Just as with books, movies, plays etc the past holds a treasure trove of amazing experiences. Unless you have a lot more free time than I do it’s unlikely you’ve played anywhere near the majority of the classics. Let’s get out those pink sunnies and compare notes on some of our favourite releases.
I’ve recently been going back in time a little on the retro pi and looking at console games I never had.
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I have to say Chrono Trigger blew me away with it’s stunning art, puzzles with surprisingly little moon logic, and beautiful music.
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Mario golf on the SNES is very simple but for tired evenings cuddling on the couch it’s been a winner in our household.
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The n64 Zelda games are surprisingly great too although that awkward period of 3d had some unusual controls. Even the gameboy ones are a blast although the water temple in oracle of ages it a bit frustrating.
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Heroes of might and magic 2 and 3 hold a special place in my heart and I can still dump hours into skirmishing with those (32167 for when hom2 gets too frustrating amiright?)
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I loved neverwinter knights as a kid but recently tried to check it out again and just… idk the magic wasn’t there. I think now I’d rather just play some actual ttrpgs instead of sprawling CRPGs
PS1 is a mystery box to me so I’d love to hear some recommendations from that old thing. All I ever played on it was time crisis at my mates house (which was and is soooo coool, RIP lightguns).
What about you folks? What games hold a special place in your heart? or what have you checked out for the first time recently and found it’s actually pretty good?
Morrowind. It was such a magical experience to play it. The world was mysterious and beautiful. I fondly remember the first night as I walked to Balmora. I gazed at the starry sky and at that point the game had me. The game was difficult - you had to find quest locations by mere descriptions of them. As a result you got lost in the game a lot - both metaphorically and literally.
I still play Morrowind! So happy to see this comment here so I didn’t have to type it first lol
With Tamriel Rebuilt it’s like a whole new game! The preceding elder scrolls games lose that TTRPG feel that I love about Morrowind. Once you understand it’s all based on dice rolls (using a d100 not a d20) the skills and combat make much more sense to somebody looking at it with a modern lense. OpenMW is a must for modern systems for anybody looking to dip their toes in though (it replaces the original engine). With OpenMW I’m up to ~200 mods with exceptional frame rates. The original engine with a lesser setup only gets like 13 fps outside lol
Morrowind was a life changer for my 17 year old self. I still love the outlandish look and feel of that game. It looks so franco-belgian comic book inspired. Like playing a Moebius open world game!
If you liked Morrowind, I suggest you give Kingdom Come: Deliverance a try! While still not quite the same as Morrowind, it’s the first game since that came close to the same sense of wonderment.
But yeah, even after all these years I get goosebumps and a slight sense of wanderlust and amazement as soon as I hear the drums of the Morrowind OST drums kick in.
Are you me? I could not describe it better.
Some other mentions for me would be: Heroes of Might and Magic 1-3, Diablo 2, Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines, and of course Duke Nukem 3D.
And plenty others I forgot right now.