Which golden oldie has aged the best?

[Andhaira]

Out of games like Arcanum, Fallout, Baldur's gate, Startrail, Ultima 7, etc etc etc which game has aged the best to the current day?

IMO it has to be Ultima 7, all things concerned. Sure, Baldurs's Gate 2 looks better, but taking the technological limitations of the early 90's into account, Ultima 7 has aged the best. It has things in it which no other rpg has been able to replicate since.

Thoughts?

Discuss!!

 

[racofer]

Fallout because it has even been updated to 3D thanks to Bethesda.

 

[Varn]

0/10.

Try using Ultima's Uber-Clunky interface, then tell me it's aged better than Baldur's Gate. The NWN2 camera's got nothing on Ultima.

 

[Andhaira]

A couple of things:

Ultima 7 has a minimal interface. So even if there is a hassle, it's minimal.

If you are referring to the backpack, keep in mind the clutter of the backpack is intentional. It's supposed to represent a real backpack.

Ultima 7 was years ahead of it's time. Nothing shows this as much as the fact that it had ZERO interface on the gameplay screen.

 

[Destroid]

I found Fallout pretty comfortable to play recently. The interface is pretty clumsy but the graphics, sound and music are still all excellent.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

M&M

 

[Marquess Cornwallis]

Andy, I know you're probably trolling spamming nonsense in order to get to that 10,000th post (what with the backpack simulation feature), but have you ever considered that the feeling of how well a game has aged tends to depend a lot on whether you played and liked the games back when they weren't prehistory? Any of my favourites back from the late 80s will still feel natural because I spent ages playing them. A new player will tell you that Ultima 7 is unplayable because of the weird perspective and clunky interface, Betrayal at Krondor is horribly disorienting to navigate outdoors, Star Trail has insurmountably rage-inducing character creation menus, Walls of Bratock is unplayable because it shows only 3x3 tiles of the gameworld at night, Dungeon Master drives you insane with the "ughs" when you hit the walls and (like Wizardry or Eye of the Beholder) is unplayable without an automap, atc.

If we're talking accessibility, I'd probably go with Lands of Lore (really streamlined for its day and age).

 

[Luzur]

M&M

yes.

 

[SkepticsClaw]

I think Dungeon Master has aged pretty well. Its interface is minimal, you can pick out how to play it extremely intuitively, and the early game is a natural tutorial on the combat, survival and physical mechanics of the game. Plus having the character selection in the Hall of Champions is a cool thing that's a lot more unique, thematic and interesting than a character creation screen. That game just has a polish and class that sets it above most of its clones.

But I'm a hopeless fanboy so that quite possibly was a load of nostalgic crap.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Dark Heart of Uukrul.


And a whole lot of other games, really.

 

[tehRPness]

With mods, I'd say the IE games in high res. Particularly PS:T's cities look gorgeous.

 

[Stabwound]

Yeah, the IE games really do look awesome in high res. Something like standard BG1, though, with max 640x480 resolution is nothing short of painful to play. Are the IE games really considered "oldies" though? BG1 is late 90's.

Other than that, I'd say Might & Magic 3-5 (not the games before or after those).

 

[Andhaira]

Oh yes good point, Lands of Lore is also up there. Looks just as fantastic today as it did in 1994-5.

 

[chzr]

eye of the beholder, jagged alliance 2

 

[octavius]

Phantasie 1 from 1985 gets my vote for the oldest CRPG that is still fun to play. It's not too complicated, is fun to play and, most importantly, it has an automap.

 

[Volourn]

NWN: 8 years old and still awesome.

 

[bhlaab]

Probably Baldur's Gate 2. Even though I think it's a crappy game, it's certainly the least janky and has the most in common with modern rpgs

 

[RPGMaster]

Final Fantasy VIII.

 

[Sceptic]

World of Xeen.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

There is no such thing as good aging. All old games are so outdated compared to the latest innovations of the genre that their differences no longer concern real gamers.

 

[Oesophagus]

Jagged Alliance 2, mostly on account of the sweet 1.13 mod

 

[Luzur]

Good night sweet paki

its time to go dum dum dum

 

[sgc_meltdown]

the sweet 1.13 mod

I would have honestly paid for that. It's just...so good.

 

[kmonster]

MM3

 

[Jools]

Good night sweet paki

its time to go dum dum dum

Is it, like, fore real?