The good old days really all that good?

[pyramid head grape]

OK thread time! So I just got myself a good old fashioned PS2 about a week ago with some games that I played and enjoyed in my youth. (resident evil VX, resident evil 4, silent hill 2 + 3, prince of Persia 1 + 2, shadow of the colossus, FFX and so on)

Since then my ps3 hasn't been turned on once, same goes for the 360 and I do have games to play on them I just... don't want to play them weird ha.

Also lots of people like to yell at new gen consoles saying that there all flash and pretty graphics not focusing on story any-more But is that true ....?

so are the good old days the best times or just Nostalgia blinding us ???

**sorry to anyone how made anything like this in the past**

 

[badgersprite]

A lot of it is nostalgia, because you aren't going to go back and play all those old games you hated, are you? Whereas with new games you're playing a much wider range and therefore coming across ones you don't like that you'll never play again.

Overall though, I do like way more games from my youth than I do new games, but it's not for the reasons people usually give. It's not because they have better story (old games usually have way less focus on story or way more basic or silly ones than new games) but generally because these older games have one simple driving idea behind them: being fun and entertaining. I like them better because they're simpler, not in the sense of being dumber or easier, but in being focused on doing what they do well, to the point where extraneous crap doesn't weigh them down and get in the way of the entertainment.

Just my thoughts.

 

[x-machina]

Games have gotten a lot more simple and lost a lot of depth. I have no idea how anyone could argue otherwise, the evidence is right there. I mean, compare Morrowind to Oblivion, or Fallout 3 to Fallout 2 or even just modern World of Warcraft to World of Warcraft when it was first launched.

Generally games have lost all complexity, depth and character. Of course there a few exceptions like Stalker and the witcher

 

[theheroofaction]

It's not really nostalgia either. you don't remember the old and bad ones, just the good old ones.

Whereas people can be cynical about new games because they don't remember that sturgeons law existed back then.

 

[tlozoot]

I'm pretty sure it's nostalgia. In addition, while new games obviously have graphics in their favour, in a lot of cases the improved technology allows for a richer gameplay experience. That includes things like more voice acting, multiple layers of content and better AI. In theory this should lead to better games. Whether the clearly better tools leads to better games is debatable though.

I think it pretty much goes without saying that the best games of today stand as tall as the best games of yesterday.

 

[Irridium]

Nostalgia. Games back then weren't that much better. Still fun, but they get way more praise then they deserve.

Yes there are a few that are much better then most games these days, but not much are. You don't remember them because you blocked them out of your head. Because they sucked so hard.

 

[psicat]

A little bit of nostalgia, and a lot of those games being true classics. But, there are no true best times. People tend to forget a bit that the generation that those games came out in where basically the same as this one. For every console gaming classic that came out on the PS2 there where also a multitude of average games, and a few truly horrible ones that made people look back on PSX titles as gems from a lost golden age or something. Each generation is like that.

As for PC games there is also the case of a few games that don't become classics until a few years latter. One of my favorite PC games Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines is looked at now a days as a classic, but when if first came out it was a bug ridden mess that I had to give up on at one point because of.

 

[Ursus Buckler]

I'd be willing to give a whole lot more to play Spyro The Dragon on PS1 or the original Pokemon games than I would to play the newest Call of Duty.

 

[bushwhacker2k]

Most of todays games have LESS content and depth not more.

I agree, not to jump on the "graphics are for noobs" bandwagon but I feel like a lot of games now are focused on looking pretty, getting the initial 60$ payoff, being played for a week or two and then then being placed in the bargain bin.

I'm not declaring all games made these days as bland and absolutely unintuitive, but it seems like oftentimes there was more passion and depth in some older games.

I'd be willing to give a whole lot more to play Spyro The Dragon on PS1 or the original Pokemon games than I would to play the newest Call of Duty.

Spyro was AMAZING, I feel like playing it now and I still occasionally play Pokemon

 

[Aerograt]

so are the good old days the best times or just Nostalgia blinding us ???

Ocarina of Time was the best adventure game for its time because no one had really made a good game like it before. Majora's Mask had crisper and more responsive gameplay than OOT but OH GOD THE SLIGHTLY INTERESTING TIME TRAVEL MECHANIC AND THE FACT THAT WE'RE NOT INTERACTING IN HYRULE OR WITH ZELDA MUST MAKE THE GAME SUCK! Halo CE had Suck Gulch and God Pistol spawns, Halo 2 had a freaking hitscan BR and button GLITCHES (which fanboys somehow say are "skillful"). At least Halo 3 and Reach have Forge and slightly less all purpose starting weapons. The best thing about older games is usually their original story; not their glitchy gameplay or inferior technology. If a person wants to lie to themselves and preach about how perfect an older game is compared to modern games they need to go play them and shut it.

 

[tlozoot]

Perhaps it might have more to do with the market. Growing industry = more games being made = higher proportion of 'shallow' games. Although that the industry is putting out more games is simple speculation on my part.

 

[Someone lost on TVTropes]

Most of the time it's due to this:

Spoiler

http://www.simplephrase.com/motivation/graphics/nostalgia.jpg

It's fine to have an opinion on it, the problem is so many people preach it (I've been guilty of it myself). Now there were some things that could be seen as legitimately better, but most of it is just nostalgia.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

PS2 isn't the good old days for me. That would have to be sega genesis or ps1. There's a few amazing ps1 games truly fun to play to this day but that's besides nostalgia.


I like games with deep stories and those don't need high power machines in order to be deep and enthralling.


But yeah, if you asked me to list my top games you'd get a lot of ps2 stuff, some portable stuff, some ps1 stuff and a few current gen things...but no genesis stuff, thus I maintain that nostalgia does not cloud my mind.

 

[Biosophilogical]

Some of my favourite games ever are older games (not ancient, just older). I mean, the first two Golden Sun games and FFX are some of the best experiences I've had with an RPG, and the re-boot of Pokemon Gold (it's a re-boot, so I'm counting it as an old game) is my favourite pokemon game (with the original generation a close second).

On the other hand, Monster Hunter Tri was the most real-time fun I've had (closely followed by KH2). So some old games are fantastic, not because they're old, but because they do what they do really well.

EDIT: Oh, and before we got a PS2, we had a N64. Pokemon Stadium and that Donkey Kong game with the pineapple-cannon. Good stuff.

 

[kaioshade]

There were a lot of gems for older systems. As for the nostalgia, i do think it plays a very large part with our perception. Since we were younger, we were not as critical of games as we tend to be when we are older. And some games just had more imagination. There really hasn't been a game like Ico for current gen systems.

And yes i think people are tuned entirely too much to graphics. Every time i think about Nier, i cannot help but think if that game was released for the PS2, it would have gotten mass acclaim.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

There were a lot of gems for older systems. As for the nostalgia, i do think it plays a very large part with our perception. Since we were younger, we were not as critical of games as we tend to be when we are older. And some games just had more imagination. There really hasn't been a game like Ico for current gen systems.

And yes i think people are tuned entirely too much to graphics. Every time i think about Nier, i cannot help but think if that game was released for the PS2, it would have gotten mass acclaim.

That can cut both ways.


True, we were less critical back then, we also were quite young and unable to appreciate many things we can now.


Prime example for me is FFIX, I recently started replaying it (currently on the beginning of the 4th disk) and I am enjoying it way more than I did 11 years ago. I now come to realize why trance wasn't supposed to be controlled, I enjoy the existential aspects of the story a lot, I even like Eiko and Steiner (even though I despised both of them back then) and the game as a whole. It's not a game that I disliked mind you, I did like it, just not nearly as much as I do now, so we can't attribute that to nostalgia.

 

[kaioshade]

There were a lot of gems for older systems. As for the nostalgia, i do think it plays a very large part with our perception. Since we were younger, we were not as critical of games as we tend to be when we are older. And some games just had more imagination. There really hasn't been a game like Ico for current gen systems.

And yes i think people are tuned entirely too much to graphics. Every time i think about Nier, i cannot help but think if that game was released for the PS2, it would have gotten mass acclaim.

That can cut both ways.


True, we were less critical back then, we also were quite young and unable to appreciate many things we can now.


Prime example for me is FFIX, I recently started replaying it (currently on the beginning of the 4th disk) and I am enjoying it way more than I did 11 years ago. I now come to realize why trance wasn't supposed to be controller, I enjoy the existential aspects of the story a lot, I even like Eiko and Steiner (even though I despised both of them back then) and the game as a whole. It's not a game that I disliked mind you, I did like it, just not nearly as much as I do now, so we can't attribute that to nostalgia.

Very very true. That is an excellent point. There were some games when i was younger i could not really get into, but giving them a second chance it instantly shot up to my favorites list. SaGa Frontier and Final Fantasy Tactics top my list.

 

[TiefBlau]

Pro: Different design philosophy, more stylization.

Con: Primitive technology, niche audience.