Hit me over the head with a hammer...

[Tom Salter]

I'm sat here looking at my copy of Ocarina of Time, with just one thought going through my head.

"How can I bring myself to play this, when I can remember everything that happens?"

I just want it all to be new again. I want to enter the Water Temple, and think "What the funk do I do here...?".

I want to put in Ridge Racer 4 and be wowed at the graphics, and sublime handling.

I want to get that Escudo Pike Peaks version and **** myself at the insane speed of it.

And I want to erase the whole plot of FF7 from my memory so that it can surprise and please me as much as it did back in the day.

Some people can play these games over and over again, but I keep them in a safe place, in the hope that one day I'll forget all about everything that happens in them, so I can appreciate them as much as I did first time around.

So please, someone go get that hammer, and erase my memory...

Anyone else feel like this?

[Adam Stone]

Mr B, i feel exactly the same. It is quite horrid really isn't it? Before i got the OOT Bonus disk i was highly looking forward to re-playing one of my fav games of all time, however, now that i have it.... i just cant seem to find the right frame of mind to play it as i know exactly what is going to happen and the special feeling that was once, isn't there.

Mr B, but do u find that you can re-play games recently after you have completed them even though u know what is going to happen? While that 'freshness' is still there? Cause I can. Strange that really?. I have already completed Wind Waker almost 3 times, Prime almost 2 to name a couple? but i really really enjoyed completing them again

For me, i think it all must come down to deep down I know that re-playing the 'older classics' now that special feeling will be completely gone and I would rather keep those wonderful memories fresh, how they once were, not how they would appear now?

I hope i have answered or replied to ur Q correctly... sorry if not. heh

Take care buddy

Kind regards
Adam

[chevkoch]

Electric_Boogaloo, you are right. It is a mourning process. When all is known, the mystery, which draws us into the games we cherish, is gone.

What we are left with on the other hand, and let's not underrate these, are memories of the good times we had while experiencing it for the first time. I'm no exception; also would love to go back and be awed like then.

I recall One for PS1, when you, the hero, wake up in that room in the opening FMV, muttering the words offscreen, "I made a mistake". It's been a couple of years now that I played thru it. I think I could begin it again, some things I have forgotten for sure and all will come back to me while being at it once more - I'd call that more than worth my time, even though I don't have just unwrapped the packaging foil.

So I believe with seasons passing the chance of me appreciating a game I give another go is rising.

[womblingfree]

I think the only games I completed twicw were....er....

Battlezone on the PC about three years later.

Metal Gear Solid about four years later...no wait I didn't bother completing it again fully.

Resi remake.

?

I think that's it. of course games with insane replay value like Rez or Goldeneye can be played indefinately but story led games? Forget it.

Move on, there's plenty more good stuff out there which is fresh and new.

[Tom Salter]

Yes Adam, that's exactly what I was looking for

About playing them again, just because the 'freshness' is still there, I don't think I can. I yearn for more, not more of the same, if that makes sense. For example, MGS2, I only finished that once. I knew the plot, I knew what was going to happen, and I just want to erase it from my mind so that I can go in with the same feeling of anticipation that I had before playing it.

I've recently started playing Metroid Prime, so I'll comment on that as I get further. With having less time at the moment though, it's becoming increasingly hard toget into it. But I'm sure it will grab me, pretty soon

About the Bonus disk, that's exactly what I was getting at. How can I play this masterpiece with the original still so fresh in my mind? I want to feel the wonder of getting to Hyrule Field like I did on my first go. It's all so unfair

[Zeelich]

I'm playing through Metroid Prime the fitfth time now. I can't explain why, it just feels right. Everything fits. Truly a piece of art.

[Adam Stone]

As I started to say in my previous post, for me personally, it is more to do with the freshness of the title. I completed OOT 3 times and adored it every moment. Some of my best memories and gaming moments come from re-playing games as i usually spot things i hadn't a clue were there the first time.

Obviously nothing matches experiencing a game for the 1st time, but re-playing has a special feeling of its own... while the 'freshness' is still there though. I couldn't go back and complete it now and enjoy it as much or witness that special 're-play feeling' as it just wouldn't be as special. Yet, the memories I have of those times are very special indeed and I wouldn?t ask to change that?. very strange.

Yet... to contradict what i have just said above, there are a few 'old classics' that i can re-play way way after my first play. Super Mario World is one of them. Even today, it still has that special feeling. I think it is because it uses game play ideas that haven't been expanded upon in the 3d world and also a graphical style that hasn't got cheap textures, triangle models or square blocks to point out and criticize. Whereas, in today?s standards, OOT looks old and the game play ideas have been borrowed and even some times improved upon? does that make sense?

I am not just singling out SMW and OOT, just using them as prime examples.

Hm... it is very worrying really. Even though i absolutely adore Metroid Prime and hold it very highly indeed (currently re-playing on Hard and loving it) will i be able to go back and complete it after i beat Metroid Prime 2? Will it be one of those games that loses it 'freshness' or will it remain just as special like SMW? I suppose, only time will tell. But no point worrying about it i suppose, right now it is providing me with entertainment and awe on many different levels...

[acidforblood]

Possibly it's a case of the king is dead long live the king, it's the nature of our hobby to constantly pursue the next horizon. Why though is it possible to watch a favoured movie over and over again? There are exceptions though.

Do games age gracefully?

[dr_manhattan]

this sort of thing bothers me alot actually...i look around at all my games/DVDs and think "how many times am i actually gonna play/watch these?"

but i just can't stop buying

[C']

I have experienced this so many times now but I actually start to feel saddened when I know I'm coming close to finishing an epic story-based game that has gripped me for weeks/months. The experience was always so fresh and exciting and often generated so many emotions and great gamesplaying that, whilst I know playing through again will be enjoyable, it won't elicit the same feelings that a genuinely new experience can.

That's not to say the game loses the excitement factor. Traipsing through the mansion in Resident Evil had me constantly on edge as I slowly crept around this infested hellhole not knowing what to expect. When I played it later I still found it an exhilerating game when tackling the giant snake or hunters but a part of the game (the not knowing) had been lost to me forever.

And the sad thing is, you can never get that feeling back. You may THINK you've forgotten what a game is like, but, the same as returning to place you haven't visited in a long time, but once you step back into those familiar environments it all comes flooding back as long lost memories flood to the forefront of your mind.

[Tig]

I've had the OoT bonus disk for ages now, but it has not yet entered my Cube. Although I love the game, I don't want to see it all again. I've already played through it a few times. As the layout and structure becomes increasingly familiar, the 'magical' feeling becomes harder and harder to remember.

So I don't plan to play it again. I want to be able to remember my first play through, and not dull it with overfamiliarity.

I want to enter the Water Temple, and think "What the funk do I do here...?".

Nomatter how many times I enter the Water Temple, I'll always be thinking that!

[jassi singh]

I finished zelda WW this weekend [main part],and for the first time, i ventured into the zelda related forums on this site, as i didnt want to spoil
things for myself.

While i was searching through some WW related stuff, i came across this link. If you thought you knew everything that happened in the OOT Boog, this will fill you in on knowledge that was not in the game. Click the "play movie" on the link, and be prepared to have your perceptions of OOT changed

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view.php?id=105053

No one could prepare, or have predicted the true extent of events which takes place...

[chevkoch]

Do games age gracefully?

Fond memory system:

The probability of a title turning into a cherished pastime stint in memory is defined by the degree of momentum inertia we have to overcome to bring ourselves to fire it up in the first place.

The more we initially love a game the bigger the chance that we'll still call it a worthwhile experience later on.

[Che Musashi]

I was thinking of this thread last night as I was reading an old review of GTA 3. I remember how seriously addicted to that game I was. I put so many hours, it took me so many tries to get the chance.

I ditched work to play that game. Never have I had so much fun being the criminal. Rereading the review the other day reminded me of that.
When Vice City came out I was all hyped but it seemed to be missing the magic. Claude, the nameless faceless character, was much for fun to pretend to be than Ray Liota Vercetti.

The strange thing of it all is I finished Vice City, the story bits. But not GTA3. I wanted to prolong the GTA3 experience as long as possible. I knew once I finished the main story bit, I wouldn't want to play it anymore.

[Smeghead]

Completely depends on the game and genre for me.

I'll be damned if I'll play an RPG more than once through, but I'll dust off the old Mario Kart cartridge or Super Mario World any day, I guess it depends whether the entertainment is provided by the storyline and visuals which both age once you've done a storyline you know what happens, and graphics get outdated quickly, or it's the gameplay mechanics that keep you hooked. If it's the gameplay I find I can play a game over and over again regardless of age or visuals.

Who here can't still put that tetris cart in the old Gameboy an have a good thrash at it (provided you ever could?)