Oldest CRPG you can still tolerate playing

[Blacklung]

I think 1997 or as far back as 1995 is my limit for rpgs. More than that and the pixelation does kind of get to me. I'm not going to count any of the older jRPG's that started me on the path though, since I can't even bear playing almost any of the new ones.

 

[BigWeather]

It's great to see mentions of Starflight. What a great game!

Ultima III is the earliest in the Ultima series I regularly go to. Wasteland is about as far back as I go for non-Ultima.

Of course, I do dabble in Roguelikes and play IF regularly too.

The more primitive the presentation in terms of graphical ability (if any at all) the better the games hold up. That is provided that the interface is slick and efficient. A bad interface can make a game, no matter how beautiful, a true clunker.

 

[Jeff Graw]

Star Command (1988 SSI scifi RPG).

Star Command. That was a cool little game. Almost like Starflight with less space exploration, story, and dialog; but more RPG elements and customization.

 

[octavius]

Dungeon Master.

EDIT: Heh, that was four years ago. After that I've realized that the oldest CRPG I can still tolerate playing is either Phantasie I or Ultima IV, whichever of them was released first in 1985.

EDIT 2: And eleven years after that again, it's Wizardry 1 from 1981.

 

[roshan]

I cant go back earlier than Fallout and the Infinity Engine games. That, IMO was when RPGs got to a state where the graphics (and also music, interface design, CGI and voiceacting) can stand the test of time. I tried one of the Ultimas - I think it was 7, and also Wasteland but the graphics were too ugly, and the interface was too bad for me to play.

Lionheart and Arcanum were steps backward though, much worse in terms of graphics than Fallout and the IE games before them - one reason why I find them hard to get into.

 

[Trash]

Both of the Buck Rogers games are probably the oldest I still enjoy. The animated pictures still look acceptable and the rest is simple and clear so doesn't distract that much from the gameplay. Other than that there are plenty of golden oldies I can enjoy from time to time. Games like Ultima 7 and 7.2, Betrayal at krondor, Starflight 2 and darklands still have a place on my HD. Probably nostalgia.

 

[Jeff Graw]

Other than that there are plenty of golden oldies I can enjoy from time to time. Games like Ultima 7 and 7.2, Betrayal at krondor, Starflight 2 and darklands still have a place on my HD. Probably nostalgia.

Sometimes it's hard to tell a game that stands the test of time from a game that evokes a nostalgic response, isn't it? I'm pretty sure Starflight 1/2 stand the test of time though. I first played Starflight in ~2003 and it became my favorite game pretty quickly. I installed Starflight 2 on an ancient 486 VGA laptop, and I was glued to that small screen for weeks. Easily the most immersive gaming experience I've ever had.

 

[Mefi]

I dug out some old ZX spectrum games the other night. Tolerable. But my eyes hurt for hours afterwards. THey were shit too.

 

[burrie]

My vote would go either to Quest for Glory 2 or Betrayal at Krondor.

 

[nikpalj]

A great theme for a thread!

I've started reading game reviews in comp magazines back in mid eightees, finally got my own comp in '97, just in time to play Fallout 2, Final fantasy 7 and Bioware games when they got out...

I've dreamed of playing all those rpg's and flight combat sims I've read about in '93 and '94 but these days, when I'm almost thirty the only oldschool rpg that attracts me and I like playing is Darklands. It's such a wonderful game, somebody should do a remake.

I'd also like to finish the Exile 3 game (I've played it up to the demo limit back in '98 and adored it) and perhaps try out the Ultima Underworld games, I've never played those and heard so much good things about them.

I'd also like to get my hands on the Falcon 3.0 sim, I owe myself that for waiting for so long to play it - but that's not a rpg.

I find it impossible to play anything before, say, 1994. because of the truly crap graphics - the game would have to be something special to cut it for me. I can't stand the lack of automap, the crap savegame systems or the general buggines, like one of the previous posters had put it.

While I like the *idea* of roguelikes (specially if they're trerribly complex), I just hate the quirky graphics. It would be great if somebody made a true grown up, serious and complex rogue game (maybe SF) but with graphics like in, say spiderweb studios' Exile series. I'd be the first one to pick up and play that one!

A few months ago I've played that top down wilderness survival game set in bronze age Finland and liked it a lot, I also like the Mordor 2 dungeon hack game from '96 but I can play only so much of it before I get bored (yet it is very fun and addictive, but in small doses).


Recently I've discovered a fantastic underground game, a blend of a manager/strategy/rpg game called King of Dragon Pass - it's truly one of the best and most complex games I've ever had on my hard drive, I'm learning to play it and enjoying myself immensly...

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

I recently replayed Dark Sun 1 & 2, Might and Magic III and Thunderscape. They were all OK for me graphic-wise but the "cartoon" style of M&M graphics (flashy colors and not so realistic character faces and monsters) made it age more gracefully than the others. Thunderscape's character sheets still look pretty cool though.

 

[WalterKinde]

On the console
Nes, Heroes of the Lance (A game i just don't know how to finish but running around that ruined city is good fun esp with Tas who can find items that the other characters just miss)
Snes, Might and Magic 2 Gate to another world.
On the PC Might and Magic Worlds of Xeen (this includes the Darkside of Xeen and the Fan Made version Clouds of Xeen).
There are other games of course but these are ones that come to mind as something that comes close to me not standing them.

 

[Sir_Brennus]

Might and Magic Worlds of Xeen (this includes the Darkside of Xeen and the Fan Made version Clouds of Xeen).

AFAIK Clouds is World of Xeen1 and Darks Side is World of Xeen2. The only fanmade game I know of is Swords of Xeen which runs independently.

 

[mondblut]

Wasteland. Its still very easy to play. Pool of radiance isn't too bad either (The original).

I think UI more than graphics can make or break whether a game is still playable.

Very true. I wouldn't mind even CGA graphics as long as I can separate a door from a wall and a goblin from a wolf at a glance, but the controls in most of the 80's games were awful. Their gameplay is questionable as well, with endlessly respawning and random encounters, saving only at "taverns" et al.

Curiously though, Wasteland and Pool of Radiance are two of the games I cannot play Having to manually heal characters (sans "fix" from later goldbox games) and pick spells anew everytime they are to be memorized just kills POR for me. Even though the game keeps sitting on my hdd (both PC and Amiga version under winuae), I doubt I'll ever force myself through it. As for Wasteland, somehow it never appealed to me, even back in mid-nineties. I guess it was not bereft of cumbersome interface and excessive random encounters either.

 

[octavius]

Wasteland. Its still very easy to play. Pool of
Curiously though, Wasteland and Pool of Radiance are two of the games I cannot play Having to manually heal characters (sans "fix" from later goldbox games) and pick spells anew everytime they are to be memorized just kills POR for me. Even though the game keeps sitting on my hdd (both PC and Amiga version under winuae), I doubt I'll ever force myself through it. As for Wasteland, somehow it never appealed to me, even back in mid-nineties. I guess it was not bereft of cumbersome interface and excessive random encounters either.

There is a FRUA version available of Pool of Radiance, using the most modern version of the Gold Box game engine.

 

[Cassidy]

Does Starflight count? That game has RPG elements and I think it's the oldest (1986) game I still enjoy playing. Hell, I played it in 2000-something and was completely captivated with it.

Same here. Starflight is impressively nonlinear for the time when it was released and it's possible to play the entire game ignoring the main quest(which is definitively not dumbed down, as getting the clues for it during your space travels is very challenging if you refuse to read a walkthrough), and I still wonder whether the majority solar systems on it are fixed or randomly generated. If the latter, then it really has more features than much of what they call "Next-gen RPGs" today. Starflight can also be considered the "grandfather" of games like Freelancer regarding mission and commerce-based open-ended gameplay.

I tried Wasteland, but I didn't like its interface and its graphics did bother instead of improving gameplay: I would rather that it was a text-based CRPG(only descriptions of areas) and left the graphical part entirely to my own imagination.

 

[Hazelnut]

Dungeon Master for me, always gonna be on my HDD somewhere... :D

 

[made]

Regarding Bloodnet, I don't recall it being very harsh on the "feeding" requirement, and there are also other means to still your hunger other than killing (blood packs, nanotech). However, I don't think I've ever finished the game because I got stuck near the end and never got around to start over.

The game is quite "old-school" in that it lets you go anywhere you wish from the start (some locations have to be discovered first ofc) and kill (or rather attempt to) whoever you wish even if it's a major quest NPC - something very refreshing in light of modern "you cannot fail" RPGs on rails. Saving often is your best bet. Story, dialogue and overall atmosphere make it well worth putting up with its shortcomings.


One game I've picked up lately was ROA2, which stood the test of time surprisingly well. Graphics are still pretty enough and the interface (context menues, minimap) makes it very playable.

Goldbox games, to my dismay, haven't aged well at all. Whenever I get the urge to play one again, I'm instantly put off as soon as I'm finished with character generation.

 

[Jeff Graw]

I still wonder whether the majority solar systems on it are fixed or randomly generated. If the latter, then it really has more features than much of what they call "Next-gen RPGs" today.

The galaxy was fractaly generated, although some planets were hand tweaked.

 

[Heirophant]

I have a habit of replaying Wizardry Vi every 2-3 years, but I have difficulty playing any games older than that due to the cumbersome interfaces. While I can certainly handle dated graphics- or even ASCII- being forced to perform basic game play procedures using overwrought systems is a killer for me. I'm also somewhat embarrassed to admit that I gave up on the otherwise excellent Wasteland due to the constant blaring of my PC speaker. The game itself was fun, but I couldn't find a way to prevent a screech from my tower every time I pressed the space bar.

 

[Heirophant]

Sorry for the extra post, but I had a question for Vazdru. How did you actually manage to get Thunderscape to run on a semi-modern rig? I had a blast with this game when it first came out, but the last three computers I installed it on wouldn't even play with a boot disk. While I expect my fondness for the game stems largely from nostalgia, I've always been a sucker for dungeon crawls.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

How did you actually manage to get Thunderscape to run on a semi-modern rig?

Well it runs fine on XP for me. A bit fast but I use Moslo to slow it down. It also works fine with DOSBox, but I couldn't get any sound that way.

I use an abandonware version that I downloaded, not the original disk. So maybe that's why...

 

[Psycroptic]

I'd say:

Phantasie I
Bard's Tale
Temple of Apshai still amuses me for some reason.

I'm trying Ultima I, because I finished it years ago. Thought I'd start with it and go through the whole series in order. It's a tough sell though. It seems too simple but it's hard to progress -- don't remember it being such a pain before. Stick figure graphics aren't helping it either. And I only get one character in the party? So now RPG's have really come full circle.

 

[hakuroshi]

Daggerfall, Darklands, Wizardry 7. But mostly for nostalgia.

 

[MisterStone]

I have tried to play through Wasteland twice in the past four or five years. I get about half of the way through it before I get sick of it. THe game itself is kind of fun, and it was great for its time, but there is just no continuity between quests, no interactivity with NPCs, and so on. Really, why bother rescuing someone from the gangsters if no NPCs in the game actually react to them or otherwise acknowledge their existence?

And this really should not have been a problem. I seem to recall something in one of the manuals that stated the reason for this, but I can't remember why. I think it was either do to budget/time concerns that they made this kind of thing simple, or maybe because they wanted to fit the game on two floppy disks instead of ten (like Ultima V). Anyone know anything about this?