The CRPG Addict: November 2024 Update

Monday, November 11, 2024

November 2024 Update

Just a quick note that you probably won't see anything new until the week of 18 November. I have a number of things to catch up on this week.

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Recent, Current, & Upcoming

The Wilderness (1985)
Monsters Lair (1980)
Psionics (1993)
Quest for the Holy Grail (1982)
Enchantasy (1993)
Swords and Serpents (1990)
----> Betrayal at Krondor (1993)
----> Great Ultizurkian Underland (1993)
Idol of Monterey (1985)
Castle of Kraizar (1993)
Nishiran (1992)
Sword Quest 2 (1993)
Power Stones of Ard II (1990)
Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures (1993)

See a Google spreadsheet with my master game list. See this posting to discuss games that are missing or mysterious.

See a Google spreadsheet with all game rankings so far.

Current figures:

530 games played
436 won (82% / 90% of winnable)
49 not won (9% / 10% of winnable)
44 not winnable (8%)
1 in progress (0%)

My Most Important Sources and Associates

MobyGames: The most comprehensive game database on the Internet.

The Museum of Computer Adventure Game History: Descriptions, screenshots, manuals, box covers, and more.

Wikipedia's list of role-playing video games

The Adventurer's Guild: Like me, but for adventure games.

Digital Antiquarian: Like me, but with a broader scope and better writing.

All the Adventures: Jason Dyer's chronological journey through adventure games.

CRPG Revisiting old classics: Stuck it out with some of the games I bailed on.

The RPG Consoler: You know how you always wish I would play console RPGs too? Go here instead of complaining.

The Data-Driven Gamer: Many of the same titles from a more quantitative perspective.

Kurisu's Chronogaming: English commentary on several genres.

The Wargaming Scribe: Chronological wargaming reviews from CRPG Addict commenter Narwhal.

El Explorador de RPG: RPG commentary and analysis in Spanish.

Retro Games Trove: Game Database and CRPG Commentary

The Rules

Read the original posting explaining this blog and this posting to understand the current playing order.

1. I am following a list of CRPGs in chronological order derived from several sources, including Wikipedia, MobyGames, GameFAQs, and contributions from readers. I am going in chronological order on two sections of the list: a) all RPGs in the 1990s, and b) non-PC RPGs that I missed during my first four years of blogging when I played only games released for DOS.

2. To appear on my play list, a game must be a a) single-player RPG released for a personal computer, and b) in a language that uses a Latin alphabet. Console games do not appear on my playlist unless they also had PC releases during their original release schedule (generally within 2 years of the console release). Exceptions made and ambiguity resolved at my discretion.

3. My definition of what constitutes an "RPG" encompass several criteria, which can be found in the FAQ.

4. I can reject independent and shareware RPGs if they are clearly amateur efforts with no innovations or accolades attached to them.

5. I generally cannot use cheats, FAQs, walkthroughs, maps, or other hints until I have finished playing or I'm so stuck that I literally cannot progress otherwise. I will make rare exceptions to this rule if I'm unlikely to finish the game otherwise or if I want to blog specifically about an experience with a walkthrough or cluebook.

6. I don't have to win every game, but I must play for at least six hours.

Game Superlatives

Highest Rated So Far:

Ultima V
Ultima VI
Pool of Radiance
DarkSun: Shattered Lands
Ultima Underworld II
Ultima Underworld
The Dark Heart of Uukrul
Curse of the Azure Bonds

Might & Magic I

Wizardry VII

Might & Magic II
Disciples of Steel
Champions of Krynn

Darklands

Death Knights of Krynn

Hero's Quest: So You Want to Be a Hero
Starflight II
Starflight
Omega
Wasteland
Ultima IV
Wizardry VI

Longest Played:

Fate: Gates of Dawn
NetHack 3.0 series

Ultima VII: Part Two

Wizardry VII

Knights of Legend

Disciples of Steel
Rogue

Wizardry V

Ultima VII

Moria [4.873]

The Magic Candle II

The Magic Candle

Camelot

Pools of Darkness
Might and Magic III

Highest Rankings by Category:
(When multiple games tie, I've chosen the one with the highest overall rating)

Game World: Starflight
Characters: Wizardry VII
NPCs: Ultima V
Encounters: Pool of Radiance
Magic/Combat: Pool of Radiance
Equipment: NetHack 3.0 series
Economy: Ultima V
Quests: Might & Magic I
G/S/I: Ultima VI
Gameplay: Ultima VI

Games of the Year:

1979: Dunjonquest: The Temple of Apshai
1980: Rogue
1981: Wizardry
1982: Dungeons of Daggorath
1983: Exodus: Ultima III
1984: Adventure Construction Set
1985: Ultima IV
1986: Starflight
1987: Dungeon Master
1988: Pool of Radiance
1989: Hero's Quest: So You Want to Be a Hero
1990: Ultima VI
1991: Might and Magic III
1992: Ultima Underworld

Chet's "Must Play" List
Play these games if you want to get a full sense of the history of computer RPGs (current through my current year).

Dunjonquest: The Temple of Apshai (1979)
Akalabeth: World of Doom (1980)
Rogue: The Adventure Game (1980)
Ultima (1981)
Wizardry (1981)
Moria (1983)
Ultima III (1983)
Questron (1984)
The Bard's Tale (1985)
Phantasie (1985)
Ultima IV (1985)
Wizard's Crown (1985)
Might and Magic (1986)
Starflight (1986)
Dungeon Master (1987)
Pool of Radiance (1988)
Ultima V (1988)
Wasteland (1988)
NetHack 3.0 Series (1989)
Hero's Quest (1989)
Ultima VI (1990)
Eye of the Beholder (1991)
Fate: Gates of Dawn (1991; first act only)
Might and Magic III (1991)
Ultima Underworld (1992)
Darklands (1992)
Ultima VII (1992)
Legends of Valour (1992)
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands (1993)

Copyright and AI Statement

All work on this blog is copyright Chester N. Bolingbroke unless otherwise explicitly stated in a specific article. Absolutely no one has my permission to rehost or copy any of this blog's content in any way, including indexing for the purposes of artificial intelligence. Yes, I know I can't stop you. You still don't have my permission.

If you write to me and ASK permission to use any of my content, I will probably grant it.

When I was playing Ultima VII: Part Two - Serpent Isle, I asked ChatGPT for a list of snake-related puns that I could use as subtitles. This is, and remains, the only use of AI on this blog (and I didn't end up using any of them). No entry that I write will ever be written by AI or with the help of AI.