• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

I miss large PC game installation

525725_522823991087366_1674048679_n.jpg
 
I miss those times, but I'm so glad we have progressed. I liked the experience, but that's about it for me nowadays as I'd never wanna possibly replicate it.
 
I think the last game I played on PC that required me to physically swap out game discs while playing, mostly because my harddrive just wasn't large enough to hold the whole thing, was Baldur's Gate:

0392766f4e010bde8d92cddd5d4c22.jpg
 
I miss downloading games from Steam for days on my old slow Internet.

I don't actually. Neither do I miss long game installations, crappy CDs/DVDs or game boxes being eaten by dogs and stepped on by friends.
 
Yeah I have zero nostalgia for that but I do have anxiety. Buying the last copy of a brand new release of a ~20 floppy game and worrying that one disk may not work... not fun.

Also the CD installers that took over the whole screen and played sound always annoyed me.
 
GTA V on dvd has got you, fam.

okhAsrC.png


You'll also love the multiple gigs of updates you'll have to download after installing.

I can't think of much I miss from obsolete mediums since SSD gives me pretty close to cartridge load times. Maybe, I slightly miss box art for things like Neo Geo carts? Lots of surface area and very little in the way of boilerplate borders to obscure it.
 
I miss having to play games without going through a Bunch of updates or patches...


Console gaming wise


Lol


Pc gaming wise , didn't get into it till 2011 so can't relate to how it was in the past....
 
Hell, I still have to do this for certain games that I never double-dipped for, like Morrowind.

The Bloodmoon installer's ad for ancient phone games never gets old:

N2zUHcM.jpg
 
Mr. Phellps said:
Oh, God, I remember installing The Sims 2, which came in four separate CDs. It took an eternity to install, but the installer had this mini-game which included a quiz about The Sims and a memory game that for some reason always kept me perfectly distracted for the entirety of the process. Good times.
Click to expand...

GTA 5 with it's 7 DVDs could have used something like this haha :D
 
I have some nostalgia but i really don't miss the wait times and the scourging the internet for patches, which needed you queue unless you were a member and then pick the server from a popup.....
 
Installing the shareware version of Jazz Jackrabbit off of a 3.5" hard disk... It was super annoying as a kid because I wanted to just play it but I got to learn some very basic commands on DOS.

Honestly, I don't care much for it now, back then I enjoyed it just because it was like waiting for the curtains to pull back at a play or concert which added more hype. I think the best example of that for me as a child was installing Relentless 2: Twinsen's Odyssey. My hype meter went through the roof for that game.
 
Fuck multi disc installs and fuck manually searching, downloading and installing patches.
Those days are gone for good. I have no nostalgia for that.
 
Getting mildly nostalgic thinking back to installing FF XI for the first time. I liked the images they showed during installation. I remember the Treasure of Aht Urghan expansion had some amazing Y. Amano art during it's installation.
 
I always like reading these posts a out getting pc games installed from the olden days
Post some more please!
 
Last game I remember with this for me was Doom 3 and COD 2. Got into Steam shortly thereafter.

I'd rather browse the internet and do other shit while it downloads/installs itself in the background instead of stare a screenshot which lingers on screen for a minute at a time and a music loop.
 
You could probably buy a game and then download a repack version from the net.

See, this repacks are pirated versions of games that try to minimize file size while keeping all data intact, so no reduction in videos or audio.

Thus it probably takes about an hour to install those compressed to hell and back, while sitting in front of the computer listening to scene music.


Or, you could emulate an old windows machine and constraint its resources so you can install old stuff in it.


Although I wonder why would anyone would like to do any of those options today, but to each its own :D
 
I kinda dislike that every MMO now has a launcher, even though I know it's just straight up better than starting the game, logging in and THEN checking if there's an update.

Guild Wars 2 Login screen were soooooo good and it aches me that I cannot just use that instead of the launcher, but oh well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh2qLcZAUfY

Shoutout to Wow, too. Still love that old login screen with the Dark Portal and that fantastic music, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE5oaOOwInE
 
Cross-Section said:
Hell, I still have to do this for certain games that I never double-dipped for, like Morrowind.

The Bloodmoon installer's ad for ancient phone games never gets old:

N2zUHcM.jpg
Click to expand...


I'm impressed Bethesda has had the same logo since at least Bloodmoon. While not my favorite logo it still fits in with modern logo design.
 
Mr. Phellps said:
Oh, God, I remember installing The Sims 2, which came in four separate CDs. It took an eternity to install, but the installer had this mini-game which included a quiz about The Sims and a memory game that for some reason always kept me perfectly distracted for the entirety of the process. Good times.
Click to expand...

I remember that one lol

The one I look back on most fondly is the Age of Empires 1 install. Way less elaborate but the animation was amusing. It was a bunch of villagers walking into the screen and building a large monument, the further along your install was the more villagers and more "complete" the monument became.
 
I understand what OP is talking about.

I used to love the period of time between getting a game and actually being able to play it - most memories are in the backseat of my mom's car, poring through the instruction manual, though some rare cases as late as PS3/360 era there were mandatory install AND a manual.

That period of meditation/anticipation is gone now, and maybe that's not necessarily for the better?
 
I miss sitting waiting for like 10+ minutes, listening to the unholy noise of my ZX Spectrum loading from a cassette only to be greeted by an error message at the last possible instance.
 
Nabs said:
I miss downloading patch 1.02 from Fileplanet, 1.02 to 1.06 from a slow Russian site, then 1.07 from GCW.
Click to expand...

Oh god.

Trying to update a game with multiple patches, only to have all kinds of errors and exceptions be thrown...

Code: 
An incorrect version of the file was found on your system.
The update was unable to complete, since the file contents were incorrect.

File Size: 57953019
File CheckSum: b399f47923a92cc8f968b7ad83b7c923

The patch has been aborted
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I miss Destiny 2
2 3 4
180
752
Bondo replied
[SemiAccurate] Nvidia Is Negotiating To Buy A Large PC Oriented Company; [Investing.com] Dell and HP stocks are "rallying"
Rumor  2
71
522
Wolzard replied
Installed Hallow Knight Silksong because of Game Pass, now I understand
36
453
Orbital2060 replied
“There Is No Limitation Anymore” Larian Dev Teases Divinity’s Large Scale With Their Upgraded in-house Engine
News Game Dev 
5
149
Danny Dudekisser replied
Will we ever get a AAA off road racing game again? I miss Motorstorm!
28
639
drotahorror replied
Top Bottom