Starship Troopers : Kudos to Strangelite

Now is that because the games were harder, or because I was young and everything seemed amazing?

Depends on how old you are now. if you are like Buckies Age everything seems amazing nowadays..

Games were most definitely far more difficult on the brain back in the day. There were dead ends and traps built into games that could get you trapped in a spot where you simply could not win.

An example I recall: In one of the Zork games, you find an explosive. Later, you are confronted by a door with a gargoyle built into it that bites you everytime you try to open the door. Seeing as how random destruction is always an option, I fed the explosives to the door. The explosive blew up, and the door "hisses nastily at you". Now I'm out my explosives, which I will need for a later puzzle. If you don't save carefully, you will find yourself totally screwed with no option but to start over.

Your comment about waking up thinking you had dreamed the answer makes me think that you have played some of these games, because they really did do that to me too

I think most of those old text adventure games required at least one restart from scratch to beat. And beating them was a real accomplishment.

Anybody know the phrase, "I got the babel fish!" ?

Devs had to start dumbing games down when people like Xpendable started playing them and wouldn't tolerate difficult puzzles.

nice comeback there gramps

Originally posted by Xpendable@Nov 5 2005, 12:20 PM

Yeah i know what ya mean buck, but you know nowadays you can get the answer for a puzzle in a sec using Google or something.
Back then it was much harder to get info on a puzzle.

You could always use self-restraint and try to complete it the way it's meant to be played... (er... will I get sued for using nVidias slogan there?)

It's such a let down when I hear of people who have spent a maximum of 30mins on a part of a level, then retire to the internet to find tips, cheat codes, walkthroughs and trainer programs. I think it's a youth thing, I remember doing it myself, possibly also in the quest to achieve a 100% score, but ultimately I always found the 2nd half of the game nowhere near as fulfilling as parts where I didn't use any cheats or the like.

besides i liked it, when in a shooter you are palying with only 7 shells left in your shotgun, knowing there is something near and you dont know what it is.Yyou dont know if there is only 1 thing or many. But you get the feeling that the 7 shells aint gonna help you much... hrhrhr
Keeps me on the edge of my seat.
So why spoil that fun-factor with like an unlimited ammo cheat?
I am not saying I never cheat, but it depends on the type of game i am playing.
Like in a sim, i like to have lots of money so i can build build, and dont have to spend time in boring menu's

I supose they're good for a laugh in certain types of games once you've got bored with the normal gameplay... but only after you've played the game in it's original context.