Which games have aged well in your opinion?

[SonicMage117]

Are we talking about popular franchises? Or unpopular as well? How old/new is the limit set for answer?

 

 

To be honest, alot of pc games in the mid to late 90's that used 3D polygon tech has aged poorly. What we thought to be impressive back when, is now pointy with severe breakup, aliasing issues (even anti-aliasing agp's couldn't fix) and poor framerate. Consoles may have suffered the same fate but optimization and texture work for consoles was far superior and there are plenty of examples to prove that. One being the Legacy Of Kain series.

 

Which ones have aged nicely?

I put my money on 2D games, ones that weren't too ambitious or do not possess odd mechanics that don't nake much sense. There's something to be said about 2D games that have nice art and are simple enough for any generation. There's a reason why games like Candy Crush never age poorly, they just stayed revered classics, untainted by nostalgic fan pressure and that's a beautiful thing - when a franchose can be preserved.

[Mamoulian War]

Some 3D games of late 90's aged pretty nicely, just run FFIX or Tales of Abyss, and you'll see nicely handcrafted graphics, which are still superior to lot of proceduraly generated stuff we still get sometimes. And look at the design of these games. Tales of Abyss and Symphonia dungeon designs are wastly superior to Dungeon design of Zestiria and Berseria, despite Berseria being IMO best of the games, it has serious flaws in this department.

 

Only very few games today, mostly SONY exclusives are still on par with area design of these games, despite having 300x more polygons to use. They just rather use it on the animation of pubic hair of main protagonist than to put more effort to area design.

[the_dog_days]

Stylized art tends to age well. Photo-realistic graphics haven't aged well.

[melkathi]

Alpha Centauri still is great for it's genre.

[Katphood]

On the subject of graphics: Planescape:Torment will always be a winner, and I am not even talking about the enhanced edition. The original which appeared on gog back in 2009(or was it 2010?) still has top notch graphics with a few tweaks here and there.

 

That must have been the best 10 euros I've ever spent in my entire life.

 

 

Also, if you happen to have a OG PS Vita(the ones with the OLED screen) give your favorite PSone games another chance. They look wonderful on the tiny OLED screen. Playing Silent Hill 1 on the PS Vita made me feel young again.

Edited June 21, 2018 by Katphood

[Skazz]

Alpha Centauri still is great for it's genre.

 

Seconded. Alpha Centauri deserves all the praise in the world.

[Chilloutman]

UI and controls could use some work tho

[MrMoe]

Never really played the Alpha Centauri back then. I really had hopes for CIVILIZATION: BEYOND EARTH , but that game felt just too much like the regular Civ and the old fans of AC were disappointed too.

 

 

I hope that games gets a worthy successor some day.

 

 

My top games that I still enjoy:  UFO: Enemy Unknown + Jagged Alliance 2 + Fallout 1+2

 

I dont care for the old graphics, the game mechanics and atmoshpere are just unparalleled!

[Lorfean]

The original (ie. non-enhanced) Infinity Engine games, though BG1 and PS:T less so than BG2 and the IWD's. The original Neverwinter Nights -- the art style is quirky as hell and the controls might seem a bit odd, but they make sense once you get used to them, which is pretty quickly IMO. DOOM and DOOM 2 are still a blast to play. Diablo and Diablo 2 are, too. Adventure games like Broken Sword and Broken Sword 2 are very easy to get into with a timeless art style.

 

There's a lot of games that have aged well if you don't mind old-fashioned graphics, it becomes more problematic when things like UI and gameplay are un-intuitive or unclear. Games like Darklands are rough to get into. The old Goldbox D&D games, too, and so are Fallout and Fallout 2 IMO. Not for me. But I think new players wouldn't have the easiest time getting into them.

 

[Malcador]

UI and controls could use some work tho

How so?

[melkathi]

I'd also like to confess that whenever I smell asphalt, I think of Maureen.

[Chilloutman]

 

UI and controls could use some work tho

How so?

 

 

Did you tried it lately? New resolutions does not work that well with this game and terraforming is quite a nightmare without hotkeys

[Malcador]

 

 

UI and controls could use some work tho

How so?

 

 

Did you tried it lately? New resolutions does not work that well with this game and terraforming is quite a nightmare without hotkeys

 

 

 

There are hotkeys for almost all unit commands, definitely terraforming see page 152 in the manual - https://www.spacegamejunkie.com/docs/Alpha_Centauri_-_Manual_-_PC.pdf

 

SMAC, Rebellion and Caesar 3 had some of the best game manuals I have ever read

[Chilloutman]

read my sentence again mate

[SonicMage117]

Those strategy/rts games that have been mentioned here and IE games are generally ugly (no offense). While it's not about graphics, I think they've aged badly considering, and all these titles were very impressive during lainch.

 

Final Fantasy and other rpg games (whether 3D or pixel art) have also aged horribly as well as 6DOF games such as Descent and Star Wars X-Wing/Tie Fighter with visual artifacts at every corner. When devs feel they must remaster, it only confirms my intuitive nature.

 

Anybody play Starcraft? A perfect example of how a game aged negatively in 5 years. Look at The Sims which leads a similar path.

 

I'm going to name the titles that will and always have aged well:

Mario, Sonic, Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, PAC-Man, Galaga.

 

Regretfully it's not what I or anyone else likes but what was developed well to stand the test of time. Just giving credit where credit is due

Edited June 21, 2018 by SonicMage117

[Malcador]

read my sentence again mate

 

Actually not sure there's a right click menu - had thought there was so what would be nightmarish there, so will check. But I don't know anyone that plays a Civ game without the hotkeys, anyway

Edited June 21, 2018 by Malcador

[Majek]

Everything in my dosbox folder has aged well, that's why it's there. :D A JA1 has aged better than Ja2

[Lexx]

Huh. I still love JA1 even today, but I wouldn't say it aged better than JA2. I can see them being kinda on par, as JA1's mechanics are still working well today, but generally I'd say JA2 is the title that aged better simply because the graphics and controls are more refined.

 

Oh, I'm pretty sure this is why that one Jagged Alliance kickstarter game bombed so hard.. people expected a new JA2, while the game actually resembles more a JA1 remake (is still not a very good remake, though :> ).

Edited June 21, 2018 by Lexx

[E.RedMark]

aged good..as in..still look good ? still fun after all these years ? Still playable...still run on a new pc ?  

 

My SNES still look good! the one who aged badly would be meh lol don't think I can play all the classic I have like I did back when I was a kid XD 

 

Kotor 1 and 2 still look good . 

 

The civilizations games , still good . Even if graphic wise....since CIv2...gotten better and better , the new ones just don't give back some stuff you can only find in the old ones . 

[majestic]

 

 

...and in case someone has a different opinion:

 

 

With the first Mega Man you might be right, that was still a little rough around the edges but Mega Man 2? That was one of the best games ever back then, and it still is.

I bought the Mega Man Legacy Collection a while ago which has Mega Man 1-6. I'll give 2 another go someday. Maybe I'll like it this time around but as far as memory serves, I remember a lot of trial and error in thosr games which simply requires you to memorize the level layout and the enemy movements.

 

Mega Man 2 has some fake difficulty, mostly noticable with the beams in Quick Man's stage, but by far and large you can get by with skill alone.

[Skazz]

I never experienced series like Mega Man or Metroid as a kid. I suppose it had something to do with me being located in Poland.

 

Instead, there was...

 

...

 

...TURRICAN.

 

 

Boy did I love all of the Turricans back then.

Edited June 21, 2018 by Skazz

[E.RedMark]

I never experienced series like Mega Man or Metroid as a kid. I suppose it had something to do with me being located in Poland.

 

Instead, there was...

 

...

 

...TURRICAN.

 

 

Boy did I love all of the Turricans back then.

humm..

 

may wanna look up THE FALL..

 

Kinda like a newer version of the old . Great game! 

[Darkpriest]

Am I blind or really no one yet mentioned Heroes of Might and Magic III ?

[E.RedMark]

Am I blind or really no one yet mentioned Heroes of Might and Magic III ?

well up to 4...

 

after that...I'm more inclined to say 'Tha **** is that ?!?!' lol 

 

but thats just meh

 

Edit: and I mean , yeah...Heroes of might and magic 3 is still beautiful as it was back when it came out . But so does , 2 and 4  

Edited June 21, 2018 by E.RedMark

[Maedhros]

I find that Nintendo games age really well, in large part because of the responsive controls. Controlling Mario in Super Mario 64 still feels great, and the old 2d games are also still a joy to play.

 

Heroes 3 is of course an obvious mention.

 

Shoutout to Warcraft 3 (and Starcraft). Some people may not like the graphics, but I like the colorful cartoony look, and the gameplay is still fantastic. You can't really match Blizzard when it comes to the smooth camera movement, the responsive unit and hero controls, and the competetiveness in online play.