Forum Overview :: Sigil
 
He must've seen the ram signal in the sky because he just started rambling. by Dream Cast 12/18/2018, 5:56pm PST
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:

1. Doom
2. Duke Nukem 3D
3. Blood
4. Half-Life
5. Rise of the Triad
6. Shadow Warrior
7. Descent
8. Wolfenstein 3D
9. Unreal
10. Dark Forces
11. Quake III: Arena
12. Quake
13. Quake II
14. ZPC
15. Sin
16. Strife
17. Redneck Rampage
18. Shogo
19. Hexen
20. Heretic
21. TekWar

In terms of fun I had, Duke Nukem 3D is probably first because a bunch of us bulletin board players got together constantly to play it. But in terms of single player, I think Doom is better than Duke. Duke has the single best "episode" (or whatever the term is for series of levels. It's episode, right?) But man, some of the alien spaceship stuff is a slog. I think the Jailbreak mod for Quake II was better than Counter-strike. A few 90s shooters I've never played, like Tribes and Goldeneye.


ICJ


For a lot of those I only had the shareware, and I didn't play Unreal, ZPC, Strife, Shogo, or TekWar at all (though the screenshots for TekWar always looked enticing, same with Witchaven).

I put way, way, WAY too many hours into Half-Life, Unreal Tournament, and Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear, to the point where I never want to see any of them again. If I need to play Counter-Strike I'll just get the new one. Hey, I should do that.

I remember being impressed by Bethesda's Terminator games (the true precursors to Fallout 3?), Outlaws (stylish LucasArts spaghetti western on the Dark Forces engine), Jedi Knight (so much verticality! and you could chop up peaceful aliens with your lightsabre), Delta Force (on the same voxel engine NovaLogic used for their tank and helo sims, so draw distance was insane), and Aliens vs. Predator (had all the real movie sounds, and the most advanced dynamic lighting... ever?).

I played Doom II for the first time in 2011, when it came to XBLA - that was fun, though hard to disentangle from the original Doom. The new bonus episode was great, lifting whatever engine limitations were left for some ridiculously huge battles. I'm sure you can get it for PC now.

I finished the full version of Duke Nukem 3D for the first time a couple of years ago. I turned the difficulty down to easy and took my time exploring the levels, as that was the only part I was really enjoying. Well, that and the cartoon monsters, and the MIDI metal music, and the irreverent attitude... I guess it was just the combat I wasn't crazy about. Or the nauseating way your view distorts when you look up and down, as Mischief Maker mentioned. I think I must've not pressed those keys when I played it in the '90s.

Randy Pitchford contributed a very byzantine level to the fourth (whaa? yeah they added one for the retail release) episode of Duke 3D, based on the then-recent Brian DePalma Mission: Impossible movie. That's the kind of thing I love finding in old computer games, because it's basically outsider art. The exit is behind a crude approximation of the doors from Get Smart, genius. The '90s really were the last time you could count on 100% of your playerbase having seen the exact same reruns. Some of the traps were bullshit, again easy mode saves the day, but never turn your back on Randy Pitchford or he will fuck you.

I haven't played Rise of the Triad in 20 years or more. That was fully 2D, right? I bet I'd enjoy it more now than I did back then.

Blood was one I only had the shareware. Night Dive just announced they've got the remaster rights, so I'll definitely snag the Xbox port when that comes out. I did have the full version of Blood II, the version that came on forty or so floppy-sized RARs, and the best thing I can say about it is they kept the same voice actor for Caleb. I think... no, I'm absolutely sure Caleb was the coolest FPS protagonist of all time. FEAR 2 felt very much like the game Blood II wanted to be, if it starred Caleb instead of some nobody they would've really had something with that one.

I didn't play GoldenEye, either. I played the XBLA port of Perfect Dark and hated every moment of it. Even in the year 2000 it would've been a waste of time, we had Counter-Strike and Deus Ex by then! Fantastically comprehensive leaderboards, covering every stage on every difficulty setting, all ranked by completion time. If the XBLA port of Doom had leaderboards like that I'd still be playing it. Instead, XBLA Doom has one leaderboard, and it's for something completely pointless like frags in deathmatch. Literally the bare minimum amount of leaderboard required to pass cert.

The original Quake is probably the second-best game on your list. More fun than Wolfenstein 3D, certainly. If I were set up for PC gaming, I'd play one of those new Quake episodes right now. MachineGames even made an official one! Instead, I'll just look at some more screenshots.

I can't fathom why nobody's rebooted Hexen. That always seemed like a great premise in need of a decent game. Same with Trespasser. Jurassic World made a billion dollars and still I can't shotgun raptors while peering over tits.
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Here is a video of Sigil by Ice Cream Jonsey 12/11/2018, 7:22am PST NEW
    I never had a 486 growing up. by Mischief Maker 12/11/2018, 5:54pm PST NEW
        Re: I never had a 486 growing up. by Ice Cream Jonsey 12/11/2018, 6:54pm PST NEW
        It's not the 2D graphics that make Doom great, it's the 2D gameplay. by Dream Cast 12/12/2018, 3:01am PST NEW
            Street Fighter vs. Virtua Fighter by Dream Cast 12/12/2018, 4:32am PST NEW
                Re: Street Fighter vs. Virtua Fighter by Entropy Stew 12/16/2018, 11:02am PST NEW
                    Sure! It applies to every competitive game, to one extent or another. by Dream Cast 12/16/2018, 1:13pm PST NEW
                        Re: Sure! It applies to every competitive game, to one extent or another. by Entropy Stew 12/16/2018, 9:24pm PST NEW
                            I think we've both been making too many assumptions about each other. by Dream Cast 12/17/2018, 2:59am PST NEW
                                Yeah, I was definitely generalizing by Entropy Stew 12/18/2018, 9:05pm PST NEW
                                    Oh, I forgot one by Entropy Stew 12/18/2018, 10:23pm PST NEW
                                        I'll defer to your expertise when it comes to Street Fighter. by Dream Cast 12/19/2018, 2:15am PST NEW
            An example of Doom exploiting its two-dimensionality: by Dream Cast 12/12/2018, 7:20am PST NEW
            Christ, those Quake screenshots look great. NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 12/12/2018, 11:36am PST NEW
                I bought the Sigil box by Ice Cream Jonsey 12/15/2018, 3:41pm PST NEW
                    Showed up! by Ice Cream Jonsey 05/28/2019, 6:10pm PDT NEW
            How can I make my Quake look like that? NT by Ichabod 12/15/2018, 7:15pm PST NEW
                I stole those screenshots from Quaddicted.com by Dream Cast 12/16/2018, 1:46am PST NEW
            I may come off as indignant in this post. I'm just really passionate about Doom. by Dream Cast 12/17/2018, 7:41am PST NEW
                How do you feel about others of that time? Blood, Heretic, Duke 3d? NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 12/17/2018, 1:22pm PST NEW
                    I like them! Not as much as Doom, but still. by Dream Cast 12/17/2018, 2:56pm PST NEW
                        Forever in its thrall by DooM Floppy #3 12/17/2018, 8:37pm PST NEW
                        I'll have my 90s shooter list for you soon. But yes, Doom was #1. by Ice Cream Jonsey 12/18/2018, 6:51am PST NEW
                            Re: I'll have my 90s shooter list for you soon. But yes, Doom was #1. by Ice Cream Jonsey 12/18/2018, 1:25pm PST NEW
                                He must've seen the ram signal in the sky because he just started rambling. by Dream Cast 12/18/2018, 5:56pm PST NEW
                                Is Magic Carpet a shooter? by Entropy Stew 12/18/2018, 10:33pm PST NEW
                                    Re: Is Magic Carpet a shooter? by Ice Cream Jonsey 12/19/2018, 5:13am PST NEW
                                        Re: Is Magic Carpet a shooter? by Roop 12/19/2018, 7:25am PST NEW
                                        I don't recall liking Hexen very much, either. by Dream Cast 12/21/2018, 4:04am PST NEW
                                            My memory of Hexen: "This is too dreary and ugly to be a wizard battle game." NT by Fullofkittens 12/21/2018, 6:45am PST NEW
                Is there any modern FPS with Doom’s gameplay? by Blackwater 12/19/2018, 12:46am PST NEW
                    There are some! by Ice Cream Jonsey 12/19/2018, 5:21am PST NEW
                        Cool. That is very Doomy. by blackwater 12/19/2018, 4:24pm PST NEW
                    Does Doom (2016) count? by Entropy Stew 12/20/2018, 6:25pm PST NEW
                        If nuDOOM counts, then so does Shadow Warrior 2, give that a looksee. NT by Mischief Maker 12/20/2018, 7:20pm PST NEW
                Re hitscan: THIS IS HOW YOU END UP WITH COVER SHOOTERS NT by Entropy Stew 12/20/2018, 6:16pm PST NEW
        I've been enjoying this thread so much I hate to clarify... by Mischief Maker 12/17/2018, 8:57pm PST NEW
    I like this video too. 25 years of Doom by Ichabod 12/11/2018, 8:54pm PST NEW
 
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