Should I backtrack and play the classic epics?

I got into PC gaming first with BF1942...and Morrowind was my first RPG many years ago. When I first got into PC gaming I never knew about the original Fallout games, never did hear of Planescape, never played the original Deus Ex games (1-2). and never played the original Baldur's Gate games (1-2).

Should I buy and make sure I play all of these, eventually? Did I miss out on a truly epic gaming experience?

So from games I've read about that need to be played, here's the list I've written up:

Deus Ex
Fallout 2
Baldur's Gate 2
Diablo 2
Vampire: Bloodlines
Planescape: Torment
System Shock 2
Gothic 2 (edited this one in, I hear it's good, right?)

So guys, what do you think I should do? And where exactly is the best/cheapest place to buy some of these old games?

I wish there was a Retro section on Steam...brb making a thread over there :P.

Oh yesdef play those beautys, that is a nice list of games you got there, I have played all but Gothic 2.

I know you can get Vampire t.m of steam and the fallouts of GOG but try Ebay or Amazonfor the rest

That's what I'm doing. The last two FPS I bought for a long time were Half Life 2 and Far Cry. I'm now trying to catch up. The Crysis games and Bioshock are the first ones lined up.

Why are you asking? JUST PLAY THEM! :D Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics can be found on GoG.com for cheap Deus Ex - I got this one from Direct2Drive a while back, isn't too pricy and works well. Baldurs Gate - best bet is to search eBay/Amazon for that one, PlaneScape Torment as well (they just re-released a new version but it as only found on Amazon if I remember right) Gothic 2 you can find on GoG.com System Shock 2 is a pretty hard title to find from what I understand, you may find it on eBay or somewhere though. Vampire: Bloodlines you can get on Direct2Drive (and possibly other sites)carlosjuero

Awesome, thank you...just checked out gog.com and it's a pretty neat little site. Gunna check out the other places you mentioned.

absolutely go and play all of those classics and any others you hear about. I love great games and time is kind to the best ones. just be careful when you buy them on disc, some are not friendly with modern operating systems. one of the best ways is to download them through steam or the publisher's website so you know it will work. i had some issues with old discs and windows 7 recently.

also play through if you havent: -Starcraft and expansion -command and conquer -civilization series

LogenNine

Yeah I really don't want to have to deal with CD's or having to store more boxes... Digital is the best bet for me.

I wish I could like RTS games, but it's just not for me. I could never figure out how to start playing. Maybe if I had someone sit down and teach me, heh.

That's what I'm doing. The last two FPS I bought for a long time were Half Life 2 and Far Cry. I'm now trying to catch up. The Crysis games and Bioshock are the first ones lined up.

jun_aka_pekto

Just recently got BioShock, haven't installed yet, some nice guy gifted it to me. Can't wait to try it!

out of the ones you listed there are more then a few worth getting(I would say "all of them").

Deus Ex and Vampire the masquerade: Bloodlines are not really all that old tho (VTM:B is a source game afterall so it looks and performs like any other HL2 like game) So these will be quite easy to get into if you never went too far back to play games, since they pretty much play like youd expect them to, and can be made to look decent to standard.

The others you mentioned are true classics inceed, but often slow paced (thinkers games), and if you did not grow up with them, or an understanding of the mindset needed you might be put off. Still, If you have the patience you will notice just how good they are, even by todays standards.

Out of the games you listed, only Gothic 2 failed to impress me, and even at that it had more to do with my personal taste then the game itself, its not a bad game.

A notice is that SS2 can be slightly hard to get running for some, altho you can read how to get it running all over the net, and it is hard as nails, likely the hardest you listed, with the diffeculty comes the most satisfying feeling of surviving, It is a case of "it hurts you because it loves you". It plays alot like Deus ex, in alot of ways, so my advice is to play Deus ex first, if you like that game, chances are high that you will enjoy SS2 aswell...

The fallout and gothic gamesare most convinient to find off Go.

Vtm:B is too new, and can be found on steam (and d2d), Deus ex is on there too, if I remember correctly.

SS2 is indeed quite hard to find, it was made before activation codes and such, so used copys will work with it, as long as the disk is unharmed.

well, to get ss2 to run just download the compatability patch for it, and make sure the game only runs on one core, there ya go, you can play SS2 ;) You might have to download some olf GPU drivers, But it never was a problem for me.

Deus Ex does indeed have graphics mods, and while they are not groundbreaking, they do add most of what you expect of modern games, such as bump mapping, and advanced lighting, it looked decent. (about on par with Deus Ex 2).

Most of the older RPGs you listed has wise screen patches and high res patches, but do not expect crisp modern day graphics, afterall those games are made up of sprites, so it is hard to fix them up alot.

VTm:B does not need a graphics overhaull really, I do suspect the community mod (it is a must to have these mods, so I do surgest the steam version of it, since im not sure if the d2d version will run, im sure someone will give thier input), npcs often look rigid, but the overall gameworld looks lice, altho slightly muddy by todays standards, rain effects are quite impressive (when looking out windows) and it is entirely a survivable game to play ;)

SS2 did have a gfx overhaull project, and the latest beta is up for grabs on the net, but it never finished, while the game can look good enough, it wont look like Hl2 or above. and sometimes there will be a mishmash, of old textures and new (so some thing looks ok, while others look somewhat dated).

if you can find SS2, it is worth getting a hold on it ^^

No rush, none of those games are going anywhere :P

Diablo 2. If you want to get a sense of what it is about sans its cool atmosphere, download the Torchlight demo. If you dislike Torchlight, chances are you will be not much happier with Diablo. I am mentioning this because Blizz still has the Diablo Battlechest out there and no sense in blowing $20+ if you don't have to.

I wonder how the new Battlenet and the old Diablo get along together....

EM

No rush, none of those games are going anywhere :P

Diablo 2. If you want to get a sense of what it is about sans its cool atmosphere, download the Torchlight demo. If you dislike Torchlight, chances are you will be not much happier with Diablo. I am mentioning this because Blizz still has the Diablo Battlechest out there and no sense in blowing $20+ if you don't have to.

I wonder how the new Battlenet and the old Diablo get along together....

EM

Evilmeanie

While you are at it, You need to play NOLF and Max Payne as well. Great games. chandu83