MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651 
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Post by MeleeMonk on Jan 7, 2019 2:16:44 GMT
So the other day I was watching Gamespot's review of Thief Deadly Shadows,
and in it Greg Kasavin mentions that the original Thief: the Dark Project is one of the games that made 1998 such a significant year in video game history.
As someone who was strictly a console gamer at the time, I have never viewed 1998 as an exceptional year for console games. There were some obvious hits like LoZ Ocarina of Time and Metal Gear Solid, but outside of those and a few hidden gems, there wasn't a significant amount of of classics from companies like Nintendo, Sony and especially Sega (the saturn barely had any releases that year) compared to the previous years, like 1997 & 1996 for example.
However, when Greg Kasavin mentioned the original Thief The Dark Project, I was reminded of all the other remarkable PC games from that year:
-Half Life
-Starsiege: Tribes
-Unreal
-Grim Fandango (commerical flop, but widely considered a cult classic)
-Jurassic Park Trespasser (it may have been a critical and commercial bomb, but it was objectively ambitious and pushed game design forward)
-Starcraft
-And, as mentioned above, Thief The Dark Project
(Are there any others I'm missing?)
The only other years of gaming which had a comparable list of landmark PC exclusives that I can think of is 2004 (Far Cry, Doom 3, & Half Life 2,+ some others) and maybe 2007 (Crysis, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Team Fortress 2, Portal, Half Life 2 Episode 2, etc.)
Was '98 a landmark year for PC gaming or no?
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Post by winnersdontusedrugs on Jan 7, 2019 3:35:34 GMT
Some more standout PC games from 1998 I could think of
-Carnivores
-Baldur's Gate
-SiN
-Delta Force
1998 was a crazy year in PC gaming for sure, but I'm hesitant to call it the #1 most significant. PC gaming has been around for decades, and there's too much I don't know to say for sure that 1998 was the most significant.
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,820
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Post by Cervantes on Jan 7, 2019 15:32:52 GMT
MeleeMonk - You're right on that year's significance for pc games, but don't dismiss the consoles. For Nintendo, besides Ocarina, it was the american release of Pokémon Blue & Red! That's huge. Sega released Panzer Dragoon Saga that year and localized Shining Force 3; it was also the Dreamcast release in Japan, along with Sonic Adventure. For Capcom, Resident Evil 2 and Mega Man Legends are also 1998. There's Final Fantasy Tactics, Xenogears, Radiant Silvergun, Rogue Squadron and other cult classics or otherwise famous releases. So, all in all, 1998 was a great year for games, with a lot of games that defined that generation not just on pc, but also consoles. EDIT: Marvel vs Capcom is 1998, too. So many classics!
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stratogustav
Supreme Overlord
Warrior with Bandana
Posts: 7,460
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Post by stratogustav on Jan 9, 2019 14:52:11 GMT
For gaming in general, Ocarina Of Time, and Metal Gear Solid are some of the biggest landmarks in terms video game history.
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MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Jan 11, 2019 18:43:35 GMT
MeleeMonk - You're right on that year's significance for pc games, but don't dismiss the consoles. For Nintendo, besides Ocarina, it was the american release of Pokémon Blue & Red! That's huge. Sega released Panzer Dragoon Saga that year and localized Shining Force 3; it was also the Dreamcast release in Japan, along with Sonic Adventure. For Capcom, Resident Evil 2 and Mega Man Legends are also 1998. There's Final Fantasy Tactics, Xenogears, Radiant Silvergun, Rogue Squadron and other cult classics or otherwise famous releases. So, all in all, 1998 was a great year for games, with a lot of games that defined that generation not just on pc, but also consoles. EDIT: Marvel vs Capcom is 1998, too. So many classics! That's all true. 1998 certainly wasn't a bad year on the console front, it's just that I feel it wasn't as strong for me personally as 1996, 1997, 2000, and 2001 were. As a N64 owner back then, 1997 gave me many of my favorite console games of all time, such as Star Wars Shadows of the Empire, Mischief Makers, Star Fox 64 (I know you don't like it but I love it), Bomberman 64, etc., as well as games that other people loved like Goldeneye 007. 1998 had Ocarina of Time, which was an outstanding game to be sure, as well as other great titles like F-Zero X and (as you mentioned) Rogue Squadron, but ultimately Shadows of the Empire means so much more to me than Rogue Squadron; same goes with Mischief Makers compared to Yoshi's Story, a game I enjoyed greatly as a child but don't care for as much as an adult. For Nintendo gamers, 2000 had Majora's Mask, which is still my favorite Zelda game of all time. And many gems like Kirby 64 & Bomberman The Second Attack were released for the console that year. And of course I don't even need to explain why 2001 was an incredible year for consoles, not just Nintendo-produced ones. Keep in mind that I was strictly a Nintendo gamer at the time, so I didn't play all those Sony and Sega games you listed. I didn't even own a Sega Saturn until 2009, and never got around to playing Panzar Dragoon Saga or Radiant Silvergun (most people haven't). That's not to say those games were bad though, I'm sure they were great. But I remember you admitting that Sonic Adventure is overrated a while back, so clearly not everything Sega made that year has held up. |
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,820
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Post by Cervantes on Jan 11, 2019 21:11:32 GMT
MeleeMonk - Yep, I can see how from a Nintendo fan perspective, 96-97 would be more significant years with the N64 itself being released and games like Mario 64 and Goldeneye; 98 is more outstanding when you look at the PS1/PC releases and those few Sega ones. About Sega: Sonic Adventure is a severely flawed game, sure; it's still fun enough and was very impressive at the time, but there are just too many flaws to ignore. It's certainly not a smooth 2d to 3d transition as Mario, Zelda or Metal Gear, that's for sure.
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