Games you can't remember the title of.

[Deva]

No. It was Pacman. I played it around 2003-2004 on the internet.

Pac-Man Arrangement? May have reproduced it elsewhere on the internet. Specifically mentioned warp points like teleporters. Was it still top-down, or more three-dimensional? (Asks, just in case.)

[LaserGuy]

* Background: This is an attempt to help my friend find a game that he's not even sure it's real, it might be a figment of his imagination lol he said that it was around the early 90s, and that he never beat it. Also, it had a mysterious vibe.
* System: DOS
* Year: Around the early 90s
* Perspective: Completely 2D, without the sense of perspective.
* Art style: Very pixelated, with solid colors.
* Environment: It looks like the focus of the game was mainly the environment, like if the character was just a detail and didn't occupy much space on-screen. There was someone (an NPC?) that transformed into a bird (maybe a crow). Also, the game had dialogs in text boxes. The only thing about the scenery he remembers is some place with a church, or church-like windows, like those big glass panes.
* Mood: It had a dark mood.
* Genre: It looks like some fantasy adventure, possibly medieval.
* Gameplay: The interaction was either by clicking or by moving the character with the arrow keys. When switching scenarios (or levels?) there seemed to be some sort of animation or transition.

Sorry for the broadness, like I said, he's not even sure the game existed...
Thanks in advance!

Maybe Loom?

[edit]Yeah, like 95% sure this is right. The opening sequence has a cathedral and a bunch of people turning into birds.

[PortgasDMana]

No. It was Pacman. I played it around 2003-2004 on the internet.

Pac-Man Arrangement? May have reproduced it elsewhere on the internet. Specifically mentioned warp points like teleporters. Was it still top-down, or more three-dimensional? (Asks, just in case.)

No. It was 2D.

[Common_Freak]

2nd game :

-Pacman (lol)
-with every level, the map and the "fruit" changed
-besides the usual fruits (cherry, strawberry, orange...), there also was burger, chips and coke
-higher levels had teleporters

I have a pac man cd-rom that contains about 30 pac man games, maybe I could find it for you this weekend.
Can you provide some more info, like if it was on windows or on dos?
The template works best for that.

[Deva]

Mentioned that later.

No. It was Pacman. I played it around 2003-2004 on the internet.

[pncdj]

Background: it's a kids' game about escaping a castle. the title has something to do with the word "Lexicon" - Lexicon Dungeon or Lexicon Castle or something like that; not sure if it was a different spelling, and i've tried a lot of different possible words with no results
System: PC. DOS?
Year: played in the early 90s
Perspective: i think it was a first-person view of different static environments, sort of like Castle of Dr. Brain
Art style: dark and gloomy; graphics maybe looked painted? can't say for sure
Environment: walking around a dungeon guided by some kind of creature; i think it was some kind of green troll with glasses or something similar
Mood: a little creepy
Genre: educational
Gameplay: i think you solved word puzzles?

thanks for any help!

[Deva]

- Lexi-Cross? (Mostly for the name, release date, and word puzzles. Misses theme. Probably ruled this out already.)
- Mind Castle? (Turned you into a frog.)
- I.M. Meen? (Probably would have remembered the Doom gameplay. Released it late too. Fits the dark theme and (non-green) sidekick with word puzzles part, however.)

[pncdj]

it's not those, but thanks! Mind Castle seems like the closest, but mine had more of the dark IM Meen aesthetic and i'm pretty sure of the "lexicon" thing

[Jorpho]

Not The Dark Heart of Uurkrul?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Heart_of_Uukrul

[Grop]

Nice name!

[bobby_tables]

* Background: A game that I remember playing but never finishing when I was a kid. I've had no luck identifying it via Google searches.
* System: PC, probably DOS although possibly Win3 or Win95
* Year: early to mid 90s
* Perspective: Primarily 2D side scroller
* Art style: I think it was sprite-based. The art also reminded me a lot of Zelda. Kind of anime-like and/or Japanese for the main character.
* Environment: The majority of the game took place underground in caves or caverns that were generally tiered like a typical platform side scroller. As I recall, after finishing a level, you'd go back to the surface for some cut scenes to advance the story and to possibly buy better weapons, etc.
* Mood: The mood reminded me a lot of the early Zelda games -- very quest-like with lots of monsters, obstacles, and some puzzles to solve. The mood of the story, as best as I can remember it, reminded me of Sierra's King's Quest games, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a Sierra game as I've gone through their game catalog and not seen anything that looks like this.
* Genre: RPG action side scroller, some platform elements
* Gameplay: As mentioned above, the bulk of the story took place in cut scenes that happened above ground, but the bulk of the gameplay took place underground in some sort of either caverns or caves. I remember the main character being very similar to Link, elf-like with an upgradable sword as his main weapon. I think he had some magic capabilities, but I remember less about that. You'd encounter various creatures underground and have to find artifacts to progress to new levels. I remember the levels as caves with progressively deeper passages that were layed out in side-scrolling platform style. It's possible that it was an import of a foreign game, but if so, it had been translated to English.

[Deva]

Quick guess before sleep: Zeliard?

[bobby_tables]

Quick guess before sleep: Zeliard?

That's it, thanks! I don't know how you come up with all of these so quick. It turns out it was distributed by Sierra but I think I missed that because the cover graphics were so different from what I remembered of the gameplay graphics.

[skyblue195]

Background: medieval (swords/bows/spears ect) RTS with a kind of dark feel to it, you brought out troops in groups, i belive you start off in a rural place and its dark and raining but take that with a pinch of salt.
System: PC
Year: before 2012 and i would say after 2005
Perspective: standard RTS 3D
art style: dark, decent graphics, lots of stuff like foliage and gates/fences etc. on the ground
Environment: Rural
Mood: dark and serious but not horrifying
Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS)
Gameplay: you could change the formation of your troops, as mentioned above you brought out units in groups, i dont remember any base building

[Deva]

Kingdom Elemental Tactics, Windchaser, The Kings’ Crusade, or Real Warfare II: Northern Crusades?

[Naddillu]

* Background: I have played this game as a little kid with my brother. We have never finished it. We have called it a name that would translate as "Rock man" to English but I have no idea why. We are now trying really hard to find any info about it for nostalgy reasons but Google gives nothing.
* System: PC, Win95 or Win98
* Year: Late 90s but given the super simple graphics the game may be older.
* Perspective: 2D, side view, Mario style
* Art style: Very simple 8bit, the closest looking thing I found would be probably Lode Runner but its not it. Barely shaded.
* Environment: I remember black background (for the early levels for sure at least) and the color of the blocks you jumped on changed in different levels. The first level had red bricks, then it was blue/purple. You controlled one sprite, a guy wearing red and blue who was jumping around and climbing ladders, avoiding (later shooting) monsters who were mostly weird shapes - some looked much like this:

IMG_7360.PNG (5.54 KiB) Viewed 5305 times

. In a later event there was a spider boss, you would approach it through a corridor and it would shoot smaller spiders before attacking itself. There were also flames and lava you had to avoid falling in. You were collecting gems/diamonds.
* Mood: Well mostly darker because of the color scheme but I'm not sure if there was even any story to it, don't think so...
* Genre: A side scroller platformer, simple jumping game
* Gameplay: I think the entire main point of the game was collecting the diamonds, there was no apparent story behind it, at least as far as we got. It was controlled by keyboard, moving with the arrow keys. You started without any weapon and simply had to avoid the enemies until you acquired a gun a little later. I remember a locked door in Level 1 that you had to find the key to access. This isn't much, but I was about 5 when I played it and my brother is younger so this is about all we were able to gather up. Thanks for any ideas!

[Deva]

Crystal Caves or Dangerous Dave?

[Naddillu]

Crystal Caves or Dangerous Dave?

IT WAS DANGEROUS DAVE!!! Thank you so much I searched for it everywhere! I now realize that I got a lot of it mixed up with different games but that was impressive, thank you!

[horza]

* Background: Found a review of it on some site (can't recall which). Devs claimed a new approach to a turn based strategy game, in which you can't win, but you have to stick it out as long as you can. ( i recall something like 4x survival, or roguelike strategy being used but googling this returns nothing useful)
* System: PC
* Year: 2010+
* Perspective: 2d (think civ strategic map)
* Art style: neat, map-like, soft colors
* Environment:
* Mood: It had a really nice approach on defeat and imparted a sense of
* Genre: turn based strategy/resource management
* Gameplay: high level resource management - akin to playing shogun total war in strategic mode, no battles.

[Deva]

Empire?

Edit addition: Found this review.

This uneasy relationship with the earth is Empire's crowning achievement. You are going to lose. The question is, how long can you stave that off for? Every turn has a meaningful decision -- you know that you can't focus on any one city for very much time, but when you do you jump? How long do you keep your eggs in that basket? How soon until the monsters overcome your defense?

[horza]

it was Empire! Holy shit, thanks a lot - this has been on my mind for a few days now

turns out it was on android, not on pc as i remembered it

[Ginger]

* System: PC.
* Year: I think like '90s or earlier?
* Perspective: First person.
* Art style: Texts only.
* Environment: Modern day but like it was made years ago.
* Mood: Neutral, it felt kinda therapeutic looking at the black screen w/texts on it.
* Genre: Text based adventure/therapist simulator.
* Gameplay: You ask questions to an automate therapist. I think there were more than one of these, and actually I could make a whole separate entry for text base adventures where you input directions yet anyways. You can ask her anything in the phrases she knows. Including inappropriate questions and she shall respond.

[Deva]

Eliza?

Golden Oldies Eliza.png (2.68 KiB) Viewed 5212 times

Released it in Golden Oldies: Volume 1. Mentioned it being an adaptation on the Mobygames page. Produced "Ecala" between the original Eliza and the re-release too. Called it an enhanced version of the original Eliza.

[Ginger]

Deva, you my hero. Exactly the one I was thinking of. <3 You Deva.

[el matematico]

I have 2:

*Background: This game came in a Macintosh computer in 95 or 96. I remember that openning the program sent you to a bunch of settings before anything else, which was part of the reason I remember so little about the game (I didn't know any English back then, so actually playing meant navigating through these settings first). Because of random attempts, I know one of the options was playing in color or black/white. There was a sequence when the actual game started, a character enters a mansion (where the game takes place) and lightning falls near it.
* System: It was a game for a macintosh.
* Year: I played it 95 or 96.
* Perspective: 2D, some areas had side scrolling.
* Art style: Very simple sprites. There was a monster/obstacle that could have been a snake or electrified floor. Like Maniac Mansion but even simpler graphically?
* Mood: Dark/mysterious, I think.
* Genre: I don't know, probably puzzle, but that certain monster/obstacle moved around and you had to act quick.
* Gameplay: Point and clic.

*Background: Game made in RPG maker 2003. I know this almost makes it impossible to find, but I think it won some award or was created for a competition and won, so it's worth trying. There's a space expedition that crash lands on a certain unhabited (?) planet. The crew survives and sets a camp using the ship materials. You play as one of the astrounauts doing quests to help sustain the camp and look for a way to be rescued. I got stuck at a certain quest that made you look for a phone number.
* Year: 2004-2006.
* Perspective: 2D top down (typical RPGmaker stuff).
* Art style: Sprites. Something particular is that while charaters in RM2003 can be like 1.8 tiles high, all characters in this game fit in a single tile, making them look tiny. The planet was mostly light gray, as if it took place in our moon.
* Mood: Calm. NPCs were focused on doing stuff instead of worrying, there wasn't an inmediate danger or a heavy atmosphere.
* Genre: Exploration/puzzle.
* Gameplay: RPG without random encounters or combat (as far as I could play).

[poxic]

Beyond Dark Castle?

No idea about the second one.

[Deva]

Second game: Epic: The Genesis Project?

Epic: The Genesis Project is a relatively low-key science-fiction RPG. In an alternate universe, a war-torn galaxy is caught in the middle of an inter-galactic war, spanning both time and space. The protagonist, Ashanti Kasou, is a member of the Galactic Marine Corps, a force dedicated to wiping out the Kalashi, an evil alien race from beyond the stars. When his past is shattered in a stunning attack by the Kalashi, Ashanti is left with little left to do but swear one vow to himself: that he will completely and utterly obliterate the Kalashi.

Naturally, the task is too big for one man. Crash landing on the planet Daskat, Ashanti sets out on a journey to find allies willing to share his passionate hatred. As he travels farther and farther, he journeys deeper into a forever deepening plot that will soon place him as the figurehead of the galaxy. Blood will be spilt. People will die, people will survive.

But sometimes, the people that matter most aren't the ones that live.

Epic: The Genesis Project is a winner of a Misao Award, a very prestigious awards ceremony in the RPG Maker amateur community. It won the 2006 award for Best Futuristic Game, and looks set to win more in the future.

Epic: The Genesis Project is also the first part of a duology. It features a non-linear storyline that involves inter-planetary travel. The planets do not have to be visited in any order; it is up to the player to decide their way through the game! Epic: The Genesis Project features 4 mandatory planets, with several optional, hidden planets to be found.

Sounds combat-heavy. Says nothing of it under Gameplay, though.

[el matematico]

Second game: Epic: The Genesis Project?

Sounds combat-heavy. Says nothing of it under Gameplay, though.

I couldn't find any images or videos, but doesn't sound like it. In my game there was a full crew of human NPCs at the planet and there was never any mention of recruiting a party for vengeance (or recruiting at all). Thinking about it, it's most likely that I played in 2005 and not later.

Beyond Dark Castle?

No idea about the second one.

No, the game I remember was point and clic and did have an option for colours (it may have been limited to 16 colors). A very similar game I found while looking is Maniac Mansion, but my game was clearly simpler in design. Now I'm starting to wonder if it was a bootleg.

[Jorpho]

I would be inclined to suggest it was a Hypercard game, but it's unlikely a Hypercard game would ask if you wanted black and white or color.

I took a look through Google Images, searching for "macintosh"+"system+6"+"snake".
Cybernation ?
Psychotic - The Escape ?
Mission: Thunderbolt ?
System's Twilight ?
Shadow Keep ?

[el matematico]

It's none of those. I also went and searched that site for all the games in any category that could fit. I found a lot of games I had forgotten about, but not the one.

Maniac Mansion is a game that is similar in many ways to the one I remember, except the story and designs don't fit. I searched for other games made with the same engine (SCUMMM) but they equally or more stylized instead of simpler.

[Deva]

First game:
- Hugo’s House of Horrors? Resembles a bootleg Maniac Mansion. Acts quickly to appease a dog. Relies on a text parser, unfortunately.

- Eternity Inn?

eternity_inn_reception.png (73.05 KiB) Viewed 5045 times

I don't remember seeing any people in this game at all, except for maybe a portrait somewhere.
I remember a thing on the wall that looked like it had some green or white circles in it, maybe? It was part of a puzzle, and I'm pretty sure the circles had letters in them. It looked a little like Wheel of Fortune, in that you wound up with a phrase when you solved it. This could be entirely wrong though!
There was most definitely a piano and a puzzle involving it. I never figured out how to solve that part. I think you saw the entire piano as you played, not a close-up...
There was a chest somewhere, and when you clicked it, it would give you this creepy, deep voice that said, "Noooo keeeyyy." I assume there was a key to be found.
Pretty sure it was night outside. Possibly a Halloween-based game. No clue if there was a villain involved. I think the rooms were navigated by side-scrolling, so you saw only one perspective of each room. Probably 2D. May have been able to zoom in on a window or a mirror in some spot? Little animation that I can remember. Also I was like FOUR YEARS OLD so it's a miracle that I remember even this much.

________________________

Second game: Perhaps a Misao Award winner? Wikia link. Might ring a bell.

[Astra_moon]

I've got one for you guys:

* Background: IIRC it was on a Win XP demo compilation cd-rom collection... it felt like a fully fleshed out game though, I think it took about 2 hours to get through the full demo. I think it had a girls name in the title (Alexis/Alexa/Alexia I don't know exactly, but it's hard to look for on google, because of Amazon Alexa ) I suspect they might have released a full version, but who knows...
* System: PC, probably Windows XP... I think it couldn't be anything else
* Year: early 2000s
* Perspective: 3D-ish and first person
* Art style: I have no idea, but definitely more realistic (so not super obviously cartoony or so)
* Environment: Very old era of ninja's? In Japan probably... Outdoors all the time and several very distinctive zones (like dessert and polar etc)
* Mood: Very sad, also sad music (melodramatic).
* Genre: Action first person fighting game (of some sorts). Probably only single player.
* Gameplay: The story started with girl ninja (MC) getting a letter/scroll that says her father is kidnapped by some evil clan. And your master(?) tells you where you should go to save him. The entire game is you going from zone to zone and learning different elemental powers while kicking the asses of the enemies(ninja's). You start with normal karate moves like a kick and a slash and every zone you complete you get a new elemental power which fits the zone. I remember a whirlwind and multiple whirlwinds at the same time from the desert zone(?). I believe you see the girl you play either in the main menu or after each level and she had blue (karate) robes on. At the end of each level/zone there was a small boss to defeat. More I can't remember.

It's been bugging me for years that I can't remember the (full) name of it! Please halp! x3

[bubbleaffair]

Background: You are an astronaut dropped onto a planet or planets and have to complete IQ puzzles to progress and fix your broken down spaceship
System: Flash game for PC
Year: Mid 2000s
Perspective: 2D but not a platformer, the planets would be the centre of gravity and the camera rotates around their centre
Art Style: Animated, colour, kind of Newgrounds-ish, The character had a big head compared to his body
Environment: Planetary, space-themed, you could drop into certain puzzle areas inside the planet
Mood: Classical or ambient music
Genre: Puzzle
Gameplay: Quite slow, you would usually take a while to complete each puzzle. One puzzle includes symbols stuck in rotating circles and you have to match the correct symbols in place to proceed. Another included turning on/off a series of switches but when you altered one, the switches either side would change as well.

I vaguely recall the title to be a single word like; "articulate" or something. It's definitely not the flash game Aether as I've looked through that.
I remember absolutely loving this game and I've been searching for it for ages now!

[Jorpho]

Background: You are an astronaut dropped onto a planet or planets and have to complete IQ puzzles to progress and fix your broken down spaceship

Not "How Smart Are You", is it? I was just watching a bit about that.
https://youtu.be/ZV1dERHKBc8?t=47

[Deva]

(Searched for the first person ninja game. Found nothing close. Produced very few first person fighting games.)

Background: You are an astronaut dropped onto a planet or planets and have to complete IQ puzzles to progress and fix your broken down spaceship
System: Flash game for PC
Year: Mid 2000s
Perspective: 2D but not a platformer, the planets would be the centre of gravity and the camera rotates around their centre
Art Style: Animated, colour, kind of Newgrounds-ish, The character had a big head compared to his body
Environment: Planetary, space-themed, you could drop into certain puzzle areas inside the planet
Mood: Classical or ambient music
Genre: Puzzle
Gameplay: Quite slow, you would usually take a while to complete each puzzle. One puzzle includes symbols stuck in rotating circles and you have to match the correct symbols in place to proceed. Another included turning on/off a series of switches but when you altered one, the switches either side would change as well.

I vaguely recall the title to be a single word like; "articulate" or something. It's definitely not the flash game Aether as I've looked through that.
I remember absolutely loving this game and I've been searching for it for ages now!

The Dreamerz?

[LaserGuy]

I've got one for you guys:

* Background: IIRC it was on a Win XP demo compilation cd-rom collection... it felt like a fully fleshed out game though, I think it took about 2 hours to get through the full demo. I think it had a girls name in the title (Alexis/Alexa/Alexia I don't know exactly, but it's hard to look for on google, because of Amazon Alexa ) I suspect they might have released a full version, but who knows...
* System: PC, probably Windows XP... I think it couldn't be anything else
* Year: early 2000s
* Perspective: 3D-ish and first person
* Art style: I have no idea, but definitely more realistic (so not super obviously cartoony or so)
* Environment: Very old era of ninja's? In Japan probably... Outdoors all the time and several very distinctive zones (like dessert and polar etc)
* Mood: Very sad, also sad music (melodramatic).
* Genre: Action first person fighting game (of some sorts). Probably only single player.
* Gameplay: The story started with girl ninja (MC) getting a letter/scroll that says her father is kidnapped by some evil clan. And your master(?) tells you where you should go to save him. The entire game is you going from zone to zone and learning different elemental powers while kicking the asses of the enemies(ninja's). You start with normal karate moves like a kick and a slash and every zone you complete you get a new elemental power which fits the zone. I remember a whirlwind and multiple whirlwinds at the same time from the desert zone(?). I believe you see the girl you play either in the main menu or after each level and she had blue (karate) robes on. At the end of each level/zone there was a small boss to defeat. More I can't remember.

It's been bugging me for years that I can't remember the (full) name of it! Please halp! x3

Any chance it could be Nightshade? Doesn't really fit your description super well, but it's as close as I could find.

Hmm... if it was a demo version, it could be that you had only the Aska disc from Cy Girls

[Astra_moon]

I've got one for you guys:

* Background: IIRC it was on a Win XP demo compilation cd-rom collection... it felt like a fully fleshed out game though, I think it took about 2 hours to get through the full demo. I think it had a girls name in the title (Alexis/Alexa/Alexia I don't know exactly, but it's hard to look for on google, because of Amazon Alexa ) I suspect they might have released a full version, but who knows...
* System: PC, probably Windows XP... I think it couldn't be anything else
* Year: early 2000s
* Perspective: 3D-ish and first person
* Art style: I have no idea, but definitely more realistic (so not super obviously cartoony or so)
* Environment: Very old era of ninja's? In Japan probably... Outdoors all the time and several very distinctive zones (like dessert and polar etc)
* Mood: Very sad, also sad music (melodramatic).
* Genre: Action first person fighting game (of some sorts). Probably only single player.
* Gameplay: The story started with girl ninja (MC) getting a letter/scroll that says her father is kidnapped by some evil clan. And your master(?) tells you where you should go to save him. The entire game is you going from zone to zone and learning different elemental powers while kicking the asses of the enemies(ninja's). You start with normal karate moves like a kick and a slash and every zone you complete you get a new elemental power which fits the zone. I remember a whirlwind and multiple whirlwinds at the same time from the desert zone(?). I believe you see the girl you play either in the main menu or after each level and she had blue (karate) robes on. At the end of each level/zone there was a small boss to defeat. More I can't remember.

It's been bugging me for years that I can't remember the (full) name of it! Please halp! x3

Any chance it could be Nightshade? Doesn't really fit your description super well, but it's as close as I could find.

Hmm... if it was a demo version, it could be that you had only the Aska disc from Cy Girls

No, I don't think it's either of those, because I am very sure it had the name of a girl (the main character) in the title. But thanks anyway! ^^

[Moose Anus]

Hmm... if it was a demo version, it could be that you had only the Aska disc from Cy Girls

No, I don't think it's either of those, because I am very sure it had the name of a girl (the main character) in the title. But thanks anyway! ^^

Was the main character's name Aska?

[Astra_moon]

Hmm... if it was a demo version, it could be that you had only the Aska disc from Cy Girls

No, I don't think it's either of those, because I am very sure it had the name of a girl (the main character) in the title. But thanks anyway! ^^

Was the main character's name Aska?

Hmm... I don't think so, but can't say it with certainty. But I think it was more something like Alexia or so.

[horza]

* System: PC.
* Year: 2002+ (After neveriwnter nights, iirc - because i remember comparing it with nwn)
* Perspective: isometric but controllable camera (much like NWN)
* Art style: Looks a bit like Paradox's "Runemaster"
* Environment: medieval, historical/realistic (no magic iirc)
* Mood: dark, realistic stuff
* Genre: rpg/arpg(?),
* Gameplay: I've only read an article about it, so not sure about that.

The thing that stands out though, and if you've played it or heard about it it will surely ring the bell, is that it promised a "realistic items stats" in which swords for example, don't have your regular % to hit, damage, etc. but instead have "blade quality", "weight", "balance" which would somehow yield its effectiveness in combat.

I keep turning to "Runemaster" - which ticks all the boxes but can't confirm it also had that itemization, so i'm at a loss. Please help.