Nostalgic DOS games . . . let's go retro

[Castout]

I've been playing old dos games

One of the more interesting games is titled Middle East conflict: Political simulator which allows you to play as the Israeli Prime Minister trying to destabilize and crush your surrounding neighbors(I know it sounds draconian complete with terms such as psychopolitical team)

Anyway here's the screen to the ending of my first game

The game is way too easy to be realistic but I had a lot of fun

And the game which captured me in the early 1990s is this

Nobunaga's ambition II. It was a hit in Japan so I read and it was a hit here then too.

Damn it DOS games are fun . . . . and some of them really had some VERY good AI . . . .

Use dosbox to play the DOS games(google dosbox).(I hope the link is allowed because I don't think anyone is at loss here those are really some old games)


Oh how I wish creative assembly to start working on Shogun II Total War . . . . . .the first one no longer work on my current machine . . . .damn it

<edited by NeonSamurai>

[Lionclaw]

I didn't really get to experience the PC DOS era, but I rememberr some of the games on that site that I used to play on the Commodore 64 and Amiga.

Games were really great back then, all focused on gameplay!

[Wolfehunter]

My favorite dos era games where, Space Quest, Starflight II, Dungeons and Dragons from SSI, X-Com and Oo-Topos. There are plenty more I liked but those where my favorite.

[razark]

Originally Posted by Castout

I've been looking to find and play an old DOS game which I played in the early 1990s as a teen . . .couple days ago I found a site which makes these old DOS games available as free download


So do you have a nostalgic game that you want to play again? A trip down the memory lane . . .go ahead...find them here [removed]
Use dosbox to play the DOS games(google dosbox).(I hope the link is allowed because I don't think anyone is at loss here those are really some old games)

From the policy FAQ:
What is Subsim.com's stance in relation to warez and piracy?
SUBSIM Review has a longstanding policy against software piracy. We do NOT allow discussion or even mention of warez, abandonware, peer-to-peer game swapping, illegal download sites, or rip-off websites. Nothing will get you banned faster than pointing people to illegal software distribution sites. Don't ask for serial numbers, manuals, or cracks. Any admission that you have in your possession illegal software can and usually will result in revocation of your Radio Room forum account. Support computer game programmers buy legally purchasing their work. They have to eat too, you know.

The dosbox information should be ok, but your other link is in violation. I suspect a visit from the moderators will be occurring soon

[Robsoie]

I am primarly a retro-gamer, most of my gaming time is spent with such old games.
Give a try to those masterpieces, they all work perfectly in dosbox and i enjoy them regularly :

Darklands
Awesome role playing game with tactical battles, very open ended (though you can always try to follow the main scenario if you prefer), the atmosphere of middle age dread is extremely well done thanks to superb art in pictures.

Carrier Command
A game that was ahead of its time, strategy, action, planning etc... no wonder there have been several remakes through the ages, and one more is currently in development, the gameplay is always very actual.

Master of Magic
A cross between Civilization and heroic fantasy, a complete masterpiece that has often been imitated by good games (Heroes of M&M, Age of Wonders, and soon Elemental: War of Magic)

Master of Orion
My favorite 4X game, better in my opinion than the usually more popular Master of Orion 2 (both game have a completely different gameplayn making them both always worth playing), this is not only very easy to play (tutorials) , but it has a lot of depth behind the pixels. The AI is really good in this one and can give a real challenge.

Red Storm Rising
Despite it is 20 years old, i always have an awesome time playing it, the battles reminds a lot of an evoluted version of chess with you having to plan your moves in advance and think about what you will do to avoid a devastating counter attack.
Certainly not on 688/Sub Command/Dangerous waters level of simulation, but it has a lot of good points, the dynamic campaign is very nice.

Aces of the deep
While years before i played a lot with Silent Service on my cpc464, it was Aces of the deep that really hooked me with subsims due to how immersive it was.
Always a good time to hunt for convoys and hope to avoid depth charges.
Funny to notice that the waves seem to be dependant on the amount of cycles you use in dosbox.

Daggerfall
Certainly along Darkland, one of the rpg i have played the most, like in every of the bethesda games you control only an individual, but the immensity of the places you can explore help in forgetting this problem, randomly generated billions of dungeons may satisfy your random dungeon crawl (though you may notice a pattern in the random generations), while "story" dungeons have their own architecture sometime very different from what you expect.
It was released officially for free months ago :
http://www.elderscrolls.com/download...oads_games.htm
Be sure to read the how to install in the official boards :
http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/in...p?showforum=15


X-com/UFO defense
Again a masterpiece in its time, and can always be fun to play for the tactical battles that were the main interest of it.
Though i admit that i play it very less often than in the past, mostly because of Jagged Alliance 2 and its 1.13 mod that fill my gaming needs in this genre, there is always some interesting going-on in XCom1.
Frustrating in the beginning as your squaddies are very bad at doing anything, but with the survivors gaining experiences in their capacities, your squads begin to be very good at hunting invaders and become more interesting.

[Oberon]

If you like Middle East Conflict you should also consider Crisis in the Kremlin and Shadow President. Both are very good political simulators. See how long you can last in the Kremlin, it's not easy at all.

[razark]

Originally Posted by Oberon

If you like Middle East Conflict you should also consider Crisis in the Kremlin and Shadow President. Both are very good political simulators. See how long you can last in the Kremlin, it's not easy at all.

Those two were fun. I remember the time one of my friends sat down at my computer and played Shadow President for slightly over 24 hours.

[Raptor1]

Getting deposed in Shadow President was always entertaining (Not that I ever managed much else, invading Canada is sometimes too tempting... )

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by razark

The dosbox information should be ok, but your other link is in violation. I suspect a visit from the moderators will be occurring soon

A lot of Dos games (and those of the commodore systems) are freeware by now. Therefore the link is likely legit.

[NeonSamurai]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

A lot of Dos games (and those of the commodore systems) are freeware by now. Therefore the link is likely legit.

HOTU use to removed downloads for games when requested to do so by the IP holder, but after checking and downloading a few games that I know for a fact that the IP holder has not released to the general public, it would seem that they have not (or they put back a lot of games where the IP holder had requested the game be removed).

Contrary to popular belief most DOS games are still Intellectual Property and have not been released as freeware. Many of them are tied up where the IP holder is unknown due to the publishing company collapsing, this though does not mean that the games are not owned by anyone.

As such the first post was edited, and links were removed. Feel free to talk about the old games and stuff. Just please stay away from the topic of abandonware so that I won't have to issue any infractions.

[razark]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

A lot of Dos games (and those of the commodore systems) are freeware by now. Therefore the link is likely legit.

Unless the game has been explicitly released as freeware or placed in the public domain, the software still has a valid copyright. For the copyright to expire would take 50 years at the least, longer in many countries. There is a difference between freeware and abandonware. (Mainly, freeware has a definition)

BTW- I am a fan of old DOS games. I find there to be much more variation in gameplay and types of games compared to today. I also am no fan of the way software copyrights are maintained on old games. Seriously, no one is making money off of these games anymore. Many of the original copyright holders have gone out of business, or been bought and sold so many times that tracking who actually holds the copyright now is a futile search. I think game companies could survive with a fifteen or twenty year expiration. Hopefully, us fans of old game may someday see that happen.

My original post wasn't to step on toes, I just don't want to see someone loose access to this forum for violating a clear policy.

[NeonSamurai]

I happen to agree that copyright for software lasts way to long. Frankly I think 10 years before a piece of software becomes public domain is enough (though the owner should retain IP rights for longer then that).

But policy is policy and the law is the law (until it is changed). I haven't issued any infractions as of yet as this is a common misconception.

Originally Posted by razark

My original post wasn't to step on toes, I just don't want to see someone loose access to this forum for violating a clear policy.

I generally don't brig (temp ban) on the first offense, unless the person really goes overboard. Banning usually doesn't occur until the person has been brigged more then a few times, unless they do something really really bad.

[Castout]

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

I happen to agree that copyright for software lasts way to long. Frankly I think 10 years before a piece of software becomes public domain is enough (though the owner should retain IP rights for longer then that).

But policy is policy and the law is the law (until it is changed). I haven't issued any infractions as of yet as this is a common misconception.



I generally don't brig (temp ban) on the first offense, unless the person really goes overboard. Banning usually doesn't occur until the person has been brigged more then a few times, unless they do something really really bad.

Fair enough about the link. Didn't know. Most DOS games come before 1995. More like the early 1990s at the latest. So they are almost 20 years old at the minimum.

Originally Posted by Oberon

If you like Middle East Conflict you should also consider Crisis in the Kremlin and Shadow President. Both are very good political simulators. See how long you can last in the Kremlin, it's not easy at all.

Thanks for bringing them to my attention

[Schroeder]

@Neon & razark

O.K. my bad. I thought the companies had given up on the copyrights since the games are out of production for years and the game engines totally outdated.

[razark]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

@Neon & razark

O.K. my bad. I thought the companies had given up on the copyrights since the games are out of production for years and the game engines totally outdated.

The game engines may be outdated, but the fun is still there.