I <3 what nobody else wants

[featherynscale]

Random trawl of the internet today yielded this site, which maintains a directory of underrated video games, many of which freeware, shareware, or abandonware available for download. They are also kind enough to point out where one can buy those games that are still for sale.

How many of my favorite games of all time make the list of 'underrated'? Most of them. I <3 what nobody else wants. *sigh*

Comments

[lordkalkin.livejournal.com]

My favorite PC game is like that. Planescape: Torment won best RPG in 1998, and about a year later, you could buy it for less than five bucks, packaged with a really crappy game called Soulbringer. To this day, I try to push Torment on other people, especially D&D gamers. Really, it's the best 2nd edition game ever made.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

*sigh*
It's my favorite, too. I own it, even. Except that the fourth CD has some sort of scratch, or dog tooth mark or other weak point, so that it never installs properly. You can play my copy right up to the point where you go through that last portal out of the Mortuary, and then it crashes. V. Sad. I wish I had picked up another copy of it when I first noticed this was a problem, but no. I wasn't gonna pay for the game twice. I occasionally scour the bargain bin at Micro Center to see if a copy will turn up, mais non.

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

I feel that way about Homeworld
and homeworld:cataclysm
---
Real 3-d space physics combat!

[lordkalkin.livejournal.com]

I got a copy on eBay lately, for not too much, too. For that matter, my copy only has two cds...did they do a different run or something? Well, let me know if you can't find it on eBay and I'll burn you a copy of mine and give them to you at DragonCon or something.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Wow. I've played way too many of those, even Amulet of Yendor (briefly, I don't think I had all the files, or something). I heart shareware.

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

My sons are so going to love this site, assuming they don't know about it:) thanks

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

sigh.. yeah, they know about it.. oh well, so much for the cool mom points I was going to garner.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Oh well. You probably still get *some* cool mom points. :)

[liquidfun.livejournal.com]

I see Allegiance is on there with a 9.7 rating.

Great game, Microsoft abandoned it ... I have no idea why. It's nearly the only thing in its niche market and I'm betting they could re-release it with a small monthly fee and sell a million people on pay-to-play.

Team-oriented, fast action, no leveling treadmill (so you can play one night a month and not be useless), good balance, lots of variety between games, lots of strategy, yet with all that noobs can still be helpful to a team of veterans.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I've never even heard of that one...

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

Huh. The only games I ever got into at all were the Cyan Myst games. How totally nerdy is that?

[matchgirl42.livejournal.com]

Oooh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Castle of the Winds!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dude, I haven't played that in, like, forever!!!

*goes into a geekery tizzy while commencing download*

[infintysquared.livejournal.com]

Yep. I've been a fan of House Of The Underdogs for years. I trawl it for games I grew up with, and the occasional new find.

HotU has really helped convince me on the ethics of a respectful Abandonware stance. They're one of the most responsible abandonware sites out there, and they do keep alive some of the greatest games from computer history that would otherwise be lost to time.

In a similar vein is Quest Studios. The guy there has done a lot of work to preserve the faboo music from the old Sierra adventure games, with the full consent (and outright aid in some cases) of Sierra On-Line.
Back in the day I sent 'em a couple midi tracks of my own remixes of Quest for Glory themes, though it looks like they've since lost the files in a server update. I dunno if I'll worry about sending 'em back... They're from many years ago when I was first starting to seriously compose, and they sound waaaayyy amateurish to my ears now.