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Incline Butthurt Dungeon: Thac0's Ultimate Blobber List

Morpheus Kitami

Liturgist
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
2,697
I digged through the codex for discussion on those, most of them got too negative a reception. Adding crystal dragon and abandoned places 2, given that they got overall good impressions here.
Wait, people really like Abandoned Places 2? The one with one level set in a massive pit of damaging fire you have to completely explore in order to pass? Whew, I know you probably haven't played all of these, but I suggest putting divisive on it, because I can't imagine just waltzing into that game expecting something not insane.
 

Mortmal

Arcane
Joined
Jun 15, 2009
Messages
9,498
Then there's no eye of beholder 3 , you know why it wasn't popular ? Because one year earlier ultima underworld was released, that was the elephant trampling everything, breathtaking unique and immersive revolutionary rpg like enver seen before, then ultima 7 enough said ... So while EO3 isnt as good as EO2 and not deserving a star , if you like EO1 EO2 it deserves a playthrough , there's no reason to not play . It's not doing anything horrible , it was trashed by reviews for not being revolutionary, it's the same stuff as before. There was no amiga version either this time , it doesnt help the case.
 

j2alg

Educated
Joined
Aug 8, 2021
Messages
81
Bunny Black was flawed with basic labyrinths and that AI party mechanic, but still worth a look. I also liked Dungeon Travelers 1, DT 2-2 and Cirnozardry but they're not in English.
 

samuraigaiden

Arcane
Joined
Dec 28, 2018
Messages
1,954
Location
Harare
RPG Wokedex
Betrayal at Krondor is a semi-gridless blobber (you still only move one step at a time and so do the enemies) with tactical combat.

Lords of Xulima is not a blobber in any way, shape or form.

Xulima has blobber combat

No such thing exists. It's just turn based combat. Let me put it this way, if Xulima has blobber combat, so does every Dragon Quest game ever. So no, just no. Let's stop this nonsense here before it spreads.

The New Tokyo Legacy games should be in the Weeb list.
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

Time Mage
Patron
Joined
Apr 30, 2020
Messages
3,292
Location
Arborea
I'm very into cock and ball torture
No such thing exists. It's just turn based combat. Let me put it this way, if Xulima has blobber combat, so does every Dragon Quest game ever. So no, just no. Let's stop this nonsense here before it spreads.

That is the crux. This type of first person menu based combat is only used in blobbers in Western games, while it is literally the default combat option for JRPGs. So for those who play JRPGs the categorisation is nonsensical, as it is a game with JRPG combat and isometric exploration, for those that do not it makes sense. Curious case.

Well, let's put it up for vote.
Button this comment YES if you want to keep Xulima in the list, button it NO if Xulima should go.
 

Mortmal

Arcane
Joined
Jun 15, 2009
Messages
9,498
Betrayal at Krondor is a semi-gridless blobber (you still only move one step at a time and so do the enemies) with tactical combat.

Lords of Xulima is not a blobber in any way, shape or form.

Xulima has blobber combat

No such thing exists. It's just turn based combat. Let me put it this way, if Xulima has blobber combat, so does every Dragon Quest game ever. So no, just no. Let's stop this nonsense here before it spreads.

The New Tokyo Legacy games should be in the Weeb list.
Dragon quests games qualify too, as many of their wizardry clones , nothing evolves in japan ever. Thats not much more nonsense than usual, there's titles on the list with one star , i doubt anyone still enjoy them as too ancient. Like wizardry 1? There's never ever anyone discussing those games nor asking for tips anymore .In my opinion only 7 and 8 still deserve one star.
One star on grimoire ? it deserves the contested tag, remember felipepe review , he was not so enthusiast.
Might and magic X no star, an honest attempt at doign a rpg, but the level design is abysmal poor. It's build like a corridor shooter.
Frayed knight ? It's shit, if i start doing something on unity on my spare time it probably wont be worse.
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

Time Mage
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Messages
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Arborea
I'm very into cock and ball torture
Like wizardry 1? There's never ever anyone discussing those games nor asking for tips anymore .In my opinion only 7 and 8 still deserve one star.

Among DRPG (Japanese blobber) fans Wizardry 1 and 5 still get plenty love, as the Japanese cloned Wiz 1-5 when they created their branching genre. All the Japanese Wizardries take after I-V, and not so much 6-8.
Wiz 2 and 3 are very underdiscussed as basically glorified expansion packs, Wiz 4 has so few people that love it that I didn't even add it with a sword.

One star on grimoire ? it deserves the contested tag, remember felipepe review , he was not so enthusiast.

I can give sword and star as it is definitly controversial

Might and magic X no star, an honest attempt at doign a rpg, but the level design is abysmal poor. It's build like a corridor shooter.

It has nice combat tho. I think the divisiveness is expressed well enough with the sword and star tag, as it also gets people to love it.

Frayed knight ? It's shit, if i start doing something on unity on my spare time it probably wont be worse.

Got very positive impressions on the dex.
I will probably pick it up eventually to see for myself, but not enough negativity to justify swords.

The New Tokyo Legacy games should be in the Weeb list.

Babel is in there, I am hesitant to add more, since those games are awfull. I am close to being overruled tho, if someone else speaks out for them I add all of them with swords for now.
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
15,422
Dragonquest qualifies? Its all topdown view except combat. Falls more into wasteland territory. Its a hybrid mutt. So is the first Phantasy Star actually. Shining in the Darkness seems blobberish.
 

agris

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Apr 16, 2004
Messages
6,927
One star on grimoire ? it deserves the contested tag, remember felipepe review , he was not so enthusiast.

Pepepe fancies himself a game journalist, and Grimoire had no game journalist difficulty level.
That strikes me as an unfair, and untrue criticism of his review. It reads like Grimoire was in development hell for 20 years (it was), has assets that reflect that, systems that aren't fully baked, no manual to read and combat traded complexity for fast-draw. I don't really care if Grimoire is great or not, but his review comes across as a fair documentation of the experience.

Not sure if he loves blobbers or not, maybe if he loved them he would have liked it more? It mostly reads like he really enjoyed it at the start, 10-15 hours i think he said, and then the paint starting chipping and the game became rote and un-fun. I think we can all relate to that for some game or another.
 

V_K

Arcane
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
7,714
Location
at a Nowhere near you
Since you have Gates of Skeldal on the list, no reason not to put its sequel 7 Mages there.
And since you have a solo category, Legacy: Realm of Terror should be in there.
Spirit of Adventure is a pretty decent BT-like precursor to Realms of Arkania.
Also, Frayed Knights is a pretty good TB blobber despite the dubious humor.

On the other hand, I'm bothered by the inclusion of Disciples of Steel. It's only first-person in dungeons - and if that is acceptable, all of the early Ultimas should be on the list too, and I don't think that's a good thing.
(I don't have the time to read all 7 pages, so apologies if some of these points have already been raised)
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
22,707
Location
Ingrija
On the other hand, I'm bothered by the inclusion of Disciples of Steel. It's only first-person in dungeons

If it's good enough for Pool of Radiance, it's good enough for Disciples of Steel.

At the end of the day, what matters is the amount and importance of dungeoneering relatively to overworld travels. Dungeons in Ultima have always been an afterthought.
 

V_K

Arcane
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
7,714
Location
at a Nowhere near you
On the other hand, I'm bothered by the inclusion of Disciples of Steel. It's only first-person in dungeons

If it's good enough for Pool of Radiance, it's good enough for Disciples of Steel.
PoR only has third-person exploration on the world map, which isn't a terribly big part of the game. DoS has is both on the world map (of which there's a whole lot more) and in the cities, bringing it much closer to Ultima formula. I also don't remember DoS's dungeoneering being much more developed than Ultima's, most of the time you just proceed from one combat encounter to the next.
I have similar reservations about Amberstar lineage, but at least those games have more blobber-like combat.
 

Pink Eye

Monk
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Messages
6,195
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Space Refrigerator
I'm very into cock and ball torture
If you guys haven't. You should play the Ravenloft games. There's only two of em', and they don't require much time investment. Both are relatively short to play - except for Stone Prophet, depending on your pace that one can take a bit to chew through. They may not feature the best gameplay compared to other titles being mentioned, but they feature some of the best music, level design, atmosphere, puzzles, and fantastic Voice Acting. I don't very much like these First Person Party Based games. However, I enjoyed my time with Ravenloft. Stone Prophet especially. One of my favorite games of all time.

So many good tracks in that game. In example:
 

mediocrepoet

Philosoraptor in Residence
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Joined
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Combatfag: Gold box / Pathfinder
Codex 2012 Codex+ Now Streaming! MCA Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
If you guys haven't. You should play the Ravenloft games. There's only two of em', and they don't require much time investment. Both are relatively short to play - except for Stone Prophet, depending on your pace that one can take a bit to chew through. They may not feature the best gameplay compared to other titles being mentioned

So out of the two games in the series that don't require much time investment, one of the games may require significant time investment. But they make up for this by not featuring great gameplay. :philosoraptor:
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

Time Mage
Patron
Joined
Apr 30, 2020
Messages
3,292
Location
Arborea
I'm very into cock and ball torture

With Swords due to the atrocious mobile UI.

Legacy: Realm of Terror

ok

Spirit of Adventure

I know this is unfinished, would you say there is enough game there to make a full experience?

Frayed Knights

Already in.

On the other hand, I'm bothered by the inclusion of Disciples of Steel. It's only first-person in dungeons - and if that is acceptable, all of the early Ultimas should be on the list too, and I don't think that's a good thing.
(I don't have the time to read all 7 pages, so apologies if some of these points have already been raised)

Part-Time blobbers are a category I might open, but I barely played any of them.
I could open one now for Ultima, Disciples of Steel, Amberstar games. I would need to know which of the Ultima's feature first person blobbing, and which other good games there are in which you part time blob.
 

mediocrepoet

Philosoraptor in Residence
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Combatfag: Gold box / Pathfinder
Codex 2012 Codex+ Now Streaming! MCA Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
On the other hand, I'm bothered by the inclusion of Disciples of Steel. It's only first-person in dungeons - and if that is acceptable, all of the early Ultimas should be on the list too, and I don't think that's a good thing.
(I don't have the time to read all 7 pages, so apologies if some of these points have already been raised)

Part-Time blobbers are a category I might open, but I barely played any of them.
I could open one now for Ultima, Disciples of Steel, Amberstar games. I would need to know which of the Ultima's feature first person blobbing, and which other good games there are in which you part time blob.

I think only Ultima I and II featured blobber combat, but even a number of the later games featured blobber dungeons. These weren't good blobber experiences though. Like no one plays Ultima looking for the same experience they're going for when they play M&M or Wizardry... I don't think they should be on the list.
 

Pink Eye

Monk
Patron
Joined
Oct 10, 2019
Messages
6,195
Location
Space Refrigerator
I'm very into cock and ball torture
Strahd's Possession took me 8 hours to get through. Stone Prophet took me about 20-30 hours; it has more dungeons than the first game. A couple of really big ones that can take a while to map out. In terms of gameplay, it was fine. I think if you're going to play the first one. You should figure out auto clicker; because I nearly broke my mouse from all the clicking I had to do. Thankfully there's lots of ways to cheese the enemies. Like hitting them from corner while they helplessly stand there watching. Or using invisible walls to attack them. Even better you can hit move back then repeat ad nauseam as they try to chase you - there's a way to get in a free attack while they're in mid attacking animation. See:

Like I said. Not the greatest. Has a few annoyances, but man oh man do I love these games.
 

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