tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post2067292013924417311..comments2024-03-28T20:51:01.807-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Game 432: The Lords of Midnight (1984)CRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-11814505350662541012022-12-02T15:05:31.896-05:002022-12-02T15:05:31.896-05:00I am reading this entry to prepare a bit for the g...I am reading this entry to prepare a bit for the game (I never played LoM, and it is one of the upcoming game that will be particularly long to go through), and I realized something about what is a CRPG. You state that your current definition is :<br /><br /> - The game must feature character development.<br /> - Combat success must be based in part on intrinsic attributes <br /> - The player must have a flexible inventory of equipment [...]<br /><br />Recently, on the football manager game, you stated that exploration was "kind of expected" from a RPG. Well, checking this game, I realize that "exploration" is actually an integral part of the definition of CRPG - I am not sure I can think of a RPG without exploration (even if "CYOA" kind of exploration). A CRPG without exploration is a management game or a strategy game. Of course, there are a lot of strategy games with exploration, but I am not sure you would consider a RPG a game where you just find a string of battles and then distribute rewards in XP and weapons between the survivors (case in points : Galactic Gladiators vs Galactic Adventures). On the other hand, I can think about a lot of RPG without either equipment or character development (starting with say Ultima I, which only has HP).<br /><br />I think adding "exploration" clarifies a lot what is a RPG and what is not. SoccerStar => Absolutely not. Nobunaga's Ambition will never be a RPG, even if you could give Nobunaga a Fan of +5 Charisma. On the other hand, ask Nobunaga to explore a new continent with otherwise exactly the same ruleset, and you have a RPG.<br /><br />It also explains why people ask you to play games like Star Control II - now it has 3 out of 4 "RPG elements", instead of 2 out of 3. Similarly : Lords of Midnight (no stat development but exploration & equipment) or games you did not cover like, in no specific order :<br />- Zone (1988, character development, no equipment, exploration) <br />-"The Wreck of the BSV Pandora" (1982, no char. development, equipment, exploration) <br />- "The Vaults of Zurich (1982, no char. development, equipment, exploration)<br /><br />Anyway, just random thoughts. On another topic, since there is no more "upcoming list", please don't do Warlords II right now, I have something like 4 articles on early Keating / SSG upcoming until EoY :).The Wargaming Scribehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00999437557611608368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-68676948902405961932022-05-28T19:54:42.100-04:002022-05-28T19:54:42.100-04:00You seem terribly disappointed that the name of th...You seem terribly disappointed that the name of the world is Midnight, and that the title of the game is therefore literal...I think that this may just be you :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-36074359402451021752022-03-31T04:29:57.304-04:002022-03-31T04:29:57.304-04:00My first strategy game. I spent years playing it i...My first strategy game. I spent years playing it in the 80s and 90s. Yes, many ways to win it. <br />The Ice Crown route is easy and boring. My favorites are:<br />1. Defend Xajorkith. Gather a lot of lords and their armies to defend the capitol (without Luxor around, as he is always followed by 10000 Doom riders). After the enemy armies are defeated, easy since they come one at a time, roll out North and capture Ushgarak. At the same time, the lords that cannot reach in time Xajorkith, rally on Ithrorn and those on Morkin side at Gloom.<br />2. Allow Xajorkith to fall and rally troops at Ithrorn and Gloom. This is a classic, you allow enemy armies to take the capitol without any opposition and you go through the backdoor at Ushgarak. Easier said than done, because slipping some lords and their armies intact is a bit harder to do. You will likely have to fight a large battle to defend Ithrorn before moving out to Ushgarak.<br />3. Defend Keep of Thimrath. This one is a bit trickier, as on one side it allows Xajorkith to fall but to a smaller army, however it allows far less casualties than the siege of the capitol might entice, as you basically take out one of the arms of Doomdark's offensive, the infantry. After Thimrath battle is over (long time, as infantry moves slowly) you can move back and liberate Xajorkith. As before Ithrorn adn Gloom are secondary rally points.<br />4. The most difficult and exciting path of all. Lords fight for their own teritory. Basically means fighting small battles to make Doomdark armies pay a huge price. As an example, one of the first lords to be recruited is Blood. As soon as Blood picks the soldiers from his keeps, he goes on to fight Doomdark, not large armies, but smaller one at a time. When he is exhausted, he retreats to Shimeril and combines forces with him to fight some, from there they move to Mitharg or Brith. And so on. It is a very difficult strategy to carry out and leads to possible deaths among lords, but the retreat to Xajorkith is more fun. Redrakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17285325439026338486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-17268473187009164062021-11-17T12:38:55.630-05:002021-11-17T12:38:55.630-05:00The ZX Spectrum / Timex game of yore.
I was intro...The ZX Spectrum / Timex game of yore.<br /><br />I was introduced to the series with the second entry, Doomdark's Revenge. In the sequel the enemy armies were made up of individual lords, same as yours. You could attempt to flip them to your side when they were alone (and enemy could do that to your lords too iirc).<br /><br />So for me and my siblings it was definitely a strategy game, something like Empire, but in first-person-perspective. And fantasy. We missed out on the adventure victory condition, and when once we found it by sheer luck and the game congratulated the victory, we were not that impressed.simtamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06618710578362515948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-25882894338945596632021-10-17T20:53:42.455-04:002021-10-17T20:53:42.455-04:00> There's no way the creators of Warlords d...> There's no way the creators of Warlords didn't play it.<br /><br />You don't say. Look to the right: https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/615603-warlords-dos-screenshot-defeated.pngAlastor Samaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03404151074443919476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-73413479416739411982021-10-01T15:40:53.974-04:002021-10-01T15:40:53.974-04:00“This entry,” not “the century.”“This entry,” not “the century.”CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-50482676059026256542021-10-01T15:40:14.236-04:002021-10-01T15:40:14.236-04:00I didn’t forget to do it; I just didn’t write abou...I didn’t forget to do it; I just didn’t write about it. I knew this game had a lot of fans, and I didn’t feel like dealing with the drama of some of the lower scores. It turned out that the century didn’t get nearly as much traffic as I assumed it would, so that precaution was probably for nothing.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-43959476697116376942021-10-01T14:37:41.507-04:002021-10-01T14:37:41.507-04:00Sorry to point it out, but I think you forgot to d...Sorry to point it out, but I think you forgot to do the GIMLET rating for this one.Abacoshttps://strategywiki.org/wiki/User:Abacosnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-48448533631471267132021-09-21T13:11:53.485-04:002021-09-21T13:11:53.485-04:00I am going to blame the console/Japan/usa centric ...I am going to blame the console/Japan/usa centric written history of videogames for the consideration of this as a "weird game", not the important staple it was and is.Carloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18126802808776016527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-16242342631986472612021-09-20T18:05:02.290-04:002021-09-20T18:05:02.290-04:00Dune is the first one that comes to mind, but many...Dune is the first one that comes to mind, but many of the space exploration games variants of Starflight or Star Control 2 apply (Captain Blood, Project Nomad, Millennia Altered Destinies...) Thinking about it, ERE informatique who would be later Cryo have a good bunch of these.<br /><br />Carloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18126802808776016527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-56355907442832746132021-09-17T14:34:19.157-04:002021-09-17T14:34:19.157-04:00He also pioneered the Electric Car and Portable TV...He also pioneered the Electric Car and Portable TV (but was WAYYYY ahead of the technology).Ken Brubakernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-63910389853433174152021-09-17T10:36:13.066-04:002021-09-17T10:36:13.066-04:00R.I.P Sir Clive Sinclair.
Father of the Speccy.
ht...R.I.P Sir Clive Sinclair.<br />Father of the Speccy.<br />https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/16/home-computing-pioneer-sir-clive-sinclair-dies-aged-81Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18109879587691580658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-51309321208977615052021-09-15T10:02:27.254-04:002021-09-15T10:02:27.254-04:00Starlord! Oh man, I remember that, though I've...Starlord! Oh man, I remember that, though I've never even played it. I've read the review of it many times and I'm always awed by the sheer scope of the game. A thousand planets to conquer and rule AND you also get to personally fly around in your starfighter in 3D and shoot down your enemies? Madness.<br /><br />From what I remember, the reviewer didn't think the game was any good, but even attempting to create such a beast takes balls, so massive respect to mr Singleton for that!Tipihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11416637333851125884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-39875622903624292522021-09-11T20:56:53.752-04:002021-09-11T20:56:53.752-04:00Anyone thinking of playing Realms of Arkania, Blad...Anyone thinking of playing Realms of Arkania, Blade of Destiny or Realms of Arkania StarTrail, I have some excel spreadsheets for character stats that may be of use. These games have way more stats than any other game of its era and it could be easier to add points to stats at level up with these helpers.<br /><br />https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hQoc_qcuH6spd01NMbmdIuv-xTUpngaL?usp=sharing<br /><br />I have sheets for magic users and another for non magic users, plus attack and parry stats as well as one for character stats.bobrpggamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06014350493972008755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-76108020990714975832021-09-11T00:31:23.496-04:002021-09-11T00:31:23.496-04:00I always like to have Fullscreen when possible, to...I always like to have Fullscreen when possible, to enhance immersion. I know the Mac has a lot of RPGs that will show up in multiple windows, but I remember these games as Fullscreen back when I was not using emulators for them so it’s just better that I do the mapping and info in the game by hand. Its not necessarily just to remain a purist or old school or whatever you want to call it, its just to only see the game and not part of my desktop, although with M&M I am using an emulator that has black bars to the bottom and sides, but it still feels like I am completely into the game and not other windows apps this way. I even scribe Automap’s (with crappy Automap’s in the older games) down on paper to rely on later. The first game I played with nothing but automapping was Stonekeep, because the automapping was so good I never got lost and it had annotations as well.<br /><br />But to each their own I suppose.<br /><br />I am not used to posting on bogs so my posts are showing up oddly, I meant this for the CRPG Addict who must have excel loaded in a window with the game in the windows as well.<br />bobrpggamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06014350493972008755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-39936409749576808052021-09-10T21:04:40.413-04:002021-09-10T21:04:40.413-04:00@bobrpggamer
"So do you have 2 windows open ...@bobrpggamer<br /><br />"So do you have 2 windows open when you do your mapping?"<br /><br />Not sure if this was directed at me, but the program I use('Where are we?' if anyone reading this is interested) has multiple windows. One contains the map and another contains a party status screen. So running M&M in a window in the top left of the monitor I three different windows going at a time. It works out great in that the graphical fidelity of such old games don't require a full screen image to get the full picture. Bucktoothgamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12333903562677525108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-42163519140675384582021-09-10T04:29:05.493-04:002021-09-10T04:29:05.493-04:00I didn't have the patience for manual mapping ...I didn't have the patience for manual mapping as a kid and I don't have it as an adult either. It's even got worse - my free time comes in chunks of a couple of hours these days, so I'm really not keen spending it on chores like these. I don't use walkthroughs but for games that don't have automaps (or have bad automaps like MM3-5), I do have to resort to online maps.poster formerly known as VKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09766031949641666286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-54388068982123417142021-09-10T00:59:37.137-04:002021-09-10T00:59:37.137-04:00Checking in as a (former) kid who had the patience...Checking in as a (former) kid who had the patience for *Might and Magic* - my mother and I played it together when I was about 7 years old, with me helping keep the maps organized, and I'd also level up her characters sometimes when she was doing other things.<br /><br />It was my first RPG, as a matter of fact (I'm 38 now).Reiskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09444824451578560746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-90629812609359249372021-09-09T22:07:42.188-04:002021-09-09T22:07:42.188-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.bobrpggamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06014350493972008755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-34386738472138966412021-09-09T22:00:17.585-04:002021-09-09T22:00:17.585-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.bobrpggamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06014350493972008755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-90591338262850152222021-09-09T21:56:41.371-04:002021-09-09T21:56:41.371-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.bobrpggamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06014350493972008755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-28055047394537779652021-09-09T21:03:29.570-04:002021-09-09T21:03:29.570-04:00So do you have 2 windows open when you do your map...So do you have 2 windows open when you do your mapping? <br /><br />I have mapped by hand since Might and Magic 1. It was the third RPG I played on my C64 that got me hooked. It goes:<br /><br />1) Ultima 3 - never finished it. I was at the end but something about that sea serpent blocking me if I remember correctly.<br /><br />2) Wasteland - surely need the clue book on this one, the only reason I finished it.<br /><br />3) Might and Magic 1 - time to break out the graph paper. never finished this one either. Hopefully about to change this time.<br /><br />This was all in fall of 1988 and right before I bought an Amiga to play Dungeon Master. Yeah, I know we have heard this story before.<br />bobrpggamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06014350493972008755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-23293580508574261312021-09-09T17:58:41.939-04:002021-09-09T17:58:41.939-04:00I can attest that as a 29 year old trying to play ...I can attest that as a 29 year old trying to play Might and Magic for the first time, it is definitely a task that would have not been possible even 10 years ago for myself. Nevermind the fact that even now my enjoyment with it so far would be greatly hindered without the automapper that I use, also listing spell numbers and enemy HP for each encounter. <br /><br />One day I do hope to get Excell or some graph paper going and complete at least one crpg the "real" way.Bucktoothgamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12333903562677525108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-23196616361830596352021-09-09T12:33:28.043-04:002021-09-09T12:33:28.043-04:00I'm uncomfortably close to 50 myself. I think ...I'm uncomfortably close to 50 myself. I think maybe you HAVE to be old to play <i>Might and Magic</i>. I don't think kids would have the patience for it.<br /><br />Your aids are really cute. I don't mean that in a condescending way. I would print and use them if I did things by hand. Maybe I will next time, just to impart that old-school feel.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-6712328249606023172021-09-09T06:30:11.975-04:002021-09-09T06:30:11.975-04:00Deano, I didn't know about Mensch's intere...Deano, I didn't know about Mensch's interest in the game. It's always a bit weird to see politicians with geeky interests. I know of another former Tory MP who is a big fan of <i>AD&D</i>.thekelvingreenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.com