Things you miss about old PC Games

Sleepery said:
Emergent gameplay - by which I mean, there's no attempt at AI in games anymore, it's all scripted sequences.

I miss games that just give the computer a set of rules to act by in a game and then let it loose to see what happens :)
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One of the best games I remember for this was Descent 3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent_3

I can't find it but I remember there was an interview with the AI guy for descent. They literally wrote the rules / general paramaters and it went from there. I loved the fact that the ships would dodge fire or leg it to go get bigger brother if you were beating loads of them :D The AI was quite cunning at times.
 
Ravenger said:
Manuals. Huge manuals with lots of really interesting game background information and tips. Especially in RPGs where the manuals would really flesh out the world, and were often in the style of magic books, or encyclopaedias. The Ultimas were the classic example of this.
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I miss the manuals the type you could beat a whale to death with. I too enjoyed the Ultima games, I liked the manual and the tea towel map and some even had coins in with them! When you picked the box off the shelf and it lands on the couter with a thud! you knew you were buying a quality game.
 
Length, the older games seemed to last a lot longer than newer ones.
also, i liked the simplicity of older FPS games for instance, there was no screen blur, or explosions making the screen shudder. was all straight forward shoot-you-in-the-head mode
 
wnb said:
I miss the manuals the type you could beat a whale to death with. I too enjoyed the Ultima games, I liked the manual and the tea towel map and some even had coins in with them! When you picked the box off the shelf and it lands on the couter with a thud! you knew you were buying a quality game.
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Yup F22:ADF came not only with an inch thick manual but also with a Janes Encyclopedia of aircraft, tanks, missile and all sorts :D

This has also reminded me of those cardboard keyboard surrounds you'd get that would tell you what the keys were for.
 
Full brain-smashing toolbars filled with unlimited number of spells, weapons, etc. None of that dumbed-down console friendly press A button to scroll.

Also hundreds of unique units or characters to the point where the developers have run out of any more ideas. I hate this rts-lite rage where you only have a single type of tank (yes, Supcom2 & SC2, thinking of you). I want small tanks, light tanks, fast tanks and mother-massive-fifty-barrelled tanks. Although tech trees and earned rewards are the way ahead to custom-tailor each player from another. I think CnC Generals Zero Hour has the best example of this.
 
As said, a massive manuals you could read while installing and get all exited about what you would do when you started.

Also games where you could tell it was built for the PC with a solid UI rather than some console UI that has been ported.

Playing inventory Tetris.
 
I miss how games actually felt original even though they were very similar. Doom 1 and 2 felt completely different to say Duke Nukem 3d, Quake 1 or other good shooters.

Nowadays everything mostly just feels like Call of Duty or Halo.

Also miss how everything wasn't obvious franchisebuilding. Nowadays you can pretty much expect a trilogy of a new AAA game before the first one is even released. So sick of trilogies and franchises.
 
Choice..

When titles don't reach the PC.. like Halo (other than the first one), GoW 2, and more recently Alan Wake which was promised on PC.

Bleeding edge.

How games used to cripple cards within month of launch.. Remember the fuss that HL2 and Doom3 created? Not that i miss that but the developers firmly have the ageing consoles in mind, not the latest bleeding edge that PCs have to offer.
 
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Oh also miss the old days without as instrusive DRM as someone said. Do you remember the days when you could actually LAN with your friends without everyone having to buy their own copy, register to their account and activate via internet? (and that's if you're lucky today, plenty of stuff that don't even have LAN anymore :()
 
How games used to cripple cards within month of launch.. Remember the fuss that HL2 and Doom3 created? Not that i miss that but the developers firmly have the ageing consoles in mind, not the latest bleeding edge that PCs have to offer.
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Final Fantasy XIV's recommended specs are Core i7 2.6Ghz, 4GB RAM, GeForce GTX 460

o_o
 
Strife212 said:
Final Fantasy XIV's recommended specs are Core i7 2.6Ghz, 4GB RAM, GeForce GTX 460

o_o
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I didn't say there isn't the exception because you could add Crysis to the list but it used by across the spectrum. I only just replaced my 8800GTX after three and half years which played everything on high. In comparison, the longest card I had before that was 15 months before nearly most games crippled it. What i'm trying to say, is that thee isn't the investment there once was.
 
Gameplay. Has to be.

I'm currently playing through the "original settlers". Again. The one that was released on the Amiga. Its got me hooked.

The graphics are pants, the AI is, well, ancient. Its told to do a certain thing and it does. It just works.
The game's SO simple, with very basic objectives. Wipe the other guy/guys out.

But I can't get enough of it.
 
Zodar said:
I miss how games actually felt original even though they were very similar. Doom 1 and 2 felt completely different to say Duke Nukem 3d, Quake 1 or other good shooters.

Nowadays everything mostly just feels like Call of Duty or Halo.

.
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This is becuase there are very few developers who make their own engines now. Back then EVERY game studio made the engine for their own game. Now there are specialist 3rd party companies for engines, physics, facial animations/lip sync, all sorts. Developers just bolt the bits together now, they're more IKEA furniture installers than craftsmen. :(
 
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