cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13809164
Ignoring the lack of updates if the game is buggy, games back then were also more focused on quality and make gamers replay the game with unlockable features based on skills, not money. I can’t count the number of times I played Metal Gear Solid games over and over to unlock new features playing the hardest difficulty and with handicap features, and also to find Easter eggs. Speaking of Easter eggs, you’d lose a number of hours exploring every nook and cranny finding them!
No updates or mtx is a big upside tbh
I replayed Space Quest II recently. I was reminded of Save Early, Save Often.
I liked adjusting cassette deck head’s azimuth for a game to load.
Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy for the PS2 had a roughly 1.5’ x 2’ fold out poster that had a map of the playable world with small bits of lore. It even had a short message from your uncle telling you good luck on your journey. The other side had an image of Jak & Daxter on the A-grav zoomer. This was way back in 2001.
I remember as a kid pulling it out and reading it so many times that the corner folds started to wear out.Similarly, Ratchet & Clank also had a poster with all the weapons & gadgets you’d use with small bits of info for each item. The reverse side also had R&C, however I can’t remember if Ratchet was just holding the Devastator or if they were on a grind rail.
I miss getting those with the games. It made them so much more special and unique.No online play means gramps was playing video games before 1978. Or didn’t know about MUDs, MUSHes, and other online, multiplayer, text-based games.
Technically, even the SNES and Sega Genesis has quasi-“online” multiplayer and streaming back in the 90s. Tho, the SNES one was Japan only, and basically nobody had the Genesis service. 🤷♂️
As a kid in the early 90’s I had no concept of online games. They may have existed, but the home PC was not connected to the internet and played Carmen San Diego on floppy discs.
SEGANET
Oh man, @Beep@lemmus.org is gonna be so pissed you kept Field Explores’ name in the comic.
I require context.
I’m pretty sure this guys kink is being hated by everyone, don’t summon the troll, they’re jerking it to your hate.
They’re fun to mock, so that means everyone is happy!
I have zero issue if anyone wants to jerk off to me ;)
Damn advertisements!
Who summoned me—Beep, the undeclared king of the webcomics world?
Except there was no online play
That was a feature, not a limitation.
Games were far better when they didnt update every fucking day. I hate it so much.
Oh, and I actually OWNED the disc or cart I bought (before online activation shit)
Thats why i play a lot more ps2 Dreamcast and Xbox now. Fuck (most) modern games.
Updates, too. Games had to actually be in their final state before they could be sold.
Not that they were a lot of the times…
Eh, it really depends on the game. Obviously no game should be dependent on the internet to be playayble, but I do actually like playing against (or with) other people. Mario Kart with NPCs gets boring after a while, and unfortunately bringing friends over to my house to play games wasn’t really an option, so online it was. Splatoon is another one that has always been a delight, and while I love story mode obviously the AI can’t fight like a human.
I don’t really play shooters and stuff though.
The books were often filled with cool art not found in the game, sometimes there were hints hidden in the margins, or some had a mini-walkthru of the first level or something in the back, along with lore, they added a lot to the game imo. It felt like a well put together package, not unlike album artwork, liner notes and whole albums which people are also now (re)discovering are pretty cool.
When I was little I had my parents read to me from the Mario 3 instruction manual before going to bed.
Manuals were necessary because the games back then couldn’t fit a tutorial and, especially in the Atari days, the art didn’t always get across what was going on.
I too had my nose in the manual on the ride home. My parents had a rule that we couldn’t bring portable game systems (Game Gear in my case) on “short” car rides, so I’d sometimes bring a manual to look at.
I recommend Tunic if you’re nostalgic for game manuals
Regarding the text of the OP, that sense of discovery is gone now. The internet has ruined it. All the secrets get posted online within the first week, and there’s a wiki up in short order spoiling it for future players.
Ultima 3’s books were one of the first things I read in English: https://c64sets.com/details_db.html?id=4196
So awesome. And they got only better in 4-6.
And check this out: https://c64sets.com/details_db.html?id=4200 – “Sex: Male, Female or Other” – in a CRPG made in 1983. But those were different times: all RPGs were from Satan himself back then.
Many years ago, you read an instruction book without knowing it was going to be your last.
Treasure every moment.
Why make people sad when you could just not?
Reading the manual on the way home to get the back story and basic idea of how to play so when you actually started, you didn’t have to sit through a 20 minute cutscene and another 30 min tutorial showing you how to jump. Just straight into the action.
“No online play” sounds like a console peasant. But yeah, the manuals were the best part.
Or like PC before internet connections at home were widely available.
Do you remember a bunch of geeks bringing their computers, heavy, to a single location to play LAN games? I do…
I remember playing Sim City, Rollercoaster tycoon, Dark forces, Yoda stories, and countless others on the PC with no online play.
Quit being a fucking edge lord.
With that logic there is no online play today either.
deleted by creator
l am pretty sure he talks about pre-online times (which were also largely pre-home-console times).
The instruction manual of my first bought game, a flight simulator on the Atari ST, was basically a printed pilot crash course.
I also had some thick copied instruction folders from the more… unconventional acquired games, often because the copy protection was like: “Enter the 5th word of the 13th line on page 54!”.
I remember pouring over my grandpas falcon3.0 manual.
Also a DOS manual he had. On one hand it was cool but on the other, things are so complex that they wouldn’t fit into a manual. And they go out of date as soon as they are printed due to changes.
Mine was the first Falcon game!
Also, my first Linux distro in 1997 came on CD and had a nice Linux introduction book l still used as a quick reference years after l had moved on to newer releases.
I should replay tunic
This reminds me so much of that time I got Red Alert from my parents. I was so happy, until I figured out it was the expansion Red Alert: The Aftermath. I had to wait so long before I got the base game I probably read the instruction manual and cover 10 times over. But that was enough to keep me happy till I got the original.
Reminds of asking for Final Fantasy Tactics for Christmas. I didn’t realize the game was almost impossible to find until the Greatest Hits reprint.
My parents misunderstood and got me the strategy guide for Final Fantasy VIII. I think I was disappointed at the time, but I still got their money’s worth out of that book.
