DOS CRPGs & Introducing myself

This is my first post on this forum. I'm a fanatic CRPG player and registered on these forums simply to discuss CRPGs since my friends IRL do not share this passion

I have been checking out the news on rpgwatch and on rpgdot before that,
and figured this to be as good place as any to chat about all those great games.
Oh, and before i forget - I am not a native speaker, so forgive me if my grammar
makes you hurt

Since I have been experiencing something of a CRPG drought lately - which I'm sure many of you are going through too - I one day decided to dig out my old Win98 PC from the bottom of a dark closet and set it up so that it would have a perfectly working DOS environment solely for the purposes of playing DOS CRPGs.
I scavenged the internet for soundblaster & cd-rom drivers, taught myself the arcane secrets of dos memory management and before I knew it... It was alive!

I really dislike using emulators so I was extremely happy about the fact that I now had a working PC that booted directly into DOS, had over 600k of conventional memory free, had a working soundblaster and cdrom drivers for the DOS! Even the mouse worked perfectly!

Great. Now I needed games. And not just any games... but Computer Roleplaying games! I try to avoid downloading abandonware so I used an internet auction site (the scandinavian equivalent for ebay) and hit the jackpot. I found and bought many cool CRPGs I had never played before (and paid almost nothing for them). I started playing games at early 90's and got seriously into RPGs in the mid 90's so I had a lot to choose from. I used rgpwatch, mobygames and the underdogs as a guide when buying games.

I just finished Might & Magic III - Isles of terra and couldn't help but start
playing Might & Magic - World of Xeen right away. I honestly can't remember the last time i've had this much fun playing PC games. Must've been years ago!
I absolutely LOVED playing Isles of Terra. Enjoyed each and every second of it.
A truly wonderfull experience. I even loved the music and the puzzles too

I have played and enjoyed pretty much all of the good windows CRPGS there are (even some of the indie / freeware ones) and i even own a gamecube with all the RPG's made for it. So this DOS/9x pc combined with a 2 month summer holiday from the university really opened up a world of possibilities for me

So I thought this thread could be used to talk about all those great Dos CRPGs.
We could discuss our favourites, give suggestions and hints to others in what to play next. Perhaps help others who want to set up an win9x/dos PC for these purposes. Also, please lets try to concentrate on all those old really good RPG's instead of bashing all the s**t they call CRPG nowadays.

So.. If you are like me and in desperate need of REAL good gaming, I suggest you do as I did - sink your teeth into the classics that you might have missed before! Once you get used to the low-res graphics and clunky interfaces you're gonna have a blast, really!

If any of you have any suggestions as to what are the games I should try next, please share your thoughts!

I have already bought stuff like this (and yes, i LOVE shovelware):
Wizardry Archives (1-7)
Ultima Collection (1-8)
Ultima Underworld 1 & 2
Realms of Arkania Trilogy
Forgotten Realms Archives (all the old FR games- beholders, golden boxes.. etc)
Ultimate Might & Magic Archives
Lands of Lore 1 & 2
Ishar trilogy ( I hear these are really good? real underdogs? )
Anvil of Dawn
.....
Ok.. you get the picture

So all of you sick *!"#%#¤%&*^s (like me) who still actually play these games,
please feel free to drop me hints & advice on those games mentioned or what to
go get!

I'll end this very fist and very long post now hoping that this post is OK
in everyway, and that at least someone will find it usefull / fun.

Thanks! (back to playing World of Xeen...)

ADDED: Oh.. And because this is also the post on which I want to introduce myself to the community I just absolutely have to mention one thing...
I Hate MMORPGs.

Get Buck Rogers, its a must. As well as Darklands. Darklands is grade-a prime beef. I didn't see Albion on your list or Betrayal at Krondor, either.

If you haven't played the RoA trilogy yet, you might want to play that next. Its different from most crpgs, but very satisfying and addictive. Also, I think the best wizardry hands-down is 7, and it helps to import a party from 6. So I'd say play six first, its pretty good. The ones before that are a little too bland too replay I think, when you have better, more complex games that give you more in the same series.

A lot of wierd-os only like RoA 2 for some reason. I love 1. Some crazies say 3 is bad, but its great. Its more focused even if you can't travel and some of the skills you spent two games increasing become less important.

That's great information, thanks. Buck Rogers is something I think I've never even heard about... Darklands is definately on my to-get list. I have heard about albion.. it is a sequel to something.. ambermoon, right? Will check out some more info on those games too. I haven't played the RoA games yet, will start with 1. I like playing games in the "right" order even though I played BG2 before BG1

Also the fact that you understood the fact that I'm actually going to play these games this summer is much appreciated. There are games we remember with great warm feelings of nostalgia but when we actually start playing them after all those years...

We want those games that truly have stood the test of time.

The only issue with the older game is the interface. Horrible. Horrible. Definitely check out Buck Rogers. As far as I know, Albion is a one shot. Its a mix 1st/iso game witha unique setting. Its starts of sci-fi. Buck Rogers, of course, is sci-fi also.

And judging from your list, you aren't kletting UI stop you. Id recommend the Mega-Travellers. Fantastic games, but very complex

Starflight I and II

y'now we ought to do a spotlight news on legacy games

Forgot to say welcome to the Watch, Zakhary. Watch out for lucky day, he's mean to new guys.

The early Elder Scrolls are worth getting, Arena and Daggerfall. Definitely try to get your hands on the original System Shock as well. The Eye of the Beholder series is one you might enjoy as would be the old Gold Box games. I regularly play the oldies via Dosbox and keep wishing someone would remake them as I'm sure they'd sell well as they're just great games!! Welcome to the forums.

Fallout
Fallout 2
Betrayal at Krondor (5 stars)
Betrayal in Antara
Albion
Faery Tale Adventure 2 - Halls of the Dead

Betrayal at Krondor and fallout are somthing you must experience.

The FO games weren't DOS though.

Try the Magic Candle series. I had three, and liked it, but wasn't able to back it up before the disk failed. The worst part about playing these old games is disk failures! I also like the Phantasie games, but only 1 and 3 were ported to DOS, and the graphics sucked on those versions. The C64 versions are much much much better. So only a complete psycho like me generally cares enough to play Phantasie III in DOS. P1 was VERY bad, and even I can't play it. And I play ASCII graphics-based games like Adom and Nethack.

You may also look into some of those Rogue-likes (and maybe a rouge-like or two as well) as they're usually free and give a lot of good gaming. Adom, Angband, Nethack, and the DoomRL are my favorites, but there's a few million of them so find one you like. There's even one for your cell phone if it's Java-capable (like mine!). Most other free CRPGs tend to the Japanese-style of RPGs, which I am not personally fond of, but you may like them regardless.

Also, do what I've been doing, and make back up CDs with all your games on them that you can. So you don't lose them later on, and just be able to look at boxes and books and say "I had that!".

@corwin: Daggerfall is the newest addition to my collection, forgot to mention it on my list. I really liked morrowind. The Eye of the Beholder games look really fun, realtime combat is a minus though but still I'm sure they're something I'm gonna have lots of fun with! And thanks!

@zakhal: Thanks for the suggestions. Though I have played the fallout games, I have finished fallout2 at least a dozen times They are windows games and I don't concided them oldies, though. Not quite yet. Betrayal at Krondor is definately on the list. Never heard of faery tale adventure?!

@azraelck: The magic candle games must be really good (did read about them), I actually a got a game from the makers of Magic Candle "A spiritual successor" or something... "Bloodstone", which I hear is as good if not better than the magic candle series.
From the underdogs:
" Based on the same engine as Magic Candle 3, Bloodstone is IMHO a much better game than its better-known cousin (Magic Candle 1 is a true classic but the sequels were disappointing). Magic Candle fans will feel right at home with the ability to control your party members separately, a good turn-based combat system, lots of spells, and the epic scope. Despite cliche "kill the big woozle" plot, the game has many interesting side-quests and treasures to find. Highly recommended, but be prepared for an epic game that will take you dozens of hours to complete."
But I guess I could try the magic candle games too, right?
Roguelikes games are definately been there done that as most of them can be played on a win2000 pc with no problems and without emulators. The best roguelike game I have come across is called Valhalla or Ragnarok. I really urge those who like roguelikes to try out that game.
http://members.chello.at/theodor.lauppert/games/ragnarok.htm
And you're definately right about making backups I actually made this DVD... i made iso files from all the cds I bought... 7-zipped them and burned a dvd which I named "The Ultimate CRPG Archives" It's and artefact that shall be preserved for generations to come!

Lucky Day said:

Starflight I and II

y'now we ought to do a spotlight news on legacy games

Click to expand...

Will browse the web for some info on those games.

I think it would be great to have some kind of a feature/article(s)/thingy on RPGWatch that would be all about old DOS CRPGs. I don't know what kind of
thing that would be though. Would be great if it was somehow on-going.. not
just one article, for example. Will have to think about that some more.

Also, I've never played a Ultima game. Which one would you people recommend I start with? I will most likely start playing the underwold games soon cause they look like so much fun.. but when talking about the original ultima games... which would be a good start?

Yes, start with the Underworld series. Check out this page about all Ultima stuff you can find on the internet. Also Ultima 6 and 7 complete are great fun.
http://aiera.timeimmortal.net/

Some more old role-playing games:
Dungeon Master - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Master_%28computer_game%29
Stonekeep - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonekeep
Tunnels & Trolls from New World Computing
Alien Logic
and many, many more

And Fallout 1 is DOS and Windows game if I remember correctly.

Wizardry 6 is one of the best crpg ever made, excellent dungeon design (helps to use a pen and graph paper) and rewarding puzzles (hang on to all the knick knacks you pick up).

I would say the best Ultima to start with is part 7 (Even though it has realtime combat). Such a rich gameworld and NPC's has never been realised since.

Realms of Arkania 1 may have the worst graphics and interface out of all 3 but it is hands down the best in the series by a long shot. Challenging combat and a much larger gameworld than it's sequels. It makes 2 & 3 a breeze if you bring your characters from the first one though.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I really appreciate it.
I think I will propably start playing Realms of Arkania 1 after I'm finished
with my Might & Magic adventures

For those of you who haven't played Might & Magic- World of Xeen...
Well, you really should. I'm having so much fun. World of Xeen is M&M part 4 and 5
combined, making this a huge epic game.

The world is divided in two,
the "light" side: http://www.abandonia.com/extras/World Of Xeen_Land Map.jpg
and the "dark" side:
http://www.abandonia.com/extras/World Of Xeen_Darkside Map.jpg

For those interested, a good place to get some more info and see some nice shots go here:
http://www.abandonia.com/games/482/WorldOfXeen

I Highly recommend this game to everyone, It's not even hard and the interface and sounds are good too.

Yes, World of Xeen is on my top 10 list. Amazing game. I finished M&M4 and M&M5 once and World of Xeen three times.
World of Xeen also includes additional quests. Make sure to play 2cd version with complete speech.
There is also a fan made project Swords of Xeen, utilizing engine from M&M4-5. Nothing special but worth a try. - http://www.quandaryland.com/jsp/dispArticle.jsp?index=131

EDIT
@Zakhary - can you post a link to that Scandinavian auction site. I am also a collector of old games and may find some interesting stuff there. Guess most people there do send their packages to EU countries.

Ha, during a gaming lull I rushed to eBay and bid on a DOS box (DOS 6.22, none of that Win 95 dual boot nonsense). I too hate using emulators, as I'm not always sure the game is playing the way it should under true DOS. And certainly in some cases there are compatability issues with DOSBox. Case in point, my beloved Star Trail.

Definately play the Magic Candle series, even though #3 is not particularly good. Magic Candle 1, imo, is quite possibly one of the best CRPGs out there.

You should certainly go back and play Wasteland.

Play the entire RoA series. I loved all 3, but have a special place in my heart for #2.

As far as the Ultimas, I would start with #6, then certainly play through #8, even though #8 isn't nearly as good as its predecessors.

Stonekeep? Ugh. I despised that game. Even worse, this was considered the best CRPG offering at the time, which is a commentary on how much this genre had declined.

Stonekeep is not that bad. Sure, there are dozens RPGs that are far better but I would still give it a try if you already finished everything else. I can think of some RPGs from that period which are inferior to Stonekeep, like Descent to Undermountain

Anvil of Dawn is from aproximately same period and it is far superior to Stonekeep. Really great game.

EvilManagedCare said:

Case in point, my beloved Star Trail.

Click to expand...

What bit are you talking about?

I recall it worked perfectly in dosbox (version 0.63) except for one bit in a temple dungeon (right near the end), it would crash every single time you walked on a certain square. There was a workaround for this however - which involved starting it in xp (with no mouse) and walking onto that square and then saving and then going back to dosbox).

I agree with many people here... the Magic Candle series is a must play. The first game especially... it's a great game!

Some early SSI pre-gold box games that should never be missed are:

Shard of Spring
Demon's Winter
Wizard's Crown

You get to see the beginnings of what would become the gold box engine. And they are great games!