Thank you, Renegade.

[Xtreemo]

I was firstly introduced to the C&C franchise around 2004/05, when I was 10/11 years old.

While visiting my uncle, I saw him playing a rather good-looking game for its time, using a futuristic red buggy to run around some strange structures in a cave. I was deeply amazed by the looks and feels of the game, and immediately expressed my excitement to try and play it. Luckily, I had brought my PC for them to help as they were PC experts, so my uncle managed to install the game in my PC.
I've spent the next hours, days and weeks playing that game, called 'Command & Conquer: Renegade'.

My uncle had the pirated version, so I couldn't watch the little movies, join on the internet to play online, neither do any updates. I had no clue of how games worked back then. Likewise, I didn't know there were updates, other games in a franchise, and stuff like that. As I was very young, I was also really naive. But one year after I played Renegade, I went to the supermarket and back then in Brazil they still had those gaming shelves with games spread throughout. I happened to find an original copy of Tiberian Sun. I asked my parents to buy it, and they did.
When I got home, I was firstly shocked on how different it was to the visuals of Renegade - as time went by, I was beginning to understand it was a series of games. But at the moment, I wasn't aware of it - but I gradually began to love it as well. It's still a great game to play, and once in a while I hop in the skirmish to have a bit of fun and to pass the time without any try-hard methods. Just hours of plain fun.
To show you how old my Tiberian Sun copy is, it's still the very first one where the Firestorm defense can remain active if you sell or deactivate your Power Plants. I do still have both CDs, but now I only have the internet pirate copies with the updates.
Another year later, I've found the copy of C&C Renegade in the same supermarket. I finally found out how to update the game. And years later, I started to wonder how would it feel to play on the internet...

Around 2009 I began to explore the world of Renegade in the online servers with other nicknames, until I found my very own. I still miss the classic Jelly and Cloud-Zone servers, where dozens and dozens of players would join you through many battles. There was also a building server with no battles, but you could have fun messing around with the game props to build your own stuff.
Lots of ppl from that time are surely missed, and I do hope they come back one day.
Now, Renegade is the one that is deeply inside my heart, and it's definitively my comfort game. I don't play the single-player campaign since ages, but the great feeling of playing it in 2022 hits my nostalgia veins pretty, pretty hard.
Since I was 10 years old I play this game after coming from school at 5-6pm, and here in Brazil that is the sunset time already. Many times I used to see or feel the presence of the sunset while coming home, and after doing so, I'd start to play Renegade right away. During the weekends I would rest in my mother's hammock for some time by the late afternoon, and when the sunset arrived, I knew it was the perfect time to play Ren for many hours of fun.

I have a very strong connection with nostalgia. Many games out there bring me almost the same feeling as when I'm talking about 'Renegade'. I've suffered bullying throughout many years of my life and playing games at home was surely one of the things that made me distract from the cruelty of those bastards in school, making me realize I could still have a good ending for my so ruined day. Ren is one of those games.
That's why when it's around that exact daytime here, every single day, I feel my nostalgia hitting hard when I see the sunset and the rain happening. That childhood feeling that will never come back, but always makes you smile and remember the great times you had while playing the best games you could play and/or afford. Many people here in Ren community might hate me (and of course, I might not like many out there too), but sometimes I put that feel aside when I realize how fun it is to have people around in a game that was launched over 20 years ago. It's an amazing sensation and makes me happy to know that I'm not the only one to love Renegade. It makes me happy to see that once in a while, new people join in and have fun, while other veterans come back and have fun with the people that are making this game last for so long. That's why I love to have long matches in Field, Under and other maps - the feeling of having these ppl around to play with you and having fun for hours is positively astounding.

Westwood and EA created this amazing franchise and gave their players the best experience they could have.

A deep and sincere thank you to Rencorner and many other servers, for keeping this community alive and making me still have the best modern memories I could have.

Thank you, honestly.

[GetPastMe]

This is a beautiful experience to share and one about which many of us will surely have parallel memories.  Thanks for sharing with us Xtreemo!

[MarcPoulet]

Wow! I am sure we all see a little bit of ourselves in what you just said. It is nice to play with you!

Recently I was doing some cleaning in an old hard drive to find a very short video of when I was younger playing on my PC... and it turn's out you can see it's Renegade on the screen lol

[MarcPoulet]

Found it! I had a blonde wig playing ren on old computer; this is from 2006 or before lol

[UksRene]

Lol at the monitor wow, how times flies 

[trunkskgb]

You should post this on Petroglyph or Frank's website or something to express your gratitude (something we all share) so the game creators can find it. Hell, put it up on YouTube even!

 

Good stuff!

CRT monitor, I remember those days lol

[MarcPoulet]

On 12/19/2022 at 9:46 AM, trunkskgb said:

You should post this on Petroglyph or Frank's website or something to express your gratitude (something we all share) so the game creators can find it. Hell, put it up on YouTube even!

 

Good stuff!

CRT monitor, I remember those days lol

I don't know what are Petroglyph or Frank's website lol (?)

[Blacky]

That was beautiful thank you. Still to this date I have never found any game like it.