Older games that aged well. (strictly talking about graphics)

[GrimHeaper]

Super mario RPG and Donkey kong country.

 

[gantzsurvivor1]

Nobody has mentioned Black for PS2. That game has amazing graphics.

 

[shadow_Fox81]

i think Psychonauts aged well as well as Call of Cthulu dark corners of the earth.

but i think orcarina of time has aged phenominally, i still pull out my 64 to play it.

oh and doom

 

[RuralGamer]

Total Annihilation has aged not too badly, considering it came out... in 1997. Seriously though, I think the graphics are aesthetically pleasing enough, despite its age. KOTOR has aged fairly well I think.

I cannot play KotOR at all anymore, not sure why. Maybe it's cause it feels out of date after having played through Mass Effect (I know it's not really that similar but still). Shame too, since when I played it originally, it was my first Bioware RPG so I just headed straight for the ending and didn't really do any of the side stuff and now I realized I missed out on a lot.

Same sadly; my current PC seems allergic to it; even when I still could, for some reason I didn't want to, even though I really liked it. I spent ages playing the two KOTORs.

Thought of another game; Rome: Total War - even by modern standards for strategy games it looks nice (in my own opinion anyway).

 

[Dadza]

Vampire The masquerade - bloodlines is still looking good.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I think most 2D and pixel based graphics still hold up today. It is the early 3D era that really don't age well. Those ugly polygon graphics make my eyes hurt.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

Pretty much all of the Myst games still look goddamn fantastic. Especially Riven and Exile.

 

[Gamegeneral]

Spritework ages well in my book. I mean, once we hit SNES we started having better, more long-lasting sprites. And then games like Symphony of the Night hit and blew the games out of the water with drawn graphics.

 

[altobizzaro]

San Andreas, due to its cartoony aesthetics its held up quite nicely

 

[Guardian of Nekops]

If you want your graphics to hold up, the most surefire way seems to be to pick a style and stick to it. If your engine can only handle cartoony graphics, then don't try to make it look real... OWN your limitations. Use the higher end of your processor's capacity and do what it can do, yes, but use it like the rules of a haiku... create perfection of a different sort, not something that's "state of the art" right now.

Okami is a good modern-day example... the stylistic brush strokes are going to hold up for a long while, I reckon, despite the fact that even starting out the Wii is behind the times graphically.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Anything with anime style drawings as graphics, eg. the original Adventures of Alundra, or FFVI/Chrono Trigger!! They seem endless!

 

[Magnikai]

Team Buddies still has its awesome cartoony charm all these years later.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Singleplayer wise, CoD4. Playing on slow mo makes it an entirely new game.

If you manage to find a decent server, the multiplayer is pretty good too.

 

[laggyteabag]

anything with a cell-shaded art style will still look good 10 years from now.

Also i still think Super Mario 64 still looks ok

 

[HardkorSB]

This topic might be a little superficial as I'm mainly talking about graphics. Usually something an RPG fan puts less emphasis on. But, I have noticed some games visually have stood the test of time, while some look pixelated and grainy and hard to look at.

I noticed for example, to this day I really love the style of the Fire Emblem titles on GBA. A lot of these 16 bit games still look great. I do enjoy Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, yet I think the 3D polygonal characters look horrible compared to those in Fire Emblem and Fire Emblem Sacred Stones.

I feel Saturn and PS1 titles have not aged well at all. Prerendered backgrounds I think look great, but the characters are horribly pixelated.

Also, take a peak at Wild Arms 1. The game looks pretty good visually despite looking like a SNES game. But, they really really dropped the ball when it came to the 3D battles. I could tolerate a lot of PS1 games despite a bit of pixelation and blocky characters, but the original Wild Arms battle graphics are painful to witness.

What games do you believe stood the test of time visually, and those that didn't?

Most hand drawn 2D platformers/shooters from the PS1 era (Castlevania SotN, Earthworm Jim, Metal Slug etc.)
With old 3D it's practically impossible to look good today.

Also Neverhood

 

[Chase Yojimbo]

I think Zork aged very, very well since its release... No one has problems with its graphics at all, in fact its graphics are at par with today's if not better.

 

[Hosker]

I usually find games that keep it simple are the ones that age the best, with the exception of MGS3, which didn't, but still looks amazing.