Great Games Which Have Aged Poorly
- Thread starter Muddasar
- Start date
That early 3D graphics for Simpsons Road Rage always did it a disservice. I saw some emulated 4K footage of it and it looks loads better. Sorta makes me wish smaller games just sat around and got dropped dlc maps/modes/characters etc. Let the game live-on, but doesn't have to be this daily grind. But then again local split screen itself is pretty dead anyway so I'm just mad and shouting at clouds I guess.
Man... 2023 had a few of those. Some of my fav games which I replayed many times before.. but when I replayed in 2023, I regretted doing so:
-Lost planet 1. I even hooked up original xbox 360 for this. The game starts great and has fantastic first 3 levels... but I was barely able to finish it. The terrible 2nd half, terrible villain, terrible story, terrible ending and boss fight. It actively ruined my memory of this game
but look at these STILL AMAZING exlposions !!!
-Half-Life 2. Graphics are one thing but the game looks like a 90s game in my mind and it always used to look better than this. I somehow cannot see what made it look so great back then. I finished that game good 10+ times. Not replayed it for only 4 years. but with this last replay, it got tedious, very linear, scripted and all "wait and listen t these people talking and ignoring you" moments were awful. I would've thought I will never say this but.. hl2 has aged.
At least the style still somewhat carries it... in the first half of the game... maybe 70%. Later on you revisit city17 and all the tower is crap.
-Alan Wake. Another one of my favs. This game was my comfort food. My peace game. The game I loved to soak the atmosphere in and the game that never bored me... I replayed it probably good 5 times over the years. Took a break last few years so LET'S GO!!! REMASTER, DUALSENSE !!!... and I loathed the playthrough. Way too many cutscenes, way too convoluted storytelling, way too linear, the combat is terrible and the game just drags on and on and on despite being so short.
One thing for sure, its till looks OK and I liked it more than the 2nd game for sure. But once again - once the graphical luster of yesteryears wore off... turns out there is not much meat to the bone.
Some good atmosphere in some places still!
But the one I am most sad for and which still holds up the best of all games above is - DARK SOULS 3 + ALL OF ITS DLC.
It devolves into this linear route of kinda uninspired locations and no matter what weapon you play with or what armor you wear, everything kinda hits the same. I long new Dark Souls 2 was my fav... but I secretly new DS3 is the best one of them all. Last time I replayed it was in 2019 and I absolutely loved it back then. But right now I kida just played it. Even the amazing dlc(in my memory) didn't save it. In fact, it was kinda a chore and in 2019 I thought that the ringed city was best piece of content ever made for a video game. To be honest, I rarely like souls dlc. They just throw super tough stuff at you without giving you more power. The weapons and gear you get in dlc stages still must fit inside BASE GAME POWER limits. That's the reason I also dislike dark souls 2 dlc (which also feels like some totally different genre than souls).
Anyway - I still had good time with ds3... I even played full DEX for first time ever. Sellswords dualhanded build and it was rather easy. But it just wasn't that enjoyable.
I know how to summarize ds3 very well - It controls and looks amazing but 75% of areas I entered I sighted "ooofff I remember THAT area... oh man get this over with".. And that's not a feeling I should feel
Anyway. Let me leave you with few shots for good feels. the game still looks amazing.
To finish it off. I love replaying games so this year was surprising to me since I rarely change my opinion on games. I also fully expect graphics to age and I like old graphics. I always was able to fully get back in time and feel the graphics again... but it barely worked this year. On the positive side - I also replayed Uncharted 4, re4 (original after remake), edf5 and these hold up amazingly.
-Lost planet 1. I even hooked up original xbox 360 for this. The game starts great and has fantastic first 3 levels... but I was barely able to finish it. The terrible 2nd half, terrible villain, terrible story, terrible ending and boss fight. It actively ruined my memory of this game
but look at these STILL AMAZING exlposions !!!
-Half-Life 2. Graphics are one thing but the game looks like a 90s game in my mind and it always used to look better than this. I somehow cannot see what made it look so great back then. I finished that game good 10+ times. Not replayed it for only 4 years. but with this last replay, it got tedious, very linear, scripted and all "wait and listen t these people talking and ignoring you" moments were awful. I would've thought I will never say this but.. hl2 has aged.
At least the style still somewhat carries it... in the first half of the game... maybe 70%. Later on you revisit city17 and all the tower is crap.
-Alan Wake. Another one of my favs. This game was my comfort food. My peace game. The game I loved to soak the atmosphere in and the game that never bored me... I replayed it probably good 5 times over the years. Took a break last few years so LET'S GO!!! REMASTER, DUALSENSE !!!... and I loathed the playthrough. Way too many cutscenes, way too convoluted storytelling, way too linear, the combat is terrible and the game just drags on and on and on despite being so short.
One thing for sure, its till looks OK and I liked it more than the 2nd game for sure. But once again - once the graphical luster of yesteryears wore off... turns out there is not much meat to the bone.
Some good atmosphere in some places still!
But the one I am most sad for and which still holds up the best of all games above is - DARK SOULS 3 + ALL OF ITS DLC.
It devolves into this linear route of kinda uninspired locations and no matter what weapon you play with or what armor you wear, everything kinda hits the same. I long new Dark Souls 2 was my fav... but I secretly new DS3 is the best one of them all. Last time I replayed it was in 2019 and I absolutely loved it back then. But right now I kida just played it. Even the amazing dlc(in my memory) didn't save it. In fact, it was kinda a chore and in 2019 I thought that the ringed city was best piece of content ever made for a video game. To be honest, I rarely like souls dlc. They just throw super tough stuff at you without giving you more power. The weapons and gear you get in dlc stages still must fit inside BASE GAME POWER limits. That's the reason I also dislike dark souls 2 dlc (which also feels like some totally different genre than souls).
Anyway - I still had good time with ds3... I even played full DEX for first time ever. Sellswords dualhanded build and it was rather easy. But it just wasn't that enjoyable.
I know how to summarize ds3 very well - It controls and looks amazing but 75% of areas I entered I sighted "ooofff I remember THAT area... oh man get this over with".. And that's not a feeling I should feel
Anyway. Let me leave you with few shots for good feels. the game still looks amazing.
To finish it off. I love replaying games so this year was surprising to me since I rarely change my opinion on games. I also fully expect graphics to age and I like old graphics. I always was able to fully get back in time and feel the graphics again... but it barely worked this year. On the positive side - I also replayed Uncharted 4, re4 (original after remake), edf5 and these hold up amazingly.
I retro game a lot, so that kind of means by definition not getting too down on stuff that’s been done better since, and enjoying what I’ve picked for its own unique properties.
So getting me to really say a once genuinely good game has aged out is quite difficult.
I’m going to go with a truly unique pick. Fortnite Battle Royale.
While it’s a great game and maybe the best BR still, that game is getting more and more lackluster, showing less and less effort, lacking the big storylines, events, weekly map updates, full concerts, and all kinds of things that made the original so fun and like a little living world.
The kicker is, you can never go back and replay that whole era. A map might come back for a month, but the era is gone forever. Existing only in people’s memories.
Live service is interesting.
So getting me to really say a once genuinely good game has aged out is quite difficult.
I’m going to go with a truly unique pick. Fortnite Battle Royale.
While it’s a great game and maybe the best BR still, that game is getting more and more lackluster, showing less and less effort, lacking the big storylines, events, weekly map updates, full concerts, and all kinds of things that made the original so fun and like a little living world.
The kicker is, you can never go back and replay that whole era. A map might come back for a month, but the era is gone forever. Existing only in people’s memories.
Live service is interesting.
