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CRPG Addict - Review Roundup (Part Eight)

by Arhu, 2015-08-17 12:24:50

Wrapping up PC/DOS CRPGs from 1987, including several games that were apparently misclassified, here's part eight of our review roundup. In the meantime CRPG Addict decided that he's going to play CRPGs released for other personal computer systems as well, so we'll revisit the earlier years at some point.

 

Phantasie III: The Wrath of Nikademus (1987)

Battle tactics redeem some of the bad elements of the game. Since you can only rest and heal in towns, you have to take care in every encounter, especially in dungeons. (..) Carefully planning battles is the only way to win, and with its multiple attack, defense, and spell options, the game gives you a lot of planning to do. (..)

The final score of 39 matches the original Phantasie exactly. Although III suffers from being a retread, its tactical combat system, which I probably didn't spend enough time on, makes up those lost points. I'm not sad that there isn't a Phantasie IV*, and that SSI would soon move on to cooler things.

  1. Game 39: Phantasie III: The Wrath of Nikademus (1987)
  2. A Hard Start
  3. Over the Hump
  4. Overdose
  5. Nikademus Wins
  6. Final Rating

Pirates! (1987)

The gameplay is really the best element of Pirates! It is completely non-linear, allowing you to do whatever you want whenever you want. Much of the fun in the game comes from strategizing next actions, since time is so precious. (..) Pirates! allows for considerable role-playing, and in that role-playing comes enormous replayability.

The final score of 48 seems awfully low given how much I enjoyed the game, but of course I'm ranking it as a CRPG rather than a strategy game or simulator. For its real category, I would invent another kind of GIMLET scale.

  1. Pirates! (1987)
  2. The Career of Captain Gatomalo, Part 1
  3. The Career of Captain Gatomalo, Part 2
  4. Final Rating

The Seven Spirits of Ra (1987)

I can't really see this as a CRPG. I have to stop accepting MobyGames's word for such things. There appears to be no attributes, character development, or leveling, and combat is all action-based. It is, at best, an "adventure game."

  1. The Seven Spirits of Ra (1987)

Sorcerian (1987)

The game world is undistinguished fantasy fare. It combines so many themes from literature, mythology, and fairy tales, it really doesn't seem to know what it's about. (..)

The final score of 28 seems about right. I liked it marginally more than Mission: Mainframe, but not enough to keep playing when there was no way to "win."

  1. Game 42: Sorcerian (1987)
  2. Sorcerian: Three More Quests, Final Rating

Star Saga: One - Beyond the Boundary (1987)

The game is a weird, possibly unique, hybrid of computer and board game. It originally came in a three-pound box with several floppy disks and a dense package of character booklets, instructions, tokens, a game map, and 888 passages of text. (..) This is fundamentally not a computer game. (..) The long text entries are very well-written and interesting, but I don't have any sense that I'm really playing anything.

  1. Game 43: Star Saga: One - Beyond the Boundary (1987)

Wizard Warz (1987)

Wizard Warz is not remotely a CRPG. (..) No character creation, no development except the acquisition of an occasional new spell, no inventory (okay, no player-controlled inventory), action-based combat rather than tactical combat, no NPCs, and so on.

  1. Game 44: Wizard Warz (1987)

The Ancient Land of Ys (1987)

Gameplay is mostly linear, given the limited game world, and there would be no reason to replay it. The boss fights do add a satisfying level of challenge, and the game doesn't overstay its welcome. (..)

The final score of 35 seems about right. I wouldn't have wanted to play it for much longer, and the score would have been much lower without the challenge and tactics of the seven or eight boss fights, but it was an acceptable way to pass a couple of CRPG sessions.

  1. Game 45: The Ancient Land of Ys (1987)
  2. Won! (and Final Rating)

Zeliard (1987)

Gameplay is of the side-scrolling platform variety, and in between slashing at creatures, I have to navigate mazes and jumping puzzles. (..)

The final score of 36 isn't too bad for a game that really isn't a CRPG. But seriously: this is the seventh game in a row whose CRPG creds are a little fishy. Time to cross into 1988 and try one that no one doubts.

  1. Game 46: Zeliard (1987)
  2. Not Enough Dexterity

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