Which CRPG hooked you into CRPG's, and how?

[Lesifoere]

And I. I started with KotOR. Right at the bottom of the pile.

Think of it this way: from that point on, it could only have gotten better. Me, I picked up Baldur's Gate after PS:T (thinking that hay it uses teh same engine so it must be kind of similar rite) and was severely disappointed and quickly bored.

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

It was Fallout 2, and some time later, PS:T. I really liked how you could do all kinds of completely dick things in Fallout 2, and PS:T was so cool and deep when I was 14.

The first CRPG I played was probably Shadows Over Riva's finnish translation (Varjoja Rivan Yllä), but it was so ridiculous I didn't really play it for more than a few laughs.

Hm, maybe I should re-try it. After all, there's not exactly many crpg's translated to finnish.

 

[Micormic]

diablo, fallout like a week later when i was like 5-6 years old, then baulder's gate 1 like a week after that.

i also played a bit of games like ishar and thunderscape, betrayl at krondor but i sucked at all of them and kept dieing.

except thunderscape, i was ok in that one

 

[Jasede]

I discovered dungeon crawlers only after Ultima and Lands of Lore. Wizardry 1 I played just for the heck of it - and found I loved it.

In having little story, but a big focus on character development and navigation, I found the core of what I enjoyed in Lands of Lore so much: the exploration, the challenge of navigating, these simple things.

Make no mistake, I love all the games I grew up with. Ultima 7(-2) made me critical of nearly every modern RPG. It's today - so where are the schedules that made NPC so vibrant, brimming and, uh, immersive? Where are the giant blobs of dialogue you could wrest from every single person you met? Where lovable companions with a simple, but adorable personality that can be killed if you desire it?

Or Ultima 8- where are the games with odd, haunting art design and fine music? With books that were genuinely interesting to read in the game? With an oppressive and depressive and even immoral tone throughout the whole game as you explore an alien world filled with dark people and enjoy weird and different magic systems, avatar-bros aside?

And Lands of Lore! It's the Oblivion of the past, but it doesn't suck. It's very pretty, very very pretty. Perhaps the nicest-looking 320x240 game I know. The combat is actiony and simple - so the focus is on exploration, made enjoyable and easy with the nice automap. It has Captain Picard. But it doesn't suck. I think it's because of the focus on doing battle against oppressive numbers of monsters with inferior means (like X-Com) and the (to me) interesting dungeons full of little twists and tricks, and especially, the items that you never know if they are better than other items, warranting experimentation.

Older dungeon crawlers I played later - but they make me aware that it's that focus on exploration, and, yes of course, decent combat -- either of these two -- that can truly bring a sense of adventure, wonder, and, there it is again, immersion. I feel the three games I mention have such a sense of wonder, so I don't find it too surprising I like them even though I tend to focus on boring spreadsheet dungeon crawls!

 

[Zomg]

Zomg started with Gold Box and Dark Sun.

Not to be nitpicky, but I played lots of stuff prior to those. I played Temple of Apshai and Moria, for example. I just meant to say that while I played CRPGs, even ones using D&D rules, coming from a light P&P background I never even thought of any video games as RPGs until Fallout. And beyond that, in terms of video games my real favorites were stuff like Civilization, Pirates!, Sword of the Samurai, X-Com.

 

[Jaesun]

Will you Marry me Jasede?

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

I played Temple of Apshai and Moria, for example.

Moria was hardcore. I have fond memories of playing it with a friend and thinking, even back then, that ASCII were ugly beyond belief. But the game was still incredibly addictive.

 

[SkeleTony]

First cRPG I played was probably Ultima way back when on an Apple ][ e but I did not get hooked then. I think the first ones to 'hook' me were the goldbox games but in the early to mid 1990s I really became hooked on more independent games like Exile 2 & 3, Nahlakh, and some retail games like Wizardry 7. I played the earlier wizardries a bit but not enough to get hooked on them. Same with the Might and Magic games. I probably need to go back and try to play "World of Xeen" again but the first ones I really got heavily into were 6 & 7.

 

[Wyrmlord]

First cRPG I played was probably Ultima way back when on an Apple ][ e but I did not get hooked then. I think the first ones to 'hook' me were the goldbox games but in the early to mid 1990s I really became hooked on more independent games like Exile 2 & 3, Nahlakh, and some retail games like Wizardry 7. I played the earlier wizardries a bit but not enough to get hooked on them. Same with the Might and Magic games. I probably need to go back and try to play "World of Xeen" again but the first ones I really got heavily into were 6 & 7.

As much as I love World Of Xeen, just don't go back to it.

Make no mistake, I would say it's among my top RPGs ever. But there is one single unavoidable problem.

They go over the top with excessive puzzles and fill-in-the-blank games. Every dungeon is built around puzzles. We are talking about puzzles like being given long sentences with the vowels taken out, and you have to guess which vowels are to be filled inside the blanks, in order for you to open the door and move on. We are talking about a system of levers in 20 different parts of the dungeon which have to be pulled in a certain successive order. And all sorts of madness.

 

[Serus]

First rpg i played - Ultima V, i didn't speak english at the time. Then i tried Lord of the Rings vol.I on Amiga 500 but the game that hooked me to rpg was Betrayal at Krondor. How ? Its an excellent game, thats all.