RPG Codex - Top Ten Vintage RPGs
 

The RPG Codex made a poll about vintage RPGs - here's the result:

More information.

Nice list - I like them all.

Albion is my favorite.

Not the order I'd have them in, but a good list.

Albion is in the top 20:

1. Betrayal at Krondor
2. Ultima Underworld
3. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands
4. Wizardry 7
5. Darklands
6. Daggerfall
7. Ultima 7
8. Pool of Radiance
9. Might and Magic: World of Xeen
10. Wasteland
11. Dungeon Master
12. Realms of Arkania: Star Trail
13. Wizardry 1
14. Quest for Glory 1
15. Eye of the Beholder
16. Might and Magic 3
17. Ultima 5
18. Albion
19. Lands of Lore
20. Exile 3

Darklands is one of the old RPGs I'm most nostalgic for. I wish it had been a success so they could have continued to produce games in that vein, as they originally hoped.

One of my absolute favorite old CRPGs doesn't show up on their (expanded) list: Alternate Reality: The Dungeon. Another series with big plans that didn't fulfill them.

The order is pretty decent, not perfect yet not terrible. The list, overall, is fairly solid, man, we had it so good in those days. The quantity may have been lacking yet the quality was outstanding.

Speaking of Betrayal at Krondor, we haven't heard much about the remake of late.

Glad to see Betrayal at Krondor is getting some recognition. Best written game hands down for the dos era.

BaK was one of the first RPG games I bought. Great stuff.

Wait…what? A BAK remake?

Are you referring to the project that the original developer was doing? Because he's not releasing that as a commercial game. He was just remaking part of BAK for fun and to learn about the engine he was using to do it.

Or is there some other remake I'm not aware of?

That's the only project I've heard concerning Betrayal at Krondor, that a developer was basically converting parts of it, not taking the entire existing game on as project, if I remember correctly. Although I'd love to see someone do it.

Great list! I’m in agreement with most of the top 20 list, too, even if I didn’t play/complete all of them. Very inspirational to me when I was in the industry.
As far as the Betrayal at Krondor remake goes, there’s a small studio making their version of a spiritual successor to BaK called Call of Saregnar. There’s a free proof of concept demo, very playable, on Steam. I didn’t get to spend much time with it, but it appears they’re close to the mark.

There's been a few posts about Call of Saregnar here. I've played the demo, and I think it has potential. It's still quite raw though and probably a long ways off.

Excellent Top 20, but I'd swap #1 BaK with Ultima 7, and #5 Darklands with Dungeon Master.

Browsing through the full list, I'm shocked at how many of those I've completed over the years. All of those wasted hours playing with myself;
My tombstone should read, "I had fun!" Ha.

I notice a few RPGs were missing from the full list:

Martian Dreams '91 + Savage Empire '90 - Excellent Ultima spinoffs using U6 engine.
ShadowCaster '93 - Fun first-person ARPG by Raven (Heretic/Dungeon Master hybrid)
The Legacy: Realm of Terror '93 - 3D step-based horror RPG by Microprose.
Fountain of Dreams '90 - IMHO, this spinoff was better than Wasteland.
Telengard '82 - Temple of Apshai-style dungeon crawl w/randomized mazes.

Hmm Wizardry 7 would be my number 1 and Eye of the Beholder would be much higher!

That being said I don't recall ever playing Betrayal at Krondor, so I've either forgotten or it passed me by.

Daniel.

Does it use the same Ultima Underworld engine? In the videos I've seen, I could swear it does.

No Bard's Tale? That needs to be on the list.

Wow, top 10 vintage…
1. Might and Magic III
2. Amberstar
3. Wizardry: Bane of the Cosmic Forge
4. Ultima IV
5. Legacy of the Ancients
6. Alternate Reality: The City
7. Phantasie
8. Exile: Escape from the Pit
9. Pool of Radiance
10. Daggerfall

Nice to see someone else mention Alternate Reality, Nut, but Dungeon is so much better than City. Did you ever play it?

At least a few of the earlier Bard's Tale games should be on that list, for sure. One at a minimum, those three games were a sheer delight.

No, but I can see why you'd think that. Origin Systems released ShadowCaster the same year as Ultima Underworld II. ShadowCaster used the Raven engine developed by John Carmack for Raven Software. Basically, the Wolfenstein 3D engine with a few extra bells and whistles thrown in. Raven software later made Heretic and Hexen, which is why I view ShadowCaster as cross between Heretic and Dungeon Master.

No Realms of Arkania in the top 10? To put it in Codex language: What kinda fucktard list is that shit without Realms of Arkania??? :biggrin:

This "vintage" era is apparently when I was in college & post-grad. I didn't have the time/resources for computer gaming back then.

My own top 10 from this era:

Darklands
Ultima VII
Wasteland
Ultima VI
Alternate Reality: The Dungeon
Pool of Radiance
Dragon Wars
Bloodnet
Betrayal at Krondor
Ultima: Martian Dreams

Ended all, except Darklands and Exile. Darklands is a big Spot in my RPG gaming career,

I think Betrayal at Krondor is the one I have the fondest memories for. A lot of the other older games were ones that I may have really enjoyed at the time, but they had aspects that I would take major issue with if I played them today. But BaK was a rare game in that not only was the story great, but the mechanics and gameplay were extremely well designed. Some aspects might seem a little basic if I replayed it now for the third time, but I would still enjoy doing it.

I prefer to pretend that it's sequel never existed though. Also the bland spiritual sequel set in a different world.

Never could get Darklands running on my rig. Same with AR: The Dungeon. They might be on my list otherwise. So many good games back then.

Forgot to mention Dark Heart of Uukrul or something like that. It was great too. I also loved the Magic Candle series and Keys to Maramon. I forgot about Bard's Tale. The first one was decent. The others were too similar…

I was lucky enough to get to test on both Eye of the Beholder and Darklands back in the day, so they'll always have a special place in my zeitgeist of gaming. I even replayed both of them just a few years ago, and they're still very enjoyable.