Anyone else still playing old/retro games?

[berghoff 11]

I was wondering if there are others on this forum that still play old/retro games. Obviously OFP is installed on every PC i have but a bit further back in time.

Recently I installed Thief I and II (created by looking glass studios, now defunct). And wow I was still amazed how atmospheric this game is still, most modern games don't seem to interest me as much. With some effort you can play this game under XP on new hardware see here and here. I still have an old rig with Win98. Anyway, when I started to play Thief again I lost all sense of time ... truly amazing.

Yesterday I completed Thief I Gold with some extra nice levels, now im busy with Thief II which I never really completed before.

Another one I like is Blood from Monolith (can also be played in Dosbox or XP/Vista with some help of programs, heres a nice fansite). It uses the same engine as Duke3d and Shadow Warrior but its style is much different. To bad they never released the source code.

Sometimes I still also play Transport Tycoon Deluxe using Open TTD

One of the first games I played were:

F29

Gods

Supaplex - Look for Megaplex on google

And a whole lot of NES games that I rarely could complete due the difficulty :P

Most friends I know can't seem to look through the aged graphics and sound, but for me it doesn't matter how old the game is since the familiar look is good enough even after many years I still prolly be playing games like Doom. A good example how you can destroy a old game using modern graphics is the Doomsday engine for Doom games with 3d models.. I know people spend a lot of time creating new models but for me the sprites are far more detailed compared to these N64 like models with choppy animations..(heck I even thought that with my own first tree models I created for OFP) thats why crispy graphics doesn't mean anything.

Anyone else still play old games? Please share...  

[max power 21]

Oh yeah, big time. Right now I'm playing Baldur's Gate. This is just after I finished Blue Force, and the vga versions of Police Quest 1 and 3. Blue Force was like PQ only grittier (and cheesier)- it was made by the same consultant when he quit Sierra to form Tsunami games. I was thinking of getting back into Ultima again and using Exult, but I decided to play BG instead. I literally have a closet full of old computer games with their original boxes and documents, like Sim Earth, TFX, Fleet Defender, Strike Commander (and expansions), Quest For Glory, Ultima 7 & 8, Lands of Lore, 688 attack sub, LHX attack chopper, etc.

I even managed to get my hands on box for some Retro Vapourware. In the early / mid 1990s, the Games Workshop was licensing a follow on to Space Hulk called Dark Crusade. It was on display in some Games Workshop stores, and a friend of mine was really into that table top gaming stuff. When they pulled the title, he got his hands on the box and ended up giving it to me because I was a fan of the GW artwork when I was a teenager. It's got a nice cover- it looks like oil paints.

[Messiah 2]

Theme Hospital, Dungeon Keeper, Sim Tower to name a few I've recently re-installed - Generally most of the management/sim games, as age doesn't really wear them as thin as others, plus Bullfrog are still unsurpassed in their brand of game humour.

Depends how retro you want. I still sometimes play the original C&C and Red Alert stuff, as I still don't think EA have even come close to the original stuff Westwood created. Original Doom and Quake sometimes too, but my PC gaming heritage doesn't go back very far, as I was a Mac child thanks to my parents - Pretty much limited to playing Myst and Riven.

[Serclaes 0]

Jagged Alliance 2

In my opinion the best tactical RPG ever made.

A part from that i don't have much time for other games or there is a remake (Colonization, Railroads).

[Daddl 10]

I just recently played through Fallout 1 & Fallout 2, as well as two great old adventure games: 'Flight of the Amazon Queen' and 'Beneath a Steel Sky' - the latter both included in most Linux distributions.

I have many old games gathering dust, and sometimes I just pull them out, install them in a virtual machine and have some fun! One of the next classics I'm going to replay will probably be the Baldur's Gate series. Oh, and somewhere I have all the old Wing Commander games that I replayed about a year ago...

[sanctuary 19]

I am not interested in nearly everything released nowadays, and as i don't get bored easily with what i have, not playing 24/24, i continue to play nearly only (some very) old games.

Some of the one i played recently :

I have lot of fun with Red Storm Rising, it may be 20 year old, but it is always a very good tactical sub sim featuring a competent AI, even if the detection part is oversimplified in comparison to a Sub Command or a Dangerous water.

There is someone coding a remake, could be very interesting.

Thief 2 is always installed on my hard drive, and i play regularly with the insane amount of high quality fan mission. Thief 2 is really the most interesting stealth based game i ever played.

Be sure to check the community created expansion named Thief2X , it is a very lot better than the already excellent Thief 2 campaign.

Ghost Recon and expansions remains one of the best tactical combat sim i ever played, everytime i relaunch it the immersion , the ai taking cover/suppressing, the maps, all is near perfection despite its 8 years.

Sad that none of the so called sequels are half as good as it is always now. But the replay value is so high, with either custom content or the editor missions that i never felt bored with a firefight.

Once a while i launch myself in Master of Orion , really interesting 4X, very simple to play but a lot of depth, nearly the 4X equivalent to chess.

Despite the AI is very impressive, of course you can always exploit game mechanisms for advantage like in every 4X, but if you play normally, it is a very challenging opposition.

On Civfanatics and RBO there were some challenges and interesting succession games ongoing.

Master of Orion 2 remains very good, and different enough in term of gameplay from the 1st one to not replace it, so you can play both without feeling it is the same game with a different presentation.

Not played it recently, but i have been building my party in the always awesome Darklands.

After losing a precious member during a battle with one of those damned "Raubritters" and his troops, i had to get a new guy and train him a bit as Darkland can be very challenging for new recruits.

Despite it is 17 years old, despite the pixels, the fabulous 2D art makes the game very immersive in a very good atmosphere of middle age dread.

Anyways, be sure to check Darklands.net

Will never thanks the DOSBox creators enough.

of course OFP always installed and working on it, sometime making a firefight in the editor to see if my work is correct, but mostly working not really playing.

[Baff1 0]

I think Il 2 is the oldest game I have installed currently.

There are quite a few older games that I would have still installed if they were compatable with my current newest computer sytems.

Mech Commander 2 and Homeworld 2 are two examples of Retro games I've been intrested in playing again but that do not function nicely on Vista or support Surround Gaming.

I tried C&C generals again too, but it didn't work apparently they have released a fix for it since then so I might get round to trying it again.

Having spent so much money on this equipment I am always looking to use it and titles which support it are a first priority.

I have toyed with the idea of replaying through the Thief series but been put off with the thought of all the effort to configure it to Surround Gaming. Had someone on the forums already provided a fix for this I'd have installed that one again also, along with H&D2.

[Wolfrug 0]

Aw man, you guys. Grab the X-Com pack off Steam while you still can, it doesn't get much cheaper than that. Sure, you get a bunch of pointless titles (Enforcer, Interceptor), but you also get the grand triad of UFO, Terror from the Deep, and Apocalypse.

These are a bunch of such excellent turn-based (except for Apocalypse, I guess) strategy/management games that nothing to date has come close. Which is a real pity, since the concept is exceedingly solid. And blowing shit up never gets old   Although Apocalypse's real time-based combat is different, it's still a barrel of fun. Ah, the POTENTIAL.

Thief II and JA2 also hold a special place in my heart, of course.

For the oldest of old-schoolers, do you remember Mordor (and its successors)? Oh yes, I wasted so much time running around in the Shareware version of that game...  

Regards,

Wolfrug

[Shadow NX 1]

Just finished Fallout2 once more and though its old and aged its still a damn fine game.

Wish Fallout 3 would have been a bit more like that in the start so you have it harder to get first firearms and armor and have to be lot more carefull untill then.

Other than that i often dig out old games like Jagged Alliance or even Panzer General.

If anyone ever makes a new Panzer General ( no need for 3d there ) id be damn happy.

[sanctuary 19]

You can give a look to People's General, no 3D but very good 16 bit colors in comparison to the old 256 ones of Panzer General 2.

Same gameplay mechanics, but set in a modern setting opposing NATO+Russia vs China and countries around the place.

There was a lot of following if i remember well and even mods adding more countries and content.

[kavoven 4]

Anno 1503 ( I lost my 1602 copy)

Freelancer all the way (I love that game so much, best story ever)

C&C Generals best strategy game out there

[Colossus 2]

Funny you should mention this. I got really nostalgic recently, so I started playing games like Theme Hospital, Silent Hunter 3, Half-Life, Worms Armageddon, Railroad Tycoon 2 and plenty more else. Unfortunetly not everything is buyable or abandonware, so I still miss a few games from the old days.

Still, alot of fun playing old games again

[Daddl 10]

There are quite a few older games that I would have still installed if they were compatable with my current newest computer sytems.

Just install the games in a virtual machine. Most older games work fine with XP, and I always keep a plain Windows XP VM ready, where I can install an old game. If you are runnung Windows Vista I especially recommend the latest version Sun's free VirtualBox - hardware acceleration (including 3d, something Microsoft's VirtualPC 2007 SP1 doesn't offer), and a wider range of supported guest systems (from DOS to Windows 7).

All you need is your old XP disk, then set it up once and use the created image as the base for your game installations. The best thing about it is that not only do your old games work fine, but they don't conflict with your normal system. If you have played a game for long enough, you simply delete the VM and you're done.

[walker 0]

Hi all

I still play space invaders.

May build my self an Arcade box some time.

MAME is sweet. Just an old PC, a bit of carpentry and old style electronics.

http://www.mame-arcade.com/

Now there is retro for you.

Of course if I wanted to be really Retro I would create a version of Hunt the Mugwump; but I think that is way before the birth of most people here.

Kind Regards walker

[Sertorius 0]

A lot of the old C&C games (RA1, RA2, Tiberian Sun). Also Age of Kings.

[opteryx 1562]

I've been playing Broken Sword on and off for 12 years now, STILL haven't completed it.  

[oyman 0]

Starcraft

[Sennacherib 0]

i still play at the first C&C and AOE 2 the conquerors expansion. the last mont I played at Populus; the ancestor of all the RTS. i must say that was really funny

[SaBrE_UK 0]

Starcraft and Earth 2150: Lost souls. And a bit of Worms: World Party, Half-life, Deus Ex and Mafia. Only got a crappy laptop with me at uni.

[Pathy 0]

Always loved the Thief series, always will

Play alot of old games, but most recently, Tropico and Age of Wonders saw a reinstall. Deus Ex has yet to have its annual playthough, but it will get it at some point.

[max power 21]

I tried to get into f19 stealth fighter but it's much more mechanical than I remember. It's difficult to get a feel for what the aircraft is doing because of the very, very simple flight model. The stealth stuff still hasn't been topped, though!

[Pathy 0]

How about DiDs F22 Total Air War. Now thats how to do Dynamic Campaigns.

[Bracken 0]

I was playing baldurs gate recently too, though i was using the baldurs gate 2 engine with the tutu mod.

At the moment i'm playing Rainbow 6 and Rogue spear.  I only have gaming time on the weekends so I print off the 2d planning stages and throughout the week i plan my mission out on paper in detail and run it though come the weekend.

Not sure if i will buy Raven shield soon or not.  I tried the demo but to me, it felt to much like ghost recon: advanced warfighter which i didn't enjoy.  It still has the 2d planning though, so i will probably end up getting it seen its only $15.

I'm trying to get hold of the book also as that sounds pretty good. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Six_(novel)

[Thunnder Bunny 0]

I'm trying to get all my mech games running on my vista machine. Got Mechwarrior 3 running, but I really want mech mercs 2 titanium going. Means I'm off to dredge the net for work arounds.

Kinda funny though, I bought GTA4 and I need space badly to install it, but mech games comes first.

[Daddl 10]

I'm trying to get all my mech games running on my vista machine.  Got Mechwarrior 3 running, but I really want mech mercs 2 titanium going.  Means I'm off to dredge the net for work arounds.

As I said before: for playing old games using Vista try a virtual machine. Depending on what 3d technology your games are using I recommend either VirtualBox (free, for OpenGL games) or VMWare (comercial, for DirectX 8/9 games). The latter isn't cheap and 3d performance isn't that great, but good enough for many old games. Hardware 3d acceleration in virtual machines is still in it's infancy, so while performance isn't stellar I expect major improvements in the near future. And let's be honest - most old games that don't run under Vista don't require that much graphics performance.

I just started playing Neverwinter Nights (actually this thread got me to look through my old games again) on my Vista Business notebook using VMWare. After some tuning the DirectX 9 game runs fine on low settings - despite my feeble GeForce 9300M GS gfx card and slow cpu (P8600 Centrino 2).

The most important thing is to have enough ram in you machine, so you can spare enough for the virtual machine - I have 4GB ram and usually dedicate 1GB to the virtual machine, which is more than enough for WinXP and any old games I can run virtualized anyways. Of course for old DOS games much less is required.