Which era of videogaming do you prefer?

[Axxy]

Originally Posted by Foebane

Why on earth would you prefer Era 1 games which are mostly just small objects moving around a screen, usually in a top-down or sideways view, rather than Era 2 FPS which is just like being there and has scope for so much more gameplay options? Maybe it's me, but I've been spoiled on Era 2 and Era 3 games and I just cannot go back to the simplicity of Era 1, with all of its limited options.

It baffles me why anyone would prefer 2D games to 3D FPS, to be honest.

Era 1 for me too...

The home computing age (games) started with the 8 bit machines, as were the arcade games back then. Games were a NEW entertainment and there was some ground breaking games to be had back then as well. We all remember naff gfx and colour clash. Everything else has followed from the late 70s to early 80s. Remember, games had to fit into 48k or less back then.

The 16 bit machines followed mid 80s to early 90s (ie amiga etc) and turned home computing into just more than gaming. My favourite machine with great games and loads of other things to do, including the demoscene.

With the introduction of win95 onwards, Fps games ruled the world, with online/multiplayer games also massive at the time. Duke, Quake, HL, TF1 and other 3d games, there was nothing else to play tbh. But playing with your mates or squad was where it was at.

Back then, you literally had to get a new machine every 2 years to play the big games at the time. I kind of got bored of Fps games in mid to late 2000s, played WoW for a few years and then stopped playing after MoP.

After 2012, I tend to think that most games are rehashes and have become quite stale and boring. Fifa whetever version, CoD whatever version, same game, just different maps. That's not to say that occasionally a game comes along that is brilliant. Battle Royale seemed to catch on, but they all just jumped on the bandwagon, now they all look same old same old already.

Maybe it's an age thing, but I've been here since the 70/80s playing games and using computers, so that might explain why some prefer Era 1?

[fxgogo]

So point and click adventures which are mostly era 1, with a bit of era 2 are very immersive for me. So I can’t give them up. But Alien Isolation is in my top 5 of all time best games ever. A stunning FPS that oozes atmosphere. Era 1 has some brilliantly complex games. 2D is just a style (even though they could not do 3D).

[Axxy]

Originally Posted by fxgogo

So point and click adventures which are mostly era 1, with a bit of era 2 are very immersive for me. So I can’t give them up. But Alien Isolation is in my top 5 of all time best games ever. A stunning FPS that oozes atmosphere. Era 1 has some brilliantly complex games. 2D is just a style (even though they could not do 3D).

Sorry, Adventure games in Era 1 were text based, we didn't have anything to click with back then....

[Aladin]

Originally Posted by Foebane

Why on earth would you prefer Era 1 games which are mostly just small objects moving around a screen, usually in a top-down or sideways view, rather than Era 2 FPS which is just like being there and has scope for so much more gameplay options? Maybe it's me, but I've been spoiled on Era 2 and Era 3 games and I just cannot go back to the simplicity of Era 1, with all of its limited options.

It baffles me why anyone would prefer 2D games to 3D FPS, to be honest.

there is no game in an fps, it's just narrative exploration

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by Axxy

The 16 bit machines followed mid 80s to early 90s (ie amiga etc) and turned home computing into just more than gaming. My favourite machine with great games and loads of other things to do, including the demoscene.

I follow the Amiga Demoscene only, to be honest. I used to like MS-DOS/Windows demos too, but I thought so much of the time that they were far too powerful, and totally lacked imagination. The 8-bit Demoscene machines are likewise too primitive for my liking, so the Amiga, featuring demos from 1990 to today, is my preferred entertainment experience.

With the introduction of win95 onwards, Fps games ruled the world, with online/multiplayer games also massive at the time. Duke, Quake, HL, TF1 and other 3d games, there was nothing else to play tbh. But playing with your mates or squad was where it was at.

I've just had a couple of rounds of TFC as it is, although there's only a few populated servers left and the players there are far more experienced than I am. I used to be quite the player back around the 2000s.

[vulture]

If I HAVE to choose, the it's no1. But every era had very strong games, so that's the real answer, 1,2 and 3.

[PowerPie5000]

I enjoy all kinds of gaming from different eras and on different platforms. Consoles such as the Sega Mega Drive, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Neo Geo and SNES will always be the most memorable for me. The Amiga and old Windows & DOS based computers are also a reminder of the good old gaming days for me... Especially for point and click adventures!

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy modern systems and modern gaming very much and keep up with the latest hardware, but it just doesn't feel the same.

[Foebane]

I have to say that I grew up with the Atari 8-Bit machines, and so I did play many of those old-fashioned 2D platformer games on those, so I have had experience with that type of gameplay.

It's just that when the 16-Bits came round, I expected more, and all I saw was mostly basically the same types of games, but with more detailed graphics that usually somehow looked WORSE than the 8-Bit originals, due to lack of talent by the artists.

Some 16-Bit versions of 8-Bit platformers were also, I thought, gimmicky: Chuckie Egg, for example, as the Atari 8-Bit has nice simply-drawn brown and yellow platforms and chicken antagonists and black background... and then I see the Amiga version, and it has these inferior scruffily-drawn graphics with a huge chicken coop background graphic, and I think it looks WORSE than the Atari 8-Bit version.

Same for Boulder Dash, love the look of the Atari 8-Bit original, yet replacing the limited graphics with more colours and higher res makes it look WORSE, somehow!

Nope, if I play Era 1, it will be on an 8-Bit machine like the Ataris only. As far as I'm concerned, the 16-Bits like the Amiga and Atari ST only shone when it was 3D games like Battle Command and Damocles and Stunt Car Racer.

[fxgogo]

Originally Posted by Axxy

Sorry, Adventure games in Era 1 were text based, we didn't have anything to click with back then....

• King's Quest III: To Heir is Human - 1987
• Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True - 1987
• Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders - 1988
• Neuromancer - 1989
• Maniac Mansion - 1989
• Loom - 1990
• The Secret of Monkey Island - 1991
• Cruise for a Corpse - 1991
• Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers - 1991
• Gobliiins - 1992
• Police Quest III: The Kindred - 1992
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - 1992
• Lure of the Temptress - 1992
• Simon the Sorceror - 1993

And 84 other games made before 1994 as listed on Lemon Amiga.


I think someone hid your mouse....

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by fxgogo

• King's Quest III: To Heir is Human - 1987
• Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True - 1987
• Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders - 1988
• Neuromancer - 1989
• Maniac Mansion - 1989
• Loom - 1990
• The Secret of Monkey Island - 1991
• Cruise for a Corpse - 1991
• Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers - 1991
• Gobliiins - 1992
• Police Quest III: The Kindred - 1992
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - 1992
• Lure of the Temptress - 1992
• Simon the Sorceror - 1993

And 84 other games made before 1994 as listed on Lemon Amiga.


I think someone hid your mouse....

Obviously, someone has never heard of SCUMM...

[UberFreak]

Early Era 1 for me, especially the Atari VCS and C64.
FPS games put me to sleep...

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by fxgogo

But Alien Isolation is in my top 5 of all time best games ever. A stunning FPS that oozes atmosphere.

Not everything that moves in first person is a first person shooter, AI is so much more. Treat your top 5 games nicer than that

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by UberFreak

FPS games put me to sleep...

I never saw the appeal of 2D games, myself. Aside from the Atari 8-Bits and a few games I played on Amiga back in the day, I've not been keen on them at all. I always found them to be boring, childish and just variations on the same repeated theme, over and over again.

[chip]

For me it's era 1, or era 1 revisited in era 2 or 3

[Foebane]

Well, the general consensus here seems to be that everyone loves retro 2D gaming, which is a shame as there's nothing here for me to talk about. I wonder why I continue to hang around, sometimes. After all, no-one talks about demos, except Chip, so maybe I'd be better off elsewhere?

[fxgogo]

Originally Posted by gimbal

Not everything that moves in first person is a first person shooter, AI is so much more. Treat your top 5 games nicer than that

Ha Ha Ha, those are fighting words. Sure it is less a shooter, and more a sneaker/stay alive game. I literally spent most of my time looking at all the fabulous design of the artwork. Well, after hiding in cupboards and holding my breath.



What this thread is quickly showing, is how games means different things to different people. What appeals to each of us is very different and there will NEVER be consensus.

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by Foebane

Well, the general consensus here seems to be that everyone loves retro 2D gaming

Strange, it's as if we were on a forum dedicated to a 16-bit machine

I love FP games to bits and was obsessed with them for many years. But you asked about favourite era, so it's mostly 2D for me (though I did include the early 3D: the likes of Ultima Underworld, Doom, System Shock...)

[kamelito]

Arcades era.

[Axxy]

Originally Posted by fxgogo

• King's Quest III: To Heir is Human - 1987
• Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True - 1987
• Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders - 1988
• Neuromancer - 1989
• Maniac Mansion - 1989
• Loom - 1990
• The Secret of Monkey Island - 1991
• Cruise for a Corpse - 1991
• Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers - 1991
• Gobliiins - 1992
• Police Quest III: The Kindred - 1992
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - 1992
• Lure of the Temptress - 1992
• Simon the Sorceror - 1993

And 84 other games made before 1994 as listed on Lemon Amiga.


I think someone hid your mouse....

Sorry, don't remember any of those on the Speccy??

[rabidgerry]

I guess Era 1. I only really play Amiga games and have no care for anything else other than them, Spectrum games and I might get into C64 at some point I dunno. I like a few Era2 style games but it's probably not the favourite compared to 99% of everything else being older.

During my original Amiga run back in the early to mid 90's I dabbled briefly with a few playstation games but after that I lost all interest in games. I also started to despise "gamers" and everything to do with modern gaming.

Then I re-discovered Amiga again and that was me back at it probably a lot more in-depth than before.

However I see playing retro games as very different from the modern gamers of today with their headsets and "swatting" all that kinda thing. No offense to anyone still pedalling both gaming realms