Poll: Is buying old games pointless?

[Encentrik]

Speaking of RPGs with long rolls of text; I have a problem with Skyward Sword. I understand it's sort of tradition to keep everyone silent except for expression noises but in all honesty, keep Link silent and have others voice act. I've been spoiled by Western RPGs to the point that I need to hear voice acting otherwise it'll seem like a chore to me. This would be Nintendo overseeing the project, not like Metroid: Other M where they casted horrible voice actors and turned one of gaming's most interesting female protagonists into a whiny, daddy issues bearing, girl.

 

[shadowsandwich]

It's not so much the old games are the best but there is a humungous list of games to choose from so you can just pick history's best.

 

[mooncalf]

I don't think you'll find many here who puts a use-by date on games, there's a limit to what my nostalgia can support in the back of beyond, but games that are just "pretty damn old" can still interest me. E.G. picking up Aquanox last year though I never played it on release, was fun!

 

[AnotherAvatar]

Buying old games is awesome, and getting them cheap is also nice. The fact is that games (no matter what any fuck head says) are art, and any good work of art is timeless. I was playing Vice City just the other day and really having a great time, good games never really get old, just like a good story or sport or any other source of entertainment.

However, don't stop your friend from buying new games all the time. For one game companies totally need suck-...er... DEDICATED PATRONS to shill out 60+ bucks at every new game launch so I don't have to while the industry keeps on going, and two, more kick ass old school games for us.

 

[Pearwood]

Depends on which old game. Good ones like Baldur's Gate and System Shock are well worth the money. Bad ones are just like the bad games of today but with inferior graphics.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Well...new games are made by an industry that has learned a few things over the years. I never seem to get stuck for hours these days because I missed a door or a key, Autosaves keep you from losing your progress, and tutorials are usually made so that controls are a lot easier to understand.

Still, there is fun to be had in certain, select old games. But I still end up pining for modern features.

Unless your talking about just being a saavy consumer and waiting one or two years and buying a game on the cheap(except for the really good stuff!). Thats something I want to start doing, having just realised how much money I could have been saving!

 

[Encentrik]

Unless your talking about just being a saavy consumer and waiting one or two years and buying a game on the cheap(except for the really good stuff!). Thats something I want to start doing, having just realised how much money I could have been saving!

That's exactly what I do when I don't have the cash; I wait about a year. If it is a game that I desperately want, such as Mass Effect 3, then I'll buy it as soon as possible. If it is a game I'm interested in but can wait until the price goes down, like Deus Ex, then slowly taking my time until I can buy it is not such a bad route.

 

[pyramid head grape]

No! Not even slightly! I have a wall of PS1 and 2 games right beside me, worth every penny.

Crash Bandicoot is a game I normally jump back to.

 

[blackdwarf]

i you didn't had time to to buy the game new and you forget about it. then a year later you see it in the store for 1/3 of the new price, afcourse you should buy it then. i did it with arkham asylum, and now i bought arkham city new. i don't see the problem.

 

[Raddra]

Hell no, most older games are far better than the mass market copy-paste junk they spew out these days.

 

[viranimus]

You think the new Conan isn't dated? You think its music isn't highly stylized?

Come back here in 25 years and we'll talk about this again.

I am going to spoiler this because I do not wish to hijack this thread and derail it onto a discussion of the pros and cons of new and old films.

Spoiler

No Im sorry, you may misunderstand me. EVERY film will eventually become dated. There are industry standard techniques that change and evolve over time. The films of the 1980s have a very specific sound and feel to them. The same is true of early digital films of the 1990s, and contemporary films that are being centered around 720 and 1080 resolutions that will eventually become outdated.

What I am trying to say is that the new Conan film does not at this moment in history suffer from that dating because it is using current standards common in films of today.

Yes, even in 10 years it is possible it will look like a "2010s era film" (though it is arguable that with the migration to digital technology that will eventually be reduced because it is creating a more standardized look.) Compare a film like Fight club from 1999 to a similarly styled film today such as lets say.... zombieland. When you look at both films side by side the visual look is so similar that outside of nuanced style factors like apparel fashions, the cinematography is visually not that dissimilar. Now compare a film made in 1990 vs one made in 1980, Not only is there the stylization differences there is a very wide gap in the cinematography that makes the 80s film look conspicuously blurry, over saturated and yet flat by comparison.

Films are about immersion and there is nothing more immersion breaking in a film when you sense factors about it. Its no difference than seeing movies with obvious use of special effects or CGI usage that are so obvious you notice it. So when you see something in a film that automatically ties it to a different time period, it creates cracks in the immersion one feels from that film.

Look, I am not trying to hijack the thread. Simple fact is that I get that people like old movies. Everyone has different tastes. I accept that my personal taste is in that of a minority, but its not wrong. I know its not because I have known many people who essentially dislike old movies much for the same reasons. That doesnt make it any more correct either. Just means there are a difference of opinions. So continued discussion on something so subjective is sort of useless. So seeings as I have said what I wanted to say about old films, any more quotes regarding it will either be ignored or redirected to this post so that the thread can focus on the real subject.

To be fair, games that are remade usually never touch the core gameplay; that's the difference between films and games. Remade movies often change almost everything, including the story, games simply raise the textures or do a complete HD overhaul in the case of Halo: CEA. The same gameplay and story is intact, the one that gamers fell in love with.

While I do agree that those examples are true, the ties that binds television/film/games are still tightly intertwined. So Just because many of the games thus far have left the narrative and mechanics alone it does not mean that games cannot or will not go down the same path television and film have when gaming history grows as long in the tooth as both of those mediums now are. I was looking more toward what will happen decades from now rather than looking at the modern examples which honestly equate to a lot of the work Turner and others did with colorizing classic films in the 70s and 80s. And since that time we have seen a massive uptake in the complete re envisioning of films. So its entirely possible that the game industry could take a similar turn if that hasn't actually started already. (looks suspiciously at Nintendo and the Legend of Zelda)

 

[SH4DOWSL4Y3R]

Old games tend to be more engaging in story aspects and more often than not you can see that the developers invested themselves a lot more into their product, so of course i'm pro old games.

That's not to say there isn't a few modern gems here and there, but i more than often wait a while (6 months- a year) before i pick up anything unless it is something i have personally tagged as a must-buy (such as sequels to a series i know and love).

plus by your friends logic OP, nobody should ever search for a game they genuinely never had a chance to play, regardless of the level of praise thrown at it.

riiiight

"are you a bad enough dude to save the president?"

ok ok I sort of get where your coming from in say....RPG's where you ould have alot more depth because text is easyer than voice acting

and there are those quiky..special titles like theme hospital and such

buuuut as for story I dont think thats gotten any worse this gen,

i did mean to specify RPG's, Being the main staple genre i play, however i had to dash off for dinner and just ended up clicking the post button without really reviewing what i was saying very well.

i never said that storytelling has dropped in quality completely, it's more that things seem to feel rushed in the story department more often this generation. i've come across a few games that seemed promising but as they progress it seems things have been cut short or just straight out removed due to deadlines.

i guess the essence of what i'm trying to say is that many games this generation just feel less refined than they could be.


Captcha: ragibu mentioned. Who/what is ragibu, and what did they mention??

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Unless your talking about just being a saavy consumer and waiting one or two years and buying a game on the cheap(except for the really good stuff!). Thats something I want to start doing, having just realised how much money I could have been saving!

That's exactly what I do when I don't have the cash; I wait about a year. If it is a game that I desperately want, such as Mass Effect 3, then I'll buy it as soon as possible. If it is a game I'm interested in but can wait until the price goes down, like Deus Ex, then slowly taking my time until I can buy it is not such a bad route.

It can be very hard for me to do sometimes though. Im very much an implulse buyer. Having steam on my computer doesnt help. Anytime im on the computer, night or day, I can buy a game. The temptation is always there....Its worse than porn!

 

[Fluffythepoo]

"Do not let the venir of nostalgia cloud your judgement" -Catface

if its a game i never got to play (or an earlier part of a franchise whos sequel i enjoyed, an example being mass effect) it seems worth it; if its a game i have fond memories of, i prefer to just leave the memories as they are

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Well, he's not wrong. If he doesn't want to play old games, then buying would obviously be VERY idiotic.

However, if you want to play an old game that you don't already own, then buying one is really all you can do.


So what you're really asking is "Do you like playing older games?" to which I would reply "yes". I plan on buying that Jak and Daxter collection thingy next year. If they make one for the Sly Cooper games, I'll buy that too.

 

[Auron225]

I bought Skyward Sword a week or more ago and havent played it yet because I want to finish Final Fantasy 6 (for the PS1) first.

Does that answer your question?

 

[Baconator96]

To say buying an old game is pointless is sort of implying that if you miss a game during the 4-5 month sweet spot that people play it, then you may as well never play it at all. It's a preposterous idea.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Nope, I've been getting all need for speed Nostalgic lately.

I'm going to have to buy all the ones for PS2!

 

[Guardian of Nekops]

Old games are good to play. You have to adjust your expectations sometimes, graphically, but there's a lot out there that is just great, that holds up well and will enthrall you.

They'll certainly waste your time just as well as the new stuff, and a lot of times you can pick them up for 2-5 bucks. Steam is great for that.

Just make sure you research first... if an older game isn't good enough to have fanboys still, you can probably find a better one.

 

[Zantos]

There's never any sweeping statement to make, there are plenty of good new games and plenty of rubbish old ones. But it's definitely not good to dismiss all old games because they're old. Gog.com has some fantastic examples of, well, good old games. Definitely worth the pittance they ask for them.