Information Felipepepe's Encyclopedic CRPG Book Released

[Brayko]

A fantastic list, nice work.

 

[felipepepe]

Now, some doubts: You mentioned you wanted more or less 10 other reviews that didn't make it because of not getting reviewers to talk about them, or not having a computer to run, say, spellforce 3. Since there's not a printed version, will the book continue to evolve adding more reviews? Or will the work basically be fixing typos?

Anyway, even though there's a lot of obscure titles I've never heard of, I missed entries/mentions of synergistic software Conan the Cimmerian and Warriors of Legend. They were made in the same engine as "the spirit of excalibur", covered in the book. Also, Legends of valour. To be honest, only played the Conan one from start to finish a long time ago. The others I got to know when I discovered abandonware sites. Only played them to see how they look and then they became lost in my backlog of games I would eventually play. I believe you actually may have knowledge of these because they were always present in the RPG section of the most famous abandonware sites.

What was your criteria in choosing which games should be in the book, and which should be left out? I ask this because I can't quite agree that Tron 2.0 is in the book, and those I mentioned above are out. Some are out also because they're recent games. I guess having reviewer is the top criteria?

That's my only criticism for the book, which is I can't determine the consistency in the criteria for selection (other than availability of reviewers), but I understand you can't have everything in the book. Maybe have a list of non-reviewed games with a small description of them as an appendix?.

Yeah, the plan is to keep fixing the book until I manage to get a printed version. Already fixed a bunch of typos and added three people I had forgotten to the contributor's page. I REALLY want to get that hardware section in as well in the final product.

Regarding Legends of Valour, I think it is a VERY shitty game, its only real value is pioneering Arena & Daggerfall's huge cities, being copies by Bethesda and some drama about how they added artwork of UK journos to the game to get good reviews - and it worked! Conan is kinda interesting, but never found anyone willing to review it. :/

Recent games aren't added because the book only goes up to 2015. Others, like Expeditions, I simply couldn't get a review in time. But I think the biggest criteria now is "is this game important OR interesting?" TRON 2.0 certainly is, IMHO.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Everyone's got a favourite RPG that isn't on the list. I'd be interested to see Trails of Cold Steel on the list with a few words from Durante on what it was like to port it to the PC. Of course, it's still amazing that we got all of the Trails in the Sky games too, especially considering the first guy they hired to translate it nearly committed suicide.

 

[felipepepe]

BTW, these are the games I'm thinking of maybe adding in the "1.1" version:

Adventure Construction Set
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception
Quarterstaff: The Tomb of Setmoth
Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark
Hard Nova
Planet's Edge
Conan: The Cimmerian
UnReal World
Nahlakh / Natuk
Nox
Pirates of the Caribbean / Sea Dogs / Age of Pirates
Fallout Tactics
SpellForce 1, 2 & 3
Expeditions: Conquistador / Vikings
Sword Coast Legends

The tricky part now is that I have to add 1-page reviews in pairs. So if I add a 1-page review for Conan I have to get another 1-page review for a 1991 RPG, like Planet's Edge.

 

[Abu Antar]

I'd love to see Expeditions: Conquistador mentioned, if possible. It deserves it.

 

[hello friend]

felipepepe

Nice work

 

[Sherry]

Hi.

gosh you are a work-a-holic and a fine ride through the years of my youth to see some of the games I played especially the Ultima games and Pillars of Eternity plus some games I never even heard of! There is a spelling mistake though in the Baldur's Gate or Baldur's Gate 2 blurb for Minsc and it reads Misc instead but maybe you already found that for the revision? I am not saying that is bad okay?" because it is a true passion I see when reading through this and I really enjoyed when you showed how technology changed with the computers and introduction of consoles etc. so keep up the great work!!!!

Thanks,
Sherry

 

[Grauken]

BTW, these are the games I'm thinking of maybe adding in the "1.1" version:

...
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception
...

Excellent, I loved this despite its flaws

 

[Zombra]

Crooked Bee, please remove OP links to the 1.0 version, there has already been an update.

 

[Cross]

The CRPG Book Project: the heartwarming story of how a weaboo finally saw the light.

 

[octavius]

BTW, these are the games I'm thinking of maybe adding in the "1.1" version:
[snip]

How about Aleshar: World of Ice? It has some unique features, and is the hardest CRPG I've completed (which includes Wiz 4, BT 2 and Uukrul, but not Deathlord). I could be bribed into writing a review.

Another game that deserves more love is The Aethra Chronicles: Volume One - Celystra's Bane.
Unfortunately it's been too long since I played it, so I doubt if I could do a proper review. But it's the only CRPG based on the Rolemaster system, and it has possibly the best synergy between items and skills I've seen in a CRPG.

 

[Zombra]

Adventure Construction Set

I would kill for an invitation to wax nostalgic about ACS. Of course I have no idea how I would get a working copy, or even if it'd be any fun to play with today. But I have a lot to say about it.

I'd also be happy to volunteer proofread any 10 articles of your choice, ideally those that are least popular, because I'm sure you're getting plenty of notes on the big name reviews.

 

[fabrulana]

This looks awesome will definitely give it a read. Also started on my trusty C64 and remember Temple of Apshai well, way before I heard of the term RPG.

 

[overtenemy]

natuk and aleshar or riot

 

[DemonKing]

Congratulations on finishing your magnum opus...nostalgia is a powerful thing - leafing through the digital pages and suddenly remembering I saw some dude playing that in the early 80s on a green screen at a university open day really brings a warm fuzzy wave over me.

Unfortunately these days I rarely have the time to play a lot anymore (or even finish what I start playing), but one look at this and I was swept back to a simpler time when your imagination and a few bits of primitive code could keep you entertained for weeks.

 

[Neanderthal]

 

[Twiglard]

Nutrient resources.

 

[Dr Skeleton]

Amazing work

One thing I think needs correction so far:

like their earlier games, Rage of Mages 1 and 2, Nival’s Evil Islands is an RTS/RPG hybrid (or “Role Playing Strategy”, as they called it), this time leaning more towards the RPG side.

It's not a hybrid, there's no RTS elements in Evil Islands, unless you qualify all RTWP combat games as RTS hybrids. Wikipedia repeats this "RTS/RPG hybrid" thing, I remember reading it in the gaming press back in the day too, I think it MAYBE was even something they put on the box for some versions, but it's just not true. I'm not sure where it originates from, maybe they originally wanted RTS elements or maybe people confuse it with earlier Rage of Mages games but I think it's a case where a statement gets repeated enough times to be cited as a fact but wasn't true to begin with.

 

[Gerulas]

Congratulations on the huge achievement. You've done something great for the genre and its fans!

On printing: have you checked https://www.lulu.com/ and similar online printers? They work on demand per order, you don't need a mass print, warehouse or anything. Whatever way you choose, I'll be getting a few copies for me and as gifts as well.

A hardcover colored version of the book would cost over $100 on Lulu. :/

Those colored pages push up the price quite a lot. I could probably make a book from this much cheaper if I would choose black and white printing, but that would do a huge diservice to those fantastic screenshots.

Just to add a small info here, I hope this is helpful - Lulu offers "30% Off for printed books" a few times a year.
I even managed to snipe a 40% off two times (*), so it may worth to subscribe to their newsletter if you plan to print something from time to time. The 40% drop is not often indeed, but it does appear for sure at some point if you wait enough.

(*) First time it was War of the Burning Sky: The Complete Campaign - a 700+ pages monster, full color. Btw - great campaign path! The second time I printed 4 big hardcovers from Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign Setting (Kenzer & Co). The overall saving was huge, I could not have otherwise bought the books without the 40% promo.

 

[Jimmious]

Truly impressive work felipepepe , congratulations. I would gladly pay money to get a nice print of the book also. Especially since I'm not the biggest fan of e-book reading

 

[felipepepe]

It's not a hybrid, there's no RTS elements in Evil Islands, unless you qualify all RTWP combat games as RTS hybrids. Wikipedia repeats this "RTS/RPG hybrid" thing, I remember reading it in the gaming press back in the day too, I think it MAYBE was even something they put on the box for some versions, but it's just not true. I'm not sure where it originates from, maybe they originally wanted RTS elements or maybe people confuse it with earlier Rage of Mages games but I think it's a case where a statement gets repeated enough times to be cited as a fact but wasn't true to begin with.

I think Evil Islands has a clear RTS lineage. The game's controls in particular feel just like an RTS... as if the entire game was one of those WarCraft 3 levels where you only control a hero.

 

[T. Reich]

Congrats on this monumental release!




Paid DLC when?

 

[Jaedar]

Congratulationa for finishing the book.


To you and all the contributors.

 

[Gord]

Great! Congratz felipepepe.

So there's still something useful coming out of the codex once in a while, who would have thought...

I've only quickly glanced through a few entries in the book so far, but assuming I find any errors (actually I did find one incorrect sentence), are you interested in being notified of them?

 

[Dr Skeleton]

I think Evil Islands has a clear RTS lineage. The game's controls in particular feel just like an RTS... as if the entire game was one of those WarCraft 3 levels where you only control a hero.

I can see the RTS lineage (Rage of Mages) but it seems wrong to me to call it a hybrid if there are no RTS gameplay elements other than real time combat. RTS/RPG hybrid or "RPS" brings to mind Rage of Mages, Spellforce, Kingdom under Fire or maybe Warcraft 3. I mean, it's not a big deal in the end, especially if they used the "strategy elements / RTS hybrid" line to promote the game (which they did, at least in some countries) but IMO calling it a hybrid is really stretching it.