cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13809164
Ignoring the lack of updates if the game is buggy, games back then were also more focused on quality and make gamers replay the game with unlockable features based on skills, not money. I can’t count the number of times I played Metal Gear Solid games over and over to unlock new features playing the hardest difficulty and with handicap features, and also to find Easter eggs. Speaking of Easter eggs, you’d lose a number of hours exploring every nook and cranny finding them!
No game updates meant they sold a finished goddamn product, and if you found a glitch you could explore it. No online play meant there was no constant data collection for bug finding or license checks (for some games, in which the only way to opt out is not to play), and you weren’t locked out of the single player or split screen co-op story if you disconnected the internet. Nowadays they’re the fucking game police – you must only play the exact way the devs intended, and your fun is heavily conditional.