/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.522249]

I'm trying to get into old wrpgs.
What are the good ones?

[Anonymous No.522257]

Fallout is a given.

I tried getting into Arena and Daggerfall, but they're pretty awful.
I like how Daggerfall looks though.

[Anonymous No.522339]

How old?
Might & Magic series (start from 6-7)
Ultima Series + Underworld 1-2
Baldur's Gate 1&2+Expansions
PS: Torment

Just a quicklist of what comes to mind, you should elaborate your request a bit more.

[Anonymous No.522437]

SSI put out a ton of AD&D games for PC, including Eye of the Beholder. They also had a lot of games based on various campaign settings, all using a Tactics-style turn based combat system. But good luck getting into one of those. Most of them are pretty damn ugly.

[Anonymous No.522494]

>>522339
I've played Ultima 9, which wasn't actually that bad.
It's just incredibly unpolished.

Really wanted to get into Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, but couldn't.
I liked the characters but the gameplay felt tedious and the world was kinda boring.

Loved Planescape Torment for it's unique setting and story.

I also enjoyed Arcanum, but it felt just as unpolished as Ultima 9.

Gothic is probably my favourite rpg so far.

I generally appreciate if the game world and characters are interesting, creative and consistent.
If that's the case I can get over bad or boring gameplay.

I like the character creation aspects and some of the elements of the Elder Scrolls games,
but the world always feels shallow and there often isn't anything worth exploring for.

[Anonymous No.522542]

>>522494
So in short,

I like games where you feel involved
and that are fun and interesting to explore.

Dungeon crawlers aren't really my forté.

[Anonymous No.522587]

>>522249
I wish I could find a dungeon crawler about a party going into a dungeon for loot and glory that didn't feel so schematic and videogamey in it's execution.

Something that really is sort of a dungeon crawling sim instead of a digital dice game with impossible mazes.

[Anonymous No.522636]

>>522249

[Anonymous No.522652]

>>522494
Sounds to me like you're an Ultimafag in the making. Ultima is all about created a living, breathing world to explore, and Gothic has been called Ultima in 3D done right.

You should start with Ultima 4... but you shouldn't finish it. Just play it and learn about Britannia and the virtues while becoming all eight parts Avatar. Don't worry about the dungeons and DON'T collect party members. The more party members you get, the more frequent and plentiful the monsters are, and the battles are mindless and time-consuming. As brilliant as U4 is with its concept, there are some really bad design decisions, so don't be afraid to drop it.

U5's design on the other hand is completely polished and fun. The battles are fun and strategic, and they don't become tedious and neverending when you collect more party members. It's very advanced and polished compared to U4, so it's worth playing all the way through.

Ultima 7 is indeed the best Ultima, but I stress playing the Enlightenment trilogy before playing that one. I tried U7 first, but that was a mistake. U7 has an atmosphere of returning home, but since I didn't really know Britannia, that feeling was lost.

Here's a really handy, retardproof patcher for the entire series:

http://underworld.ultimacodex.com/pixs-ultima-patcher/

You should use the xu4 engine for Ultima 4 by the way. It acquaints you with the keyboard controls through its alt + h help feature.

[Anonymous No.522743]

>>522636
>looking up screenshots of these games
>Betrayal at Krondor
Oh man, I remember back when these god awful graphics were considered top of the line cutting edge shit.

[Anonymous No.522767]

>>522743
Opinions. I find old digitized graphics such as these pretty charming.

[Anonymous No.522769]

>>522743
I remember when anything that had REAL PEOPLE in a GAME was the most amazing thing ever

I remember actually believing that

[Anonymous No.522821]

>>522769
Exactly my point. They were awful to look at and a horribly inefficient use of resources, but fuck it let's just turn down the resolution until we can manage to squeeze all these human shaped pixel blobs onto fifteen 3.5" floppies!

[Anonymous No.522896]

>>522587
No party, but Arx Fatalis and Gothic handled dungeons well, imo.

[Anonymous No.522915]

>>522587
Not /vr/, but Temple of Elemental Evil felt like this to me.

[Anonymous No.522930]

>>522587
Diablo 1 multiplayer.

[Anonymous No.522946]

>>522743
Remember when Morrowind and Oblivion were considered the best-looking rpgs of their time?

Remember when Final Fantasy 7 was highly praised for it's amazing visuals?

[Anonymous No.522990]

>>522249

Pool of Radiance (1988)
Curse of the Azure Bonds
Secret of the Silver Blades
Pools of Darkness
Champions of Krynn
Death Knights of Krynn
Dark Queen of Krynn
Gateway to the Savage Frontier
Treasures of the Savage Frontier
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands
Dark Sun - Wake of the Ravager
Ravenloft - Strahd's Possession
Ravenloft - Stone Prophet
Menzoberranzan
Eye of the Beholder
Eye of the Beholder - The Legend of Darkmoon
Eye of the Beholder - Assault on Myth Drannor
Dungeon Hack
Captive
Dungeon Master 1 & 2
Ultima 1-2-3

[Anonymous No.523000]

>>522990
>Menzoberranzan
>EotB3
>Dungeon Hack
>Ultima 1-3
Why

[Anonymous No.522996]

>>522990

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjJN5bx7wbQ

[Anonymous No.523003]

>>522249
Quest for Glory 1-4. They are hybrid RPG-adventure games but they have ok combat and great atmosphere. Plus you can import your character from previous games. Recommend playing the remakes of the first and second one then three then four(with voice).
There is no V. It is just a sick joke.

[Anonymous No.523017]

>>523000

For completeness, mostly. Also:

- Ultima 3 was actually the best of the series., for some people
- Dungeon Hack was great fun, although flawed.
- Ultima 1 is a classic, and should be played by anyone wanting to experience old school rpgs
- For Menzo, U2 and EoB3, I don't have an excuse, sorry.

[Anonymous No.523019]

>>522946

for some reason i still like ff7's graphics. everyone always says it didnt age well but i like them, sort of in the same way that most SNES graphics aged well by virtue of just being simple but aesthetic.

probably just nostalgia though.

[Anonymous No.523023]

>>523019
The prerenders are great, and I like the battle graphics better than 8 (no pixelated textures to warp around), but those out of combat models were never good.

[Anonymous No.523028]

[Anonymous No.523037]

>>523019

I thought the pre-rendered background Final Fantasy games had their own little charm to them, but the models and FMV sequences have aged pretty badly I would say.

[Anonymous No.523042]

>>523017
>Ultima 3 was actually the best of the series., for some people
Those people are better off playing Wizardry or Pool of Radiance. Unless they're just nostalgiafagging.
>Dungeon Hack
Subpar single-character Dungeon Master ripoff with random (sometimes unbeatable) dungeons that feels really stiff and unexciting.
>Ultima 1
is an early experiment and not really a serious game, even LB admitted this. Progression is completely obscure and nonsensical, all the towns are just clones of one of three archetypes, and the combat is literally just press A to win.

[Anonymous No.523062]

>>523042

- Oh come on. Ultima 3 was great for its time. Yes, I am that old, but it's not only nostalgia. It was a great game.

- Yes, but the random dungeons were part of the fun. As they usually are.

- Yes, but it had tie fighters. Can't argue with that.

Thought of some more:

Black Crypt
Hired Guns
Ultima Underworld 1-2
Lands of Lore 1
Perihelion
Quest for Glory, yes. Amazing games.
Amberstar
Ambermoon
Bloodwych
Knightmare
Abandoned Places 1-2
Liberation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRWGo-KRn88

Best of the lot is probably Captive.

[Anonymous No.523079]

>>523062

For some strange reason I have a fetish for Cadaver. Flawed game, but great atmosphere. I loved it. You might like it. Give it a try.

[Anonymous No.523102]

>>523062
>Oh come on. Ultima 3 was great for its time. Yes, I am that old, but it's not only nostalgia. It was a great game.
Maybe, but it didn't have many games to compare with in the first place really. And Wizardry 1-3 is still better, although it's not open-world as U3 is (but it's still somewhat nonlinear).

For random dungeons, playing roguelikes is preferable by an astronomical margin. Hell, even Daggerfall is better than Dungeon Hack. And if the main appeal is that of a DM clone with lots of (possible) dungeons, then Captive is better in every respect.

>Yes, but it had tie fighters. Can't argue with that.
I guess I really can't argue with that here.

How is Liberation, by the way?

[Anonymous No.523108]

I've been trying to get into Darklands. I'm not sure if I should make a party or just use the default one so I used default. I ended up just wandering around the town until I was accosted by thieves, fought them, managed to fire one crossbow shot but have never been able to do that again. Wandered some more, got bored, escaped the city by sewer, fled to the nearest town, rested there, accused the town of devil worshiping, was correct(!), and slayed some kind of demon chump.

Still not sure if I am doing anything right.

[Anonymous No.523124]

>>523108
Your main goal in the game (for the time being, at least) is gaining fame. How you do it doesn't matter much really.

[Anonymous No.523141]

>>523102

So and so. Compared to Captive, it was a bit confusing. Also my Amiga 500 was really struggling to run it at the time. Couldn't really manage to have a good time with it then, but I hear it was a great game. I still prefer the cleaner Captive UI and graphics, without all the pseudo/proto 3D stuff, which the Amiga did, as is well known, badly. But maybe I am biased, as I think Captive is the best RPG of all time. (65,535 levels...) Amazing programming. By the way, the guy who made this also made Realms of the Haunting, another 10/10 game, but in the fps/adventure genre.

Yes, Hack was obviously worse than the good roguelikes, but it was a chance to play a roguelike-thingy in official ad&d rules. Which was cool enough to give it a lot of play. Eventually, boring though.

The open wolrld in U3 was one of the main reasons people loved it, that's true. Unfortunately, as is well known, we didn't have Wizardry in Europe. I think the first one we saw was Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge. Which was very good, true. I'd like to play the first ones someday...

[Anonymous No.523147]

>>523108
Speaking of Darklands, I was wondering just how procedurally generated it is? It's hard to find any information about that when every review just repeats "SEE IT'S LIKE HRE GERMANY BUT SUPERSTITIONS ARE REAL"

I get wary when I hear about procedural generation in RPGs. I prefer handcrafted scenarios and encounters.

Since we got some CRPG experts in this thread right now, I figured now would be a good time to ask.

[Anonymous No.523145]

>>523141

This one too! Had great fun with Shadoworld.

[Anonymous No.523169]

>>523141
>By the way, the guy who made this also made Realms of the Haunting, another 10/10 game, but in the fps/adventure genre.
That's interesting, didn't know it was the same guy. The games have absolutely nothing in common really.
>I'd like to play the first ones someday...
Well, what are you waiting for? Just download the early Wizardries and go to town with them. Avoid the DOS version, SNES/PSX versions are sexiest but if you're a purist you'll prefer the Apple II originals.

[Anonymous No.523201]

>>523169

SNES? Hadn't though of that. Might as well. I'd be able to run them on the ipad too. Thanks for the help!

[Anonymous No.523225]

>>523201
No problem. The SNES (and PSX too) version actually has a bunch of nifty features not present in the western versions, such as an automap, more convenient controls while creating characters, and a hide command for the Thief class (so they're more than just half-assed Fighters and can actually do something from the back row).

[Anonymous No.523242]

>>523225

Just saw there was a bunch of Wizardry Gaiden games for the Gameboy, only released in Japan. Also 1-3, with possibly better graphics too. Japanese only, as far as I can see. Pitty....

[Anonymous No.523295]

>>523242
One of the Gaidens has a (very) incomplete translation, wish somebody would pick it up and finish it one of these days really...

[Anonymous No.523348]

>>523242
Actually, the 1-3 Wizardry gameboy remakes are in english too, or rather, they're japanese but have an english option. And apparently they also have the Hide option for thieves.

[Anonymous No.523454]

>>523348

Thanks for letting me know! Playing 1 now.

[Anonymous No.524347]

bump

[Anonymous No.524640]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXvNmtrMkMk

[Anonymous No.524708]

>>524640
Hey, this actually looks pretty interesting, beyond the bland graphic style.

[Anonymous No.525085]

Anvil of Dawn

More like an action rpg akin to Diablo though.

[Anonymous No.525125]

>>522249
Swords and serpents on the news system... dungeon crawler in the same vein as shining in the darkness or eye of the beholder, but extremely fuffilling to play

[Anonymous No.525129]

>>525125
N.e.s. system,... damn auto correct

[Anonymous No.525181]

Fallout 1/2 is a great old WRPG to get into, the original Wasteland too if you like Fallout 1/2.
I'm ashamed to say I never actually played Fallout 2 till now, only 1 and the original Wasteland on my brother's old computer when I was younger.

[Anonymous No.525209]

Start with Amberstar, Ambermoon, Albion, Anachronox and Arcanum

[Anonymous No.525227]

>>525209
>not starting with Abandoned Places

[Anonymous No.525246]

>>525181
That's alright.
Fallout 2 is a pale shadow of it's predecessor
that merely improves the engine and adds some fun stuff,
but is worse at everything else.

[Anonymous No.525261]

>>525246
This is bullshit and you know it.

[Anonymous No.525280]

>>525227
never heard of it. is it good?

[Anonymous No.525295]

>>525280
It's pretty much a Dungeon Master clone. Nothing to write home about actually, but I'd place it in front of Albion on the alphabet

[Anonymous No.525345]

>>525261
The places and npcs range from boring to annoying.
The plot is more or less the same as in Fallout 1.
The more of everything and the technology is more advanced despite the game taking place 50 or so years later.
The humor is silly and out of place.
The atmosphere of the first game is gone.
Many things feel out of place.

It's not a bad game, but it's clearly inferior to Fallout,
despite the improved engine and bigger world.

And its not nostalgia since I played 2 first.

[Anonymous No.525381]

>>525345
I disagree with everything you said except the plot point. Good day, sir.

[Anonymous No.525414]

Question: Has anybody played D&D: Order of the Griffon?

I think it was on PC engine. that game seemed quite fun. but I couldn't progress because I don't know how overworld battle system works. it kinda works like Fire Emblem or something. but it is actually a first person dungeon crawler too.

[Anonymous No.525423]

>>525381
>good day sir
hold on, you forgot you hat.

[Anonymous No.525430]

Lands of Lore series
Betrayal at Krondor

seriously OP, play Krondor, it seems to fit what you're searching for.

[Anonymous No.525440]

>>522257
>I like how Daggerfall looks though.

we all like how DF looks but it has no soul and no substance. funny how the same thing can be said about Skyrim these days.

[Anonymous No.526285]

>>525345
>>525181 here, having played Fallout 1 first I feel like 2 improves in just about every way.
Nothing really feels that out of place to me, and while I understand why people don't enjoy the humor in this game, it's never bothered me, even with the Monty Python, South Park, etc, references.
I like 1 for what it is, but it felt a bit too simple in the environment to me.

[Anonymous No.529615]

bump

[Anonymous No.529670]

In my honest opinion, all the M&Ms and Wizardrys, and Goldbox games are so full of grindan. All of them being limited to dungeon crawling isn't very appealing to me.

I'd recommend you play BaK, Darklands, Ultima Underworlds and Ultima 7 and maybe Realms of Arkania.

For later games: Fallouts, Torment, BGs, Arcanum, IWD, ToEE.

[Anonymous No.529678]

>>525345
the reason that the atmosphere is different and things locations feel out of place etc is because Tim Cain and some of the other guys quit in the pre-production of it because they being allowed to create what they wanted to or something.

[Anonymous No.529686]

>>529670
At least World of Xeen has zero grinding.
It's not even possible (enemies don't respawn) and monsters give almost no experience points compared to quests.

[Anonymous No.529728]

>>529686
>It's not even possible (enemies don't respawn)
There are some monster generators that recreate monsters until you destroy them and there is also the Arena.

[Anonymous No.530982]

>>529670

Have you EVER have to grind in a Gold Box series game? I haven't, and I have finished them all...some multiple times. Also, they are not dungeon-only, obviously.

I find your post hard to understand, tbh.

[Anonymous No.531023]

I usually have a hard time getting into older WRPGs but I do recommend that after you play some game that were already mentioned that you give System Shock 1 a shot.

http://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=211.0

[Anonymous No.531064]

>>529728
the warzone is completely optional

and the monster generators (I assume you mean the caves/campfires/etc on the overworld map) are few and generate slowly and are easily destroyed, and mostly quest related.

So yeah that's not what you can call grinding.

[Anonymous No.531175]

Are there any science fiction-themed wRPGs, preferably from the late 90s, except for Fallout?

[Anonymous No.531183]

>>531175
Gorky 17 aka Odium

[Anonymous No.531201]

>>531175

also Captive, which has been mentioned a couple of times already itt. and is fucking fantastic.

[Anonymous No.531227]

>>531175
Buck Rogers games
Captive 1 and 2
Star Command (not the RTS game)
Starflight series
Sentinel Worlds & Hard Nova
Sundog
Wizardry 6-8 have notable pulp sci-fi elements alongside the fairytale fantasy shit
Star Control 2 is a pseudo-RPG of sorts, I'd rather group it with Elite and such though

[Anonymous No.532012]

>>531175
Albion is a sci-fi/fantasy mix