I think that comparison doesn't make much sense. In my opinion the gameplay of Cannon Fodder is pretty much unlike anything else and doesn't quite fit into any established genre. It has some similarities to shoot'em up games, it has some similarities to some RTS games but I don't feel that there's a single game out there that directly built upon Cannon Fodder and improved it - even after all these years it does still feel fresh and original (and surprisingly polished) to me. And you said it - the artistic and satirical character makes it a title that could have just as well been released rather recently in the indie scene.

There have never been so many random number mechanics in the industry before. And the RNGs are still mostly broken.


Dune 2000 was already just ok on release.


Many of you have a hyped picture of sth. in your mind, which you never experienced. Early 3D RTS like Ground Control or the Earth series failed right at the start. They've always been to clunky.

I feel that some aspects are out-dated, like the puzzles in Duke Nukem 3D. They consist just of switches in a random sequence. Fallout's dialogues feel by far not as thought-out and they repeat themselves. Machinarium will feel horribly out-dated in a few years.

Oh come on, you know I didn't mean that everyone who loved and still loves D2 is stupid and brainless. ;) I referred to those people who, no matter what arguments you use, will use Blizzard's commercial success as undeniable proof of its infinite superiority. :P

I know. I'm just havin fun. It's probably beside the point, but I am brainless.

You don't want me to write down a list of 30+ CRPGs, do you?

Diablo came first. Then it rolled over and had a cigarette. *rimshot*

Thank You!

Remember that you can prepare up to 3 spells, so you rarely have to do the signs mid-combat.

Mazes, dead ends of the "I'm stuck because I did something wrong 3 hours ago rendering the game unwinnable " variety, trying to find the right word that the text parser would accept, etc.

What are you on about?

As a Sierra fanboi who still loves their older games, I believe the issue most people have with them is in design. The games are relentlessly out to get you.

http://www.soldak.com/ go here. Try Din's Curse. Then try the rest, too [Drox Operative is just recently released and probably needs a few patches / expansion(s) to get to Din's Curse level - and yes, Drox Operative, too, is a Diablo-like ARPG - set in space.]

Soldak are probably the only company out there that really is pushing ARPG's forward. Given they are a small indie one some of it is clumsy - but it's all quite fresh. [That said - they haven't yet managed to overcome the repetitiousness that, after a good few hours, eventually sets in; but then - the same happens in Diablo 2]

I actually had the opposite impressions with quite some JRPGs and liked the story more than I did before because I didn't understand large parts of the plot as a kid. An example where I had a much better memory of the game is actually pretty recent. Its tales of Vesperia but its mostly the voice acting. I thought it was really good 2 or 3 years ago when I played it first but after replaying it seemed pretty cheesy at times.

My most recent example would be Saints Row 2.

Ever since playing Saints Row 3 I was annoyed at the lack of clothing customisation, so I went back to SR2 last week to try some of the customisation out again and wow, I can't stand the basic mechanics of that game. I try playing it and don't even know how i managed to have any fun in that game at all, it's completely unplayable to me now.

Most NES games and JRPG games for me. NES games because, well, most of them were bad but that's all I had to play and didn't know any better.

I can't stand JRPGs anymore unless it's a tactical game in a JRPG style that's more mature like Tactics Ogre. Even though I enjoyed Valkyria Chronicles gameplay for the most part, the cheesiness and childishness of the presentation even though the game would sometimes deal with mature issues ruined it for me. I'm pretty much a strict CRPG fan now.
It was kind of like this, right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS2vaGAmQYw

I still love it anyway.

YEAH! Exactly like that... but with more bad words...
The best platforming level EVAR!... ;p

oh, how I loved...