1985/1986

 

  
If you had to pick one three-year period that was most important to the the rest of CRPG history, I think you'd have to pick 1985-1987. A few 1981-1983 titles--primarily the Wizardry and Ultima series--had set up the ball nicely, but 1985-1987 spiked it into the sunset.

From these three years, we got Ultima IV, Might & Magic, The Bard's Tale, all three Phantasie games, Starflight, the earliest versions of NetHack, and of course Dungeon Master. A thousand curses on Pool of Radiance (1988) for not coming out a year earlier and better-fitting my narrative, but at least we had two important precursors: Wizard's Crown and Shard of Spring. And while it hasn't been a major part of my blog, we can't forget about what was going on in the console world: The Legend of Zelda (not an RPG but an important ancestor of many of them), Final Fantasy, the first console port of a Dragon Slayer game, and Phantasy Star all made their debut during this period. Chances are, if you really loved a game from the 1980s, it was from the 1985-1987 period.
 

Here you go: the only time you'll see this screenshot on my blog.

  

Equally important, this era saw the growth of some of the most important companies of the RPG world. The early leaders like Sir-Tech and Epyx were on their way out, replaced with names like Interplay, SSI, and Origin. Yes, all of these companies technically started before 1985, but they came into prominence and stability (at least in their RPG offerings) during this period, and they would continue to dominate the genre well into the 1990s or later.

None of this is apparent from my recent trip through 1985, picking up the games I missed on my first pass in 2010. I suspect the entire 1985-1989 time period (I had ended my "DOS-only" rule before 1990) is going to be largely dregs. DOS might not have been the best platform during the period, but almost every game that was any good at least had a DOS release, and I covered those a long time ago. Most of what I missed on my first trip was schlock like Seas of Blood and City of Death. I'm glad I used the excuse to re-visit AutoDuel and Alternate Reality, but what I really would have liked was to play Might & Magic, Phantasie, and Ultima IV again.

A few themes for the rest of the decade first become apparent in 1985. Excepting roguelikes, the single-character game was essentially dead. Alternate Reality and AutoDuel are probably their last incarnations even worth talking about for a while. Even into 1991, I can only think of a few single-character games that are worth playing: the Quest for Glory series in particular; after that, maybe DarkSpyre/Dusk of the Gods and the two Elviras, but by then we're reaching down pretty far. Ultima Underworld will eventually bring it back, but until then, it's parties all the way.

Also over: bare-bones combat and magic. After the success of Wizardry and Ultima III, developers are starting to realize that (A)ttack, (D)efend, and a selection of 5 spells isn't going to cut it anymore. SSI has taken the lead with tactical combat in Wizard's Crown and Phantasie and in 1986 they'll continue with Shard of Spring. The Bard's Tale and Might & Magic will continue Wizardry's tradition. An occasional minor title like Questron II or Starflight will come along with minimal combat options, but from now on they'll be far from the norm.

The tag--"with tactical combat"--shows that SSI knew it was doing something new with Wizard's Crown.

   

Europe continues to just be weird. At some point, I used a metaphor of aliens designing CRPGs after seeing them through a telescope. It still applies. You kind of expect French games--like French cinema--to be ineffably bizarre, so a game like Mandragore is easy to shrug off. It even had moments of originality and charm. On the other hand, I would have expected something more grounded from my cousins in the U.K., not games like Swords & Sorcery where you trade insults like "heave-ho you broom-and-bucket wielding pie-eater."

A nostril sack is bad enough, but a second-hand nostril sack is pretty vile.

  

If Ultima IV didn't exist, it might be a tough choice for "Game of the Year." I'd probably ultimately select The Bard's Tale. I have issues with its two sequels, but you can't deny the importance of the game in the historical record. It moved Wizardry-style gameplay to the next level, put Interplay on the map, and fathered the Wasteland (1988) engine as well as a host of European titles like Legend of Faerghail (1990) and Antares (1991). But I would have selected it after giving a nod to Phantasie (a great approach to a game that didn't leave much of a legacy) and after writing a couple of appreciative but ultimately dismissive comments on AutoDuel and Alternate Reality: The City.
   

Looking at this makes me nostalgic....for 2010. I just realized that some day, when I refer to the "carefree days of my youth, playing all those role-playing games," I'm going to be talking about right now.

    

Quest of the Avatar towers miles above them. It would be a strong contender for RPG of the decade, and there's no question it would appear on my list of top 5 of all time. It is arguably the first RPG to truly internalize the concept of role-playing by drawing more of a direct link between the player and the character. This isn't just an icon on the screen, the game says: it's you, your "avatar," wandering around Britannia. How are you going to behave? You win not through combat prowess, although that does play a role, but for virtuous behavior. If you actually pay attention to the backstory and dialogue, a journey through Ultima IV is as valuable as any self-help book.

And thousands of kids played it! This is an era in which suburban dads were coming home with disks titled MatheMagic!: Defeat the Evil Sorcerer with the Power of Multiplication! that promised to "make learning fun!" and their kids just rolled their eyes and threw the boxes in the backs of their closets. But somehow Richard Garriott got the same kids to learn about truth, love, courage, and the virtues that derived from them. He did it, of course, with excellent gameplay: a large, open game world; a decent tactical combat system; meaningful NPC dialogue; a completely original spell system; and absolutely superb production values. No other game, not even its own sequels, has quite put together the same elements that made Ultima IV so memorable. For 1985, there's no contest.

Ultima IV came with a cloth map, wonderfully-illustrated and written books, and an ankh pendant.

    
Let's look ahead to 1986. In previous posts, I covered the games of this year that had a DOS release: The Bard's Tale II, The Faery Tale Adventure, Larn, Leygref's Castle, Might & Magic, Rings of Zilfin, Shard of Spring, Starflight, Swords of Glass, and Tera: La Cité des Crânes. I didn't finish a distressing number of them. For a while, I had The Bard's Tale II on my "upcoming" list, determined to give it another shot, but after my recent break, the last thing I need is to have to look forward to a game that I know I won't like. For the same reason, you won't see any further material on The Faery Tale Adventure. On the other hand, it's very likely that I will revisit Leygref's Castle, Larn, and Tera. My original coverage was incomplete to the point of not being able to properly number and GIMLET these titles.
   

I can't promise that I'll understand it any better than last time, but I'll give it a try.

   
1986 is the height of the brief golden age of French RPGs, and in addition to Tera, we're going to see four more, assuming they all turn out to be RPGs: Fer & Flamme, Le Fer d'Amnukor, Sapiens, and Les Templiers d'Orven. The U.K. is also continuing to grow its catalogue, and we have Dungeon of Ymir, Heavy on the Magick, Mindstone, The Wizard of Tallyron, and Tallyron II all coming up.

I look forward to Phantasie II because I like the series as a whole--it was idiotic that I skipped from the first to the third because of my "DOS-only" rule. I feel like I've heard good things about Realms of Darkness but I don't remember what. Roadwar 2000 will inevitably turn out to be not an RPG, but I'll play it anyway because I'm curious. Beyond that, everything is a mystery. I have low hopes, so if I encounter any true hidden gems here, it will be a nice bonus.

One thing is sure: the year will not go very quickly. 1985 had fewer than 10 new titles, and even padding the year with re-visits to AutoDuel and Alternate Reality, I covered it in 4 months. 1986 has 19 new ones, although inevitably some will fail my definition of a "CRPG." 1987 has 28, 1988 has 19, and 1989 has 25, at which point I'll finally be caught up to the main list and probably approaching 500 games on my blog as a whole. Part of me wishes I hadn't bothered to count just now.