What brought you into the fold?

[Whipporowill]

Pnp and then Ultima VI and onwards.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Questron for the Commodore64 was my first CRPG. Ah, the joys of getting the musket and pwning entire towns. I used to play it over at a friend's house before I got my Amiga 500.

The first CRPG I personally owned, though, was Battletech: The Crescent Hawk's Insomethingorother.

 

[Spazmo]

Years and years ago, watching my older brother play Ultima IV and Pirates! on my still older cousin's C64. For real, though, Fallout and tabletop D&D.

 

[Claw]

DDD on the C64 was my first CRPG, an Ultima clone from what I hear, looking alot like Ultima 3. I don't really know much about the first three Ultimas, but you do also play a human from our world cast into a fantasy world, and it plays alot like Ultima IV which I did play relatively recently.
It is however far more difficult. It also features on of the coolest enemies I ever met in a game, the predatory nettle tree.

In truth however, it started and stopped there. After being more or less forced to sell my C64 so I'd get a PC, I played mostly Civilization, RTS and Adventures. I could never get into the old CRPGs like Bard's Tale. I never really stuck with CRPGs as a genre, but I played Ultima VII, Ultima Underworld, Fallout and Gothic, loving each in its own way.

 

[MisterStone]

My first was Tunnels of Doom on my trusty TI 99/4A. It was mainly first person, with 3rd person when you would enter the room. It was lots of fun, kind of like Rogue.

Woot! Someone else had that shiny silver and black hunk o' fun! Did you have the tape drive or just use the cartridges?

Thanks for reminding me of this game, you two... I almost forgot. I think it was my first RPG as well!

My bro and I would actually play together, each of us controlling different chars in the same party. It was a pretty sweet game.

After ToD, I guess I got hooked on Ultima IV and V. Also, I played all of the old Origin Apple II titles (or at least tried them out). I liked Moebius and AutoDuel, which must have been the first examples of action RPG out there... (actually, AutoDuel was more of a freelancer type game). I played a lot of RPGs on the Apple, but the entire 90s and early 00's passed me by because I didn't have a Dos/Windows machine during that time, and 90% of all RPGs came out for that kind of system. (I idid get to play Dungeon Master on the Amiga though).

Still, for some reason I compare all RPGs to Ultima IV and V, and they always seem to come up short. I even tried out U7 via Exult a while back, but was kind of dissapointed, because the world was so small! Used to be, going from one city to another was a long journey, but in U7 the wilderness seems to be smaller than towns! Even Fallout, which I loved, seems a lot emptier compared with U4... I am not sure if this is because it really is, or because of my change in perspective and age. Of course, Fallout had features like char. development that didn't really t exist in U4.

 

[MINIGUNWIELDER]

The average american thinks there are 52 states.

What.

He either meant 49(NEW MEXICO NORTH OF MEXICO WEST OF TEXAS!!!!! ) or he is kooky

 

[Slith]

The first RPG I really liked was called 'Legend of Gaiea' or something like that.
It's a typical FF-esque game.

You start out in a little coastal village that has really high walls to keep out this dangerous fog that turns people into monsters. [Later you learn that the fog is actually kept at bay because of the large tree growing in the middle of the town.]

Anyways, the town gets attacked, and you being 'teh chosen one!111' get to fight off the evil creatures. [You happen to be skilled at martial arts.] The goal of the game is to go around and revive these old trees that are located every which place. When the tree is revived it pushes away the fog, and returns any transformed people into their original selves

I got about halfway through the game before I got stuck. I eventually figured the puzzle out, but the next day everything in the house got stoled. Didn't bother buying a new Playstation and went and got an xbox and Halo instead.

After that was Morrowind, then Kotor 1-2, Then Jade Empire, then Baldur's Gate II, then Fallout 2. [I'm still playing BG2 and Fallout2 - haven't finished either yet.]

So I really haven't played many of the classics you guys are touting about. I might get there someday.

[Edit: There was a D&D game on the Sega that I used to play at my uncles house when I was younger. No clue what it was called.]

 

[bryce777]

There's 52 cards in a deck. People get them mixed up. As for naming them all HA.

 

[TheGreatGodPan]

I started out playing Spacequest games on my old 286. It also had Chuck Yeager's Air Combat and F-19 Flight Simulator, but I wasn't as into them. I really liked adventure games, but the only ones I played were by Sierra. I didn't discover LucasArts or Infocom until years after I'd stopped playing Sierra games. On my second computer I had Journeyman Project 1-3, Warcraft 1&2 and Starcraft, although I only beat strategy games by cheating. I got Command & Conquer after both of those but I was absolutely horrible at it.

I heard about Deus Ex in a preview on IGN, which I read all the time even though I played very few games. It sounded incredible to me, and I got it about the same time that I got the computer I am using right now. The only RPG experience I had was Joe Dever's Lone Wolf books, which I had found after lots of Choose Your Own Adventures. I thought those blew the others away, but I still cheated (as I had also done with the CYOAs). I owe Deus Ex a lot. It's references to the Illuminati led me to read about the INWO card game which I obsessed over despite never owning nor seeing a single card, and that in turn led me to H.P. Lovecraft. Right now I'm reading Paradise Lost only because Deus Ex quoted from it in the Illuminati ending.

From Deus Ex I moved onto Fallout (kept hearing it was great) and Thief, although I forget in what order. I got System Shock 2 later, but it took me forever to get it to work. In the meantime I discovered interactive fiction, first from a site that allowed me to play old Infocom games for free and then amateur stuff. I now have illicitly procured Ultima IV (I got pretty far until a friend of my brother saved over my game, then I deleted it but downloaded it again later), VII (both Black Gate and Serpent Isle, although I don't even have a saved game in either), Underworld: Stygian Abyss (I've gotten to the second floor) and Martian Dreams (I still play this and I think I've beat most of it). So I still haven't beaten a single Ultima game. I got PST when someone here seeded it to me on bittorrent, and enjoyed it. I got Gothic 2 just months ago and was playing it until I switched to Martian Dreams because G2 loads very slowly and lags and crashes sometimes.

I briefly played some p&p games. I had some friends who had never played (let alone DMd) before, so it always devolved into silliness or arguments. I later got invited to play with some serious p&p nerds, but got kicked out of their D&D campaign because it's schedule conflicted with my job. I left their Vampire game because it was just a horrible "Aren't I goofy" nerd circle-jerk. I actually demanded that I get to roll once (the only time after like three days of play) before I died, so I would at least fail one check before tripping on a hole in the road and falling into Tartarus. They lent me an old Chaosium Call of Cthulhu DM guide though, so that's cool.

 

[Volourn]

"There was a D&D game on the Sega that I used to play at my uncles house when I was younger. No clue what it was called.]"

'Twas an awesome game!

 

[LCJr.]

Dragon Warrior on the Nintendo.

The one that really did it though was the Nintendo port of Pool of Radiance. I remember being in awe of the fact you got 3 missions at a time and could do them in any order. After playing the JRPG's that seemed like unparalled freedom LOL.

edit> I was thinking purely in terms of CRPG's. PnP I started with the original blue box Basic D&D circa 1978 or 80. Right around the time I got my first copy of Lord of the Rings.

 

[Data4]

Originally, it was PnP, but moving on into the digital age, it was the Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest in Japan) series for the NES, unless you can count Zelda. Actually... wouldn't the original LoZ be considered a roguelike?

Anyway, Dragon Warrior introduced me to the concept of narrative in a game that was a little more complicated than "save princess from evil overlord", along with the mechanics of turn-based party combat.

A friend of mine had an IBM PC Jr. (I think...?) and The Bard's Tale, so my first computer game had me going frame-by-frame through Skara Brae, and damned if I can't remember anything about that game except the purple overtones of the graphics. Heh.

-D4

 

[Wysardry]

My first RPG-like game was "Forest of Doom" - on my uncle's CBM 64 - which was a conversion of the Fighting Fantasy book. The next similar game I played was "Wizard's Castle", which was a very simple text game written in BASIC.

I played several adventure games first though.

 

[TheOx]

My first RPG was the jRPG Final Fantasy 6. I bought it used around the time FF7 just came out (I think I still have it, actually). After playing FF6, I was mostly into jRPGs, until I decided to buy BG1 + TotSC and BG2 (this was before ToB came out) after hearing so many people rave about them. Unfortunately, neither one really "gripped" me, and I quickly forgot about them. Around that time, I discovered the wonderful world of abandonware - thanks to Home of the Underdogs - and found many overlooked (and well-known) games. Using HotU, I ended up playing Torment and Ultima IV. From there, I discovered plenty of other amazing CRPGs (I believe I bought the Fallout 1/2 bundle for $10, and Arcanum had interested me when I first heard about it).

 

[Lord Chambers]

Anyway, Dragon Warrior introduced me to the concept of narrative in a game that was a little more complicated than "save princess from evil overlord", along with the mechanics of turn-based party combat.

Are you joking here? The original Dragon Warrior seriously gives you the mission to go kill the Dragonlord. You find the princess along the way in that chunnel.

I started playing Dragon Warrior before I could read. I'd occasionally try to flag down a parent to read a few screens, but since most of Dragon Warrior is wandering around aimlessly while leveling up, I managed pretty alright.

I played Final Fantasy on NES also during this not-able-to-read period.

By the time I got an SNES Final Fantasy 2 was popular. I have still yet to finish it, but having rented it about 18 times in my life, I've made it to the moon in a weekend several times.

From FF2 came FF3 (which I really think is overrated and barely as good as FF2), then Crono Trigger, and then there was a long blackout period when Square gave the finger to the N64 and the Gamecube. I've played around with some Arcanum, Fallout 2, Torment, Baulders, and Elderscrolls, but none of them capture and hold me the way RPGs used to.

Considering that it's kind of strange I read these boards so often. I spend almost all of my game time playing competitive FPSs or Civ4. I guess I'm with you in spirit, even if not in body.

 

[Hazelnut]

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf books

Awesome. Spent a hell of a lot of time between the ages of 10 and 14 reading these. I still have all twelve books - I actually kept on getting them long after I stopped reading them. I think I've never even opened 11 & 12... I will one day in a fit of nostagia. Or maybe I'll just leave it to my son.

Every computer game idea i've ever had seems to end up at a Lone Wolf RPG in my mind before very long...

 

[Tekar]

Baldur's Gate 1 got me into RPGs, I think therefor it is still second on my list of all time best games (Right after PS:T)

 

[EvilManagedCare]

My first was Tunnels of Doom on my trusty TI 99/4A. It was mainly first person, with 3rd person when you would enter the room. It was lots of fun, kind of like Rogue.

Woot! Someone else had that shiny silver and black hunk o' fun! Did you have the tape drive or just use the cartridges?

ToD required the tape drive. It was one of the reasons I asked my parents to buy one. That game took forever to load initially I remember, but the anticipation added to the fun. I believe that game was written in TI's Extended Basic. All things considered that was an amazing feat.

 

[Data4]

Anyway, Dragon Warrior introduced me to the concept of narrative in a game that was a little more complicated than "save princess from evil overlord", along with the mechanics of turn-based party combat.

Are you joking here? The original Dragon Warrior seriously gives you the mission to go kill the Dragonlord. You find the princess along the way in that chunnel.

I started playing Dragon Warrior before I could read. I'd occasionally try to flag down a parent to read a few screens, but since most of Dragon Warrior is wandering around aimlessly while leveling up, I managed pretty alright.

Well, that was just a fancy way of saying "something a little more involved than The Legend of Zelda" I loved DW, though. When DW 4 (I think) featured day/night cycles, I thought it was the absolute shit at the time.

-D4

 

[Claw]

I got Gothic 2 just months ago and was playing it until I switched to Martian Dreams because G2 loads very slowly and lags and crashes sometimes.

So.. your computer operates on cogwheels?

 

[AZ]

I really can't remember, I played a lot of games, but mostly demos in my first Pentium 100 PC, like Betray a Kondor, Albion, System Shock, Diablo1.. The first game whit rpg elements I actually bought and finished was Lords of Magic. Then Baldour's Gate 2 +Expansion, Diablo 2, Icewind Dale +Heart of Winter, Gothic 1 (actually I did not finished the end dungeon), Icewind Dale 2, I couldn't finish Vampire Bloodlines and ToEE because game stopping bugs. I played nearly every other like the Fallout series, Gothic2, BG1, Morrowind, Divine Divinity but not finished at the last part. It is interesting that I play a lot of games to the last few steps, and then get bored because I see how will the story finish.
Now I'm playing Dominions, and I like the concept. Very diverse and there are a lot of possibilities of strategy, even has some rpg elements.
I had C64 too, but I can't remember rpg-s, I played Wizzard of Wor whit friends usually =).

 

[burrie]

Quest for Glory. Definately Quest for Glory.

 

[Old Scratch]

The games that sparked my interest in RPGs as a kid were Ultima: Exodus(NES version!) and the original Final Fantasy. Those games were fascinating to me in how much more complex they were than the typical side-scrollers I was used to at the time. As much as I talk shit about Final Fantasy, it has served as an introduction to RPG systems for a great number of people.

Fallout was my first introduction to CRPGs, and revitalized my love for the genre after I had long since grown tired of Japanese RPGs and most video games in general(not like there was a lot of choice as a Mac user). I read the back of the box after randomly picking it up in the store and knew it was just what I had wanted in a game.

 

[Frau Bishop]

It is interesting that I play a lot of games to the last few steps, and then get bored because I see how will the story finish.

Oh yeah, I know this feeling. Happend in a lot of games to me, but mostly after break-even point in gameplay was reached and only investing time and not improving in strategy or trying out different ways was needed to finish the game. Combined with a bad story... who cares to see the probably boring ending.

Now I'm playing Dominions, and I like the concept. Very diverse and there are a lot of possibilities of strategy, even has some rpg elements.

Is it the prequel to "Dominions II: The Ascension Wars", 2003, from Illwinter Design?
I played this one, but dropped it after some days. The combat control somehow sucked and the overall interface was hard to get used to. But afair there was no general load/save option available, making it thrilling for some time. What's part one like?

 

[Eclecticist]

Playing tabletop D&D and then playing Baldur's Gate.