Advice for trying out some older RPG's

[xuerebx]

Probably too late now since the OP hasn't logged in 5 months, but I was in the same boat. I hadn't tried playing any pre-1996 PC RPGs (earliest game here was Daggerfall since I am/was a big ES fan) up until a few weeks ago when I was convinced to purchase or wishlist a bunch of older series after playing and falling in love with Wizardry 8 (my first blobber). I reckoned that I might actually like the blobber type of RPG, as I previously mainly played isometric RPGs (barring Gothic and ES games, which are in third/first person). Since I'll be going back to early 1990s, I decided to also play the other RPGs released during this time.

Similar to the recommendations here I've started off with M&M III, but I've got a good backlog of games which I'll be playing over the course of this year:

• Might & Magic III-VIII
• Eye of the Beholder I-III
  
• Ultima Underworld I-II
  
• Darklands
• Land of Lore 1-2
• Betrayal at Krondor
• Grimoire (not old, but like I said I'm new to the sub-genre)
• Knights of the Chalice
  
• Wizards and Warriors
• ToEE (not sure why I never played this tbh, I think it was riddle with bugs in the past?)

And maybe Wizardry 7. Watched a few LPs of 6 and 7 to get an idea of what I may be getting into, and in W6 you're basically in the same castle (so you're looking at the same things) but it's in 7 where this changes.

1) RPG Codex Top 70 PC RPGs

Nice, the list (2014) seems to be quite different from the recent one I had went through (2019?). Played 100% of the top 10, 75% of the top 20, and 63% of the top 30. Playing the games on my wishlist/backlog will bring me up to 90% of the top 30, which is more respectable.

 

[Curratum]

It's best to skip the so-called "Golden Age" and dive straight into ultra-monocled API/Renaissance era.

I never thought there'd come a day when I would so passionately and wholeheartedly agree with Lilura, but here we are.

Skipping the autistic "Golden Age" is indeed the best approach in this situation.

Not doing so is the equivalent of driving a Trabant made in 1967 and imagining you're driving a 1967 Shelby. Old age does not magically equate quality.

 

[Lilura]

It's best to skip the so-called "Golden Age" and dive straight into ultra-monocled API/Renaissance era.

I never thought there'd come a day when I would so passionately and wholeheartedly agree with Lilura, but here we are.

If you agree with me on that, then I don't see why you wouldn't agree with most of my views on RPGs.

 

[Curratum]

It's best to skip the so-called "Golden Age" and dive straight into ultra-monocled API/Renaissance era.

I never thought there'd come a day when I would so passionately and wholeheartedly agree with Lilura, but here we are.

If you agree with me on that, then I don't see why you wouldn't agree with most of my views on RPGs.

Because I'm sitting on the dividing fence with you, having a drink and chatting about the glory of renaissance era RPGs, but my other foot is not in the land of Gold Box games. It is planted instead in the land of massive popamole, graphics whoredom and exploration. I worship Witcher 3 not because of its mechanics, gameplay or even dialogue and quests, but above all because of its scope, visual direction and its ability to give me that "there-being" feeling. Same reason why RDRedemption 2 is the first game that has enthralled me so much since Witcher 3.

 

[Lilura]

the land of massive popamole, graphics whoredom and exploration

So what you're saying is that you're a casual'tard. ok.

 

[luj1]

Skipping the autistic "Golden Age" is indeed the best approach

RDRedemption 2 is the first game that has enthralled me

Begone, retard

 

[Curratum]

the land of massive popamole, graphics whoredom and exploration

So what you're saying is that you're a casual'tard. ok.

For someone who writes such long-winded articles, I figured you'd be the sort of person who can read to the end of a post.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Pop-a-mole graphics?

 

[Cael]

Ok. Not exactly on topic, but am looking to see what kind of response I'd get.

I am looking to play the entire Gold Box Krynn series with a single party. While I have my own preferences, I'd like to open the floor to you Codexers to come up with party members that are actually viable characters for the whole series (which, amongst other things, means a Kender Fighter/Cleric or Dwarf Cleric/Thief is out).

As the Krynn games do not allow dual-classing in humans, I will allow humans to be multiclassed*. And to save my own sanity (due to OCD looting and encumbrance rules), I will allow all races to have the same max strength as humans.

The first slot will be a knight. There are a couple of reasons for this:
1. There is a quest in the first game that only a knight can complete.
2. Being able to control NPCs in combat is a good thing.

The other 5 can be made up of your favourite character. Remember that the game allows you to modify your character's stats, so you can specify what stats you want your character to have. Max starting hp is a given.

So, have at it

* Using GBC, I can create the multiclass combo in another race and then switch it to human and eliminate any race-based effects like the elf resistance to sleep/charm.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Can GBC make multi-class be 4-5 classes? I didn't look.

 

[Cael]

Can GBC make multi-class be 4-5 classes? I didn't look.

No. Just the standard multiclass combos of 1st ed.

 

[mondblut]

If you want to go way back and start with something easy/simple, you might want to take a look at Akalabeth. It's perfectly playable in short bursts, the objectives are simple and clear and it might make it easier for you to get into other classic RPGs.

Also, Wizardry 1 has a pretty simple (overall) objective, which should be all the direction you need.

You should replace Gordon Ramsay on "Hell's Kitchen". Send those aspiring cooks to learn to make fire using hand drills first.

 

[Socur Toxanarosa]

So many great new games every year, no point wasting time playing obsolete shit from the 80's and early 90's unless you're already filthy rich and can devote all your time to games. Actually, not even in that case, just start from Fallout.

 

[Viata]

So many great new games every year, no point wasting time playing obsolete shit from the 80's and early 90's unless you're already filthy rich and can devote all your time to games. Actually, not even in that case, just start from Fallout.

I hope you mean Fallout 3. No reason to play shit old games like Fallout 1 and 2.

 

[Socur Toxanarosa]

So many great new games every year, no point wasting time playing obsolete shit from the 80's and early 90's unless you're already filthy rich and can devote all your time to games. Actually, not even in that case, just start from Fallout.

I hope you mean Fallout 3. No reason to play shit old games like Fallout 1 and 2.

I'm sorry you love Fallout 3 but i meant Fallout 1 indeed.

 

[Viata]

So many great new games every year, no point wasting time playing obsolete shit from the 80's and early 90's unless you're already filthy rich and can devote all your time to games. Actually, not even in that case, just start from Fallout.

I hope you mean Fallout 3. No reason to play shit old games like Fallout 1 and 2.

I'm sorry you love Fallout 3 but i meant Fallout 1 indeed.

Nah, Fallout 1 is shit, it is an obsolete shit game. There is a reason why Obsidian decided to use Fallout 3 engine instead of rolling a new FO2 engine.

 

[Grauken]

So basically what I'm trying to ask is kind of a two-parter. Firstly, is there any kind of tip you can give me to get around this issue in a general sense?

There's a solution to this, but it takes a bit of commitment. Uncouple from social media, stop reading news. Watch a couple of old movies. Not movies from the 80ies, I mean black and white stuff from the 30ies and 40ies. Read a couple of books. Old ones, the kind that get Latro hot and bothered. Unplug from the modern world. Learn what boredom really means, experience it for a couple of days by not doing much. Get out the graph paper. Start playing

 

[Sweeper]

no point wasting time playing obsolete shit from the 80's and early 90's

A couple of days ago I would have agreed with you, but pic related exists

primary reason being historical RPGs get my dick hard. The sad part is, the closest thing to Darklands, as far as I'm aware is Battle Brothers, and it's semi-fantasy, released 20 years later.
I would forgive Sawyer all his balancing sins if he made his Darklands game.
The balance will be pristine, the game will be boring, the builds will be shit, and I would still play it.

 

[anvi]

Lol Darklands is totes trending on RPGcodex right now.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

So many great new games every year, no point wasting time playing obsolete shit from the 80's and early 90's unless you're already filthy rich and can devote all your time to games. Actually, not even in that case, just start from Fallout.

I hope you mean Fallout 3. No reason to play shit old games like Fallout 1 and 2.

Why would you play that old crap Fallout 3? Anything older than Fallout 76 is trash. Even Fallout 76 is getting long in the tooth.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

If you want to go way back and start with something easy/simple, you might want to take a look at Akalabeth. It's perfectly playable in short bursts, the objectives are simple and clear and it might make it easier for you to get into other classic RPGs.

Also, Wizardry 1 has a pretty simple (overall) objective, which should be all the direction you need.

You should replace Gordon Ramsay on "Hell's Kitchen". Send those aspiring cooks to learn to make fire using hand drills first.

Worked for me, might work for the OP.

Once you grow accustomed to the basics, playing other crawlers becomes much easier.

Once you grow accustomed to 'quality-of-life' features like automapping, autowalking, awesome buttons and quest markers, playing anything other than casual shite becomes much harder.

More importantly, who are you and what have you done to mondblut?

 

[Daemongar]

Ecko you want to be a man? Like, a real man - not some wanabee RPG player sitting on his ass with a walkthru in his lap and trying to figure out how to steer the balloon in U4? You don't want to be that 'mo, you want to be a man. Listen, I got the goods. *Right here*

Spoiler

Play Phantasie I. That's a good game: it's fun, the combat isn't bad, and there are only two types of folks in this world: he-men who killed Olympian gods for the massive experience, and those who lie in bed, knowing only emptiness while gazing down on their underutilized genitalia, reflecting at what could have been had only got over their contempt of shabby graphics!

 

[akkadian5]

I'm about the same age as the OP, but after getting tired of playing Oblivion for porn, I spent most of my high school days playing computer games from the pre-90s, which I found on abandonware sites.

The so-called Golden Age is a unique mixture of technological limits, the creator's worldview, and the ideal RPG image of the time.
Once you get to the point, the experience is fun.

Some of my favorites:
Legacy of the Ancients
Phantasie (and Star Command)
The Dark Heart of Uukrul
Might and Magic
Starflight
Treasures of the Savage Frontier

Some non-RPG:
Midwinter
Castle Master
Empire Deluxe
Stronghold(SSI)
Fantasy General
Advanced Civilization

The so-called post-Renaissance RPG is roughly superior to the 80's in terms of its measurable quality, but it also feels like a sort of standstill.
This feeling is especially strong for D&D3e licensed games. (For some reason, playing ToEE was hard)

 

[Cael]

Ecko you want to be a man? Like, a real man - not some wanabee RPG player sitting on his ass with a walkthru in his lap and trying to figure out how to steer the balloon in U4? You don't want to be that 'mo, you want to be a man. Listen, I got the goods. *Right here*

Spoiler

Play Phantasie I. That's a good game: it's fun, the combat isn't bad, and there are only two types of folks in this world: he-men who killed Olympian gods for the massive experience, and those who lie in bed, knowing only emptiness while gazing down on their underutilized genitalia, reflecting at what could have been had only got over their contempt of shabby graphics!

A real man would have played and completed The Magic Candle without resorting to the Internet.

 

[JarlFrank]

More importantly, who are you and what have you done to mondblut?

Our boy mondblut has always preferred Wizardry 6-8 to the older ones, due to higher complexity of the character system, more exploity multiclassing and powergaming, etc.

He's a monocled gentleman who likes having MORE options