Thirith on 1/9/2017 at 11:49

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Many of us here have been playing games for a long time. While some types of games have been remade time and again, sometimes building on the original in interesting, worthwhile ways, others have changed genre, not always for the better, and some have vanished completely.

Which is why I'm curious: what is the game, series or genre that you miss most and that you feel hasn't really been revisited? And which elements do you miss most and would you most like to see in a remake or reimagining?

For me it's Ultima, in particular Ultima VII, and what i miss most is the living, breathing world they created, the places with distinct personalities, the characters that populated them, the day/night cycle and the way people had simulated lives: getting up in the morning, having breakfast, going to work, heading to the tavern for lunch etc. Divinity: Original Sin promised to build on some of the systems of the series, but the world it created never felt alive, it never felt like an actual world. In that respect the Elder Scrolls games were actually closer to what I liked about Ultima, but they too didn't really make their worlds feel all that alive - with higher fidelity, you also need more complex or at least more interesting systems (and more focused, less meandering writing) for a place to feel alive. (Also, I'd want to explore those worlds with an actual party.)

This may sound strange, but the closest I got to the living, breathing worlds of Ultima in recent years was Rockstar's open worlds. Put that sort of care into an RPG/adventure combo (my favourite Ultima games weren't particularly complex as RPGs) and I'd buy that game the moment it came out... and then I'd tell all my friends to get it.

Sulphur on 1/9/2017 at 12:38

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Heart-pangs, you mean? Yes, Ultima VII still causes those. For what it's worth, TW3 managed a few glimmerings of the cohesiveness of Ultima VII's world, as I'm sure you would've noticed. No, it doesn't evoke the same spirit of the games, or the granular interaction/design for that matter, but every now and then when I wandered into an involved quest by pure chance whilst scouring the countryside and ravaged coast-lines, it felt near organic enough to bring on the same sort of dopamine hit UVII did.

Every now and then I sigh and wish we had more games like Okami. It's the sort of pure, inspired creativity you don't often see in games. The brush mechanic could have been a one-off thing, but instead the game let you use it almost anywhere and everywhere, in fact encouraged you to do so and see what happened; it's that sense of playfulness, the invitation to mess about and see how the game reacts to you that I miss the most. It helped that it was also one of the most charming games I've ever played; all of the characters were a joy to be around, and that art style remains gorgeous and timeless.

Of course, if wishes were horses I'd love to have a Homeworld 3 helmed by Alex Garden, and Jordan Mechner make (yet another) Prince of Persia game, because we haven't had any follow-ups that really built on what their last games hit out of the park -- Homeworld's mission design alone remains a benchmark in a game that set a fair few standards; Sands of Time's rewind mechanic and silky-smooth platforming seem to have been all but forgotten after the sequels lacked SoT's vital spark.

Jeshibu on 1/9/2017 at 13:35

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I felt the way you guys felt about Ultima VII about Outcast. An alien world with plenty of stuff to discover, and NPCs to talk to. The interactions were really good: NPCs waving you over when they spotted you, conversations interrupted because of gunfire (rather than DX's waiting, strafing, gun-pointing enemies in the conversation's background). But then, that has been followed up on, and I'd say The Witcher 3 is a worthy successor to that kind of exploration and discovery. They both manage to evoke that sense of wonder while staying believable. In fact, that sense of wonder or awe is what Homeworld's presentation really did for me. I don't much care for RTSes. The disconnect between me issuing orders and things happening is usually enough to slowly chip away at my eagerness to play, but the Homeworld series just blows that away with its music and visuals.

Anyway, back to Outcast, there's a (http://store.steampowered.com/app/618970/Outcast__Second_Contact/) remake coming (not to be confused with the earlier (http://store.steampowered.com/app/336610/Outcast_11/) remaster), and I hope they make enough off that to finally make an Outcast 2 that's better than the one they cancelled. It's not like it's been totally neglected at least.

Another genre that isn't dead but really only has one excellent developer behind these days it is the character action game; that set of skillful hack and slash games with (usually) breakneck speed like Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, or Bayonetta. Team Ninja has severely declined in quality in the past decade, so Platinum Games is really the only great developer still doing these. Even they are starting to drop in quality with some of their licensed games (like that Turtles one).

Lastly an actual dead series: the STALKER games. More of that please. Metro doesn't quite cut it.

Jeshibu on 1/9/2017 at 13:53

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Oh yeah, Motocross Madness 2! I played the shit out of that demo. Best thing was trying to go out of bounds and getting cannoned back into the play area.

PigLick on 1/9/2017 at 14:44

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Thirith, I have been playing recently a new mp mod for Morrowind which includes the single player game as in all the quests and npcs. Its very cool playing as a 3 player party each character having a specific build.