DOS gaming, anyone?

Started by rustyshackleford, January 27, 2021, 05:06:25 PM

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rustyshackleford

 :coolsmiley:

KIckin' it old school and I'm curious to hear if anyone out there is still rocking that good ol' DOS gaming goodness on DOSBOX.

I'm still playing weekly, to this day, and probably will so until I die, Silent Hunter: Commander's Edition and Aces of the Deep.

If anyone has some good wargame suggestions from that era, I'm all ears! I recall playing a demo of a really cool WW2 RTS/FPS hybrid in the late 90s called "Muzzle Velocity" (which blew my mind at the time haha), but can't seem to find it anywhere now.

Man those were the days, they don't make them like they used to huh!

Makes me also miss the Close Combat and Combat Mission: BO/BB series as well. All great games.

al_infierno

My all-time favorite DOSBOX game is X-Com: UFO Defense (or, if I'm going for the hipster points, UFO: Enemy Unknown).  It's pretty broken in a lot of ways, but still an incredibly fun squad-tactics game.  I do wish that any of the modern successors would hold a candle to it.  I played a little bit of Xenonauts but wasn't wholly impressed.

Also, those old Close Combat and Combat Mission games are available at GOG.com now without the need for DOSBOX.   O:-)
A War of a Madman's Making - a text-based war planning and political survival RPG

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If they made nothing but WWII games, I'd be perfectly content.  Hypothetical matchups from alternate history 1980s, asymmetrical US-bashes-some-3rd world guerillas, or minor wars between Upper Bumblescum and outer Kaboomistan hold no appeal for me.
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I guess it's sort of nice that the word "tactical" seems to refer to some kind of seriousness during your moments of mental clarity.
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SlagDog

I'm such a graphics-whore that it's painful to play the oldies. I still have my disks from the early CC days. In the past I've loaded them up but I don't get much farther than that. The small pixelated graphics on the smaller graphics modes burn my eyes  :2funny:. It's the same when I "think" I want to play Everquest again and download it and see the archaic graphics. I wonder what the heck was I thinking. Well it was the good times with friends that I am reminiscing about. I miss those times, not the graphics. And really, back then, those graphics (what like 1999) were the cutting edge - LOL. Nowadays some games I can't tell whether it's real or CGI. Amazing stuff.   

steve58

Sometimes, you just can't go back.  As many fond memories I have of playing those early DOS games, w/similar memories of tweaking autoexec.bat files and trying to free up those last bytes of RAM so I could play a game, well the graphics from then, just don't cut it now-a-days.  I've still got many of my old DOS games (big boxes, floppy disks, keyboard cutouts and actual manuals!).  So many memories...Silent Hunter, Red Baron, Civilization I, etc.  Even though I'd still enjoy the gameplay, and yes I know DOSBOX, not sure I'd be able to handle graphics. 
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Anguille

I really like Task Force 1942

For Napoelonic Warfare, there's Fields of Glory.

Jarhead0331

#5
Hell yes! Check out this thread...the Great Grogheads Hot Tub Time Machine!

http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=24544.0

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airboy

Quote from: al_infierno on January 27, 2021, 05:17:19 PM
My all-time favorite DOSBOX game is X-Com: UFO Defense (or, if I'm going for the hipster points, UFO: Enemy Unknown).  It's pretty broken in a lot of ways, but still an incredibly fun squad-tactics game.  I do wish that any of the modern successors would hold a candle to it.  I played a little bit of Xenonauts but wasn't wholly impressed.

Also, those old Close Combat and Combat Mission games are available at GOG.com now without the need for DOSBOX.   O:-)

You might retry Xenonauts.  I felt the same way - but I restarted it back in 2019.  It was very good - though challenging.

rustyshackleford

Quote from: SlagDog on January 27, 2021, 05:36:26 PM
I'm such a graphics-whore that it's painful to play the oldies. I still have my disks from the early CC days. In the past I've loaded them up but I don't get much farther than that. The small pixelated graphics on the smaller graphics modes burn my eyes  :2funny:. It's the same when I "think" I want to play Everquest again and download it and see the archaic graphics. I wonder what the heck was I thinking. Well it was the good times with friends that I am reminiscing about. I miss those times, not the graphics. And really, back then, those graphics (what like 1999) were the cutting edge - LOL. Nowadays some games I can't tell whether it's real or CGI. Amazing stuff.

I won't lie, it really is tough sometimes but I kind of liken it to reading a book - I'm asking a lot out of my imagination to fill in the gaps and complete the pictures for me ;D

If someone could wave a magic-wand and, while keeping the gameplay EXACTLY THE SAME without adding ANYTHING extra to these games, but update the graphics to modern-standards and bring them to the PC, I'd sell my left arm to buy them all and play them.

rustyshackleford

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on January 27, 2021, 05:59:12 PM
Hell yes! Check out this thread...the Great Grogheads Hot Tub Time Machine!

http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=24544.msg670073#msg670073

NICE. Thanks JH, I'll jump over to that thread. Gonna also check out 1942 and Field of Glory that Anguille mentioned... so many games to explore from that era yet.

Phantom

Some of my favourites, which I still play occasionally:
Carriers at War (1 & 2)
Tanks
Age of rifles
World at War series (Crusader, Stalingrad) - the first game I can recall playing that gave complex & realistic tactical options
Last but not least - Red Storm Rising
The appeal for me of these early games is the ease of gameplay without sacrificing depth, a narrow track that early games seemed to tread better before the crutch of whizz bang graphics came along, plus the inclusion of multiple scenarios & long term out of the box playability, sacrificed nowadays to the money machine of DLC.
I'd agree with an earlier poster that graphically updated versions of these would be great.

bobarossa

Machievelli the Prince (originally called Merchant Prince) was one I played with DosBox in last few years.  Needs a major graphics update. 

Yskonyn

I replayed Walls of Rome not too long ago.
I remembered it being such an impressive game, but I just have to conclude that it didn't age very well at all.
Most games from the early days are like that. Nostalgia, but no way I'd play them much anymore.
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ArizonaTank

Quote from: rustyshackleford on January 27, 2021, 05:06:25 PM
:coolsmiley:

If anyone has some good wargame suggestions from that era, I'm all ears! I recall playing a demo of a really cool WW2 RTS/FPS hybrid in the late 90s called "Muzzle Velocity" (which blew my mind at the time haha), but can't seem to find it anywhere now.


I think I still have a copy of Muzzle Velocity around somewhere.  Really wish someone would remake it.
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airboy

Quote from: bobarossa on January 28, 2021, 03:17:00 PM
Machievelli the Prince (originally called Merchant Prince) was one I played with DosBox in last few years.  Needs a major graphics update.

That was a good one.

SlagDog

If memory serves me right I think my first 'wargame' was The Ancient Art of War at Sea on my old Apple IIC on a monochrome screen. I played the guts out of that game. Oh yeah and Red Baron, now there was an amazing game. Good times!