Games that have aged horribly

[jaketaz]

Though it hasn't been too long, I feel like Fallout 3 looks like absolute piss now, and New Vegas really doesn't look much better. I thought it looked decent at first, but now the constant brown/green everything and the ultra convoluted inventory crap just seems so outdated (even though some games are still doing this).

Also the Myst series. I remember when these were the most incredible graphics anyone had seen. Now they look so flat and airbrushed and stiff.

 

[Danglybits]

What older games have you played recently have you felt haven't aged well. Could it be graphics, gameplay, etc.

I recently played Grand Theft Auto 3 for the first time and I have to say the control scheme made it really hard for me to get into. One mission required me to shoot people and I couldn't aim so I got tired of playing after so many attempts.

What are your's?

Fallout 2. That interface is a nightmare. I haven't revisited GTA3 in a while. I never liked the controls of the ones that came after it though. I had a hard time getting used to having to stop the car or bike to get out -- or else I'd be pitched at 80mph onto the street. I did hate the difficulty curve though.

 

[jhlip]

Goldeneye for the N64 and Armored Core 3 for PS2

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

FFVII so, so hard.

The graphics are terrible, the mechanics are clunky, the storyline is a mess, and the tone is incomprehensibly bad. The game just cannot make up its mind whether it wants you to take it seriously or take it as vulgar humor. It's possible to do both well, but it's very hard to do both at once. FFVII tries to cover all of them with ridiculous dating games and (not particularly good) slapstick humor and "funny" dialogue right alongside a supposedly tragic and dramatic story. It only got away with it at the time because there was nothing better to compare it to.

In short, it was groundbreaking at the time, but the Seinfeld Effect has set in. Everything it did has been done so much better by now.

I got Morrowind with my first salary, way back in 2002. Tried it and just didn't get it. Flash forward to 2008 and after playing a while with Oblivion + Oscuro's Overhaul I tried to go back and give the old chap a try. It isn't the graphics, it's the fact that it's impossible to shoot a straight arrow, that, even if that arrow goes straight the actual possibility of hitting something is pretty much random, it's the fucking assassin attacking me after my first sleep if I forget to not install the Tribunal expansion before reaching some respectable level. And what killed it for me? Laugh all you want, but not being able to pick up the arrow you just shot to the ground is insulting by today's standards. Tried it again this year with Morrowind 2011 but I just can't. It's too much for me.

People really overplay how hard that assassin is. If you're even slightly careful, you can easily win and score yourself some very nice equipment to boot. Also, it defaults to saving when you sleep, so it's not like you can't just go back and sleep again unmolested or try to fight the assassin again. But seriously, it's very possible - going back, I usually play Morrowind with the difficulty slider all the way up and even then it's still very possible to kill him with just starting equipment (playing that way requires a lot of quicksave/quickload, but makes the world awesomely lethal and makes you really strategize).

If I were to pick a single game that has held up, it's Morrowind. The story and setting are still great, there are plenty of mods if the graphics really bother you that much (the setting is so exotic and nifty that it rarely bothers me much), the mechanics are actually pretty playable still, and the sheer variety of things you can do, weapon types you can wield, spells you can make, etc. is still pretty mindblowing to me.

I think the main problem people have with it is that it isn't an FPS. Yes, most of your shots miss even when your reticle is on the enemy, but that's because your skill is so low. Spoiler alert: this is an RPG and your skills actually matter. In many ways, I think it's preferable to games where you're supposedly someone with no skill at, say, archery, yet since it's player-controlled aim, you can have near perfect accuracy anyway.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

The Resident Evil series untill RE4. I love 4 but everything that came before is too clunky to be enjoyed. I'd rather play the original Alone in the Dark.

So, you don't like Jill sandwiches anymore?

 

[LostCrusader]

Morrowind comes to mind. The combat was annoying back then and time has not sweetened it, and the hilariously bad animations and stiff controls are pretty hard to overlook.

And, of course, the graphics haven't fared to well either.

Still enjoy the game, though.

Very much this. Still can't quite go back to finally play those expansions.

 

[Maphysto]

Everything on the PS1.

I remember in Morrowind not being a combat specialist was like giving you a near crippling handicap, whereas in Oblivion both Stealth and Magic are viable choices, Stealth mainly through the subtle addition of the visibility eye thing, and magic with the fact that it, by default, regenerates automatically.

That, and the fact that spells on Oblivion didn't have a chance to fail.

 

[Vault101]

As science has shown us, Sequels kill franchises.

The only sequels that I have enjoyed are
Halo 2 and 3
Gears of War 2
Half Life 2, ep1, and ep2
Portal 2
L4D2
TF2
[hey, is it too obvious i'm a valve fanboy?]


all other sequels blew ass IMO, and have ruined their franchises

fallout 3
Fallout NV
dead space 2
Mass effect 2
assasins creed 2
saints row 2

hardly bad games at all

Deus Ex.

Good god, Deus Ex.

What do you mean? I recently played it and got into it with no difficulty. Great game. I don't care about graphics much, so those don't bother me.

The game controls great and the graphics don't get in the way of performing any actions. They don't actually look half bad in my opinion.

bye far deus ex its really hard to into because of it

Are you really that superficial? The graphics are sufficient enough to not get in the way of anything. The gameplay remains completely intact and is far more enjoyable then most games I play nowadays. In fact, it has so much replay value. I get engrossed in it because of the story and the awesome multi-path gameplay. Non-lethal ftw.

I have no probelm with uncannyess in say fallout or ME

but god Deus ex....those polygon people give me nightmares (I think its a childhood thing..)

 

[Thumper17]

Siphon Filter.

Good god Siphon Filter.

 

[Vault101]

Glad to see another person call Diablo 2; I was worried I'd have to be the first in this thread. Baldur's Gate's another one for me, as well as BG: II. Something about the those old infinity engine games never clicked with me, and babysitting a party just doesn't do it.

On that note: Fallout 1 and 2. The stories are great, the ideas are cool, but turn-based isometric RPGs make me contemplate death.

The entire Avernum series, or at least up through 4/all the ones that used to be called Exile. Strangely I'd probably still play Realmz. That game was crazy-fun.

Wing Commander 1 + 2. They are really cool games, totally granted, but they never really hooked me until Mark Hamill and Malcolm McDowell joined up in 3.

I am a current gen gamer (not quite a graphics whore)

but I started planescape torment...and its actually really enganging (save for the amount of text I have to read)

 

[Yeager942]

I don't get why people are saying Deus Ex or Torment. I've played both games recently and both are truly fantastic. Granted, their graphics haven't aged well, but with their killer stories, excellent writing and solid gameplay (less with Torment, more with Deus Ex) they are excellent games. And I'm not even speaking with nostalgia googles.

 

[awesomeness0407]

just about every PSone era 3D game. First Tomb Raider in particular

 

[GamerFromJump]

FF7 (other than the mechanics) and Pokemon prior to DPPt.

Games that are the complete opposite of this: Super Mario, Zelda, Mega Man, Chrono Trigger, 2D Sonic, 16-bit era Final Fantasy.

 

[Lagslayer]

Sonic adventure 1+2 were, I believe, the pinnacle of the sonic franchise. The controls were good, the game was engaging, and being able to move in 3 dimensions solved a lot of the problems with the 2d sonic games. The thing about the pinnacle, though, is that there is nowhere else to go but down...

I agree about a lot of the old FPSs though. I went back to play Goldeneye a few weeks ago; I could barely make anything out through the poor graphics, and aiming felt stiff (and to think I used to snipe everything out with a pistol).

 

[Buccura]

WarCraft. The very first one.

Though I think as a joke, as a Tournament Blizzard should pull it out as a surprise game.

 

[Aureliano]

I'd have to disagree with Planescape - I played it a couple of years ago, and think it aged fine. It's mostly a text adventure in an RPG costume anyway, and the writing holds up well. Halo, on the other hand...

I actually though about mentioning Planescape as aging badly, but the fact is that I just hate the game full stop. If you liked the game when it came out, every reason to like it is still valid. The story's still well-written, the graphics still do a decent enough job, and the voice actors are still top notch. The gameplay is also as broken, the UI as inappropriate (there are mods, so this has actually improved a bit), and the story as ham-fisted and religious (it's on the subject of religion, regardless of what religion it's discussing or espousing) as ever. So no, it's probably improved a bit with age if anything. Still hated it.

Haha, yeah, those are definitely valid concerns. I will never understand the decision to put tiny text boxes in a text-based game. It never really struck me as religious, though - is it the whole (spoilers) hell thing?

Um, there's (spoilers) an afterlife. Like, a pretty much guaranteed one. Which is not exactly a non-partisan choice in a story about the merits of suicide. That and I think you could debatably describe the entire game as 'the last temptation of Christ' DnD style.

 

[FuzzyRaccoon]

And any pre-DS pokemon game, when weighed up against the newer ones. The seemingly small changes to the user interface etc... have made a huge difference

This. Oh god, this. I couldn't agree more. Seriously, go play Black/White for a few hours, then play Red/Blue for a few hours.

It's like switching from a Jetsons car to the Flintstones.

Eh, I have to say that the Heonn region ones were nice though. I actually like them better than the new DS ones because they're not trying to force me to dress up stuff and search out my gyms in a haunted house or rollercoaster or some poop.

 

[Yopaz]

All 3D games from the Nintendo 64/PS1 era that tried to have realistic graphics. Banjo Kazzooie and Mario 64 look great. Golden Eye and GTA 3 look horrible.
Fantasy games got the benefit of using colours that don't exist and thus we will never compare it to real life. What we thought was awesome graphics because it was the most realistic ever now looks bad since we got graphics where things look better than in life (exaggerating there).

 

[bulldogftw]

Someone mentioned Deus Ex.

Someone is going to reinstall it now. It's the circle of life.

Spoiler

Yep

OT:Yeah GTA3 and Vice City but i still think San Andreas is the best