Onwards to 1989, continuing with more games played by the CRPG Addict. While compiling these review roundups I really tend to get an urge to try out some of the more well known classics myself, although I'm not sure I could invest ~260 hours in a single game, no matter how replayable it is ...
1989
NetHack 3.0 (1989)
1989
NetHack 3.0 (1989)
I can see how people become addicted to NetHack. Every time you step into the dungeon and start exploring the first level, you wonder, "What am I going to find? What unique challenges will the game throw at me this time?" (..) But ask me if I really "enjoyed" the 262 hours I spent over the past year ascending, and I don't know how to answer. (..)
I note that the final rating of 44 is 2 points higher than I gave the previous version. My understanding is that future versions will develop more in the quest, character development, and encounter categories. (..) Despite ascending, I still don't feel like I "mastered" the game. There are a host of things I didn't experience or didn't think about until after I won.
- Game 71: NetHack 3.0 (1989)
- From the Beginning
- Documentation
- A Guy What Takes His Time
- Dos and Don'ts
- He Coulda Been a Contender
- The Great Heist
- The Blurst of Times
- Another Milestone
- Ascended!
- Final Rating
B.A.T. (1989)Galdregon's Domain was too easy not to win. Clearly designed for novices, the game had a simplicity that I found almost almost endearing, although this didn't make up for some awful gameplay and interface elements. (..)
The final score of 18 is the lowest since Times of Lore almost a year ago, and it earns a place in the "superlatives" in the right status bar. The game just seems half-assed. It's name doesn't even make any sense ("Galdregon" is never referenced in the game or manual), and the dragon promised on the main title screen never appears. It feels like Pandora spent a lot of time on the graphics engine and didn't have time for anything else.
B.A.T. ought to stand for "Bait and Tswitch." The game promises to be a CRPG/adventure hybrid and almost entirely fails to deliver on the CRPG part. (..) This is the first cyberpunk-influenced game that I've played, and while I'll never love the genre, I am grateful for the chance to play something other than the typical sword-and-sorcery CRPG. (..)
The final rating of 29 puts the game slightly above some CRPGs that I didn't like and didn't finish. That feels right; I didn't hate the game, but I was a bit disappointed by it. Its score is notably below Beyond Zork's of 46; the latter game is really the first RPG/adventure hybrid, and even though it was non-graphical, it showed what a hybrid could really be, with statistics and equipment that mattered, complex (but logical) puzzles, and far more i...More information.
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