Shallow tastes? (Kind of a rant.:))

GawainBS · #1 (**permalink**) 03-30-2008, 10:07 AM

A few weeks ago, a friend came over to borrow some games. I showed him my collection and after a bit of pondering, he had made his choice.
I noticed that he didn't even bothered to check my stack of cardboardbox-games. You know, the big A4 formatted cardboard boxes. When I asked him if he didn't want to look through it, he said "Oh, I saw those old boxes and so there can't be any decent games in that stack." I was perplexed. A quick glance at that lot gives us titles as: BG, FFVII, PS:T, IWD, BGII, Revenant, MMVI & VII, Tiberian Sun, Nox, Total Annihilation, Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries, 3 & 4, X-Wing: Alliance, X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, Age of Empire I & II, Fallout 2, Wingcommander IV & V, Jane's Fighters Anthology.
This friend is only one year younger than me. I'm the first to admit that tastes differ, but as you can see from the list, it has vastly different games in it. I just have to ask, how is it possible that someone dismisses such fines games, solely on the fact that their packaging labels them as pre-2001? (Rough guess.)

AvatarOfLight · #2 (**permalink**) 03-30-2008, 10:27 AM

Most likely, simply the cause of the whole industry hype on graphics.

I'll take Ultima Underworld 1 as an example for myself. I got this recommended to me by my cousin some years ago. It's an old game, graphics are simply horrible by today's standards, the controls are hard to master, etc. I would never have started it or gotten past by the first 5 minutes if it wasn't for how high I value my cousins opinion. In the end I had an excellent experience and devoured Ultima Underworld 2 as soon as I was done.

I think a great deal of people would enjoy the old games if they would just get past the first 5 minutes, though some people are lost causes. Often it's not just the graphics, but also the controls that prevent this. They are very dumed down these days.You can't really blame anyone for their shallow taste if they just haven't been really encouraged to try oldies. Sad, but true. My truth anyway.

Crenshinibon · #3 (**permalink**) 03-30-2008, 10:33 AM

If anything, I go game shopping on ebay because the games worth playing aren't made or sold anymore. Everyone judges on the first appearance though. I'll admit, I was somewhat hesitant to play the Fallout series because I was not sure if I'd be able to deal with the graphics perhaps? Well, I played the series and loved it. The graphics were not as bad as I thought they'd be... although I never did finish FoT. Sure, it may have been the one with the most flashy appearance, but we all know that it's just an "attractive" quality upon which everyone else chooses games.

When people see my wallpaper (the one from Baldur's Gate II, where Jon is sitting on his throne) people come up to me that the game was the worst they've played. By this time, I don't even have to ask. No one has heard of the PC version. They all speak of Dark Alliance. At this point no one is willing to give the game a chance.

I say, we should make these fine games into a religion.

DesR85 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-30-2008, 11:30 AM

I probably think that person was not aware of those games at that time, so I doubt packaging is the reason for his lack of interest. Can't blame him, though. There are a fair share of titles I have overlooked during the mid 90s to early 2000 and if you put them in front of me, I would have no idea what it is about until it is demoed in front of my eyes.

GawainBS · #5 (**permalink**) 03-30-2008, 01:19 PM

He literally said "I didn't even look at them, since they'll suck because they're old as I can tell from their cardboardbox." He didn't even look at the titles.

sinbad71 · #6 (**permalink**) 03-30-2008, 01:39 PM

all decent games(in my opinion any way

) gawainbs, have fond memories off all of them,and even still go back to play the ones i haven't completed or want to try again as a different character class.

I particulary liked the janes series of flight sims like apache longbow and us navy fighters, as they usually had weighty manuals.

i remember that packaging in thoses days was a major attention grabber as that was what most people seen as they went in through the store. Although flashy box art wasn't any guarantee that there was a decent game lurking inside the box.......