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Gaming Vintage: What Were The Best Years?
June 27th 2002, 18:20 CEST by Fallon Every year some game gets enough Game of the Year awards in magazines, giving the publishers an excuse to repackage, re-release, add an extra mod (and a tacky badge). But this annual random "best" game is rarely representative of a generally good gaming year. What, in your probably-not-humble opinion, has all round been the best year for PC gaming, and what were the games that made it so? |
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Topic: Gaming Vintage: What Were The Best Years?
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Interesting point Warren brought up; the topic does specify "PC gaming," but of course that's ridiculous. When I think "gaming," I don't think PC or console firstly. I think about board games and card games and pencil and paper. Of course the PC (and to a lesser extent, consoles) have brought huge advances to the life of the gamer (and will of course bring more in the future), but it will be a long, long time coming before any computer game is going to bring me any "golden" times, as some of the experiences I've had with a group of like-minded friends have been. And, no, Bailey, not in the back rooms of comic stores; for me, all of it was always best in a dark basement, with darker beer. Anyway. Stuff isn't there yet, but it's close; with all the yah-yah about NWN that's been going around lately, I guess it must really touch upon that face-to-face ideal that is the core of gaming. For me, anyway; yes, single-player "games" are wildly entertaining experiences, but, largely passionless. I expect this to change. "You go to HELL! You go to HELL and you DIE!!"
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"When a dude stands around and does nothing, whack him on the head with something to see if he's on your team." – SolidSnake hehehe The incredible insights you've given on many topics have brightened all of our lives and touched us in ways we can never fully describe.
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Actually I don't think NWN, even in multiplayer with a hman DM, comes anywhere close to being like face-to-face gaming. Its still just a computer RPG with D&D like rules. Its just a very good one. ... What I've learned from gaming is that the KEY is the the CRATE. The KEY will open the door. The door seems to be made out of standard WOOD or in some cases even basic STEEL. It is not, however, standard WOOD or STEEL, it is the kind that can't be broken through with a ROCKET LAUNCHER or even a personal NUKE. You must have the KEY! Smashing!
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I think you'll find that most peoples' favorite time is the 1st 3-4 years they actually got into gaming. That's the time you really become a fan, so you have fond memories of it. |
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True, George. So true. Smashing!
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I couldn't sit idly by while hearing talk of some of the classics. I said in post #1 (first post bitches!) that 2002 is the best year for games until 2003 and I meant it. Games, in general, keep getting better. Production values keep going up, and there's nothing stopping you in 2002 from playing the 1984 classics. Where as, in 1984, you couldn't play Half Life. Ya Dig? Anyhow, ya - Defender of the Crown sucked ass. A good friend of mine loved it and I finally just formatted the disk so we couldn't play it anymore. Hated that game. Hated Colonial Conquest as well (if any of you old c64 people can remember that). Fortunately that game just sort of ate itself so nothing drastic was needed to make it not play. All the old strategy games bored me to tears. Except Seven Cities of Gold. mmmmmm Shadow of the Beast for the Amiga had the best damn graphics evar. Archon... M.U.L.E... Mail Order Monsters... such classics all around. Like jafd said though, the best *gaming* times I've had have very little to do with the computer though. Except the first month of Everquest. That was something else. But mostly the best gaming I've experienced was in the basement of the games store, playing T1 Magic tournaments, while Ernie Gygax (Gary's son) ran D&D campaigns in the background. One of the perks of where I live (8 or so miles from Lake Geneva, home of TSR hobbies) is that if you were into this sort of thing, there were places to go, and people of a like mind near. Now I'm just rambling. Research has been shown to cause cancer in laboratory rats.
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I can't agree that games are always getting better. Yes the production values are going up, but that's only a small part of it. On the other hand, I don't agree with the view that only older games are good and all the new games suck and are just unfun remakes with fancy graphics. There's good and bad games coming out all the time; once in a while a great one comes along... But if *I* (your view may vary) were stranded on a desert island and could only have a handful of games to take with me not a single one of them would be from this year... or last year for that matter... even if we say for the sake of argument that the island has high speed internet to the rest of the world, but had a magic warez filter to stop me from downloading anything else. Smashing!
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Dunno the years, but Flashback (old skool, first game to use 24 FPS motion capture), Half-Life, Dungeon Keeper, Super Mario Brothers, Doom, Outcast, FFVII, Total Annihilation. Games these days just don't have the impact on me that those games did. |
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I dunno man but this year is shaping up to be pretty stellar. Medal of Honor, Freedom Force, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights.... what other titles are around the bend? Warcraft 3, Unreal Tournament 2, Unreal 2, Asheron's Call 2 (if you like such things), hell, I'm sure there is a bunch that I am missing. Stellar lineup indeed.... and that's just for the PC!!!!!!!! |
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I think you'll find that most peoples' favorite time is the 1st 3-4 years they actually got into gaming. That's the time you really become a fan, so you have fond memories of it. Very true, I remember 1992 (first PC) - 1996 as a period I really enjoyed games. |
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Hmmm... every game I listed besided Freedom Force is a sequel of some kind. Freedom Force goty then! |
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bah, MMORPG's aren't fun unless you can steal... Levelling Schmevelling, Running a mafia that won't get you thrown in jail... now THAT's fun. iamelectro
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Whatever year Panzer Dragoon Zwei was released is the best. =P |
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ZANZARAH. "My Idol is John Carmack and I just want to be a programmer like he is. So I just think that Hentai in 3D could be a great pleasure..."
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SUCKS. So there.
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My best years of games have nothing to do with the games themselves... It's the people, always the people. What made the stupid Kangaroo game on the Atari so much fun? Playing with my family. What made Contra on the NES so much fun? Playing with my Dad and brothers. What made quake1 the game I fell in love with? Playing it mp on the LAN we had at work. What made Action Quake2 so amazing? The people I played with at MS. What made UO great back in the day? The friend I played with every free minute we had. What made Starcraft, Age of Empires, Counter-Strike, etc, etc, etc, etc... The people I played with. This may not apply to everyone, but I'll have more times I look back on...because playing with other people I appreciate is the best experience, no matter the game. What made the SOF2 demo so much fun, the people. That simple, always applies. Gaming for me is about the people. Sure, I play single player games, I obsess over such and such game until I beat it or grow tired of it, but no SP game has ever compared to playing DM, CTF, or CS with people I like being around. Virtually or no, people make games fun for me. So my best years are behind me and in front of me. I've played with people I'll never play with again, but I'll go play D&D with people tomorrow, that make the game good for me... Someday I'll look back on these current D&D sessions and think what a great time I had because of the people I played with. "You're asking for humans to be considerate and think of others, Caryn. Don't you know that's reaching a little far?" - Bailey
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How would one play this Zanzarah game? I believe I can fly......urk.
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One of my fondest memories was playing Mortal Kombat on the SNES with my little brother. He's ten years younger than me and I was about 19 or 20, I think. He would beat me every time on the game, so I went and got a detailed strategy guide and memorized a bunch of moves on a few of the characters and would sneak some practice time in when he was out playing. I would make excused not to play him for a few days so I could practice up. Then one day we sat down for one of our usual sessions and I beat the pants off him several games in a row. He threw down the controller and insisted that the SNES was somehow cheating so I could win. :) "Deathmatch rules, nobody plays coop, and people who play single player are regarded as a little strange. Just like real life." – submitted by astute reader Mark
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One uses a mouse and keyboard to interface with the characters and landscape contained within the monitor. Recognize the weighty presence of a two-tonne ego.
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Bailey, SHHHH! Don't give away all the secrets to the game, I haven't played yet. "You're asking for humans to be considerate and think of others, Caryn. Don't you know that's reaching a little far?" - Bailey
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Hmmm... my best moments in gaming. The entire Wizardry series, it's been a part of my life since I was a very little girl playing with my grandpa and my uncle. Doom probably kept me from killing my classmates in junior high and I put more hours into it than any other game. Tetris and Tai Pei are my "talking on the phone to someone boring" games, stuff I can do and converse at the same time, they've probably saved my friendship with my best friend a thousand times over as he whined for hours on end about his relationships. Dungeon Keeper blew my mind and was the most pure fun I've ever had. My best friend would dial in to try a modem game with me and we'd get so distracted with slapping each other's hands on the menu screen that we'd never actually get around to playing. The entire Tekken series has been great, great fun for me. Spending hours at the arcade or at my best friend's house playing, making up horrible dramatic storylines as we fight over and over again. Skies of Arcadia for having a fanastic setting and likable characters. Zanzarah's setting is like all the daydreams I had as a little girl rolled up into one little ball of joy. When you see the pond in the forest that has the lights swirling above it and you run into the pond which erupts into many beautiful lights for a moment and then settles down I wanted to cry because that's very close to many dreams I've had. It's beautiful and it touches me on a level no games have before. "My Idol is John Carmack and I just want to be a programmer like he is. So I just think that Hentai in 3D could be a great pleasure..."
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Deepest regrets, Matt. I probably won't mention how the game has a menu at the beginning which allows a person to start a new game, load a previously played game, adjust video, audio, and gameplay options, or quit. Recognize the weighty presence of a two-tonne ego.
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I'm intrigued. I believe I can fly......urk.
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Way back in the days of games like King's Quest 4, Gold Rush, et all, me ma and I used to sit down and try to figure out how to get past the next logic puzzle or what have you. But Lemmings was the one game that she truly enjoyed as much as I did. Which is kind of sad, as every other aspect of my gaming obsession up until now has pretty much brought her despair and frustration. Still, we'll always have Lemmings. Other than that, a friend and I used to deathmatch Doom for about four to six hours a night over the ol' 28.8 modems. Crazy fun. After a month or two of that, I started hearing those big sighing doors opening and imps growling during day to day life, so I called it quits... then a month later, got right back into it, though not as heavily as before. Good times. Recognize the weighty presence of a two-tonne ego.
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My mom and I played Monkey Island together, as well as some of her co-workers so whenever any of us were stuck we had a greater chance of someone figuring it out. Unfortunately she has given up games for message boards instead of realising that she can do both. "My Idol is John Carmack and I just want to be a programmer like he is. So I just think that Hentai in 3D could be a great pleasure..."
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This year is the best ever because of Morrowind, Eternal Darkness, and Triptych. So there.
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AD2378. If you have to ask why, you haven't been there, man. You know, some people say things about ambguity.
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The best year EVAR for games was 1842, the year that the game to end all games was released: Rock Paper Scissors. |
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I don't believe any of that 'best gaming years are the first years you gamed' BS. Maybe that's true if you also believe in growing out of games... You name any time period, and I can most likely name a game that I was enjoying the hell out of. And when there aren't any games I enjoy, then I can just get some retrogaming in. If I find that there are fewer games to enjoy, I attribute it to standards being raised by ever better games. I cannot go back. For instance, I tried replaying X-Wing a while back. Which has a special place in my heart, as I played it religiously for months. However, after the masterpiece which is Freespace 2, X-Wing just felt incomplete. So, I can never go back to games that don't meet the bar as raised by others. Still, there are plenty of fun games to enjoy. Just most of them are on GBA. Bailey: Beep beep, motherfucker.
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I remember my SNES years the most fondly. Zelda 3 (oddly enough I didn't like the first two that much when I played them), Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, Uniracers, Megaman X series, NCAA Basketball, Yoshi's Island (the graphics hold up surprisingly well, I pulled it out a few weeks ago) were my main stays, I didn't even play Super metroid and chrono trigger and super punchout till much later on emulators. Even so, the NES contains my two most played games, Megaman 2 and Mario 3. PC games have been okay, but I seem to spend more time outside of the games, either mod/level/skin making or talking about the games, the gaming itself hasn't been as engaging as it used to be. "I don't want to be immortal through my work, I want to be immortal through not dying." -Woody Allen
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Man, you gotta love eBay. I just made $266 selling off stuff that was sitting in my closet. The crown jewel- $85 for an anime poster. America- what a country!!!! I love it! Arizona Diamondbacks 2001 World Series Champions
"It's all about positioning! So assume the position!" JMCDaveL |
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My best gaming moment, besides my C-64 gaming days, was when I got a hold of a couple of floppies that had the shareware version of Doom on it. I remember loading it up and my mouth dropping open! This was my single greatest moment. Next was when I discovered I could play against others in Doom. The Doom, Quake, and Duke communities were great back then too. You could actually email a question and get an answer back from the sites. Ah the memories.............. Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one
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That's sick, yotsuya. You're like those freaks who make a career out of ebay. Was it a particularly special poster? Recognize the weighty presence of a two-tonne ego.
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Freaks like jafd? Bailey: Beep beep, motherfucker.
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I thought jafd was a white slave trader with ties to the Yakuza and Triads. Recognize the weighty presence of a two-tonne ego.
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Gimme gimme gimme, Jimmy... WOODS!! |
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Nova Z I don't believe any of that 'best gaming years are the first years you gamed' BS. Maybe that's true if you also believe in growing out of games... Just a thought, but if you don't grow out of games, why is it that retrogaming doesnt have the same appeal as when you first played them? I tend to agree with George, but for me it has to do with the types of games that I've played over the years. When I was first introduced to D&D back in '82, the arcade scene was going full steam, and maybe it was because I had a great DM, but once I started playing D&D on a regular basis, the arcades lost thier appeal. I attended all sorts of D&D conventions, and had a blast being a part of the scene. But, once I got my hands on my C-64, D&D took a back seat just as the arcades did when I started my D&D era. Same thing happened when the Amiga 500 was introduced, and then the Amiga 2000, and its been the same progression ever since. For me, the first year or two of any new game/platform has always been the most fun, because things are new and people are alive with fresh new ideas, the scene is robust, and change is certain to occur. But how much has the PC really changed in that context? Sure processors have gotten faster, and the bitrates of soundcards and fill rates of video cards have drastically improved, but were has that really gotten us gamers looking for that next "new" thing to come along? Multiplayer has been the single biggest factor in my enjoyment of the PC gaming experience, and it's brought me closer to those "golden" days of pen and paper games(D&D) than anything has since I bought my first computer. It's developers like ID who always push the Tech envelope, and developers like Looking Glass who offer a new way of thinking about First Person Shooters that keep the PC scene fresh and exciting(for me at least), and thats what keeps me hooked. ...on the outside looking in, banned by an epiphany at an EB store....
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I'm going to post a list of games that in their time gave me an experience I haven't had later on with other games (that might be better technically). So the list you'll see are the games that in their time really stood out of the crowd in my opinion : Best shooter : Quake 2 Best Racing : Death Track Best Adventure : Full Throttle Best RPG : Eye of the Beholder Best Sim : Falcon 3.0 Best Fighting : Dead or Alive 2 (PS2) although Mortal Kombat was great aswell Best Strategy : Civilisation I never said I was healthy
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Say nothing, damn your eyes. "You go to HELL! You go to HELL and you DIE!!"
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Full Throttle could well have been the best game ever, had it not been so goddamn short"!#¤!"#¤!"#%& "It goes without saying that technical proficiency should be the first acquistion of a student who would be a fine pianist." - Sergei Rachmaninov
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Just a thought, but if you don't grow out of games, why is it that retrogaming doesnt have the same appeal as when you first played them? Because, as much as you say the "good ol days" and "oh, they dont make games that good any more", it's still a fact that they did make games that good, and better. You just don't remember the bad parts of good games. Ten years down the road, do you think I'm going to talk much about Xen? You know, some people say things about ambguity.
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Moraff's Revenge. Its the first RPG Adventure game I ever played and enjoyed the heck out of it back in 89. Not the best game, not my favorite game, but the one PC game that I remember the most of the years gone by. Neat that I actually found a copy of the shareware on GamesDomain. -Jon
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webrunner Because, as much as you say the "good ol days" and "oh, they dont make games that good any more", it's still a fact that they did make games that good, and better. You just don't remember the bad parts of good games. Ten years down the road, do you think I'm going to talk much about Xen? Yep. Peoples memories of old games are heavily filtered. "It's pretty common for pussies, dumbasses, and their families to blame their problems on vague influences like the media and society. The truth is, fuck you."
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Does anyone remember....agh, I think it was caller Lunar Lander or something...the entirety of the gameplay was using a limited amount of fuel to safely land a spaceship on various hard-to-access landing pads. The harder the pad, the higher your score, and the score translated to fuel for your ship I think. That game was insanely hard, but I remember it fondly. I don't know what platforms it was released on, I played it on the C-64. |
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Wasn't that game included as a game-in-the-game for 'the dig'? professional philosophical level design monkey.
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You remember it fondly? Do you also enjoy slamming your hand in doors? "It's pretty common for pussies, dumbasses, and their families to blame their problems on vague influences like the media and society. The truth is, fuck you."
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Ahh yes lunar lander...I remember typing that one in from the back of compute magazine...I think that was the name. Where they would give you a bunch of free software each month, you just had to type it all in line by line. ahh the good 'ol days hey look, a 3 headed wookie!
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Hugin It was Lunar Lander. It was out for just about every platform, and I recall playing it on a Vic 20 and on a C=64. I hated it. However, a game with very similar gameplay captivated me for weeks upon weeks, a few years later. Space Taxi. Amazing what a little refinement of a concept can do. Funk. |
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They re-released Lunar Lander on the PC in 1999 I think. Still fucking impossible. One of my personal fave gaming years was probably 1998. Half-Life was great, Thief was great, SiN was good (I didn't get that many bugs thankfully). I remember thinking about Prey and thinking "that'll own!" too. Wasn't Carmageddon 2 also 1998? Fun. And the original GTA? Or is my gaming-knowledge-fu weak? Hmm. Does anyone remember Prax War? Man, that was going to own. This is not an exit.
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Erm I neglected to mention this was an obivously "updated" Lunar Lander. Not a port :P This is not an exit.
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