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General discussionIGN takes us for a reflective visit down gaming's Nostalgia Fields(56 posts)(56 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted January 30, 2017
How do we deal with nostalgia?


Gamers are not generally known for their tender sensibilities or for exploring the more emotional end of the spectrum that the medium has to offer. And yet nostalgia, that warm, fuzzy callback to happy memories or experiences in our past, is a force to be reckoned with, both in the way we play videogames and the way they are marketed. So let's talk about it!

IGN put up an <span class="bold">interesting article</span>, discussing the way gamers are affected by this powerful feeling. It's a pretty emotional, reflective, and occasionally critical journey through "The Blue Fields of Nostalgia", and it features the thoughts of legendary creator Ron Gilbert, Night Dive CEO Stephen Kick, and several of GOG.com's prominent people, among others. Go ahead and give it a read, but keep a pack of hankies close at hand.


So how does nostalgia factor in your own experiences? Does it dictate your gaming habits? Are there any evocative gaming moments that you still cherish? Feel free to share, nobody's judging here. After all, it's totally normal to cry at the end of Cinema Paradiso AND Grim Fandango. Totally.
Posted February 02, 2017
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ShaunRoberts: I like how this has devolved into a "WHERE DA GAEMS AT!!?!?" set of posts
Tell it to the Trumple. Maybe he'll build you a nice wall around all the threads you wanna keep "clean". :-)
Posted February 02, 2017
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lostwolfe: to actually add to this topic:

i came here primarily when gog /was/ "good old games."

i don't mind the indie focus too much, but it sad to see that core tenet of the store go away in favour of "the new shiny."

i feel like much has been lost over the last three generations or so [the last fifteen years] in gaming.

i think it's very safe to say that i'm /all/ for nostalgia.
I'm with you. Some of my favorites are true classics, Dungeon Keeper 2, Zeus, Adventure games like 11th Hour, 7th Guest, and so many others that are all now a part of my GOG library.

The problem with many new games is regurgitating an idea with a slight twist that made someone else money. Too many spin offs and 'like X game' types. Too many sequels too. I will say some types need more development.

Stardew Valley for example is a new fave of mine. I've replayed it several times. I like city building, strategy, adventure and RPG. Nothing in today's market that I have played compares to Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape. And very few sim games come close to Bullfrog/Mucky Foot and Lionhead's style, humor, and replayability. The new version of 'DK3' War for the Overworld is nice and definitely brings that nostaligia with many head nods to the originals, including the same Narrator voice, Richard Ridings I think? But still just makes my want to play DK2.

All in all, the gaming industury needs to sit back and evaluate why those games were good, and try to make more independent strides and quit going for eye candy and selling additional features and content.

Just my thoughts as an old gamer.
Posted February 02, 2017
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gamefood: Tell it to the Trumple. Maybe he'll build you a nice wall around all the threads you wanna keep "clean". :-)
HAHA, well said, but in that case I'd have to pay for it. :P
Posted February 02, 2017
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lostwolfe: to actually add to this topic:

i came here primarily when gog /was/ "good old games."

i don't mind the indie focus too much, but it sad to see that core tenet of the store go away in favour of "the new shiny."

i feel like much has been lost over the last three generations or so [the last fifteen years] in gaming. we're now deep in the throes of the cash shop frenzy where drm is not just ever-present, but overbearing and where the core experience of gaming has been whittled down to trophyism. [ie: the awarding of achievements for booting up the game, etc.]

things i like:

whole products that add to the game through expansions. one of the worst offenders here has been armello, which basically ditched it's core game for a cash shop [and a decision not to update on gog because it was "too difficult" or some nonsense along those lines.]

good stories: to be fair, this HAS gotten better over time. i think the idea of a primordia or a gone home or a life is strange [get that here, please, gog] might have occurred to older developers, but they possibly didn't have all the tools to make that possible. [in primordia's case, that meant multiple, easier solutions to some problems, in gone home's case, that would have been the careful narrative through exploration - not dumping mechanic on top of mechanic to get that core story told. etc.]

no "after market" silliness: i want the whole game and nothing but the game. selling me skins? that should have been in the game to begin with. selling me levels? maybe, but why aren't you turning that into a big expansion that enhances the game. selling me the soundtrack? i'd like that, if you made a collector's edition that had actual interesting extras in it that i was looking forward to.

everything in the box: by which i mean: exclusivity is stupid and a terrible practice and should be completely avoided. [i'm looking at you, obsidian, with your "pre-order," sight-unseen nonsense for tyranny. [edited in later: while we're talking about tyranny: ALL THOSE SILLY DIFFERENT EDITIONS NEED TO DIE IN A COLOSSAL FIRE. there should have been only two versions of the product: base game and collector's edition. the end. microsoft learned this the super hard way, which is why there's basically [almost] only a home and a pro version of windows 10.]

proper testing: telltale, this one's totally on you. we know you don't like the gog store. and that's kind of too bad. we're LITERALLY one of your biggest target audiences. the least you could do is actually test your games before releasing them here.

so, really, my feet are QUITE firmly planted in the past for most of the reasons i've stated above. well. i should say "firmly planted in the past with a tiny bit of a forward lean." i LOVED shovel knight [but plague knight was terrible. i hope that gets fixed with the next dlc and they make a better third attempt.] - i LOVED primordia. i LOVED evoland ii. [i think you can see that my "forward lean" mostly involves neat indies.]

but apart from that? i'll take my complete king's quest 6 any day over some of the silliness being perpetrated today. i far prefer the dig to much that has come since. i'd rather dig through the old text adventure archives and discover a gem like gateway than worry about whether or not some company has decided to not sell me the whole product because they want more money day one.

i think it's very safe to say that i'm /all/ for nostalgia.
thats right, i read a small review about GOG in a old pcgameplay magazine, but since there were no prepaid options when they first started i passed.

Lateron i read ann article they added prepaid so i created an account at once and started to buy all the games i have that wont work (courtesy of Mickyesoft) anylonger ( i wonder how much games wont work when we are forced to get win 10 cause in near future the new hardware will not be recognised by older windows (als 'thanks' to mickeyslot)

Back on topic :

So the first months i bought old games like a mad man ( i joined sep 2014 )
Then with the sales my cash reservers were completely drained :D.

2015 a very good years and my cashflow got a pounding again..... :D

2016 ............... sad year few games too much new and unintresting games...... i bought 1to 3 games at the big sales in 2016 cause: there was nothing i can play and like to play that i didnt own already, so i hope 2017 will be a old revival year, 90% old good games and as little as possible new games ( seems the reverse is true, but i still hope for good old (NO 3d please or fps) games, GamersGate has some old nice games drm free, if GG can have them , why cant GOG? i mean i like GOG much better then GG and GOG is more connected to the games then any other ones i have accounts with (including steam which cant compete with gog imho, i have steam for casualgames)

So i am a huge nostalgic gamer.....
Post edited February 02, 2017 by gamesfreak64
Posted February 02, 2017
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gamefood: Tell it to the Trumple. Maybe he'll build you a nice wall around all the threads you wanna keep "clean". :-)
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ShaunRoberts: HAHA, well said, but in that case I'd have to pay for it. :P
Maybe not cause The Donald let other people pay for certain things, which is in some ways bad but in some ways good, cause a POTUS or PM or any govt should be there to serve his people first, a soccer team also serves its OWN players before others.

Imagine a rich oligarg having a company with 10K employees, and all he/she does is care for other employees who are not being employed by him, and which are not making his/her company grow that would be weird.

So i can accept his America first in a certain way, and have no problems with it, and if he would put the netherlands on place 12 or so, i would not protest.... , you protest for things that have a huge impact on your people directly...


Many countries spend money wrongly:

The netherlands spend too little money to the netherlands , they should fix the problems in their own country first and then the problems outside), instead of leaving old people with a 24 hour diaper, but spend billions to anyone except their own people. And this is just a small part of all huge mistakes they make.


Anyway, fact is if something hasnt changed for decades people fall a sleep, they just go 'wit the flow' like programmed robots doing their daily jobs and chores (chore: a routine task, especially a household one.)

They dont give a you know what about any rules the POTUS makes cause its more of the same alltogether, and most if not all never delivered on anything they promised.
They get used to the lies, until the wake up call........... there's a new POTUS in town, who for once does what he promised.

Then those people get start to wake up from zombie mode, and it is time to feel 'hurt' and run out to protest.
If i had to go out every time our govt or mayors did not deliver, my legs would be 1 feet tall because of the all the walking that reduced my legs like a crayon does because of all the writing on blackboards ( that thing on the wall teachers use(d) to write on with crayons) at school :D (i know its a bad name but it is called that way)
Thats why i (and many more) dont go and start 'crying'.... if we cry we do it in silence :D

see blackboard attachment: blackboard.png


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GOG.com: It's a pretty emotional, reflective, and occasionally critical journey through "The Blue Fields of Nostalgia"
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Gengar78: You know what also blue? The ocean...

You know what takes place in the ocean? Freddi Fish 2...

CONFIRMED!
FF is available on steam ( dont know if its loaded with drm but i guess it will require the client to run all the time.)
I bought one at sale to try, seems it uses SCUMM VM)
Attachments:
blackboard.png (72 Kb)
Post edited February 02, 2017 by gamesfreak64
Posted February 03, 2017
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GOG.com: It's a pretty emotional, reflective, and occasionally critical journey through "The Blue Fields of Nostalgia"
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Gengar78: You know what also blue? The ocean...

You know what takes place in the ocean? Freddi Fish 2...

CONFIRMED!
Slowly but surely you get me interested for this fishy Freddi, hmmm.....
Posted February 03, 2017
I like complete games.

And I buy even new games accordingly, after they are complete, as Gold or GotY edition. So I basicly buy only "old" games nowadays.

I really feel nostalgic about the time, they sold us complete games in the first place. And after that real addons. Like in "the witcher 3" nowadays.

Now I am a more of a patient gamer. I am able to wait, until all bugfixes are out, and all DLC is released, a complete package for under 10 Euro.

They can keep their paid betas, their preorder insanity, their unfinished and broken release products, their games sold in tiny slices, their cliffhanger games, their DLC hells, microtransaction, in app purchases, paying for stamina in games and all other future abominations they WILL come up with.

Additionally, I will never ever use a Windows version over 7, because of the implemented forced upfates, the spyware software and the new "you are only the product, custumer" mentallity, that is implemented into that OS Windows 10.

So If a game does not run on Windows 7 in the future, I have to pass, until Unix with Crossover is ready for that game.

The future looks pretty bleak for us old games, I think.

My personal standards for gaming are too high. And I mean the business and security standards, not the graphical ones.

And yes, I feel pretty nostalgic about the old games, because of the changes for the worse, that happenend to the business models for selling games.

The only positive aspect is the digital distribution, IF it is DRM free.
Post edited February 03, 2017 by mkess
Posted February 04, 2017
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gamefood: Slowly but surely you get me interested for this fishy Freddi, hmmm.....
Horay! My first soon-to-be convert!
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gamesfreak64: FF is available on steam ( dont know if its loaded with drm but i guess it will require the client to run all the time.)
I bought one at sale to try, seems it uses SCUMM VM)
I know, I (gulp) bought it there. Heretical, I know, but I could only suffer from withdrawl for so long...

(I think it just uses steam and nothing else. It's probably one of those games you can easily play without the client if you tinker around some.)
Post edited February 04, 2017 by Gengar78
Posted February 06, 2017
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gamefood: Slowly but surely you get me interested for this fishy Freddi, hmmm.....
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Gengar78: Horay! My first soon-to-be convert!
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gamesfreak64: FF is available on steam ( dont know if its loaded with drm but i guess it will require the client to run all the time.)
I bought one at sale to try, seems it uses SCUMM VM)
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Gengar78: I know, I (gulp) bought it there. Heretical, I know, but I could only suffer from withdrawl for so long...

(I think it just uses steam and nothing else. It's probably one of those games you can easily play without the client if you tinker around some.)
I read somewhere in the gog forum some steam games wont start the client if you place some txtfile in some folder, but that doesnt work all the time cause more games start to ignore the file and ask to login the client ( i dont run steam at startup, and i havent allowed him to start when windows starts, i dont know if auto updates can be switched off completely and do it manually.

There is offline steam mode but many newer games will tell it isnt possible, thats why i buy them when they are very cheap, if it is 7.99 i wait till its at least 50% off, if its 75% off i buy it and if it does rewuire the nasty client to run all the time i just take that game as a loss, and i will 'blacklist' the dev/publisher in a textfile to remember me i should never buy a game again.

Besides i dont see the use of drm cause if a game is so immense popular it will be 'fixed ' anyway by some smart people so all they do is only delay the inevitable, so drm is really redundant and always hurts the honest buyers.

Anyway i use steam only for casual games.
Posted February 07, 2017
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gamesfreak64: drm is really redundant and always hurts the honest buyers.
There is nothing more to say than this. Nevertheless I'll do ;)

I'd say this feeling that DRM and always-online are very wrong is also part of gaming nostalgia. Good nostalgia, quasi the bright side of the Force. For many devpubs there may be good reasons to install such instruments on their products. Nevertheless it is wrong, wrong, wrong. And very impractical. The main points why I and many others got aboard here and not on the steamboat. :)

And I really dig what Jacek Niemojewski said in the article about games and how they help coping with life.
Posted February 07, 2017
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gamesfreak64: drm is really redundant and always hurts the honest buyers.
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gamefood: There is nothing more to say than this. Nevertheless I'll do ;)

I'd say this feeling that DRM and always-online are very wrong is also part of gaming nostalgia. Good nostalgia, quasi the bright side of the Force. For many devpubs there may be good reasons to install such instruments on their products. Nevertheless it is wrong, wrong, wrong. And very impractical. The main points why I and many others got aboard here and not on the steamboat. :)

And I really dig what Jacek Niemojewski said in the article about games and how they help coping with life.
100% True.

Coping with life: also correct, there is a game for every 'situation' action games to release 'stress' when sad/bad things happend in (personal) life, puzzle games and logic games to keep the old brain in good shape, and there are more situations games can help: spelling games, math games and many more are usefull.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionIGN takes us for a reflective visit down gaming's Nostalgia Fields(56 posts)(56 posts)
(56 posts)