tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post6428825811496862049..comments2024-03-29T10:21:29.354-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Beneath the Clouds of XeenCRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger166125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-58959129033311784182023-06-02T16:25:41.490-04:002023-06-02T16:25:41.490-04:00Final Fantasy 8 was pretty unplayable, but Triple ...Final Fantasy 8 was pretty unplayable, but Triple Triad was great. Something about optional card games that outshine the main game...Zack Macomberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18077050078436768492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-42109969663041592292021-04-06T19:50:01.809-04:002021-04-06T19:50:01.809-04:00I tend not to comment unless I have something to a...I tend not to comment unless I have something to actually add to the conversation, but I pretty much stopped playing computer games from about 1992 until 1997 (thanks <i>Fallout</i>), so I haven't had much to say as of late.<br /><br />I, for one, greatly enjoyed the <i>Magic Candle</i> series. Raifieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08478524519453417677noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-6916977009685430002021-03-23T11:19:15.742-04:002021-03-23T11:19:15.742-04:00While I agree, isn't there always an optional ...While I agree, isn't there always an optional encounter with a Megadragon in every Might and Magic title?Steve Weidighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18364340751762357858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-38613223264819525482021-03-08T22:44:08.241-05:002021-03-08T22:44:08.241-05:00That is a spoiler, and I kinda wish commenters wou...That is a spoiler, and I kinda wish commenters would just stop mentioning specific monsters or secret locations.<br /><br />Discussing game mechanics (or lack thereof) is fine, but mentioning specific things intended to spoil one's personal discovery of it and sense of wonder is not. However I suppose its the nature of a gaming blog inviting public comment after all, the internet keeps no secrets.Tizzynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-11914220601404919992021-03-08T13:18:45.858-05:002021-03-08T13:18:45.858-05:00@ Bruce: It seems I'm getting MMIII and Xeen ...@ Bruce: It seems I'm getting MMIII and Xeen mixed up. I think I ran out of money in both but in Xeen it was probably because I didn't Bank it.Ken Brubakernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-84861550337127740032021-03-08T08:03:09.776-05:002021-03-08T08:03:09.776-05:00@ Bruce: V jnf ersreevat gb gur 2 ACP punenpgref ...@ Bruce: V jnf ersreevat gb gur 2 ACP punenpgref lbh pna unir wbva lbhe cnegl nf erthyne punenpgref, abg gur ZZ6 fglyr uveryvatf.<br />Ken Brubakernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-41876252974374109022021-03-07T23:00:23.676-05:002021-03-07T23:00:23.676-05:00I thought 6 through 8 all had Arcomage as well, th...I thought 6 through 8 all had Arcomage as well, though I could be mistaken. I do remember spending hours playing that card mini-game, often times I found it preferable and more relaxing than playing the actual game itself.Tizzynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-65979527802098856152021-03-07T22:54:53.955-05:002021-03-07T22:54:53.955-05:00"start at the outer edges of the map and work..."start at the outer edges of the map and work my way inward."<br /><br />This actually may not the best way forward, and will likely get your party killed. The various MM games tend to expect you to venture out from the 'starting town' for that game, in the case of Clouds that would be Vertigo. Even though its on the eastern edge, you simply venture out from there. For the Darkside, venture out slowly from the starting town of Castleview. Probably ignore any lava areas for both worlds and save them for last as they tend to be more challenging.Tizzynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-76449573591188897042021-03-07T18:36:42.163-05:002021-03-07T18:36:42.163-05:00I am the most interested in discussing super obscu...I am the most interested in discussing super obscure games, and games I'm somewhat familiar with. Magic Candle is somewhere in between that: I played some games in the series, but not the third, and it's not very obscure among CRPG enthusiasts. So it doesn't make my comment finger itch like World of Xeen (which is one of my favorite DOS RPGs) or some really obscure curiosity. JarlFrankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08139422412722665286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-46254721702026965422021-03-07T18:34:01.067-05:002021-03-07T18:34:01.067-05:00VII is the one with that fun card game - Arcomage....VII is the one with that fun card game - Arcomage. There's a browser-based multiplayer Arcomage out there btw, completely free to play without a single microtransaction, just search for "marcomage". I've been playing this on and off for years now. JarlFrankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08139422412722665286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-87493229463820331602021-03-07T16:44:56.058-05:002021-03-07T16:44:56.058-05:00Personally, this sort of game feels less "art...Personally, this sort of game feels less "artificial" than something like Ultima VII, paradoxically because it embraces the artificiality.<br /><br />I find that the games that try to be more tend to be impressive on release but look worse in retrospect. Sort of the same reason that Playstation/N64 3D looks worse than SNES/Genesis graphics to a lot of people nowadays.Gnomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13920812227941556716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-48321701079120449742021-03-07T16:39:00.693-05:002021-03-07T16:39:00.693-05:00Xeen is one of the few Might and Magic games I'...Xeen is one of the few Might and Magic games I've finished. I think the combined IV and V is superior to VI. And maybe even VII, and definitely VIII. IX I've never played. But the Ubisoft X was a very loving tribute to Xeen style Might and Magic. And that one even had a decent worldbuilding. So definitely, Xeen is the best Might and Magic until X. I'm not a huge fan of VI-VIII real time trash mobs, even if the sound effects and music are lovely. Even though VII or VIII has that fun card game. Don't remember which one.<br /><br />Might and Magic is definitely very simplistic. Compare Xeen to Ultima VII or the later ones to their contemporary Fallouts and Baldur's Gate's. But for some reason, I really enjoy Xeen with it's weird abstract nature and bizarre world. I'd rather play this than any of the Wizardry's. There's a type of genius to it's design. It's very casual and easy to get into.Joshuahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05221709065580128004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-64050459550789426212021-03-07T13:45:09.709-05:002021-03-07T13:45:09.709-05:00There is no way to know, but I was talking about s...There is no way to know, but I was talking about stepped pyramids' contribution immediately above me.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-31778529360980498692021-03-07T13:36:35.708-05:002021-03-07T13:36:35.708-05:00Indeed. My Magic Candle entries are terribly unpop...Indeed. My <i>Magic Candle</i> entries are terribly unpopular, judging by the relative volume.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-24616294680642316052021-03-07T13:35:51.917-05:002021-03-07T13:35:51.917-05:00See, things like "taking down the Mega Dragon...See, things like "taking down the Mega Dragon" are what we used to call "spoilers" in the old days.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-8950426871349467032021-03-07T13:07:03.363-05:002021-03-07T13:07:03.363-05:00I think the simplest explanation is that people ta...I think the simplest explanation is that people talk about things they are familiar with.Tristan Gallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16769219573533545742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-59123569724552369712021-03-07T12:58:39.625-05:002021-03-07T12:58:39.625-05:00What I find interesting is that Xeen has about eig...What I find interesting is that Xeen has about eight to ten times the number of blog comments as do other recent entries. That seems significant and more than just an anomaly.<br /><br />From this can we infer that the community is far more interested in reading, debating and discussing the more popular titles?MSInoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-66062114013182916762021-03-07T01:18:28.126-05:002021-03-07T01:18:28.126-05:00I'm confused, Ken. I don't think Xeen has ...I'm confused, Ken. I don't think Xeen has those, unlike say MM6? Did you mean to say some other game mechanic was costing you a lot of money?Bruce Brenneisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11322005049442981571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-61806630750957891452021-03-06T19:08:58.611-05:002021-03-06T19:08:58.611-05:00Sorry Nathanael, you seem to be off by a decade. T...Sorry Nathanael, you seem to be off by a decade. The talk here was about mid 90s. 2000s had tons of great / "premium" RPGs like BG2, NWN, Morrowind, KotoR, Oblivion, even Mass Effect and Dragon Age series started before 2010. And if you add end of 90s, you get the mentioned before BG and Fallout, plus many a gamer's alltime fav Planescape Torment.Envyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09341074020552494837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-60171062124897632022021-03-06T19:02:22.369-05:002021-03-06T19:02:22.369-05:00@Addict: Is it just me, or is there no way to know...@Addict: Is it just me, or is there no way to know if you are referring to JonTzu_fin's post or to one of the replies before you?Envyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09341074020552494837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-85375739606155518802021-03-05T20:12:32.620-05:002021-03-05T20:12:32.620-05:00From an American perspective, I can confirm that t...From an American perspective, I can confirm that the market stopped producing commercial adventure games in the mid-1990s. They were only produced in Europe, and in small numbers. Text adventures disappeared first, then graphical adventures from anyone but Sierra and LucasArts, then LucasArts, then Sierra finally gave up, because they weren't selling as well as the twitchfests. The genres revived as hobbyist genres.<br /><br />cRPGs went next, disappearing at the end of the 1990s and not really coming back until the 2010s.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the same happened to my other favored genre, the *pausable* god sim.<br /><br />I stopped playing new computer games almost entirely for most of the 2000s, except for the interactive fiction art-pieces being created by hobbyists, because there was *nothing* of interest. I don't play real-time-without-pause games, ever. <br /><br />First person shooters killed everything, starting in the 1990s, and nearly every game genre was commercially (if not hobbyist) dead for most of the 2000s.<br /><br />I'm glad the genres I like started reviving in the 2010s. Though text adventures are still strictly hobbyist material.Nathanaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-20167037590345727142021-03-05T13:01:43.717-05:002021-03-05T13:01:43.717-05:00RTS and FPS are two of my favorite genres so I do ...RTS and FPS are two of my favorite genres so I do have much fonder memories of 90s gaming. I also really like most of the 3D action adventures, classic Tomb Raider is great. And the late 90s brought us Thief, one of the best games ever made.<br /><br />The problem of adventure games was that they tried to chase visual trends to the detriment of gameplay (and the primitive 3D they used looks like ass). Simon the Sorcerer 3D is one of the worst offenders.<br /><br />I think my perspective may also be different because I'm German, and we've always had peculiar tastes in genres as a nation. The mid to late 90s were full of adventure games and business management simulators. There are several early to mid 90s adventure games from Germany that never got translated to English, so it wasn't nearly as dead as it was in the US.<br /><br />But the fact is also that quality suffered when developers tried to jump on current tech trends. There are very few FMV adventures I find enjoyable, but everyone wanted to do FMV once that became a craze. Adventure games that went 3D usually looked way uglier than FPS games of the time, and the third dimension didn't even add anything to the gameplay.JarlFrankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08139422412722665286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-2858889364736307352021-03-05T10:58:19.537-05:002021-03-05T10:58:19.537-05:00Jarlfrank, you talk about Myst when it was maybe t...Jarlfrank, you talk about Myst when it was maybe the first truly cdrom adventure, from 1992. We are talking about end of the 90s. And the 90s moved fast. A game from 1997 is way more advanced than a game from 1995. As for the rest, you are mixing up eras, type of adventure games, and I think you really don't know the genre or the history of it well enough. The mantra of "later games from Lucas or Sierra weren't worse" does not make sense when they were not the only developers out there, they were not the ones leading the genre anymore (Broken Sword? Divide By Zero? Trencision? Cryo, Arxel Tribe and Microids?) and there were hundreds of animated cdrom adventures out there which where expensive to produce and most of the times they got their investment back (clear exceptions: Discworld 2 and Toonstruck). It was the Germans who saved the genre by giving it love through its media and later through their developers and distributors. If you made an adventure and Germany noticed it and translated it, you were safe. <br /><br />It was just that 3D was the way to go and everything else was primitive. Of course there was multiplayer... on 3d games. And also that there were less investment on talking about them in magazines - The Longest Journey was a clear exception on that matter, which btw at the time it felt very random to me. <br /><br />I mean, you can talk about adventures but again puzzle games, strategy games like Panzer General, education games like Castle of Doctor Brain, even classic shoot em ups, or micromachines kind of games, or space combat games like Freespace... as the millennia approached it was all RTS and FPS. I remember feeling SO BORED at the time. Risingson Carloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08915480026187953569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-13740169180724049452021-03-05T10:38:08.322-05:002021-03-05T10:38:08.322-05:00With regard to Lasagna42's question: Wizardry ...With regard to Lasagna42's question: Wizardry 8 was indeed a bit of a departure from the classical Wizardry style (of which 7 was the last). There was much less emphasis on changing classes, and also there was the quasi-real time and real geometry of the 3D world, with the innovative circular layout of the party.Gerry Quinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04078394659680797175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-21340207900483256212021-03-05T10:00:56.565-05:002021-03-05T10:00:56.565-05:00It must have been somehow tied to the forced chang...It must have been somehow tied to the forced change: within 2-3 years everyone was supposed to think differently (from schematic to semi-realistic way of representing the content). Not all genres and companies adapted to the new demand in a sustainable way.. And most of all - traditional games authors were perhaps not completely convinced that the new age is the best one for them.. (great thread, by the way!)Quidonoreply@blogger.com