Renault on 4/4/2013 at 18:47
Quote Posted by Judith
Most vocal people here aren't even planning on playing the game, don't have the hardware or are completely closed off from gaming culture, or possibly from any kind of reality.
"Most" is completely inaccurate. I can think of 2 people in particular who meet that criteria, and "most" people here know who I'm talking about.
jay pettitt on 4/4/2013 at 18:50
Quote:
Heh. Gotta call you out for this one, cuz...you know...Dishonored. It sold a ton, and was made by both a couple of people here, and by a studio that started out making games in the first place because they were hardcore Ultima Underworld fans, and were disappointed there weren't more games like it.
I think Judith was talking about customers making sales, rather than developers making games.
But yeah - Arkane & Co. clearly like the immersive sim games that Looking Glass championed - and Dishonored seemed to find a popular audience with those credentials.
Jomero on 4/4/2013 at 19:31
Quote Posted by Starker
Prettier doesn't equal better, necessarily. If you look past the interfaces and ugly graphics, a lot of the oldies still have great gameplay and deep moving stories that remain unsurpassed (especially since you mention Ultima). Name me a recent game with the writing quality of Torment, reactivity of Fallout, or atmosphere of Silent Hill.
When I wrote that challenge, I wasn't even thinking about graphics. I meant it as a legitimate challenge to play a game from yesteryear that holds absolutely no nostalgic weight and seeing how a person truly feels about the experience. They may enjoy it (possibly forcing themselves to since they know it's a challenge), but they will see where the improvements have been made to gaming over the years not just in terms of graphics but in terms of writing, gameplay, consistency. and flow.
As for some well written and executed games of this age? Red Dead Redemption and, to a lesser extent (for me personally), the Mass Effect series immediately come to mind. Amnesia: The Dark Descent also pops right into my head when it comes to a game that drips horrific atmosphere (I am also eagerly awaiting for a game called Among the Sleep).
It is in our nature as we age to think things of the past are better than current things. There is real, actual science behind it. When we are young, new music/games/stimuli produce dopamine in our brains like crazy. As we age, newer stuff doesn't produce dopamine like it used to (and our brain is less dependent on it). Listening/playing things that used to produce dopamine for us originally recreates that sensation a little bit, which is why nostalgia is a very strong thing for many people.
My favorite RPG for the longest time was a little-known Origin title called Knights of Legend. It's downfall was that it was far too ahead of it's time (even for today). It was *too* detailed when it came to combat, if you can believe that. That was one of the reasons why I enjoyed it so much. It was very well done and have nothing but great memories of it. But, as much as I love that game and have fond memories over it, I will still choose to play Dragon Age or Elder Scrolls over it. I was immersed in Knights of Legend. But I also get immersed in the newer games, just differently.
New games are different. Not necessarily better or worse.
Starker on 4/4/2013 at 21:06
Quote Posted by Jomero
When I wrote that challenge, I wasn't even thinking about graphics. I meant it as a legitimate challenge to play a game from yesteryear that holds absolutely no nostalgic weight and seeing how a person truly feels about the experience. They may enjoy it (possibly forcing themselves to since they know it's a challenge), but they will see where the improvements have been made to gaming over the years not just in terms of graphics but in terms of writing, gameplay, consistency. and flow.
As for some well written and executed games of this age? Red Dead Redemption and, to a lesser extent (for me personally), the Mass Effect series immediately come to mind. Amnesia: The Dark Descent also pops right into my head when it comes to a game that drips horrific atmosphere (I am also eagerly awaiting for a game called Among the Sleep).
Uh... Grand Theft Horse may have had a decent enough story, but the dialogue itself was pretty clunky. Ditto for MassAge. Amnesia did have nice atmosphere, but Silent Hill really went the extra mile. The city of Silent Hill had much more character than the castle in Amnesia.
In the end, only time will tell which games are remembered 40-400 years from now and which ones will lay forgotten, but I will place my bets with Torment and Silent Hill. It's the same with movies and books: Shakespeare and Welles are relevant to this day and nobody considers them utter crap.
I don't have to take your challenge, as I buy and play old games regularly (GOG.com), and I know first hand that dismissing old games just because they are old is foolish. Some of my best experiences have been with older games that I accidentally missed.
jtr7 on 5/4/2013 at 00:28
It don't really matter to me, baby. Everybody's had to fight to be free.
Yamatotakeru on 5/4/2013 at 13:02
Quote:
Uh... Grand Theft Horse may have had a decent enough story, but the dialogue itself was pretty clunky.
Huh, I actually thought the opposite. While the dialogue felt pretty pretty well written, the story was just a mixture of cliches and motifs from popular western movies, and the middle part in Mexico was an unneccessary filler that didn't make much sense. Still a cool game, though.
As for the new voice... I kinda think it's OK :p . It sounds somewhere between Russell and SlyFoxx. Of course I'd rather have Russell on board, especially since he didn't only voice Garrett, but I'm not mad about the change.
jtr7 on 5/4/2013 at 13:21
Yes, many fans have things they don't care about that others do.
Brian The Dog on 5/4/2013 at 20:38
I'm another one who is keen to see what the new Thief will have to offer. Would I have preferred Stephen Russell to reprise the rôle of Garrett? Of course, but considering how much effort EM have put into the motion capture with the new guy, they're not going to change their mind now, so I'm going with it and seeing what comes out at the end. Considering some of the fears about Thief over the past few years, things could have been a whole lot worse. Will the story have a world-weary cynicism-filled Garrett like in Thief 3? Or will it be a young naïve Garrett like in Thief 1?
Azaran on 5/4/2013 at 21:54
What I've been wondering, maybe as a way to fix this mess, is there an audio filter program that can modify voices that we could use eventually to change Romano's voice so he sounds more like Russell?
thiefessa on 6/4/2013 at 01:29
:wot:
