Tuesday, October 2, 2012

First!

For various reasons, I'm interested in compiling a list of the first time various characteristics appeared in computer role-playing games. I've started going through my past entries and notes to put this together, but I'm realizing that I wasn't always attuned to innovations as I should be.

This list is going to be continually evolving, and I'm sure there are errors even in the few categories I've listed. Please comment on additional categories that you think make sense, and any corrections to categories already posted. Thanks!

General Firsts

First computer role-playing game: Perhaps a game labeled "m199h" on the PLATO mainframe at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1974. It was soon deleted. Likely, there were many programmers coding rudimentary CRPGs at the time.

First computer role-playing game still existing: The Dungeon (also called "pedit5"), a PLATO game from Reginald Rutherford in 1974 or 1975.

First commercially-published CRPG: Any of three from 1978, all published for the Apple II: Beneath Apple Manor, Dungeon Campaign, and Space.

First science fiction CRPG: Space (1978)

First post-apocalyptic CRPG: Autoduel (1985)

First (western) based on Asian mythology: Moebius: The Orb of Celestial Harmony (1985)

First based on Middle-Eastern mythology: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1981) 

First CRPG by platform: DOS: The Wizard's Castle (1981); TRS80: Dunjonquest (1979); Atari 8-Bit: Dunjonquest (1979); UNIX: Rogue (1980); Commodore 64: Any number from 1983, including Telengard, Temple of Apshai, Curse of Ra, Ultima II, and Ultima III; Amiga: Any number from 1986, including Ultima III, Hex, Rogue, Temple of Apshai, and The Bard's Tale.

First multiple-character CRPG: Oubliette (1977) for PLATO; the first commercially-published one was Space (1978).

First multi-player CRPG: Moria (1975) for PLATO; first one available for PC might be Zyll (1984)

First sequel: Either Space II or one of the Dunjonquest expansions from 1979.


Game Elements

First textual descriptions of rooms and game areas: Temple of Apshai (1980), contained within an accompanying book.

First to have multiple endings for main quest: Wizardry IV (1986)

First side-quests: Might & Magic (1986)

First character-development system based on skill usage: Adventure Construction Set (1984)

First to allow crafting of weapons or armor: Knights of Legend (1989)

First to allow a choice in character icons or portraits: Wizard's Crown (1985)

First to feature food: Akalabeth (1980)

First to feature alcohol: Ultima (1981) in general; Ultima V and Might & Magic II, both from 1988, allowed you to get intoxicated.

First character alignments: Probably one of the PLATO games, but the earliest I can find in my notes is Wizardry (1981)

First mini-game: Ultima's battle against tie-fighters (1981)

First NPCs to whom you can speak: Akalabeth (1979)

First NPCs whom you can recruit into your party: Ultima IV (1985)

First dialogue options: Arguably Ultima IV, but limited to feeding keywords and saying "yes" or "no" to questions. Starflight (1986) had "dispositions" which affected NPC dialogue. Pool of Radiance and Wasteland from 1988 offered more extensive dialogue choices, but only in limited encounters. I'm not sure about the first game to offer full-sentence dialogue options as a regular part of NPC encounters.

First spoken dialogue: Unknown; haven't reached it

First to have a map of the game world: Ultima (1981)

First magic items that have to be "identified": Wizardry (1981)

First gambling: Questron (1984)

First real-time game: Dungeons of Daggorath (1982)

First CRPG sex: Wasteland (1988); also the first game with a sexually-transmitted disease.

First poison: Wizardry (1981); also first one with disease and cursed objects (potentially; still have to review PLATO games).

First use of morale: Wizard's Crown (1985)

First automap: Phantasie (1985)


118 comments:

  1. First Post! Sorry, couldn't resist.

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  2. Akalabeth was published on the Apple 2 in 1979; it didn't come out for the PC (DOS) for a long while after. You left the Apple 2 platform out of that list, BTW.

    Also, first game with map of the game world would be Ultima 2, since the original Ultima 1 packages lacked any map.

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    1. Right, and considering that MS-DOS itself was only released in 1981 I don't think it makes sense to call Akalabeth the first RPG on that platform in 1979.

      Nitpick: Your mentioning of the "Atari" platform is a bit ambiguous, as it could theoretically refer to either the VCS/2600 or the ST(E). The year makes it clear that you mean the former, but a clarification could still be helpful.

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    2. Well, the fact this is a CRPG blog should eliminate console systems like the 2600. The first RPGs on the ST were likely ports from other systems, so no biggie.

      Speaking of the 2600, it has some decent RPGs on it... impressive for a system with 128 bytes of RAM and addressable space of 4096 bytes. Check out Crypts of Chaos (first game, but not very good), and Dragonstomper (very good, but cheats by using the Supercharger for extra ROM space).

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    3. Actually I was confused there for a bit, what he's actually referring to is the 8-Bit series like the 400/800. Which just goes to show that being precise is definitely useful :)

      Dragonstomper does look interesting!

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    4. Another platform left out is the Amiga. A search for RPGs by year on Hall of Light (http://hol.abime.net) yields the following results for 1986: Rogue: The Adventure Game, Faery Tale Adventure, Ultima III: Exodus, and Temple of Apshai Trilogy.

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    5. Jan: If it was ported to MS-DOS before any other game, then it was the first playable RPG on the system (was it?)

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    6. I added Amiga. I was misled by Wikipedia on Akalabeth for DOS, and I've made an adjustment to represent what MobyGames lists as the earliest, but this might changes as we get more data.

      I did indeed mean the Atari 8-bit series.

      I didn't include the Apple II in the "by platform" section because just two categories above it, I think it was clear that the first CRPGs published at all were published for the Apple II.

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    7. Canageek: It was only ported in 1997 for the Ultima Collection, so there were plenty of games before it.

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    8. CRPG Addict: Pardon my belaboring the details, but by it's own admission of the title screen, Hex is a graphic strategy game: http://www.lemonamiga.com/games/details.php?id=2813

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  3. I suggest FIRST CRPG TO FEATURE A MAJOR PLOT TWIST: Starflight (I believe I brought this to your attention in the comments: http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2010/09/starflight-races.html?m=1)

    " Anonymous September 12, 2010 2:05 PM

    I'd say this is the first game you have written about where the story has a good amount of intrigue and mystery.

    CRPG Addict September 12, 2010 3:10 PM

    Glass2099, I agree. Ultima IV had as rich a back story, but there wasn't a lot of mystery to the main story. Now that I think of it, Origin really missed an opportunity here. The game never explains much about what the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom actually is, and this would have been a fantastic place for a twist ending in which it turns out their is no Codex and you've just unleashed a demon, or the Codex turns out to be "Green Eggs and Ham" or something.

    Not only is Starflight a bit of a mystery, but it has a twist ending worthy of the Sixth Sense. Maybe it was because it was really late last night when I won, or maybe it was the four vodka gimlets I'd consumed in the two hours prior, but I thought the final twist was spine-tingling."

    Also :

    " CRPG Addict September 12, 2010 3:19 PM

    On the foot-tapping, sometimes it's hard to remember that a "first" in a CRPG isn't necessarily a first for games in general. CRPGs weren't even the dominant genre of the time."

    PS: Glass2099 was my old alias from a forum poster account on gamedev.net. I was surprised to see that name again!

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    1. Or even better. There is no codex! By this time you already have learned the virtues and you just encounter a spirit (maybe Hawkwind) Who basically says the codex was a lure to get you to do what you've already done. Deep man!

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    2. The film "Circle of Iron" (aka "The Silent Flute") has a twist very similar to that - the book of infinite wisdom is blank except for a mirror in the middle.

      Good film, by the way, sometimes funny and sometimes exciting martial arts action. It's kind of a parody of Kung Fu, but makes some nice philosophical points along the way.

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    3. @Corey Cole: Hey, Kung Fu Panda used the same mirror twist!

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  4. First colour CRPG

    First ASCII graphics CRPG (Rogue)

    First tile based CRPG

    First psudo3d CRPG (Akbreth?)

    First isometric CRPG

    First action RPG

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    1. AFAIK, Ultima 1 was the first tile-based CRPG. (I was actually on my way down to the comment box to suggest that category.) That might also make it the first color CRPG, not sure.

      First line-drawn pseudo-3d might be Akalabeth because of its dungeons; the 1978 games weren't 3d, and I recall reading that the 3d bit shocked people at the time.

      So, to add do it:
      First graphical (not line-drawn) 3d
      (I don't know the answer to this one)

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    2. I think it might be Drakkhen (upcoming soon).

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    3. Yeah, I thought about more to do with graphics (and sound), but because I've only been playing DOS/PC games, I don't have a good handle on it. I'll try to include these, but it'll have to be via some more research.

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    4. First Action RPG is Dragon Slayer released on Famicom in 1984.

      Should also include First FPS RPG.

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  5. Ultima 1 had booze in it. I don't know about the original but the remake had MAJOR plot points explained at the bar. I like Bard's Tale but.. it wasn't the first to feature the answer to and cause of all of humanity's problems...

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    1. You are correct. I'd forgotten about tipping the bartender. Adjustment made.

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  6. The first one to have character alignment might be Rogue (I know it had it, not sure what before it might have).

    I was looking at the screencaps for "Space" at Mobygames (link), and from what I can tell, it's more of a text-based simulation game that happens to use stats.

    Regarding dialogue, I always interpreted the keyword approach as the shortcut equivalent of typing the sentence. The games I've played that used full sentences were still keyword-based, they just had the player click on a sentence with the keyword rather than type it. Maybe have two categories here - one with dialog trees (Ultima IV), one with optional answers beyond yes/no/keyword.

    Strangely, whenever I've seen references to the first commercial CRPG, the two 1979 games are always named. Is it possible that the 1978 titles were available only via mail-order, sold very few copies -- or are labeled "Roguelikes" (which in many people's minds means "not a real CRPG)?

    Possible suggestions from my few minutes of research:
    First to sell __,000
    First sold in stores (if the 78 games were mail-order)
    First with a backstory (in manual or game)
    First ported to multiple platforms
    First to contain multiple races

    You could include some fun ones:
    First with a horribly anti-climactic ending
    First to be unwinnable without cheating due to bugs
    First "noooo my character would never ever do that make him/her stop!!!" style cutscene

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    1. Adding:
      First to depict the player as drunk (as a result of drinking alcohol)
      First to have NPC companions participate in & be available for conversation

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    2. I have "Rogue" here, and there's no alignment setting; at least not in the first DOS version.

      I'm trying to avoid too many categories that are subjective (like "horribly anti-climactic ending"), but some of your others are good and I'll look into them.

      The "drunk" one is a good one, but I'm not sure what it is. Ultima V, maybe?

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  7. First to have that jedi-like charisma/persuade stat be used against the PC (probably will be waiting forever because "it only works for you....")

    First to replace item names with icons (I detest icons most of the time over actual item names but this did allow for more spatial inventory systems)

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    1. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
      If you try to refuse the main quest, your boss will persuade you with his mind power.

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  8. First with real time fight (Dungeon Master?)
    First with locked door/chest and/or traps
    First with hookers (and blackjack) ? If I remember well the Addict already played it and noted the occurrence.
    First where your character begin ultra powerful and loose every thing after the first fight (More a JRPG trope, but who know)

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    1. First with real time fight

      That would be Dungeons of Daggorath (1982) which has been referenced before by the Addict but not played because it is a TRS-80 game.

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    2. I actually played Dungeons of Daggorath for a while and was going to do a posting on it, but I couldn't win it. Good call on the real-time thing.

      I think the first game with gambling was "Questron," but someone correct me if you have a better idea.

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    3. Man, Dungeons of Daggorath brings back memories. We always equipped the weapon in the left hand, since we could bang out "A L" (A [space] L) for "Attack Left" repeatedly, faster than "Attack Right." Other trick was to leave a bunch of stuff laying on the ground.. usually the monsters would start looting it first while you beat them into a bloody pulp.

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    4. First game with female sex workers may be different to the first game with male sex workers.

      Also, first game where the protagonist can _be_ a sex worker? Fallout 2?

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  9. I was surprised you left out "First use of poison" :-)
    Slam23

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    1. That would be a good category. The earliest I played that had it was Wizardry, but I'd be surprised if one of the PLATO or Apple II games didn't come first. I'll see if I can find out.

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  10. If there is a huge difference in time between the next occurence, could you include that in this list.

    Also:
    First sequel
    First quicksave, or being able to save at any point
    First female protagonist
    First (elaborate) item descriptions

    Cheers, Rob.

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    1. Good ones. Right now, I only know the first sequel, but I'll try to get to the others.

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  11. In Knights of Legend (1989, but about 10 games down from the game your currently at) you can find an 'Ingot' which can be crafted into a weapon by an NPC (there are multiple of these item that can be crafted into a weapon but only one of each). I wouldn't call it crafting (would you?) but you can abuse the save-load system to dupe the items for all your characters, so it's pretty close :-D.

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    1. Yes, that's what I was going for. Thanks!

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    2. KoL has so much first:

      First use of characteristic to anticipate enemy move
      First use of fatigue (every action drain you once in fight)
      First crafting spell (race of target, power, target characteristic , bonus or malus, range, you decide)
      First (and only?) 3D in fight !!! (you can fly and strike your enemies from above, while they cant)
      First race dependent dramatic feature (dwarf cant run, and a race can fly)
      First (?) racism (some NPC wont talk if you come with an elf, or a thief, etc)

      This game had so much potential... wasted.

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    3. Dungeon Master also had fatigue, but it wasn't such an important gameplay mechanic as it was in KoL.

      KoL is the oldest (and one of the few) games I know of where armour had to be fitted to your character.

      I played KoL for the first and only time last year, and I actually finished it, despite it's poor encounter design and numerous annoying quirks.

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  12. This is a fantastic extension of the theme of your blog. Its also a unique historical index of these features. By doing this you're also creating an increasingly comprehensive list of crpg characteristics which, as a hopefully future crpg developer, will be very useful to me.

    Thanks and thanks again!

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  13. Wonderful post!

    A couple other firsts to consider:
    First to feature spell-casting.
    First with an Oriental setting.
    First with a Middle Eastern setting.
    First with a steampunk theme.
    First to feature music.
    First to feature sound effects.
    First overtly black/Asian/Latino protagonist.

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    1. I avoided some things that were present in the first couple of games, like attributes, spells, and sound effects. Added a few of the others. I still have to research the music one because of the platform differences.

      No idea on the first to feature a non-white protagonist.

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    2. What about first to feature a female protagonist?

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    3. Middle east one I would bet would be Ali Baba and the 40 thieves by Stuart Smith (same guy who did Adventure construction set) He made that I think in 1981 or some really early year.

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    4. I'd guess first oriental one could be Moebius. First to feature music (at least to any extent worth hearing) has to be Ultima III.

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    5. Female protagonist? I assume this means a female main character and not just one of 4 or 6 party members?
      Earliest one I know of is Magic Candle 2 (December 1991), where you can chose to have a male or female protagonist.
      MC2 alos retconed it so that Lucas/Giauz from The Magic Candle (January 1989) could be a female in disguise.

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    6. You can make a female protagonist in Ultima IV. Gender doesn't really mean anything in these early games however.

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    7. The plot thickens, tee-hee!

      .... hillarious "we're not sexist" save, yeah!

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    8. Agree on first real musical score being Ultima III (1983). Return of Heracles was '83 as well, and had many little musical dittys it'd play, but nothing like U3.

      First game with full lyrics in the music, karaoke style, would be Alternate Reality (1985)

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  14. I applaud your dedication to this blog and the many ways you explore the themes of CRPGS. I hope this list does inspire other designers and developers.

    I wonder if Ultimate Reality should count as a first in the Alien Abduction catagory.

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  15. Very nice list.

    I guess the first game with a character-development system based on skill usage might also be Dungeon Master for Atari ST, released in 1987 as well. Sadly I couldn't find the actual date anywhere, and I sure don't remember anymore!

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    1. You are correct. I forgot that Dungeon Master was out the same year.

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  16. I believe the first game that had your skills increase with usage was actually Adventure Construction Set. More you fired missiles at enemies for instance, more your missile skill would increase..(great idea by the way of listing firsts!)

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    1. That was also 1987, so I don't know whether that, 2400 A.D., or Dungeon Master came first. I'll list them all.

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    2. Yeah but your years are all based on DOS release. ACS came out for the C64 in 1984.

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    3. Dungeon Master was, according to my notes, released December 14th in 1987.

      First spoken dialogue: Do you mean digitized speech, or literally "dialogue"? Might&Magic 3 perhaps, with Sheltem's speech in the intro? Released around August 1st 1991. Or did Ultima VI (Spring 1990) have digitized speech?

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    4. No, I'm pretty sure the original Ultima VI didn't have speech. The FM Towns version might have had it, but it was released much later. The Black Gate had speech, but that was released in 1992 if I remember correctly.

      Nice little detail regarding the Dungeon Master release date, thanks for the clarification.

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  17. Don't forget "first to offer a sexual encounter": Wasteland

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  18. First game to have a party member betray you (Wasteland or Pool of Radiance, I think)

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    1. Where did that happen in Wasteland?

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    2. I think if you have Christina and take her to the Citadel. The LP I was reading ended before they got that far, but people were talking about something happening at that point.

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  19. Might & Magic 2 (1988) also lets your characters get intoxicated...not sure which one breaks the tie.

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    1. I didn't remember that until you mentioned it. I remembered it had alcohol, but not drunkenness.

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    2. I'm pretty sure Bard's Tale III had drunkenness too but it came out in 1988 too.

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  20. Man, I'm torn on this. I just backed some big kickstarters, and it sounds a bit old school for me... What do you guys think?

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lootdrop/an-old-school-rpg-by-brenda-brathwaite-and-tom-hal

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    1. Hmm. On first glance, this looks like someone is trying to reproduce the success that Obsidian has had with their project. From the proposed product to the project presentation to the funding goal, it's pretty much a copy of Project Eternity.
      There are differences, but they don't serve to propitiate me:
      1. The crew seems to have very little actual "oldschool" (I really don't like the way the expression is used in their trailer) CRPG experience. Brathwaite has her name to the Wizardry series, but afaik concerned herself mainly with writing dialogue, manuals and playtesting. Hall is a fan of console RPGs of the SNES era, his game Anachronox - while not bad - is a testament to this. The company, Loot Drop, has done nothing but social games!
      2. The information given on their project is both vague and confusing. The listed game characteristics are so broad that they could apply to any number of (modern) CRPGs. The idea of producing two games on the basis of this single funding is a little strange, especially considering the vastly different backgrounds and preferences of the two spotlighted game designers. To top it off, we get mobile support for this "oldschool RPG", meaning that either the game will be simplistic, or the port will be bad (or both).
      All in all, this reeks of desperation or at least opportunism. I would be very surprised if their ambitioned funding goals will be met.

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    2. I remember looking at the Obsidian group picture and thinking "What a bunch of geeks. I'm sure they can make an old school CRPG.", while Loot Drop looks like a bunch of hipsters making Facebook games...

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    3. My main problem is that they seemed to be selling themselves instead of the game.

      They do play a lot of tabletop D&D, which would help. But given that they mostly have background in non-CPRGs, I'd like to see more design documents.

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  21. How about the first CRPG with an automap?
    Earliest one I know of is Phantasie from 1985.

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    1. Oops, sorry petrus, missed this comment when I posted -and- spelt it wrong despite playing it currently. Was 1985 an apple II version? I am on the amiga version from 87, guess it came out a bit later

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    2. Apple II and C64 in 1985. DOS and Amiga in 1987.
      Very nice little game, that has aged relatively well, IMO. Too bad all the cracked Amiga versions floating around on the net are already mapped.

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    3. Tunnels of Doom for the TI99/4A in 1982 had an automap feature.

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  22. First Commercial CRPG from a non-English-speaking country

    LAST CRPG released on MS-DOS

    First CRPG to be recognized as Game of the Year

    First CRPG to take breaking the main quest into account (I'm betting it's a TES game)

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    1. Just wanted to add that upon looking at your list, CA, that you have Wizard's Castle as the first DOS CRPG in 1981, but your play post of the game is listed as 1980 (also the last comment on that post may shed a little more light on if the game is qualified for the category).

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    2. Probably not "the" last but one of the last for DOS had to be Daggerfall.

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    3. Isn't "last" close to meaningless? there are always more "lasts".

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    4. @babshee: just exclude the retro projects and go with the last game-company-made CRPG for DOS. Really, it's just for my curiosity.

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  23. First character-development system based on skill usage: Depending on whether or not you count Eamon for the Apple II as a CRPG, it had this feature in 1980.
    First NPCs to whom you can speak: You speak to Lord British in the castle of Akalabeth (1979).
    First magic items that have to be "identified": You identify plenty of items with Identify Potions in Rogue (1980).

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  24. Unless I misunderstood the first map one, how about first to have automapping?
    earliest I can think of is phantasy (1987) but i've not looked at them all (only most *cackles*)

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    1. That's the first that I can find, though it was 1985, not 1987. Added.

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  25. Here are a bunch of categories I thought of, with some examples that are almost certainly not the firsts for the category.

    First to be based upon a book/existing IP (e.g. Betrayal at Krondor)
    First to contain a mini game (e.g. M&M VII)
    First to contain lockpicking
    First to contain a keyring (e.g. Ultima 7 Part 2 Silver Seed)
    First with Bartering
    First with alchemy (i.e. potion creation from reagents)
    First where you can swim
    First "3d" game (i.e. you can move in the z axis) (e.g. ultima underworld)
    First with one continuous world (i.e. no loading screens / levels / map switches) (e.g. Gothic, Ultima 7)

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    1. First to be based on existing IP may have been the AD&D game Pool of Radiance in June 1988.

      First to be based on book may have been Circuit's Edge, based in George Alec Effinger's When Gravity Fails novel, in first half of 1990. The first Lord of the Rings CRPG by Interplay was also released later that year.

      MM7 was by no means the first to have mini-games, but Acromage has my vote as the _best_ mini-game.

      First with swimming: Dragon Wars from around December 1st 1989, perhaps?

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    2. On second thought, Wasteland had swimming in 1988.

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    3. I believe Wizard's Crown has swimming.

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    4. These are great categories. I just don't have the answers yet. Would you consider Ultima IV "alchemy" since you're assembling spells out of reagents rather than potions?

      Where did lockpicking first show up? Is it possible it was Wizardry V?

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    5. I remember bartering in Moria.

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  26. The Wizard's Crown game may have some firsts: Monster resistances, tactical combat, multiple party members. Wizard's Crown definitely had fatigue with Morale Loss.

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    1. "Tactical combat" is a little subjective; you could argue that many of the PLATO games offered some degrees of tactical combat. I added the morale one, though.

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  27. Truly it has become that your blog is not just a blog of nattering about games as you play them- No, posts like this prove that your blog. is IMPORTANT. No longer a blog of fond nostalgia as you play- A valuable resource for any internet scholar of the unforeseen future looking for info about gaming in the "past". And there is your blog, filled with not only space filling yammering about the game you are playing at that moment, but also 'valuable' posts about firsts in olde thyme gaming!

    "Chet", whatever your actual first name may be, let me shake your hand for the job you are doing. It is quite amazing, and wonderfully entertaining to read no matter what you choose to yammer about, that you have slowly become such an icon of past gaming. I would have offered you drugs instead of a handshake but the condom full of high grade heroin burst in the small intestine of my mule so there you go.

    This comment has been painfully, and slowly :-) , chickenpecked by my thumbs on my new Android tablet. Oi, my hands!

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  28. Regarding full-sentence dialogue options I submit it was Ultima Underworld. Previously you only had "name" "job" etc

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  29. Ok after seeing the post about Dungeon Campaign for apple being amongst the very first comercially released CRPGs, I looked up a youtube video on it. Looks like the dungeon's automap as you explore them so could have preceded Phantasie on this count by 7 years!

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  30. How about first game that had Real Time with Pause combat? Probably Darklands in 1992.

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  31. Adventure construction set is older than your list implies, check the Wikipedia page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_Construction_Set

    That implies that it's definitely first in the skills-improve-through-use category although it cribs pretty heavily them from the pen-and-paper RPG Runequest.

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  32. ACS also allowed for a choice in character icons.

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  33. Technically, the first RPG with sex may be Ultima. If you try to pay for a drink when the wench (or the lecher, if you're playing a female character) is next to you in the bar, you get a message "Thou hast been seduced! After a long night, thou art back." You will have spent more gold than usual.

    The only thing I am unsure of is if this was in the original version of Ultima, or only in the remakes.

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    1. Wow. Thanks for the information. I just reloaded U1, found a tavern with a wench, and tried it. I did get a message from the bartender at one point to "watch out for the wench," but I could never get this to happen, no matter where the wench was standing when I ordered the drink. Still, it might be a random thing and I just didn't try long enough.

      Delete
    2. I decided to make sure I hadn't hallucinated the whole thing, so I fired up my ultima trilogy (thank you gog.com!) and after figuring out how to use DosBox I made this: http://youtu.be/dKjJqIlFhjw

      This was literally MINUTES of effort. I'm tired and going to bed. Not with a bar wench.

      Delete
  34. Regarding "first to feature alcohol": it was possible to get intoxicated in the Atari ST version of Bard's Tale I (published 1987), earlier than the 1988 games mentioned. If your bard was drunk, there was a lovely effect in-game where your bard's songs would sound quite off-key.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for commenting here, as I'd completely forgotten about this posting and my promise to keep it updated. That's a really cool mechanic.

      Delete
  35. Today more and more games have Retailer Exclusive Pre-Order Bonus DLC. Naturally, after some time games can buy this exclusive DLC. I was thinking that this is new thing started around 2010., but I was wrong.

    Similar idea existed in past, I found that The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall has done it in 1996.

    The CompUSA Special Edition was a limited edition version of Daggerfall available to CompUSA customers which included 16 new quests not found in the standard game. Bethesda Softworks later released these files to the public, providing a patch.

    http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:CompUSA_Special_Edition

    Btw, what is first gamee where can you summon a monsters for fight, and first game with Regenerating Health?

    ReplyDelete
  36. *Naturally, after some time players can buy this exclusive DLC.

    ReplyDelete
  37. * First with a pseudo 3d engine
    * First with a real 3d engine (smooth scrolling)
    * First real 3d engine game with textured walls

    ReplyDelete
  38. I can't believe no one mentioned after so many years:
    *First RPG with evil protagonist
    *First non-conventional protagonist (meaning; non-human, non-elven, non-dwarven. Examples: demons, werewolves, vampires, animals, plants & whatnot)
    *First side-scrolling RPG
    *First multiple dialogue options
    *First hot-seat multiplayer RPG
    *First CRPG to ever kill a player in real life (from exhaustion or ancient curse embedded in the program or packaging that is infested with Ebola virus)
    *First CRPG to drive a player insane
    *First CRPG to cause epilepsy (heard that Pokemon and Earthbound were able to do this)
    *First CRPG to offer code-wheel/trinkets/maps and any other paraphernalia in the box
    *First CRPG that requires additional specialized hardware, which is also produced by the company publishing the game, to play it

    ReplyDelete
  39. Have you not encountered "first spoken dialogue" yet? I know Japanese RPGs* had it back in at least 1989 with Arcus 2 . You can see it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmxMcBG3JGg ; skip to 1:56 for the voice, but I recommend watching the start as well because of how bad the English is (although it's still unfortunately more comprehensible than anything spewed out by Google Translate).

    *Not intended as a "JRPGS are superior!" thing since that was sort of around in the currency topic.

    Also, I think "first game where items can be thrown at enemies" might be interesting. Things like when you throw poisoned food at an enemy to decrease their HP or give them the poison status.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually, I remembered you play games on mute often because you dislike the music. So it's possible you already played the game with the first spoken dialogue. Isn't that thought going to haunt you until you thoroughly check every game that you've played up to this point?

      Delete
    2. I only play on mute if the game has a soundtrack that you can't turn off independently of the sound effects. In any event, I don't think I've missed the first spoken dialogue. I think my commenters would have mentioned it if I had.

      Is this game in English throughout? If so, it should be active on my list. I really need someone tell me which of the many PC JRPGs have English text so I can mark them "Unplayed" instead of "Not Going to Play."

      Delete
    3. Arcus only has its intro in English (well, that might be an insult to the English languauge considering how bad it is), and I think that the majority of PC JRPGs are mostly Japanese (most if not all of the story-heavy ones certainly are and JRPGs tend to have a strong focus on story anyway). I wouldn't be able to help much for other PC JRPGs, though, other than directing you to Youtube or a forum like http://www.msx.org/forum .

      Also, you should have Xak: The Art of VIsual Stage and Xak: Rising of the Red Moon marked as unplayed since they are both in (coherent!) English and available on Japanese PCs.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous: Thanks for sharing,

      Is that you that posted a ton of cool stuff in the past few days? Is there any chance you could pick a name? there are a bunch of log in options, or even the Name/URL field, and you can just leave the URL blank. It just lets us know if the same person comments more then once, and lets us keep comment threads straight.

      Thank you very much.

      Delete
    5. This is the only blog post where I've posted anything of note within the past few days, so you might want to give that other anon your thanks under one of his/her cool posts. I'll be sure to pick a name next time, though. Thanks.

      Delete
  40. Since Bronze Dragon: Conquest of Infinity is on your list.

    Is this first game with addon?

    http://www.runesword.com/bd.html

    ReplyDelete
  41. I am so glad you compiled this list, as your postings often led me to think about compiling such lists myself.

    I am also glad this exists because I watched a YouTube video the other day talking about how Castlevania II was the first game with multiple possible endings, and I immediately thought "oh, I KNOW that is not true," haha. And indeed Wizardry IV wins by about a year. So it goes.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Thinking of Fate Gates of Dawn but perhaps there were others sooner:
    First CRPG with multiple parties?
    First CRPG requiring characters at different locations to solve puzzles?

    ReplyDelete

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