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Ask HN: What older games are you playing through?

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Re: Ask HN: What older games are you playing through?

#11

Post by cableshaft »

> Recently finished FFX and now playing through FF7...they cannot rely on the graphics to sell themselves and had not yet been 'hollywood-ised'

Um...Final Fantasy games, ever since at least 7, were absolutely selling themselves on their amazing graphics. Hell, 7 was maybe the first time that games got cinematic commercials on mainstream TV, because the graphics were that amazing for the time.

That being said, since I've gotten a Steam Deck and hooked it up with RetroAchievements (which gives thousands of retro games achievements you can get), I've been playing through a lot of older games again. A few weeks ago I got a ridiculous (for me at least) high score in Kirby's Pinball Land for the original Game Boy, for example (it was >800,000 points).

Some others I've replayed recently are Wave Race 64 (the gameplay and waves in that still hold up, I actually appreciate it more than I did then), Wendy: Every Witch Way on Game Boy Color, started yet another playthrough of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (I've replayed that game so many times), got about halfway through Donkey Kong on the original Game Boy, tried Puzzle Link for the Neo Geo Pocket for the first time and got addicted to that for a little while, played a good chunk of the way through Kirby and the Amazing Mirror on Game Boy Advance, played through most of Kickle Cubicle for the original NES (I remember finding it too hard to figure out when I was a kid, but it really isn't, and it's a lot of fun).

The achievements are nice because they serve as a bit of an auto documentation of what I've been playing (I was able to share that list because I looked through my achievements on RetroAchievements).

Re: Ask HN: What older games are you playing through?

#12

Post by pyb »

> they cannot rely on the graphics to sell themselves

Game reviewers have always been saying that games rely too much on graphics, at the expense of game design. It was already a trope in the early 1990s.

From that era I recommend Ultima 7 Serpent Isle

Re: Ask HN: What older games are you playing through?

#13

Post by dyingkneepad »

Just beat Doom last week and I'm now playing through Doom 2. It's still amazing. It brought me back some memories I had completely forgotten about me playing with my cousins. Also, remembering some old map layouts gave me a very weird feeling like I've been visiting a real place I've been when I was a child. 10/10 would recommend.

Re: Ask HN: What older games are you playing through?

#16

Post by agent008t »

dyingkneepad wrote: post #13

Just beat Doom last week and I'm now playing through Doom 2. It's still amazing. It brought me back some memories I had completely forgotten about me playing with my cousins. Also, remembering some old map layouts gave me a very weird feeling like I've been visiting a real place I've been when I was a child. 10/10 would recommend.

On PC or on PSX? The version on PSX had a very different feel to it, partly due to very different kind of soundtrack. Both are good though.

Re: Ask HN: What older games are you playing through?

#18

Post by jjice »

solardev wrote: post #10

After the movies, I wanted to experience Dune 2 again (the pirate sites have it, along with patches to make it playable on modern OSes or Crossover). It was arguably the first mass-market real-time strategy game. There's also OpenRA for C&C, Red Alert, and Dune 2K: https://www.openra.net/ I understand Square is re-making FF7 in a multi-part release over several years (not sure why it takes so long)? https://ffvii-rem…

> not sure why it takes so long

They're making the original 30-40 hour game into three 40-60 hour action RPGs. I don't know enough about game development timelines, but I'm assuming that it's just large to juggle, especially since it has crossed console generations.

I've only played part one, but they did a great job with it! A warning though: they add a good bit of "filler" compared to the original to turn the 5ish hour Midgar sequence into a full game. It can be a bit draining at points since I wanted to just relive the original game I love, but if you know that going in, it's not bad, just different.

There's some weird stuff they do with Sephiroth to make the end of part one feel more substantial as it's own game, but again, if you can look past it, the game is excellent.

Also note that it's an action RPG now instead of being turn based. Sometimes I missed the old turn based gameplay.

Re: Ask HN: What older games are you playing through?

#19

Post by muzani »

pyb wrote: post #12

> they cannot rely on the graphics to sell themselves Game reviewers have always been saying that games rely too much on graphics, at the expense of game design. It was already a trope in the early 1990s. From that era I recommend Ultima 7 Serpent Isle

I think games that do this simply don't survive the test of nostalgia. As a child I remember the 90s being full of bad games and bad music topping the charts, but these days, people would praise 90s music and gaming.

Re: Ask HN: What older games are you playing through?

#20

Post by pyb »

muzani wrote: post #19
pyb wrote: post #12

> they cannot rely on the graphics to sell themselves Game reviewers have always been saying that games rely too much on graphics, at the expense of game design. It was already a trope in the early 1990s. From that era I recommend Ultima 7 Serpent Isle

I think games that do this simply don't survive the test of nostalgia. As a child I remember the 90s being full of bad games and bad music topping the charts, but these days, people would praise 90s music and gaming.

It was a golden era for games, but not for music
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