• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Can we talk about old-school first person dungeon crawlers?

As promised here's another part of my list. As always: I have completed all games liste below.

Enjoy!

Part 1: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=469298
Part 3: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=36728077#post36728077
Part 4: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=36851341#post36851341

Shadowcaster

shadow_01nal5u.jpg
shadow_02yjyte.jpg
shadow_03vey55.jpg
shadowcaster_04uxk61.jpg


eBay

A very run of the mill RPG with one neat idea: you can transform into different monster forms (just like in Lands of Lore 2) each one having different skills and features. For example there is a flying eye thing which flies and can get you over all of the traps, there is a fish like monster who can breath underwater (normally you drown pretty quickly and there are whole drowned levels and there is NONE Helmet of Water Breathing like in Black Crypt :) etc. Game seems hard enough at the beginning but soon you can transform into a huge four-armed cat that tears monsters apart. Later on you get a Stone Golem form which can walk on fire and is basically imprevious to physical damage. Then it's just a matter of getting to the last boss who actually possesses the same ability as you and transforms into all the previous bosses you met before! Levels are quite small, there are not many of them (14 or 15) and the game is over pretty quickly. Oh: the inventory is tiny. I had to throw away almost 50% of found items!

Amulets & Armor

amulets_016pb2x.gif
amulets_02ohy9w.gif
amulets_03f7yj7.gif
amulets4o3ow6.gif


eBay

This is more of an action game than RPG because enemies move very, very fast and have deadly accuracy. A&A has a pretty original hub and mission like structure. You start in an Inn and can buy "quests". Each quests requires you to be at certain level and offers certain rewards (as well as unlocks further quests: think Marks in Final Fantasy 12). Each quest takes place on a different level and levels in this game are very, very varied. From green valleys filled with Elven Archers, thru huge Castles brimming with Deadly Knights right to Volcanoes with Dragons flying near the ceiling. Of course you can fly as well and kill those suckers :) It uses some fancy 3D engine and looks quite interesting. Just as Anvil of Dawn it has real-time mana regeneration so you have infite albeit very slow healing. I really liked the MIDI music in this title it was quite calming and relaxing.

Black Crypt

black_crypt_01h5xlq.png
black_crypt_02cwyq7.png
black_crypt_03blxid.png
blackcrypt_04btkv4.png


eBay

Ahh... the very first RPG I have ever played and finished [on Amiga]. Also the ONLY one where I had to cheat. Black Crypt is hard. Fucking HARD. Not "hard" as Realms of Arkania is but "hard" as in:

- almost each single encounter can kill you
- there is a unbeatable boss on the very second level which requires a special weapon to kill and you can get to that weapon only by passing his area
- there are underwater levels where you can drown pretty quickly

I simply could not do it. Maybe I was too young or too dumb for this game. I opened up some hex editor and using trial and error hax0red my saves in order to give me 9000 HP. Game got manageable after that :) There are some very unique bosses in Black Crypt: the Ogre above, the Medusa and the last boss who requires a very epic way of killing: you slice the air with your ubermagical sword which opens a void and then you have to mash him in there using your ubermagical hammer. That was so cool back in the day. Specific end boss killing weapons. More games should follow this idea!

Overall Black Crypt is heavily recommended. Real men play Black Crypt. Pussies play Eye of the Beholder.

Eye of the Beholder
Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon
Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor


eob_01fgz4w.gif
eob_027fagh.gif
beholder1_01uooe8.gif
eotb1_04m3jpb.png

(EoB1)

eotb020gy4u.png
eotb_01dnbbf.gif
eotb_04r9zcm.jpg
eotb2_04o1jxh.png

(EoB2)

eob_03bxzrx.gif
eotb_063qzkp.gif
eotb3f3b2m.png
beholder3_04czrc7.jpg

(EoB3)

eBay

Well what can I say? THE Dungeon Crawler series (post Dungeon Master era). Instant classics. Based on D&D rules those games ruled back in the day. For me personally they were not original nor very challenging (EotB3 difficulty is a joke) yet I could not stop playing them. The trilogy is pure dungeon adventuring (excluding singular woods and overland areas) chock full of hidden buttons (the sound walls make when you press them is forever and ever in my mind), pits, weight plates, dart traps, teleporters, magic fields and every other nasty thing dungeon crawlers are known for.
Eye of the Beholder 1 lives up to its name and features a Beholder as the last boss. Funny thing is I played EotB after finishing Baldur's Gate 2 (where you kill Beholders by the dozen) and I simply smiled when I got to the end of it. I do not remember much of EotB 2&3 just some parts outdoors, some evil priests etc. but for sure they did no impress me as much as EotB1.

Still the trilogy is a must-play an obligatory entry in every RPG lover's portfolio.

Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession

ravenloft_018te4d.jpg
ravenloft_02n4zpi.jpg
e45726f2a5f50942afd43abzwc.jpg
ravenloft009jizm0.png


eBay

SSI can do no wrong when it comes to first person RPGs. Ravenloft is no different: a quality dungeon crawler based on the popular vampiric D&D series. Graphically it is the weakest of the "trilogy" (SP, Menzoberranzan and Stone Prophet) but that is no surprise as it was the first one. If you like D&D rules (I do) then you will like Ravenloft. It takes a while to get used to but then it clicks and is all fun.

Menzoberranzan

menzo_015iyah.gif
menzo_02f0z2c.gif
menzo_03uvlu2.gif
menzo_04g4inf.gif


eBay

The best out of the 3 games mentioned above. Menzoberranzan features the infamous city of Drow and the even more infamous Drizzt Do'Urden who can become an NPC in your party (but he is nowhere near as overpowered as in Baldur's Gate). As you can imagine the game is full of violets, dark blues and spiders. A pretty awesome dungeon romp that has a very good plot to boot. I remember even being scared in some places but it is Stone Prophet takes the cake when it comes to gripping fear when uncharting dark dungeons.

Easily recommended.

Wizards & Warriors

wizards_012hyba.jpg
wizards_02hxa4f.jpg
wizards_03ypa7m.jpg
wizardswarriors_044ee5f.jpg


eBay

David W. Bradley's pre-last game. I sincerely do not understand the very low reviews this game got. Nor do I understand the lack of following in hardcore RPG community. W&W is basically Wizardry 9. People loved Wizardry 8 and wanted more. Well there is more: Wizards & Warriors. It looks like Wizardry game. It plays like Wizardry game. It has AMAZING dungeons and puzzles (the ray of sun + mirrors one). It has terribly powerful monsters that can wipe your party in few turns (the dreaded crawling piranha plants that killed me countless of times; the only way to beat them was spamming spells and constantly hiding behind level geometry). It has lots of skills, lots of races, lots of classes including elite ones (just like Wiazrdry!). The game was destroyed in the reviews because of how it looked and how old-school it played. People wanted to shoot shit and here they were dying backstabbed by bandits...

Real-talk: if you are a fan of the Wizardry series, W&W is a MUST. It is Wizardry 9 for all intents and purposes. Get it!

Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum

mm1_011cxev.gif
mm1_0291lsn.png
mm1_03aoz47.gif
mm01_04wye1b.png


http://www.gog.com/gamecard/might_and_magic_6_limited_edition

Oh Might and Magic... my favourite RPG series ever created... I cannot speak about this series without being emotionally invested. This is the title that started it all and also the last M&M title I had to complete. It was pretty... painful but totally worth it. Right from the beginning of the series Might and Magic offered unparallel freedom in world exploration, a huge overworld with towns, castles and dungeons all over the place. Game is very, very old-school. If you have bad luck you will get gangbanged by dozen of Golden Dragons and die in one turn. Fun fact: if you find non-random chest you can leave it untouched and search the area again for it. It's quality will be rerolled each time (in som boundaries) so it's always worth it to reroll a few times for that Golden Chest.

Might and Magic 1 is awesome if you are a diehard fan of the series like me. Otherwise... it may be simply too old.

Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World

mm2uyzs2.gif
mm2_02oyysd.png
mm2_03r6zwj.png
mm2_0404c9k.gif


http://www.gog.com/gamecard/might_and_magic_6_limited_edition

The second part of the M&M universe and what a difference the graphics make! For me 16-colours are the bare minimum where I accept a game to be "playable" and bearable (sorry M&M1!). The mechanics itself are exactly the same as in M&M1 - if it ain't broken don't fix it. This is the part where series staples spells are introduced including Lloyd's Beacon (think Town Portal from Diablo). Only because the graphics got a next-gen boost this part became soooooooooooooo much more better.

Still for the hardcore but much easier for the eye than M&M1. Has a few umm... game streamlining features as well.

Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra

mm3i0o7c.png
mm3_023flm1.png
mm3_03p9ysy.png
mm3_0487i8c.png


http://www.gog.com/gamecard/might_and_magic_6_limited_edition

Start the game. Go a few steps forward to Fountain's Head main square. Look at the blue walls. Look at the beautiful fountains. Listen to the charming music. Shoot your bow to hear that "p'tong" sound. One simply cannot *not* fall in love with this game.

M&M3 was the second roleplaying game I ever booted up. Coming from Black Crypt you can imagine how a fucking WORLD of difference this made. There was huuuuuuuuuge overworld full of quests and surprises. You had different skills for traversing tree or mountain terrain. You could walk on water even! (of course the game is easy as fuck but shhhhhhhhhhh). There are dozens and dozens of weapons, armors and accessories in this game. Countless different monsters. So much stuff to do... there is simply so much stuff to do!

This is where the magic of Might and Magic begins.

Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen
Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen


mm4_01wbz0m.gif
mm4_027vx2b.gif
mm4_03wcz23.gif
mm4_0461db6.png

(M&M4)

mmworld_04iflk7.png
mm5_01fzbal.gif
mm576u9z.gif
mm5_04thd2f.gif

(M&M5)

http://www.gog.com/gamecard/might_and_magic_6_limited_edition

Two words: WORLD OF XEEN.

Imagine one of the two biggest roleplaying games around for example Skyrim and Oblivion. Imagine that you could somehow... MERGE THEM! That's right M&M4 and M&M5 are two insanely huge games released a year apart. These two games could be merged into one mother of all RPG games called World of Xeen. There were special portals that took you between the two worlds.

Insanity, total insanity.

Sadly I had never the pleasure of playing them as one entity. I finished M&M4 first and a year later M&M5. Sometimes I get that itch to try and play World of Xeen (which unlocks 1 or 2 new dungeons not found in neither M&M4 or M&M5)... maybe someday I will!

Everything that is the Might and Magic series can be summed up in one word: IMMENSE. Immense graphics (Minotaurs! Diamond Golems! Cloud Dragons!) Immense world (really fucking huge). Immense gameplay.

These two games sculpted me as a RPG lover. I compare every single RPG that came out after 1994 to them. They are the standard, the pattern.

I will leave you with the following, can you remember who and where says those lines in M&M5?

"Where to?"
"You wanna train?.... *spits*...... Pretty good!"
"Wanna pass?.... OK.... go ahead!"


Betrayal at Krondor
Betrayal in Antara


krondor_01mju0x.gif
krondor_02ogu2e.gif
krondor_0322uki.gif
krondor_04olbhk.gif

(Krondor)

antara_01c2a2c.gif
antara_02pxydz.gif
antara_resize46u83.jpg
antara_04s8b9b.gif

(Antara)

http://www.gog.com/gamecard/betrayal_at_krondor

Objectively speaking amazing games, really. Krondor is a masterpiece I think it is one of the highest rated (or was) RPGs in history. I can't find a single flaw it it. It's impeccable, perfect although it looks and feels "too real" for me. There's not enough fantasy in it (I know it's based on some books). You basically battle humans and animals in it. IIRC there are some minor demons in the last dungeon but that's it. For 95% of the game you fight with brigands, thieves, pirates and nighthawks (ninjas?). What is so great about Krondor is the world coherency. Everything seems in place, nothing is out of place. Weapons get broken (buy those whetstones!), armors get destroyed (armorer hammer can help you), you have to eat and sleep in order to well live and cast spells, if you don't have any single metallic equipment on you (sword or armor) you cannot be targeted by a lightning spell, mages are physically weak (pathetically weak even) etc. Everything MAKES SENSE. But I don't play fantasy RPGs for sense. I play them for that fantasy ingredient.

Antara is basically the same but made by Sierra and 10 times longer and 10 times more boring. But if you loved Krondor you SHOULD at least like Antara. For me it was a torture to beat it.

Betrayal at Krondor is RPG's Citizen Kane. You cannot call yourself a RPG gamer if you did not play it.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
The mind trippy part about this thread is that I expected old school First Person Dungeon Crawls but find a bunch of mid to late 90's games instead.

The first post is good but it is filled with games for whippersnappers!
 

Galactic Fork

A little fluff between the ears never did any harm...
I'm mostly a portable gamer nowadays, so I just started a fresh play of The Dark Spire, motivated by this thread. (My perpetual Etrian Odyssey III game is in recess while I figure out what to do next. stuck.)

Dark Spire classic mode is so good.

I'd probably play the classic mode more if I didn't love the art style in Dark Spire.
 
Doom RPG and Wolfenstein RPG

Don't know if they're out for iphone, but same studio, Fountatinhead, also made "Doom RPG 2" and "Orc and Elves 1 and 2".

I'd say that Doom RPG is by far the best, being the only one where Carmack was involved. After that, I'd probably rank Orcs and Elves or Doom RPG 2. Wolfestein is the worst. So get Doom RPG, it's short and great. The mechanics are basic but solid, if a little easy. The story is simple, but charming and funny.
 
I played sooo many dungeon crawler games when I was a kid, and I'm pretty sure I never beat any of them. :( I just loved the experience of creating a party, wandering around, getting my ass kicked, finding new gear and learning new spells...

Also, I distinctly remember finding RoA: Star Trail's manual hilarious. It used humor to help explain how the interface, gameplay systems, etc. worked. (Of course, Star Trail is still ridiculously obtuse and it would probably infuriate me now if I tried to play it again. For example, you can actually fail at increasing your stats when your characters level up.)

Can't wait for Grimrock next week.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
I LOVE first person dungeon crawlers, but I've only experience them on consoles, so I've missed a heck of a lot!

My personal faves are Shining in the Darkness and Shining the Holy Ark.
 

Mugaaz

Member
There's one game I always wanted to try but for some reason when I installed it on a xp machine got some weird instalation erros, its called Demise: Ascension; it's got some subtitle I cant recall but it looked pretty awesome.

I've put about 2-300 hours into Demise over its various form, the current one is Demise : Ascension. It's by far the best 1st person dungeon crawler I played. It has tons of races and classes, you can multiclass at any point, some race/class/alignment can be 8 classes at once!
The game has a hub town and a dungeon you progress down with 30 some floors (not sure exactly, furthest Ive been is mid 20s). The floors and maps are all hand crafted, and the enemies are semi random based on floor and area of the dungeon, along with a couple dozen uniques/bosses.


The game start off pretty easy, and as you progress the difficult curve constantly goes up. If you play in single player you can have a party of 4. The game also can be played multiplayer where you control 1 character only. Multiplayer is more fun imo, but either way is valid, and you can switch 1 char from single to multi, but I think there is a limit on how many times it allows you to. The newest release has a lot more super high level content, I assume its still beatable in multiplayer, but not for all race/class/alignment combos.

The difficulty in this game is introduced gradually and constantly. You'll start running into spell casters as level 3, then enemies that can instantly turn you to stone, behead you, enemies that rob you, enemies that use acid that destroys your equipment, different elemental resists, aerial enemies that require you to fly to effectively fight them, etc. The dungeon itself also increases in difficulty requiring you to acquire, or plan around, various things like having flight/levitation for pits, underwater breathing, walk through wall spell, teleport spells, mapping spells to find hidden areas, high exploration skill to keep your sense of location on the map from random teleports or spinner traps, etc. As you progress through the game you'll constantly find new challenges that will kill you unless you plan around them.

Now onto the bad, the graphics are a travesty, the models/textures are insanely awful and may cause eye damage. The game can occasionally kick you in the balls when you realize you have no tools at all to deal with certain problems, with the only recourse being to multiclass into a class that does and level it up from 1 to get those abilities before progressing (You can freely switch classes that you meet the requirements for with the only penalty being increased experience needs, you keep the abilities and levels when switching).

This game is not for anyone, or even most people I think. However, if you really love dungeon crawlers this one has at least 300-500 hours worth of content and will constantly challenge you. It is very fun IF you are into this sort of genre, its an awful game if you're not. The game has some story, but its mostly BS and not very interesting, definitely not the reason to play the game.

The game is fairly expensive for being so dated. I think it's $30? You can get the download for it from the offical site at http://www.decklinsdemise.com/news.php
 
I played the crap out of M&M VI as a kid. I have always felt like that game got rather short changed when people look back at 90's CRPGs. I'm not sure how I would like it now though (this was what, 14 years ago?), I remember loving the sense of freedom but I also remember getting pretty worn down by some massive dungeons full of spiders that seemed to drag on far to long.
 

SpokkX

Member
When is grimrock for ios due? Seem perfect for ipad, with games like these coming 3ds and vita SHOULD feel threatened. Most ios games today are not comparable to handheld consoles but this seem amazing.. So releasedate??
 
When is grimrock for ios due? Seem perfect for ipad, with games like these coming 3ds and vita SHOULD feel threatened. Most ios games today are not comparable to handheld consoles but this seem amazing.. So releasedate??

From what I've heart they haven't even started porting it...
 

Ledsen

Member
Finished the first floor in UU1. I feel a bit bad because I didn't know how to get to the shrine so I looked it up :(
 
Third part in my series! Beaten games only.

Part 1: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=469298
Part 2: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=36706516#post36706516
Part 4: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=36851341#post36851341

Dungeon Master II: The Legend of Skullkeep

dm2_01t7lkr.png
dm2_02_make_largera9zgu.png
dungeonmasetrs9uwp.png
dm2_0409kjs.jpg


eBay

I admit I never played Dungeon Master :( Does this invalidate my RPG gamer credit? I hope not! I first saw Dungeon Master 2 on my pal's Amiga 1200. I have already knew RPGs because of Black Crypt back then so this game intrigued me. I remember it looked WAY better than BC. Later, when I got the game on my PC I was still blown aways by its graphics. It was one of the best looking RPGs ever at the time of release. Can't really compare with DM1 but for me DM2 is the very essence of dungeon crawling, much like EotB series. You don't do unnecessary stuff here. You explore dungeons. There are many interesting puzzles in this game majority of them annihilates your party on the first try, though. Buying and selling stuff in the shop uses a turn-table (literally): you put things on one side the merchant turns the table, puts his coins on the other side and turns again. Pretty nifty!

Highly recommended as this is a high quality, polished classic.

Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant

wiz7_01xlzt4.gif
wizardry_02douke.gif
wizardry_03ukusw.gif
wiz7_04realrjkfy.png


eBay

One of the best, top-tier dungeon crawlers created. A massive game. Wondeful adventure. How can we forget the Umpani Riflemen? The T'Rang mages raining down havoc on your party? The Rattkin Assassins killing your best tanks in one backstab blow? Do you remember the island in the middle of the sea? Where T-Rex roamed? Or the dungeon where light spells didn't work and you had to fight your way in TOTAL darkness up to the Psionic Moth boss? Wizardry 7 had it all: deep race and class based system, interesting skills and spell schools, lots of loot and most of all: CHALLENGE. This game is capital H hard. You must rest often and pray you won't get ambushed while you are sleeping. More than often I had to reload because half of my party was asleep when the other half died in ambush.

Fun fact: The random encounter jingle is my text ringtone in current phone :)

Wizardry is a must have. Please, hunt down the Wizardry Archives or Wizardy 7: Gold on eBay. Worth every penny.

Ishar 3: Seven Gates of Infinity

ishar3_014ia2m.png
ishar33j9ucn.png
ishar3_03_make_larger6eb96.jpg
ishar3_04xkkj0.png


http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/ishar_1_2

Ishar 3 looks wonderful. It uses live action actors (and animals!) for most of the NPCs and enemies. It features COLOR and JUNGLES whereas previous Ishar games mostly looked all brown and gray... Ishar 3 also features time travel which is an interesting idea. The game plays exactly the same as the previous two Ishar games and I really don't know why it was coldly received. Maybe because it was MOTS? Personally I found it the best Ishar game to date.

If you want to play a single Ishar game this is the one. It is much easier than the previous titles. If you are hardcore then start with Ishar 1 :)

Lands of Lore 3

lol3_01gvl6h.jpg
lol3_02xfao1.jpg
lol3_03ukxhb.gif
lol3_046sk1p.jpg


eBay

For many people and most reviewers it was the downfall of the franchise. An orgy of hardware accelerated graphical effects, lots of expensive FMVs and shallow substance. For me it was a pretty fun romp that looked indeed like lucid dreams. Worse part in the series? Probably, yeah but I enjoyed it for what it was. Game is really short from what I remember, much, much shorter than LoL2.

Albion

albion_01m4u1z.png
albion_02gku6i.png
albion_03exuf5.png
albion_04izkls.png


eBay

A pretty amazing RPG from the german creators of The Settlers. It uses a top-down perspective in the overworld and first person one in all dungeons. Combat is a strange hybrid of turn-based chess board and first person animation. Hard to describe really. Albion features a gigantic world and a very original setting (no more default D&D crap) involving exotic planets full of... furries! Yes, hot, jungle lovin' nekkid furries. There are some pretty tough encounters for example with the late robots or the hulking clawing beasts that can kill you in 1-2 hits. It is one of the first RPGs where you had to grind (enemies respawn) in order to stay alive.

If you ever find it on a store shelf: do not hesitate. Albion is a great mix of adventure and RPG. The RPG part makes it hard, though.

Wizardry: Labyrint of Lost Souls

wizps3_0177x5r.jpg
wizps3_02uyz5p.jpg
wizps3_03bya9s.jpg
wixardry_lostc7jtq.jpg


Buy it on PSN!

|OT| here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=432151

Hey a 2011 title!

A classic Wizardry game with japanese design. Do not be fooled by the big tittied red head: The game is 100% Wizardry just with manga art. One of my favourite games of past year. Extremely hard, extremely dependant on highly random drops (Bizen Osafune, Murakamo, The Gram etc.) The DLC dungeon is on of the hardest dungeons in history. And the final, final boss battle... oh my god. How hard? So hard.

Buy it now! And hopefully XSEED brings the sequel (Town of Lost Souls) to the US.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bonus pics of Lands of Lore 2 & 3 and Might and Magic VI (best RPG ever) in pristine box condition!

bonus_01hyuui.jpg
bonus_0243u4r.jpg
bonus_0362u4u.jpg
bonus_04t0uci.jpg
 

HylianTom

Banned
Thank you for this, and for your content on Might & Magic. 6 was the game that got me started on cRPGs. I was very, very ill for much of 1999 (the big C), and that game made the year more than just tolerable. I must've played a different party every two weeks or so, and once I got tired of conventional games, I discovered soloing and began to play through these games with one character and three pieces of "luggage."

Hell, my old laptop still has several M&M websites bookmarked. Flamestryke's page is still operable, as is the tavern.

My heart was broken when the series died. I even played and enjoyed 9, albeit heavily-modded; it had my favorite M&M class ever: The Ranger. Fighting to find Everstrike and then pass the obstacle course trial still remains quite fresh on my mind.. quite difficult!

I still have numerous copies stored in my office, one "Millenium Edition" still in its shrinkwrap. One day, I'm going to build a gaming computer with a Windows 98-partitioned hard drive so that I can spend some of my old age replaying those great games. (Thanks again!)
 

SuomiDude

Member
I've never been a huge fan of this genre, but I have very fond memories of two games: Betrayal at Krondor and Might & Magic VII. BaK was the first of its kind, and its story, characters, chest puzzles, combat was just awesome. Pretty legthy game too. M&MVII was IMO the best of this series, I played it before I played VI, maybe that's why I liked it more. I did like VI and VIII as well, but VII is the best (IX sucked btw).

I really wish they'd make a new M&M game sometime, in the classic style of course.
 
Thank you for this, and for your content on Might & Magic. 6 was the game that got me started on cRPGs. I was very, very ill for much of 1999 (the big C), and that game made the year more than just tolerable. I must've played a different party every two weeks or so, and once I got tired of conventional games, I discovered soloing and began to play through these games with one character and three pieces of "luggage."

Hell, my old laptop still has several M&M websites bookmarked. Flamestryke's page is still operable, as is the tavern.

My heart was broken when the series died. I even played and enjoyed 9, albeit heavily-modded; it had my favorite M&M class ever: The Ranger. Fighting to find Everstrike and then pass the obstacle course trial still remains quite fresh on my mind.. quite difficult!

I still have numerous copies stored in my office, one "Millenium Edition" still in its shrinkwrap. One day, I'm going to build a gaming computer with a Windows 98-partitioned hard drive so that I can spend some of my old age replaying those great games. (Thanks again!)

Thank you.

For me the whole 90's were the golden age of PC first person RPGs. I have a huge nostalgia ache for that time knowing it will never, ever come back. I am especially sad that Might and Magic and Ultima series didn't get to part 10 as well as that Wizardry ended up on part 8. They were always racing Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest in my mind for "the first RPG series to reach #10". They all lost :(
 

dejan

Member
Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant

wiz7_01xlzt4.gif
wiz7_0290y1x.jpg
wiz7_03e8bfq.jpg


eBay

One of the best, top-tier dungeon crawlers created. A massive game. Wondeful adventure. How can we forget the Umapani Riflemen? The T'Rang mages raining down havoc on your party? The Ratkin Assassins killing your best tanks in one backstab blow? Do you remember the island in the middle of the sea? Where T-Rex roamed? Or the dungeon where light spells didn't work and you had to fight your way in TOTAL darkness up to the Psionic Moth boss? Wizardry 7 had it all: deep race and class based system, interesting skills and spell schools, lots of loot and most of all: CHALLENGE. This game is capital H hard. You must rest often and pray you won't get ambushed while you are sleeping. More than often I had to reload because half of my party was asleep when the other half died in ambush.

Fun fact: The random encounter jingle is my text ringtone in current phone :)

Wizardry is a must have. Please, hunt down the Wizardry Archives or Wizardy 7: Gold on eBay. Worth every penny.
This game ... this fucking game. I consider it the pinnacle of "step-based" first person dungeon crawlers. Nice summary and awesome thread btw, also worth mentioning:
  • ignore Wizardry Gold, play the original DOS release
  • text parser based conversations with npcs (if your native language is German, don't think about playing the German version. The German parser is bugged and won't accept any words with umlauts)
  • unique blend of fantasy and science fiction
  • several competing npc parties in the gameworld
  • party characters can switch classes
  • ninjas, samurai and catpeople
 

orfax

Member
Yeah Black Crypt was awesome, though I never finished it. I definitely agree that it was hard. It was Raven's first game (Shadowcaster their second), and imagine my surprise when they released Heretic. I was so disappointed that they moved onto FPS! Not really, I loved FPS like Doom, and Heretic was good, but it was a departure from what they were doing on the Amiga. I still have BC sitting on my game shelf. The manual even has all the maps so you didn't have to draw them. :D

My first love of dungeon crawlers was Bard's Tale. One day I'll finish it, but I've got to remember where I left my hand drawn maps. Same with Dungeon Master.

Hmmm.. there seems to be a pattern here, where I don't finish these dungeon crawlers. I did just recently finished Undercroft on the iphone, and thought it was decent, but it just suddenly ended.

I'm looking forward to Legend of Grimrock.
 

Ledsen

Member
So in one day I went from never having played a game in the genre (I was a NES/SNES kid) to buying Ultima Underworld 1+2 and Might & Magic 1-8, and while playing UU1 also looking up more modern games in the genre like The Dark Spire and Etrian Odyssey, all the while getting hyped for Legend of Grimrock. Great job OP, you've just cost me hundreds of hours of my life!
 
So if someone else hasn't already mentioned it, GOG has all Might And Magic titles at 50% off this weekend. I just got a pack of Might and Magic I-VI for $5. Fuck yeah.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
I've never played a single Western FPDC, but I've played pretty much every Japanese one ever made shy of the Elminage series.
 
So in one day I went from never having played a game in the genre (I was a NES/SNES kid) to buying Ultima Underworld 1+2 and Might & Magic 1-8, and while playing UU1 also looking up more modern games in the genre like The Dark Spire and Etrian Odyssey, all the while getting hyped for Legend of Grimrock. Great job OP, you've just cost me hundreds of hours of my life!

If you are able to finish Ultima Underworld 1 (even with FAQs but try to not abuse them) meaning you can deal with archaic graphics and limited UIs (but hey you are NES/ SNES lover!) then you will be more than ready for the rest of the games mentioned here. Sadly, whatever you play next will be probably worse than UW1+UW2. You started from the highest of highs, there is only lower stuff ahead.

You never played any of the M&M titles?!? I envy you. You are in for such amazing adventure.

Now that you own all of them I recommend *NOT* starting with M&M6. M&M3 is the best starting point for newbs ;) It is perfectly playable and bearable in 2012. You will get used to the mechanics of M&M universe (they are pretty much the same in M&M1-9) and will be prepared for the amaing M&M4-5 and of course the jewel of the series: M&M6.

Grats on your purchase, it is indeed worth hundreds of hours of enjoyment.
 

Ledsen

Member
If you are able to finish Ultima Underworld 1 (even with FAQs but try to not abuse them) then you will be more than ready for the rest of the games mentioned here. Sadly, whatever you play next will be probably worse than UW1+UW2. You started from the highest of highs, there is only lower stuff ahead.

You never played any of the M&M titles?!? I envy you. You are in for such amazing adventure.

Now that you own all of them I recommend *NOT* starting with M&M6. M&M3 is the best starting point for newbs ;) It is perfectly playable and bearable in 2012. You will get used to the mechanics of M&M universe (they are pretty much the same in M&M1-9) and will be prepared for the amaing M&M4-5 and of course the jewel of the series: M&M6.

Grats on your purchase, it is indeed worth hundreds of hours of enjoyment.

Yep I'm looking forward to it :) Probably going to start with World of Xeen though since that is the once I've seen recommended the most besides VI (also WoX looks much better graphically than VI). Unless you have some reason for me to start with III instead of just skipping it? Considering how long the games are, and how III looks pretty similar to WoX.

On another note, here are some great Hardcoregaming101 articles you could link in the OP:

Eye of the Beholder series

Realms of Arkania series

Might & Magic series

King's Field series
 
To be honest there's no reason to start with M&M3 other than nostalgia one. World of Xeen is infinitely better... but in my heart M&M3 has that special place being the first M&M game I ever tried.
 
Now that you've added Albion you could also add Amberstar and Ambermoon to the list. Both are superiour from an RPG perspective. Albion as the inofficial follow up has of course better gfx but i always felt that something was missing that made the other two such great RPG's.
 
This thread is so great. Loving your recaps of all the heavy hitters.
I've wanted to track down Wizards & Warriors for a long time, but never jumped in. Your enthusiasm may push me over the edge!
 
The mind trippy part about this thread is that I expected old school First Person Dungeon Crawls but find a bunch of mid to late 90's games instead.

The first post is good but it is filled with games for whippersnappers!

I hear you. You guys talk about "old school first-person dungeon crawlers" but not a single mention of Steve Moraff, specifically Moraff's Revenge?

I've got you covered, Man God.

RyXFF.jpg
 

cj_iwakura

Member
It's a Japanese game(and never came out here), but the original Shin Megami Tensei has some of the most brutal dungeons I've ever seen.

1650.jpg


Rot in hell, Cathedral.
 

larvi

Member
This game ... this fucking game. I consider it the pinnacle of "step-based" first person dungeon crawlers. Nice summary and awesome thread btw, also worth mentioning:
  • ignore Wizardry Gold, play the original DOS release
  • text parser based conversations with npcs (if your native language is German, don't think about playing the German version. The German parser is bugged and won't accept any words with umlauts)
  • unique blend of fantasy and science fiction
  • several competing npc parties in the gameworld
  • party characters can switch classes
  • ninjas, samurai and catpeople


Yep, Wiz 7 is great, I agree you want to play the DOS version over the Gold version. Also if you want the full experience you want to start with Wiz 6 which is also a great game and you can import your save into Wiz 7 and where you start depends on how you finished Wiz 6. You also get to keep some random items which can help out a lot.


To be honest there's no reason to start with M&M3 other than nostalgia one. World of Xeen is infinitely better... but in my heart M&M3 has that special place being the first M&M game I ever tried.


I dunno, I still think 3 is the best M&M. Xeen is much more accessible but 3 had a much larger world and lots of great puzzles and quirky humor that is the hallmark of the series.

Fun fact, when I was going through a replay of all of the M&M games when I bought the Ultimate Might and Magic Archives some years back, after you beat M&M 2 you get a high score and a screen that tells you to send the score to New World Computing for a special gift. Just as a joke I did even though the game was over 10 years old at that point and to my surprise they actually sent me a letter of congratulations along with this great M&M VI poster which still hangs above my daughters computer:

DSCN9075.JPG


Fantastic thread btw.
 
Top Bottom