Games that you loved back in the day but will never ever play again

[Drog Black Tooth]

For me it's the games with really, really outdated controls and UI, the major offender is the so called tank controls of classic Tomb Raider and Silent Hill games. I tried one such a game a few days back and, wow, how the fuck was this ever enjoyable. All the difficulty comes from wrestling with the controls/camera and this is just not okay. Another offender is the early 3D platformers, back then the second analog stick wasn't invented yet, so the developers resolved to fixed camera angles, basically you're playing thru a level and the camera is constantly changing angles, sometimes even mid-jump, which means you have to memorize all the camera angle changes in order not to die. The examples would be Rayman 2/3, Legacy of Kain: Defiance (that's why I think Soul Reaver 2 and Blood Omen 2 are still much better games), Sonic Adventure 1/2, etc.

And then I loaded Quake and was impressed with just how smooth and majestic the gameplay still is. The controls and camera are still pretty much perfect.

 

[Jazz_]

Final Fantasy VIII, loved to death back in the days on my ps1, I am pretty sure that replaying it now as an adult would reveal what a dirty lie my adolescence was.
But even the early Tomb Raider games, I have tried to replay them recently, and without the nostalgia goggles they don't really hold up well imo.

 

[Carrion]

Spear of Destiny was one of the first games I played, and finished it countless times (always with cheat codes, probably, since I had just got into this "computer game" thing). There's nothing in the game that urges me to go back to it. Doom alone outdid Wolf 3D and SoD in every single area, from the weapons to enemy variety and from the level design to the music. I've cleared out those repetitive, unimaginative mazes enough times to never enter them again. MEIN LEBEN!

Speaking of Tomb Raider, the games always had terrible controls, and the camera was even worse. I couldn't stand it at all. If anything, my appreciation for the series has grown over the years, as it did have some pretty neat things going for it after all. Back then I thought everyone was playing it just for the tits, but maybe that's just half of the truth.

 

[Pariah Dog]

MechWarrior 3/Pirate's Moon. It's unplayable on my desktop or my shitty little laptop. Even in software mode it's completely unplayable. Something about compatibility with newer display drivers and multicore CPUs or some shit.

 

[Deflowerer]

Anyone who "wrestles" with tank controls after a few minutes or so is retarded.

Top kek especially so in the case of Tomb Raider.

And it manages to capture the weightiness of such acrobatic feats without taking control away.

inb4 telling me it's not as smooth as Super Mario 64.

 

[Ezekiel]

I don't believe in the idea of games ageing. I'd rather people took responsibility for their bad tastes instead of blaming the times. Flaws don't appear with time. I don't know why someone can't judge a game on its own merits instead of comparing it to other, sometimes newer ones. Things improve, sure, but games are also being simplified in negative ways, like level design and platforming (which is often automated now), and many of them are now getting bogged down by upgrade systems, collectibles, crafting, ADS/OTS views, excessive cutscenes, forced walking, open worlds and more.

Speaking of Tomb Raider and old games, I started playing the first generation Tomb Raiders this year. Of those, I've only beaten Tomb Raider II, which I found okay. I also beat Resident Evil the remake for the first time last year and didn't mind the tank controls and fixed camera angles. On the other hand, I beat Max Payne 1 last year and found it mediocre. But I wouldn't have liked it even in 2001. It's the only one in the series I will never replay.

To answer the question, there are lots and lots of games I will never ever play again. Not necessarily because they're bad, but because I got my fill of them and life is too short.

 

[Severian Silk]

Any classic Final Fantasy. I can no longer tolerate ATB combat.

 

[felipepepe]

I'm ok with ATB combat, I'm just tired of how frequent the random battles are.

I briefly replayed Wizardry 1-5 last week and the encounters rates were so low I sometimes walked for minutes sometimes without a single battle, just enjoying the dungeon. Most JRPGs, on the other hand, have really boring dungeons made of backtracking long corridors and a random battle every 5 steps.

Going like 500% speed on emulators is really the only way I see myself ever replaying most old JRPGs.

 

[Pariah Dog]

really boring dungeons made of backtracking long corridors and a random battle every 5 steps.

AKA Phantasy Star 1 and 2. Encounter rate is too damn high and FUCK some of those PS2 dungeons.

 

[JDR13]

really boring dungeons made of backtracking long corridors and a random battle every 5 steps.

AKA Phantasy Star 1 and 2. Encounter rate is too damn high and FUCK some of those PS2 dungeons.

Yeah, I feel that way about most JRPGs. I still like Phantasy Star 1 though, and I'd play it even today.

 

[ore clover]

MechWarrior 3/Pirate's Moon. It's unplayable on my desktop or my shitty little laptop. Even in software mode it's completely unplayable. Something about compatibility with newer display drivers and multicore CPUs or some shit.

Me too. I haven't been able to get it to run decently in years.

Have you heard of the Mechwarrior Quadrology? Supposedly someone's set up custom installers for all four of the games, plus their expansions. Some chump on reddit insisted, less than a week ago, that it's even compatible with windows 10.

A while back I found downloads to the package from this site, but I haven't found the time to test it yet.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

^^The high encounter rates are to balance out the ease of running away, which often isn't very punishing in jrpgs. I must run away from half the battles on your average game and still often end up overleveled.

On topic, probably any older hard-as-balls platformer or action game, mostly because now I can tell when the supposed challenge is just bad design. Not too long ago I was watching a streamer go through the last stages/bosses in Ninja Gaiden 1 and that was some serious bullshit even with save states. I'd rather keep my good memories.

 

[Pariah Dog]

Have you heard of the Mechwarrior Quadrology? Supposedly someone's set up custom installers for all four of the games, plus their expansions. Some chump on reddit insisted, less than a week ago, that it's even compatible with windows 10.

A while back I found downloads to the package from this site, but I haven't found the time to test it yet.

Holy shit. Please let this work.

really boring dungeons made of backtracking long corridors and a random battle every 5 steps.

AKA Phantasy Star 1 and 2. Encounter rate is too damn high and FUCK some of those PS2 dungeons.

Yeah, I feel that way about most JRPGs. I still like Phantasy Star 1 though, and I'd play it even today.

I'm not really a fan of JRPGs but some were legit good enough in spite of the japgrind-mechanics to make my "would play again" list. PS1 and PS4 both qualify for that list. PS2 not so much, because some of those dungeons were PAINFUL.

 

[Ash]

I don't believe in the idea of games ageing. I'd rather people took responsibility for their bad tastes instead of blaming the times.

I only dislike the belief because it implies new games are better, generally speaking.

Anyone who "wrestles" with tank controls after a few minutes or so is retarded.

Top kek especially so in the case of Tomb Raider.

And it manages to capture the weightiness of such acrobatic feats without taking control away.

inb4 telling me it's not as smooth as Super Mario 64.

Tomb Raider (1995) may have inaccessible controls, but it's still a better platformer-puzzler than anything in the genre released in the past decade. They're really not that inaccessible anyways, as you say. Modern movement methods are better, but it's still perfectly functional.
One day, people of the future will look at us and say "how the fuck did those tools ever play games with their mouse & keyboard/controllers/joysticks/handhelds". It will be understandable assuming future methods are to be superior, but it doesn't mean what we have now isn't at least functional. Lara Croft is easy to control. It's a simple set of controls and indeed, she controls like a tank. It's not intuitive but still very basic and easy to learn. It's not like trying to play a shooter with a keyboard only, that actually is horrible.

As for me, and games I can no longer play? Mostly only story-heavy w/ shit gameplay or grind-heavy games. If a game's good it's good. If you can't play it anymore it probably wasn't good to begin with, or you just have shit taste. Old games are fucking great. Every time I load up a good old classic (which is often) it's so refreshing playing an actual game, without compromised, pandering design. Without tons of small print. Here's a game, it's designed to be fun, enjoy!

 

[Barnabas]

Oblivion, nes games, tony hawk, true crime streets of la, halo 2, fable 1

 

[hellbent]

probably any older hard-as-balls platformer or action game, mostly because now I can tell when the supposed challenge is just bad design.

Very true - Contra series, Double Dragon, SmashTV, and other 3rd person action/shooters were a blast to play back in the day, but painful to mess with now. Among RPGs, the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Evil Islands. Fun game, but you had to pretty much crawl around (literally, on hands and knees) through large swaths of the game. Just don't have time and patience to play that sort of a game anymore.

 

[Severian Silk]

As I was typing this I remembered there is a total conversion set in Vietnam, but requires the JA2 expansion.

There are quite a few total conversions, actually. I gave up on the Vietnam one because crawling through jungle is a PITA. You have to wind your way through all the plants, yet you can get shot at at the same time.

 

[Ivan]

, tony hawk

 

[Ivan]

, tony hawk

 

[buru5]

Every Final Fantasy game except 3, 5, and every Tactics game. PS1 era FFs are especially bad.

 

[J1M]

Uplink; Oni.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Oni.

This one?

Loved it back in the day since it was one of the few not shit 3D beat 'em ups for the PC. Tried playing it recently with all the new mods, but didn't get further than 3-4 missions, the difficulty is just too cheap.

 

[PulsatingBrain]

I have trouble going back to tank controls too. I find it much easier with a fixed camera though, like in Resident Evil.

I tried playing Body Harvest again about a year ago and couldn't bring myself to give a fuck about anything that was happening at all. I played for like 5 minutes. It used to be my GOAT. I wouldn't say I felt bad but it was certainly odd given that I can jump back to most things with ease

 

[Carrion]

Anyone who "wrestles" with tank controls after a few minutes or so is retarded.

Top kek especially so in the case of Tomb Raider.

And it manages to capture the weightiness of such acrobatic feats without taking control away.

Let's be serious for a moment: The player in the gif makes a simple turn and stops for five seconds in order to adjust Lara Croft and the camera so that she can complete a very straightforward set of jumps without jumping out of the frame to her death. It gets even better in combat where you'll spend most of your time shooting stuff you can't even see and have to rely on extreme aim assist to hit anything. Is it playable? Sure. Is it good? Hell no, and especially that horrid, sluggish camera is something I hope to never see again.

 

[Multidirectional]

tank controls of Silent Hill games.

It's only the first game that forces you to tank controls though. There's option for alternative controls since second part.