# Forked Thread: Old PC games you wish you could play again



## Man in the Funny Hat (Feb 12, 2009)

Forked from: Masters of Magic 

One game I'd really like to play Civ2 again because I don't like Civ3 or Civ4.  Another is Descent, the 3-D "There is no up" flying shooter.  I loved that one.  I'd add X-Com (in fact it would be at the top of my list) but that came available on Steam.  Woot!  I've also been thinking about Panzer General for some odd reason.  Odd, because I sucked at it and didn't play it much.


----------



## Merkuri (Feb 12, 2009)

Planescape: Torment.

I really really wanted to install this on my laptop (which I only use when I travel), thinking it would be a resource-lite game that I'd be able to play, only to find out it wasn't compatible with XP.

Oh, and check out this site for old games that have been updated to run on the latest computers and sold online for cheap.

GOG.com

They have Descent 1+2 for about $6.


----------



## Thanee (Feb 12, 2009)

Hmm... I actually tried to play the old gold box game Pool of Radiance again (since I'm DMing it as a PbP campaign), but it's really not bearable. I'm spoiled! 

Bye
Thanee


----------



## Sabathius42 (Feb 12, 2009)

Planscape works just fine in XP.  I don't even remember having to tweak anything to get it to install.

The graphics don't look so hot by todays standards, however.

DS


----------



## Merkuri (Feb 12, 2009)

Hmm, maybe I'll give it another try, then.  Part of my problem may be that I don't have a CD drive in the laptop (it's a tablet), though I seem to recall that it gave me a message basically saying that my operating system was too new.

I'm not concerned about the graphics.  The laptop doesn't have a spectacular graphics chip, which is why I'm always trying to put older games on it - especially games that are purely mouse-driven.  It's pretty entertaining to play Civ3 with a stylus.


----------



## Jasperak (Feb 13, 2009)

Thanee said:


> Hmm... I actually tried to play the old gold box game Pool of Radiance again (since I'm DMing it as a PbP campaign), but *it's really not bearable*. I'm spoiled!
> 
> Bye
> Thanee




What? 

I've been playing Pool of Radiance since my friend had a C64. I have Teledisk versions of Wizardry 1 and 5 that I play on both my XP machine and c. 1994 DOS laptop. EDIT: Both of these are the quintessential D&D games for the computer. I should also fire up some Might and Magic 2.

One of these years I will figure out if it is better to [TALK] or [ATTACK] Ohlo in the slums 

Check out my shades, they're black 

EDIT: I spent last night playing Master of Orion on my DOS desktop. When will I learn to not pick fights I cannot win.


----------



## Nebulous (Feb 13, 2009)

Definitely X-com!  It's a real shame that the sequels were never quite as good as the original.  Hell, not even games trying to BE like X-com could pull it off years later. 

I would like to play Icewind Dale 2 again, i loved that game to pieces. 

I never even got the chance to play Fallout 1 or 2, but i'm really liking Fallout 3 on my xbox.


----------



## Remus Lupin (Feb 14, 2009)

Another vote for Planescape:Torment. It blew me away when I played it a few years back.

I bought the old collection of TSR video games that came out a few years back. There were some real stinkers in that collection, and it was tough to get a lot of them to run in DOS. It made me glad for the progress computer game have made over the last decade or two.


----------



## Ranger REG (Feb 15, 2009)

_Arcanum._

Infocom's text-based adventure games.


----------



## Megaton (Feb 17, 2009)

I was just thinking about this topic this morning actually because I've been searching for a copy of TIE fighter for a while now and I've been unable to find one. I'm looking over ebay and amazon but I'm being real cheap about it and I don't want to shell out more than $10 for it. 

It's worth it, but it's so old that I'm thinking I shouldn't have to pay that much.


----------



## Mustrum_Ridcully (Feb 17, 2009)

Megaton said:


> I was just thinking about this topic this morning actually because I've been searching for a copy of TIE fighter for a while now and I've been unable to find one. I'm looking over ebay and amazon but I'm being real cheap about it and I don't want to shell out more than $10 for it.
> 
> It's worth it, but it's so old that I'm thinking I shouldn't have to pay that much.




Haha, I still have mine. But I won't give it away! 

But does it even work on Windows XP or Vista?


----------



## Angel Tarragon (Feb 19, 2009)

This is easy for me. Paperboy & The Oregon Trail (classic).

I'm still able to play MOO2 on my computer and I just installed it to run completely from my new Cruzer.


----------



## Felon (Feb 19, 2009)

Odd that this topic is confined to PC games, since they're the ones you're most likely to be able to play again even if they're pretty old. I still play MOO2 once in a while, for instance. Now, to play Road Rash again, or Shadowrun--that'd be something.


----------



## Keefe the Thief (Feb 19, 2009)

Jasperak said:


> What?
> 
> I've been playing Pool of Radiance since my friend had a C64. I have Teledisk versions of Wizardry 1 and 5 that I play on both my XP machine and c. 1994 DOS laptop. EDIT: Both of these are the quintessential D&D games for the computer. I should also fire up some Might and Magic 2.
> 
> ...




You talk to Ohlo, clear the Rope Guild (mind the Giants! Ooooh, TPK!), and then you attack him after delivering the potion... 
... which gets you one of the most powerful items in the game: Wand. Of. Magic. Missile!



God, i think i played it too often.


----------



## Graybeard (Feb 20, 2009)

Hm, interesting question. There are way too many choices. Off the top of my head, I would have to go with several Sierra classics like the Kings Quest series, the Laura Bow series, Freddy Pharkas, and many more. Also would like to have several Lucas Arts classics like the Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, Loom, Maniac Mansion, and several others. I remember playing those games for hours and hours.


----------



## Graybeard (Feb 20, 2009)

I'll have to check to see if I still have my copy of Civ 2.


----------



## Remus Lupin (Feb 20, 2009)

Graybeard said:


> Hm, interesting question. There are way too many choices. Off the top of my head, I would have to go with several Sierra classics like the Kings Quest series, the Laura Bow series, Freddy Pharkas, and many more. Also would like to have several Lucas Arts classics like the Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, Loom, Maniac Mansion, and several others. I remember playing those games for hours and hours.




I'll cast a vote for Kingsquest too. It satisfied my fantasy gaming jones for a while before I found Baldur's Gate.


----------



## Mercule (Feb 20, 2009)

Wizard's Crown.  I loved that game, though I never completed it.

Impossible Mission is another.

I'd love to see some old games updated with new graphics.  My C64 crashed before I finished Bard's Tale 2 or 3, but I just can't bear the graphics anymore.


----------



## Deepest Bluest Evil (Feb 22, 2009)

GTA2, King's Quest V, Original Sim City.


----------



## Merkuri (Feb 22, 2009)

Deepest Bluest Evil said:


> GTA2, King's Quest V, Original Sim City.




Rockstar is giving away GTA2 for free.

Rockstar Classics - Free Downloads

And you can play Sim City Classic (the original) online, but I think you need IE.

Classic Live - SimCity.com


----------



## Man in the Funny Hat (Feb 28, 2009)

Add Populous to my list.  Came up in unrelated conversation yesterday and now I really want to play it again.


----------



## Merkuri (Feb 28, 2009)

Man in the Funny Hat said:


> Add Populous to my list.




Apparently the original Populous has been re-made for the Nintendo DS:

IGN: Populous DS Preview


----------



## ssampier (Feb 28, 2009)

I had the cd for Simcity 2000, but I can't find it. I loved building things with unlimited money (cheat) and then knocking it down again.



Ranger REG said:


> _Arcanum._
> 
> Infocom's text-based adventure games.




Ah, but you can:

Zork I, II, and III for FREE download.


----------



## Desert Hare (Feb 28, 2009)

Alpo! *pop*

Lemmings!


----------



## Merkuri (Feb 28, 2009)

Desert Hare said:


> Lemmings!




Lemmings online!

But in my experience it starts to slow down if you have more than a certain amount of lemmings on the screen.


----------



## Desert Hare (Feb 28, 2009)

Merkuri said:


> Lemmings online!
> 
> But in my experience it starts to slow down if you have more than a certain amount of lemmings on the screen.




You have my eternal gratitude.


----------



## Mercutio01 (Feb 28, 2009)

Zork Nemesis.  Zork Grand Inquisitor.  Neither run on my Vista PC.  They did work on my old XP computer, though.  Return to Zork, which didn't run in XP either.


----------



## possum (Mar 1, 2009)

Tie Fighter/X-Wing, Jedi Knight II (if I had the original Dark Forces I'd add that), SimCity 2000, Civilization II.  Haven't tried Baldur's Gate series and Icewind Dale on my Vista comp yet.


----------



## vectner (Mar 2, 2009)

I've been wanting to play Freedom force lately. SP2 killed it, and they never patched it 

There is also an old Skyrealms of Jorune RPG, Alien Logic, that was a blast (of dysho) 

Edit: Freedom Force has patch 1.3 that fixes the SP2 problem. I have been paying it the past couple days. Great stuff!


----------



## Sabathius42 (Mar 2, 2009)

Baldur's Gate 2, as well as Tome of Blood and some community expansions all load fine on Vista.  Well, with a LITTLE wrangling.  Nothing ever works out of the gate.

I also got System Shock to work on my Vista laptop as well a couple months ago.

DS


----------



## Calico_Jack73 (Mar 5, 2009)

That's easy... I'd love to play Starflight again.  It captured the spirit of Star Trek better than any of the licensed games.  You started with a ship, selected & trained your crew, explored other planets, encountered other alien races.  I spent more time playing that game than any other since.  I think it also helped that there were consequences to failure.  You had to save your game whenever you logged out but you could NOT restore an old game.  The save just saved your "situation/position".  If you died then  you had to reformat the floppies and rebuild them from the master disks that came with the game.  It really made you consider the consequences of your actions.  You learned to NEVER land on a planet unless you got an acurate gravity or radiation reading.


----------



## Jasperak (Mar 5, 2009)

A lot of the games mentioned here can be found at this site.

abandonia

BTW, I am a new convert to Starflight.


----------



## SelcSilverhand (Mar 6, 2009)

Lots of good titles on this list so far, good memories.

I loved the old Quest for Glory series, especially number 4 with the voice overs. The company redid the first of the series with better graphics and I've seen a web site around where a group is redoing the graphics of the second one as well. Aha! Found it
For those who liked King's Quest, the group is also redoing a few of those titles it looks like.

I loved System Shock 2. Creeping down the hallways and listening to the mutants growls, cries, and confused mutterings were great. The audio logs were a nice touch too. At least Bioshock recaptured most of the enjoyment of those games. I wouldn't mind seeing a System Shock 3 some day...

Freespace 2. Space / flight games are rare these days. Most of them seem to revolve around WW2 games. I loved attacking a capital ship that was 50x larger than you, skimming close into the hull, then trying to outrun the shockwave when it blew. I dug out my discs for this recently but it would crash repeatedly on the last few missions.


Easily my favorite though was Dungeon Keeper 2. You played the bad guy,  ,the evil mastermind of your own little world. You designed your own dungeon by having you minions dig rooms and tunnels, then you attract creatures to act as guards or build traps and other goodies. Once you were ready you set out to rid the world of all the upright, goody two shoe creatures.
I <3 the Mistress.


----------



## Man in the Funny Hat (Mar 7, 2009)

I'm in the process of moving. Yesterday I produced a dusty but hardly used, nice Saitek Cyborg EVO joystick out of a storage cabinet.  Then one of the boys came up with a copy of Dungeon Master II of all things out of a box of a ton of worthless games.  I later ran it up in DOSBox and started playing.  Then I couldn't stand it anymore and bought a copy of Descent for that joystick.  Time has slowed to a crawl as I now wait to go zooming round those mines deciding which direction I want to be "up" when I enter the next room.


----------



## Graybeard (Mar 7, 2009)

Jasperak said:


> A lot of the games mentioned here can be found at this site.
> 
> abandonia
> 
> BTW, I am a new convert to Starflight.




Wow, lots of great titles on that site. I used to play F-19 Stealth Fighter years ago. Trying to fly into enemy territory and out again without being detected was fun. You had to rely on flying skill and try not to shoot at everything.


----------



## Psionicist (Mar 11, 2009)

By running windows 95 or 98 in a virtual machine (for example via VMWare, xen or QEMU) you can probably run all these games. 

Here's a screenshot of me running OpenBSD from my Windows 2000 box: http://psionicist.online.fr/dasvmware.gif (not the greatest screenshot ever, though it was the only one I had lying around).

Of course, instead of OpenBSD you'd install an old version of Windows.


----------



## DreadPirateMurphy (Mar 18, 2009)

I wish I could play the whole Baldur's Gate series again WITHOUT knowing the details of what was going to happen, and without being used to 21st century graphics.  That series has to be one of the longest computer RPG series with the same character ever -- the equivalent of Morrowind continuing straight through to Oblivion.  Sadly, my memory is very good, and I spent a LOT of time playing -- I still remember too many details about Candlekeep, Durlag's Tower, and, "Interesting, in a what the h*ll is wrong with you kind of way."

Planescape falls into this category, too, along with the original two Fallout games, and even Wasteland.

I've put Fallout 3 aside until all of the DLC is out, then I'm going through again from start to finish.  That will have to suit, since there doesn't appear to be a new D&D RPG on the computer coming out...  

P.S.:  The graphics of older games are jarring...I loaded up Age of Wonders II, which isn't that old, and for a second I thought something was wrong with my monitor, LOL.


----------



## Rl'Halsinor (Mar 21, 2009)

I would love to play Thief 1 and 2 again (made by the same excellent but sadly defunct Looking Glass Studios who brought us System Shock 2).  They were amazing in plot and character.  The Haunts could literally make a person jump out of their seat.

I know you can play them on XP but there is a a lot of tweaking involved.


----------



## Merkuri (Mar 21, 2009)

I played Thief II first back in college and absolutely loved it.  I went and bought the original Thief and just couldn't get into it.  I think the interface was driving me nuts.  I don't remember the specifics, but I think there was a lot of stuff you could do in Thief II but not in the original, and though I was trying to enjoy it and play it within the limitations it gave me I kept yearning for the interface of the sequel so it just didn't catch me the way the sequel did.  I'm convinced that if I had played the original Thief first I would've like it much better.

I keep meaning to pick up Thief III but I've got so many games for the Nintendo DS that I'm going through right now that I've been neglecting my PC games.


----------



## Man in the Funny Hat (Mar 21, 2009)

I got that copy of Descent but couldn't get my spiffy modern joystick to work with it properly.  It wants either CH gamestick pro (?) or whatever that other really popular one was or it basically sees it as just a dirt-simple x-y input joystick with one button.  You gotta have the hat switch to slide up/down/left/right in addition to roll/pitch/yaw or it's unplayable (imo).    Dug up an old copy of the original Roller Coaster Tycoon and instead have been playing that nonstop.


----------



## Grand_Director (Mar 21, 2009)

I would love to play Bandit Kings of Ancient China again.  I remember going over to my friends house and playing that game hot seat.  That and also Empire.  We used to have a three player game of Empire going while playing Axis and Allies on a table.  Good times.

Bandit Kings of Ancient China
Empire
Warlords
Lords of Conquest
Archon

These are the games I want to play again.


----------



## jeffh (Mar 31, 2009)

A list, which may not be complete, of "old" (let's say 2000 or earlier) computer games I've played in the last year or so. This is setting aside older console games, remakes thereof, and old arcade games played via MAME.

Master of Orion
Might and Magic 3, 4&5 (together), 6, 7 and 8; the latter three (particularly 7) have recently sprouted somewhat active modding communities, by the way
Icewind Dale, with some bugfix and convenience mods by others and some 3E-izing, rebalancing and general house-ruling modding done by yours truly
The original Bard's Tale; play the Amiga version in windowed mode via an emulator, the graphics are quite tolerable (the Amiga was amazing for its time!)
Still hoping to get to Realms of Arkania, Wizardry 6-8 and give Planescape:Torment another whirl sometime relatively soon, but grad student stuff and big involving computer games are not a good mix.

BTW, between DOSBox (and WinUAE in the case of The Bard's Tale) and fanmade patches I haven't had any major problems (i.e. problems that took more than 10 minutes to fix) running any of these on XP or Vista.


----------

