Torchlight 2 should scratch that itch. To me, Path of Exile is something the Diablo series could have been but wasn't exactly? Though I haven't played it in a number of years, so I may be mis-remembering exactly what it was like. I seem to think it was more like a point-and-click RPG with kinda Diablo-like combat.
I think "rogue-lite" or something like that is a better term for what I like. I'm currently playing "Against the Storm" is one a coworker recommended recently and I'm enjoying so far. Spelunky 2 was OK. There are probably a couple other's I'm not remembering at the moment.
Yep. I think my age (I'm in my mid-40s) and being an adult when I played them or they came out has a lot to do with it. I think having less free time and a number of issues I deal with makes it harder to enjoy certain types of games (this is not to say young people don't face their own stresses and issues!)
I think any game you grew up with gets a nostalgia level assigned to it and it's easy to overlook certain flaws. For me, OoT felt like a step back, but I had been playing PC and Amiga games lot (I hated Starfox for this same reason). I'm sure I have the nostalgia glasses for some games, but I'm old enough that I think many wouldn't even know them, hah.
I have the exact opposite opinion, heh. Sniper elite drove me crazy when I'd carefully line up a shot and be just too far inside cover and shoot a wall I couldn't see because my freaking character was in the way
any 3d Zelda games. I didn't play OOT until I was in my late 20s and it was awful (specifically controls and camera). I tried watching people Speedrun it or do the randomizer, but the sound link makes when rolling (which most did most of the time) drove me crazy. BotW seemed like something I would like on paper, but Nintendo just had to work their new controls into some shrines and I found it frustrating. Also didn't like the breaking weapons. Link Between Worlds (神様のトライフォース ２) sits in a weird place. I mostly liked it, but hated the gimmicky 3d bits on the 3DS.
goldeneye for the same reasons - felt like a step backward and I had no nostalgia for it, playing it for the first time in my 30s.
anything with the N64 controller for the same reasons. It felt so unnatural and weird.
most roguelikes (but not all). Losing to random chance is annoying. Some randomness is of course fine
dark souls and the like. Watch boss. Die. Try again. Die. To me, that's boring. I'd rather have in-world ways of learning about the boss.
pokemon. I was already in high school, working part time, and doing a lot of school stuff (band/theatre/sports) and just never got into it. I tried Pokemon go and didn't care for it (but did like Dragon Quest Walk that came out later)
Final Fantasy 7 -- hated the camera and other similar things. Story and all was fine
Most 3rd person shooters (with the exception of Just Cause). I would line up the perfect shot in Sniper Elite only to shoot the few pixels of the corner of something I couldn't see because my character's dumb body was in the way
starfox. I was already playing better games like that on Amiga and other platforms, so it felt like a step back to me
At my buddy's house, he had a game called something like 'wings of glory' that was meant for an older clock speed. We were messing with the turbo button and it quickly became unplayable when not in the slower mode.
I remember reading an early-2000s book on game dev. It did mention that some game (I want to say one of the Unreal games, but I can't recall for sure) had to code their level loading in assembler because it was taking upwards of 10 minutes in C++.
Yeah, I definitely think the OP has super rose-colored glasses on. The free shareware was pretty awesome, though. I had one called "80 mega-hits" or something like that with a ton of games (many of which my poor old PC couldn't run).
I do think that optimization has slacked off more as hardware prices generally trended down. Disk space I don't so much mind, but memory and CPU are still expensive.
I don't mind that epic, etc. exist; I mind the exclusives. When Epic first launched, they didn't have payment processors in a number of countries so there was literally no way to legally play the games for people; that's super shitty.
I had a mouse where one was vertical and the other horizontal, but I seem to think the horizontal scroll was oriented horizontally. Having googled the mouse in the picture, it says one is programmable and suggests it starts with volume.
I play a mix of characters. If they're voiced, I tend to prefer feminine voices. I think there are a number of reasons for this, but one practical one is that I just hear better in a higher range for whatever reason (and this gets more true the older I get). I have a much easier time hearing higher-pitched voices and generally find them more pleasant.
If they're not voiced, it depends upon if I'm role-playing something specific. If so, I'll pick whichever I think fits best. If not, I'll probably pick a female character just because I find them more pleasing to look at. I always wanted to go back and do a female V playthough of Cyberpunk, but I just never got around to it.
Years ago, in the early 2000s, I got in to MMOs with Final Fantasy XI. I played mostly female characters there because people were more likely to help out.