Missing classics...

Burning Eclipse

I've never played System Shock 2. There, I said it. For the longest time it's been my biggest gaming shame... (I'm sure we all have them). Like film fans that haven't seen The Godfather or something similarly brilliant!

Also, The Shalebridge Cradle from Thief 3 is constantly referenced as the benchmark for excellent level design... I don't have the first clue about it.

So, the purpose of this thread is two-fold.

1. What games, if any, have you missed out on, and want to play? (I can see this effecting console gamers missing out on PC games a lot more than vice-versa)

2. Would I be able to get System Shock 2 and Thief 3 running on my 32-bit Vista laptop which has on-board gfx...

SeantheMan

I'd have to go with

-System Shock 2
-Bioshock series
-Playing Deus Ex properly - now that I'm more mature and can appreciate it
-Zelda - Ocarina of Time (tried but couldnt get into it)
-Silent Hill (series)
-Grim Fandango
-Operation Flashpoint

I've since tried to get into some of these games...but due to being swamped with todays technology etc, i get bored with the graphics, sound etc, which is quite a shame, whereas in their peak they would have been up there with their competitors ...and obviously appreciated much more.


On your 2nd question, Im sure you can get both games running
I doubt their minimum specs are anything over 256Ram etc

Seifer

Just picked up Max Payne 1 & 2 on steam for €15 so I can finally get around to experiencing bullet time
I do my best to catch up on games I missed out on the first time. Built a new pc about two months ago which allowed me the pleasure of playing through Bioshock.

tman

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

2. Would I be able to get System Shock 2 and Thief 3 running on my 32-bit Vista laptop which has on-board gfx...

System Shock 2 yeah, no problems at all (onboard graphics that is, can't comment on getting it running under Vista)
Thief 3 is a bit more demanding on hardware, but you can get it dirt cheap these days so you might as well give it a lash

For me, Deus Ex is my biggest shame... I played through the tutorial level a couple of times, but just couldn't get into the game proper:o

System Shock 2, Fallout 1 & 2, Baldurs Gate series, Shenmue series, pretty much every Lucasarts point and click (bar Full Throttle)... The list is endless

Retr0gamer

I've actually only just started playing System Shock 2. I've been putting it off for years because the youtube videos make it look like an archaic slow and unweildy game. Thank god I came to my senses and I need a good slap for letting it take so long. It's an amazing game, basically bioshock but so much better despite it looking really dated. It's going to be high up on my best ever games list when I finish it. I think I'm going to jump into Deus Ex next which is another of my shames since it supposedly plays an awful lot like System Shock 2.

There's a good community of SS2 players on the looking glass forums that will help you get the game running on vista and has lots of fan made patches and graphical updates.

I'm also going to have a go at Thief 1 and 2 since I heard they are great (and supposedly better than Thief 3). I've really gotten into my old school PC games

I'l using backloggery now to keep track of my games. I put them all in and the number of unplayed games I have is just silly. I left out anything I just won't play and still haven't put in my emulated games Reading a site like hardcore gaming 101 also doesn't help since you always end up discovering new games you need to play.

Have to try getting into some western RPGs like Planetscape Torment and Fallout 1 and 2. Saying that I absolutely hated KotoR so not sure how I'll fair with them.

Shiminay

I had started on SS2, but at the time it would only run on an old Win 95 partition I had on that particular machine (used Win2K as my main partition) and it was a pain in the arse having to switch back just to play it. But the hour or so of game time I got in on it "put me heart cross ways" as they say in Mayo. That's definitely one of those games that could do with getting re-done with modern textures and all that sorta thing.

Bioshock - I've tried playing this (Xbox) and it's so bloody boring and uninspiring to me as a person who's been playing FPS games for more than 10 years that I still have absolutely no idea what all the fuss is about.

I missed out on the Thief series entirely, having only glimpsed Thief 2 at a friend's house ("I'm going to the bear pits tomorrow, want to come with?"). I've also completely missed the Fallout series and after trying Fallout 3 didn't think I'd missed much. Couldn't see the appeal of it at all.

wayne040576

I was looking for System Shock 1 and 2 recently but couldn't find them at resonable prices. Although I just noticed an amazon third party seller selling ss" for £24. Didn't check if they ship here.

I have ICO still shrink wrapped sitting on the shelf at home.

thelordofcheese

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

I've never played System Shock 2. There, I said it. For the longest time it's been my biggest gaming shame... (I'm sure we all have them). Like film fans that haven't seen The Godfather or something similarly brilliant!

I did not care for System shock 2, It insists upon itself.

Kiith

Planescape: Torment is probably top of my missed classic's. I've always meant to play it, having loved other similar games. Just never really got into it for some reason.

Ico, The Thief series, Grim Fandango, and Panzer Dragoon Saga are some others.

Burning Eclipse

Thanks for the advice all! I first played Shadow of the Colossus a couple of months ago. I completed it in 3 days, just couldn't stop playing. Then last week I downloaded Secret of Monkey Island on xbla... Again, great game and something I had entirely missed out on. Those two excellent experiences have inspired me to go back and discover older games.

Are the Max Payne games worth shelling out for??

Oh, System Shock 2 is available from €60 on play.com... Won't be buying from that seller anyway!

I played through Thief 1... Brilliant stuff, but fell out with PC gaming shortly afterwards, think Grim Fandango was the last thing I completed on PC (masterpiece)

Retr0gamer

Kharn wrote: »

I've also completely missed the Fallout series and after trying Fallout 3 didn't think I'd missed much. Couldn't see the appeal of it at all.

The old Fallout games are nothing like Fallout 3. They are top down turn based RPGs and quite slow. You might like them. They are pretty cheap on good old games.

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

Are the Max Payne games worth shelling out for??

Not really. They are nothing more than really dumb shooters and get very repetitive. The visual style is great but the stories are crap really.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

I have none, if I didn't play it, it wasn't good enough. It didn't catch my eye... I have a very high standard when it comes to games...

Myrddin

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

Are the Max Payne games worth shelling out for??

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Not really. They are nothing more than really dumb shooters and get very repetitive. The visual style is great but the stories are crap really.

Cant say I agree, brilliant games I thought. Each to their own and all that jazz. Im about to get into Freespace 2 with the upgrades, then I can finally cross that one off my list

Stephen

I loved the Max Payne games. Sure they were simple shooters, but they were fun and that's what counts! Bullet time with dual-wielded uzis is awesome

Retr0gamer

Hardly must play classics though like super metroid or system shock 2?

Seifer

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Hardly must play classics though like super metroid or system shock 2?

The OP mentions Thief 3 which is about 3 years newer than the original Max Payne which at its time caused quite a stir with its bullet time.
And contrary to your opinion I've heard there's supposed to a be dark, gritty story in there too.

But ask me in a few weeks as I haven't had a chance to play them yet

PogMoThoin

Penembra Black Plague and The Chronicles of Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay (its been updated and re-released) are two classics I've played in the last while that I'd highly recommend

Oafley Jones

Retr0gamer wrote: »

The old Fallout games are nothing like Fallout 3. They are top down turn based RPGs and quite slow. You might like them. They are pretty cheap on good old games.

Decided to give Fallout 2 a go recently enough. Only lasted about 2 hours before i gave up. It felt completely archaic. I was expecting that they'd be the same as the Baldur's Gate games - which I love - but it was completely dated in comparison.

Myrddin

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Hardly must play classics though like super metroid or system shock 2?

Actually, yes. As stated, there is a dark, gritty storyline, the voice acting is brilliant, the music complements everything. Yes it is primarily a shooter, it never claimed to be anything else yet it was.

If its not for you its not for you, we all "miss" something about certain games. I for one never got onto Cod4 :eek:, yet fps games are my favourite genre...

But either way I wouldnt discourage the chap from playing the game, let him make his mind up - after all it has a huge fanbase - they cant all be wrong

Retr0gamer

I just didn't find the gameplay or story gritty at all. The game was the same thing over and over dragged out over 8 hours and the storyline was gritty but totally generic. Meh, i just didn't get what the fuss was.

ironictoaster

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

Also, The Shalebridge Cradle from Thief 3 is constantly referenced as the benchmark for excellent level design... I don't have the first clue about it.

This is a must play level, scare the bollox out of ya!!!

EGriff

Max Payne was an awesome game when it first came out. The action was brilliant. The bullet time, spraying bullets everywhere as you dive into cover and the way bits of debris would scatter all over the place.

Or at least thats how i remember it.

Retr0gamer

creggy wrote: »

This is a must play level, scare the bollox out of ya!!!

The guy who designed it also made the best level in Bioshock, the one with the artist.

Oafley Jones

creggy wrote: »

This is a must play level, scare the bollox out of ya!!!

This article on The Cradle is a must read for Thief fans. Written by one of PC Gamer's best writers Kieron Gillen ....

http://gillen.cream.org/wordpress_html/?page_id=618

Overheal

SeantheMan wrote: »

I'd have to go with

-System Shock 2
-Bioshock series
-Playing Deus Ex properly - now that I'm more mature and can appreciate it
-Zelda - Ocarina of Time (tried but couldnt get into it)
-Silent Hill (series)
-Grim Fandango
-Operation Flashpoint

I've since tried to get into some of these games...but due to being swamped with todays technology etc, i get bored with the graphics, sound etc, which is quite a shame, whereas in their peak they would have been up there with their competitors ...and obviously appreciated much more.


On your 2nd question, Im sure you can get both games running
I doubt their minimum specs are anything over 256Ram etc

I found it was best played on at least the gamecube, where up to date hardware kept the framerate from chugging, like it did on the N64. As for getting into it, the game is a slow starter but a long burner. By the time you have the Ocarina and do your first time warp (and the prelude to the game is all set out for you) you're hooked. Dungeons are very challenging in places, yet never frustrating to the point where you might ever feel the need to cheat or google. The Master Quest ver. is meant to be even more challenging, but it was also a limited time collectors item - not sure if its on the wii, but then i dont own one either.

Theres hundreds of games i ought to have played, and cant be arsed. ye mad?

-Sands of Time (felt far too repetitive. Rewinding time didnt help this issue much!)
-Doom (bits of it)
-Wolfenstein (I might have played through and finished it actually. But cant be quoted on it). Far too young to remember exactly what im thinking of was.
-Quake (QII multiplayer sure, but not singles)

Alright I just knocked 3 omg titles. But as my saving grace, I present that I've played each of the classic Duke Nukem games, up to DN3d. Land of the babes, no.

And theres a heap of old games I cant even remember the names of. Like one where the whole idea is to turn off these machines that are spawning monsters in this giant Tower which is the entire game, etc.

-Monkey Island (never finished the original)
-I consider any of the old Mechwarrior games Must Play Titles. the MW2 series is a bitch to run on anything above win98 but if you can manage it, its great craic
-Original Commander and Conquer to completion (the 320x240 res is where I throw the towel in)
-Civilization


and im sure, hundreds more from there.

Venom

Kharn wrote: »

I had started on SS2, but at the time it would only run on an old Win 95 partition I had on that particular machine (used Win2K as my main partition) and it was a pain in the arse having to switch back just to play it. But the hour or so of game time I got in on it "put me heart cross ways" as they say in Mayo. That's definitely one of those games that could do with getting re-done with modern textures and all that sorta thing.

Bioshock - I've tried playing this (Xbox) and it's so bloody boring and uninspiring to me as a person who's been playing FPS games for more than 10 years that I still have absolutely no idea what all the fuss is about.

I missed out on the Thief series entirely, having only glimpsed Thief 2 at a friend's house ("I'm going to the bear pits tomorrow, want to come with?"). I've also completely missed the Fallout series and after trying Fallout 3 didn't think I'd missed much. Couldn't see the appeal of it at all.

Damm man I expected better from you Well apart from Bioshock tbh, overhyped meh of a game imho.

Max Payne - keep meaning to get around to playing it. Maybe someday lol.

Mr. K

I recently downloaded the Xbox Original Max Payne. It's good, though I felt the story tried a little too hard to be dark and gritty!

I'm also playing the God of War games for the first time. They aren't as mind-blowing as I'd hoped, but they're solid action games, with cool use of Greek mythology.

jaggeh

shadow of the colossus, i really wanted to play that game and only got a brief 'shot' when at a mates once

Seifer

Incase anyone is wondering, I finished Max Payne (7.7 hours according to steam). After some initial technical hiccups* I got it running. It looks very dated but there are some interesting set pieces in it and when ever you slow-mo dive backwards shooting it looks cool :pac:
The story was fine, nothing to write home about.

Onto Max Payne 2 now and it has aged a lot better. Only played the first few levels so can't comment on the overall game yet.

*Basically the sound will not work on Windows Vista (or Windows 7 which I'm running) so I had a google around and found a thread somewhere where a community member that just loves the game has made a patch. He has updated it as recently as May of this year so it works perfectly with the steam version. A great example of the highs and lows of pc gaming I think

Chumpski

I have never played any LucasArts point n click classics. I would especially love to play the monkey island series, Indiana Jones and the last crusade and the fate of atlantis. I am a big fan of the broken sword series and can't believe i've yet to play one of these. To start off i'm going to play through monkey island for my ipod touch.

I also have a couple of VC games on my Wii that i really should play:
Zelda Orcania, Link to the Past and also Super Metroid. It really shames me to admit this but i'm finding it difficult to get into them as they don't look as pretty as the most recent versions:p

Edit:
For the PS2 i have played *almost* everything i wanted to. One game on my to play pile that i should really play is Silent Hill 2.

Also, i have never played Castlevania SOTN. I was waiting for it to show up on the PSN in europe but there hasn't been any news on it lately. I should probably try getting it off the US store instead maybe.

Retr0gamer

I still think Super Metroid and Link to the Past are gorgeous looking games. Good looking 2D never ages.

noodler

Final Fantasy IV (Id say all of the ones before 6 but I doubt I'd have the patience).

Odin Sphere.

Oblivion: Elder Scrolls

Bioshock

Finish Persona 4

Final Fantasy Tactics

Retr0gamer

Im beginning to think Odin Sphere is a marmite game. Even more so when I realised how bad the load times are when not played from a hard disk.

noodler

Hmmm, I still have my phat and even an unopened Network Adaptor.

If I had the technical prowess I would sort out the exploit.

Retr0gamer

If you've got a way of getting a file onto memory card like with one of the later action replay discs and a 120Gb hard disk you are sorted. The loading times are pretty terrible in that game

B00MSTICK

SS2,SotC and Ico for me.

Overheal wrote:

Original Commander and Conquer to completion (the 320x240 res is where I throw the towel in)

Ha I used to prefer the DOS version to Win95, crazy or what...

James Howlett

Every gaming website seams to be screaming at me to play Okami so I bought it... but still haven't managed to remove the shrink wrap.

I have heard that ICO is amazing and having played and enjoyed Shadow of the Colossus I would be happy to play it, but I can't find it anywhere. Stupid low print runs of critically acclaimed games that did not meet with the deserved commercial success. Alas.