Anyone remember the Elvira adventure/rpg?

[bryce777]

You know,t hat was actually a surprisingly good game. What the hell it had to do with Elvira, I really dont know, but I just remembered it for some reason and it was pretty enjoyable. You ahd hitpoints for every limb and the combat was pretty hard - mostly the combat meant death and you had to be very, very careful in the game. There were lots of puzzles if I recall, and you could cast spells by gathering various items and mixing them together - they were not all generic and crappy but lots of them were one time use spells.


Anyone got anything else obscure? I have to wonder not only how many games have played and utterly forgotten, but how many decent but obscure ones are out there....

 

[Crazy_Vasey]

Vaguely. I remember the C64 magazine I used to read when I was a kid and the machine wasn't dead made a big deal of the Elvira games, but I only ever got to play the Elvira platformer, which I remember being absolute, 100% shit.

About the only 'RPG' I can remember playing from back then is 'Heroes of the Lance' and that wasn't a particularly good game as I recall. More of a side-scrolling fighting game with some pseudo-RPG stuff tagged on for the hell of it. The 8-bit days were all about Rick Dangerous, Microprose Soccer, Carrier Command, and Stunt Car Racer anyway as far as I'm concerned.

I just remembered another I played: Bloodwytch. Fucking awful, but I hated that genre of RPGs as a whole to be honest. Slowly flicking through an ugly dungeon fighting badly drawn enemies in boring combat is about as much fun as having teeth pulled.

 

[bryce777]

Vaguely. I remember the C64 magazine I used to read when I was a kid and the machine wasn't dead made a big deal of the Elvira games, but I only ever got to play the Elvira platformer, which I remember being absolute, 100% shit.

About the only 'RPG' I can remember playing from back then is 'Heroes of the Lance' and that wasn't a particularly good game as I recall. More of a side-scrolling fighting game with some pseudo-RPG stuff tagged on for the hell of it. The 8-bit days were all about Rick Dangerous, Microprose Soccer, Carrier Command, and Stunt Car Racer anyway as far as I'm concerned.

I just remembered another I played: Bloodwytch. Fucking awful, but I hated that genre of RPGs as a whole to be honest. Slowly flicking through an ugly dungeon fighting badly drawn enemies in boring combat is about as much fun as having teeth pulled.[/quote

Ha! I had totally forgottent he heroes of the lance. I got that, then thought it was stupid, then somehow ended up playing it the entire game through. Xak Tsaroth...at least it was a good setting.]

 

[Crazy_Vasey]

I always got lost playing Heroes of the Lance. I'd get so far (the part after your party falls down a giant tunnel or something) and then I'd just have no idea where to go and end up going round and round in circles till I finally died.

One thing I remember is getting the Dragonlance book trilogy after playing the game and being utterly shocked to find all these computer game characters in it. Well, I was young, and didn't quite get the whole licensing thing, heh.

 

[crufty]

Elvira was a good game--well, at least I remember it as such. Another forgotten series, infocom's battletech, actually had some decent rp'ing if I remember correctly.

 

[Abernathy]

I'm an old fart - but I know there are a few others too, so I won't actually bet money that nobody else remembers the 'Wally' games from the Speccy days

Fuck, they were good - then. I've tried them since and it just ain't the same any more...

 

[Nog Robbin]

Monty Mole all the way. Monty on the run was ace. C64 though, not speccy. Wizball was cool as well.

 

[Moggs]

Hmmm, turns out I must be an old fart too - I remember the Wally games very well. I remember playing pyjamarama for weeks, though I don't think I ever even managed to solve a single puzzle! I wonder if there's a walkthrough on the web - I'd be interested to see what it is I *should* have been doing, rather than just spending hours in the space invaders room...

As for Bloodwych - that was an excellent game! You could play 2 player - either cooperatively or against each other. My brother and I spent hours an that game, working together until one or other "accidently" launched a fireball into the other party's back because they knew there was soem important loot coming up. Ah, the fraternal memories.

 

[Elwro]

As for Bloodwych - that was an excellent game!

Damn right! Too bad the PC version had a bug making it unfinishable.
You can get the game from Underdogs and a patch is available here.

 

[Nog Robbin]

I played Bloodwych on the Amiga - thought it was excellent also. Some of the mazes with the teleport/turn-around squares could be pretty tricky though. Good party adventure game though.

 

[Moggs]

That site Elwro posted has teh Amiga hard-drive install of Bloodwych and the Data-disc expansion available for download. I'm very tempted to give that a go - I never tried the expansion. Anyone know if the quality is up to the "OC"?

 

[Elwro]

Some of the mazes with the teleport/turn-around squares could be pretty tricky though.

That's what the PC version bug was about. I lost days trying to get past a certain level, drawing a new map every time. I think half of the level was a mirror image of the second half but with a minor difference - being the way out. The PC version had solid wall where a passage should be...
And you had no compass - the pillars on the level were placed so that you didn't immediately notice you were turned on some squares. You had to cast a special compass spell which didn't last long...
A very good dungeon crawl.


edit: I also found sth like this. I know nothing about Amiga but maybe it'll help someone. As for the expansion, I haven't tried it and I fill a bit tempted myself :D

 

[Moggs]

Some of the mazes with the teleport/turn-around squares could be pretty tricky though.

That's what the PC version bug was about. I lost days trying to get past a certain level, drawing a new map every time. I think half of the level was a mirror image of the second half but with a minor difference - being the way out. The PC version had solid wall where a passage should be...
And you had no compass - the pillars on the level were placed so that you didn't immediately notice you were turned on some squares. You had to cast a special compass spell which didn't last long...
A very good dungeon crawl.


edit: I also found sth like this. I know nothing about Amiga but maybe it'll help someone. As for the expansion, I haven't tried it and I fill a bit tempted myself :D

You should give it a go! The Amiga emulators now have some very friendly front-ends, taking the hassle out of it (it's certainly no more fiddly than DosBox). Plus you have the added bonus that the Amiga version of Bloodwych has better graphics and sound than the PC version. And no game killing bugs!

 

[Seboss]

Black crypt on the Amiga was great. It's a dungeon master clone. Hard as fuck but very satisfying. Pure dungeon crawl.

 

[Elwro]

@Moggs - thanks, I'll probably give it a try when I have time.

And about Black Crypt, wasn't there someone working on a PC remake?

 

[Moggs]

And about Black Crypt, wasn't there someone working on a PC remake?

It's not listed at http://www.remakes.org but if there is one in production, that would make me a happy ninja. Where's that happy ninja "emoticon"?

 

[Elwro]

I found it in this site's game database, but sadly got a 404...

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

Some of the mazes with the teleport/turn-around squares could be pretty tricky though.

That's what the PC version bug was about. I lost days trying to get past a certain level, drawing a new map every time. I think half of the level was a mirror image of the second half but with a minor difference - being the way out. The PC version had solid wall where a passage should be...
And you had no compass - the pillars on the level were placed so that you didn't immediately notice you were turned on some squares. You had to cast a special compass spell which didn't last long...
A very good dungeon crawl.

I thought it was horrible and frustrating as hell

Elvira - not sure, but wasn't that an Amiga game, sort of 3D graphics, running around in a castle? I think I played it for a while, but I certainly never finished it. L:ike most games back then.

 

[Zomg]

Ah, the first person tiled dungeon crawl "spinner" square cliche. In the days before automapping. With uniform wall graphics that prevent you from noticing the spin on anything but the compass.

Asshole designers.

 

[RGE]

Black crypt on the Amiga was great. It's a dungeon master clone. Hard as fuck but very satisfying. Pure dungeon crawl.

I remember that game. It had pretty cascading gems of colours for spells. And when I got to the end of a level I found a note from the badguy, where he taunted me and whatnot. Because he was sitting far, far down on the last level. I think he meant to discourage me from the long walk, and it worked. I had already completed Dungeon Master and probably Eye of the Beholder too, and I was not willing to go through another game where some NPC was playing a game with me. I wanted to play games which felt like adventures. Just like when I go to a movie I don't want to see characters sitting in a movie theatre watching a movie. Black Crypt taught me how to hate dungeon crawls.

I remember Elvira too. It was funny, and I found her sexy. But I never solved the mysteries. Apparently I was supposed to use the crossbow on the eyes in the hole in the hedge. And those guards were nasty, but a sword and platemail often worked. And that big monster that smashed my head in with a rock...yeah, lots of death scenes in that game.

 

[RuySan]

i remember Elvira very well on the amiga. I was a kid, and that game had some scary parts and lots of gore. It was also very hard.

Bloodwych was quite good, but its sequel, Legend, was so much better. That's one of my favorite RPG's

 

[Moggs]

Legend was the sequel to Bloodwych? The only RPG called Legend I remember on the Amiga was this one: http://hol.abime.net/857

This was a fun game, and possibly one of the earliest isometric "RPG"s. I seem to remember it had a fun magic system. However, it was no way related to Bloodwych as far as I know? Different software house too.

 

[DamnElfGirl]

I vaguely remember playing the Elvira game when I was a teenager. I recall that it was quite difficult and I never finished it. Was fun, though.

 

[Pr()ZaC]

Haven't played an Elvira RPG game but I surely would play with her...

 

[rei1974]

I played it too when was a teenager, I went very far into the game but I think there was a bug or something that prevented me to finish it!
Had a great atmosphere though... horror and rpg seems to stick well together