Yes, it's the "been there, done that" that bothers me quite a lot. It's just more of the same...everywhere you look.

To be fair, I also have to admit, that Sierra used the AGI and SCI engine to death last time with many adventure games, and the engines never changed for a period of time. But I enjoyed it nevertheless. For me, even when those engines seem recycled, and graphics look similar across similar engine versions, I was hooked to them.

Yes, there were DOOM and then DOOM II. It's been done before again. And then...gulp....the almost unlimited commercial and user-made levels. I enjoyed DOOM and DOOM II, but couldn't enjoy the rest of the true sequels. I only enjoyed the "clones" made by Raven - Hexen, Heretic - but they were good on their own. Never got interested in other spinoffs though.

As I have mentioned before, despite having the hardware to play Witcher III maxed out (at 1080p res anyway), I enjoyed playing the classic EGA SSI's RPG game Champions of Krynn. (I bring these two together, not becuase they are similar -they're not - but since I was switching between these two at one time, I found to be enjoying the latter more.) The last true free roaming RPG I really loved was Skyrim. But none of the DLCs.

One of my favourite series is Assassin's Creed....by the time I reach Black Flag, I just couldn't bring myself to complete the game as much as I was involved when playing the first 3 games, not including the spinoffs.

I got literally sick when I reached CoD: Modern Warfare 2. Instead I enjoy replaying DOOM 1 & 2 even now.

Instead of playing a new game last night, I found myself going back tinkering with my i865 chipset based Windows 98 machine - where I found a new problem, which I intend to ask here in Vogons if I can't solve it. 😀

I look at my Steam collection....and wonder if I really enjoy them all. (Almost all of them were bought during sale. 🤣)

That's the whole point of steam sales - to sell games to people that don't even like them...

I kinda identify with this. I somehow lost interest in PC gaming around 2004-2005 - at the time I would regularly upgrade my PC with the latest components and just paid top $$ for a brand new 6800 ultra. I was satisfied being able to play DOOM3 and Half-Life 2 on max settings but felt something was missing in the "fun" department compared to games I was playing 10 years earlier. And I no longer felt the same exhilaration after upgrading, not like when I upgraded my S3 to a Voodoo2 or my Voodoo2 to my first Geforce. I had the feeling that most games looked the same and played the same... and constantly upgrading started making less and less sense. At the same time I bought a Nintendo Gamecube at launch and was having much more fun with it.

In 2007 I built myself a Core2Q6600 rig and went for a lowly Geforce 8600 when it was time to choose the GPU. I only played a handful of games on it for the 8 years I used the machine.

Last year I felt it was time for a new PC and I thought I would get a decent GPU this time, to be able to play modern games. I got an I7 with a GTX970 and bought a few titles on Steam... I don't know if it's getting older and all the nostalgia, but i feel new games can't really capture my attention despite looking very impressive. I always go back to Dosbox or GOG games instead. If there is a learning curve for a game or it's too involving and I know I'll sink hours of my time in it, I'm out. I just want to have fun for a moment and no longer have the patience for immersive games.

I'm not too interested in modern games myself. I'm mainly a first person shooter fan, and in my opinion the past decade or so has produced few great FPSs, and to me the last great FPS was either Bioshock 2 or Singularity (whichever came out last, they both came out sometime in 2010). I'm no fan of the modern FPS conventions, such as weapon carrying limits, linear level design, constant on-screen prompts (such as "Press E to open door", "Press X to throw switch", etc), lack of re-playability, no bots in multiplayer, little interaction with the environment, rechargeable health, unskippable cut-scenes, non-interactive set-pieces that just remind you that it's just a game, weapons that look like each other, and so on.

And I hate the trend for "realism" in modern first person shooters. It's not realistic when your health recharges if you don't get shot for a few seconds, you can swim whilst carrying heavy weapons and lots of ammunition, you can run as fast backwards as you can forwards (even running downstairs backwards!) etc. Games like the Operation Flashpoint and Arma series' make real attempts to be realistic, which is great for their fans, but I prefer unrealistic FPSs, so I don't like the way modern FPSs try to seem realistic by just limiting the ingame features and thereby harming playability.

On the plus side, I love replaying my favourite games, so I'm not devastated a the current FPS trends, since I still have many older FPSs that I love and can play and play and play.

RacoonRider wrote:

That's the whole point of steam sales - to sell games to people that don't even like them...

I thought that was the point of level-up coupons? ;D

the fastest computer in my home is a xeon e5450 xeon mod lga 775/771 with a gtx560ti, 8gb of ddr2-1066. I think about to buy a gtx 780, 980 this summer to suit my new 4k monitor (video game playing at 1920x1080 res). My point is : I never in my life kept a cpu as long as this "socket 775" one, 10 years.

I know *exactly* how you feel. I ALWAYS have my retro games from the golden age of 3D installed on my computers because I always go back to them. The interesting thing is I'm not sure if it's necessarily the games themselves or also how we perceive enjoyment as we age. I do have one conclusion though: Old games were targeted at an older audience and were more challenging, because 'back in the day' computers were rarely available for 'just kids', they were prized family machines, and the Dad would often be the one getting games. It's not till 2008+ that people have become wealthy enough for their KIDS to have the latest and greatest PC's in their rooms, so games are aimed at them more than the parents. This plus our own 'growing up' contributes to this feeling, old games take us back.