StoppedInTracks
Member
As promised here's another part of my list. As always: I have completed all games liste below.
Enjoy!
Part 1: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=469298
Part 3: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=36728077#post36728077
Part 4: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=36851341#post36851341
Shadowcaster
eBay
A very run of the mill RPG with one neat idea: you can transform into different monster forms (just like in Lands of Lore 2) each one having different skills and features. For example there is a flying eye thing which flies and can get you over all of the traps, there is a fish like monster who can breath underwater (normally you drown pretty quickly and there are whole drowned levels and there is NONE Helmet of Water Breathing like in Black Crypt
etc. Game seems hard enough at the beginning but soon you can transform into a huge four-armed cat that tears monsters apart. Later on you get a Stone Golem form which can walk on fire and is basically imprevious to physical damage. Then it's just a matter of getting to the last boss who actually possesses the same ability as you and transforms into all the previous bosses you met before! Levels are quite small, there are not many of them (14 or 15) and the game is over pretty quickly. Oh: the inventory is tiny. I had to throw away almost 50% of found items!
Amulets & Armor
eBay
This is more of an action game than RPG because enemies move very, very fast and have deadly accuracy. A&A has a pretty original hub and mission like structure. You start in an Inn and can buy "quests". Each quests requires you to be at certain level and offers certain rewards (as well as unlocks further quests: think Marks in Final Fantasy 12). Each quest takes place on a different level and levels in this game are very, very varied. From green valleys filled with Elven Archers, thru huge Castles brimming with Deadly Knights right to Volcanoes with Dragons flying near the ceiling. Of course you can fly as well and kill those suckers It uses some fancy 3D engine and looks quite interesting. Just as Anvil of Dawn it has real-time mana regeneration so you have infite albeit very slow healing. I really liked the MIDI music in this title it was quite calming and relaxing.
Black Crypt
eBay
Ahh... the very first RPG I have ever played and finished [on Amiga]. Also the ONLY one where I had to cheat. Black Crypt is hard. Fucking HARD. Not "hard" as Realms of Arkania is but "hard" as in:
- almost each single encounter can kill you
- there is a unbeatable boss on the very second level which requires a special weapon to kill and you can get to that weapon only by passing his area
- there are underwater levels where you can drown pretty quickly
I simply could not do it. Maybe I was too young or too dumb for this game. I opened up some hex editor and using trial and error hax0red my saves in order to give me 9000 HP. Game got manageable after that There are some very unique bosses in Black Crypt: the Ogre above, the Medusa and the last boss who requires a very epic way of killing: you slice the air with your ubermagical sword which opens a void and then you have to mash him in there using your ubermagical hammer. That was so cool back in the day. Specific end boss killing weapons. More games should follow this idea!
Overall Black Crypt is heavily recommended. Real men play Black Crypt. Pussies play Eye of the Beholder.
Eye of the Beholder
Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon
Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor
(EoB1)
(EoB2)
(EoB3)
eBay
Well what can I say? THE Dungeon Crawler series (post Dungeon Master era). Instant classics. Based on D&D rules those games ruled back in the day. For me personally they were not original nor very challenging (EotB3 difficulty is a joke) yet I could not stop playing them. The trilogy is pure dungeon adventuring (excluding singular woods and overland areas) chock full of hidden buttons (the sound walls make when you press them is forever and ever in my mind), pits, weight plates, dart traps, teleporters, magic fields and every other nasty thing dungeon crawlers are known for.
Eye of the Beholder 1 lives up to its name and features a Beholder as the last boss. Funny thing is I played EotB after finishing Baldur's Gate 2 (where you kill Beholders by the dozen) and I simply smiled when I got to the end of it. I do not remember much of EotB 2&3 just some parts outdoors, some evil priests etc. but for sure they did no impress me as much as EotB1.
Still the trilogy is a must-play an obligatory entry in every RPG lover's portfolio.
Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession
eBay
SSI can do no wrong when it comes to first person RPGs. Ravenloft is no different: a quality dungeon crawler based on the popular vampiric D&D series. Graphically it is the weakest of the "trilogy" (SP, Menzoberranzan and Stone Prophet) but that is no surprise as it was the first one. If you like D&D rules (I do) then you will like Ravenloft. It takes a while to get used to but then it clicks and is all fun.
Menzoberranzan
eBay
The best out of the 3 games mentioned above. Menzoberranzan features the infamous city of Drow and the even more infamous Drizzt Do'Urden who can become an NPC in your party (but he is nowhere near as overpowered as in Baldur's Gate). As you can imagine the game is full of violets, dark blues and spiders. A pretty awesome dungeon romp that has a very good plot to boot. I remember even being scared in some places but it is Stone Prophet takes the cake when it comes to gripping fear when uncharting dark dungeons.
Easily recommended.
Wizards & Warriors
eBay
David W. Bradley's pre-last game. I sincerely do not understand the very low reviews this game got. Nor do I understand the lack of following in hardcore RPG community. W&W is basically Wizardry 9. People loved Wizardry 8 and wanted more. Well there is more: Wizards & Warriors. It looks like Wizardry game. It plays like Wizardry game. It has AMAZING dungeons and puzzles (the ray of sun + mirrors one). It has terribly powerful monsters that can wipe your party in few turns (the dreaded crawling piranha plants that killed me countless of times; the only way to beat them was spamming spells and constantly hiding behind level geometry). It has lots of skills, lots of races, lots of classes including elite ones (just like Wiazrdry!). The game was destroyed in the reviews because of how it looked and how old-school it played. People wanted to shoot shit and here they were dying backstabbed by bandits...
Real-talk: if you are a fan of the Wizardry series, W&W is a MUST. It is Wizardry 9 for all intents and purposes. Get it!
Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/might_and_magic_6_limited_edition
Oh Might and Magic... my favourite RPG series ever created... I cannot speak about this series without being emotionally invested. This is the title that started it all and also the last M&M title I had to complete. It was pretty... painful but totally worth it. Right from the beginning of the series Might and Magic offered unparallel freedom in world exploration, a huge overworld with towns, castles and dungeons all over the place. Game is very, very old-school. If you have bad luck you will get gangbanged by dozen of Golden Dragons and die in one turn. Fun fact: if you find non-random chest you can leave it untouched and search the area again for it. It's quality will be rerolled each time (in som boundaries) so it's always worth it to reroll a few times for that Golden Chest.
Might and Magic 1 is awesome if you are a diehard fan of the series like me. Otherwise... it may be simply too old.
Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/might_and_magic_6_limited_edition
The second part of the M&M universe and what a difference the graphics make! For me 16-colours are the bare minimum where I accept a game to be "playable" and bearable (sorry M&M1!). The mechanics itself are exactly the same as in M&M1 - if it ain't broken don't fix it. This is the part where series staples spells are introduced including Lloyd's Beacon (think Town Portal from Diablo). Only because the graphics got a next-gen boost this part became soooooooooooooo much more better.
Still for the hardcore but much easier for the eye than M&M1. Has a few umm... game streamlining features as well.
Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/might_and_magic_6_limited_edition
Start the game. Go a few steps forward to Fountain's Head main square. Look at the blue walls. Look at the beautiful fountains. Listen to the charming music. Shoot your bow to hear that "p'tong" sound. One simply cannot *not* fall in love with this game.
M&M3 was the second roleplaying game I ever booted up. Coming from Black Crypt you can imagine how a fucking WORLD of difference this made. There was huuuuuuuuuge overworld full of quests and surprises. You had different skills for traversing tree or mountain terrain. You could walk on water even! (of course the game is easy as fuck but shhhhhhhhhhh). There are dozens and dozens of weapons, armors and accessories in this game. Countless different monsters. So much stuff to do... there is simply so much stuff to do!
This is where the magic of Might and Magic begins.
Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen
Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen
(M&M4)
(M&M5)
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/might_and_magic_6_limited_edition
Two words: WORLD OF XEEN.
Imagine one of the two biggest roleplaying games around for example Skyrim and Oblivion. Imagine that you could somehow... MERGE THEM! That's right M&M4 and M&M5 are two insanely huge games released a year apart. These two games could be merged into one mother of all RPG games called World of Xeen. There were special portals that took you between the two worlds.
Insanity, total insanity.
Sadly I had never the pleasure of playing them as one entity. I finished M&M4 first and a year later M&M5. Sometimes I get that itch to try and play World of Xeen (which unlocks 1 or 2 new dungeons not found in neither M&M4 or M&M5)... maybe someday I will!
Everything that is the Might and Magic series can be summed up in one word: IMMENSE. Immense graphics (Minotaurs! Diamond Golems! Cloud Dragons!) Immense world (really fucking huge). Immense gameplay.
These two games sculpted me as a RPG lover. I compare every single RPG that came out after 1994 to them. They are the standard, the pattern.
I will leave you with the following, can you remember who and where says those lines in M&M5?
"Where to?"
"You wanna train?.... *spits*...... Pretty good!"
"Wanna pass?.... OK.... go ahead!"
Betrayal at Krondor
Betrayal in Antara
(Krondor)
(Antara)
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/betrayal_at_krondor
Objectively speaking amazing games, really. Krondor is a masterpiece I think it is one of the highest rated (or was) RPGs in history. I can't find a single flaw it it. It's impeccable, perfect although it looks and feels "too real" for me. There's not enough fantasy in it (I know it's based on some books). You basically battle humans and animals in it. IIRC there are some minor demons in the last dungeon but that's it. For 95% of the game you fight with brigands, thieves, pirates and nighthawks (ninjas?). What is so great about Krondor is the world coherency. Everything seems in place, nothing is out of place. Weapons get broken (buy those whetstones!), armors get destroyed (armorer hammer can help you), you have to eat and sleep in order to well live and cast spells, if you don't have any single metallic equipment on you (sword or armor) you cannot be targeted by a lightning spell, mages are physically weak (pathetically weak even) etc. Everything MAKES SENSE. But I don't play fantasy RPGs for sense. I play them for that fantasy ingredient.
Antara is basically the same but made by Sierra and 10 times longer and 10 times more boring. But if you loved Krondor you SHOULD at least like Antara. For me it was a torture to beat it.
Betrayal at Krondor is RPG's Citizen Kane. You cannot call yourself a RPG gamer if you did not play it.
Enjoy!
Part 1: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=469298
Part 3: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=36728077#post36728077
Part 4: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=36851341#post36851341
Shadowcaster
eBay
A very run of the mill RPG with one neat idea: you can transform into different monster forms (just like in Lands of Lore 2) each one having different skills and features. For example there is a flying eye thing which flies and can get you over all of the traps, there is a fish like monster who can breath underwater (normally you drown pretty quickly and there are whole drowned levels and there is NONE Helmet of Water Breathing like in Black Crypt
etc. Game seems hard enough at the beginning but soon you can transform into a huge four-armed cat that tears monsters apart. Later on you get a Stone Golem form which can walk on fire and is basically imprevious to physical damage. Then it's just a matter of getting to the last boss who actually possesses the same ability as you and transforms into all the previous bosses you met before! Levels are quite small, there are not many of them (14 or 15) and the game is over pretty quickly. Oh: the inventory is tiny. I had to throw away almost 50% of found items!Amulets & Armor
eBay
This is more of an action game than RPG because enemies move very, very fast and have deadly accuracy. A&A has a pretty original hub and mission like structure. You start in an Inn and can buy "quests". Each quests requires you to be at certain level and offers certain rewards (as well as unlocks further quests: think Marks in Final Fantasy 12). Each quest takes place on a different level and levels in this game are very, very varied. From green valleys filled with Elven Archers, thru huge Castles brimming with Deadly Knights right to Volcanoes with Dragons flying near the ceiling. Of course you can fly as well and kill those suckers
It uses some fancy 3D engine and looks quite interesting. Just as Anvil of Dawn it has real-time mana regeneration so you have infite albeit very slow healing. I really liked the MIDI music in this title it was quite calming and relaxing.Black Crypt
eBay
Ahh... the very first RPG I have ever played and finished [on Amiga]. Also the ONLY one where I had to cheat. Black Crypt is hard. Fucking HARD. Not "hard" as Realms of Arkania is but "hard" as in:
- almost each single encounter can kill you
- there is a unbeatable boss on the very second level which requires a special weapon to kill and you can get to that weapon only by passing his area
- there are underwater levels where you can drown pretty quickly
I simply could not do it. Maybe I was too young or too dumb for this game. I opened up some hex editor and using trial and error hax0red my saves in order to give me 9000 HP. Game got manageable after that
There are some very unique bosses in Black Crypt: the Ogre above, the Medusa and the last boss who requires a very epic way of killing: you slice the air with your ubermagical sword which opens a void and then you have to mash him in there using your ubermagical hammer. That was so cool back in the day. Specific end boss killing weapons. More games should follow this idea!Overall Black Crypt is heavily recommended. Real men play Black Crypt. Pussies play Eye of the Beholder.
Eye of the Beholder
Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon
Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor
(EoB1)
(EoB2)
(EoB3)
eBay
Well what can I say? THE Dungeon Crawler series (post Dungeon Master era). Instant classics. Based on D&D rules those games ruled back in the day. For me personally they were not original nor very challenging (EotB3 difficulty is a joke) yet I could not stop playing them. The trilogy is pure dungeon adventuring (excluding singular woods and overland areas) chock full of hidden buttons (the sound walls make when you press them is forever and ever in my mind), pits, weight plates, dart traps, teleporters, magic fields and every other nasty thing dungeon crawlers are known for.
Eye of the Beholder 1 lives up to its name and features a Beholder as the last boss. Funny thing is I played EotB after finishing Baldur's Gate 2 (where you kill Beholders by the dozen) and I simply smiled when I got to the end of it. I do not remember much of EotB 2&3 just some parts outdoors, some evil priests etc. but for sure they did no impress me as much as EotB1.
Still the trilogy is a must-play an obligatory entry in every RPG lover's portfolio.
Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession
eBay
SSI can do no wrong when it comes to first person RPGs. Ravenloft is no different: a quality dungeon crawler based on the popular vampiric D&D series. Graphically it is the weakest of the "trilogy" (SP, Menzoberranzan and Stone Prophet) but that is no surprise as it was the first one. If you like D&D rules (I do) then you will like Ravenloft. It takes a while to get used to but then it clicks and is all fun.
Menzoberranzan
eBay
The best out of the 3 games mentioned above. Menzoberranzan features the infamous city of Drow and the even more infamous Drizzt Do'Urden who can become an NPC in your party (but he is nowhere near as overpowered as in Baldur's Gate). As you can imagine the game is full of violets, dark blues and spiders. A pretty awesome dungeon romp that has a very good plot to boot. I remember even being scared in some places but it is Stone Prophet takes the cake when it comes to gripping fear when uncharting dark dungeons.
Easily recommended.
Wizards & Warriors
eBay
David W. Bradley's pre-last game. I sincerely do not understand the very low reviews this game got. Nor do I understand the lack of following in hardcore RPG community. W&W is basically Wizardry 9. People loved Wizardry 8 and wanted more. Well there is more: Wizards & Warriors. It looks like Wizardry game. It plays like Wizardry game. It has AMAZING dungeons and puzzles (the ray of sun + mirrors one). It has terribly powerful monsters that can wipe your party in few turns (the dreaded crawling piranha plants that killed me countless of times; the only way to beat them was spamming spells and constantly hiding behind level geometry). It has lots of skills, lots of races, lots of classes including elite ones (just like Wiazrdry!). The game was destroyed in the reviews because of how it looked and how old-school it played. People wanted to shoot shit and here they were dying backstabbed by bandits...
Real-talk: if you are a fan of the Wizardry series, W&W is a MUST. It is Wizardry 9 for all intents and purposes. Get it!
Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/might_and_magic_6_limited_edition
Oh Might and Magic... my favourite RPG series ever created... I cannot speak about this series without being emotionally invested. This is the title that started it all and also the last M&M title I had to complete. It was pretty... painful but totally worth it. Right from the beginning of the series Might and Magic offered unparallel freedom in world exploration, a huge overworld with towns, castles and dungeons all over the place. Game is very, very old-school. If you have bad luck you will get gangbanged by dozen of Golden Dragons and die in one turn. Fun fact: if you find non-random chest you can leave it untouched and search the area again for it. It's quality will be rerolled each time (in som boundaries) so it's always worth it to reroll a few times for that Golden Chest.
Might and Magic 1 is awesome if you are a diehard fan of the series like me. Otherwise... it may be simply too old.
Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/might_and_magic_6_limited_edition
The second part of the M&M universe and what a difference the graphics make! For me 16-colours are the bare minimum where I accept a game to be "playable" and bearable (sorry M&M1!). The mechanics itself are exactly the same as in M&M1 - if it ain't broken don't fix it. This is the part where series staples spells are introduced including Lloyd's Beacon (think Town Portal from Diablo). Only because the graphics got a next-gen boost this part became soooooooooooooo much more better.
Still for the hardcore but much easier for the eye than M&M1. Has a few umm... game streamlining features as well.
Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/might_and_magic_6_limited_edition
Start the game. Go a few steps forward to Fountain's Head main square. Look at the blue walls. Look at the beautiful fountains. Listen to the charming music. Shoot your bow to hear that "p'tong" sound. One simply cannot *not* fall in love with this game.
M&M3 was the second roleplaying game I ever booted up. Coming from Black Crypt you can imagine how a fucking WORLD of difference this made. There was huuuuuuuuuge overworld full of quests and surprises. You had different skills for traversing tree or mountain terrain. You could walk on water even! (of course the game is easy as fuck but shhhhhhhhhhh). There are dozens and dozens of weapons, armors and accessories in this game. Countless different monsters. So much stuff to do... there is simply so much stuff to do!
This is where the magic of Might and Magic begins.
Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen
Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen
(M&M4)
(M&M5)
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/might_and_magic_6_limited_edition
Two words: WORLD OF XEEN.
Imagine one of the two biggest roleplaying games around for example Skyrim and Oblivion. Imagine that you could somehow... MERGE THEM! That's right M&M4 and M&M5 are two insanely huge games released a year apart. These two games could be merged into one mother of all RPG games called World of Xeen. There were special portals that took you between the two worlds.
Insanity, total insanity.
Sadly I had never the pleasure of playing them as one entity. I finished M&M4 first and a year later M&M5. Sometimes I get that itch to try and play World of Xeen (which unlocks 1 or 2 new dungeons not found in neither M&M4 or M&M5)... maybe someday I will!
Everything that is the Might and Magic series can be summed up in one word: IMMENSE. Immense graphics (Minotaurs! Diamond Golems! Cloud Dragons!) Immense world (really fucking huge). Immense gameplay.
These two games sculpted me as a RPG lover. I compare every single RPG that came out after 1994 to them. They are the standard, the pattern.
I will leave you with the following, can you remember who and where says those lines in M&M5?
"Where to?"
"You wanna train?.... *spits*...... Pretty good!"
"Wanna pass?.... OK.... go ahead!"
Betrayal at Krondor
Betrayal in Antara
(Krondor)
(Antara)
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/betrayal_at_krondor
Objectively speaking amazing games, really. Krondor is a masterpiece I think it is one of the highest rated (or was) RPGs in history. I can't find a single flaw it it. It's impeccable, perfect although it looks and feels "too real" for me. There's not enough fantasy in it (I know it's based on some books). You basically battle humans and animals in it. IIRC there are some minor demons in the last dungeon but that's it. For 95% of the game you fight with brigands, thieves, pirates and nighthawks (ninjas?). What is so great about Krondor is the world coherency. Everything seems in place, nothing is out of place. Weapons get broken (buy those whetstones!), armors get destroyed (armorer hammer can help you), you have to eat and sleep in order to well live and cast spells, if you don't have any single metallic equipment on you (sword or armor) you cannot be targeted by a lightning spell, mages are physically weak (pathetically weak even) etc. Everything MAKES SENSE. But I don't play fantasy RPGs for sense. I play them for that fantasy ingredient.
Antara is basically the same but made by Sierra and 10 times longer and 10 times more boring. But if you loved Krondor you SHOULD at least like Antara. For me it was a torture to beat it.
Betrayal at Krondor is RPG's Citizen Kane. You cannot call yourself a RPG gamer if you did not play it.
