The places I love

Ok so this is going to make me look very geeky.... But I just can't stop myself from loving Heroes of Might and Magic III. Yes, just version 3. I love the long periods of thought in between each go, the time to figure out exactly which strategy is best, the pixel art creatures, the short list of games you can play, the small range of randomness in each new game. It's a finished package.

It's probably 10 years old at least. I have to force myself to stop playing it at times!

Some thoughts about loss

RE: losing the places you love.

Architects get this in a few ways:

• Fond memories of places they lived in or travelled to
• The buildings they design for others, and then must move on.

Anyone can relate to having lost that sense of involvement in stories and adventures from their childhood. Lost innocence maybe?

Gamers have a similar sense of loss, as do machinima makers:

• Games, like movies these days, are often remakes or retakes from the golden days of sci-fi, pixel-art games or the like, allowing a new exploration of a familiar world
  
• Machinima will often try to look more fake rather than more real, partly because it's so much harder to look real, but partly also because there are a lot of good memories rooted in earlier - less advanced - games.

Many people think that the essence of good game design is being lost when all the focus is on bigger being better.