What is the last video game you played?

[King Mark 3,631]

I don;t think Skyrim or even New Vegas can be called "old games" yet if you haven't played them.

Old games is PS2 and below generation

Some people are making somekind of Morrowind skyrim Mod .I must admit the Morrowind world is more interesting that Skyrim to look at

http://kotaku.com/high-res-skywind-looks-like-the-morrowind-mod-of-my-dre-1496594304

[Wojo 2,453]

I skipped Morroblivion because I couldn't stand Oblivion, truth be told. I did play the Morrowind Overhaul a little bit, but it wasn't on a computer I felt comfortable keeping on for long marathon gaming sessions. But I am tempted to download the Skywind mod and help test or find bugs. And yes, the landscape and architecture of Vvardenfell is much more interesting than anything in Cyrodil or most of Skyrim.

[A24 4,346]

People are playing the same game over and over again.

Alex Gilliam

[Wojo 2,453]

For the most part, yes, that is true. It's economical. It cuts down on the amount of work the developers need to adapt existing technology and ideas to new games, and publishers want games with preexisting audiences that will sell well. So we have games with yearly or at least often installments like Battlefield, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Madden and the other EA sports, Civilization, all the Sim and Sims games. Once in a while, you get a game with a novel concept like Portal, but at the end of the day, all that is is a fancy new way of manipulating maps on the fly in the Half-Life 2 engine, itself just another Doom clone.

[Quintus 5,399]

The trick is to dip in and out of the many different genres available, like movies. But yeah, right now I'm dug in deep into the online fps thing, until that passes again and I start a new adventure campaign or something, I have the new Assassins Creed to get into there.

[A24 4,346]

My son is playing the latest Tomb Raider (the one on the island) and he can't stop playing. I watched along for a while and hated it. When did games become like bad movie blockbusters?

[Quintus 5,399]

It's a good action adventure game if youre actually playing it. But I found it overrated.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I enjoyed it enough. Wouldn't cough up $60 for the PS4 version though.

[Quintus 5,399]

For me they went wrong trying to do the Uncharted thing (and mostly succeeding) at the expense of what used to make Tomb Raider great - exploration, puzzle solving and isolation. They went mad on the gung ho action and it just became boring after a while.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yeah we discussed this a page or two back. It ironically ended up being an Uncharted clone. I felt that it wasn't too big and long enough to make its gameplay stale though. Never really felt bored with it.

What do you think about PlayStation Now? Didn't realize it was gonna be happening so soon. Seeing The Last Of Us streaming on a Vita, while not something I would specifically be attracted to, was a great sight and a giant step towards what can be done within the industry. The service has lots of possibilities.

[King Mark 3,631]

People are playing the same game over and over again.

RPG's is the same thing. There's convention within a genre of gaming that must be followed to a degree so your always playing variations of the same basic game which .What makes one better than the other is how well all the elements are implemented (story,combat, exploration, environments,character building..)

It's also the refinement of the formula over the years, like seeing worlds brought to life that weren't possible to render a few years ago

I don't like the short, mostly cinematic games like Uncharted... the balance must be more on game play than cutscenes

[Koray Savas 2,251]

What do you mean by cutscenes? The script, dialogue, voice acting, motion capture? Cut scenes are required to tell a convincing and meaningful story, something that gives great gameplay a direction and purpose. If you think Uncharted has more of those than actual gameplay, then there's no helping you.

Never play MGS4, those cutscenes run for 45-90 minutes each.

[King Mark 3,631]

I mean games that feel like your playing an interactive movie and not a game, There's no clear cut difference but it depends on the balance

Far Cry 3 had a ton of cut scenes but it was also a very in depth gaming experience

Some JRPG cut scenes go on for 45 minutes , but the main focus is still the game

I guess I could point out Uncharted and the single player campaigns of Call of Duty as the main offenders

[Koray Savas 2,251]

And you've played these games before?

[King Mark 3,631]

I started Uncharted and looked at someone play CoD

[Quintus 5,399]

Uncharted 1&2 were brilliant playthroughs which retained their "game" perfectly well whilst offering the player something more cinematic than what they'd been used to. Same goes for The Last of Us, which pretty much perfected the formula.

I didn't care for the rail'em up interactive adventure of Uncharted 3, and I hate CoD pretty much consistently bar a couple of iteration highlights.

[King Mark 3,631]

I'll try Last of Us when it's a really good price

[Koray Savas 2,251]

You can find it used for $25...

[King Mark 3,631]

I'll buy it for 14.99 or less eventually

I still have a lot of time before buying a PS4 I think

[A24 4,346]

The kid finished the campaign of Tomb Raider and because of the fluentness, the not so difficult puzzles and especially the importance of Lara's bow, he thinks it's the best Tomb Raider game ever. He eagerly awaits the next one.

Odd because to me there can be only one:

No really, someone should continue making these games the old school way and offer them on the PS Store as mini-games or something. I bet there's a market for it. And how difficult can it be with today's engines?

Alex

[Quintus 5,399]

The first 4 Tomb Raider games were brilliant, then Angel of Darkness happened a little while later and almost killed the franchise dead. Then Crystal Dynamics took over and eventually made TR: Underworld in 2008 - which was the last great TR title in the mould of the originals, before last year's reboot. It's on PS3, and still visually impressive.

Did you not play it, Alex?

Looking through the images again just now, I think I might have to play it again.

[A24 4,346]

We have them all but I only like the PSX ones (the first 5 Tomb Raiders with the first one being my absolute favorite). Somehow I already didn't like the previous (from the current one) Tomb Raiders. They look good but I don't enjoy playing them. I think I like the simplicity and the very gamish graphics of the old school Lara. Every thing else is too realistic, too movie-ish, too much of everything. You also die too easily which means you constantly have to repeat some difficult task.

Crazily enough, I rather liked Angel Of Darkness, even though it didn't play all that well.

[Quintus 5,399]

I couldn't play the PS1 originals again because as good as they were then they are crude as hell both visually and mechanically by the following generation's much more sophisticated and refined standards. The difficulty thing you mentioned is curious though - because I think the later and more recent entries are far easier than the pretty brutal (and cheap) first games!

By sheer coincidence I bought the first game last week for the iPad. Thought it'd rekindle something, but alas it was just too old and unappealing to me. Unlike 2D retro stuff; 3D polygon based art dates very, very badly.

[A24 4,346]

It's dated but those are the only ones that I enjoy. Neither games, nor movies, for that matter, need real to life graphics for me. Every new game that comes out looks more real and more like a movie which you help to finish. Duck (press B), jump (press A) and you see the next conversation or story bit.

[Quintus 5,399]

Realism wasn't what I was getting at. Tomb Raider is a very rough game now. Some of the best games ever made look the polar opposite of "realistic".

Every new game that comes out looks more real and more like a movie

This isn't true.

[A24 4,346]

Okay, not EVERY game, but you know what I mean.

Even the soundtracks are exactly the same as the ones you hear in the theater (Zimmer, Zimmer, Zimmer). Games once had a unique vibe and atmosphere which you couldn't find anywhere else. Now the media just wants to mimic Hollywood.

Grandpa Alex

[Quintus 5,399]

Okay, not EVERY game, but you know what I mean.

Even the soundtracks are exactly the same as the ones you hear in the theater (Zimmer, Zimmer, Zimmer). Games once had a unique vibe and atmosphere which you couldn't find anywhere else. Now the media just wants to mimic Hollywood.

Nostalgic Alex

This isn't true.

Okay, not EVERY game, but you know what I mean.

[King Mark 3,631]

Depends what type of game your playing

The game I'm playing now on the PS3 is pretty old school.I have to take notes on a piece of paper because there's no quest markers

[Quintus 5,399]

Yeah the big budget shooters and action games tend be the ones which are most likely to have generic modern Hollywood inspired music. But not all of them. Possibly not even half of them, actually. I know this because I'm very experienced in this area.

[King Mark 3,631]

The JRPG's have the best music and big orchestral themes . Not only Final Fantasy, but a few other ones I've played I've sleeked out the scores

[Quintus 5,399]

Yeah they often have richly scored soundtracks, but I don't just like that sort of music (which too can be rather generic, in the same way a Debney movie score can be). I often tend to be very much into hybrid scores, which mix and mesh different musical styles, electro orchestral, that sort of thing, for eg. Games frequently have better music than movies nowadays anyway.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

[Quintus 5,399]

Get back to your Hobbits, plebian.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I havent contributed for a few days to that lark!

So more BOLLOCKS, Donaldson!

[Brónach 1,302]

Gf's beating the crap out of me at Age of Empires II.

We might play Kerbal Space Program afterwards.

[Wojo 2,453]

I love Age of Empires II. Back in college, my friends forbade me from playing as the Spanish because conquistadors upset the balance of the game, so they thought.

[King Mark 3,631]

Here's my main PC gaming history of the old days (1985-1993):

Ultima 3 to7

Might and Magic 1 to 5

Eye of the Beholder 1 to 3

Worlds of Ultima Savage Empire

Ultima Underworld 1-2

Shadowcaster

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Pool of Radiance

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons:Heroes of the Lance

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Curse of the Azure Bonds

Dungeonmaster

Wing Commander 1-2

3003-2006:

Morrowind

Far Cry

Neverwinter Nights

Neverwinter Nights 2

Fable

Doom 3

Half Life 2

Far Cry

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Gf's beating the crap out of me at Age of Empires .

Arent you a woman?

[Brónach 1,302]

Gf's beating the crap out of me at Age of Empires .

Arent you a woman?

What do you mean?

Current videogame adventures: Kerbal Space Program is nerdy and fun as hell. The finished game could be a jewel. And it runs on Linux!

[Quintus 5,399]

I started The Lord of the Rings: The War in the North, after paying about £2 for it last autumn on Steam. Hey it's a pretty good RPG slash 'em up! Better than I was expecting.

[Wojo 2,453]

I'll keep an eye out for it. It's currently $20 and there won't be another Steam Sale until spring, I reckon.

[Quintus 5,399]

Don't be expecting Triple-A levels of polish and you'll be good. It's definitely a B-game. Also, you'll probably need a controller.

I believe it was even in a recent Humble Bundle.

[Wojo 2,453]

It was, I remember that bundle. I considered it but I owned half the games and decided not to rebuy, believing the remaining games weren't worth it. Oops. But I do own a controller, which is necessary for the Arkham games and side scrollers. I don't use the controller for my Elder Scrolls/Fallout RPGs or other FPS games because I am spoiled on keyboard and mouse.

[King Mark 3,631]

Keyboard is only good for FPS

a lot of RPG's are unplayable with a keyboard and mouse

[Quintus 5,399]

Strategy games are better with k/m. And point 'n click adventures.

[King Mark 3,631]

well nobody plays those

[Wojo 2,453]

Many people do. Everything Sid Meier ever made is a strategy game that needs k/m input. Telltale Games has kept the Sam and Max and Monkey Island torches going, and their TWD games are extremely popular. Some people even liked their JP and BTTF games. None of the Sim and Sims games are playable with a controller.

For a guy who gives most of his gaming allegiance to obscure Japanese games played by a handful of folks this side of the Date Line, you really have no business passing judgment on what genres are or are not dead.

[King Mark 3,631]

I try to get play every RPG that's released for current consoles...and it includes the obscure JRPG titles. Final Fantasy isn't played by a handful of people and it's the prototype of the genre.I'm actually very late in the game and missed out on a truckload of them released on the PS2 back then and now the 3DS.

I hate point and click adventures that's why I make fun of them

[Quintus 5,399]

I don't play them at all anymore, but The Secret of Monkey Island on the Amiga is in my top five of all time.

Also, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

[King Mark 3,631]

It's not like I don't play anything else though

Shadowgate killed the point and click adventure for me. I remember staring at a static screen for hours trying to figure out what the fuck to click on...I hated that game so much that I never played another one