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CRPG Addict - Review Roundup (Party Twenty One)

by Arhu, 2015-10-20 09:59:56

This week's review roundup of CRPG Addicts chronology of CRPGs that we missed before kicks off with Thalion's Dragonflight, which could be seen as an experimental template for the later, more well-known Amberstar and Ambermoon. The other highlight is Quest for Glory II, which let you continue where you left on in Hero's Quest, before the latter was re-released a year later with a legally enforced new name.

 

1990

Dragonflight (1990)

The game is way, way, way too long, with too many large dungeons, too many combats, and too much backtracking around the game world. Dragonflight has absolutely no sense of pacing. And while the game was too long, it was also too easy, with the foes offering virtually no challenge in the latter two-thirds of the game. (..)

(..) we get a final score of 36. I usually consider a game "recommended" at 35. In this case, I recommend that you play it for a few hours to experience an unusual contribution from some developers who would become famous for other games, but for the love of all that's holy, don't bother to try to win it. There are better things to do with our short years on Earth.

  1. Game 147: Dragonflight (1990)
  2. Struggling for Sundries
  3. The Complete Picture
  4. The World Takes Shape
  5. Balancing Average with Average
  6. Overseas and Underground
  7. The Glass Ceiling
  8. Almost Won (with Final Rating)

King's Bounty (1990)

The game is built to be replayed. During character creation, you choose your class from four options: knight, barbarian, paladin, and sorceress. (..)

That produces a final score of 35, not bad for a game that isn’t an RPG being ranked on an RPG scale. (If the RPG-specific categories were removed and everything was re-scaled, it would score about a 50; less than 10% of games I've played have reached that level.) It obviously fails most in some classic RPG categories, but for what it intended, it does it quite well. I would regard it as a fun “lite” strategy game for people who aren’t really that into strategy games.

  1. Game 149: King's Bounty (1990)

Fallthru (1989)

Well, Fallthru is certainly an odd and original little offering: a text RPG that doesn't really seem to be aware that it's an RPG. It follows few conventions of the genre, and judging by the evidence, I'm not sure Paul H. Deal ever played an RPG prior to developing this one. (..)

The final score of 32 puts it slightly below what I consider "recommended," at least as far as playing the whole game. It certainly is worth checking out for a few hours. There's a good base here, and a few tweaks--tightening the last act, offering a more interesting plot resolution, allowing the player to buy something that dealt with the food logistics--would have propelled it well above my "recommended" threshold.

  1. Game 151: Fallthru (1989)
  2. Hunting and Gathering
  3. 400,000 Squares and Counting
  4. Hitting Limits
  5. Two More Dungeons
  6. Won!
  7. Final Rating

Dark Designs II: Closing the Gate (1990)

Although I rated the first game a bit low (31), I was generally positive in my review. The two games aren't epic RPGs; they're little diskmag games, two among many cranked out by staff developers operating on monthly deadlines. You have to admire them for not trying to be more than they are. They're tightly-programmed and plotted, pitched at just about the right difficulty level, compact, and winnable in an afternoon. (..)

The final score of 30 ends up being essentially the same as the original. I still wish the developers had thrown in a few NPCs and maybe a non-combat encounter or two, either of which would have pushed the series into "recommended" territory.

  1. Game 152: Dark Designs II: Closing the Gate (1990)

Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire (1990)

Like its predecessor, Quest for Glory II is a fun game, full of wit and humor as it covers a relatively serious and interesting main plot. Also like its predecessor, it isn't a great RPG specifically, but it does deftly blend RPG elements into an adventure-game template. (..)

We get a final score of 50, which turns out to be (as I suspected) just shy of the 53 I gave to Hero's Quest. It's still a reasonably high score--the fourth highest so far in 1990, as it happens. Do remember that I'm rating it as an RPG specifically. I wouldn't be surprised if Trickster over at The Adventurer Gamer ended up scoring it higher than the first game, because I do think it performs better as an adventure game than the first Quest for Glory.

  1. Game 154: Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire (1990)
  2. Class Conflict
  3. Elementary
  4. Trial by Everything Else
  5. A Knight without Armor in a Savage Land
  6. The Thief of Araby
  7. Round Up the Usual Suspects
  8. Won!
  9. Final Rating

Captive (1990)

Captive is nominally a sci-fi game that takes place in space, but it really feels more like a standard high fantasy game with sci-fi textures (the same way that Don't Go Alone felt like a standard fantasy game with horror textures). The framing story is essentially unnecessary and its conclusion confusing and uninteresting. In this, I must admit, it captures the spirit of other Dungeon Master clones perfectly. (..)

Ultimately, my ambivalent feelings about Captive boil down to it not having enough of the elements that I truly enjoy about RPGs, something that I think will be reflected in the GIMLET (..) The final score of 36 puts it just above my "recommended" threshold. I think Captive could have elevated itself to something I truly enjoyed with just a little additional effort (..).

  1. Game 156: Captive (1990)
  2. Penned Up
  3. Determinate Sentencing
  4. A Long Stretch
  5. Surviving on the Inside
  6. Won!
  7. Final Rating

The Keys to Maramon (1990)

Here, we have a minor game that occupies a brief space between The Magic Candle (1989) and The Magic Candle II (1991). (..) The RPG elements were weak and provided little challenge. (..)

This gives us a total of 36, just on the cusp of what I call "recommended." It certainly doesn't hurt to play it for the few hours that it takes to win, and when you're done, you have a character for use in The Magic Candle II. But like Hillsfar--another game weirdly sandwiched between bigger titles--it's not really worthy of its franchise.

  1. Game 159: The Keys to Maramon (1990)
  2. Won! (with Final Rating)

 

Early Years

Maze Master (1983)

In Maze Master, we have a “missing link” in the evolution of first-person, multi-character RPGs—a genre that started on the PLATO system with Moria in 1975. (..)  In a GIMLET, I can only award the game 12 points, with 1s and 2s in every category except “NPCs,” where it gets a 0. This is understanding that I didn’t get to experience the BALROG, the puzzle, or the endgame.

  1. Game 150: Maze Master (1983)

The Return of Heracles (1983)

Why aren't there more RPGs set against Greek mythology? Smith's worlds are rarely very self-consistent, instead liberally adapting themes and stories, but the glossary is a lot of fun and does provide some gameplay hints. (..)

This gives us a final score of 32, a little bit lower than I normally consider "recommended," but in this case let my text override the score. None of Smith's games are conventional RPGs, and thus they do poorly on my scale, but all have an ineffably enjoyable quality the transcends the common RPG of the period.

  1. Game 153: The Return of Heracles (1983)

The Ring of Darkness (1982)

I ended the last post wondering whether Ring of Darkness had an original bone in its body. It turns out that it really doesn't. It lifted almost everything from Ultima, including the basic plot outline, the names of most of its monsters, the types of equipment, and just its overall ideas of how such a game should work. (..) That gives us a final score of 25, not bad at all for the year, though still under-performing Ultima by 9 points.

  1. Game 155: The Ring of Darkness (1982)
  2. Won! (With Final Rating)

Super Quest (1983)

Super Quest exceeds the difficulty and length of a roguelike with far less interesting content. (..) The final score of 21 is actually a bit higher than I thought it would be when I started. The game grew on me after the first post, as I started to realize the strategic challenge associated with mapping and route-planning, but it would have been torture to play "honestly," especially where I don't have any friends playing SuperQuest with whom I could vie for high score.

  1. Game 157: Super Quest (1983)
  2. Won!* (with Final Rating)

Quest 1 (1981)

If nothing else, Quest 1 served as a good base for a more elaborate game, which is what we got in Super Quest. (..) In a GIMLET, I can only give Quest 1 a 12, but it's an interesting piece of the past with some original ideas and at least two CRPG firsts.

  1. Game 158: Quest 1 (1981)

 

Explanation of the the final score: The GIMLET.

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