10 Years of Early Windows Gaming 1999 - Episode 4

[@vazzeg]

I was writing an e-mail with your video playing in the background and when the Heroes 3 section came up and my subconscious heard the music through writing the e-mail, I instantly shivered. THAT'S the power of an amazing game.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

That is the power of an amazing game! I get that with the main menu tune from Mordor Depths of Dejenol. A game nearly noone ever heard of. But it's such a memorable little hidden gem.

[@vazzeg]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames I haven't heard of it either so I'm going to look it up. Thank you!

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

@@vazzeg I've covered it in one of the episodes of 10 Years of Early Windows Gaming for 1995. A bit thoroughly actually. It's a brilliant little game that is as playable today as it was back then.

[@vazzeg]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames I found your separate video on it and watched it. Highly interesting game, especially for the time it was released in.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

@@vazzeg Yes, and it's infinitely replayable. You can have hundreds of characters in the same shared World, so find even your fallen former ones when travelling the dungeons with new ones. It's huge content-wise, even if it doesn't look like it.

[@truenetgmx]

It was a good year - Alpha Centaur, Heroes 3, Thief I play to this day - well, exacly - I'm plaing AC today :)

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

It was :) I have all AC short of the latest one. Is it any good? My fave - which is also a very unpopular opinion - is the AC Odyssey.

[@truenetgmx]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames Well, actually AC = Alpha Centauri in my comment :D But on the subject of Assassins Creed my opinion will be even more unpopular - Unity was the best. -best traversal, best graphics, assasinations with story paths, crowds. Ofcourse picked it up years after buggy release (as most of my games - pay less for better versions). I finished all untill Odyssey - plaing it on and off - will finish someday. It is good for me in short burst because gameplay loop is good, but prefer more story dense AC

[@Krisaart]

IIRC Q3 didn't introduced the rocket jumping. It was a kind of a bug in Q1, and ID decided to leave it. First copy HoMM3 that I had was bought on Stadion Xlecia. This version crashed when beholders attacked. Whenever.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

So... That means you played custom maps only and with no Dungeon cities? ;)

[@RobLoach]

These compilations are great! Thanks for putting them together.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Oh, you're welcome and thank you! These comments make my day! :)

[@ProfMarkQ]

I remember getting Alpha Centauri in 1999 because of my father being a big Civilization fan! I was only ten when it came out, and I remember desperately attempting to play it and getting absolutely no where, in fact, I hated the damn game as a kid! Little did I know I had the single greatest Sci-Fi Strategy game ever made! After refusing to play it until I enter my Freshman year of high-school in 2004, I ended up falling absolutely in love with that game. It's a darn travesty that we can't get another true Alpha Centauri game, maybe the Civ Seven ruleset allows for a new game or better mechanics than the remake that came out.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Yeah, I was always surprised AC never made it big. But I suppose my assumption of it not being based on history was at fault here. That said, if it was, we'd not get a sci-fi game, but another Civ...

[@TheVanillatech]

Yeah Alpha had a steep learning curve but its up there with Civ 2 Advanced for me. Great game.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

@@TheVanillatech True true :)

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

1:06 it was impossible to win against bots in Q3. Contrary to Unreal Tournament bots they had eyes on their backs and immediately knew you're bulehond them. You could never ambush them. Also they knew whete the pickups were the moment they spawned.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Reminds me of Mortal Kombat 2 and CPU blocking your specials or avoiding them before you even finish pulling them off. xD

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames the bots in the original Unreal (not Tournament) multiplayer had back vision, too.

[@Toon_Pirate]

The lore on your boss' wife continues to expand. I will update the Janosik-wiki, or the OldAndNewWiki, as the kids call it.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Ha ha ha :) She is something special, no doubt about that. xD

[@stangable413]

Nothing compared to Heroes 3. That game was lightning in a bottle. Ramparts all day!

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

There's a very fun free modern expansion pack/mod for it, makes it even better.

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

4:16 You make it sound like 3DO were the devs that reverted back to the old formula. It was another studio. 3DO went bankrupt after HoMM4 and closed down, as far as I remember.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Yeah, it was Nival, or something along those lines that did. But still, HOMM5 was like HOMM3 but in 3D.

[@doctorbutters]

Thanks for Looterkings!

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Enjoy! :)

[@nick9323]

Today when I'm old it's only Quake 1 and new maps, but there are promising q3 mode Blood Run. Heroes 3 still great via VCMI. Never play Requiem, but saw it being played by pagb666 - kinda hitscan hell. Thief still being moded with original Gold engine and new maps and campaigns

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Thief is really getting new content? That's actually hella cool!

[@nick9323]

yeah, Thief: The Black Parade

[@Zontar82]

9:45 you forgot the most byblical of those powers; the one that turns people into salt

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

:)

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

Uh, no. Rocket jumps were known long before that, at least in Quake 2.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

I never played others in multi. My bad. xD

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames Rocket jumps were known in single player as well. That's why Quake speedrunning was a thing. It is possibile to skip a huge chunk of it. If I remember correctly, by Rocket jumping onto a very high placed walkway.

[@TheVanillatech]

John Romero was rocket jumping in Quake 1 world championships back in 1997.

[@MamesGames]

@@OldAndNewVideoGamesrocket jumping was possible in the original Quake (1996), where the concept was first discovered. Then later Quake games made it a feature.

[@BradPrichard]

I thought that start was very catchy!

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Thanks!

[@twankistevenson3884]

While it not being a horror game itself the influence Thief had on the FPS horror gengre can't be understated

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

I never thought of it before, but you may be right here. :)

[@lucius1976]

21:50 Alpha Centauri . Fond memories. Missed one important feature. It was full of philosophical phrases that i never saw before or after. Example: "As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master." Commissioner Pravin Lal, "U.N. Declaration of Rights"

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Holy moly! That's kinda relevant today. I mean, not just to US, but in general all around the World. xD

[@TeaAndFloppyDisks]

Very nice video! :) You weren't joking about the games being big hits. Ah, Quake 3 Arena was in our high school IT lab computers. And they were all connected in one LAN and my colleagues and I would often play it when the teacher was away. So much fragging fun! :D I too saw those floor tiles a lot, like you did. :) I do remember that Heroes 3 was everyone's favourite. It doesn't look familiar to me though, I'm pretty sure I played 1 or 2 as a kid. And 1 recently. :) Very fun games. If Need For Speed had been High Steaks instead of Stakes... I often say that at work, if the stakeholders were to turn into steakholders, they'd be happier people. :D Ooh, pinb... wait. There's no pinball. Ooh, motorcycle racing! I want to try that one out for sure. Funny story, when I was little, I was channel surfing on the TV one day and landed on MotoGP. And I was for some reason hooked. XD For a few years here and there anyway. Weird. I can't say I like flashy fireworks in shooter games, like Expendable. It's done a lot today too and it seems like too much frill to me. Am I the only one to be not be too crazy about it?

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Thank you! :) That said, I'm really fired up about the next (DOS) video, and I hope that all of you will like it too. We'll see. Were the tiles clean there too? Steaks... You just gotta love them! :) Motorcycles you say? What about in real life? Can't say if you're alone in not caring for fireworks, flashes and explosions in video games by choice, but I can tell you who don't care for them for medical reason... xD

[@TeaAndFloppyDisks]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames I can't wait for the next one then :) And, knowing you, I won't have to wait long. The tiles were reasonably clean. Except for the bits of my character after it's been blown up. :P Are you a steakholder too? :D I've never even touched a motorcycle in my life, nor will I ever use one, I think. I have trouble riding a bike, let alone a motorised one in traffic. Too dangerous for me. The car is safer, easier to control too. :) I feel for the people who have photosensitivity... Flashing lights are unpleasant enough as it is.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

@@TeaAndFloppyDisks I'm more of a steakeater. Not the same thing. I mean, both care for the stakes, but some eat them, while other hold them awkwardly staring silently at the camera. xD

[@TeaAndFloppyDisks]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames XD Oh, man, good one! I thought it was good to be a steakholder, but you've proved me wrong.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

@@TeaAndFloppyDisks Steakfrier and steakgriller have some fun too. Not as much, but more than a holder. ;)

[@pixelpiet4211]

I bought Quake 3 on day one. Here in Germany the game came out in 2000. I still have the game in the CiB. It was on the index 6 months later and you couldn't buy it anymore, like almost all games that had gore. Quake 3 will be removed from the index in 2025. Fun Fact: Need for Speed High Stakes is called Need for Speed: Brennender Asphalt in Germany. Translated into English: burning blacktop. Is the translation asphalt=blacktop correct?

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Quake 3 was good times, whether I sucked at it or not. Also, asphalt is just asphalt, so needs no translation really. :)

[@nicholsliwilson]

Quake III Arena was huge in it’s day & stuck around for quite a while but it’s not really my thing. Playing a game in single player helps me feel I’m getting somewhere with a game, playing against friends is fun in it’s own way but playing against strangers online just annoys me. 😄 Seriously though my biggest problem with arena shooters is, people expect me to care when they kill me, or I kill them for that matter but it just doesn’t do anything for me. I don’t know Requiem: Avenging Angel? I was probably put off back in the day by it’s religious overtones? Looks like a super early version of Agony in places, I hope it’s less disappointing? Decent3 rocks, even though it’s more of an iterative sequel. It shows off the capabilities of graphics hardware of the time, especially with the lighting. It may not be groundbreaking but if you enjoyed the first 2 games you’ll enjoy this one. Need for Speed: High Stakes kind of feels like an expansion pack but it’s so much fun I don’t care! I didn’t play Thief: Gold because I’d already completed Thief. Could you still move faster by hopping everywhere like in the original? 😄 Expendable! Let’s gooooooo! It’s a great game, end of story but it’s a great one for benchmarking retro hardware & 1 of the few games that can show off my Matrox G400 MAX & it’s EMBM (Bump Mapping) tech. My G400MAX is in storage at the moment because I like to have 2 of any rare/technologically significant parts I’m actually going to use, just in case & I only have 1. Shame because I’d like to have it in a permanent build to show it off. I have an AGP Matrox Parhelia in storage for the same reason, The best way to show that off is the demos that came with it, although showing it off running triple monitors is fun too. Soul Reaver is on my Pentium III/Voodoo3 3500 PC right now, although my ex & me played through it originally on Play Station & we loved it to bits. In fact we’ve plaid the entire series & we’re both fans to this day. Some crackers here? That was a hell of a list, Thanks. Sorry I waffled a bit about my rare(ish) Matrox cards. Why didn’t you star with “Pew pe-pew pew kapow, boom!”? You could make that your catchphrase? 😄

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Oh, I agree. I too prefer single player experiences to get the feeling of progress and accomplishment. But multiplayer games, I play for pure fun of having to share the experience. Unless it's a MMO, which I've not played for years... Those I played to be the best and cause the most damage. xD Descent 3 is definitely a fun one if someone like the previous too, as it's more of the same but better. You know Expendable is one of those games that you can just run when you're bored, and even if you're not gonna play for long just killing time or thinking what to play next, you'll always have fun. Some games are hit and miss, this one's a double hit. ;) I remember reading about a Matrox card in a gaming mag and wondering what was this whole bump & mapping thing, and how it worked... I could make "pew pew" my catchphrase or it could resurfaced from time to time. It fitted there as the first game was Q3Arena. :)

[@pju28]

I found by checking up my old PC games library the game „Need for Speed Porsche“. Do you have this game? - as always a great video you did! Greetings from Austria 🇦🇹

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Yep, I had Porsche too. It was a very special entry in the series, as it was the only one focusing not only on one brand, but also all models through its time. It was fun.

[@roguerifter9724]

Requiem Avenging Angel the ultimate proof that even Heaven know Shotguns are awesome. Triple Barrel Pump Action. need I say more? I like the Descent games (I re-read the novel trilogy and play the games some every year or two) but I think 3 waiting a little longer might have helped it. As someone who regularly win Civilization games by sending a colonization mission to Alpha Centauri after that Victory condition was added in II I loved the idea of getting to play out my missions as a game. While I'll always have a massive soft spot for Heroes of Might and Magic II due to it being the first game where I completed a campagin in the subseries I prefer III though I'm not certain if III or IV is my favorite. Honestly if they had stuck to making the Forge faction to III in the first expansion IV wouldn't even be in contention. I always wanted more of the scifi elements of the Might and Magic setting in the heroes games they announced an expansion for III which was going to do that, I was overjoyed, and then people who didn't know the franchise lore started whining about scifi in their fantasy game (allegedly including death threats), and the developers caved. Edit: And I just discovered the reach Alpha Centauri victory condition was apparently in Civilization I. I knew there was a tech victory but for some reason I always thought it representing you sending a ship to Alpha Centauri came later.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Alpha Centauri is/was fantastic. The unit building mechanics is just the best and I wish one of the Civ games would incorporate it too. I mean within the reason, we don't want the tanks shooting arrows after all. Or do we? ;) Come to think of it, you're right. HOMM has no Sci-Fi in it, while M&M, you could say, was mainly Sci-Fi, just set in the fantasy realm/times.

[@roguerifter9724]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames I thought I had replied to this already but yeah. And they are both in the same universe, the same planet in some cases, so there was no reason IMO for Heroes to ignore the scifi elements. They could have included small groups of highly powerful robots as hostile or recruitable creatures, had recovered ancient technology as very powerful artifacts, maybe even had some maps or missions focused on trying to control ancient ruins which contain the above.

[@janneaalto3956]

I liked the ideas in Heroes IV more than those in Heroes III, but I have to admit that with all the combination artifacts, spells and monster and skill affinities, the latter had more rewarding gameplay. I always wanted to like Heroes IV more and felt it was in many other ways the peak of the series. Heroes V and on never had the same OneMoreTurn-effect, and despite not having multiplayer, King's Bounty: The Legend and King's Bounty: Armored Princess felt more like sequels to the series than the actual sequels. Likewise, Alpha Centauri feels like the definite peak of the Civilization series, the following games never again reaching the same kind of rewarding complexity.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Oh, I loved the ideas in Heroes IV, and I enjoy it as a game too, it just never managed to grab other gamers by heart (or the b4lls for that matter either), and everyone just preferred tried and tested H3 formula.

[@MrYossarianuk]

I still nave Alpha Centauri native Linux original on a CD somewhere ..

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

It's as good of a game today as it was back then. Also, probably one of the first few Linux games. I mean, not overall, but big buck triple-A releases that got the version too.

[@arkgaharandan5881]

is there some way to use mouse to look around in soul reaver? All options available by the way including emulators.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Nope, only with a gamepad, if you want it to be a little more comfortable.

[@CelentAle]

Quale 3 Amazing, on my AmigaOS4 on motherboard SAM440 740mhz GPU Radeon 60Fps 👍

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

:)

[@BurstingVeins1]

I was ranked in the top 100 players in Quake 3 Arena until the global ranking site shut down, but I always hated Quake 3 Arena because it's trash compared Unreal Tournament. Quake 2 deathmatch was also better, and I always held a grudge against Quake 3 because there was no single player campaign.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

I get that. I do play many of those modern online shooters, but only their campaigns. I suck too much to be able to enjoy myself in multiplayer. xD

[@lorigulfnoldor2162]

I too cannot love Heroes 3 graphical style as much as I liked 1 or even 2 for example! This pre-rendered stuff, it's just not my cup of tea. I get it that there are some people who like it, it was the style of Donkey Kong on SNES and many other games, but for me it does not come close to beating hand-drawn animation in the style of colorful 2-d animations of old! Besides, it did not age well, because real-time 3d rendering overcame it on a sharp turn anyway. I like both "Kingdom Bounty: Legend" style AND HoMM 1 style more than HoMM3.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Yep, it just aged terribly. And there's a reason why we get so many pixel indies, and so few pre-rendered ones today. Fortunately though, HOMM3 defends itself with gameplay, so the presentation shortcomings can be overlooked.

[@Xero15]

You can hear Heroes III music in South Park. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKW5qKajedOcY8ksi=v1flTqnHgluOImPS

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Oh my... :)

[@gumdeo]

Quake 3 Arena 👍 Alpha Centauri ❤

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

:) :)

[@nickgovier]

Quake 3 was faster than earlier entries, and introduced rocket jumping? I guess you never played the original Quake.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Not in multiplayer.

[@TheVanillatech]

CPMA was fast. VQ3 was all about the inertia.

[@arkgaharandan5881]

arena shooters are not popular, unreal tournament is removed from epic store and the server are shut down for fortnite.