Does anybody else love the feeling of going back to an old favourite and realising it wasnt just nolstalgia making it look good? That the game is still as superb as you remember it.... Just had one earlier today. I was sitting at my computer and looked up to a shelf with my PC version of Final Fantasy 8 sitting on it (Its been 8 years since I last played the game on the PS1, my copy broke and my GF tracked down the PC version last year and bought it for me - PC > PS1 as it wont be replaced).
I decided to install it and see if its as good as I remember (getting a bit bored with MW2 etc at the mo - and I never actually completed FF8 as when I got part way through the 4th disc, my memory card got corrupted and wiped itself out and I didnt have the heart to restart until now).
I installed the game (my god are old games small....), downloaded the patch and booted it up.... It all came flooding back. The game is exactly how I remember it, the video sequences are still gorgeous and epic to watch, the fiddling with the stats is still obsessive and the sight of the GFs popping in with their huge attacks is still a joy to behold (for now.... will wait till I see them for the 100th time again...).
It got me thinking about other games that I hold in high regard or simply really enjoyed many years ago and which ones were truly classic and which are just simply nostalgia covering over just a decent game. The ones which I have gone back to and enjoyed just as much on each run through have been Deus Ex, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Hitman 1 (Mainly the resteraunt and hotel level, public area levels are always the best...), Morrowind, Beyond good and evil, Mafia, Nomad Soul and Shogo:MAD. They arent that old in reality but are from times when I did most of my gaming and got more into the stories they told.
There have been games on the other hand that I have gone back to which although I remember fondly, left me dissapointed second time either graphics no longer able to cover up an ok game or just because of having played much better games since. ones such as Scrapland, MOH: Allied Assault and Driver 1. They are good games but just dont live up to the memory of the first time round.
Anyone else have any games they either went back and felt the joy of a game being just as good so many years later or the dissapointment at realising that all that was good about a game was just bigged up by nostalgia in your own head?
Back to FF8 for me now (Its one that splits opinion I know but it was the game that really got me into the series and holds a special place for me).