DOS CRPGs & Introducing myself

[EvilManagedCare]

Oh, and for a bit of a change of pace, there are the Shattered Lands AD&D games. There are two installments, but the titles escape me.

If you want to search for other titles, head over to Underdog and just browse the RPG section if you haven't already. There were some good DOS ports of Amiga games worth looking at like Amberstar. Finding a copy of that in the US is near impossible, but in Europe you may stumble across one.

 

[HiddenX]

Stonekeep? Ugh. I despised that game. Even worse, this was considered the best CRPG offering at the time, which is a commentary on how much this genre had declined.

The cover was cool.

 

[roqua]

Oh, and for a bit of a change of pace, there are the Shattered Lands AD&D games. There are two installments, but the titles escape me.

If you want to search for other titles, head over to Underdog and just browse the RPG section if you haven't already. There were some good DOS ports of Amiga games worth looking at like Amberstar. Finding a copy of that in the US is near impossible, but in Europe you may stumble across one.

Yeah, good call. Darksun 1 and 2. 1 is fare better IMO.

 

[Guest]

Oh, and for a bit of a change of pace, there are the Shattered Lands AD&D games. There are two installments, but the titles escape me.

If you want to search for other titles, head over to Underdog and just browse the RPG section if you haven't already. There were some good DOS ports of Amiga games worth looking at like Amberstar. Finding a copy of that in the US is near impossible, but in Europe you may stumble across one.

Yeah, Underdogs is the best site for checking out old RPGs. I also like abandonia a lot and the mobygames gamebrowser function is excellent, it let's you narrow the games down by things like OS, Graphics, Year of release etc...

However I meant this thread to be about the games and gamers that still play these games, not just listing all the old RPGs or talking about nostalgic games and good memories

The darksun games look real fun judging from some screenshots I just checked out, even the interface looks nice!

BTW.. Does anyone know howcome the ninja in my Might & Magic - World of Xeen party has much more experience points than the rest of the party? Does he get the points from lockpicking or avoiding traps or something? Can't remember this happenin in Isles of terra. I don't believe he has the most kills, either. But he has the highest speed score so he gets to attack first...

 

[azraelck]

IIRC, the Robber/Ninja always ends up being at the head of the pack for EXP. I've played through M&M3 and WoX and this has been true in both (for me at least). I never have tested it to see if they do get experience from picking locks, but a lot of the barrels and such are noted to give EXP in the clue book I have, so maybe they do.

 

[Guest]

This game is just so !"?#=¤?!"#¤!!?="#?!")#%#=&ng good.
I'm enjoying this game so much that I feel like I must be doing something illegal.
Sorry.. an useless post I just had to... express myself

 

[roqua]

I've never really cared too much for any of the might & magics. I'm not a big "juices in barrles make you smarter/stronger/etc" type of guy.

 

[curiously undead]

@roqua-does that mean you never liked the gummy bears? as a kid that was one of the best cartoons i ever watched. though i can understand what you mean, none of the might and magics have ever really caught my attention either.

 

[Corwin]

Hey M&M are a ton of fun so long as you don't take them too seriously. There's no great story, no real moral choices etc, but you can have a blast playing them for what they are!!

 

[JDR13]

So M&M IV and V are generally considered the best in the series? They were a little before my time when it comes to crpg's. I might have to check these games out in my spare time.

 

[KasperFauerby]

The darksun games look real fun judging from some screenshots I just checked out, even the interface looks nice!

Just beware of the bugs!! These games, especially the second one, have a *lot* of bugs. I managed to finish Darksun 1 (a quite short RPG actually, if I remember correctly) - but I always got stuck on some bug in Darksun 2. The last time I tried the game was in Dosbox, and it didn't go very well Maybe Dosbox have better support for it now though.

Regarding Stonekeep - why do you guys think that is such a bad game? I remember really enjoying it. I feels like a kind of advanced version of EOB.. had nice graphics for its time, nice atmosphere in the different levels and very advanced AI for its genre and time. For example, in the first levels there are goblins wandering around and if you attack them and get them wounded they might try to flee and run back to open a secret stash they have somewhere in the level, where they might have stored a healing potion. If you contrast that against M&M and EoB where monsters just try to get near you and then fight until they die (or until they manage to kill you) then I think Stonekeep had a quite advanced engine for its time.

 

[Dark Savant]

Hey M&M are a ton of fun so long as you don't take them too seriously. There's no great story, no real moral choices etc, but you can have a blast playing them for what they are!!

Actually early M&M games (1-5) have great story imho.

Check this out (SPOILERS!):
Might & Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen intro - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QohuuqOtv54

Might & Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen ending - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsyF5zql-ow

Might & Magic V: Darkside of Xeen intro - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vLSoU0E07M

Might & Magic V: Darkside of Xeen ending - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdkIKbuhBEE

Might & Magic IV & V: World of Xeen ending - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMiCPqUhMso


Playing M&M III - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGCPXOMKv_k

 

[Guest]

Hey M&M are a ton of fun so long as you don't take them too seriously. There's no great story, no real moral choices etc, but you can have a blast playing them for what they are!!

Exactly. It's kinda funny actually.
I was halfway playing through M&M3 when I realized this.
"Hey, this game has none of the qualities that one could get excited about in a
modern game. The story is kinda thin. No real NPC interaction or depth in any
of the dialogues. Non existent AI. The graphics and sound are weak.
Nothing really new or groundbreaking."
Still It's better than any of the RPGs made in the 2000's.
I don't really know what it is.. I don't know what you mean by "not taking them
too seriously" at least I'm 100% serious when playing these games
They're not about humour either. I can't really put my finger on what makes this games so "?#=¤"¤%!¤=?#?¤% good. Yeah, it's got tons of freedom, it's completely non-linear you are free to go anywhere, but that's not a reason why a game would be so great. What use is freedom if I don't care what's in that next dungeon... What's behind that forest.. How do I get over those mountains...

I don't know It just is tons of fun. And that's really good enough for me

And to JDR13: Yeah I believe the 4&5 - World of Xeen thingy is the high point in the series. It's way better than 1-3 and I've played both 6 and 7 and they were really not this good. You should try it.

EDIT: I thought about this some more while I was walking my dog in the forest. At least one of the things that really makes this game stand above all the modern stuff is the Challenge. These games really have some challenge.
The puzzles are sometimes pretty tough. And the combat is difficult from time to time. And you can really get lost in the bigger dungeons. It's really important for me that the game has real challenge.

All the modern games are mind-numbingly easy, just walk around bashing things in real-time while the compass or the automap or the Deckard Cain -type character appears and tells you exactly what to do, and the designers have made sure that you have no trouble doing what you're supposed to do.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I rather enjoyed Stonekeep, but I really love (to this day !) the accompanied novel ! Difficult to say why, but I simply love it.

What rather few people seem to know that there exists a novel taking place in the world of Stonekeep written by Troy Denning (Amazon still has an entry of it). It has nothing to do with the game, however.
I just updated the Wikipedia article for that.

 

[Guest]

Installed Realms of Arkania 1 to see how/if it works. Worked great. It even had nice sounds & music Looks/Feels nice. Can it be played without a mouse in a way that would make any sense? I hate using a mouse with these kinda games. I'm not using one with m&m games and it's much easier that way. The keyboard commands in RoA seemed to be kinda weird (page up?! CTRL + E ?!?!) definately needs some getting used to...

Looks really nice tho. Very likely something I'm gonna enjoy in the long run.
Oh how I miss the 90's...

 

[EvilManagedCare]

Installed Realms of Arkania 1 to see how/if it works. Worked great. It even had nice sounds & music Looks/Feels nice. Can it be played without a mouse in a way that would make any sense? I hate using a mouse with these kinda games. I'm not using one with m&m games and it's much easier that way. The keyboard commands in RoA seemed to be kinda weird (page up?! CTRL + E ?!?!) definately needs some getting used to...

Looks really nice tho. Very likely something I'm gonna enjoy in the long run.
Oh how I miss the 90's...

I believe the arrow keys will be used for movement, but I'm not sure about accessing menus. The only bad thing about tjhe first installment is the annoying sound every time you open certain window, it does this odd chime noise from the PC speaker. Luckily they did away with that after the first game.

Man I loved that series.

 

[JDR13]

And to JDR13: Yeah I believe the 4&5 - World of Xeen thingy is the high point in the series. It's way better than 1-3 and I've played both 6 and 7 and they were really not this good. You should try it.

Are those games abandonware yet? I would like to download them (legally) and give them a try.

 

[roqua]

@roqua-does that mean you never liked the gummy bears? as a kid that was one of the best cartoons i ever watched. though i can understand what you mean, none of the might and magics have ever really caught my attention either.

I was a little old for the gummy bears when they came on TV. But, I still saw a couple episodes. I had to be in like 6th, 7th, or 8th grade (somehwere around there) when TMNT got a cartoon and I watched that also because I guess no matter how much I tried to hide it I've always been a big dork. That was also around the time that a horrible Mario Brothers cartoon came out, but on friday it was Zelda, which, if I remember right, was pretty good.

When I was younger than that my mother made me play outside all day, and when I was inside I was usually playing a video game, or doing my chores so my mother would let me play a video game. I did most of my cartoon watching at friend's houses, but never really watched anything religously. I have a knack for remembering theme songs though. I remember the gummy bears song, and duck tales, and rescue rangers. I remember the best thing about staying at a friend's house was being able to watch Saturday morning cartoons. There used to be a D&D cartoon on for a little while when I was a kid, I saw it a couple times at a friend's house.

I didn't not watch TV because i had no interest, we only had one TV and I was last on the pecking order to pick what was watched. My sister's watched girl shows, my mother watched soap operas and game shows, and my father watched Dr. Who and retarded old sci-fi shows, or old war movies (or sports). He did watch Benny Hill, which is great at all ages. So, not being able to ever watch anything I wanted 99% of the time, I hardly watch TV now. But, I spent way too much time playing video games. Now that no one makes any good video games anymore, I spent too much time sidetracking topics on video game forums expanding on off-hand questions with a long gibberish posts no one cares about, asked for, or will read.

 

[Cormac]

Just beware of the bugs!! These games, especially the second one, have a *lot* of bugs. I managed to finish Darksun 1 (a quite short RPG actually, if I remember correctly) - but I always got stuck on some bug in Darksun 2. The last time I tried the game was in Dosbox, and it didn't go very well Maybe Dosbox have better support for it now though.

I loved Darksun 1 but could never finish it. At one point, towards the end, my party came out of some ruins in the desert and something had to happen -- I'm not sure what exactly, I think an army had to appear or a temple, anyway something that let me move into the end-game. But it did not and my party was stuck there and there was nothing I could do. I don't know if it was a bug or a scripting problem but I never finished the game. That was a long time ago when rapid news on the net and patch downloads weren't common so it's still a mystery to me to this day.

 

[Guest]

Are those games abandonware yet? I would like to download them (legally) and give them a try.

I believe so, yes. They aren't available at stores any more, not
even as shovelware. And the game is included on abandonware sites.

Abandonia is good. http://www.abandonia.com/games/482/WorldOfXeen

EDIT: However.. "ABandonware" is not really legal is it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandonware