Are there games that you tried but just couldn't get into because they feel outdated?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!
Yeah, it was in a weird sort of Uncanny Valley for gameplay. It was a 3D game with real-time combat, but was still relying on the old school tabletop RPG mechanics that the series was built on. So when you attack, the game does some math to figure out if you actually hit. But that causes some cognitive dissonance because I just saw my character’s attack connect and yet it was labeled as a miss because the invisible d20 rolled too low.
Rolling for an attack is fine in a turn based game, or a 2D game where sprites are just bouncing around. But when I saw my sword phase through the enemy without hurting them, it made it hard to continue playing.
The game also requires a lot more focus and time than I have these days. As an adult, I typically only have a few hours a week to play. And that’s intermittent, while constantly getting pulled away for other things. And in a game like Morrowind, things like the quest notes just aren’t conducive to my lifestyle. No quest marker, because the game gives me a note with vague directions? That’s fine if I’m a kid who can spend 5+ hours wandering around looking for the right boulder to take a left at. But if I’m getting pulled away and distracted constantly, I won’t even be able to remember what the note said when I come back to my computer.
I dont mind the no quest marker, as you can re-read your quest journal to get the directions again. The problem was that the quest journal was unsorted so if you happen to advance in multiple quests at a time or put off a quest and come back to it, then good luck paging through to find the relevant info.
Tribunal added the ability to see specific quest entries iirc
It took me years to figure out, but the directions are actually absurdly precise once you understand how they were written. For instance, if they say to follow the road north out of Caldera until you get to a tree, then turn west and continue until you reach your destination, that tree will be literally encroaching onto the road rather than one of the couple dozen that you pass that are near the road. At that point, you use the minimap to orient yourself exactly dead west and proceed in a perfectly straight line, hopping over rocks if need be, and you'll arrive at the destination, just like the directions said.
This is incredibly unintuitive, though, since absolutely nobody writes directions like that IRL. Not to mention the typos and sporadic instances of east and west being reversed.
There has to be a better option than a floating quest marker or written directions, but I'm not sure what. Maybe the breadcrumb trail from Fable?