Old-school dungeon crawls - post your favourite, and why!

[DemonKing]

I don't understand why these type of games aren't made any more - surely there is a huge market out there for them, if only the nostalgia one!

Well - if the Witcher and Dragon Age both do well, maybe there's a chance we'll see this sub-genre ressurected as well...

 

[Au naturel]

What old school genre do the Witcher and Dragon Age fall under?

Hopefully the Indy devs will branch out eventually. The current crop are all Iso games (Nothing wrong with them, they are my favourite type), though a few turn based "Walking Blob" games wouldn't go amiss.

Hell, even a real time Dungeon Master/Bloodwych like crawler.

 

[kingcomrade]

Like Stonekeep. God damn that game got hard towards the end.

 

[Norfleet]

Re: Old-school dungeon crawls - post your favourite, and why

What old-school dungeon crawl RPG stands out for you?

Hunt the Wumpus is *THE* old-school dungeon crawl.

 

[RK47]

i dig the M&M series and felt a little sad it was over in such a terrible way. Now people are whoring the M&M brand for TBS genre.

 

[Keldorn]

I have crawled out of a hole in order to proclaim Icewind Dale : The Ultimate Collection the best Dungeon Crawling feastfest of all time.

Although, to be (figuratively) frank, I do recall some NWN1 expansion packs and mods as having reasonably ample crawlability.

 

[mirrorshades]

Well, apparently my issue is that there is no beginning movie. Anyways anyone know where I might find the manual? Or something. I was Googling but didn't see any Xeen fansites or anything and I don't really want to start off at GameFags.

Manual: http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.679
Map: http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.680
Cluebook: http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.678

I think that's where I got it.

 

[DemonKing]

What old school genre do the Witcher and Dragon Age fall under?

They don't - I was just hoping that if successful they would encourage publishers to fund more CRPGs in general that might result in the development of further dungeon-crawl type CRPGs.

 

[Section8]

Dungeon Master is the shit. I remember getting ragged on by my geek friends playing Lands of Lore because Dungeon Master all looked the same, but fuck them. Dungeon Master was and still is the bomb. Lands of Lore is Dungeon Master Junior.

Wizardry 7 is also fucking top notch. It takes a ridiculously long time and a buttload of patience to finish, but I'm so glad I eventually did. Wizardry 8 is a very worthy follow-up.

 

[Binary]

Has anyone mentioned Dark Heart of Uukrul?

 

[Au naturel]

Has anyone mentioned Dark Heart of Uukrul?

Three times now. But thats ok, it bears repeating. Damn this thread! Now I cannot decide what to play. Maybe TOEE, maybe Wiz8, another round of Eschalon, or perhaps Helherron. Choice and consequence at its finest.

I would probably replay Dungeon Master eventually, but the download size is very small. Does it have the same sound affects and graphics as on the Amiga?

 

[jonnypolen]

I have very fond memories of playing Ultima Underworld 1/2. Man, those were great games! Running across that first bridge and fighting that first goblin... Classic! It was nice playing Arx Fatalis, as it was obvious that they tried recreating the experience from UU, but to me nothing really compares to the old UU-games.

 

[Keldorn]

I have crawled out of a hole in order to proclaim Icewind Dale : The Ultimate Collection the best Dungeon Crawling feastfest of all time.

Although, to be (figuratively) frank, I do recall some NWN1 expansion packs and mods as having reasonably ample crawlability.

I forgot to mention that the hole I crawled out of was Baldur's Gate 2 : Throne Of Bhaal, and more specifically, the Watcher's Keep. Absolutely top notch dungeon crawling ! Lethal and diverse opponents, peculiar NPC's, crazy contraptions and perplexing puzzles.

 

[Jasede]

How the fuck can a puzzle be pristine?

 

[Keldorn]

This thread reminds me, I have Eye Of The Beholder 1, 2 & 3 for Dos-Box, YIPPEE !


EotB 1 is also done well as a NWN1 mod.

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Mo ... il&id=4028

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Mo ... il&id=4029

 

[Keldorn]

How the fuck can a puzzle be pristine?

If it's original, good, functional and extremely appealing.

 

[Jasede]

That's not what pristine means, Keldorn.

 

[Keldorn]

That's not what pristine means, Keldorn.

I *will* it to be the case.

 

[Andhaira]

Realms of Arkania and LoL. Although ROA does ot really qualify as a dungeon krawl; its actually an RPG. A omplete RPG, in fact its hard to get more RPG than that. The only thing against it is the low number of npc's but they had to do it that way due to grafical limitations back in the day.

 

[mirrorshades]

Like Stonekeep. God damn that game got hard towards the end.

I liked it a lot. I started replaying it a few months ago, but kind of lost interest when I realized that it was actually more of an adventure game than an RPG. Not to say that adventure games are bad, but that's not what I was looking for. About the only real decisions you have to make are what kind of weapon you want to use, and how to approach combat. Everything else about the game has you more or less on rails -- you have to find key A before you can open door B... but you can't find key A without first finding key C, which means you have to kill monster D. No real exploration, and lots of repetitive tasks.

But still fun to play, and the graphics and sound aren't too bad for what they were.

 

[Section8]

I would probably replay Dungeon Master eventually, but the download size is very small. Does it have the same sound affects and graphics as on the Amiga?

Return to Chaos is my favourite way of revisiting Dungeon Master. It's recreated from scratch, but is pretty true to form, plus it has an editor, a bunch of optional extentions and additions - and Chaos Strikes Back!

[edit] ...and apparently Dungeon Master II now. Groovy.

 

[Saxon1974]

Nice post Jasede.

I have been playing through MM2 recently, I think we discussed a bit in another thread.

I forgot how tough this game was, took quite a while just to be tough enough to survive outside of a town.

Even though the game lacks in NPC interaction, and has tons of combat, I still find it tons of fun to play. The combat is pretty quick if you use the cntl-a fast combat option. I guess one complaint is that lots of secret walls and stuff just lead to additional random encounters and loot.

I do love how open ended this game is and how it doesn't lead you around, you have to figure it out on your own. Lots of cool random items in the game too. This one just has a feel to it that I love.

 

[jorgamesh]

EotB 1 & 2 are also done well as NWN1 mods.

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Mo ... il&id=4028

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Mo ... il&id=4029

These two are both for Eye of the Beholder 1

 

[mondblut]

Goldbox games for combat and old AD&D feel, Wizardry 6-7 for game mechanics and twisted background/story, Ishar 2-3 for teh grafix.

Allright, M&M4-5 for childhood nostalgia

 

[Hazelnut]

Dungeon Master!

First played this when I was 17 and doing my A-levels way back in 1989, after working 1 day a week to save £300 for a second hand Amiga 500. It simply blew me away with it's FPP dungeon. I loved the atmosphere, making maps on squared pads, figuring out the puzzles, and kicking monster ass.

I've since played through several times more over the years. Probably the most memorable time was on an Atari ST hooked up to the oldest TV I've ever seen. Someone had left it in a flat me and a mate rented - switched it on, didn't work except for a 5mm round dot that appeared in the centre of the screen which curved in over an inch at the edges, and we could barely lift it. Push buttons and wooden chassis... never got around to chucking it, when one day we decided to try again and we left it on. Came back 10 minutes later and it'd sprang into life... I sometimes wonder if it's still there by dint of it being too fucking heavy to shift down 3 flights of stairs. Anyway, back on track, my mate challenged me to play through with first a party of 2 and then a party of 1. Main challenge is inventory space I seem to recall. It was fun, and the most social of my play throughs.

So this is probably the game I've played the most times, and on the most platforms. (Amiga, ST, PC)

I didn't like Chaos Strikes Back much - found it a bit too hard to survive and some of the Puzzles were crazy. Recently tried DM 2 for the first time. Got bored just after entering the castle. Doesn't have the same charm as the original IMHO.

Well, that's all until the next time I reminisce about DM.