Which era of videogaming do you prefer?

[Dastardly]

Era 1 for me as I mainly play C64 and Amiga games. As incredible as modern games are visually, they are less and less interesting to me.

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by Dastardly

Era 1 for me as I mainly play C64 and Amiga games. As incredible as modern games are visually, they are less and less interesting to me.

Given you have a similar view point to myself, what is it about modern games that doesn't interest you?

[Dastardly]

Originally Posted by rabidgerry

Given you have a similar view point to myself, what is it about modern games that doesn't interest you?

I think it’s like reading a book. The more your imagination has to do to fill in the blanks, the more interesting and immersive it seems. Modern games look great but leave me thinking “meh”. Not to mention QTEs and achievements etc.

[UberFreak]

Originally Posted by Foebane

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?

My main usage of old computers is demo watching (and some C64 programming when I have time and motivation).
I very rarely do any gaming these days, only the occasional Atari VCS session when friends visit.

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by UberFreak

My main usage of old computers is demo watching (and some C64 programming when I have time and motivation).
I very rarely do any gaming these days, only the occasional Atari VCS session when friends visit.

Fair enough, and I didn't mean to imply that only one or two watch just demos, as I would make that three

I don't really want to leave the board, neither, as I like to talk about the tech and the non-game-related stuff.

I just wonder if I can hide certain threads about games that I don't care about, or view only those I'm interested in. Mods?

[gimbal]

Yes, but for me that is not the net as widely cast as "modern games", for me it is mostly restricted to modern multimillion dollar AAA games. I frequently ask myself: where is the game in this game?

As an example: Wolfenstein3D, Doom and Quake I still consider "good old games" because they really were not trying to be anything else than a game. For one you do a lot of secret hunting in them, a hallmark of a proper computer game. It's not all explosions and bullets. Doom and Quake era games also have platforming elements and environmental puzzles to them.

Jump ahead a couple of years where era 2 is in full swing and then you get games like Soldier of Fortune. I was blown away by its technicality at the time - because it had cool characters, scripted events (often involving things blowing up) and you could blow off limbs in a brutal fashion, teenage me liked that a lot. But it literally is no more than following hallways and shooting baddies before they can shoot you until you've found all your objectives in a highly linear fashion. Where is the game in that cool violence simulator?

Adventure games became Telltale games or the Last of Us. Interactive movies, not games.

Hack & Slash RPGs devolved into Diablo 3 which is a game I would define as work instead of play. Where is the game!? Dungeon Crawlers became Skyrim with dungeons that are literally a circle with almost no exploration value to them. Still love the (community patched version of the) game for other reasons but the dungeons... ugh. Where is the game. In Fallout 76 they even dared to drop NPCs from the equation, yes that is the perfect way to cull even more game from your games.

I'll forgive games such as Counterstrike, Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds as those games truly are intended for setting up competitions between Russia and the rest of the world that is not China. They don't pretend to be anything more than that and I can safely ignore everything to do with them.

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by gimbal

Yes, but for me that is not the net as widely cast as "modern games", for me it is mostly restricted to modern multimillion dollar AAA games. I frequently ask myself: where is the game in this game?

Modern games (Era 3) suck, and I'm not interested in endless narratives. Doom Eternal was the only game I was interested in last year, and it proved to be a MASSIVE disappointment, as it was too much like hard work and a masochist's wet dream, where they would up the difficulty for themselves, and I never liked the expanded lore started in Doom 2016.

As an example: Wolfenstein3D, Doom and Quake I still consider "good old games" because they really were not trying to be anything else than a game. For one you do a lot of secret hunting in them, a hallmark of a proper computer game. It's not all explosions and bullets. Doom and Quake era games also have platforming elements and environmental puzzles to them.

So did Half-Life have platforming sections, namely in Lambda Core and Xen, and they. were. the. WORST.

Jump ahead a couple of years where era 2 is in full swing and then you get games like Soldier of Fortune. I was blown away by its technicality at the time - because it had cool characters, scripted events (often involving things blowing up) and you could blow off limbs in a brutal fashion, teenage me liked that a lot. But it literally is no more than following hallways and shooting baddies before they can shoot you until you've found all your objectives in a highly linear fashion. Where is the game in that cool violence simulator?

Never played that game, as it didn't advance the tech at all. At that point, that's really all I was interested in.

Adventure games became Telltale games or the Last of Us. Interactive movies, not games.

You'd think they'd've learned from the CD-ROM FMV fiascos of the late '90s.

Hack & Slash RPGs devolved into Diablo 3 which is a game I would define as work instead of play. Where is the game!? Dungeon Crawlers became Skyrim with dungeons that are literally a circle with almost no exploration value to them. Still love the (community patched version of the) game for other reasons but the dungeons... ugh. Where is the game. In Fallout 76 they even dared to drop NPCs from the equation, yes that is the perfect way to cull even more game from your games.

I totally avoided those types of fantasy games, just not interested in them.

I'll forgive games such as Counterstrike, Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds as those games truly are intended for setting up competitions between Russia and the rest of the world that is not China. They don't pretend to be anything more than that and I can safely ignore everything to do with them.

Around twenty years ago, inbetween constantly playing Team Fortress Classic, I tried Counter-Strike several times and while it was OK, I was crap at it and I found it difficult and it was down to luck if I killed anybody, even more so if I survived the round. I never played Fortnite, Overwatch PUBG nor Minecraft, and definitely NOT ANY Call of Duty, except a brief dabble in Modern Warfare (1, the original version) and so have almost no idea of those juggernauts, except I find the gameplay childish and just plain weird. If that's what the modern kids are playing, count me out.

[fxgogo]

Come on guys Spider-Man was insanely cool. And Hitman is just brilliant.

[NovaCoder]

I like all games up the latest and greatest like Red dead 2 and PSVR on my PS4.

The oldest games that I'm interested in playing start from C64/SNES/Genesis.....not keen on those horrible 70's blocky games although I did play them in my youth.

Interesting fact:. My first electronic game was a Star Trek hand held with a resolution of 8x8 'pixels' LoL

It wasn't even LCD, just a grid of LEDS...4K anyone?

[Wavemaker]

If something has NOT aged well is those early FPS games you mention. I had some mindless fun at the cybercafe in the late 90s like everyone else but these days I wouldn't touch Doom, Quake or Duke Nukem 3D even if I got paid for it.

On the other hand, even today's young people love playing through Monkey Island or Indy and the Fate of Atlantis, because these are experiences that haven't been surpassed by newer games. Even some C64 games are popular with my guests (mostly 2 player games such as showdown, millie and molly, boxy moxy - these are new games from last year) because they blend a simple, smartphone-like gameplay they are used to with the social experience of playing with your friends on the TV.

[Foebane]

Having missed out on most of the Amiga gaming milestones, I don't feel that I could ever go back to it after Eras 2 and 3, and I'm not sure I'd enjoy going backwards.

[chip]

I chosen era 1, but nowadays i actually play nothing

As you guys probably already know, my interest is for the demo scene, like Foebane and other guys (i hope )

[UberFreak]

Originally Posted by Foebane

I'm not sure I'd enjoy going backwards.

And yet you are on a retro-oriented forum

I still pretty much live in the past and quite like it, don't find the present that much better (with the exception of fast Internet).

[gimbal]

To talk about old stuff one does not have to still be playing old stuff.

[Anubis]

Originally Posted by gimbal

To talk about old stuff one does not have to still be playing old stuff.

What master Yoda said... I mean master gimbal!

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by Dastardly

I think it’s like reading a book. The more your imagination has to do to fill in the blanks, the more interesting and immersive it seems. Modern games look great but leave me thinking “meh”. Not to mention QTEs and achievements etc.

I didn't explain too much about why I was similar to yourself. But you nailed it for me too. I fill in the blanks, and I also think they feel like "games" if that makes sense?

I remember one time playing Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas one time on a guy I used to be flat mate off. It was on his Playstation 2 I believe. I played that game may be for an hour or two and I found that I was endanger of getting sucked into it. Didn't feel like a game, it was bizarre. It was a totally different experience than what I associated with playing computer games. I felt I was getting immersed but not in the same way. Of course that's just my own experience.

Originally Posted by UberFreak

And yet you are on a retro-oriented forum

I still pretty much live in the past and quite like it, don't find the present that much better (with the exception of fast Internet).

I agree

But I see it more like, we've dragged the past into the future, particularly with all the continued development. It's that which grabbed my interest again and got me back into Amigas.

Not sure why anyone is on Amiga forums if they can't enjoy playing old games as they feel it's like looking backward. Not an attack on anyone btw. Just find that curious as it's such a big part of Amiga.
Now I like getting immersed in games don't get me wrong but that was a different experience for me!

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by rabidgerry

Not sure why anyone is on Amiga forums if they can't enjoy playing old games as they feel it's like looking backward. Not an attack on anyone btw. Just find that curious as it's such a big part of Amiga.
Now I like getting immersed in games don't get me wrong but that was a different experience for me!

I'm here for Amiga demos, not games.

[Predseda]

I have never get to era 2 or 3

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by Foebane

I'm here for Amiga demos, not games.

What is so special about them for you, compared to what can be done with modern computers? Seeing old hardware being pushed? Just asking

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by rabidgerry

What is so special about them for you, compared to what can be done with modern computers? Seeing old hardware being pushed? Just asking

Yeah, seeing old hardware being pushed. I find the C64 too primitive for my liking, in both audio and video, and the Windows demos are so ridiculously overpowered that they can achieve literally anything, yet I can't run most of them directly on my PC for various reasons.

My first experience with the Demoscene was on Amiga, and in my opinion, it has just the right capabilities to show off scene effects, and there's such a range, too: low-end A500 demos for the classic scene effects and for low-end innovation in modern days, and the high-end systems for demos that "feel" MS-DOS, yet I can run on emulation "live".

And in case you're wondering, I don't watch them on YouTube at all if I can avoid it - so much artifacting and so many poor quality videos, you don't see the intended effects a lot of the time. This is especially true for Amiga demo YouTube videos, so I use WinUAE for all of them instead.

EDIT: For Amiga demos, I'm particularly fond of the audio: I just love hearing what a 36-year-old sound chip can do that sounds so realistic, yet was developed only a few years after the launch of the IBM PC with its bleepy speaker