to install the game. X-COM is far from devoid of flaws, some of them based around the UI, but if you just read the darn manual, you won't have any trouble understanding it at all- until your soldiers get so strong that their grenades start bouncing off the sky, anyway.

And I'm not sure if this counts, but I'll toss in King of Dragon Pass, which I read a few previews for and thought sounded interesting. Then it got canceled- or so I heard, anyway- and I more or less forgot about it until I spotted it in a GOG sale and grabbed it. I've loved it ever since.

Does Daggerfall count? I started with Morrowind and it was awhile before I eventually tried Daggerfall, and I really do enjoy it. Arena sucks balls though. Daggerfall is where Bethesda started really shaping TES into what it is known for, adding skills that level independently and stuff like that. Daggerfall actually has alot of features Skyrim pretended to introduce, like radiant quests.

And dragons- don't forget them!

 

[gsilver]

I didn't play Might & Magic 4&5 until a few years ago, and I loved that game.
Though maybe that doesn't really count, since I played Might & Magic 2 on the Genesis and 6-7 on the PC back in the day.


Well, maybe I didn't *love* them, but I totally missed Zelda (and really most Nintendo games, outside of Mario... and even that was a bit of a retro game by the time I actually owned it) and I've liked a ton of those.

 

[jedisensei]

Never played any of the Half-life games, but I just picked them up on the Steam sale for less then $10 total. Read Wikipedia's HL plot summary and jumped into HL2, and so far I can say that I totally understand all the love for this game. The world-building and slow-burn into the action has me hooked.

 

[American Tanker]

I never actually played the original release of vertically-scrolling shooter Tyrian because I didn't get into PC gaming until a few years ago, but then I found its open-source re-release OpenTyrian floating around on Desura for free. Decided to give it a shot.

Best scrolling shooter I think I've ever played, honestly. Even Jets'N'Guns Gold, which is an incredibly awesome game in its own right, I still think Tyrian's the better game.

 

[Fox12]

I discovered Final Fantasy 7 well after it's release, and it really blew my mind. The graphics are pretty shoddy, but it was used really well. The game play holds up, and it still has one of the best plots in all of gaming.

Honestly, there are a lot of games from the ps1 and ps2 era that were incredible. I'm pretty good about catching up to classic titles I missed out on as a kid.

 

[wings012]

Seiken Densetsu 3 I guess? Played that roughly around the PS2 era of things. I was a bit of an emulation junkie at that point and didn't care for graphics.

 

[Erttheking]

I had a blast with Dungeon Keeper when GOG.com gave it to me for free.

 

[Nazulu]

First played Half-Life 2 in 2014 and Half-Life in 2015, and I find them both amazing. The original HL is to me, the greatest game experience so far. I'm not even a fan of FPS games, but how they keep bringing in new challenges with every new room from different perspectives is easily one of the most exciting experiences I've ever had.

 

[Veylon]

Seiken Densetsu 3 I guess? Played that roughly around the PS2 era of things. I was a bit of an emulation junkie at that point and didn't care for graphics.

Same boat here. Also thought Bahamat Lagoon was pretty impressive.

I also enjoyed Master of Magic, brutally flawed though it is, and Stars!, both of which I played long past their heyday.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I've only played Masters of Orion II for the first time some 3 years ago. I was hooked instantly. Such a great game.