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durakot | 5 months ago

It is the best PC game ever made, but I don't think it hits the same in 2025... one of those things where you had to be there.

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glenstein|5 months ago

Agreed: didn't listen to the doubters, I think it's still the best PC game ever, even now. The level design still rocks, the dialog is great, the items, skills, inventory management, richness of environments, and breadth of locations, it set a standard I don't think has been eclipsed (for better or worse). I think Dishonored has a liiitle bit of the same vibe but not really, as it has no prescient future oriented politics. But yeah, ignore the haters, it's the best ever.

Semaphor|5 months ago

While I don’t agree with the best ever chorus, I’d say it holds up decently well with mods. The HD mod makes the graphics acceptable, and I replayed it in 2023 or something and it was still great.

Terr_|5 months ago

A better rendering-engine is a no-brainer—the original shadows tend to become olive-banded messes—but my experience with texture-pack mods isn't as good.

IIRC they tended to make the overall experience worse, with jarring inconsistencies of high-poly/high-res objects versus unmodified portions of the environment.

Plus nowadays "low res" is sometimes it's own art-style. :p

qmr|5 months ago

Personally anything since Quake II / UT / HL era impresses me.

sph|5 months ago

I disagree. The political undertones in the setting of a global pandemic hit even harder today than when the game released in 2000.

I especially loved the "conspiracy" talk about corporations consolidating their powers thanks to government-sponsored wage slavery and higher taxes to the individual vs companies. It's something that's even more relevant today, especially in this space of entrepreneurship.

durakot|5 months ago

For sure! I just meant that when it came out it was revolutionary and cutting edge, if you play it for the first time now you have to get past the outdated graphics and clunky gameplay to really appreciate it.

Story, dialogue, theme-wise hasn't aged a bit.

stavros|5 months ago

I think things are a product of their time, and you had to be there for the vast majority of it. The Matrix was a revolution when it came out, but now it just kind of looks the same as everything else (even dated), but that's because everything else copied it.

4ggr0|5 months ago

as someone who went to watch The Matrix in IMAX a couple of days ago I gotta disagree! :)