Analyzing the Nostalgia Effect

[Teran]

Well I'm not saying it has anything to do with the way the game looks. I still play my PS1 from time to time I have no issue with silly low rez texture. I mean that litterally, I just cannot play those games. Or any N64 game for that matter. For me, its like there is something fundamentally wrong with the N64 controller that prevents me from enjoying any game I play with it. For instance, I didn't grow to appreciate the Banjo games until I played the 360 port and I didn't really care for OoT until I played it on a Game Cube.

That's just you being a noobcake.

 

[finalark]

That's just you being a noobcake.

No. I will now proceed to tell you why the N64 controller is the worst thing ever. Jesus tap-dancing Christ that control stick exists to be as stiff and uncomfortable as possible. And why would you ever make a controller with three grips? Seriously. One of those grips goes completely unused and just exists to make sure that there's always something constantly rubbing against the side of your hand making using that controller uncomfortable as **** when using the control stick is already as uncomfortable as ****.

I didn't grow up with an N64 so its practically the worst thing ever to me.

 

[Teran]

No. I will now proceed to tell you why the N64 controller is the worst thing ever. Jesus tap-dancing Christ that control stick exists to be as stiff and uncomfortable as possible. And why would you ever make a controller with three grips? Seriously. One of those grips goes completely unused and just exists to make sure that there's always something constantly rubbing against the side of your hand making using that controller uncomfortable as **** when using the control stick is already as uncomfortable as ****.

I didn't grow up with an N64 so its practically the worst thing ever to me.

The control stick is quite decent imo, and in terms of its range and responsiveness it far surpasses the PS1's for sure. In fact, Dualshock analog is just atrocious imo, truly ****ing terrible. PS3 did improve on it though at least.

Now see the point was that D Pad and Control stick were not used together, so depending on your game you chose which input to use for motion. 2D and wrestling games used the pad, 3D games used the stick. It worked well, the N64's curvature was actually ergonomic, as most Nintendo controllers are.

The N64 controller was very functional for its time, and was definitely a joy to use imo.

Nothing tops the GC controllers comfort though, although in terms of overall ratio of functionality and ergonomics, I'm probably gonna go with the ECKS BAWKS.

Also I used to play a **** ton of PS so don't say "oh it's cause you never played it", in fact I played and loved a lot of PS games, but imo its analog solution was inferior, plus its ergonomics felt a little off, but in terms of everything else it's a great controller.

 

[Holder of the Heel]

The N64 controller was very functional for its time, and was definitely a joy to use imo.

Dude, you didn't get blisters all over your hands?! I paid for my Nintendo passion with pain, lots of pain haha.


But yeah I get what you're saying about the Pokemon games, it really just depends on what you want and what you are looking for. Definitely feel you on the novelty of simplicity, and just letting the character be its... well, character. I'd say that when games have a lot of ambition and bad guys who are more than one dimension (I'm bad and greedy RAWRRRR) I prefer it, but then again, games like The Legend of Zelda, that basically has almost nothing but character, has this beauty to it.

 

[Falconv1.0]

You know, I kinda wonder what games we'll have nostalgia boners for in the future, things that are more from the current console generation or maybe second to latest gen as well. I have this feeling Twilight Princess is going to be remembered as one of the greatest things ever 5-10 years from now.

I'm not ok with that.

 

[Teran]

Man that will be a complete travesty.

 

[BSP]

It's probably the first exposure to Zelda for some gamers.

Same thing will happen for Pokemon, Sonic, Mario...heck, everything.

 

[F8AL]

No. I will now proceed to tell you why the N64 controller is the worst thing ever. Jesus tap-dancing Christ that control stick exists to be as stiff and uncomfortable as possible. And why would you ever make a controller with three grips? Seriously. One of those grips goes completely unused and just exists to make sure that there's always something constantly rubbing against the side of your hand making using that controller uncomfortable as **** when using the control stick is already as uncomfortable as ****.

I didn't grow up with an N64 so its practically the worst thing ever to me.

Here we go again...

I completely disagree with you here ark, I found the N64 controller to be comfortable to use and it was perfect for shooters during that generation back then. (i.e. Turok 2, Goldeneye 006 and Perfect Dark 64 to name a few.)

The yellow d-pad buttons on the left side of the controller were also helpful/useful for speed running several of the Goldeneye 007 missions for the cheats.

And I also played the Mario Party games back then and never got any blisters.

The control stick is quite decent imo, and in terms of its range and responsiveness it far surpasses the PS1's for sure. In fact, Dualshock analog is just atrocious imo, truly ****ing terrible. PS3 did improve on it though at least.

Now see the point was that D Pad and Control stick were not used together, so depending on your game you chose which input to use for motion. 2D and wrestling games used the pad, 3D games used the stick. It worked well, the N64's curvature was actually ergonomic, as most Nintendo controllers are.

The N64 controller was very functional for its time, and was definitely a joy to use imo.

Nothing tops the GC controllers comfort though, although in terms of overall ratio of functionality and ergonomics, I'm probably gonna go with the ECKS BAWKS.

Also I used to play a **** ton of PS so don't say "oh it's cause you never played it", in fact I played and loved a lot of PS games, but imo its analog solution was inferior, plus its ergonomics felt a little off, but in terms of everything else it's a great controller.

I completely agree with Teran here.

 

[Holder of the Heel]

And I also played the Mario Party games back then and never got any blisters.

Hate you.

 

[finalark]

You know, I kinda wonder what games we'll have nostalgia boners for in the future, things that are more from the current console generation or maybe second to latest gen as well. I have this feeling Twilight Princess is going to be remembered as one of the greatest things ever 5-10 years from now.

I'm not ok with that.

Kids from this gen will. IDK why everyone seems to have some elaborate reason to hate TP. Nintendo hyped it up beyond measure and everyone is just butt hurt it wasn't the game they wanted. Suck it up.

On the off hand, what games are mostly remembered is completely up to whatever games the PS360 kids say are remembered. When they take over the internet eventually they'll get to call the shots on what games are considered classics. And they'll be just as nostalgia blind as the rest of us.

 

[Falconv1.0]

Kids from this gen will. IDK why everyone seems to have some elaborate reason to hate TP. Nintendo hyped it up beyond measure and everyone is just butt hurt it wasn't the game they wanted. Suck it up.

I wasn't hyped up for it at all. I played it years after it came out. That game is just not good. Takes forever to get started really which is hilarious because the game is easy as ****, that end battle with Ganon was a goddamn insult. Oh man, stand back and wait for a QTE, holy **** how exciting.

No, totally, I'm just a raving Zelda fanboy idiot who got hyped up, even though I didn't even kinda grow up with Zelda, nor have I ever been a big fan.

**** about it.

 

[Dre89]

I didn't like TP, but I don't see how a person who has never played a Zelda before would prefer OoT over TP. The only thing OoT has over it apart from nostalgia is maybe difficulty, but it's not particularly hard either.

 

[Falconv1.0]

It doesn't take a million years to get your sword in that game.

Just saying.

/I don't really like OoT either but I haven't played it in years so my view isn't 100% reliable.

 

[Dre89]

Yeah I'm not really big on OoT either. I prefer the toon Zeldas, but apparently you're not a true Zelda fan if you prefer the toon series. Pokemon is my favourite franchise anyway so it doesn't really matter.

Teran is right though about RBY having better atmosphere because of the realism. You were just an 11 year-old who wanted to be the best, now it's degenerated into the generic save-the-world from a maniacal villain causing impending doom.

The problem with pokemon is that the difficulty is virtually non-existant once you understand the mechanics. I've had to resort to nuzlockes now, otherwise I end up just soloing the game with a single pokemon, as it's pretty much always more efficient than trying to raise a balanced team of six.

Although there are the cups on Stadium which propose more of a challenge due to the absence of level-grinding.

 

[Teran]

Pokémon Stadium was awesome. For me it was the definitive challenge outside of human competition. The computer used smart (or cheap) strategies, along with good Pokémon and there was no level disparity to help you out.

I'm the only one in my irl circle to have completed it ha

 

[Dre89]

I started doing R2 and am up to the ultra ball final in the Prime Cup, but I haven't got around to finishing it. It's hard to get motivated because I'm just using the standard amnesia psychic substitute recover mewtwo, but I just candied it straight after catching it so its stats are poor (compared to its max potential) so even if I beat Ultra Ball I probably won't beat Master Ball unless I stat farm the E4 like 30 times.

What did you use for the R2 cups?

Stadium is awesome (the Dodrio Tower is a great idea), the only problem is that stadium mechanics suck compared to the cartridge ones. At least focus energy works properly on it though.

 

[finalark]

Oh hey, Pokemon Stadium. One of the few N64 games I can say I really appreciate.

I really want a Stadium 3 for gen 5. Terran pretty much hit the nail on the head as of why the Stadium games were good.

 

[Luco]

It's interesting that I was talking to a friend about that very issue after playing gen 4. He was saying how we was never in to pokemon as much "...because... isn't it kind of cruel? You capture the pokemon and it just does whatever you say. It's pretty much abuse.". He didn't use those exact words but that was the gist of it. Anyway I played gen five and finally realised what pokemon was trying to get at with that. It answered a lot of questions for me and that's why I respect gen 5 nearly as much as gen 1. the reason I prefer gen 1 is because pokemon did for me what a LttP did for my brother: it's one of my earliest memories and introduced me to gaming.

And I have to agree with teran here. I LOVE the N64 controllers. that's probs cause I grew up with it though. I'm one of the few who goes to tournaments and loves using the N64 controller for smash 64. Just like i'm pretty much the only person in my area that goes to tournaments and uses a Wii + nunchuk controller. I'm just the type of guy to be able to take ANY type of controller and learn to use it well, heck I even learnt to use the wii-mote by itself for a while after my nunchuk broke for brawl. Anyway, I think that probably comes FROM using the N64 controller as a child.

 

[Teran]

I started doing R2 and am up to the ultra ball final in the Prime Cup, but I haven't got around to finishing it. It's hard to get motivated because I'm just using the standard amnesia psychic substitute recover mewtwo, but I just candied it straight after catching it so its stats are poor (compared to its max potential) so even if I beat Ultra Ball I probably won't beat Master Ball unless I stat farm the E4 like 30 times.

What did you use for the R2 cups?

Stadium is awesome (the Dodrio Tower is a great idea), the only problem is that stadium mechanics suck compared to the cartridge ones. At least focus energy works properly on it though.

For Prime Cup I just Mewtwo swept it originally, but I did do a second go around without Mewtwo for the fun factor.

Prime Cup is the only easy cup in the game, it's the Pika, Petit, and Poké Cups that are hard to win.

 

[DarkSouls]

Can old games be awesome? Certainly. My favorite game ever is from 2002, which, while not that old, is still ancient by today's standards. However, it's nice to look to the future instead of just looking back. Otherwise, we get crap like Megaman 9, Ocarina of Time 3DS, and Halo CE Anniversary Edition, where game companies just give up and release something that they know will sell because it's what you played as a kid.

Yes, there are some worse things about the newest generation of games, but there are also some better things, and to reject it all is to do yourself a disservice. :-)

 

[finalark]

Oh look a bot.

 

[Teran]

It's okay he's advertising Dark Souls.

 

[DarkSouls]

Oh look a bot.

Yeah, sure, whatever. I just had Dark Souls on the brain. A fanboy isn't much different from a bot, I guess.

For another example, look at Bastion. Try to program Bastion with SNES sound processors. Can you make it work? No. Perhaps the most recognizable feature of the game, the hilarious and well-voiced narration over gameplay, would be missing.

Again, some games today can do things that they couldn't do in the past. Increasing technology does have some problems (Like overuse of the Unreal engine and increasing budgets), but it also has some benefits.

 

[Lythium]

To be fair, the SNES had really excellent sound for what it was and its time.

 

[Teran]

It's funny how pretty much all the most iconic game themes and melodies came from the 8/16-bit era.

Makes you wonder doesn't it?

Last iconic game theme to surface was Halo, and that was over 10 years ago!

 

[Luco]

To be fair, the SNES had really excellent sound for what it was and its time.

I agree with this 100%. I find some of the most melodic and generally best songs are from SNES games. Like this one that is so darn catchy:

FFV - Johnny C. Bad: The Colosseum

 

[Ridley_Prime]

Yeah I'm not really big on OoT either. I prefer the toon Zeldas, but apparently you're not a true Zelda fan if you prefer the toon series. Pokemon is my favourite franchise anyway so it doesn't really matter.

Teran is right though about RBY having better atmosphere because of the realism. You were just an 11 year-old who wanted to be the best, now it's degenerated into the generic save-the-world from a maniacal villain causing impending doom.

The problem with pokemon is that the difficulty is virtually non-existant once you understand the mechanics. I've had to resort to nuzlockes now, otherwise I end up just soloing the game with a single pokemon, as it's pretty much always more efficient than trying to raise a balanced team of six.

Although there are the cups on Stadium which propose more of a challenge due to the absence of level-grinding.

Don't forget the gym leader castle and the round 2 of the Stadium games. Those were some of the best tests of skill for the generations both Stadium 1 and 2 were released in, especially if you only had rentals to go by which forced you to really improvise and everything. I've been doing that on Stadium 2 every now and then at this place I go to that has a break room with a bunch of old and current games, and man does it make me wish I still knew where I had my Crystal version or something like that with the transfer pack. lol But I made it to round 2 at least and am somewhere halfway through it with rentals only on the 2nd Stadium, so yeah.

IMO, you've never truly faced the gym leaders or the elite 4 of the first 2 gens until you've played round 2 of the gym leader castle, where you don't get an easy win on them simply due to having a higher level creature.

Pokémon Stadium was awesome. For me it was the definitive challenge outside of human competition. The computer used smart (or cheap) strategies, along with good Pokémon and there was no level disparity to help you out.

I'm the only one in my irl circle to have completed it ha

As am I. That goes for both the Stadiums. Only difference with the cups in Stadium 2 is there's the challenge cup instead of petit cup, which I prefer the former. It's the ultimate test of improvisation, not to mention the ultimate test of patience if you decide to quit and restart the cup until the game randomly gives you a half-decent enough team, which you need on round 2 as you'll get by with nothing subtle when it comes to R2 Ultra Ball. Man...

Back to Pokemon in general, just want to point out that I've given all the generations a fair shot. Gen 1, while the most nostalgic, wasn't actually my favorite. It was gen 2 for different reasons. Gen 3 I was probably the most competitive in, and felt the most alone in in a sense, because I thought I was the only one who liked Cipher/Colosseum until I entered this thread. Now gen 4 I eventually became turned off by with overly cheap things like Stealth Rock, that overhyped Pokegod, Pokemon Battle Revolution (ugh), etc. Not to say gen 4 didn't have anything good about it. It certainly did, but the bad just kinda outweighed the good for me after awhile. Gen 5 has got me back into the swing of things though longer than gen 4 ever did, not to mention the Pokemon themselves of gen 5 and their designs, I probably haven't been so in love with since the poke's of generation 2.


Regarding the earlier mention of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, I hate that The World Is Not Enough doesn't seem to get the kind of recognition as an N64 game as they do. I guess because Perfect Dark overshadowed it toward the end of the N64 era due to the timing of their releases or something, but meh.

As for in-game cheats like in Goldeneye, they're still in games today. They're just.. harder to come across in this online-heavy generation, which is understandable. And I like DLC that's done right, but often it's given a bad name by companies like Capcom and the like with the day 1 disc-locked content bullcrap.

Other than that, I don't think I have too much else to add on to what was already talked about earlier, except that nostalgia's a disease that one must not completely succumb to. It's enjoyable to have in small doses, but have too much and you can become one of those people who hates everything of today, or anything that's new in general. I hate those kind of people, lol. Wish I had some things to say about Zelda and other stuff that hasn't already been said, but I don't.

 

[Dre89]

I haven't done the Gym Leader's Castle in R2 yet, but in R1 it was easier than most of the cups due to the fact that you can use Mewtwo.

Why does Battle Revolution get so much hate? I never played it so I don't know.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

Oh yeah. When ya got Mewtwo I know gym leader castle's easy enough on either round in both Stadiums (unless the opponent has Mirror Coat), but I mostly meant as far as without ubers and mainly just rentals can they be a challenge, especially like Lance on R2, or Red. And I hate that the rental Mew and Celebi you unlock when you beat R1 can only be used in the Prime Cup.

As for Battle Revolution I don't even know where to begin.

 

[finalark]

It's funny how pretty much all the most iconic game themes and melodies came from the 8/16-bit era.

Makes you wonder doesn't it?

Last iconic game theme to surface was Halo, and that was over 10 years ago!

There was actually a video I watched a while back talking about why that is. The general idea was that because composers had less to work with so they had to make use of strong melodies to make the music work.

On the offhand, I think the God of War theme is pretty good example as a relatively recent melody driven main theme. Even then, that theme is from game from last gen. These days music is more to create atmosphere rather than to be memorable.

 

[Teran]

Don't forget the gym leader castle and the round 2 of the Stadium games. Those were some of the best tests of skill for the generations both Stadium 1 and 2 were released in, especially if you only had rentals to go by which forced you to really improvise and everything. I've been doing that on Stadium 2 every now and then at this place I go to that has a break room with a bunch of old and current games, and man does it make me wish I still knew where I had my Crystal version or something like that with the transfer pack. lol But I made it to round 2 at least and am somewhere halfway through it with rentals only on the 2nd Stadium, so yeah.

IMO, you've never truly faced the gym leaders or the elite 4 of the first 2 gens until you've played round 2 of the gym leader castle, where you don't get an easy win on them simply due to having a higher level creature.


As am I. That goes for both the Stadiums. Only difference with the cups in Stadium 2 is there's the challenge cup instead of petit cup, which I prefer the former. It's the ultimate test of improvisation, not to mention the ultimate test of patience if you decide to quit and restart the cup until the game randomly gives you a half-decent enough team, which you need on round 2 as you'll get by with nothing subtle when it comes to R2 Ultra Ball. Man...

Back to Pokemon in general, just want to point out that I've given all the generations a fair shot. Gen 1, while the most nostalgic, wasn't actually my favorite. It was gen 2 for different reasons. Gen 3 I was probably the most competitive in, and felt the most alone in in a sense, because I thought I was the only one who liked Cipher/Colosseum until I entered this thread. Now gen 4 I eventually became turned off by with overly cheap things like Stealth Rock, that overhyped Pokegod, Pokemon Battle Revolution (ugh), etc. Not to say gen 4 didn't have anything good about it. It certainly did, but the bad just kinda outweighed the good for me after awhile. Gen 5 has got me back into the swing of things though longer than gen 4 ever did, not to mention the Pokemon themselves of gen 5 and their designs, I probably haven't been so in love with since the poke's of generation 2.


Regarding the earlier mention of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, I hate that The World Is Not Enough doesn't seem to get the kind of recognition as an N64 game as they do. I guess because Perfect Dark overshadowed it toward the end of the N64 era due to the timing of their releases or something, but meh.

As for in-game cheats like in Goldeneye, they're still in games today. They're just.. harder to come across in this online-heavy generation, which is understandable. And I like DLC that's done right, but often it's given a bad name by companies like Capcom and the like with the day 1 disc-locked content bullcrap.

Other than that, I don't think I have too much else to add on to what was already talked about earlier, except that nostalgia's a disease that one must not completely succumb to. It's enjoyable to have in small doses, but have too much and you can become one of those people who hates everything of today, or anything that's new in general. I hate those kind of people, lol. Wish I had some things to say about Zelda and other stuff that hasn't already been said, but I don't.

Holy **** TWINE!

Yeah that was so much better than Goldeneye not gonna lie.

"DONNN SHOOT! DON SHOOOT"

*Bang*

Mission failed

Worth it every time.

There was actually a video I watched a while back talking about why that is. The general idea was that because composers had less to work with so they had to make use of strong melodies to make the music work.

On the offhand, I think the God of War theme is pretty good example as a relatively recent melody driven main theme. Even then, that theme is from game from last gen. These days music is more to create atmosphere rather than to be memorable.

Most compositions in videogames (and music tbh) are based on melody, the composers are just pretty lazy and decide that "orchestra = epic" so they don't put much work into the music. Most tracks have a melody, just a forgettable one.

Let's talk about Fable, I mean I suppose if more people actually played that game the music would be iconic. It used orchestral samples, and it has a really memorable theme. It's a grand theme, and it actually tells a story within itself. Then again it's a Danny Elfman piece so that could explain it.

Still, composers having more to work with should mean they can augment their pieces. In Majora's Mask for example, non melodic pieces were used atmospherically, and although they aren't memorable in the easy listening sense, they do fit perfectly and when you remember the temple associated with it, the piece will loop in your head. Most modern games fail to do both.

These are just bull**** excuses for developer laziness and lack of appreciation for the importance of music and sound design in videogames. Seriously, if you look at the underlying theory behind pieces that play in different locations in older games, you see the level of thought the developers and sound designers put into the piece. They based the skeleton of the piece around the desired atmosphere and character of the place, so they could augment it. Now it's literally just "no music oh **** time for some electric guitars or an orchestra cause that's bad*** and epic!"

**** outta here.

 

[Luco]

Other than that, I don't think I have too much else to add on to what was already talked about earlier, except that nostalgia's a disease that one must not completely succumb to. It's enjoyable to have in small doses, but have too much and you can become one of those people who hates everything of today, or anything that's new in general. I hate those kind of people, lol. Wish I had some things to say about Zelda and other stuff that hasn't already been said, but I don't.

Well, I don't think it's a disease but I agree with you that it's best in small doses and it's nice when you're still going in to today's games with an open mind. Spec Ops: The Line, for instance, is extremely notable because of it's downright powerful messages. SMG was notable because it introduced a new gravity-based system of play (man, sometimes you could run and jump.... and keep on jumping... for ages.... around the one platform. :D ). other games are still very notable, so I do keep an open mind when going in to games. I'm going through my first playthrough of Kingdom Hearts atm in fact, it's pretty fun. ^^

And Teran/finalark, I understand EXACTLY what you mean. It's annoying to me that we don't get enough melodic tracks (one part where Nintendo usually beats out it's rivals because it focuses on a good soundtrack for every game it produces) in many modern games because of atmosphere. True that atmospheric music sets the scene but hey, so did Ivor Tower in Secret of Evermore, so did the original super mario bros. theme (and many of its sequels), so did, like, every track out of Terranigma (man I love that game sooooo much), so did the super boss theme of Chrono Trigger, so did the smash bros. tracks, so did Pokemon, even Halo's main theme did.

*sigh* I might be biased here but most of my all time favourite game tracks are SNES tunes. They're stunning in their own way and the wonders the composers did with 16-bit music.... Sugoi.

 

[finalark]

Well, I don't think it's a disease but I agree with you that it's best in small doses and it's nice when you're still going in to today's games with an open mind. Spec Ops: The Line, for instance, is extremely notable because of it's downright powerful messages. SMG was notable because it introduced a new gravity-based system of play (man, sometimes you could run and jump.... and keep on jumping... for ages.... around the one platform. :D ). other games are still very notable, so I do keep an open mind when going in to games. I'm going through my first playthrough of Kingdom Hearts atm in fact, it's pretty fun. ^^

I see nostalgia like alcohol. Its fun in moderation but have too much you turn into an aggressive dumb **** that nobody wants to be around.

There was a point in my life when I desperately tried to play many N64 games that everyone claimed were better than sliced bread. I found most of them aged like dirt and were boardline unplayable at worst and simply average at best. Afterwards I came to realize that without nostalgia the same goes for many PlayStation 1 games I grew up with. I came to the decision that if in ten years or so some kid trying old PS1 games I love told me they aged like **** the kid's probably right.

And Teran/finalark, I understand EXACTLY what you mean. It's annoying to me that we don't get enough melodic tracks (one part where Nintendo usually beats out it's rivals because it focuses on a good soundtrack for every game it produces) in many modern games because of atmosphere. True that atmospheric music sets the scene but hey, so did Ivor Tower in Secret of Evermore, so did the original super mario bros. theme (and many of its sequels), so did, like, every track out of Terranigma (man I love that game sooooo much), so did the super boss theme of Chrono Trigger, so did the smash bros. tracks, so did Pokemon, even Halo's main theme did.

*sigh* I might be biased here but most of my all time favourite game tracks are SNES tunes. They're stunning in their own way and the wonders the composers did with 16-bit music.... Sugoi.

I think this piece of music is really overlooked:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhaq4JP_t6o

BTW, The ES5 theme is a sped up version of that melody.

EDIT: brb reinstalling Morrowind

 

[DarkSouls]

Morrowind is awesome. So much better than Oblivion (Although I do like some elements of Skyrim better).

Last iconic game theme to surface was Halo, and that was over 10 years ago!

Really? I like these ones quite a bit.

Metroid Prime (2002)
Portal (2007)
Team Fortress 2 (2007)
Uncharted (2007)

Oh and, what the hell, I'll toss Kingdom Hearts (2002) in there, since it came out after Halo. I might not be a huge fan of the games, but the music is nice.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

There was actually a video I watched a while back talking about why that is. The general idea was that because composers had less to work with so they had to make use of strong melodies to make the music work.

On the offhand, I think the God of War theme is pretty good example as a relatively recent melody driven main theme. Even then, that theme is from game from last gen. These days music is more to create atmosphere rather than to be memorable.

Yeah, not that I have much a problem with it though, since I can be a big atmosphere person, which makes me enjoy the music that much more, but it depends.

Holy **** TWINE!

Yeah that was so much better than Goldeneye not gonna lie.

"DONNN SHOOT! DON SHOOOT"

*Bang*

Mission failed

Worth it every time.

lol I liked failing the mission too at times because of things like that, but hated that you would automatically get taken back to the main menu if you failed the most important objectives. Overall though, I feel TWINE gets little credit when really it did quite a bit of things better than Goldeneye. The use of Bond's watch for one, which had many different functions in TWINE. Although it was commonly hated, I think my favorite level in the game might've been that stealth mission where you were out at night and you couldn't kill anyone, unless it was while unarmed or putting them to sleep with darts.

Some modes of the multiplayer was also done much better than Goldeneye's (one of the first shooting games I played with AI bots in multiplayer), like that man with the golden gun thing.

I understand that Goldeneye revolutionized and changed shooters forever, but I agree with whoever said nostalgia's in full effect whenever someone claims it's still the best.

Well, I don't think it's a disease but I agree with you that it's best in small doses and it's nice when you're still going in to today's games with an open mind. Spec Ops: The Line, for instance, is extremely notable because of it's downright powerful messages. SMG was notable because it introduced a new gravity-based system of play (man, sometimes you could run and jump.... and keep on jumping... for ages.... around the one platform. :D ). other games are still very notable, so I do keep an open mind when going in to games. I'm going through my first playthrough of Kingdom Hearts atm in fact, it's pretty fun. ^^

I guess disease wasn't the best choice of words. What finalark said about it being like alcohol sounds more accurate.

And I definitely agree with you on SMG. The gravity system is part of why it's still one of my favorite Wii games to this day. The 2nd SMG was alright, but it mostly piggybacked off of what the first one did aside from the inclusion of Yoshi.

I see nostalgia like alcohol. Its fun in moderation but have too much you turn into an aggressive dumb **** that nobody wants to be around.

There was a point in my life when I desperately tried to play many N64 games that everyone claimed were better than sliced bread. I found most of them aged like dirt and were boardline unplayable at worst and simply average at best. Afterwards I came to realize that without nostalgia the same goes for many PlayStation 1 games I grew up with. I came to the decision that if in ten years or so some kid trying old PS1 games I love told me they aged like **** the kid's probably right.

That pretty much sums it up, sadly. Some old games can be ageless though like Super Metroid (keyword being can), but those are usually far in between.

So aside from Pokemon, what kind of fan do you guys hate the most when you notice they're affected by nostalgia bias? I certainly hate it when someone says the first two or three Mortal Kombats are still the best ones, even with the latest one out that's the most competitive and everything.

There's also the flipside though where some of the Brawl people call out others as nostalgia-driven ***s if they like Melee or the N64 Smash better, which I hate as well. I'm one of the people who still likes Melee the best, but it's not merely because of nostalgia. I simply found the faster paced gameplay and some of the characters, event matches, etc. more enjoyable, but the Melee vs Brawl debates never end well. I suspect it'll be worse when some people still like Melee the best after SSB4 comes out, but no doubt there will be some nostalgia bias there, no matter how bad or good SSB4 turns out to be in certain areas.

Really? I like these ones quite a bit.

Metroid Prime (2002)
Portal (2007)
Team Fortress 2 (2007)
Uncharted (2007)

Oh and, what the hell, I'll toss Kingdom Hearts (2002) in there, since it came out after Halo. I might not be a huge fan of the games, but the music is nice.

Yeah, I know Prime for instance definitely has iconic themes, even if most of them are remixed from Super Metroid or something, but the main menu theme's one of the original ones that certainly stands out.

Haven't played enough TF2 yet to really recognize its themes.

 

[Dre89]

OoT fanboys are the worst I've seen.

Pokemon gen1ers aren't as bad because the RBY pokemon are better than a lot of the BW pokemon, but BW is still an objectively superior game in every other way, unless you prefer RBY's battle mechanics for some reason.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

OoT can at least be justified for its praise though, unlike some most popular games in other series.

True.

 

[finalark]

Morrowind is awesome. So much better than Oblivion (Although I do like some elements of Skyrim better).

Actually, IMO Elder Scrolls is a series that gets better and better as it goes on. Morrowind aged like ****. Honestly, I wouldn't even bother with it if it wasn't the game the pulled me out of the muck and mire of JRPGs and into the muck and mire of WRPGs.

Honestly, when it comes to Elder Scrolls each time a new one comes out Bethesda fixes and improves so many things that the flaws of the previous titles become more apparent than ever.

So aside from Pokemon, what kind of fan do you guys hate the most when you notice they're affected by nostalgia bias? I certainly hate it when someone says the first two or three Mortal Kombats are still the best ones, even with the latest one out that's the most competitive and everything.

Lots. People who claim that Goldeneye aged well, people who think FF7 is the zenith of JRPGs, people who say that Morrowind is better than Skyrim, people who think Sonic Adventure 1 wasn't a glitchy broken mess... the list goes on for miles.

When you get down to it, pretty much what games are considered "classic" is basically chosen by whichever age group rules the interwebs. Soon the generation that grew up with DC/GC/PS2/Xbox will have to choose (although it seems they already have, I've certainly chosen my childhood classics from that generation) and eventually the generation of kids growing up with WiiS360 will have to choose to.

Oh, people who say the Yu Gi Oh TCG was better in gen 1, people who think 2nd Edition DnD is actually good, people who claim mythics are broken in MTG....

Pokemon gen1ers aren't as bad because the RBY pokemon are better than a lot of the BW pokemon, but BW is still an objectively superior game in every other way, unless you prefer RBY's battle mechanics for some reason.

I disagree. Most of the complaints towards gen 5 mons easily applies to gen 1. Actually, I think a lot of gen 1 mons look pretty stupid its just that we're so used to seeing them and have good memories associated with them. I believe in the idea that if gen 1 and gen 5 were reversed people would love gen 5 mons and hate gen 1.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

No argument there, though I'm pretty sure if Mewtwo and his movies and stuff came out in gen 5, he would still come off as badass as he did in gen 1. I'll go out on a limb here and even say that he would be getting all the support Zoroark does now and more if he were a gen 5.

 

[finalark]

No argument there, though I'm pretty sure if Mewtwo and his movies and stuff came out in gen 5, he would still come off as badass as he did in gen 1. I'll go out on a limb here and even say that he would be getting all the support Zoroark does now and more if he were a gen 5.

Even if that was the case, they would always be that "its not gen 1 so it obviously sucks" crowd.