CRPG Addict - Review Roundup (Part Nine)

It's 1988 and what else is there to do besides playing CRPGs? Rhetorical question, of course, so here's another part of CRPG Addict's ventures into the past.

The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate (1988)

Leveling is unrewarding. You're expected to bring in characters from The Bard's Tale II who are already at around Level 30-40, and if you don't have them, there's a starter dungeon to get you there. At that point, you have all your abilities and spells and there's nowhere else to develop except to add a few more hit points and spell points to your pool. (..) [Gameplay is] linear, repetitive, non-replayable, too difficult at the beginning and too easy after that, and far, far too long. (..)

Final Rating: 33. This puts it 3 points lower than II and 4 points lower than I, keeping with my belief that the series got worse as it progressed. The developments the story and dimensions was offset by repetitiveness and boredom.

1. Game 47: The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate (1988)
2. Just What I Needed
3. More Complaints, Mostly
4. Brief Break
5. Don't Make Me Do This. Please.
6. The Age of Aggression is Just About Done
7. Swan Song

Demon's Winter (1988)

The world of Ymros itself is nothing special: a standard high fantasy realm populated with interchangeable towns and temples. The back story of an imprisoned demon seeking to wreak havoc on the land is also nothing new. (..) Nonetheless, it's done well, the game is one of the only ones from this era (or indeed any era) to measurably change the game world as the plot moves forward. (..)

Anyway, final score of 5 on gameplay for a final rating of 45. This is reasonably high; my median right now is 34.5. The game is strong on story but weak in logistics. I do recommend it, and if I didn't seem to enjoy it more while I was playing, it's probably because unrelated life stuff was creeping into the tone of my postings.

1. Game 48: Demon's Winter (1988)
2. Miscellaneous Stuff in Bulleted Form
3. A Slight Thaw
4. Exploration
5. The Main Quest At Last
6. A Plot Twist You Won't Believe
7. Won!
8. Final Rating

Evets: The Ultimate Adventure (1988)

The economy is (..) quite good for a roguelike. There are many things to spend money on, including equipment, identification of found equipment, healing, resurrection, and changing classes, and you never feel like you have too much money (..)

Final Rating: 27. Not too bad for a shareware rogulike title. Please chime in if you know more about the game than I do.

1. Game 49: Evets: The Ultimate Adventure (1988)
2. A Surprising Second Posting
3. Enod

War in Middle Earth (1988, Non-CRPG)

I've decided that the game doesn't meet the criteria I outlined at the beginning of the posting because combat is not based on attributes. The only thing it has going for it is an inventory--you find potions and weapons and such along the route--which isn't enough.

1. Game 50: War in Middle Earth (1988)

Journey: the Quest Begins (1988, Non-CRPG)

This isn't even remotely a CRPG, so I have no idea why I played it as long as I did. The writing was good and the story decent and the puzzles were interesting, but a good game gives you more options for solving them and is less obnoxious about ensuring that an extra spell cast in the first five minutes keeps you from winning in the last five.

1. Game 51: Journey: the Quest Begins (1988)
2. The Quest Ends

MAG: A Dungeon Adventuring Game (1988)

I really have to hand it to Mike Teixeira. This would be a great game to introduce players to the concept of roguelikes without being as punishingly difficult as Rogue or as complicated as NetHack. (..)

The final rating of 26 puts it slightly higher than Rogue but not extremely high. It would be tough for most roguelikes to achieve a particularly high score on my GIMLET scale because they often lack elements of CRPGs, like NPCs and stores. (NetHack is an exception, obviously, as are some modern roguelikes.)

1. Game 52: MAG: A Dungeon Adventuring Game (1988)

 

Explanation of the the final rating: The GIMLET.