The first game that comes to mind for me is Civilizations 4. I've probably spent hundreds of hours playing but after getting used to 5 and 6 I have a really hard time going back. Going back and forth between 5 and 6 I need to rethink some strategies but with 4 I feel like I need to rethink everything. I don't know if it's because of the tech tree layout in combination with the civics system, things like unit stacking, or maybe just a bunch of little things but it takes me a while to readjust.
Morrowind. Every once in a while I reinstall it, but I can't get over the "it looks like an action game but it's a stats game" thing anymore. And I never liked Oblivion or Skyrim. But when I was a kid, Morrowind was so full of wonder and stuff to discover. I also wasn't playing with a guide, so discovering stuff like "You can enchant an item to have 1-100 strength, duration permanent. It picks the bonus when you put the item on, and it stays that until you take it off. So put it on and off until you get a big number. Much cheaper than trying to enchant it to +100 straight out" felt more personal.
Well, I'd say Morrowind is still decently playable today, esp. with OpenMW. Sure it shows its age, but I'd ratber play that than e.g. Oblivion.
For me it would probably be most old DOS era games like Dune 2, Ultima Underworld, Warcraft 1, Civilization 1, etc. All of them were great, but it's really difficult to get used to those old control schemes nowadays. Pixelated graphics wouldn't bother me, but those like 15 FPS at max is also hard to get over these days.
Other than that it would be some newer games that lacks a bit of convenience stuff. Like e.g. Diablo 1, where you can't run yet. Or some of the first 3D accelerated shooters that can't remap controls to WASD.
Having to rely on reading and retaining information in manuals is a big thing that keeps me away from a lot of DOS games
And don't even get me started on that damn copy protection level "what is 7th word on 16th line on page 23 in manual"!
Diablo 2 - I've played all classes, some in higher difficulties, again and again and it didn't get old for a very long time. Today I'm not enjoying these kind of games anymore but I'm not sure why. Are they so different or has my taste changed so much?
I've quite recently made run of D2 up to middle of Act V and rhen lost interest at all. It was a bit grindy, but the main problem was convenience factor. I was at the point when my summoning Druid started to lack behind and it is pretty much impossible to respec skills to fight that sort of bad decisions... When I was a teenager I'd just scratch it and start over with better build, but ain't nobody got time for that now!
Ragnarok Online. My favorite game ever and it’s all MTX now and will never be like the old days. I wish it was. They made RO classic and shut it down. There’s private servers, but they’re not very populated.
Hit me right in the nostalgia with this one. Used to played the heck out of it on SEA and my local country server. The game is super grindy for my taste now but I still feel nostalgic about the community and people there.
Toe Jam & Earl. As a kid, it seemed just endlessly creative, you could just explore & explore forever. And the shit humor - I was the exact right age where every joke was a banger. Although the game itself would be badly dated today, I bet the music holds up well, albeit in short bursts. I still get snippets stuck in my head.
Witcher 3. I don't enjoy "dark" "gritty" stuff the way that I used to. I'm way more effected by some of the more explicit themes than I used to be. When I played it it was my only solace in a rough period of my life. I'd rather protect my fond memories than play it again, as I doubt it will mean as much to me now as then.
I loved a lot of early Blizzard stuff and I have no desire to play any of them ever again. Warcraft 2, Starcraft, Diablo were all huge parts of my life and I have done nothing with any of those series since those games, let alone go back to those.
I was also a so into Smash Brothers that I was in the competitive scene and won some locals, but I haven't really felt the call of that series since Melee. Loved my time with the game and the scene though.
Fallout: New Vegas, specifically my Permadeath run. I still replay it, just not that same way.
Most games I played from the PS1/N64 era. It was a time period of figuring things out and that makes it rough to go back to, but some of those experiences were magic. There's still the rare game that I can enjoy to this day (Metal Gear Solid 1, Mario 64), but games like Syphon Filter are best left to my memories.
Persona 3. It was my first persona game, I loved the characters and the story and it introduced me to the VN medium. I played the port to switch which had quality of life changes, but I do not want to Tartarus again.
That's fair. I played through reload when it came out, but I couldn't get through the answer. I really enjoyed the story, but so much Tartarus without enough between it was like eating dry cinnamon.
LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online) for me. Fantastic community back in the day, and the game itself was fun, too. Now, though, the gameplay is just too restrictive and oftentimes tedious by today's standards. I really do miss the community, though. I made a lot of great memories there.
Pretty much all the games of my childhood. With a few exceptions, I don't replay most games I enjoyed. I play once, usually say "that was cool." And call it enough for a lifetime.
