Great Games of the Past
For whatever reason, I find my mind wandering to some of my favorite video games from over the years. Some are groundbreaking in their own right. Some just happened to be awesome when I saw them.
Deus Ex: A first-preson shooter with a plotline, and something of a novelty back then for it. In fact, it was a story thick with conspiracies in a near-future and somewhat dystopian world.
A lot was made about how multiple approaches could be taken, and for the time I feel it paid off on that promise. Guards at the doorway? Well, you can find a way to sneak around them, you can go in guns-blazing, you can potentially hack the security robots to have them do your dirty work. There were skills to level up, and most of them got use if you so chose (okay, swimming not so much).
The story gave some illusion of choice, though in truth there weren't that many variations - a few different possibilities along the way and three different endings that aren't really set until the final push. But it drew me in, made me feel involved and in control, and really seemed ahead of its time. Sadly, the sequel was just mediocre in comparison.
Wing Commander: Just a space combat sim game, right? Well, no. The actually broke some ground, at least in my perception.
Dogfighting kilrathi was fun itself. But looking back, the game was one of the earlier ones to include voice (via an expansion pack). It also had branching storylines with some level of consequence. If a wingman died, they were off the roster - no flying with the deceased. And which sector you went to depended on victory/success in the previous one. If you do poorly enough, you end up fighting endless waves of enemies in defense over Earth itself (IIRC). Do well through the game and you push the enemy back instead.
The first three really make the series, though I still feel the twist with Hobbes was a little out-of-the-blue. The fourth game was still good in its own way, with a darker tone of internal conflict. Prophecy, however, took the series in a direction I didn't really like and, if the lack of sequels is evidence, others may not have either. Even with the expansions after that game, however, they did something I hadn't seen anyone else do at the time - pushed new content out free via the internet.
Planescape: Torment: I was never taken with the Planescape setting until I played this game. A ton of text. More unique flavor than you can shake a stick at. A party including a constantly-resurrecting protagonist, a floating skull (long before Bob), a reformed succubus, a tiefling rogue... Puzzles that actually required you to die. Not a sword in the game for the main character (but the option to wield his own arm as a club). D&D turned on its head.
And it did it all well. The story was good, and far more mature than I'd seen back then. Top to bottom, if a gamer didn't play this back then, they really missed out.
"What can change the nature of a man?"
Final Fantasy 3(6): This was one of the games that convinced me (after renting it on a borrowed console, I think) that I needed my own Super Nintendo. A huge cast. An epic storyline. The flaws really didn't stand out to me at the time, so I'll probably remember it far better than it would deserve by current standards. I was amazed at having multiple "main" characters, and sunk many an hour into the game.
It even inspired a D&D campaign of my own.
Final Fantasy 7: Looking back, it doesn't seem like it should have been so great. At the time, it kept me up into early hours of the morning on work nights.
The graphics weren't stunning, but the early 3D was progress at the time. I liked most of the characters. The story drew me in. I felt for Cloud, especially in those times of doubt and discovery. I had to have a Playstation for when this game out.
This was also a timeframe where I was getting more information from the internet. Aerith was a favorite character of mine - and she'll always be Aerith to me rather than Aeris because that's how the name was first presented to me, before the official English translation.
Metal Gear Solid: I hadn't played any of the series since, I think, the original Metal Gear was rented for a weekend at a friend's house. The heavy emphasis on stealth, the layers of conspiracy and betrayal, everything worked just right for the time. Solid Snake proved himself to be a badass, pure and simple, between outmanuevering a tank and straight-up taking on an assault helicopter.
Of course, in retrospect some of the bad guys' actions really only worked because the plot said so - planning for things to play out a certain, longshot way would have been ludicrous. ;)
Pool of Radiance: All the classic "gold box" games had their value to a person like me. I mean, how else could I get such a dose of fantasy gaming with no one else around?
But PoR was the first I played (and maybe the first produced). Taking up the role of a group of adventurers helping to reclaim a fallen city was "epic" before I even thought of the term. Clearing monsters section by section, dealing with neighbors, and uncovering darker plots.
I remember the sequel, Curse of the Azure Bonds, as being much larger in scope and it certainly got into more interesting levels. But the quest to restore Phlan shall always have a place in my fantasy-loving heart, and is probably responsible for my years of using the Forgotten Realms as a game setting.
Deus Ex: A first-preson shooter with a plotline, and something of a novelty back then for it. In fact, it was a story thick with conspiracies in a near-future and somewhat dystopian world.
A lot was made about how multiple approaches could be taken, and for the time I feel it paid off on that promise. Guards at the doorway? Well, you can find a way to sneak around them, you can go in guns-blazing, you can potentially hack the security robots to have them do your dirty work. There were skills to level up, and most of them got use if you so chose (okay, swimming not so much).
The story gave some illusion of choice, though in truth there weren't that many variations - a few different possibilities along the way and three different endings that aren't really set until the final push. But it drew me in, made me feel involved and in control, and really seemed ahead of its time. Sadly, the sequel was just mediocre in comparison.
Wing Commander: Just a space combat sim game, right? Well, no. The actually broke some ground, at least in my perception.
Dogfighting kilrathi was fun itself. But looking back, the game was one of the earlier ones to include voice (via an expansion pack). It also had branching storylines with some level of consequence. If a wingman died, they were off the roster - no flying with the deceased. And which sector you went to depended on victory/success in the previous one. If you do poorly enough, you end up fighting endless waves of enemies in defense over Earth itself (IIRC). Do well through the game and you push the enemy back instead.
The first three really make the series, though I still feel the twist with Hobbes was a little out-of-the-blue. The fourth game was still good in its own way, with a darker tone of internal conflict. Prophecy, however, took the series in a direction I didn't really like and, if the lack of sequels is evidence, others may not have either. Even with the expansions after that game, however, they did something I hadn't seen anyone else do at the time - pushed new content out free via the internet.
Planescape: Torment: I was never taken with the Planescape setting until I played this game. A ton of text. More unique flavor than you can shake a stick at. A party including a constantly-resurrecting protagonist, a floating skull (long before Bob), a reformed succubus, a tiefling rogue... Puzzles that actually required you to die. Not a sword in the game for the main character (but the option to wield his own arm as a club). D&D turned on its head.
And it did it all well. The story was good, and far more mature than I'd seen back then. Top to bottom, if a gamer didn't play this back then, they really missed out.
"What can change the nature of a man?"
Final Fantasy 3(6): This was one of the games that convinced me (after renting it on a borrowed console, I think) that I needed my own Super Nintendo. A huge cast. An epic storyline. The flaws really didn't stand out to me at the time, so I'll probably remember it far better than it would deserve by current standards. I was amazed at having multiple "main" characters, and sunk many an hour into the game.
It even inspired a D&D campaign of my own.
Final Fantasy 7: Looking back, it doesn't seem like it should have been so great. At the time, it kept me up into early hours of the morning on work nights.
The graphics weren't stunning, but the early 3D was progress at the time. I liked most of the characters. The story drew me in. I felt for Cloud, especially in those times of doubt and discovery. I had to have a Playstation for when this game out.
This was also a timeframe where I was getting more information from the internet. Aerith was a favorite character of mine - and she'll always be Aerith to me rather than Aeris because that's how the name was first presented to me, before the official English translation.
Metal Gear Solid: I hadn't played any of the series since, I think, the original Metal Gear was rented for a weekend at a friend's house. The heavy emphasis on stealth, the layers of conspiracy and betrayal, everything worked just right for the time. Solid Snake proved himself to be a badass, pure and simple, between outmanuevering a tank and straight-up taking on an assault helicopter.
Of course, in retrospect some of the bad guys' actions really only worked because the plot said so - planning for things to play out a certain, longshot way would have been ludicrous. ;)
Pool of Radiance: All the classic "gold box" games had their value to a person like me. I mean, how else could I get such a dose of fantasy gaming with no one else around?
But PoR was the first I played (and maybe the first produced). Taking up the role of a group of adventurers helping to reclaim a fallen city was "epic" before I even thought of the term. Clearing monsters section by section, dealing with neighbors, and uncovering darker plots.
I remember the sequel, Curse of the Azure Bonds, as being much larger in scope and it certainly got into more interesting levels. But the quest to restore Phlan shall always have a place in my fantasy-loving heart, and is probably responsible for my years of using the Forgotten Realms as a game setting.
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