The 'take a step back' movement

[SargentToughie]

Well people, if you're like me, then you've just about had enough of this constant hate and bile spewing back and forth between the developers who see themselves as nigh invincible, and the gaming public, which is perceived as a bunch of immature jackholes every time one of the devs screws the pooch. Modern gaming is getting to be more of a hassle then it's worth to me, with all the automatic updates of the consoles, online passes, DLC that should be content you already own... it's just made me cold and jaded and angry.

I want to go back to simpler, happier days. Days when we knew that we were getting a complete package for our money, days where we didn't have to deal with companies trying to get just that little bit of extra cheddar that comes with screwing over consumers.

I'm breaking out the old PS2 and reliving some of my favorite moments ever playing video games.

I want to go back and play Dragon Quest 8.
I want to go back and play Star Wars battlefront 2.
I want to go back and play Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2

Hell, I'll even go back and play Champions: return to arms, it may have had it's flaws, but I absolutely loved it.

Now, I'm not saying that I plan on completely forgoing modern gaming. I have a PC that I shoveled $3000 into, and I plan on getting my money's worth out of it, but for those of us who really do care about this industry, who care about video games as a whole and have given them years upon years of our love and commitment, I think it's time for us to take a step back and remind us why we love video games so much.

So, if you're like me, taking a few steps back to a better time in gaming before this whole mess that started with the 7th generation of consoles, what are you playing? What are some of your favorite moments in gaming? How has that shaped the kind of player that you are today?

It's time for us to be a community again, if you're sick of the in-fighting and sick of the drama, join the 'take a step back' movement and let's all just get along for a change.

EDIT: And oh, believe me, if there was ANY WAY I could get my hands on either a Dreamcast or an SNES... hooh...

 

[Luca72]

I took a step back to the first Deus Ex, just finished it and managed to find some stuff I missed the first time. It has graphics that look like slow-cooked ass, a main character in a silly trenchcoat, and gunfights that usually involve 3 guys crouching and shooting, completely exposed, while 3 more guys run from side to side screaming.
And it's most likely the best game I've ever played. It's gameplay is deep enough to warrant exploration and reward logical thinking, it's story is intelligent enough to be worth discussing, and it has just enough self-aware camp mixed in to make it fun.

Best moment: toward the end of the game, I was running low on ammo for my stealthy weapons, so I nabbed a Plasma Rifle (heavy weapon I wasn't specialized in, so I could do major damage against organics but moved very slow) I found lying on the ground. I was sneaking around on some catwalks, trying to silently make my way into a control room, when I got caught trying to take out a guard. I whipped out the Plasma Rifle and took out the two closest guards in sight. I heard alarms go off, turned on my vision augment which let me see enemy heat signatures through walls, and went full Terminator, clearing out two floors of baddies trying to take me down in teams.

Whenever a modern game disappoints me I go back to Deus Ex, and remember why I like video games in the first place.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I am always playing old games, in fact, I play them way more often than new ones and get far more enjoyment out of them. That is the upside of being mostly a PC gamer is that I can play any of them at any time I want.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Whenever a modern game disappoints me I go back to Deus Ex, and remember why I like video games in the first place.

I couldn't agree with you more!

Anywho... right now I'm working my way through Planescape: Torment. Picked it up a while back when GoG was doing that buy-one-get-one-free deal on D&D-based games, just never had the chance to devote the time to it that it deserves.

 

[targren]

Hell, I did that a year ago. Catherine coming with a Sony-Esque required firmware update was the straw that broke the camel's back. I'd already decided that Sony and Nintendo were out of the running for next-gen console purchases, and Microsoft joined the pack with that stunt.

Didn't think of giving it a name/movement, unless it was "Screw you guys. Bad devs, no more money for you," but I'm definitely with you. Maybe this weekend I'll start playing through the first 4 Ratchet & Clanks again, now that you bring it up...

 

[Rakun Man]

I've been playing Pokemon Silver on my Game Boy Color.
Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

 

[Starik20X6]

The age of a game has never been a barrier for me. Getting ahold of older games I missed though (legally) is a bit of a challenge though, not so much now with Virtual Console and the like.

I just got done playing through Link's Awakening, which I'd missed the first time around. Got completely sucked into it, it's the 3rd most played game on my 3DS (the other two also being Ocarina and Minish Cap funnily enough).

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Playing Pokemon Black made me go back to my Gameboy versions, restart the games, and complete the game once again.

Not at all psyched about the sequels either.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

I know people will look down on me for saying this. But so many old games are just too damn ugly.

Some games have aged well like doom or most oldschool strategy games where everything is 2d. But any of the first real 3D games is just too ugly for me now. I cant immerse myself in a world like Morrowind anymore and it sucks that I feel this way now.

Plus designs of games were horrible back then, nowadays game developers actually put a lot of work with test groups and stuff like map markers into making sure the player actually has an idea of where they are meant to be going and what they are meant to be doing. The amount of times I would get stuck in some old game because I saved and went to bed and the next day I couldnt remember that one piece of dialouge that said to go west or whatever...ARGHHH!!

 

[Pearwood]

Old Infocom games for me and later stuff like Space/King's/Whatever Quest. All you can really do to cause drama in those fanbases is say Mask of Eternity fit in with King's Quest perfectly well.

 

[King of Asgaard]

I wish I could do stuff like this.
Since my PS2 has gone to join Yoda, I can't play a lot of my old favourites anymore.
The best I could do was get a PS1 emulator on my PC, but it doesn't handle disc swapping, so that limits what I can play somewhat.
I'd kill to be able to replay Kingdom Hearts 1, 2 again...

 

[Doogan]

I like to occasionally break out my N64 for a few rounds of Goldeneye and Mario Kart 64 with my mates and I still have an original Playstation with FFVII in near mint condition

Also a huge ass PC game libary

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I liked playing Jak and Daxter with my dad as a kid

 

[Akytalusia]

EDIT: And oh, believe me, if there was ANY WAY I could get my hands on either a Dreamcast or an SNES... hooh...

'ANY WAY' huh? any way at all? guess i'll just leave this [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulator#Video_game_console_emulators] here.

 

[Sexy Devil]

I've been playing through the Jak and Daxter collection (or, as it will forever be known in my mind, The Jak Pak) lately. I'm legitimately having so much trouble with some parts of Jak 2 (Errol race) that I can't believe this was made for children. Of course I then realised I could cheat and knock him into the water before the race to get a big head start, but I was trying for like an hour before I figured that out.

 

[pierre666lol]

Just had a couple of rounds of Star Wars Battlefront I with my brother and then Simpsons hit'n run. It was glourious.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Yeah, let's go back to the old days!

102 Dalmations: Puppies to the Rescue!
Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time!
Smurf Racer!
3D Baseball!
360: Three-Sixty!

Okay, so maybe the Playstation 1 was just as clogged with shit as the market today, and we just can't remember it, but what about the PS2?

18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker!
187: Ride or Die!
Haven: Call of the King!
He-Man: Defender of Grayskull!
Ribbit King!
The X-Files: Resist or Serve!

I could do this all day.

Okay, but the community was better wasn't it? Like how when Metal Gear Solid 2 was released and gamers took it completely maturely and didn't at all go insane and start claiming that all gaming was ruined forever. Or like how every single time WoW has released a new update since the game's inception, and gamers take it like level headed rational adults. Or how Halo was never blamed and attacked for being 'the death of FPS gaming' despite the real problem being people following Halo's lead.

Yeah, I see what you mean, gaming was so much better back in the day. I was never the cause of flame wars for liking Halo, or liking the mainstream instead of the cult and indie stuff, or because I didn't support used games, or because I liked Final Fantasy VII more than I liked VI, or because I thought MGS2 was actually pretty interesting.

 

[Unsilenced]

Playing older games has kind of become my "thing."

It started with the original Half-Life games, then Penumbra, then the Hitman games and the first Deus ex. Now I've been going through the Stalker games and Morrowind.

I've just pretty much stopped buying recent games. There's just so much good stuff out there I haven't gotten to.