First post, by Aui
This is an opinion piece. I’m not trying to diminish other people’s efforts to remember games from a bygone time or make them accessibly and known for the next generation – quite the contrary – I hope to get some deeper and better understanding.
Recently we get a lot of retrospectives and replays of older classic games. This is either done by people who revisit titles or play them for the first time, because they are “classics”. Quite often the evaluation of such old titles is much less favorable if people have not played the game during its original release. On the other hand, people who praise an old game may have strongly biased views and are automatically guilty of nostalgia. So, what I want is to understand this discrepancy (and as the title says – I’m not sure its nostalgia).
As an example, I will review the review of Eye of the Beholder by the Dos Game Club Podcast -Episode E072 (remember that I’m not going against their efforts. I like the podcast and the idea of a shared community replay is especially great. Fate of Atlantis is on the menu right now – please go and check it out!).
As I understand it, none of the reviewers had played the game when it came out, but all played it prior to the modern review. And their evaluation was overall, not very favorable. What’s making this so unfortunate is the fact that during the review it becomes very clear that they don’t seem to have been able to immerse themselves into the incredible atmosphere of this intricate and vast dungeon. For some reason the magic does not unfold and they seem to be a bit at a loss themselves. In addition, they miss large parts of the lore and the story. The stone gates, the betrayal of Shinda, the fact that you can use the Wand of Silvias, (made from the eyestalk of a Beholder and the only thing he fears) to defeat Xanathar was completely missed. They object that you get lost easily in the game – I would argue that it is necessary to get lost and the use of an automap tool may actually hurt the experience more than it will help. The review draws comparison between EOB and (of all games) Myst. I really feel a bit bewildered. This game was (and if played correctly perhaps still can be) an incredible adrenaline rush. So the question is – quite presumptuous - how do you play a game the right way?
When I played the game (long ago) I could not get past the sewers for weeks. When I finally solved the puzzle, I got lost in the dwarven halls for a long time. To survive the spider levels was a particularly grueling task, but once you prevail and especially once you finally learn to cure poison – it feels like and real empowerment of the party and not just like a statistical level up. The halls of the Drow felt claustrophobic with the deep earthen tones and the graves of the skeleton kings like right out of Tolkien’s Barrow-Downs with their rich loot. The minimalistic sound which just rhythmically signs you someone is approaching or slowly moving away from your position is like a constant alert in the back of the player’s mind. The sheer fright when you saw a mind flayer from afar, knowing that it can paralyze your entire group from a large distance. Often you simply had to quit, because the solution to a puzzle was just not obvious (it often is solved almost immediately when you start up the game a day later). Well, there are another 100 things I like about this game and I could go on but the point is that it seems I have played a completely different game.
Now there are a few arguments that are often raised at that point. One would be that nobody has time to voluntarily get lost in a maze when an automap is just available. But so is a complete walkthrough and a playthrough and a speedrun - completely missing what this whole game is about.
The paradoxical fact is that you voluntarily need to allow yourself to “waste” time and get lost in the dungeon and play it slow. This is what creates a tangible experience and a lasting impression. Similar to reading a book you can’t just skip chapters or read a summary but have to commit yourself. Playing it too quick may get you to the end but you will be missing the point altogether and therefore really waste your time.
On a similar note I think that the “lack of commitment” (well that does not quite sound right) was also the true downfall of the adventure genre. As soon as you start taking shortcuts and looking up hints and online walkthrough the whole experience collapses and turns into frustration.
So – in addition to the games themselves do we also need to preserve the culture and customs how to play them properly ?
