Are there games that you tried but just couldn't get into because they feel outdated? Games that, in theory, you would enjoy, but don't because the controls, graphics, writing, or mechanics just don't feel good anymore. Games that, compared to today, just don't hold up to your standards.
I recently tried playing Heroes of Might and Magic III, and I realized that a lot of the invisible language used through game design from that era, I do not understand. There are many things that the game didn't explain, and I assume they were just understood by players. Not only that, but I imagine there was a lot of crossover between video games and board games back then, so maybe that language was used as well. I ended up downloading a manual and putting it on my second screen and I get it and played it, but it just wasn't for me.
I also dropped Mirror's Edge, but this time it was because of the graphics. It looks and feels great, but the graphics give me a headache. There is way too much bloom, and for some reason, there are some parts that look like the imaginary lens has been covered in Vaseline. This didn't bother me before, but my eyes are not used to it anymore.
There are also games like the first two Tony Hawk Pro Skater games that I can't fully get into because they're missing mechanics from the later games. The levels and controls feel great, but they don't feel complete without those mechanics. It keeps me from enjoying the games as much as the others.
Please share yours!
Pretty much all of the iconic games from my early teens. (I was a teen in the late 80s and 90s). The games that I grew up with, that I fell in love with, are unplayable now.
Dragonstrike, a flight sim where you fly a dragon in the D&D Dragonlance world was mind blowing when I first played it. Now, it's so bad that replaying it spoiled my memory of the original experience!
Yeah I get that. Sometimes I wish I didn't revisit games and instead kept the nostalgia glasses on haha
Exactly! I'm much more inclined to not revisit things these days. The original Fallout games fall in this category for me
Damn, that game sounds amazing as a concept though. I've been really looking for something that's a decent dragon-based game which doesn't involve the dragons being relentlessly shat on by the story/all being dead or super rare.
How bad are we talking, exactly..?
It's a flight combat sim. You're on the back of a dragon instead of in a cockpit. You can either blast enemies with your breath, or get close and rake them with your claws. I was on PC at the time, and this runs on DOS, so don't expect any marvel of technology.
Like a scientifically accurate dragon MMO?
I'm listening. What've you got?
It's a meme. A glorious one.
There are a couple of dragon flight games out there, but the ones I've played take too many pages from flight sims, and not enough from riding horses. You can't get a horse to try to jump the Grand Canyon, but in the sims I played, the dragons would let you fly them into a mountainside.
Someday, though.
I'm generally with you, but I'd go back and play some of them (and have).
Technology didn't really permit for a lot of improvement on side-scrolling platform games after that era, and I don't feel like gameplay advanced a lot either; I think that the Super Mario Brothers series is still playable. I like Super Metroid, would still say that it competes with modern Metroidvanias (though the limited screen size is a bit painful).
There are certainly more-realistic racing games, but games like Outrun are IMHO still playable.
Tetris has advanced from a visual and audio standpoint, but the game hasn't really changed that much. I'd probably default to playing a modern variant, but the 1980s versions are fine, IMHO.
Pac-Man is still playable, IMHO. Not much that really superseded that.
Vertically-scrolling shmups like 1943 have seen more graphical glitz, but I don't feel like the genre has really deeply benefited much from technical improvements.