I've tried, but I just can't stomach the older classics

[skavenhorde]

AHH PS:T the holy grail. I agree and will add the Ultima 4 - 7 series. They wouldn't be called the pinicale between narratives and gaming, but they dealt with real life issues in a fantasy setting.
Ultima 4 - search for perfection
Ultima 5 - Corruption of the soul
Utlima 6 - Racism
Ultima 7 - Fanatacism

That may not what Lord British meant to convey in his games but that is what I took away from each one and they were fun too The death of Dupre is one of the best moments in gaming I've seen. Afterwords I couldn't believe he had to die and I did feel a real sense of loss. That guy had been through the thick and thin with me ever since Ultima 4 and poof then he is gone. So yes, for me, a great emotional experience can be conveyed through games. I've even shed a tear in a few of the better ones. But those relied heavily on a great narrative.

 

[magerette]

Magerette is a young woman at heart

Thanks, skav. Some call it arrested development, or mental neotony.

And I'm old at heart! That's pathetic! Alas I could whine as much I want my youth is in my past and play some games won't change it!

Here that's out of topic!

Sorry to lead you young people astray but I'm bad that way. My theory here is that when many people began reading novels and playing games, they were in their teen or pre-teen years, trapped at home and bored. Then you get to your post high-school young adulthood and discover a myriad of other forms of entertainment, not to mention work, college and the opposite sex. So your time becomes filled up with other interests for awhile. I think I read less in my twenties and thirties than before or since, also.

It's all good--when you become old, you'll be desperate for ways to remain amused, and you'll have plenty of room for gaming, reading, Netflix and the internet in your schedules.

Okay--apologies for the off-topic. Carry on.

 

[JDR13]

Most of the thread have discussed games that are now 20+ years old. System Shock is fairly "new" in comparison.

Er....no, it's not.

Ultima VII and Ultima Underworld were released in 92. Lands of Lore 1 was released in 93, as was Betrayal at Krondor. System shock was released in 94.

 

[Zaleukos]

When I read that I wonder how you can be as old than you seem say.

You are reading plenty new novels, you dislike old games, visual is a major thing. That's plenty typical characteristics I see commonly in younger generations. Not that anybody of a similar generation is the same, it's clearly not true. But importance of image, curious enough to read a ton of new stuff... Are you really 40 years old? I'm closer to 50 but not yet, it's strange that there's so many differences, the country origin could be a part of the cause. Yes people are different but similar generations share most often many things.

Nah, if anything I think that age makes us less patient with trivial stuffs. Older people are like aging sports stars who have a harder time finding motivation for the everyday grind of the league and only really get going during the playoffs. I am only 32 but I have much less patience with crappy interfaces that slow down gameplay (or with grinding in general) compared to when I was younger.

 

[txa1265]

Er....no, it's not.

Ultima VII and Ultima Underworld were released in 92. Lands of Lore 1 was released in 93, as was Betrayal at Krondor. System shock was released in 94.

I know - that was my first thought when I saw your initial post, then I thought ... hey, he's right!

 

[JDR13]

I think sometimes people tend to forget how old System shock is. It definitely aged a lot better than some of the other classics.

 

[zakhal]

The cdrom version of ss with svga and speech is actually pretty decent still. I replayed it through 6 months ago or so.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I once played an old demo of system shock, but I didn't like the whole environment.

I guess I became picky over the time.

 

[JemyM]

I actually never played the original System Shock. It's one of those games which have been on my "to play" list for a long long time.

 

[Corwin]

It was SO far ahead of its time. You could crouch behind something and then lean around the corner to shoot. Not even F3 has that ability!!

 

[JemyM]

Yeah, I know. It's supposed to be one of the first first-person 3d games with a story. I do not know if it's aged well though. I tested the CD Version and could barely see what was going on on screen.

 

[woges]

As ever there is some game-play vid on YouTube.

I don't think I've ever played it.

I've been wanting to pick up SS2 for a while now but it seems a little hard to come by. You think they'd publish it somewhere in some form.

 

[JDR13]

Yeah, I know. It's supposed to be one of the first first-person 3d games with a story. I do not know if it's aged well though. I tested the CD Version and could barely see what was going on on screen.

There's a patch floating around somewhere that lets you up the resolution to 1024x768. It's the story and gameplay that make SS what it is though. Most modern games are seriously dumbed-down in comparison.

 

[GothicGothicness]

Yeah, I know. It's supposed to be one of the first first-person 3d games with a story. I do not know if it's aged well though. I tested the CD Version and could barely see what was going on on screen

The SVGA version is not that bad, in fact I played it again just recently it is better than SS2 in my opinion and it is a blast to play it! It feautures one of the best villians ever!!!!

 

[DArtagnan]

System Shock is my all time favorite game.

As I've said many times before, it represents the pinnacle of innovation and game design from where I'm sitting.

It's from the last part of the era where the audience was pretty much all hardcore and as such, companies weren't falling over themselves to please us with casual gameplay and superficial stories.

Very few developers are interested in limiting their audience these days, so only indie titles attempt innovation on this level and unfortunately that means low production values and too often a poor technical state in terms of code, art, and sound.

Looking Glass developed their own engine and compared with other big contemporaries - like Doom - it was miles ahead of its time. It had complex lighting, physics, and apart from the mobs, it was also fully 3D. You could crouch, go prone, as well as lean around corners from all positions. You could throw a timed landmine into an anti-grav elevator and watch the light from the explosion as you heard it go off somewhere above you.

But more than that, it was a giant mostly non-linear game with a very plausible level design. You weren't force-fed obvious clues, but instead had to piece together the puzzle one step at a time. Unlike Bioshock, the inferior and lesser game, the audio logs didn't necessarily relate to the exact problem you're facing upon finding them. No, this game tried to challenge you - and to help out with that, it had what's often considered the best antagonist of any game. SHODAN - the AI who would tease and observe constantly as you progressed and who went more and more insane as you neared the conclusion.

I could go on and on, but please, if you haven't already - go and play this NOW. Yes it looks like crap by todays standards - but it doesn't take more than an hour to adjust.

http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php/topic,211.0.html

There's a link to System Shock Portable - which will make it run just fine in XP in high resolution with fast frame rates.

Just do it.

 

[JemyM]

There's a patch floating around somewhere that lets you up the resolution to 1024x768. It's the story and gameplay that make SS what it is though. Most modern games are seriously dumbed-down in comparison.

Found the mod. SS simply refused to run in WinXP even with Mok's patch, but I am now running SS in 1280x1024 in DOSBOX. Feels a lot more playable now indeed. I can actually see what things on screen is supposed to be.

 

[Guest]

I think I'll try to get my hands on the original system shock 1.
Never really thought about SS1 before ... I'm Very interested now.

 

[JDR13]

Look what I started......

 

[Dasale]

I played years ago a 640*480 version of SS1. I played multiple area but never really get into the story and the mood and finally give up a long before the end. Additionally I never succeed to enjoy the controls, quite a problem for an action game. But it definitely worth a try.

 

[JDR13]

I played years ago a 640*480 version of SS1. I played multiple area but never really get into the story and the mood and finally give up a long before the end. Additionally I never succeed to enjoy the controls, quite a problem for an action game. But it definitely worth a try.

A lot of newer gamers have issues with the controls in SS, mainly the fact that the keys cannot be remapped in the game. A simple solution is to use a key remapping program to set the keys how you want them.