2004-01-11 - 11:32 p.m.
I have a ton of computer games lying around that I've never finished. It's getting cold and pretty dull up here, so I re-installed "Wizardry 8" friday night, and the next thing I knew when I looked at the clock it was 5 am. I got sucked in hardcore. I'm about to get real nerdy just to warn you.
Widardry 8 was the last game truly made by Sir-Tech before they closed down the studio. Sir-Tech was the last of its kind, a small, family owned, independant studio. As games have become increasingly mainstream, massive corporations have jumped on the bandwagon, production values have shot into the tens of millions, and the small studios who are in it purely for the love of the game have been run off the road or simply steamrolled over. It's the sad but natural way of things. I'm not necessarily(sp?) one of those who hates everything new and only likes the classics, but it increases the romantic feel of the game knowing it was the last labor of love by the last of the studios who still did things the old fashioned way. Sure it's rough around the edges, sure it's not as graphically flashy as most of whats out there today, but it's got soul. It's got that great "homemade" kind of appeal that I can't really explain. This is a game that didn't make anybody rich. And the concern for quality and attention to detail is evident in every cobwebbed dungeon corner. Makes me feel all technostalgic for the good ol' days.
And I know it's silly to care this much about something that essentially involves exploring lots of mazes, solving puzzles, and killing truckloads of monsters. There are thousands of games that follow that formula, but only a handful that are really good. In my opinion at least. So color me silly.
So thats where I've been the last couple of days. My hours have been cut back, and I can feel my energy level waning, as the ennui waxes... Vegetating in this basement staring at a CRT is probably not going to fix any of that. Okay, no criticising without offering an bona-fide alternative... Well, I guess I could read some, maybe do some crunches.
Agh.. fucking maine winter. My internal dialogue is taking over.
Top five computer games of all time (no consoles)
1. "X-Com" 2. "Fallout" 3. "Ultima VII:The Black Gate" 4. "Jagged Alliance 2" 5. "The Secret of Monkey Island"
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