I Need Great RPGs of the Past!!

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 0:43

All right, so this is a selfish topic, made for completely selfish reasons, which maybe will be inspirational for somebody else, who knows? In any case...

I consider myself quite experienced when it comes to "role playing games" on the computer. I mean, I've been around. But I'm always looking for something I haven't already tried. Obviously, I'm looking for quality, but quality can be many things. Gameplay is most important.

If there's any of you who have good suggestions for old RPGs (I'm talking at the very least before Baldur's Gate era), I want to hear them! Just not "action RPGs", please... Anything that smacks of Diablo will get smacked right back!

To give you an idea of where I'm coming from, some of my old favorites include (and could be inspiration for you?):

The SSI AD&D "Gold Box" games (Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, etc. Champions of Krynn, etc. Buck Rogers, Savage Frontier series, Eye of the Beholder...)

The great "brand name" series: Might & Magic, Wizardry, Ultima, Phantasie

Great single titles such as Bloodnet, Superhero League of Hoboken, Albion, Betrayal at Krondor, Wasteland

More obscure games in the vein of Aethra's Chronicles, Dark Designs, The Legacy...

You see where I'm coming from? You nod your head at several of those titles? Well, bring me more!

(The first person to suggest Fallout does not get a cookie, by the way)

Heimnar · Post by **Heimnar** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 9:20

Hello!
How about Dark Sun I and II. Damn good RPG in my oppinion. Classical in form and really great. Based on AD&D 2ed core rules.
Another one that comes into my mind is from real PAST (year 84 I think, or something close) it was called Dragontorc. I played it on ZX-Spectrum. There is probably also an Amstrad version of it, but no PC-version, so you would have to use an emulator to try it out. My word is - it's worth it. It is a damn good adventure/RPG. One of the oldest cRPGs I know. It has a unique, dark climate. Action takes place somewhere in mythical pre-medieval Avalon.
Another really old one is Lords of Midnight - for the same platform (ZX). It is maybe more a strategy game, but for me - also a great RPG. And in this case there is a great PC-remake. You can find it here:
http://www.icemark.com/tower/
A really huge and interesting game.

From AD&D series there was also:
Strognhold (RPG/strategy)
Unlimited Adventures
Dungeon Hack (sorry for that...just for the sake of AD&D - it is more Diablo-like in some aspects. A classical hack and slash - FPP game. But a good one).
And I vaguely remember there was a series of games called "Das Schwarze Auge" or something like that. These were german games, but from what I remember - good RPGs you may like.

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 21:08

Thank you for your suggestions! The only one I haven't already played, though, is Dragontorc. I'll see if I can't scare it up somewhere. As for Unlimited Adventures, that's not a game, but an editor, which I did of course spend some time with back in the day.

Dark Sun is awesome, the sequel less so, IMHO.

I think Das Schwarze Auge came in international versions called, uhm... Realms of Arkania? There were a few of them (at least two).

SGSW · Post by **SGSW** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 1:53

I don't if you played it Scythe, but DarkLands is a great RPG from the old days and is set on Medieval Germany.

Otherwise I would suggest that you sorted the RPG section of underdogs or oldgames by year and see with what you came up with

http://www.the-underdogs.org/genre.php?id=7&sort=year

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 3:01

I played Darklands till my eyes felt like they were falling out of their sockets... Actually I think I spent more time creating characters than playing the game. lol!

And, well, I already went through most abandonware sites' RPG lists, but sorting the trash from the gold is just too much work, when you take into account how much of a hassle it can be just to get the game to work at all. I thought I'd just ask people for titles instead and spare myself further testing.

SGSW · Post by **SGSW** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 3:14

Well I don't believe that there is any title of the oldest I have played and you haven't.

However from HOTU you can choose the Top Dogs ones, or you can try some old but not so old like Divine Divinity, Planescape Tournament and Gothic or Fallout

Besides that you have Daggerfall and such

eMTe · Post by **eMTe** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 3:37

No one mentioned three games that stand imo among 10 best computer rpgs of all time - Amberstar, Knights of Legend and Magic Candle. Hope you played it, Scythe, and if not, download and try them immediately. Especially Amberstar, which is probably ma fav - vast gameworld, great music, epic and well written story and unforgettable atmosphere. Something tells me that you know them, but I recommend them anyway.

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 13:27

SGSW, you suggested Fallout... No cookie for you! (read my first post

)

Would it surprise you that I already played all of those? lol! Divine Divinity was a poor Diablo clone, not my kind of game, the others were good, and Planescape is probably the best computer RPG ever, just a little too new for this place.

eMTe, I'm not sure I know Knights of Legend, I'll have to have a look. Thanks! Well, I see it on my harddrive, but I'm still not sure I've played it. Will do so!

Amberstar had a very clunky interface, IMO, which kind of spoiled it for me, but I did play it.

SGSW · Post by **SGSW** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 22:02

SGSW, you suggested Fallout... No cookie for you! (read my first post )

Would it surprise you that I already played all of those? lol! Divine Divinity was a poor Diablo clone, not my kind of game, the others were good, and Planescape is probably the best computer RPG ever, just a little too new for this place.

eMTe, I'm not sure I know Knights of Legend, I'll have to have a look. Thanks! Well, I see it on my harddrive, but I'm still not sure I've played it. Will do so!

Amberstar had a very clunky interface, IMO, which kind of spoiled it for me, but I did play it.

I had a feeling that you might say that, so it seems that you played nearly every RPG that there is in the world - I can only suggest that you try the Solo Fairy mode in Wizardry 8

Or else, forsake computer RPGs and go play Pen&Paper - the real thing (I would be surprised if you don't already)

Maz · Post by **Maz** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 22:07

I do not really know what are you looking for C Sc...

EDIT* Sorry for that C. I somehoew thought it was Curlie who started this thread... So I replaced the C

But There were at least 3 games in Krynn series, all quite a lot alike AFAIR.
Perhaps trying those 2 other too?

And then I just have to mention this, because I myself spent ages playing at it when my 486 was still my only machine.... Zangband (nethack style game).

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 1:17

The PnP days are over for me, but I still boast an almost complete collection of the old Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules (B, X, CM, M and IM series), and I did a lot of online work for that game world (Mystara).

In any case, I've bought a PS2 just to play RPGs that I haven't tried before, so I do have quite a few games to go through that I've actually never tried before, and I will be getting Oblivion for the 360 as well, when it comes out, but that's not Nostalgia yet.

faded, I know about Death Knights and Dark Queen of Krynn already, and played them, of course. I also remember Zangband, though I prefer Rogue.

Heimnar · Post by **Heimnar** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 9:59

How about Ancient Domains Of Mystery (ADOM). Pretty nice RPG in my oppinion.

Another things comes into my mind - System Shock I and II. I bet you played them already, anyway. These are really good.

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:45

You're right, I've played all of them, and they're good games, which I'd recommend to everybody else. I still play ADOM sometimes, it's quite a nice Rogue-game.

So far I've got Dragontorc and Knights of Legend, which I'm pretty sure I've never played before, and this is turning into quite a nice place to be looking for good RPG titles. If you have more good ones, keep them coming, even if your friendly mod may have already been there and played that.

Parvini · Post by **Parvini** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 13:08

Scythe, you probably already know this but Betrayal at Krondor was not a "single title", it had a great albeit rather too short sequel called Return to Krondor... not sure if this is abandonware yet but I'm assuming it must be... I have it on CD if you want me to email you a copy of what's on that disc.

Besides this, I am surprised no-one has mentioned The Magic Candle and its two sequels, I mean you did ask for some old school RPGs, can't think of any better from that era.

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 0:10

Yeah, I know about Return to Krondor. I've completed it ~20 times, I think. Not such a great feat considering it takes 12 hours or so... Also, I know about "that other" Krondor game, which was not a Krondor game at all, but used pretty much the same template - Betrayal in Antara. I haven't been able to run that reliably on any computer in several years though.

You know, I'm not sure I ever played the first two Magic Candles, I may have to take a look at those. Thanks!

Maturin · Post by **Maturin** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 22:04

Hiho.
"Das Schwarze Auge"'s really named realms of arkania (although I think it's still being sold, at least they took the download off oldgames, months/years ago.), all in all, 3 parts of it exist.

Are you looking especially for pc rpgs or would you also play some snes-games?

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 0:42

Well, if you want to brng up some console RPGs, there's nothing wrong with that. I've already played the really good ones, I think - Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, FF, Zelda, Dragon Warrior... Come to think of it, only Chrono Trigger and FFVI deserve real mention...

Maturin · Post by **Maturin** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 1:43

Chrono Trigger and FF6 are the ones I wanted to point out...

But there are some more good ones.
The Lufia series, breath of fire series, I think the first Star Ocean also was on SNES, Dragon Quest (it's famous although I don't really like it), tales of phantasia, the seiken densetsu games (although they are more hack&slay, just like zelda), secret of evermore, illusion of time/gaia, terranigma...

And there's another great rpg for the pc, also anime-style, which is Grandia II. (part 1 is psx, part 3 ps2)

And although you wanted us to name rpgs older than the baldurs gate series, I want to point out the pool of radiance remake.

Post by **Chroelle** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 19:49

Is it this one you are thinking about?
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Mo ... il&id=1706

Maturin · Post by **Maturin** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 21:37

Nope, there was a completely new made pool of radiance game.
This one:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/poolofra ... 20Radiance

Although I have to say, what I read in their review just now, it propably sucks.