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FlintlockJazz: I loved the old manuals we got. The Stories of Life on the Frontier contained a collection of short stories based around Frontier, Midwinter 2 had a storybook detailing how the world had gotten to the point it's at now, etc etc.

Man I missed those, now we get 'strategy guides' instead which is just a glorified name for a manual you have to pay extra for and often contains completely false information since they are often outsourced to some other company that hasn't even played the game (*cough* Prima *cough*). We are not just consumers, we are actual people, time to revolt people!
I remember midwinter 2 when i was a kid i looked complicated was it fun? I always wanted to play that game.
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hercufles: I remember midwinter 2 when i was a kid i looked complicated was it fun? I always wanted to play that game.
I think once you got the hang of the gameplay it was fine, just alot to learn at first. The biggest problem I had with it was the fact that you had to create a 'Campaign Disk' every time you wanted to run a campaign, and I never had blank floppies back then.

Once I did get a campaign going it was with working out which islands to attack that made it really hard, since you could spend hours or days trying to take over (liberate) one island, but you also had to make sure you took over the right islands in order to stop as much of the invasion as possible while on a time limit and so not knowing if you had time to take all the islands you need (there were also supply lines and supply islands to take into account from what I remember). It was fun just to do the one-off missions of liberating single islands though.

EDIT: Oh, forgot to add, stealing enemy vehicles was hilarious, you just had to get close and then you could 'jump' into it and take it over! Why fight when you can yoink!
Post edited April 06, 2011 by FlintlockJazz
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hercufles: I remember midwinter 2 when i was a kid i looked complicated was it fun? I always wanted to play that game.
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FlintlockJazz: I think once you got the hang of the gameplay it was fine, just alot to learn at first. The biggest problem I had with it was the fact that you had to create a 'Campaign Disk' every time you wanted to run a campaign, and I never had blank floppies back then.

Once I did get a campaign going it was with working out which islands to attack that made it really hard, since you could spend hours or days trying to take over (liberate) one island, but you also had to make sure you took over the right islands in order to stop as much of the invasion as possible while on a time limit and so not knowing if you had time to take all the islands you need (there were also supply lines and supply islands to take into account from what I remember). It was fun just to do the one-off missions of liberating single islands though.

EDIT: Oh, forgot to add, stealing enemy vehicles was hilarious, you just had to get close and then you could 'jump' into it and take it over! Why fight when you can yoink!
Sounds fun too bad i missed it that time, Correct me if im wrong but you had ways to transport right? On skiss ect.
For me its simple, I hunt down and play the old games to see if I can find anything unique and interesting.

Like art and music, a lot of cool stuff gets simply overlooked for something else, and I personally think its important to go back and explore the older titles.

(Especially since my dream is to become a video game designer/producer! Having a large and varied profile of games experienced allows one to get a better picture of what works and what doesn't!)
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hercufles: Sounds fun too bad i missed it that time, Correct me if im wrong but you had ways to transport right? On skiss ect.
Yep, in the first one you started off on skies and could get into new vehicles that were parked in buildings you visited if I recall correctly, there was only one island in that one (Midwinter) but you could control more than one character (though only one at time) and certain characters would only join you if used certain characters to recruit them.

In Midwinter 2 walk instead of ski as it's no longer all in ice and while you can only control one character you are some sort of special agent with persuasion skills you could assign different ranks in (raising one lowered another) which could be used to persuade people to give you aide with, and loads, and I do mean LOADS of vehicles you can get into by 'leaping' into in the gameworld, and range from subs, airplanes, tanks, etc to mantas (amphibious airplanes that can go underwater), hovercraft and trams. Yes, trams, you could only move along the tracks on them but you could nick one if you really wanted to... I think they may have gone overboard with the vehicle options...
yeah but it was a good idea its too bad there isnt much resambles of that kind of gameplay today.
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hercufles: yeah but it was a good idea its too bad there isnt much resambles of that kind of gameplay today.
Oh definitely, I do wish there were more games like it today (or rather, any games like it today). Sure, the vehicle stealing could get silly (you could leap into enemy vehicles, taking them out of the battle in a rather cheesy way), and the loading times were horrendous on my Atari (which came up everytime you stole a vehicle, so a good way to discourage people from using it I suppose, but also whenever you tried to look at your own character sheet) but it was jsut so ambitious for it's time I thought. Obviously I miss it. :(
My reason for retro gaming? Age

Explanation: I played these games when I was young and never forgot them and even now they are still good (not all of them, but some) and they are so cheap and most important of all, I can again immerse in the world of my childhood somehow.
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hercufles: yeah but it was a good idea its too bad there isnt much resambles of that kind of gameplay today.
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FlintlockJazz: Oh definitely, I do wish there were more games like it today (or rather, any games like it today). Sure, the vehicle stealing could get silly (you could leap into enemy vehicles, taking them out of the battle in a rather cheesy way), and the loading times were horrendous on my Atari (which came up everytime you stole a vehicle, so a good way to discourage people from using it I suppose, but also whenever you tried to look at your own character sheet) but it was jsut so ambitious for it's time I thought. Obviously I miss it. :(
most computers had problems loading that time commodore, amiga some games with too many disks but i have the feeling it was the game that that inspired somes games today to make something where you steal cars or open world idea
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hercufles: most computers had problems loading that time commodore, amiga some games with too many disks but i have the feeling it was the game that that inspired somes games today to make something where you steal cars or open world idea
Yeah, I must admit I was reminded of GTA while typing the last post, there are aspects of the game that have been done in others, I think it was the mix of different gameplay mechanics that I enjoyed with Midwinter 2. That and the premise behind the game, going to islands to liberate them.:D

Each island was separate from the rest and you couldn't jsut fly from one to another, but while on the island you were pretty much free to roam as you will.
Post edited April 06, 2011 by FlintlockJazz
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hercufles: most computers had problems loading that time commodore, amiga some games with too many disks but i have the feeling it was the game that that inspired somes games today to make something where you steal cars or open world idea
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FlintlockJazz: Yeah, I must admit I was reminded of GTA while typing the last post, there are aspects of the game that have been done in others, I think it was the mix of different gameplay mechanics that I enjoyed with Midwinter 2. That and the premise behind the game, going to islands to liberate them.:D

Each island was separate from the rest and you couldn't jsut fly from one to another, but while on the island you were pretty much free to roam as you will.
i think you will find that a lot if you play the retro version of a agme that you find things that later has been used in other games so i cant conclude one thing there is no such thing as a bad game i think there were bad games but had mechanics other companies used in other franchises that were populair.
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xa_chan: Simply because many of those old games put to shame newer games in terms of game design, game pleasure and overall experience. It's sad, but it's the truth.
This x1000.

However, still looking forward to Witcher 2, DNF and Rage.
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xa_chan: Simply because many of those old games put to shame newer games in terms of game design, game pleasure and overall experience. It's sad, but it's the truth.
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Fuzzyfireball: This x1000.

However, still looking forward to Witcher 2, DNF and Rage.
true hahahah time for a pc upgrade hope my pc will handle it :)
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xa_chan: Simply because many of those old games put to shame newer games in terms of game design, game pleasure and overall experience. It's sad, but it's the truth.
That's pretty much it for me too, really. Things like game design seem to have calcified as budgets have raced skywards to the point where most every AAA title feels like its the same formula polished down to a nub.

That said, retro games aren't really 'retro' to me - I spent a sizable chunk of my youth playing them, and sites like GOG just mean I can recover my long-lost collection... plus all the other games I coveted in my youth and never got a chance to play. :-)
There's no deep reason for it. Sometimes it's just nostalgia, but most of the time, it's because those games really were - and still are - that good.