Rampant Games - How CRPGs Warped My Brain

[Dhruin]

A cool title for what is essentially a trip down memory lane, with the Rampant Coyote listing some of the old CRPGs that influence his thinking, with further installments to follow. Here's an excerpt:

Wizardry I (The Most Influential RPG I Never Played) – I never played this game very much, as it didn’t become available for the Commodore 64 until very late. But I read a great deal about it, and eventually got the chance to play this masterpiece on other systems. I don’t think I ever got past level four or five of the dungeon. But while the title of the game was “Wizardry: The Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord“, the name of the game was Exploration and Resource Management. It was a true old-school D&D-style experience. It was the opposite of today’s Diablo-style action RPG hack-and-slashers. There was no rushing down through the levels half-cocked. You planned. You mapped. You measured. You turned back while the getting was good to return to town, knowing you’d have to fight your way back. You had to take your dungeon delving seriously in this game. And for many players, that was more compelling and immersive than any cool modern 3D graphics.

More information.

 

[RampantCoyote]

Yeah, for a while I had it entitled, "My CRPG Influences," but the title was so boring and pretentious that I couldn't read it without shuddering. So I came up with this title as an emergency substitute. Couldn't figure out a better one.

 

[Dhruin]

I think my comment reads like a criticism, which it isn't. Looking forward to seeing the other parts.

 

[wolfing]

It's interesting also how time, age, or just game evolution makes you change your mind on what things you like or not. For example, my first cRPG was Wizardry 1. I played this before I even knew what D&D was. I spent dozens of hours rummaging through those dungeons. But years later I fully dismiss games for a variety of reasons like not letting me save anywhere, or because it has too many random encounters, or because the automapping sucks, or the journal system is not comprehensive enough, yet Wizardry 1 suffered from all those problems yet I loved that game.

 

[RampantCoyote]

Yeah, going back and retro-gaming can often be a frustrating experience. There are a lot of conveniences of modern gaming that we take for granted that really didn't exist back then. And some stuff that would totally not fly - like permadeath on failed resurrection attempts in Wizardry 1. Maybe Roguelike players would be willing to suffer that kind of game rule, but not many mainstream gamers would tolerate that today. Oh, and having to go into the dungeon to heal magically...