Reliving an Old Game Experience
I’ve talked before about recapturing the magic in games and trying to replicate it from a design standpoint, but recently I’ve decided to relive some old games. I picked up all of the Thief and Fallout games, both of which occupy places in my top three or so games of all time. But, I already know that I won’t enjoy them nearly as much as I did before.
At first, I really thought it was just because I’ve “been there and done that.” But, I played and replayed the Thief and Fallout games several times each in the first year or two after they came out. So, it must not just be that I already know everything about those games.
Then what the heck is it?!
My thought is that it’s because I’ve seen better versions of every pieces of those games in another game since then. Not necessarily all at the same time, but in pieces. Focusing on Thief…
I’ve seen better storytelling in Half-Life. I’ve seen better sneaking in the Hitman games. I’ve had more fun stealing things in the Elder Scrolls games. More open-ended debauchery in Grand Theft Auto. Combat has been better in numerous games, the visuals have been better in numerous games. Etc.
The point is, while the Thief series was amazing for its time, and it did many things better and/or differently than other games up to that point, it has been eclipsed multiple times by multiple games in pretty much every facet.
But I’m not gonna let that stop me from playing all three of the Thiefs in a row, then the Fallouts (1, 2, and Tactics) in an attempt to relive something resembling that amazing experience I had the first time I played each.
I still re-install Fallout 1 from time to time and play through it again. It’s still a lot of fn each time, though I do agree that the bloom’s off the rose too.
Still and all, I loved the game when it came out and still do. Fallout 2 is nice as well, but I never quite managed to get past the final area on the oil platform. Still had a lot of fun getting up to that point though. Good times.
It’s funny, I must be a complete loser. Because I can’t even play though Mass Effect a second time and I LOVE that game. It’s just that the storie’s the same regardless of your alignment, and it’s a 20+ hour story to boot. I don’t have that kind of time. The game’s I love and call my favorites, like Ocarina of Time for example, I hardly ever play more than once all the way through. I just can’t do it.
Now if a game was only a few hours long I’d replay it again and again. Maybe that’s why I keep coming back to Civilization over a lot of great RPGs and adventures I have on my PC and Xbox.
PS - Ryan, don’t forget to apply on the forums at Casualties. You’re not quite “One of Us” yet.
Ah, gotta love the Fallouts… Every time I play them, I’m reminded just how fun and awesome they are. Shredding deathclaws with a chaingun never gets old.
The part of Thief that I enjoyed most was archery from the shadows, and it’s repeated perfectly in Oblivion (though you have to reduce the game difficulty for head shots to kill).
There are elements of old games that seem rarely matched. One of my favorite DOS games was Nuclear War. Like in popular boardgames (Monopoly, Sorry!, Chutes and Ladders, etc), chance plays a huge role in that game. But few games since have demonstrated much respect for the thrill of luck.
I’m especially surprised that adventure games give players so much power over the direction of gameplay, since every one of the most popular adventure stories in literature and film involve a protagonist who is swept up in unexpected, and often uncontrollable, events. Bilbo and Frodo, for example, respond to circumstances, rather than create them.
You have not played anything that has done non linear game play better than Fallout 1 & 2…still thy blasphemous tongue.
Bit late here, but both of those series are in my Top Ten as well. As a matter of fact, of all the games in my collection, Thief 2 is one that is always, ALWAYS installed on my computer, and is played a few times a month. Not the original missions anymore, but fan missions from the incredibly active fan community (yay for ttlg.com!). I’m debating replaying the Fallouts. Part of me wants to, in preparation for Fallout 3, and part of me doesn’t, fearing that I’ll be doing a disservice to Fallout 3 if I do… where I’ll compare 3 unfavorably to the 2 previous ones. (Fallout 3 scares me. It looks way more FPS than RPG - despise with a raging hatred the former, acknowledge I’m a gamer girl junkie for the latter. I imagine I’ll still be buying it, though, even if my fears are true.)