what really old pc games do you still use

[mjs warlord]

These are a few of my old trips down memory lane just to see if i can remember what to do.

1. Grim Fandango 1998 ..... A brilliant and funny point and click game and it can still hold its own against later point and clicks
2 Escape From Monkey Island 2000 My first experience of AI "knowing" what to do is not enough the AI has to register that you have asked the right questions or you wont find what you want.
3. The Thing 2002 I managed to grab this just as my local store was pulling it off the shelves , way back then splitting a head down the middle with a sniper bullet was a step too far.
4. Cogs 2009 My first ever puzzle type game if you did not do the puzzles fast enough it would not unlock the next few

 

[Frag Maniac]

I for the most part don't revisit old games as much as I used to. Maybe largely due to being able to buy used PC games at local stores back then, which were as cheap as $5, and they often had buy 2, get a 3rd of equal or lesser value free deals. That meant I was buying games that had released years prior, and I enjoyed the heck out of them because I was new to gaming.

That said, of the older titles I've played recently, I went through Return To Castle Wolfenstein again via RealRTCW, which is a complete game overhaul mod. I also played and thoroughly enjoyed Black Mesa, which is a complete game remake of the original Half Life using the Source Engine. I figure why not get the most out of your old favorites when you can, and play the overhauled versions.

 

[Pifanjr]

I haven't played any older games in the last 2-3 years I think. My gaming time has been too limited and the list of new games too big.

I have replayed Black & White (2001) quite a few times (though only finished it once). A couple of years ago I tried to get my wife to play it, but she bounced off of the tutorial. Which is fair, it's a real drag.

Whenever my friends would have a LAN party, we'd almost always play Age of Empires 2 (1999) and Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth 2 (2006), but it's probably been over 7 years or so since the last one.

My wife fairly recently fired up Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 (2002) again and spend quite a bit of time on it.

I also replayed the first three missions of Theme Hospital (1997) via Archive.org after my job told me not to have any games or game clients installed on my work PC.

Finally, I occasionally try my hand at Angband (1990, though last update is from 2022) in between working at angband.live, but that's not really revisiting memory lane as I didn't discover it until I was around 18 or so and then only played it a little bit.

 

[Johnway]

Doom 2. I play with GZdoom and play a whole load of community wads. Big fan of doomworld and cacoawards to find the best of the bunch. Just today i just finished Knee deep in Knee deep in Doom wad. A cacoaward winner of 2022. Pretty impressive stuff considering it was constrained to the limitations of doom 2.

 

[ipman]

I used to have nostalgia Saturdays where I'd play Skyrim.

But the oldest games I still play today are Sniper Elite V2 and Steep. They are both a bit basic but I really enjoy them.

I really enjoy the Neudorf outpost DLC because most of the shots are long range and quite a bit of foresight and planning are required. But there are many challenging missions and the basic quality of the rifles make it seem more realistic than some sniper/shooter games. Judging distance, drop and wind velocity intuitively.

Steep is different as you are really living in the moment, getting your speed right, looking for the next jump and making sure there isn't a great big rock or tree on the other side.(with realistic sounds of breaking bones if you get wrong).

Still playing Shadow of War most days, it's addictive because of the renowned Nemesis system.

I think I picked them all up for about £8 each.

One thing I like about games like these is how intuitive they become. I suppose it's a combination of hours of play, plus mind/muscle memory but often I'm unaware of what I'm doing. I've become one with the character.

 

[Brian Boru]

In 2022 I played:

1995-96—C&C + Red Alert, remastered versions. Still the same great fun which took over the second half of my 90s. I really hope for a future remaster of Generals or C&C2/RA2.

2004—Far Cry. I was going to take a run thru 'em all from the beginning, but gave up after a few hours—games have really coma a long way since then, and I've gotten too used to all the advances. Wonderful classic in its day.

2005—Civilization 4. I had plenty of fun with Civ6 also, but not sure if I want to wrestle with the needless complication they stuck in to masquerade as more strategy. Civ4 is a game for the ages, I doubt I'll ever drop it from my roster.

2007—Crysis and Crysis Warhead, original version—Warhead wasn't remastered, main reason I didn't buy the remaster, as imo Warhead is slightly better than the original. Sadly for me, like the original Far Cry from same Crytek devs, the games take a significant turn at halfway and suck from then on—but I thoroughly enjoy half of each, and bonus that the graphics still hold up today.

2007—Portal. GLaDOS' humor never gets old, and it's just such a well-designed game which came out of nowhere as a side freebie in Steam's The Orange Box collection—main draw in that was the venerable Half Life 2, with Team Fortress 2 for support.

2011—Royal Envoy. Special mention for one of the best designed game series I've ever played. A casual strategy action series I try to replay every year, and I still find new ways to tackle some levels. Good for a quick break, levels are 5-15 minutes long. See if you can get 3 stars for all levels in expert mode!

Anyone with a low-spec system: there are great games out there which will play on a potato

 

[Frag Maniac]

2007—Portal. GLaDOS' humor never gets old, and it's just such a well-designed game which came out of nowhere as a side freebie in Steam's The Orange Box collection—main draw in that was the venerable Half Life 2, with Team Fortress 2 for support.

Totally forgot I also revisited Portal recently via Portal Stories: Mel, which is a good length fan made campaign and done very well.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Totally forgot I also revisited Portal recently via Portal Stories: Mel, which is a good length fan made campaign and done very well.

I tried that out (I think you may have suggested it). But I just couldn't get into it. It was a lot different than the official Portal games.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I tried that out (I think you may have suggested it). But I just couldn't get into it. It was a lot different than the official Portal games.

Well I thought it was a clever and natural progression if you've already figured out the test chambers in the base games. They were unique and challenging, especially the advanced ones.

 

[ZedClampet]

Depends on what you consider old. I don't play anything old on a regular basis. Last old games I replayed were Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 and 3 and Resident Evil 4.

Now young people would consider 2017 games as ancient, in which case my list would be quite long.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Last old games I replayed were Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 and 3 and Resident Evil 4.

You guys keep talkin and my old fart brain just keeps remembering what it forgot.

I also played Resident Evil 4 recently via the RE 4 HD Project mod, which is worth checking out btw.

 

[mjs warlord]

Quick memory jogger on the thing , i lost count of how many times i was almost late for my shift at work as i could not leave it alone , i only looked at a walkthrough for 1 bit as i kept going down a dead end , thank god i did not need to print it , it was over 60 pages long

 

[Frag Maniac]

Quick memory jogger on the thing , i lost count of how many times i was almost late for my shift at work as i could not leave it alone , i only looked at a walkthrough for 1 bit as i kept going down a dead end , thank god i did not need to print it , it was over 60 pages long

Yeah at 64 I'm retired now, but I often get sucked into playing game sessions that are WAY longer than I originally intend. Then a 10 PM planned bedtime turns into 11, then 12, and once past 12 I often end up as late as 3, 4, 5 or more in the morning.

Video gaming really can become an addiction that messes with your time management and daily routine. They've also done a lot of studies lately on tech addiction in general, especially the type that involves looking at a digital screen for lengths of time. Even cell phone texting was found to cause endorphin secretions that make such communication become habitual.

 

[ipman]

I really like getting everything 'serious', real world stuff done and then heading for escapism in gaming. It doesn't matter what's going on, or what's going around my mind, it all fades when I'm gaming. It's great to be able to do that.

I like it when I completely lose track of time because I am so engrossed, and I also think that gaming time has no relation to real time. It is like being in another world or dimension.

(Keep having this weird sound thing where the location of sounds in game is reversed. It's disconcerting, I think someone is sneaking up behind me, but they are in front. Can't imagine what's causing it, but probably have to reinstall software).

 

[Frag Maniac]

(Keep having this weird sound thing where the location of sounds in game is reversed. It's disconcerting, I think someone is sneaking up behind me, but they are in front. Can't imagine what's causing it, but probably have to reinstall software).

Do you wear headphones when playing? That happens sometimes with headphones, has for me now and then. It has a lot to do with how sophisticated the game's audio is I think.

 

[ipman]

Do you wear headphones when playing? That happens sometimes with headphones, has for me now and then. It has a lot to do with how sophisticated the game's audio is I think.

Yes I do use headphones. It was happening in SofW which surprisingly does have quite sophisticated audio.
It's interesting just from a gaming point of view, how subliminally the audio in games works.

It's a weird problem, but I'm sure it happened before, so there must be a fix.

 

[Brian Boru]

weird sound thing

Didn't even look at these, so for what it's worth:

Redirecting

Reddit thread

My Directional Sound is Completely Opposite When Playing Games. Help!

Hi, I just bought the HyperX Cloud Gaming Headset - White, and I'm having a sound issue. The directional audio for games (Rust, CS:GO) is completely opposite. Here's an example. If someone is shooting in front of me, they sound as if they're shooting behind me. It's the same thing with movement...

forums.tomsguide.com

My sound in games is reversed

The audio from the left is coming form the right speaker and the other way around Help!/?

linustechtips.com

Question - Reversed directional audio when gaming.

I'm really having trouble this with problem. Not only is there almost nothing on the net about this very rare problem, nobody seems to know the solution. Basically, anything outside a game, such as Youtube or Facebook videos work perfectly on my headset. There's no issues whatsoever. However...

forums.tomsguide.com

 

[mjs warlord]

Hi frag maniac .... i am 67 and took early retirement 3 years ago to look after my wife who has been in a wheelchair for 50 years.

I have been a die hard gamer since 1982 and have no plans on stopping.

With regards to your screen time i am similar to you , i dont intend having a 6 hour session during the day or burning the midnight oil it just happens lol.

Many years ago when a certain family came to visit us i would say to my wife " i'm just gonna have 10 minutes on pc " ...... their kids would lol and say .... is that a proper 10 minutes or one of YOUR 10 minutes

 

[Frag Maniac]

Yes I do use headphones. It was happening in SofW which surprisingly does have quite sophisticated audio.
It's interesting just from a gaming point of view, how subliminally the audio in games works.

It's a weird problem, but I'm sure it happened before, so there must be a fix.

As Brian just posted, a lot of it has to do with MS' idiotic sound coding, and I've also found it matters what onboard audio your MB has if that's what you're going through. I always use Optical Out on my ASUS Prime Z370-A MB, but I noticed when I started updating the Realtec S1220A chip to the latest driver, the center channel wouldn't work for dialog anymore. So I reverted back to the driver that supported multi channel MUCH better, and is also much bigger in file size.

My MB's onboard sound also supports DTS, but there's pretty much zero DTS support in games, so I end up with the same no dialog in center channel problem. If you're set up with a proper AVR that supports 5.1 pass through though (mine doesn't), you can use Nvidia's HDMI Audio driver and just run 5.1 via LPM, which also does not compress the audio signal (though most game audio is already compressed).

You can also get a dedicated sound card that supports Dolby, which a lot of games do, but also has something like Dolby Neo, that converts stereo signals into a sort of fake 5.1, with rear channels that stereo the front. The key here is making sure you get a brand that is known for updating their drivers, vs leaving you stuck.

Lastly, there's software alternatives like Razer Synapse, and Dolby Atmos for headphones. I have tried Synapse and found it to be a pain regarding driver installing, and also driver corruption. I'm guessing because Razer didn't do enough to consult with MS when they were turning Windows into a doesn't work well with 5.1 gaming affair. I've never tried Dolby Atmos for headphones, but some rave about it. It only works with Dolby supported games as far as I know though.

 

[danne5]

I still play but it's rare in cs 1.6, I play cs go more than in 1.6

 

[ipman]

As Brian just posted, a lot of it has to do with MS' idiotic sound coding, and I've also found it matters what onboard audio your MB has if that's what you're going through. I always use Optical Out on my ASUS Prime Z370-A MB, but I noticed when I started updating the Realtec S1220A chip to the latest driver, the center channel wouldn't work for dialog anymore. So I reverted back to the driver that supported multi channel MUCH better, and is also much bigger in file size.

My MB's onboard sound also supports DTS, but there's pretty much zero DTS support in games, so I end up with the same no dialog in center channel problem. If you're set up with a proper AVR that supports 5.1 pass through though (mine doesn't), you can use Nvidia's HDMI Audio driver and just run 5.1 via LPM, which also does not compress the audio signal (though most game audio is already compressed).

You can also get a dedicated sound card that supports Dolby, which a lot of games do, but also has something like Dolby Neo, that converts stereo signals into a sort of fake 5.1, with rear channels that stereo the front. The key here is making sure you get a brand that is known for updating their drivers, vs leaving you stuck.

Lastly, there's software alternatives like Razer Synapse, and Dolby Atmos for headphones. I have tried Synapse and found it to be a pain regarding driver installing, and also driver corruption. I'm guessing because Razer didn't do enough to consult with MS when they were turning Windows into a doesn't work well with 5.1 gaming affair. I've never tried Dolby Atmos for headphones, but some rave about it. It only works with Dolby supported games as far as I know though.

Yes it was the audio drivers. I find it interesting, my vision is telling me one thing and the audio is telling me something else. I'm still playing at sound art. I'm thinking I could find an audio source in a game like WD's, make my character rotate, record it and it would make the audio rotate around the listener.

I'm a terrible one for making things last way beyond what any manufacturer would like. I put it down to my mother's attitude, a sort of post war make everything last and waste nothing mentality.

I'm still running that old Creative Recon 3D and to do that I keep the sofware disk in the machine, so just reinstall drivers from there. I'll even switch to the external Recon 3D if the internal one gives up.

Although I could switch to Nvidia or Razer Synapses audio.

As it happened again I just physically sent the left lead to right earcup and vice versa(it does seem to be a common problem)

 

[Sarese]

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 technique tin walker games are not a turtle, there is a choice of who and what to build, the music is just karmagedon you will break your ears, in the good sense of the word.
Black&White -the game is truly a masterpiece. Where else can you feel like a god (good/evil, good ruler/tyrant, conqueror/peacemaker)? Only here in this game. Almost 10 years have passed since the development, and this game still has a lot of fans.

 

[akroghani]

Far Cry 3​

 

[eltarinkderut]

I didn’t even realize that Far Cry is as old as I am. The Sims is also one of the long-standing games in which I hung out.