<i>OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!</i>
Huh, interesting!
Thanks!

Games That Didn't Age Well:

Any game with 3D navigation published before ASDW + mouse became the norm.

I also think very few people can get into adventure games today. I, for one, are having a hard time getting hooked.

Actually, I don't find this to be an issue with games like Wizardry and Bard's Tale. (In those games, you never have to move and do something else at the same time.)

I don't even mind it in FPS games and such from back in the day. People nowadays seem to lack the versatility to play anything that doesn't conform to some arbitrary standard.

Okay, let me present it this way: Has Metroid aged well compared to Zero Mission?

I still say that the navigation in those old titles is too obscure for me to bother with them:


SYNDICATE WARS:

To rotate the view: Press Del and Page Down on the alpanumeric keyboard.

You can also alter the angle from which you view the action. Pressing Insert and Page Up will tilt the view up and down to suit your preferences.

To zoom in and out, press End and Home


REALMS OF THE HAUNTING:

Cursor Keys: Move forwards, backwards, left and right.
< > Side step
PageUp/Dwn Look up and down
Home/end Set view Tilt
~ (Tilde) Run mode on/off
A Jump
Z Crouch
H Display Mouse/keyboard functions

Mouse
Hold down the right mouse button and move the mouse forwards, backwards, left and right to move in the desired direction.

You're doing some "multithreading" now.

Well, I might be wearing nostalgia googles or am even being more tolerant than most others as I usually don't bother about this, but back on topic, a game that might have not held up / withstood well the pass of time (is this a more appropiate term than age?) is Super Adventure Rockman not because of the graphics but of the cumbersome aiming system (it can't use the joysticks as it was released for the original controller and not the dualANALOG or DualShock ones). FMV quality is average and it feels more like a home video experience than a videogame. Anyway, if you are a Megaman fan like myself, try playing it at least once!

REDVWIN

You can re-bind the keys in RotH to something more to your liking. The only real problem was mouse look...

Only in the US version, which isn't the one that GOG sells. Even then, you can't rebind all the buttons as some are hard-coded.

If I remember rightly it involves some .cfg file editing to get the job done properly.

Why did the multithreaded chicken cross the road?

to To other side. get the

Source: http://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/211

Fair enough.
Although, I didn't mind the controls in Realms of the Haunting. Although certainly not perfect, they're largely the same as in Build-engine titles, which I have barely problems with. The thing that makes it a bit complicated to play is the adventure element, which necessitates the use of the mouse for most interactions, and ultimately doesn't gel all that well with the more direct FPS controls.
Then again, you also mentioned that you're not big on adventure games, either, so I can see how "Realms" wouldn't be a game for you.

I actually think it's surprising how many old games are still very playable, if you have the right mentality. A lot of times when people say "this hasn't aged well," what they really mean is "this doesn't function the way I'm used to." Usually I find that the things that TRULY age badly are things that were bad to begin with, but were just acceptable in that day and age.

Goldeneye 64 is a great example. It always played terribly. The clunky controls and horrible input-ruining framerate were ill suited to the trial-and-error gameplay, and the lack of clear objectives turned most levels into exercises in frustration. But back then that's just how console FPSs were. I think there's a big difference between a game playing differently than modern audiences expect, and a game's flaws being revealed by time.

In fact, a lot of times I find that forcing myself to appreciate "archaic" game design elements can actually lead to a whole new sort of enjoyment and appreciation. The Resident Evil Remake is a good example. I started out hating the tank controls and the punishing gameplay, but ended up being a wholehearted supporter of both by the end, once I realized how well they worked in the context of the whole game.

That said, I do find that archaic control schemes in FPSs can be a huge roadblock for me. WADS + mouse is just so hardcoded into my brain that I can't really deal with keyboard-only controls or the lack of dedicated strafe keys. That's the only thing keeping me from giving Blake Stone a fair shake :(