Felipe's cRPG Book - Open call for reviews

Fellow members of the RPG Watch, some of you are already aware of my ambitious project of making a book for cRPG players. If not, please check out this post.

Today I share with you the current list of games to be reviewed, and open a call for reviews!

Please only submit a review if you really like the game. That doesn’t mean you have to be a blind fanboy, but I want passionate reviews. They can be somewhat personal, talking about how you stayed up for a whole night trying to map that dungeon in Wizardry 4, but it’s very important that a reader that knows nothing about the game is able to understand what the game really is, its strong points and occasional flaws. Don’t say that “it has great combat”; explain why it’s great.

BEFORE starting to write, please post on the thread about what will you do, PM me or send an e-mail to crpgbook at gmail.com. Someone might have already taken the game, or I might have extra details to discuss.

I deeply respect the time and energy you will put into your review, and will try to talk to everyone so that no efforts are wasted. It may happen that your review doesn’t make into the book for one reason or another, but I’ll do my best to keep that at a minimum.

The format:

There are two kinds of reviews, the ones with one page and the ones with two. These are displayed on the list. If you think that the game you're writing about needs 2 pages instead of 1, contact me and we'll discuss it. But please note that not every game needs two pages, ok?

One Page reviews have up to 2000 characters, one header image and 2 screenshots + descriptions. And they have room for one short side blurb or info-box. Here's an example of a 1 page review:



Two page reviews have up to 4200 characters, one header image and 3-4 screenshots + descriptions. They feature a developer's quote and they have room for two or three short side info blurbs or info-boxes. Here's an example:



You can, but don't need to, provide the screenshots (in .png if you do, please), just be sure to say what you think is important to show and write the descriptions for the images. They are a good place to point out things that won't fit the main text. The developer's quote will be handled by me (unless you have a good one).

I will use the "1001 Albums to hear before you die" system of credits, signing the reviews with two letters from the author's name, and then listing all collaborators together in alphabetical order, with a 150 characters mini-bio (if you want).

So, without further ado, here's the list:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets…54VibI/pubhtml

I'll keep it updated if someone claims a game, or I add anything.

Thanks for reading and hope to see you on the book. Or at least reading it.

Nice list felipepepe - you know which game I want to review -> Albion.

Moderators: I suggest to make this thread sticky.

Originally Posted by HiddenX
Nice list felipepepe - you know which game I want to review -> Albion.

I'll gladly give it to you, on the condition that you write a review, not a feature list.

I know you can.

I'll try - I'll even play the game again before writing.

A game like Dark Omen is a strange addition to that list as it's not what is usually called a CRPG. That was a great RTS though !

Good stuff, felipepepe!

Originally Posted by Gloo
A game like Dark Omen is a strange addition to that list as it's not what is usually called a CRPG. That was a great RTS though !

I'm using a broad definition. Veeeeery broad….

BTW, MCA just agreed to write on Wasteland 1.

Originally Posted by felipepepe
I'm using a broad definition. Veeeeery broad….

BTW, MCA just agreed to write on Wasteland 1.

That's cool!

felipepepe have you planned any milestones, timelines?

Originally Posted by HiddenX
felipepepe have you planned any milestones, timelines?

I depend too much on user submitted content for that. I'm still posting on all relevant forums the call for reviews. Let's see how goes from now on.

So far I got 15% of the reviews being written. I expect a boon in the next days, and then it to slow down a lot… once I get a solid 20-30 pages, I'll probably publish it as a preview, to reignite the fires and see if any of the big news sites gives it some spotlight.

The good thing is that I'm not in a hurry, so is not like not getting all the reviews in 3 months is a blow… I'll just soldier on, until the end.

Just curious if Of Orcs and Men, or any of Spiders' games for that matter, were overlooked or just eliminated from the list. Also entirely possible I'm just blind.

Originally Posted by greywolf00
Just curious if Of Orcs and Men, or any of Spiders' games for that matter, were overlooked or just eliminated from the list.

Honestly, overlooked. I've been asking around for quite a while now, and no one ever mentioned any of them… I never played any, so I don't how how good they are. Do you think they are worthy?

Anyway, this is a first pass. As the project advances, I'll probably include more games that have been overlooked or are on hold, waiting to see how many pages I still got.

Of Orcs and Men? - I never heard of it, too.

Metacritic sounds not soooo good. greywolf00 - why are you liking this game?

I know there's several people here on the watch really enjoyed Mars: War Logs. I really like Of Orcs and Men and thought Bound By Flame was a step forward from Mars in a fantasy setting.

Worthy kind of depends on what you're looking for. They probably appeal more to story driven RPG fans though. Exploration is limited and mechanics won't compete with a lot of other games.

I see that you liked it a lot, so would you be willing to write on it? I liked your first paragraph on metacritic about it, would be nice if you expanded that.

I'm game for Ultima III. I still have The Wanderer playing in my head.

On a flip note I think that U2 is less important as its a big departure for Garriot, ie. first Ultima written in Assembly instead of BASIC, then paved the way for U4.

Damn, BG2 is already taken.. Can I please write a review on BG2?? I've only played this game 50+ times with/without mods!!! (Yes I love this game to death, the reason I play game to this day).

Lucky Day - you are good for Might & Magic 2 and Bards Tale 1, too - I know you love them.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
Damn, BG2 is already taken.. Can I please write a review on BG2?? I've only played this game 50+ times with/without mods!!! (Yes I love this game to death, the reason I play game to this day).

50+ wow -> never reached this with any game.

also Neverwinter Nights (2002 Bioware version)

Yeah, that would have been my pick.

Don't forget all the interesting NWN-mods - one of the very best mods ever made:
The Aielund saga

PS:
Lucky Day: yours are good too