*Really* Classic Games

[stormlord]

Originally Posted by Aenor [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This:

http://www.gog.com/game/darklands

One of the greatest games ever made before Everquest. I still think the combat system in this game is revolutionary. You control four characters and you hit space to pause, give those characters orders (i.e. click on a place for them to move to or an enemy to attack), then unpause and the combat happened in real time.

I'm not sure if this was the first game that moved from stupid turn-based combat like Pool of Radiance (you move your character across the screen while everybody else is frozen in time, then once your turn is done, you sit there motionless while each NPC moves one at a time) to real time/simultaneous. But it's the game I remember it for. So it incorporated real strategy because if your wizard was about to get attacked by some plate-clad enemies, you needed to move him back and get your mele character in the way.

It's not open world ... you move about cities through dialog screens and only go into the 2D isometric view during combat. This was a DOS game. Old school. Yes, I'm old. Fuck you. I had a Commodore 64.

According to the description on GOG:

One of “The Greatest Games Of All Time” according to Gamespot®.

Yes, easily.

After Darklands, the next major game for me was Myth II: Soulblighter. This game took the concept of real time action and giving orders to your troops and expanded it to a small army. The game's realistic physics combined with one of the best game soundtracks ever plus voice acting to make it extremely immersive. If you put your archers on top of a hill to fire down on your enemies, their range is greatly expanded. When the enemies close, your have your archers run like hell and move up the ground troops. Fucking phenomenal game lovingly updated and preserved here:

http://projectmagma.net/what/

I'm going through GOG looking for a game to buy, something I missed (which isn't hard because I never bought a lot of games, just found a few that I liked and played the shit out of them). Torchlight looks pretty cool as does Gothic. Mount and Blade looks fun but it has so few votes. Recommendations?

I played darklands years ago and recently bought it on GoG. It's definitely open world, in terms of you being able to do choose your own path. There's a story, but I never followed it. The main story is like a big quest added onto a open world game and how you do it, given you observe the mechanics, is your own choice. In fact, many things happen during the game which're not predestined, and you can influence what happens by your actions. I remember reading a post about all the things which can happen on their own and being impressed - it's almost like a sim.

I have Myth The Fallen Lords from like 1940 but have never been able to get into it. It's a very tactical game and maybe even strategic, as far as I know. How you win can be non-linear. Thing I didn't like is the game is campaign-based. It has no skirmish mode. I typically only like these games if htey have a random map skirmish mode. It's mainly a combat sim with some story tacked onto, far as I can tell. You play through a campaign and the game is over unless you play online or try to win it in a new way. Like you say, its sequel and itself both sport great physics.

A game I recently got on GoG (for like $4) and is also fairly new (~2010) with good gfx:
http://www.gog.com/game/risen

Risen is linear somewhat but also kind of open world too. It's semi-sandbox. It has very good gfx. Compared to Gothic 1 and 2, it has lost the epic open world, but it's very much a more modern game. Combat is hard at first. The real beauty is the game keeps a lot of the npc behavior in Gothic games. It also has that "realistic" feel absent in some games. The game really tries to imprint on you the notion you're in another world, not playing a game.

Risen reminds me of another good old-but-recent rpg:
http://www.gog.com/game/the_witcher

Some games I didn't get around to buying, but may someday:
http://www.gog.com/game/silent_storm_gold
http://www.gog.com/game/icewind_dale_complete
http://www.gog.com/game/starflight_1_2
http://www.gog.com/game/pirates_gold_plus
http://www.gog.com/game/master_of_magic
http://www.gog.com/game/realms_of_arkania_1_2
http://www.gog.com/game/arx_fatalis
http://www.gog.com/game/the_temple_of_elemental_evil
http://www.gog.com/game/earth_2150_trilogy
http://www.gog.com/game/master_of_magic
http://www.gog.com/game/commandos_2_3

Some newer ones offered on gog:
http://www.gog.com/game/faster_than_light
http://www.gog.com/game/star_wolves#
http://www.gog.com/game/inquisitor

[Aenor]

Yeah I bought Mount and Blade Warband... combat system is kinda clunky.

[Portasaurus]

DARKLANDS!

Originally Posted by Aenor [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This:

http://www.gog.com/game/darklands

One of the greatest games ever made before Everquest.

Originally Posted by stormlord [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I played darklands years ago and recently bought it on GoG.

Darklands def. one of my big go-tos when the internet stops working and I haven't gotten my fill of swords, shields and dragons and stuff. I have lots of great memories of making serious coin clearing out all the keeps belonging to the various "Robber Barons" around the land!

The game could use a more in-depth food/drink system, but hey... http://www.project1999.com/forums/sh...3&postcount=10

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[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

Starflight 2

[stormlord]

Originally Posted by Portasaurus [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

DARKLANDS!
Darklands def. one of my big go-tos when the internet stops working and I haven't gotten my fill of swords, shields and dragons and stuff. I have lots of great memories of making serious coin clearing out all the keeps belonging to the various "Robber Barons" around the land!

The game could use a more in-depth food/drink system, but hey... http://www.project1999.com/forums/sh...3&postcount=10

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I remember it being a very fun and open world game. However, when I got it recently, I just couldn't get into it immediately. I think it's a combination of the outdated gfx and the depth of the stats/faith/etc. I don't think it's a simple game to get into. I definitely would like to try again, but there're soooo many games. I also want to try Unreal World.

Darklands reminds me of Realm of Arkania 1. That's another game I want to try. They both have outdated gfx and deep systems. Deep doesn't mean fun. Deep just means lots of stats and systems to know. If you don't know them? Tough luck, the game will hurt you so much more. Then again, this is generally what I expect from open world games because they don't hold your hand and guide you through things, so it's not really a complaint.

The thought occurs to me they remind me of simulations. Traditional simulations also will hurt you if you dohn't know the system well. They're very technical. Before even trying you'll have to read the manual. Tutorial is always limited.

One of the deepest games I've played is Battlecruiser 3000AD. I played that probably over 15 years ago. It's essentially a battlecruiser combat simulator. It's, you guessed it, very technical. You HAVe to read the manual, yet the manual doesn't come close to covering everything. It also had a terrible interface and I don't even remember a tutorial. Still, I loved the game. And in the long run, all of those controls come together to produce something very involved. In later incarnations of the Battlecruiser series, they became more and more unstable, so I just couldn't play them anymore. Battlecruiser Millenium, for example, crashed every hour. I tried playing that several months ago just to revisit it. It's still fun. Yet I can see it has soooo many user-friendly problems. I know some of those problems were fixed in Universal Combat, but even Universal Combat is still essentially a combat simulartor. Of course, I'm ok with technical things.

Please note this is why a lot of popular games seem are "simple". They have so much hand holding. They remove most of the technical systems. They keep the controls simple. This doesn't mean they PLAY simple. Take Mario Brothers, as an example. The controls for that game were just move left, move right, jump and that's about it. Yet the world you navigated is what made the controls fun. Easy to get into, but hard to master is hte motto. Or look at Tetris. There're no numbers to look at. You "get" the game almost immediately. And still you can play it years and years and keep getting better at it. Simple, but not simple. Still, I think there's a place for technical, deep game systems. If all games played like Mario Brothers or Tetris I'd go insane, assuming I'm not already insane.

To make my point further, look here:
http://www.tacticularcancer.com/content.php?id=5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer_%26_Sickle

I realize these games are technical and unforgiving and "deep", but hey, I'd not want to live in a wolrd without them. I have a choice, if I"m burnt out on one of htem, to load up a game like Tetris if needed. That's the beauty.

[Pudge]

Originally Posted by Byel [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Of course it's not the oldest, but def a classic. MAGESTORM. I remember my poor mom getting insane bills when it was on AOL games for like 3$ an hour.

She happily payed the 10$ for game storm sub once it went there! Then last year I found it on Mage storm revival, much like p99 a emu someone recoded. Sadly recently it fell to low player count and the creator refusing to allow us to broadcast and try to get people for fear of lawsuit. Luckily I found online someone else making a new custom version. Improved graphics and all. Best team pvp, ever. 3 teams, only 4 classes in a battle to take the other two shrines down and hold yours. Good times!

MAN magestorm was the shit. Played with my best friend and my brother as the Powerpuff girls. Really wash an emu took off. It's impossible to get sued (well, they could technically get sued, but they would win) because the game's been out of commission for over 10 years. After 10 years you are basically golden.

[Charak]

My favorites in the arcade growing up were popeye, journey, and major havoc

[FoxxHound]

<3 Might and Magic 6

[MrSparkle001]

Originally Posted by Aenor [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah I bought Mount and Blade Warband... combat system is kinda clunky.

Wait till you get a lance and a good warhorse.

And try the Game Of Thrones mod. That's the only m&b I play now.