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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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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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Darth 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. For my C=64, it was "Compute's Gazette". I typed in countless programs from that magazine .. that and "Ahoy!". "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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Warren For my C=64, it was "Compute's Gazette". I typed in countless programs from that magazine .. that and "Ahoy!". I've been struggling to recall the names of the c=64 magazines I used to read. "Ahoy!" I remembered, but "Compute's Gazette" had a mental block. Thanks. Funk. |
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Funkdrunk I've got a closet full of them. I remember them well. Heh. "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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Bodies? Me too. "Conductor Fist says the next stop is your face! Choo! Choo!"
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yeah I have stacks and stacks of those mags...there was a PCjr (yes I had one, direct from my uncle who worked for IBM at the time) specific version that I have quite a few of also. I never had any commodore systems :( as for consoles I went from owning atari 2600/7800 right to N64...missed out on a lot of console goodness hey look, a 3 headed wookie!
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Best C64 Mag evar This week I will be mostly playing Warcraft 3
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hangedmanAG: Now that I think of it, Pirates was indeed much later. Great game. I wish Pirates Gold hadn't sucked. What did you dislike about Pirates! Gold? Me, I liked it mightily. i need assertion devils inside my eye won't let up any motion
i need a surgeon devils inside won't cut me any slack |
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I doubt my collection matches Warren's, but I still have many issues of Commodore Magazine (the single one, after they merged PowerPlay and the other one), Run, Amiga World, Compute's Gazette, etc. I think my fav of the bunch was INFO (aka INFO64), although it was a little hard to track down sometimes. -Ed i need assertion devils inside my eye won't let up any motion
i need a surgeon devils inside won't cut me any slack |
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You guys are committing gaming blasphemy by recalling these dopey old games and not including Fallout. Aside from the Doom and Quake series, Fallout is by far the best classic ever. Also, the days of building Estes rockets were stunning. Any leftover engine cylinders made a beautiful mushroom cloud. "Cause you'll be LIVIN' IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER EATIN' GOVERNMENT CHEESE!"
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well shit...can't leave out the port of my all time favorite game FOOD FIGHT for the atari 7800 I played this one so much I locked up my machine..a week straight...gotta love pause button hey look, a 3 headed wookie!
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wasteland stfu "You go to HELL! You go to HELL and you DIE!!"
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"Selective Nostalgia" is a trend that affects every gamer (or at least, the ones that have been at it for more than a couple of years). Sure, you remember fond memories of the "classics" on your C64, Vectrex, VCS, NES, Amiga, etc., but do you remember the literal *hours* of configuration to get your Sound Blaster to work with the lastest DOS graphical adventure? How about the inane puzzles, graphical limitations, memory configuration *shudder*, impossible bosses, and more? We've all been there. I think Selective Nostalgia is perfectly okay, of course. To me it's just a sign that we (the dedicated gamers (god that sounds arrogant)) are willing to look past those struggles because we *love* the hobby/world of games. One of the strongest gaming memories in my mind is the summer of 1996. I had been playing video and computer games for about 10 years at that point, but that's when I started to really swap to the computer side of things. It was a balmy, hot summer, the last one before I left for college. I had just purchased my very own PC, albeit a Packard Bell *snicker*. My gaming diet for those three months? Duke Nukem 3D (thank you George and 3DRealms for making me forget the 90-degree heat in my second-floor bedroom in favor of throwing pipe bombs :), TIE Fighter (if they made this with a new graphics engine tomorrow I would pay $50 for it), Warcraft II (Blizzard - enough said), and Doom II (older, but my first deathmatch experience, and mmm, that double-barreled shotgun). Why do I remember this summer above all else? Partly because of the staggering *quality* of the games I was playing, but also because of non-gaming related things. I was working near the beach all summer, so I didn't have many real responsibilities. I was still living at home. The days were long, and the smell of cut grass wafted through my windows as I plotted to destroy the Rebel Alliance. Each and every one of you can probably recall where you were and what was happening in your life during your most nostalgic moments. Sorry about the tangent! I've been hitting PlanetCrap for a couple of years, but I've always lurked. The warm feelings of fuzzy, old gaming just overtook me and I couldn't resist :) Mmm, more carnage...
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Evil Dolomite I've been hitting PlanetCrap for a couple of years, but I've always lurked. You do realize, that now that you've started posting, it's near impossible to stop. It's the Morn Cyber Cocaine.... Funk. |
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I know. Ah man, you've hooked me in. I'm already replying when I should be working! Wait, do I actually work? That's debatable... Mmm, more carnage...
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Shut up! I'm trying to work, here... "Conductor Fist says the next stop is your face! Choo! Choo!"
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Well, when you get right down to it, aren't we all working by converting chemical energy to kinetic energy such as movement and entropic forms such as heat in a physics sense? You know, some people say things about ambguity.
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This summer's no slouch either, what with Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights, Eternal Darkness, Warcraft III, UT 2003 (possibly), Mario Sunshine... Mmm, more carnage...
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The C64 was good stuff, and I even enjoyed some games on the BBC Micro computer (the Acorn stuff) but I still enjoy my first four years of PC games more. |
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