On Gothic 2's page, I encountered this under one of the reviews:

"Gothic 2 is, simply put, a diamond in the rough. It came out only a few months after TES 3: Morrowind, but has gameplay elements that were clearly copied in TES 4: Oblivion. The sad thing is, is that most people who've played Oblivion don't even realize that "Radiant AI" and "NPC Schedules" had already been done in Gothic - and to boot, are far superior to Bethesda's disappointing attempt."

As I was reading the comment, I started feeling weird. What? Since when is Oblivion the standard for AI? What's going on?

Then I realized. The review was from 2010.

Do you ever get an existential crisis from reading old reviews? Do you feel the passage of time in gaming?

I did when I read some "Star in Shadows" reviews comparing the game to "Master of Orion" and then realised that by "Master of Orion", a reviewer didn't mean the beloved classics from Microprose, but the new "Master of Orion" game.

All of a sudden, the meaning of the title of a most beloved classic has become a relative, depending on how old you are.

Not when reading reviews, but I feel how f***ing old I'm getting, when I think that the games from my childhood and youth are now 20-25 years old (a quarter of a century, to put it another way).
Another bad thing is that I feel these games are still great, sometimes unsurpassed, while gaming seems to have gone to s**t in the last 20 years, and I have little interest in anything more recent apart from some indie games like Age of decadence. Contributes to my feeling of disconnection from modern culture.

Like I mentioned in another thread, I recently found a whole bunch of old gaming magazines, and reading through those is quite a trip to the past. Going back to reviews and even previews of games that are today venerable classics like Fallout or Knights of the Old Republic. Super enthusiastic reviews of games now mostly forgotten. First signs of things to come, like World of Warcraft. Even pages and pages of ads from people looking to sell/buy/exchange games, or simply looking for other gamers to join various clubs, fanzines etc.

It's all quite fascinating and very nostalgic. And I won't lie, it did get me a bit emotional. It's an era of gaming that's slowly being forgotten. Some of the games endure and will endure, but the cultural moment is fading into oblivion. The times before common Internet access. Long before digital stores, massive sales, gameplay videos and cinematic trailers. I feel like every game who grew up with all those things but enjoys retro gaming should get himself at least a few issues of such old magazines (real, not digital copies!) and read through them. Just to get some context and a better appreciation of older games, as something "living" and fresh and not "retro".

That's a bit like watching video of the Challenger explosion or other historic disasters, where you know what's going to happen and you'd like to warn people, but of course you can't, since it's already in the past, so you have to just sit and stare impotently, trying to keep back the tears and wondering where God's justice was when this happened, or maybe there isn't a God, and it's just a cold and uncaring universe, maybe with Eldritch abominations lurking in dark corners, who enjoy playing WoW while plotting humanity's downfall.

What are some of the old but great games you think still hold up?

Personally feel that way about Chrono Trigger, Zelda Majoras Mask, and Diablo 2.

To bring up another specific situation perfectly exemplifying "everything was better in the old days":
Playing the recently released Gothic 2 total conversion The Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos.

Runs on a +20 years old engine (not without its limitations, technical quirks and shortcomings) but somehow blows every other immersive TPP cRPG of the last +20 years out of the water, not in every aspect but certainly where it matters and where game design has significantly regressed and been in a steep decline ever since.

doom 2016 is good

I replayed Albion, Commandos and Jedi Knight in recent years, and while obviously dated in some respects, I think they're still wonderful games worth playing today.
Also bought several classics on Gog which I had missed back in the day, e.g. the Freespace games, Thief series, Dark forces, Dark Sun: Shattered lands, and I didn't regret it, these games can still provide a fantastic gaming experience.

Cool. Will keep those in mind.

Im personally kind of interested in Deus Ex. Never played it and not a fan of first person but I did see my middle school friends play it back in the day and it looked cool.

Deus Ex is also great. I only played it for the first time a few years ago (in 2016 or so), and imo it's definitely still a great experience. Of course graphics and AI are dated, but the gameplay and atmosphere are really good.

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