Taking a trip down memory lane

[Carrie Underwood]

Hypothetical question: Do I dare play Wizardry 1, 2, 3, and then transfer my characters to Bard's Tale 1, and play with them through 2 and 3?

 

[SlavemasterT]

No.

 

[FrancoTAU]

Does Legend of Faerghael have a storyline? I don't think I can take much more of these massive dungeon crawlers and their cartography.

It was definitely a dungeon crawler that required graph paper. It was more of an Eyes of the Beholder rip off than anything. I can't remember if there was a decent story with it. I think the manual came with paragraphs, so if that's true than try it and if not than pass it up.

 

[Carrie Underwood]

Bard's Tale is pretty horrible, just like I remember it. BT2 is slightly better, just because of the vikings. Either way, they're basically Wizardry.

I went back and played Wiz1 some more. It's actually pretty fun plotting out maps, and there's a lot of trick rooms and other stuff. It's kind of difficult due to how easy it is to get lost and start running into all kinds of monsters.

I still can't get over the wireframe walls and lack of story. It seems all these early games were basically the same thing. So, in regards to what little sanity I have left, I need to change things up.

 

[MisterStone]

Hypothetical question: Do I dare play Wizardry 1, 2, 3, and then transfer my characters to Bard's Tale 1, and play with them through 2 and 3?

Not necessary... but mega-epic.

 

[Carrie Underwood]

I have come to the realization that I am the Decline of the Codex.

I provide nothing to the site, and in fact, help detract from it's original purpose. My knowledge in RPGs is lacking. My skills with language are deteriorating. I have become what I once scorned.

Therefore, I will refrain from posting until my task is complete. What task? I will go on a pilgrimage, a grand RPG pilgrimage, and will not return until I have complete Wizardry 1 - 3 and Bard's Tale 1 - 3 with a single party.

Then I'll post some humorous thoughts on the games.

 

[Fez]

You take things here too seriously. You need to have sex more often.

 

[LarsTheSurly]

I don't see much sex in the future for this man who has gone on a holy quest to play a shitload of computer games from the '80s.

Fucking banner ads, I don't want an iPhone.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Ultima 2

As someone who played Ultima II as a kid I'm sure I've got rose-tinted glasses here, but seriously - PLAY ultima TWO. Now before you get disappointed, U1-U3 all use the same-ish horrible graphics and overland-map-to-first-person-when-in-dungeons system, and all play very similarly at a micro level. BUT...

...U2 has some stuff going for it that was never taken up in the other ultimas, and yet rocked. Specifically the best implementation of time-travel in an RPG ever. There are time-gates all over the place, it is set in a pseudo-'real-world' earth rather than brittania, and there are 5 time-streams you can go to: pre-historic, medieval, modern, future and the aftermath, with strong implications for both exploration and strategy. Obviously if you want a frigate you're going to have to be in the right time-frame. But in pre-historic times the continents haven't all separated yet, so if you need to get to Russia in modern times and mountains/seas etc are in the way, some time-travelling may help. Obviously if you need a plane you'll need to go to the 20th century to get it, and to the future if you need to get a rocket to space-travel. Yes there is space-travel - you can go to the various other planets in the solar system, and an 'extra' place that is important to the plot. You can also go to the aftermath to see the world AFTER minax has fucked it up, and maybe find clues there as to how to go back and beat her If you want to raise your hp/stats you need to find certain characters who ALSO only exist in certain time-periods (e.g. Lord British).

How I would love to have seen a game of that scope made using even 1998 tech, let alone modern tech. Having said that, getting those late 90s rpg things like plot, character interaction, dialogue choices, parties, strategic combat etc more than makes up for it - as I said, the charm of Ultima 2 is in the scope and grand-exploration-strategy, not the micro gameplay.

 

[MisterStone]

I dunno man, I remember U2 being kind of sloppy and having useless f'ed up features like tha spaceshit, etc. Also, if you view the local area maps of places on other planets with a mapping crystal there is retarded stuff like giant pacmans and ghosts... They musta been going through a 20-something weed smoking phase when they developed that game, IMHO.

U4 and U5 are where it is at with classic Ultima. U4 in a few ways has never been matched since, and U5, while it recycled a lot of quest elements and ideas from the old game, is a more refined, interactive, and fun game than even U4 was.

 

[FrancoTAU]

I grew up on Atari and Commodore 64 stuff and even with my nostalgia bias, I really have to recommend not playing Wizardry 1-3 and Bard's Tale 1-3 to completion. Put a couple hours into each one than move on like you previously planned. Forcing yourself to play these aren't going to make you appreciate anything. There are plenty of a good dungeon crawlers worth playing later on.

Just checked out the release dates of early RPGs and I can whole heartily recommend playing Ultima 4 than skipping everything else until 1988. 1988 brings us Ultima 5, Wasteland, Wizardry 5, and Might and Magic 2. The first 2 rock, the latter 2 are on the fence as far being playable with no nostalgia in place.

 

[Carrie Underwood]

This really didn't go very far. Wiz, BT, and U4 wore me the fuck out.

 

[LarsTheSurly]

 

[Carrie Underwood]

I'm surrounded by idiots.

 

[Fez]

Move the mirrors away from you then.

 

[Carrie Underwood]

HO HO! SO FUNNY!

You should go on tour.

 

[sportforredneck]

HO HO! SO FUNNY!

You should go on tour.

Yes, he should. Fez go on tour, so we may all worship you. Do a march on Washington D.C. I'll go.

 

[Fez]

Will do. The world will never be the same again.

 

[MisterStone]

This really didn't go very far. Wiz, BT, and U4 wore me the fuck out.

A heroic effort nonetheless. Your path to rehabilitation as a productive codexian has progressed greatly.

 

[Binary]

This thread is an epic fail

 

[Carrie Underwood]

HO HO! SO FUNNY!

You should go on tour.

Yes, he should. Fez go on tour, so we may all worship you. Do a march on Washington D.C. I'll go.

I'd go to that.

 

[mondblut]

The SNES version looks... really good. Thanks. I've just started M&M, so I'll catch back up to Wiz later on, and I'll definitely be playing the SNES version.
That makes 2 SNES RPGs - Wiz5 and Radical Dreamers.

There is a SNES pack of Wizardry 1-3 with same kind of gfx as 5, too.

Not like it makes them any better, if you played one Wizardry before Bane of Cosmic Forge, you played them all.

 

[Ebonsword]

Actually, mapping was really the high-point of playing Wizardry 1. I have some graph paper maps at home. It's hard to describe but there's something very fun about it.

I have a confession to make: I hate mapping in RPGs. Totally, absolutely, utterly despise it.

Which probably goes a long way towards explaining why I never completed any of the Bard's Tale games. Or Deathlord. Or The Standing Stones. Or 80% of the other old skool RPGs that I own.

The automap feature was the greatest RPG innovation ever (for me).

 

[MisterStone]

I think that we should post a cash bounty to anyone who can win DeathLord. Even if it was worth hundreds of dollars, the time needed to beat that game would still earn more working for minimum wage in Mexico.

 

[FrancoTAU]

There was a short period of time before automaps where the graphics improved enough where you could memorize the dungeon without mapping it. I didn't mind those days, but games like the early Wizardries with white lines and black spaces were maddening.