StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Okay, maybe this is partly a rant, but IMO games nowadays are too much focused on graphics and multiplayer, with less attention to gameplay.

I love the good old days where Microprose F-19 Stealth Fighter gave you the real feeling of 'being there'. Not by stunning graphics, not by painstaking 'realism', but by the excellent gameplay:
...where you have to arrange your flight path to avoid doppler and pulse radar...
...where you have to land in concealed airstripes at night in enemy territory..
...where one of your missions is to secretly photograph enemy installation at night..

...ahh... the good old days (wiping tears). But seriously, what old games you still keep on your hard drive and still playing over and over? What old games keep you searching for abandonwares in the internet? What old games which gameplay still unrivaled by today's 3D galore?

Mine:

- Star Control 2 (the only reason I keep DOS)

- Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon Deluxe

- F 19 Stealth Fighter

- Gunship 2000 (still even better than Longbow 2)

- Master of Magic (YEAH! IT ROCKS!!!)

- Privateer 2 (I can't find the deluxe, Win 95 edition, so...)

- SSI Goldbox games (goodies like Curse of Azure Bonds or Champions of Krynn)

- Crusader: No Regret

- Task Force 1942

- ATF & US Navy Fighters 97 (the only things better than Chuck Yeager's Air Combat)

- Sword of the Samurai

- Pirates! Gold

- Strike Commander

- Master of Orion (yeah, the first one. The one *without* micromanagement headache)

Ahh...Crusader. I spent DAYS in tech-support hell trying to lobby the makes of that thing to make it possible to play the damn thing under Windows 2000, or at LEAST re-release it and its sequel as a new pack. I'd buy it.

Ditto 90% of old Lucasarts adventure games. I haven' played Sam and Max (the voice pack version) since 1998, because I don't have DOS on my system or something. Piss me RIGHT off. I can only hope that the Sam and Max 2 that's coming out sometime this year will have a bonus CD with the original tacked on it.

To lay to type so.

Stunt Island. I don't even play it anymore, but I refuse to take it off my harddrive. I made a lot of great little movies with it, and there's still a large community that plays it and mods it. You can't say that about any other computer game that came out in 1992!

Lagmonster wrote:to make it possible to play the damn thing under Windows 2000, or at LEAST re-release it and its sequel as a new pack. I'd buy it.

Lagmonster wrote: because I don't have DOS on my system or something. Piss me RIGHT off.

Nice to see another DOS games afficionado. Actually there's a few DOS boot disk maker on the net. Or if your email account could receive file about one megs attachment, I can send you one.

[rant]DOS games rule!![/rant]

Lord Poe wrote:Stunt Island. I don't even play it anymore, but I refuse to take it off my harddrive. I made a lot of great little movies with it, and there's still a large community that plays it and mods it. You can't say that about any other computer game that came out in 1992!

Never play that one, but I heard it's a nice, unique game. My cousin played it and showed me some of his stunt shots. I heard you can fly a duck. Is that true?

I have Quest for Glory 3 on my box right now, as with Master of Magic

phongn wrote:I have Quest for Glory 3 on my box right now, as with Master of Magic

*sobs because his computer won't run Master of Magic*

Oldest game I got right now is Star Control 2. I have had Master of Orion and X-Com UFO Defense before. I can also install the X-Wing Collectors CD, Wing Commander Privateer, and Wing Commander Armada any time I want.

I wish I could get the old Gunship 2000 and Commanche. Those games rocked.

I still have the original Command and Conquer on my hard drive, as well as X-Com UFO Defence.

SirNitram wrote:

phongn wrote:I have Quest for Glory 3 on my box right now, as with Master of Magic

*sobs because his computer won't run Master of Magic*

It was a pain to get it running in Windows XP, and it was unstable - it was the only application that could bring down my entire machine somehow (I think it locked you out of being able to get back to the desktop)

phongn wrote:

SirNitram wrote:

phongn wrote:I have Quest for Glory 3 on my box right now, as with Master of Magic

*sobs because his computer won't run Master of Magic*

It was a pain to get it running in Windows XP, and it was unstable - it was the only application that could bring down my entire machine somehow (I think it locked you out of being able to get back to the desktop)

My machine is Windows 95(I simply don't have the cash to upgrade, and I know I must before Palladium kicks in).

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:Never play that one, but I heard it's a nice, unique game. My cousin played it and showed me some of his stunt shots. I heard you can fly a duck. Is that true?

You can fly the Statue of Liberty if you want! Its a VERY unique game. You can get it easily on the 'net in a few places, and make some great little 16 bit movies. I even put a a SI2 proposal website, but nothing's happened.

http://h4h.com/louis/si2/si2.html

SirNitram wrote:

phongn wrote:

SirNitram wrote: *sobs because his computer won't run Master of Magic*

It was a pain to get it running in Windows XP, and it was unstable - it was the only application that could bring down my entire machine somehow (I think it locked you out of being able to get back to the desktop)

My machine is Windows 95(I simply don't have the cash to upgrade, and I know I must before Palladium kicks in).

You should be able to run MOM in DOS mode, but you'll have to fiddle with your DOS settings in various archaic ways to free up enough conventional memory.

SirNitram wrote:

phongn wrote:I have Quest for Glory 3 on my box right now, as with Master of Magic

*sobs because his computer won't run Master of Magic*

*sobs because his laptop won't run Comanche 3*

PS: My DOS PC is still in my parent's house. Gotta bring it to my flat sometime...

I've still got Star Glider, Sopwith, Carrier Command and Firepower kicking around. They were all XT (pre-80286) games, I think. Firepower (two player tank game) is completely unplayable on an Athlon, even with a slowdown TSR loaded. Amazingly, the Star Glider people actually bothered to put in proper timing loops, and so smooth, 3D polygonal blasting fun from 1986 is mine. Yes. I also found updated versions (open source) of Star control and Doom last year, which was pretty good.

I remember Crusader, and Stunt Island. At the time, Stunt Island was pretty demanding, wasn't it? 486 minimum CPU or something

Let's see, some of the older games I have installed right now are:
Star Control 2
Mechwarrior 2 Mercs
Nethack
Mechwar
Nahlakh
Wasteland
Dungeon Keeper 1&2
Castle of the Winds
MoO2
Betrayal in Krondor/Antara
Xwing
TIE Fighter
Pirates! (Amiga version)
Gunship (Amiga version)
Airborne Ranger (Amiga Version)

phongn wrote:

SirNitram wrote:

phongn wrote: It was a pain to get it running in Windows XP, and it was unstable - it was the only application that could bring down my entire machine somehow (I think it locked you out of being able to get back to the desktop)

My machine is Windows 95(I simply don't have the cash to upgrade, and I know I must before Palladium kicks in).

You should be able to run MOM in DOS mode, but you'll have to fiddle with your DOS settings in various archaic ways to free up enough conventional memory.

If you use Windows 95 (NOT that cursed XP), you can run MoM using Win95 DOS box, unless you're installing the v1.3 patch....

Wolfenstein 3D
MOO2
Rogue Spear

Anonymous wrote: If you use Windows 95 (NOT that cursed XP), you can run MoM using Win95 DOS box, unless you're installing the v1.3 patch....

It wasn't a guest... it was me... Damn, not again!

Anonymous wrote:If you use Windows 95 (NOT that cursed XP), you can run MoM using Win95 DOS box, unless you're installing the v1.3 patch....

Windows XP will run MOM in the DOS Virtual Machine.

Lord Poe wrote:I even put a a SI2 proposal website, but nothing's happened.

http://h4h.com/louis/si2/si2.html

Don't hope too much, Wayne. Most game companies nowadays suck. They mostly prefer blood-and-gore-3D-fragfest which generate cash faster (and could be made to console version too... sigh...), rather than a good game with nice gameplay and unique subject matters. I don't think we're going to see the likes of Pirates! or Sword of Samurai in the future...

Your only hope is independent game makers. They're working on Quest for Glory and Star Control 2 (both by different parties), IIRC.

phongn wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you use Windows 95 (NOT that cursed XP), you can run MoM using Win95 DOS box, unless you're installing the v1.3 patch....

Windows XP will run MOM in the DOS Virtual Machine.

But not with v1.3 patch. The game keeps telling you "not enough memory" despite all those memory cranking in the .EXE properties.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

phongn wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you use Windows 95 (NOT that cursed XP), you can run MoM using Win95 DOS box, unless you're installing the v1.3 patch....

Windows XP will run MOM in the DOS Virtual Machine.

But not with v1.3 patch. The game keeps telling you "not enough memory" despite all those memory cranking in the .EXE properties.

Damn, really? I must have been playing an older version then.

Most of the games I've got on my system are still pretty new, but the one that I keep coming back to is Battleground 5: Antietam. It's a regimental level recreation of the Civil War battles of South Mountain and Antietam. Very detailed game, pretty accurate rendition of fighting styles, and decent graphics. You had the options of commanding all of the army you fougt with, or only a part of it down to brigade level. Pretty cool stuff.