What are some old games that are hard to revisit, because a more modern and superior version exists?
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I started Monster Hunter with 4U on the 3DS. After World, Rise, and now Wilds, I have a hard time justifying crumpling my hands into a pretzel to play the old games on portable. The movesets are comparatively barebones, and there's a lot of tedium and jank that the new games stripped away. Veterans will tell you that's the real Monster Hunter and the new games are infantilized arcade games, but whatever. I play games to have fun, not bang my head against a wall.
I do love old-style MH still! World and Rise are wonderful and Wilds is great so far, but MHXX/MHGU is my favorite Monster Hunter game for sure.
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I tried playing Harvest Moon on the SNES today and having played Stardew Valley for hours, I thought I'd try and see how tolerable the original Harvest Moon was in comparison. I know and understand it is unfair because there's a 20 year gap between Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, while also discrediting Harvest Moon's later entries since there's more than one.
Harvest Moon to me is a bit hard to revisit. Having to get used to only carrying two tools at the same time, your farm don't seem as big, you don't have a way to know that you're tired as readily, you just have to watch for the signs and the village you visit doesn't seem as characteristic. It's a basic farming sim, it has to start somewhere.
But Stardew Valley does so many things that it is easier to revisit.
Honestly, Diablo 2. It's a classic, it set the standard for the entire genre and it was a brilliant game. Playing it recently, it feels quite shallow compared to modern ARPGs and lacks a ton of quality-of-life features. Games like Grim Dawn, PoE, Torchlight 2 are way better.
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The original Neverwinter Nights after Baldur's Gate 3.
NWN was fantastic for it's time, loved the DM mode and online mods, but the clunky movement and walls of text without voiceovers just can't compare.
I tried playing Baldur's Gate 2 after a few full plays of BG3, and it was nearly unplayable.
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The original Neverwinter Nights after Baldur's Gate 3.
NWN was fantastic for it's time, loved the DM mode and online mods, but the clunky movement and walls of text without voiceovers just can't compare.
I got through the original NWN multiple times, as well as various mods.
I got bored partway through BG3, never finished. Barely touched NWN 2.
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NES Metroid, being replaced by Metroid Zero Mission.
NES Metroid is interesting to play through to see where the franchise came from, or for the nostalgia factor, but Metroid Zero Mission is vastly superior in nearly every conceivable way, its not even close. Its not like Silent Hill 2 or Resident Evil 3, where the originals are still better than the remakes overall, everything taken into account (though in that case, SH2 remake is superior to the RE3 remake). Absolutely every element of Zero Mission is an improvement on the original.
Metroid Zero Mission did not make vast sweeping changes to alter the identity of the game, making only minor adjustments to designs that were not thematically important (for example, the physical appearance of Ridley or Kraid being different is not thematically important). There were not big amounts of cut content, with only minor elements being cut like the fake Kraid enemy, which was not thematically important. The music is all familiar with the same composition, but with added flair. Its not different just for the sake of being different. Items and suit upgrades are almost all in the same places as the original NES Metroid, with the addition of new items that were added to the Metroid setting later on such as the Charge Beam and Super Missile. A map was added to the game, and the beam weapons now stack like in Super Metroid, rather than replacing the last beam you had.
All in all, Zero Mission leaves very little reason for the player to play the original game, especially if all the player cares about is the overall story of the Metroid IP. The player won't get more thematically important designs that enhance the story like they would playing the original Silent Hill 2, and they won't get more original game content and story like they would playing RE3 Nemesis. They wouldn't get an improved experience. The choice to play NES Metroid mostly just comes down to nostalgia, historical value, or personal preference. Or if someone only has an NES or device capable of emulating the NES but not the GBA.
I completely agree and to I'll add that this also applies to Metroid II. As Metroid II was on the Game Boy the game resolution is far too small to ever revisit. For a side scrolling game you can barely see what is in front of you.
Luckily the fan game AM2R, or the slightly less good but still excellent 3DS remake do for Metroid II what Zero Mission did for the original.
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Goldeneye. Revolutionized the FPS genre at the time. Nigh unplayable now. Tried recently using both NSO and on an original N64, it just hasn't aged well when compared to something modern.
Play the xbla version via Xenia with mouse support and you'll love it more than you ever did.
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I got through the original NWN multiple times, as well as various mods.
I got bored partway through BG3, never finished. Barely touched NWN 2.
I had started The Aielund Saga a couple of weeks ago. I never did finish the first time.
NWN is something I like to go back to, same with Titan Quest. I have newer games piling up
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I tried playing Harvest Moon on the SNES today and having played Stardew Valley for hours, I thought I'd try and see how tolerable the original Harvest Moon was in comparison. I know and understand it is unfair because there's a 20 year gap between Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, while also discrediting Harvest Moon's later entries since there's more than one.
Harvest Moon to me is a bit hard to revisit. Having to get used to only carrying two tools at the same time, your farm don't seem as big, you don't have a way to know that you're tired as readily, you just have to watch for the signs and the village you visit doesn't seem as characteristic. It's a basic farming sim, it has to start somewhere.
But Stardew Valley does so many things that it is easier to revisit.
I have Grand Bazaar on the ds and I agree its hard going back to that from Stardew Valley. I managed to play through Knights of the Old Republic once and man. Loved it, can't do it again. (I also had to cheat to make it through the end because "force powers? Nah sniper rifle is fine" turned out to be not fine)
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The early Pokemon games are pretty rough, after you get used to improvements from the GBA era, particularly the remakes.
Likewise, the original NES Metroid after playing Zero Mission? Takes some getting used to.
I enjoyed the fighting simplicity of the original pokemon games. I could recognize and know the names of 151 pokemon and their weakneses/strengths. Now there's too many pokemon and too many counters and hybrids. Too much work to keep track of.
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I enjoyed the fighting simplicity of the original pokemon games. I could recognize and know the names of 151 pokemon and their weakneses/strengths. Now there's too many pokemon and too many counters and hybrids. Too much work to keep track of.
As much as I adore, love and still prop Gen II as peak pokemon. I also have to blame Gen II for bringing in EV and IV that has served for the longest time, as fuel to the fire. Additionally so has making pokemon born and all that.
Now there's mega-evolutions, old pokemon have aurora forms or whatever. Why complicate it?
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Honestly, Diablo 2. It's a classic, it set the standard for the entire genre and it was a brilliant game. Playing it recently, it feels quite shallow compared to modern ARPGs and lacks a ton of quality-of-life features. Games like Grim Dawn, PoE, Torchlight 2 are way better.
Action RPGs, especially the ones with a heavy focus on loot, suffer the most for me. Trying to play through Vagrant Story now is brutal. MP for fast travel!
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I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of 2e, but I think first level HP might be set in stone by class, and the Enhanced Editions of BG1 and 2 give you a max HP per level option, which doesn't really help at level 1. Dynaheir keeps getting smoked with her mere 6HP, and she can't get to level 2 fast enough.
Yeah, 2nd edition d&d was far, far more brutal than 5e.
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I tried playing Harvest Moon on the SNES today and having played Stardew Valley for hours, I thought I'd try and see how tolerable the original Harvest Moon was in comparison. I know and understand it is unfair because there's a 20 year gap between Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, while also discrediting Harvest Moon's later entries since there's more than one.
Harvest Moon to me is a bit hard to revisit. Having to get used to only carrying two tools at the same time, your farm don't seem as big, you don't have a way to know that you're tired as readily, you just have to watch for the signs and the village you visit doesn't seem as characteristic. It's a basic farming sim, it has to start somewhere.
But Stardew Valley does so many things that it is easier to revisit.
A lot of strategy games fit this bill to me. Mainly the Paradox ones like Europa Universalis or Crusader Kings. I'd much rather play the most recent version (EU4 and CK3). However, it's interesting that I feel the exact opposite about the Total War and Civilization Series, where I'll prefer the original Rome Total War and Shogun 2 Total War over many of the more-recent games, as well as Civ V over VI and VII (though I haven't played VII yet, to be fair).
The Football Manager series also comes to mind. There's little tweaks and improvements each year (this year being an exception where they are redesigning the entire engine) so I prefer playing the most recent one (even if I still boot up a few of the older games for some nostalgia every now and then).
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I tried playing Harvest Moon on the SNES today and having played Stardew Valley for hours, I thought I'd try and see how tolerable the original Harvest Moon was in comparison. I know and understand it is unfair because there's a 20 year gap between Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, while also discrediting Harvest Moon's later entries since there's more than one.
Harvest Moon to me is a bit hard to revisit. Having to get used to only carrying two tools at the same time, your farm don't seem as big, you don't have a way to know that you're tired as readily, you just have to watch for the signs and the village you visit doesn't seem as characteristic. It's a basic farming sim, it has to start somewhere.
But Stardew Valley does so many things that it is easier to revisit.
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition is basically worthless if you have Dark Souls: Remastered.
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Having grown up with the PS1, it's been fun revisiting old classics and see what has aged well and what hasn't.
Platformers like Spyro, Crash, Rayman, Abe's Oddysee and Ape Escape have aged like fine wine (although Crash 1 is a lot more janky than the others). But that back into the past, some games also showed no signs of proper playtesting aimed at kids, which means overly difficult levels, annoying completions and such - I remember spending months playing Tarzan, The Emperor's New Groove, Croc 2, Kingley's Adventure and others to 100% them, and some of them I could never finish. I only recently 100% Croc 2 for the first time, for example, and yeah, it wasn't really that good.
Some JRPGs are also as great today as they were the day they were released (Final Fantasy IX, Xenogears, Chrono Cross, Star Ocean and even lesser known ones such as Legend of Legaia, Threads of Fate and Wild Arms), and are arguably better than many of their contemporary competitors. BUT you have to stomach one too many random encounter, overly distracting old/early PS1-era graphics, bad translations, or all of the above (I've never been an omega-fan of FFVII, and let me tell you, revisiting it in the pandemic really didn't improve my opinion of that game).
The slow gameplay afforded by the console really allows action-horror games such as Resident Evil, Dino Crisis and Silent Hill to shine, but those that attempted to be more action-oriented, such as Siphon Filter, really show the signs of age. Dino Crisis 2 is the exception here, being very action-heavy, but also distinctly "modern" in many of its design choices.
Stealth games such as Metal Gear Solid and Tenchu are also great, although very limited in scope by today's standards, and the latter's low render distance is something that may annoy players accustomed to modern gaming.
FPS games (Medal of Honour being the biggest title) really have no place in any contemporary gamer's playlist. The same can be said about Race/driving games, unless you like revisiting the catchy tunes of the Gran Turismo 2 soundtrack. For example, I found CTR - Crash Team Racing quite dull and too easy even at max difficulty, but had a blast collecting all achievements in the remake (shame it never got released on PC - I wonder why).
It's probably the same about fighting games: modern entries are much more fluid and dynamic, have better AI and allow for a greater skill ceiling. I say "probably" because I've never been a fan of fighting games, in fact I suck at them and have never played them extensively.
There are other cases where I found the original game "good enough, but not worth your time over the most recent entries". For example, as a kid I spent countless hours crossing the skies of Ace Combat 2, but all the titles that came after it are just better. If I had to chose only one game for this thread, AC2 would probably be it. I loved it and I still do, and its soundtrack is bonkers (seriously, it's really good), but yeah, I'd take 4, Zero and 6, or even Project Wingman, over it any day.
Great comment, lots of examples! I agree with pretty much everything you listed.
Regarding CTR, have you tried Crash Nitro Kart? I always loved that one more than the original. It had a few improvements over the first game, so I wonder if it aged a bit better.
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I tried playing Harvest Moon on the SNES today and having played Stardew Valley for hours, I thought I'd try and see how tolerable the original Harvest Moon was in comparison. I know and understand it is unfair because there's a 20 year gap between Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, while also discrediting Harvest Moon's later entries since there's more than one.
Harvest Moon to me is a bit hard to revisit. Having to get used to only carrying two tools at the same time, your farm don't seem as big, you don't have a way to know that you're tired as readily, you just have to watch for the signs and the village you visit doesn't seem as characteristic. It's a basic farming sim, it has to start somewhere.
But Stardew Valley does so many things that it is easier to revisit.
Diablo 2 Lord of destruction, Diablo 2 resurrected is sooo much better in many ways I'll probably never play the og again.
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I tried playing Harvest Moon on the SNES today and having played Stardew Valley for hours, I thought I'd try and see how tolerable the original Harvest Moon was in comparison. I know and understand it is unfair because there's a 20 year gap between Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, while also discrediting Harvest Moon's later entries since there's more than one.
Harvest Moon to me is a bit hard to revisit. Having to get used to only carrying two tools at the same time, your farm don't seem as big, you don't have a way to know that you're tired as readily, you just have to watch for the signs and the village you visit doesn't seem as characteristic. It's a basic farming sim, it has to start somewhere.
But Stardew Valley does so many things that it is easier to revisit.
This is pretty obscure, but the Game Boy Advance remake of Mario Bros. (Not Super Mario Bros.) is more fun than the original.
You can run, for one thing, and the controls are more responsive in general.
It’s one of the games on Super Mario Advance, and one of the main reasons I originally wanted a GBA when it came out! I had the original Mario Bros. for the NES and thought it would be fun to have a portable version. I was right.
They did a great job updating the game!
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Great comment, lots of examples! I agree with pretty much everything you listed.
Regarding CTR, have you tried Crash Nitro Kart? I always loved that one more than the original. It had a few improvements over the first game, so I wonder if it aged a bit better.
Unfortunately, I haven't! I didn't have a PS2 growing up, I went straight from the PS1 to the X360, so I missed on a lot of titles from the sixth gen. I eventually got back to play some of them (.hack games, Ace Combat titles, and a few more), but I don't have as much free time as I did when I was a kid and I'm still missing on a ton of stuff.
That being said, the CTR remake did have all the Nitro Kart levels in it and they were a true joy to play. I liked them even more than the original's levels, which I certainly did non expect as I had a lot of nostalgia for the OG. Let me tell you, if the remake had been released on PC with cross-play, me and my brother would still be playing it to this day lol
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Unfortunately, I haven't! I didn't have a PS2 growing up, I went straight from the PS1 to the X360, so I missed on a lot of titles from the sixth gen. I eventually got back to play some of them (.hack games, Ace Combat titles, and a few more), but I don't have as much free time as I did when I was a kid and I'm still missing on a ton of stuff.
That being said, the CTR remake did have all the Nitro Kart levels in it and they were a true joy to play. I liked them even more than the original's levels, which I certainly did non expect as I had a lot of nostalgia for the OG. Let me tell you, if the remake had been released on PC with cross-play, me and my brother would still be playing it to this day lol
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I tried playing Harvest Moon on the SNES today and having played Stardew Valley for hours, I thought I'd try and see how tolerable the original Harvest Moon was in comparison. I know and understand it is unfair because there's a 20 year gap between Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, while also discrediting Harvest Moon's later entries since there's more than one.
Harvest Moon to me is a bit hard to revisit. Having to get used to only carrying two tools at the same time, your farm don't seem as big, you don't have a way to know that you're tired as readily, you just have to watch for the signs and the village you visit doesn't seem as characteristic. It's a basic farming sim, it has to start somewhere.
But Stardew Valley does so many things that it is easier to revisit.
I still do it from time to time because I like playing them on original hardware, but Sonic 1&2 on Genesis/Mega Drive. The Origins Plus versions may not be 100% accurate gameplay with regards to movement/moveset, but anniversary mode's retry special stages is real nice when half of the time I get screwed in those. Especially 2's special stages where I feel I feel like I'm constantly getting screwed over by my favorite character/sidekick being incompetent at the special stages.
Just recently got the 3rd game (still need & Knuckles to complete the set) and while not being able to retry special stages is an issue, I can at least reset the game without having to worry about needing to replay the whole entire game over from the start. So it gets a pass because all I gotta do is replay a stage.
I did not know that! Will check it out, thanks!
