Oldschool being redefined, and its implications.

[Luzur]

so Akalabeth would be like the medievil RPG then?
or Colossal Cave, if that can be counted as an RPG.

 

[Talonfire]

Old school being generic terminology could be applied to any game released before 2008, really. It'd probably be best to give a specific name to each era of gaming (IE The Pong era (Dawn of electronic gaming), the Arcade era, the C64\DOS era which overlaps with the SNES era, etc).

It'd definitely be easier to refer to gaming in multiple eras since its dawn, rather than old school and recent. Those are far too broad to be used in the gaming scene anymore.

 

[Psycroptic]

so Akalabeth would be like the medievil RPG then?
or Colossal Cave, if that can be counted as an RPG.

Sure, why not? The old mainframe RPG's like Oubliette and such that are produced by academia match up pretty well with monastic works. You know there's a book on this that I actually have on my shelf but haven't read yet. I think it breaks RPG's into several different ages and then explores each ad nauseum.

Dungeons and Desktops

 

[BLOBERT]

I have played CRPG's for a while, and it is hard to consider Fallout "oldschool" since I had been playing the games far longer than that. It's hard to consider Fallout oldschool also because it is rarely surpassed or equalled, if ever, nowadays.

Oldschool is basic, little to no plot, wandering around and grinding. Some got a little better. At least in my opinion. Other posters are right though, describing gaming by eras seems much more accurate.

It's hard to appreciate some of the newer advances until you play the old, old games. Ultima 5 was about the oldest I could go and still enjoy the game. Got quite a bit of the way through 4 but got bored. One of my old favorites, Wasteland, just seems nearly unplayable. Back when it came out I played it over and over, but I think the text in the manual is the killer for me.

I could barely stand mapping out one of the Wizardry's (I forget which one) back when it came out, probably couldn't stand it now.

 

[Xi]

That is the most disappointing thing.

Why is Daggerfall the last of its ilk? Its mind boggling.

Exactly, and it's because of Todd Syndrome. The majority of mechanics and design aspects, the ones that made Daggerfall what it was, were discarded for newer ideas drawn from thin-air. Thus you get Morrowind. Hardly a solid predecessor to the Daggerfall it could have been. Then insert Oblivion and suddenly the games don't even seem the same anymore. Hell, even the lore is different. Wtf is going on? Todd Syndrome.

I think it goes without saying that many old school fans of Daggerfall, or hell even numerous other series, would kill for a faithful sequel that reimplemented the same designs and also built upon the strengths their-in via evolution of those mechanics.

Fuck, I find it hard to game anymore. All I have is my Nostalgia these days, and my memories are much stronger than the current ilk could ever hope to recreate.

 

[Luzur]

Sure, why not? The old mainframe RPG's like Oubliette and such that are produced by academia match up pretty well with monastic works.

so it would prob look something like this:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3 ... puter_.php

You know there's a book on this that I actually have on my shelf but haven't read yet. I think it breaks RPG's into several different ages and then explores each ad nauseum.

Dungeons and Desktops

that book is on my "To-Buy" list since 2 weeks ago, along with Swords and Circuitry.

 

[Hory]

I've read about half of Swords and Circuitry and it's pretty crappy... nothing you wouldn't know by having played many RPGs. Try "Challenges for Game Designers".

 

[Luzur]

"Challengers for Game Designers" ?

added to the "To-Buy" list.

 

[Psycroptic]

Sure, why not? The old mainframe RPG's like Oubliette and such that are produced by academia match up pretty well with monastic works.

so it would prob look something like this:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3 ... puter_.php

That article was turned into the book. It's the same author writing in even greater depth.