AWKWARD ZOMBIE

So, what with GoG going flat and all (and me losing the odd 40 games I'd bought there), LET US DISCUSS THE GLORY DAYS. What did you play? What did you think? What are you revisiting? What are you plaing for the first time? How did you like it? Do you have any exciting rare copies? Which games defined your childhood? What is best in life?

Tell me

everything.

To get the ball rolling, I played Beneath a Steel Sky recently for the first time. I was pretty impressed. The music was top notch, the visuals were good, the puzzles were challenging but not overly frustrating (save one part with a switch on a machine that was basically just WE HID A BUTTON GO FIND IT HURP DERP), the characters were memorable; thoroughly enjoyed.

That green slime in the pipes game.

Yeah.

Played that all the time.

I was rustled when new (8-10 years ago) computers didn't have it.

Pipe Dream, I think you mean.

I've been playing the shit out of Age of Wonders lately. Turn based fantasy strategy. It's addictive as hell. Turn based strategy games are sort of dead these days, but I still can't get enough of them. Heroes of Might & Magic, Master of Orion, Civilizations, Disciples... oh yes. I'll take you over your real time chums any day of the week. When you don't get bogged down with the time management factor, then you've got an entirely different game in front of you. Time starts working for you instead of against you, and that's a very special thing. You can relax, you can sit back, and you've got a chance to think. It becomes about who's better at the game instead of who can zerg rush the quickest. The best bit, though... yes, the best bit, is that if you're good - if you're really, really, good, if you're astounding, even just for one little moment...

then everybody lives. In RTS, there's going to be casualities. No matter what you do, at least one person on each side is going to die. Period. That's just how it rolls. If you've got one unit versus a dozen, then you might as well give up, you don't have any chance of winning. If it's turn based, though, well then you just might do it. You just might be able to pull it off. If you're good enough, that one little unit can make it. If you're daisies good, all of your little units can make it. None of them have to die.

Which is a very good thing. It's a great thing. Hell, it's an amazing thing. Especially in games like Disciples and Age of Wonders, where you often times stick with the same units for quite a while. You can get pretty attached to those little guys. You don't want to lose them. Well, obviously you never want to lose them, that's counter-productive to the entire point of playing, but there's another dimension there. It's not that you don't want to lose them because then you'll have to spend more resources building new ones, no no. It's that this little guy, he's your little guy. If you built another it'd behave identically, sure, but this one... this one's special.

You don't get that in an RTS. It's just too fast. There's not enough time. And that's a daisies shame.

Back when I was a wee lass, I bought the original Sims or some expansion pack for it. Along with it came a demo of what I believe is Populus, but I'm not entirely sure.

I loved playing that game. I liked amassing my people, getting my buildings, training my shaman, then annihilating my enemy. I always lost on the third level, though.

My dad hated it. He used to be very against videogames with violence, even though I think Populus didn't even have blood in it. He'd make me and my sister uninstall it, but we'd always reinstall the demo later.

I loved playing that game. It probably 10 years ago, but it's still a game I miss sometimes. Last year I tried buying it, but the seller I got it from only sent me an empty box.

I don't even know if Populus is the name of the game.

Populous; one of Bullfrog's finest. The company went belly up years ago, but they made quite a few memorable games. If you liked Populous, maybe you should look into Theme Hospital and Dungeon Keeper. Both of them by the same company, similar gameplay and the same sort of tounge in cheek humour.

Spent weeks at a time in Dungeon Keeper

Jumpman.

That is all.

I was trying to get Dungeon Keeper II running at a lan a few months back and the strangest glitch I've ever seen kept happening. About every half hour in, the game would freeze up for everybody, and roll back about five minutes game time, then start again. It was just bizarre. One of these days, I'm going to have to go buy a shitty old laptop to play all these games without dicking around so much.

populous the beginning. one of my all time fave games. there was no better joy than hurling fireballs at ppl and watching the fly through the air

bonus points if they landed in the water and drowned

My childhood was Terranigma and Secret of Mana. I played those games so often, I still love plugging in my SNES occassionaly and replay them.

Couple of month ago I got my hands on a Secret of Mana 2 emulator, even with a German translation patch. Many hours of joy, I love how hard this part is in comparison to the first one where magic was your answer to everything.

When I was a bit older and got a Playstation, it was Azure Dreams, Breath of Fire 3 and Bloody Roar 2. And Spyro I guess, the first game never was that much fun for me, or atleast I don't remember it as being fun like the other games I mentioned. But I do remember that I needed only needed 4 hours for a 100% run, including the bonus level.

I just downloaded Populous: The Beginning and holy fuck nostalgia rush.

I remember when I first played it I was ecstatic that the shaman was female. I played a lot of old turn-based games a kid, the kind of games with vague plots and silent protagonists. No characterization at all, no intricate story.

You were always the guy. It didn't really bug me, because that's just how it was. It still doesn't bug me so much. But to be a girl who was the boss and had cool powers was amazing to me. You controlled everything. You didn't need to be saved, you weren't the wimpy healer.

Bluh bluh feminist crap.

I can't believe I care so much about this game.

Come to think of it, a lot of the games I enjoyed had a choice in regards to the gender; fallout, baldur's gate, Might and Magic, Daggerfall... hmm.

One vord:

Theme Hospital.

SimTower. :c

Dungeon Keeper needs to be revived.

Oh, Horned Reaper... what happened bro?


I loved the music too.