It's time to talk about some changes that I have in mind for the CRPG Addict as we continue to progress into the 1990s.
I wrote my last yearly transition post, "1992/1993," over four years ago. It has taken me that long to get through the roughly 65 games, not including BRIEFs, that made up my 1993 list. At that time, I noted that 1993 had 74 games, "more than any other year until 2012," but more were added and some were lost during the four years that I covered it. More were also added to later years, so now 1994 has 68 games and 1995 has 76.
I am no longer satisfied at the pace that I'm making through these years. I don't want to be 66 when I cover the original Fallout or 88 when I can finally replay Morrowind. So here's what I have in mind:
- During my first pass through each year, from now on, I will cover about 25 games. Specifically, I will hand-select about 10, randomly select another 10, and then hear your arguments for which other games deserve "landmark" status, choosing the best 5 (roughly).
- If any of the 25 selected titles turns out to be the wrong year, or not an RPG (i.e., I BRIEF it), or otherwise disappears from the list, I'll replace it with another random selection from the same year.
- I will continue to alternate "new" games with those from the backlist. So any game that I don't cover on my first pass through a year will have an equal chance of appearing later on from a random selection. If one of the random selections from the backlist turns out to be a sequel (literal or spiritual) of a game that I haven't covered, I'll go back and cover that game first.
- There will no longer be any "surprise" games. Everything I intend to play, including the occasional console game, will appear on my "upcoming" list and you'll have a chance to anticipate and discuss them.
In some ways, this system is what I've been doing all along. Because we keep finding old games, it has proven impossible to ever fully clear a year. 1992 was the last year that I completed, and yet it has half a dozen new findings since I "finished" the year. 1983 has 30. So under this new system, I'm simply relegating a lot of minor titles to the backlist at the outset instead of doing so after discovering them later.
Let's see how this would work for 1994. Looking over the list of 68 games on my master list, applying what I know about the genre, supplemented with a little time on Wikipedia, I would hand-select the following games as being particularly notable, fun, or important:
- Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse
- Ancient Domains of Mystery
- Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager
- The Elder Scrolls: The Arena
- Hexx: Heresy of the Wizard
- Ishar 3: The Seven Gates of Infinity
- Jagged Alliance
- Menzoberranzan
- Pagan: Ultima VIII
- Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession
- Realms of Arkania: Star Trail
Already that's 11, but that's fine. I don't need to be rigid. Now I take 10 random titles:
- Aethra Chronicles: Volume One - Celystra's Bane
- Darghul
- Dark Designs IV: Passage to Oblivion
- Darkmere: The Nightmare's Begun
- Escape from Ragor
- Jiji and the Mysteirous Forest: Chapter 1
Litil Divil- Newcomer
- Power of the Hired
- Telnyr III
- World of Arch
Do these lists together give a decent idea of what 1994 has to offer? What else would you argue deserves to be covered now rather than waiting for a chance to be covered later?
