What is the oldest PC game you still play?

Originally Posted by Simon Appleton

I've also recently re-played Might and Magic VII, 1999. I'd like to get MM6, 1998, to work on Windows XP but it doesn't. Both games provide that classic RPG hook of continually getting experience and stuff (right up to level 100 or so), and both have enormous worlds that still feel more engaging than the curiously dead worlds of some modern RPGs such as Morrowind.

I've still got M&M8, it's the first game I bought for the PC. I had a lot of fun with that game but sadly it had a bug in it that prevented me getting beyond a certain point (hmmm...now that it occurs to me, I have a new PC and OS now...)

Yeah I love that mindless hack 'n' slash stuff. I especially liked beating up the ghouls and vampires in the wilderness area, the ranged fire is pretty powerful in that game and it's great fun letting 'em have it from afar :)

Originally Posted by Simon Appleton

Lately, I've been getting a hankering to revisit Pacific General 1997, and Baldur's Gate 1, 1998. The former allows you to run Japanese bicycle infantry units from victory right from China in 1937 to the mid-West of America in 1945. The latter is like immersing yourself in a gorgeous bath of DnD goodness and staying in there for several months. I'm in need of an RPG fix and although I've had Oblivion on pre-order for months, I am sure it won't come near to rivalling BG1 when it finally comes out.

BG1 - yuck. Just thinking about that game causes me to start growing sleepy.

Although when I think about it, it's true I did enjoy it when I first started playing it, on my brother's PC. But when I took it back to my place and finally got around to installing it and getting back to where I'd been weeks before, all the thrill was gone. Completely. And it's never returned.

I still have my trusty old Amiga 1200 sitting here in a box. If I ever get it up and running again (it needs some fine soldering work done to the mobo) I'll go right back to playing Lords of the Realm II again, which hails from about 1994. The Amiga version of that game is WAY better than the PC version.

Originally Posted by dagiz

Ultima IV for the Apple II (yes I still have one that actually works...its a little disturbing I know)

Ugh. I LOATHE the Ultima gameworld. All those infuriatingly "virtuous" people you have to put up with. Not to mention the CRAP gameplay (alright, I only ever played the Amiga version of Ultima 3. Disk swapping every 20 seconds is NOT my idea of fun).

Originally Posted by dagiz

Dungeon Master I & II (both were from the Atari 1600 - and no I don't own that anymore - it met a bottle of Pepsi and decided to quit).

I still have my copy of DM1 on the Amiga. I fired it up a year or so ago, and instantly got back into it again. Suprising how well some of these older and far simpler games can stand up to the test of time...

Originally Posted by Simon Appleton

I'd like to get MM6, 1998, to work on Windows XP but it doesn't.

Just a footnote to say I've figured out how to get it to work. A fan has made a "patch" (1.3) that among other things gets it going in Windows XP.

You don't happen to still have the link to that patch?

Please?

Pretty please??

I still have my trusty old Amiga 1200 sitting here in a box. If I ever get it up and running again (it needs some fine soldering work done to the mobo) I'll go right back to playing Lords of the Realm II again, which hails from about 1994. The Amiga version of that game is WAY better than the PC version.

Really? How so? I remember playing LOTR II a lot back in the day.

Currently, the oldest game I play is Tribes 2. 2001ish.

Crazed Rabbit

Originally Posted by Ser Clegane

You don't happen to still have the link to that patch?

Please?

Pretty please??

I found the patch and link by searching one of the best MM forums:

http://telp.org/mm6/tavern/mm6tavern.html

The patch is here:

http://strony.aster.pl/mokmtg/mm6_eng_patch.exe

I think the oldest game I still play X-Wing, and the sister game Tie-Fighter.

Originally Posted by crazed rabbit

Really? How so? I remember playing LOTR II a lot back in the day.

You mean, how is the Amiga version of LOTRII better than the PC version?

The Amiga version clearly benefited from its PC predecessors. First of all, the Amiga version is a LOT prettier (though not up to the standard of modern PC games of course).

Secondly, when I finally got around to the PC version, I was really annoyed at the very clumsy method of assigning peasants to different jobs. You have this little window filled with sprites in fields and you have to "rope" the sprites by drawing a square around them with the mouse and then dropping them on a different field. It's finicky, and you can never tell exactly how many sprites you picked up until you actually drop them somewhere else, meaning often multiple trips back and forth before you get the assignment just the way you want it. And because it's such an important part of the game, this aspect quickly becomes really tedius.

With the Amiga version, ALL your peasant assignments are simply done with sliders. Not only is it instant, but you can always see exactly what you're doing and how many peasants are assigned to what. Makes a huge difference to gameplay.

Third, with the PC version you just get a bunch of "pre-digested" castles to build. In the Amiga version, you can design every aspect of your castle, and go on redesigning and/or upgrading your castle right throughout the game. It's a fun part of the game, and quite an important part of strategy. For instance, you can add more grain warehouses to a castle, meaning the troops in it can hold out longer. Every addition to a castle obviously costs money and resources, though.

Fourth, the combat system is more fun and better balanced. For example, your soldiers (except the peasants) maintain a formation, even in combat. And the better the soldier type the more disciplined they are. In the PC version, they are all basically just a rabble.

Fifth, the gameplay seems to be better balanced in every aspect. I find the Amiga version just plain more exciting and challenging to play.

To give you just one example that occurs to me as I write, in the PC version you have virtually this constant stream of trader wagons visiting your provinces. So a province is almost never without access to any goodies it needs from the traders.

In the Amiga version, traders only come around once a year at most and even then they sometimes they don't get to every province. The end result is that you can be really hanging out for a trader wagon to come around so you can sell your wool for vital cash, get that critical happy boost from beer, or buy that much needed extra grain, and so on.

Also, in the Amiga version traders don't carry every type of good all the time. So even if a trader comes around, he may not have the item or items you need.

Same thing with mercenaries. In the PC version, they wander around from province to province so you always have the opportunity to pick some up. In the Amiga version, they only appear in a handful of port provinces so if you haven't conquered one of those provinces, tough cookies.

Probably the only aspect of the Amiga version that might be considered not as good as the PC version is that castle assaults are more abstracted. You have this funny little system where you assign soldiers to different activities in different parts of the castle, like you might assign some to filling in the moat by the east wall, while you assign others to bombard the eastern towers with catapults. At the end of every turn, you are just told how many soldiers got killed during these little actions and how many of the enemy etc.

But again, it's a very carefully balanced subgame and quite fun to play. I actually prefer it to the rather simple and chaotic RTS style castle battles in the PC version. You have to plan your castle taking strategy in the Amiga version, and it usually takes you several turns to implement it, with soldiers on both sides getting killed each step of the way and refinements to your strategy or suspension of proceedings sometimes necessary. So even though the combat itself is abstracted, it's made up for by the extra strategy you have to employ.

I'd like to post you some screenshots of the Amiga version but unfortunately as I said my 'miggy is out of order right now...

Originally Posted by Simon Appleton

I found the patch and link by searching one of the best MM forums:

http://telp.org/mm6/tavern/mm6tavern.html

The patch is here:

http://strony.aster.pl/mokmtg/mm6_eng_patch.exe

Thanks

I just reinstalled the legend - Blade Runner.

I just reinstalled Risk II.

Got thrashed within 15 turns by Wellington and Bonaparte working together.

RISK!!!!


the First game i ever played was

Lords of the Realm 2

the First Old Old Series I played was
Quest For Glory 1-5

I just went and reinstalled Might and Magic VIII, and I can't believe how crummy the graphics are! The monsters are really blocky and the 3D "world" is quite primitive.

Amazing how quickly you can get spoiled by advances in technology. I had fond memories of this game from when I last played it in 2001, now I don't think I can be bothered with it.

Strangely, I find the graphics after MMVI went right downhill. I think it was trying to do some primitive 3D stuff. I played MMVI recently and thought it was still atmospheric and decent looking. Whenever I load up MMVII, it takes me time to get used to the ugliness.

Personally, I could never get into the setting of MMVIII. MMVI really captured my imagination with its epic setting - confronting a demon invasion. MMVII provided more a vignette, but was much more digestible and well structured as a game. MMVIII for me was just bleh (I can't even recall what it was about - some dude causing natural catastrophes or something? Or was that the even more forgettable MMIX?).

Can't get enough of X-com and Alpha Centauri

I still have plenty of fairly old games which I play now and again. I recently played through Alpha Centauri and Thief, for example. I some fairly aged console games which I play fairly regularly as well. The oldest PC game I've played anything like recently is System Shock (1994) Excellent game, very much ahead of it's time.

Antagonist

Originally Posted by Antagonist

I still have plenty of fairly old games which I play now and again. I recently played through Alpha Centauri and Thief, for example. I some fairly aged console games which I play fairly regularly as well. The oldest PC game I've played anything like recently is System Shock (1994) Excellent game, very much ahead of it's time.

Antagonist

How on earth could I forget mentioning my all time favorite Thief??????????? Soooooooooooo many great fanmissions, been playing this game since it was released.......

Originally Posted by Simon Appleton

Strangely, I find the graphics after MMVI went right downhill. I think it was trying to do some primitive 3D stuff. I played MMVI recently and thought it was still atmospheric and decent looking. Whenever I load up MMVII, it takes me time to get used to the ugliness.

Personally, I could never get into the setting of MMVIII. MMVI really captured my imagination with its epic setting - confronting a demon invasion. MMVII provided more a vignette, but was much more digestible and well structured as a game. MMVIII for me was just bleh (I can't even recall what it was about - some dude causing natural catastrophes or something? Or was that the even more forgettable MMIX?).

Yeah, I was wondering if perhaps the earlier graphics mightn't have been better, because I think MM8 was one the first in the series to go "3D" and it isn't too well done.

And yes, MM8 is about "some dude causing natural catastrophes". I actually find the underlying story quite reasonable as computer game plots go, but yeah, it's a fairly big game and you can feel a bit overwhelmed by it at times.

Maybe I'll see if I can get hold of a copy of MM6 or 7. BTW, have you ever played any of the Heroes of MM series? I've heard some of them are quite good.

Originally Posted by screwtype

BTW, have you ever played any of the Heroes of MM series? I've heard some of them are quite good.

I tried Homm3 and Homm4; people say Homm2 was very good and I'm a bit sceptical about Homm5.

Homm3 is a very good game, if you like that kind of thing. Personally, I think it's a little too "gamey" in the way that RTSs are - the tactics and strategy you use have no relation to what it is intuitive. But I played it a lot with my young son and enjoy soloing one or two of the epic scenarios (esp. a Lord of the Rings one and a Might and Magic VI one). Graphically, I still think it is very attractive, the AI is pretty good (better than TWs IMO) and it is a very polished product.

Homm4 I consider broken in the way that Call to Power 2 was. The strategic AI is lobotomised and does not fight. You end up fighting the map (wandering monsters) and seeing the occaisional corpse of the AI's heroes. It's just sad, as graphically it is cute and it has a superb system for levelling up your heroes.

Homm5 promises to go back to Homm3 style gameplay but I won't hold my breath.

The oldest game I play is Civil war generals 2
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/...war%20generals
It is a great game.

Okey-doke, thanks for the heads up Simon :)

Originally Posted by TB666

The oldest game I play is Civil war generals 2
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/...war%20generals
It is a great game.

Thanks for the heads up TB, but when I tried to dl and install the demo, it appears to be DOS-based and I have no idea how to get it to run. The folders which are supposed to contain the demo show up as empty on my PC.

I think oldest are:

1. Empire Earth
2. Halo
3. Halo 2
4. Rome: Total War
5. Empire Earth 2

But those are the only games I play!

Originally Posted by Fragony

Can't get enough of X-com and Alpha Centauri

Alpha Centauri -- now there's a game I lost a month of my life to. I'd be playing it now if I hadn't given my feckless brother the disk five years ago. I don't think you can even buy it anymore.

So sad, so sad ...

Originally Posted by Lemur

Alpha Centauri -- now there's a game I lost a month of my life to. I'd be playing it now if I hadn't given my feckless brother the disk five years ago. I don't think you can even buy it anymore.

So sad, so sad ...

http://www.cdaccess.com/html/quick/alphacpr.htm

way too expensive though....

I occassionally play Colonisation, though I believe that stricky speaking it is a DOS game that can be forced to work in Windows.

The other than that the oldest game I played recently was Close Combat 3. That was from '97 or '98 I think.

Originally Posted by Simon Appleton

I tried Homm3 and Homm4; people say Homm2 was very good and I'm a bit sceptical about Homm5.

Homm3 is a very good game, if you like that kind of thing. Personally, I think it's a little too "gamey" in the way that RTSs are - the tactics and strategy you use have no relation to what it is intuitive. But I played it a lot with my young son and enjoy soloing one or two of the epic scenarios (esp. a Lord of the Rings one and a Might and Magic VI one). Graphically, I still think it is very attractive, the AI is pretty good (better than TWs IMO) and it is a very polished product.

Homm4 I consider broken in the way that Call to Power 2 was. The strategic AI is lobotomised and does not fight. You end up fighting the map (wandering monsters) and seeing the occaisional corpse of the AI's heroes. It's just sad, as graphically it is cute and it has a superb system for levelling up your heroes.

Homm5 promises to go back to Homm3 style gameplay but I won't hold my breath.

HOMM2 actually was the best and it's considered so by most fans. It was perfectly balanced and had fabulous campaigns, a difficult AI and the best music in any game for its time. HOMM3 added to everyone's favorite aspects of HOMM2, but that totally threw the play balance out of whack with some castles and creatures being completely superior to others with little to no weaknesses. HOMM4 was just horrid for the reasons you mentioned and more. They pretty much just sequelled the games into the ground.

A great deal of the hope for HOMM5 comes from the fact that the original dev and producers have gone under. The game is being made by a completely new team who are going back to the very best elements of the series. Of course, we won't know how it will turn out until it has been released, but hopefully new blood will give this series a second life.

Easy, various Close Combat versions...

Still no game has manage to recapture the confusion, surprizes and brutality and tactical elements of battles (in WW2) as well this 2D, sprite based game... Your troops moave at realistic paces, the weaposn seem as effective as they should be and the way morale was implimented has still not been improved upon...

Oh and I occasionally dig out Fallout and Fallout 2...

must be Panzer General (the first one), the two X-Com games, and Wolfenstein-3D (I even found a windows version of it... ;) ).