On Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:58:03 -0700 "H. S. Teoh" <hst...@quickfur.ath.cx> wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 07:35:27PM +0200, Paulo Pinto wrote: > > > > This is what makes me happy while travelling on the bus and train: > > > > https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larvalabs.gurk > [...] > > Yeah!!! I recently played Gurk II (which according to reviews is even > better than the original Gurk), and totally loved it!! It was so > nostalgic that it inspired me to fire up my trusty old dosbox and > relive the good ole ultima 4&5 days. :-) > > Granted, I *did* discover to my dismay that the pixel graphics and > tinny sounds of the *original* ultima 4&5 are a lot worse than how my > memory recalls they were (the pain was somewhat relieved upon > installing the graphics upgrade patch) -- but man, the gameplay was > excellent. The NPC dialogues were obviously trivial, monster AI was > trivially predictable, and there are tons of loopholes that you can > exploit -- but the important thing was, it was FUN. I could totally > immerse myself in the virtual world and forget about the pixels and > loopholes. I'm afraid I can't say the same for most modern games > with their fancy 3D graphics, CD-quality sound, superior AI, etc.. > The fun factor is just missing, even though all the superficial > elements -- graphics, sounds, AIs, storylines -- are all far more > developed. > > Gurk II captures some of the fun gameplay of the original (pre-7) > ultimas, and proves that a modern game without 3D graphics and a > multimillion budget *can* be fun (and, judging from the reviews, it's > selling pretty well too). > This all reminds me, if you have an NDS, or access to one, you may want to try "Retro Game Challenge". Actually, I highly recommend it. (Disclaimer: That's the English version of it. When I played it no English version had been announced, and it looked far too awesome to be something likely to get localized, so I went through the Japanese version, "Game Center CX: Arino's Challenge". So I don't know what differences there may be). It takes you chronologically through the 1980's with a series of brand new 8-bit-style games, all extremely authentic, culminating with an 8-bit-style JRPG. Absolutely fantastic game. I only wish there had been a non-portable version so I could play it on a nice big TV...and that I knew more Japanese so I could actually tell what the hell anyone was saying ;)