Do you still enjoy old video games?

[Messiah]

I love video games. I don't have the kind of time for it like I used to, but video games along with football are two of the most satisfying things ever. So, with that said, I have owned and played on a ton of systems. Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Wii, PS2, PS1, PS3, Xbox 360, so on and so forth. However, recently I have found that I just don't enjoy old games like I used to.

There are exceptions. For example, I still love Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. That game, to me, has aged extremely well. There is no way you can convince me that game isn't one of the greatest of all-time. The fact that it has stood the test of time speaks volumes to me. In comparison, it was difficult for me to go back and play Red Dead Redemption. Keep in mind that if you were to ask me what my favorite gaming experience has been, from a single player standpoint, it would be Red Dead Redemption, no questions asked. The story is right there with The Walking Dead: Season 1 as the best of all-time in the video game world. John Marston may be the single best protagonist ever, in my opinion. However, I tried playing it a couple of months ago and I just couldn't. I think a large part of the reason why is because the atmosphere in its gaming universe doesn't feel as good as it did when you first start playing it because you have been exposed to more technically advanced games. It is crazy how far we have come technically in such a, relatively speaking, small time frame.

There are some other games too. I don't think I have ever even tried to play GoldenEye 007 again. That is one of my earliest gaming experiences and I just can't bring myself to play it. Black Ops 2 is one of my favorite first person shooters ever and my favorite Call of Duty (IMO, it gets underrated by a lot of people) and when I tried to play it recently, it just felt weird. It ruined the experience for me. The same applies to any old sports games or wrestling games.

Does this happen to anyone else when they play older games or does it not bother them?

[War Daddy]

I can replay all the Silent Hills, Resident Evils, and Pokemons but that's about it.

[EmperorWu]

I don't go back that often but every few years I go back and play Symphony of the Night and Suikoden 1+2. Also I still invest heavy hours playing the Romance of the Three Kingdoms games.

I mostly don't because I don't "repeat" things very often. I don't rewatch movies, or Shows, or replay all that many games unless they're my favorites. Even then it's only after a few years have passed.

[SlightlyJames]

Man, I remember when San Andreas was the newest shit going, don't call that old I can feel my hair greying as I read it.

I don't really take age as a factor in a game's quality. Unless they've got an air tight stylized aesthetic like The Wind Waker the visuals tend to become dated over time but if that's all a game had to rely on it probably wasn't that good in the first place.

In terms of outdated mechanics it can sometimes be offputting, I never got into the original Fallout games because there's a certain degree of competency in terms of UI that's taken for granted nowadays that it wasn't very satisfying to go without. It can be pretty frustrating to go back to the original Pokemon games having played the newer ones which have much more sensible and interesting battle systems. Why is Hyper Beam physical god dammit?!

For the most part though, I don't think just being "old" will get in the way of me enjoying a game. Visuals aren't very important to me and in most cases there aren't many red flags like the ones I listed above, the vast majority of classic video games have stood the test of time. Some of them are more weathered than others but it's not going to get in the way of my enjoyment if the game is truly great.

[Everlong]

It really depends on the game for me. I can go back and play any old Nintendo games and have a blast. Red Dead Redemption is still one I play through probably once a year.

But there are games that just feel really outdated. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion feels so cumbersome after putting so much time into Skyrim, which still holds up beautifully. That's the only example I can think of off the top of my head, but yeah.

[VaderBomb]

I suck at video games but I still love watching my girlfriend kick all of my friend's asses in NFL Blitz for the N64.

[KaiserGlider]

The first Pokemon games I played (Ruby/Saphire and FireRed/LeafFreen) have aged very well considering that they release new Pokemon games with improved graphics and slight gameplay improvements almost every year. I've replayed those Gen 3 games a bunch of times. The look and graphics of the world on the Gameboy Advance, there's just something about it I love.

[Hanley!]

I play old video games more frequently than new video games, and enjoy them more too for the most part.

I find that nowadays AAA video games aren't often as enjoyable, because they're too focused on making things look realistic or staying on the cutting edge of technology, and not nearly focused enough on actually being fun. Also, because developers are spending so much on games these days they're only developing what they consider safe bets, so a lot of games end up almost being clones of each other.

There are games that don't age well, for sure. I don't still enjoy everything that I did 20 years ago. But the best games will usually remain great even when you go back to revisit them years later. I still play stuff from the earliest generations of video games. Pacman and Asteroids work just as well as they ever did. I regularly revisit the Sonic the Hedgehog games. Those games have barely aged a bit. The controls and visuals are still perfect for the kind of games they are.

Weirdly, it's often the games that try hardest to be photo-realistic and cutting edge that end up looking dated further down the line. If you look back at the PS1 or N64 era, the games that were attempting to look realistic (Goldeneye for example) don't hold up well today, while something like Spyro the Dragon works just as well as it ever did.

So I can definitely still enjoy old games. I'm actually a little surprised by how new most of the games are that you're all referencing. Do people really consider games outdated that quickly? I find that a little sad; I'd like to think that the good video games will live on and not just be forgotten when the next generation comes along.

For example, it surprises me that someone could consider Red Dead Redemption outdated this soon. I recently started my third play through of that game, and it still works for me on every level. The graphics might not be the most realistic in the market, but I don't think the game was ever going for photo realism. Some of the visuals in the game are still among my favourites in gaming. Sometimes I'll be riding my horse up over a cliff and catch a view of a sunset or something like that, and will be struck by how gorgeous the scenery is, in a way that never happens to me in any other game.

I actually think a lot of the most attractive video games are the ones that don't go for photo-realism. I think art direction can be really important, and games with a specific visual art style can be some of the most evergreen. SlightlyJames mentioned Wind Waker which is a good example of that. Okami is another one that springs to mind for me. The Resident Evil remake is still one of the most gorgeous games I've ever seen, with every visual adding tons of atmosphere, but that game was released 13 years ago. To reference some more recent games, The Tell Tale games and the Borderlands games have visual styles that I think will hold up incredibly well years down the line.

It's rare enough that I think a game can become too dated just due to its visuals anyway though. I just don't think that's one of the most important pieces of the video gaming puzzle. Some of the video game remakes we've seen over the years kinda prove that: games like Tomb Raider and Silent Hill have been remade over the years to improve the graphics, and in the process the atmosphere and other elements became shittier and the remakes were poorly received as a result.

There are much more important things than graphics. More often if I find I can't enjoy a game anymore, it's because of the gameplay mechanics, but only if they're really clunky and developers just hadn't figured out a better way of doing things yet. I don't mind if the mechanics of older games are different to what we have now, provided they still control well and are intuitive.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling. Interesting topic though.

[Kein]

I go back to Dark souls often even though its a couple years old. Just keep killin, killin, killin...

I also boot up the old Guild Wars once in a while because I really enjoy the game play mechanics, building teams and whatnot. I find myself more and more getting into puzzle and strategy games. If Pokemon wasn't such a min/max game in some ways with EV points and OP pokemon I probably would still be really into it. It's weird how I am lazy about some things but will grind out others.

I think playing old games has a lot more to do with replay value, than it does how good of a game it was. Red Dead to me was a game that is good for one play-through and had a very appealing story, but as the story unfolds when you play it again, you know it all, you know what is going to happen and you are just kind of playing through the motions. Chrono Trigger on the other hand, is a re-play with a twist added, you can make new endings, continue building your character, find new things in the world as you go through it again. It's a very different experience while still going through the same storyline. I believe aside from a compelling story, this twist made the game as successful as it was.

A couple months ago I went to Florida to visit a friend and of all the games we ended up playing the most was Yoshi's Cookie. Yoshi's fucking cookie..... It was intense, and amazing fun. We also played Blades of Steel, that was a fun game and even though the graphics of those old NES games might make some peoples eyes bleed, it's what we were raised on. I feel like old classic games had more fairness in their multiplayer than they do now-a-days.

I also still like Tetris attack but no one wants to play me cause I kill them all. So I play endless mode forever alone.

[JPG619]

Yeah I do, if the game is worth replaying then I would go back to replay older games. I know technology changes over time so sometimes it unbearable to play some game but if they game play and storyline is worth a second crack at then I would go back to that game. That is the reason I still have my older systems like PS2, PS3, and X360 so I can enjoy my older games

[UTK]

Super Smash Melee and Mario Party 4 for the Gamecube. And Star Wars Jedi Outcast for the PC. I'm not a gamer by any means so I guess I could just not know shit, but I think Jedi Outcast was the best Star Wars game ever made, and one of my favorite games ever.

[Twister]

I can play the first 3 Spyro games over and over and over, same for the Crash Bandicoot games. Old school Pokemon is fun every now and then too. Not forgetting Theme Hospital and Theme Park, I'm pretty sure I could give Sims a good go too although Sims2 will always be my favourite out of the series.

There are loads of games that I like to dabble in every now and then, but more often than not I don't stick with them. The ones mentioned above have a special place in my heart, so to speak.

[Kreashko]

I'd honestly rather play older games. They were just more...enjoyable/entertaining. Now I feel stressed when I play games.

[EmperorWu]

I was at my buddy's house the other day. He's got a bunch of retro games. We played Blitz and Goldeneye on the 64. Then played Joust and Food Fight on the Atari. Shit was fun.