On Aug 20 commented on the dungeon pedit5 back on top: “Chet, I haven't been around since the beginning, but I've been around for awhile now. You're an important part of my week and have been an inspiration in my life, as well. I appreciate you.”
On Aug 20 commented on game 506 kings mission game 1977: “I'm happy to confirm that this is in fact the case :)”
On Aug 20 commented on beyond zork closing in: “This may be moot now, but if you are interested in playing the Infocom games specifically, there are many Z-code interpreters for modern systems. If you have files with extensions like .z3 you can find one of these applications such as Lectrote and then run the games without emulator fiddling. (The interpreters also run more modern interactive fiction games made in z-code format and some related…”
On Aug 20 commented on beyond zork closing in: “I discovered your blog recently and have been reading from the first post until now, great stuff!You've got me intrigued about Zork and other Infocom text adventures, so I spent last night getting DosBOX and Applewin (for Apple II emulation) up and running. I know you have your own system with Excel, but I discovered this mapping/in-browser site and it seems really cool (https://trizbort.io/)…”
On Aug 19 commented on nethack 31 wish list: “D&D has the Stone To Flesh spell, a 6th-level wizard spell that reverses petrification, and that existed back in first edition. Notably, this makes petrification harder to cure than _death_ (Raise Dead is a 5th-level spell).The spell can also change a stone golem into a flesh golem, or a chunk of rock into edible meat. A character returned to flesh must make a "system shock" roll to…”
On Aug 19 commented on nethack 31 wish list: “In Dragon Quest V, (ROT13) gur Ureb naq uvf jvsr ner shyyl pbafpvbhf juvyr orvat n fgbar fgnghr sbe 8 lrnef. Gurl unira'g ntrq gubhtu, fb gur ureb vf n 16 lrne byq gung jnf obea 24 lrnef ntb. Gur ureb zragvbaf ubj gbhtu vg jnf zragnyyl, naq bar bs gur cbffvoyr jvsr'f frrzf gb unir chfurq gung zrzbel bs gur gvzr vagb n qrrc qnex pbeare bs ure zvaq.”
On Aug 19 commented on nethack 31 wish list: “Depends on the setting, right? In classic Greek mythology, when Medusa turned you to a statue, you were dead. The petrification was irreversible. Someone would have to explain all the rules in D&D, but I know that at least SOME statutes can be revived. I think NH hews closer to Greek mythology.If anyone wants to pick up this discussion, I'd also be curious about what different canons have…”
On Aug 19 commented on the dungeon pedit5 back on top: “Yes, since everyone wins with close to the same score, it isn't sorted by the number of experience points. Instead, the most recent winner goes on top, and everyone else gets bumped down (or off).”
On Aug 18 commented on game 484 warlords ii 1993: “The 'heads on pikes' graphic gave me a bit of a shock when I first saw it as the game does not go anywhere near that hard the rest of the time. I wasn't turned off by it or anything, I was wasn't expecting things to get so serious.My thoughts were "Good lord, I didn't mean it like that!"”
On Aug 18 commented on what i learned from west wing weekly: “Irene was truly speaking for everyone's friends who had ever found themselves starting to dabble in working in the industry they adore, suddenly finding themselves in casual conversations with people who a few years ago seemed like unknowable legends.I remember volunteering for the Gen-Con Auction for the first time about 15 years ago thinking maybe one day I might get to say hello to the…”
On Aug 18 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “It's great to have someone commenting on the Daemonsgate entries who obviously knows much about it and is willing to share. Given that some of these comments might be considered spoilers (like this one or the one you now posted on the first entry as well), maybe write those parts in ROT13 (you can e.g. use the link in rule 4 below)? Then people (including the CRPGAddict) can choose more…”
On Aug 18 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “I thought the story was pretty immersive myself.”
On Aug 17 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “There are 9 characters you can find in Tormis.1. Jeremiah Nameless (Pig & Ballbearing)2. Anvil Sigmundson (Pig & Ballbearing)3. Cyless (Merc guild)4. Dark Sky (mercenaries guild)5. Arion Edmundson (University of Tormis)6. Amillio Torano (Twitching Pig)7 and 8 . Grim and Grom (Harvester of Sorrow)9. Travis Sewerbreath (Harvester of Sorrow)”
On Aug 17 commented on the dungeon pedit5 back on top: “Yes. If you follow the link to Chet's previous entry about the Dungeon, you'll see he discovered that years ago.”
On Aug 17 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Also, this game is a buggy mess at times, but I absolutely love it and playthrough it once every couple of years. I probably know more about it than most.”
On Aug 17 commented on game 353 legend of zelda 1986: “The "happen to not get into the right thing at the right time" thing is very real, as you pointed out--if you had happened to play Legend of Zelda when you were 14, your tolerance for "moe" art might have immediately been bolstered and had a lifelong impact on your feelings about it.I was, like, literally a few months too old when Power Rangers came out--to me it looked like…”
On Aug 17 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “The Laughing Heretic is towards the Eastern part of town. Hellast's palace is in the NW corner. Get yourself some elemental swords for your crew. Have Arion read Ye Elements, then enchant adamantine swords with gargantuan elementals of your choice. It makes combat way easier.”
On Aug 17 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Big locations + very few NPCs that actually matter + very boring combat with no tactical options and no other gameplay. And as you can see from the Thieves Guild quest, the plotting is pretty cringe too.”
On Aug 17 commented on the dungeon pedit5 back on top: “Is the Hall of Fame just a FIFO queue of winners? There are entries after yours with higher scores in the three categories...”
On Aug 16 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Hello CRPG Addict! I wanted to let you know that your excellent blog has inspired me to create my own, and I wanted to express my gratitude for that as I've been enjoying the experience so far. I'm still working my way through your older entries in order as I have time, but as this comment wasn't in reference to any of them I'm posting it here. Thank you for all your hard work…”
On Aug 16 commented on nethack 31 wish list: “While we're on this ethical digression, is it murder to destroy a statue created by Medusa?”
On Aug 16 commented on shadow of yserbius summary and rating: “I can kind of see it as an experienced character guiding a less experienced one. Or chatting about possible solutions to puzzles and locations of hidden doors while the leader is navigating.In combat you can discuss tactics and request healing. Mostly it's over too quick for this to matter much, which I think is better for this kind of game.”
On Aug 16 commented on shadow of yserbius summary and rating: “As a non-American, I'd sayNewark - AirportCleveland - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Awful Football TeamsAlbuquerque - Crystal Meth”
On Aug 16 commented on shadow of yserbius summary and rating: “Even the combat doesn't seem all that interesting to me from a multiplayer perspective. At least with Neverwinter Nights, you saw your character as a unique icon on the battlefield. It surprises me that multiplayer ever worked as a "blobber."”
On Aug 16 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Maybe the size of the cities is to blame? 60 seconds to walk down an empty corridor is boring. I think the game is more interesting to read about than to play or to watch on YouTube, which is why Chet's description doesn't sound so bad (so far).Another possible reason, for which I have zero evidence (don't want to look up things in old magazines) may be that the game totally…”
On Aug 16 commented on the dungeon pedit5 back on top: “No surprise regarding "really frustrated with Ishar". The game is notoriously obtuse and at times completely illogical (keys in the sacrifice scene being only one example).”
On Aug 16 commented on the dungeon pedit5 back on top: “HAHAHAH now check again! Really, it was actually you I've beaten yesterday? I thought someone just used Chester nickname since you've played this game such a long time ago. What a coincidence!Merely a couple days ago I've started working on a series of videos concerning the history of CRPGs. Of course your blog is an invaluable source for me (I've been checking it out from time to…”
On Aug 16 commented on the dungeon pedit5 back on top: “Great video; I'd be glad to see more of this kind.I think that narrating while playing works very well in your case, it's lively and less predictable than narrating after the fact.”
On Aug 16 commented on the dungeon pedit5 back on top: “"The latest winner's board. I don't know what happened to #2."There's definitely a lacuna on that list.”
On Aug 16 commented on shadow of yserbius summary and rating: “I agree with Tetrapod; these early online multiplayer experiences are really interesting to read about and it seems like this product was a reasonable-ish stab by Sierra at trying to straddle the offline market while also tempting a few online converts. But I also agree with P-Tux that there's a whiff of cyncism in their approach. A hireling/pet/underling system that let you fill your other…”
On Aug 16 commented on shadow of yserbius summary and rating: “As a non-American, I can confirm that Albuquerque, Cleveland and Newark all work as 'cities a non-American knows exist, but have no idea what is actually there'. But I've never heard of Nacogdoches.When I tried to think of another city that fits the brief, Cincinnati was what came to mind.”
On Aug 16 commented on the dungeon pedit5 back on top: “Your rightful place as the most recent player to win ;-)?Nice to have the chronology and some gameplay in a video. In addition to the blog posts, that helps to understand both.Sounds like all three games you currently play for the blog have some interesting / positive features, but considerable potential for frustration as well. Hope you don't get bogged down too much.”
On Aug 15 commented on the dungeon pedit5 back on top: “Your last sentence encapsulates my feelings about the Ishar games. I WANT to love them for their looks, but I dislike them for just not being very fun compared to the competition. ”
On Aug 15 commented on the dungeon pedit5 back on top: “Hi Chester! Thank you for showing The Dungeon and other PLATO games. I really enjoyed to see how these games work and to be informed about historical facts. I hope you'll be able to have fun playing Ishar II ( because personaly I couldn't stand it. I tried it after finishing Ishar 1 and I was so annoyed by some of the game features that I got back to the original Wizardry on applewin and…”
On Aug 15 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “I believe there is a workaround for the said item you were referring to using magic. I tested it out of curiosity and it did the trick, so the sacrifice scene is not essential providing one has the right character class with the right level in the team.”
On Aug 15 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “I made it!!! Both the Fire Elemental and the Dragon can be beaten without the Fire Resistance spell from Grimz with the same (and I believe pretty much the only) tactic:-apply invulnerability potion to all characters (or at least to the fragile spellcasters) as you'll be hit at least once while approaching them and they can even get one-shotted otherwise-keep casting Turn Undead on them which…”
On Aug 15 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Yes, "grass" does indeed come from "grasshopper", which is Cockney rhyming slang, although scholars of the art seem divided on whether it's slang for "copper"(police) or "shopper" (informant).”
On Aug 14 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “Busca is correct that the copyright date given within the game itself can often not be trusted, however. Multiple online databases have it as 1994, and the earliest I can find any mention of it in print is 1994. I'll investigate further when I get to the game, but for now I'm inclined to leave it there.”
On Aug 14 commented on darkspyre won with final rating: “It has been a LONG time since I played, but I don't remember those exploits. Thanks for letting us know!”
On Aug 14 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “You're right, that was a bad example. Should have looked for games already covered here where that was the case, but dudn't want to put time into that.And yes, also stumbled on the Lynx prototype. But wanted to wait until our host finished his coverage of the game before mentioning anything on that, to see if he touches on it as he likes to do his own research.”
On Aug 14 commented on darkspyre won with final rating: “I know I'm late to the party but I'm curious if you found the glitch exploit with the keyboard interface. 1: if you drop an amulet while you're wearing it, the game doesn't recognize it as being unequiped so you keep the attribute increase ... and if you pick it up and equip again the bonuses continue to stack ... but be warned they will over flow2: if you have the keyboard cursor…”
On Aug 14 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “I LOL'ed when in "The Killing Machine" Jack Vance described some barbarians as "fleeing incontinently". That's when I learnt that the word can have more meanings than the one Bart Simpson knows.”
On Aug 14 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “@Bruce, from the gameplay perspective, it is a pain to balance limited use magic items. ”
On Aug 14 commented on game 246 wrath of denethenor 1986: “i love both these by-the-wayside games that time forgot AND the blockbusters. and i like them for different reasons, so i'm grateful that the crpg addict actually tackles both sets of games:by-the-wayside games: there's a lot of games that people played at one time that never really end up getting the light of day in the modern era, and it's always interesting to see what the…”
On Aug 14 commented on game 244 wizards lair 1986 and two: “thank you so much for your memories and thank you for your games.it's a treat [and pleasure] to read word-of-god stuff like this from a developer who was making games at the time.”
On Aug 14 commented on martian dreams summary and rating: “i really love the IDEA of this game [mainly because i like victoriana and the sort of steampunk aesthetic that some authors have used to flavour those sorts of worlds.]i understand it feels awkward - and it's maybe an issue of execution in this game, but i also really like the idea of bumping into real-world figures from this era, too.unfortunately they seem both somewhat one dimensional here…”
On Aug 14 commented on the magic candle ii four and forty: “this had such promise, especially from a plot perspective. i really liked the idea of chasing down what became of the four and forty and i love the way magic candle makes you figure this stuff out by talking to people and by consulting books/libraries to learn about the world.it's a shame about the follow-through, where the plot devolves into nonsense and you actively end up fighting the…”
On Aug 14 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “I don't know how it is with games, but in book publishing it's usually the other way around - a book released in October-December of year N will typically have a copyright year N+1. This is because of how review cycles work - most media will only publish reviews of books from the current year, so the publishers set the copyright year ahead to make the book review-eligible for longer.”
On Aug 14 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “Daemonsgate has come out in two versions - first on floppy disks, then on CD. It's actually entirely conceivable that the former version was from 1992. What's the funnies fact about Daemonsgate that I uncovered while looking into this, is that there was a prototype of a version of it for the Atari Lynx handheld console with the same plot, but that plays like a Zelda clone. That one has…”
On Aug 14 commented on revisiting dungeon 1975: “While I don't think it gives the connection that you're looking for (he only covered PLATO very shortly and superficially early in the blog's history), in case you haven't checked them out yet, The Digital Antiquarian's set of articles on the history of MMORPGs might provide some bits and sources that could be interesting.”
On Aug 14 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “"Incontinence" as codeword? Sounds like a developer in-joke or one of Bart Simpson's prank phone calls."Yeah, you have to look for an inn. It's called 'Continents'. Tell the owner you've heard he knows about the inn 'Continents'."What's next? Searching for the Imp Ossible?”
On Aug 14 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “I just can't get over how while most portraits seem to have an upper body, three of your party members are just floating heads. Especially the one I assume is your main character; the expression combined with lack of body just looks so silly.”
On Aug 13 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Often in these games we encounter what's called 'Vancian' magic systems (e.g. D&D). Here's a comparison of that versus Elric's or 'Moorcock's' magic system: https://pitsperilous.blogspot.com/2016/05/vancian-vs-moorcockian-magic.html”
On Aug 13 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “While copyright dates usually do coincide with the year a game was actually released, that's not necessarily always the case. We've seen examples before of it being from the preceding year. Take e.g. a game currently being played, Daemonsgate. It was released in 1993, but at least some packaging bears a 1992 copyright (see an example here).I don't know where our host got the release…”
On Aug 13 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “So I looked up a gameplay video of Yendorian Tales because I wanted to check something, and the title screen actually gives the copyright year as 1993.”
On Aug 13 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “I guess it's not terribly impressive for 1993 and the interface seems frustrating, but I'm not yet seeing why this one is regarded as an awful game. So far the world scope seems nice and the NPCs are lively.”
On Aug 13 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “That is a good question... I suspect that maybe... if you stock up a lot of potions (specially for magic) and use the spell which allow you to rest during combat. It would be like to don't have Morgula in the first game, might be doable, but way too hard. But I am not sure not having both of them would block something in the last part, I don't think so... however I am not sure... keep a…”
On Aug 13 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “@CRPG Addict - I started Ishar 1 a few weeks back and found your articles from February 2020. Finished it, started Ishar 2, only to find that after 5.5 years (!) you continued playing with Ishar 2 at the exact same time as I do (I played the Ishars 3 years ago and way before that as a child). How cool is that. :)”
On Aug 13 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “SPOILER ALERTIs the game doable _without_ hiring Grimzel to hire Grimz, ie. without the Fire Protection spell? I feel like I have a full party with Unknown (the Dark Knight one) / Karorn / Bragr / Yornh / Zeloran and wouldn't want to let two of them go. One would be OK to lose (Yornh) to be replaced by a scholar (I'm even fine with Grimzel), but that's not enough to get Grimz as far…”
On Aug 13 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Eddie Hitler might qualify as a punchable face, though.”
On Aug 13 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “What's interesting that there are actually "choices" in the game. For example the fight with the prison mage could be avoided if you would have bought a monk clothes before. Same with getting the prison key with a magpie. But how the hell somebody would have known that without a walkthrough?By the way, there's a lengthy interview with one of Silmarils co-founder. It's in…”
On Aug 13 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “As a someone who have played the game a lot as a kid, I have to warn that Ishar 2 is incredibly time consuming to finish without a walkthrough. There was an official one released called "Ishar 2 - A Rough Guide to Kendoria". Maybe it was even added in the game box? I cannot imagine how frustrating it will be at later stages without it! The art side of Ishar series is fantastic but the…”
On Aug 13 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “What is an Elric-style magic system?”
On Aug 13 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “I also love it. This probably needs an update to point 1 in your sidebar (marked "The Rules"). Also, I'm wondering if point 4 ("I can reject independent and shareware RPGs") is something you've ever used.”
On Aug 13 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “For what it's worth, you've covered every game I'd find important in your selection of 25.I'd like to add that Mystic Towers (on your master list) is not an RPG, but a platform game with puzzle elements. It has neither statistics nor character development.”
On Aug 13 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “There is a band called Gates oh Ishtar”
On Aug 13 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “A Columbus band I see live at the clubs here sometimes refer to themselves as The Below Average White Band.”
On Aug 13 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Honestly, "ScheduledForExecution" goes pretty hard, as the kids say.”
On Aug 13 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “But if I recall, on 'The Young Ones' Rik got punched in the face a lot more often than Vyvyan, who was usually the one doing the punching.”
On Aug 13 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “I'm impressed how many of you there were. Thanks for the laugh haha”
On Aug 13 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Thank you for making these identities available. -Long time lurker”
On Aug 13 commented on revisiting dungeon 1975: “There's a comprehensive list at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_MUDsIt is well-known that early MMOs (e.g. EverQuest) are based on MUDs (e.g. DikuMUD). Is there a link between MUDs and PLATO? It seems likely because both are based in technical universities, but I don't have the evidence. Even if there is no direct inspirational link there, both still share a common ancestor in…”
On Aug 13 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “That Arion Edmunson sounds like a bit of a comedian to me”
On Aug 13 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “It could have worked if combat had some tactical complexity to it - like e.g. in Age of Decadence, which also doesn't have spells. And if enchantments themselves weren't so lame (but that's also a consequence of barebones combat system).”
On Aug 13 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Sounds like they were aiming for an Elric-style magic system. Cool idea, but hard to pull off in a CRPG.”
On Aug 12 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Billy Joe!!!”
On Aug 12 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Frankly, having a dedicated key for playing the flugelhorn is a function that has been sadly lacking from the entire history of CRPGs up until this point. (The Bard's Tale was asleep at the wheel.) They're a very welcome addition! ”
On Aug 12 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “@Pie, that's the definition of Daemonsgate in general. ”
On Aug 12 commented on revisiting dungeon 1975: “Perhaps a better way to say it is that games lost their ability to connect to other players for about 10 years, but it's like they were always trying to connect during that period, like a browser in a house that's lost Internet access. You had games with leaderboards, games with passwords on the characters (which assumed multiple players would share the same disk), games with cooperative…”
On Aug 12 commented on revisiting dungeon 1975: “I can't give you an article, but I would say that starting with the PLATO games, the idea of multi-player RPGs never really died. You had mainframe systems and MUDs on local networks in the 1970s, and dial-up access to multiplayer games was available in the early 1980s. PLATO was one of the platforms available this way, commercialized by CDC. Yes, the 1980s were a bit of a dead zone for MMOs,…”
On Aug 12 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Agreed.”
On Aug 12 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Ah. I was going to investigate next time. ”
On Aug 12 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “"Sound the retreat"”
On Aug 12 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “Good one.”
On Aug 12 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “sounds like half-baked lost potential. ”
On Aug 12 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “@WargamingScribe, why wouldn't it be if you retain named characters between missions who level up using XPs obtained during missions that result in significantly different builds? There's no massive pools of cannon fodder either if my memory serves me right.”
On Aug 12 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “"Lots of good potential user IDs for you anonymous commenters here."Yup.”
On Aug 12 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “I'm a little confused by some of the combat icons. It looks like one if them might mean 'play the flugelhorn?'”
On Aug 12 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “I hope it turns out that the "Warriors of Light" are in fact serving the "Lord of Light" from the EMPIRE series.It all sounds like an intriguing game, but with some balance issues that needed to be worked out...”
On Aug 12 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “There are no spells in the game. The magic system consists of summoning elementals or demons to bind into weapons (enchanting them) or amulets (to summon in combat, single use). That's it. ”
On Aug 12 commented on daemonsgate behind enemy lines: “ The plot goes downhill fast.--- RandomGamer”
On Aug 12 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “I don't know about that one, but the earliest I can think about is Hexplore from 1998, which remains to my knowledge the only RPG to use a voxel engine.”
On Aug 12 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Wait, Incubation is an RPG now?Another debate in the comments for future (1997) cRPGAddict :)”
On Aug 12 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “ Unless I missed something, the first fully 3D RPG (characters AND levels) would be Incubation (1997).”
On Aug 12 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “I mean, every early 3D game starting from Ultima Underworld was a 2D/3D mix; full 3D didn't happen until much later.”
On Aug 12 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “While I immensely enjoyed M&M 6-8, the graphics didn't really click for me, the 2d/3d difference was too noticeable (the sprites being REALLY low-res didn't help). Maybe if the enviromment had more details (vegetation?) it would stand out less. For me the cleanest 2d was probably in the Eye of the Beholder (Lands of Lore too).Now that I think of it, 2d/3d mix worked pretty nicely in…”
On Aug 12 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “I have been eagerly anticipating your coverage of Aethra ever since I discovered your blog roughly 15 years ago! So happy to see it (randomly!) made that list.I think the new systems makes a lot of sense for all the reasons mentioned. And the picked games make sense to me, though I have very little personal experience with them.Aethra was my first CRPG, so obvious nostalgia case. But I do think…”
On Aug 12 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “I thought M&M6 did a good mix of 3D and 2D. The terrain was 3D but monsters and walls etc were pretty much 2D”
On Aug 12 commented on revisiting dungeon 1975: “Thanks for this (and your previous) inspiring blogpost! I'm currently doing some research into the early development of MMORPGs. In his book MMOs from the Inside Out, Richard Bartle (the author of MUD) claims that PLATO-based games like pedit5 and dnd have little influence on modern MMOs, largely due to the fact that they run on PLATO terminals. While I personally find the statement…”
On Aug 12 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “According to Wikipedia (haven‘t checked further), it was already over the summer of 1991 that Martin sketched a map, wrote a hundred pages of what I understand would become the first book and sent them - alongside a series outline – to his literary agent.Meanwhile, based on a quick magazines scan, Daemonsgate was widely announced and supposed to be far along in development by (at least late)…”
On Aug 11 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “That's what I figured. I think wordpress still has that middle setting of "Forbid anonymous, but allow people to just enter a name and URL". It's a nuisance.”
On Aug 11 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Ha, I started watching Darkplace with my wife and need to finish it.”
On Aug 11 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Only here to say your name, LudicrousSpeed, brought me joy and delight.”
On Aug 11 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Agreed.Might & Magic 3~5 had some beautiful pixel art, as well.”
On Aug 11 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “IIRC it used to work they way you described. Blogspot would also remember the name chosen in the "Name/URL" field. For some reason that system had to be changed. ”
On Aug 11 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Blogspot will let me disable anonymous comments in a way, but to Blogspot, that means requiring everyone to be logged in. There's no way to disable anonymous comments while simultaneously preserving the ability to choose the "Name/URL" option.”
On Aug 11 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Yes, you are of course correct.”
On Aug 11 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Such a pretty game.. Who *really* needs 3D outside FPS genre? Today's three-dimensional beauty is a crone of tomorrow, but pictures are immortal.”
On Aug 11 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Dream Weaver, huh? Sounds like Gary Wright - or Garth Marenghi- might be involved in some way.”
On Aug 11 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Is there a math error in the last caption? Surely the two possibilities for midnight must be separated by 24 hours.”
On Aug 11 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “No harm in being thorough... If he responds that I am a Loon and just have a deep seeded preoccupation with a writer and one of his creations, then you will know it is a cover up!”
On Aug 11 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “ I was in a very similar situation, largely because a lot of RPG's of the time rely on convention from older RPG's without stating them out explicitly, which became very obtuse if you start with later RPG's. In the 90es, I wouldn't even think to check for invisible walls (because I haven't encountered a game where they'd be a thing), wouldn't think that the sacrifice…”
On Aug 11 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “True.Over time it has become an established design principle that a game should never trap the player in a situation they can only escape by already having found an optional item elsewhere.But this means that the player knows this, can expect to find a solution which does not require any optional item, and will find such a solution -- probably without too much trouble. I think some potential for…”
On Aug 11 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “I believe that if you don't interact with that sacrifice scene, you are now in a walking dead scenario.Which is my biggest complain about the game (but iirc doesn't happen anywhere else in the game)”
On Aug 11 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “It's why there's always a secret cave behind the waterfall”
On Aug 11 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Disk space was precious back in the day, @Bitmap, but even on this blog our host has occasionally fallen into this trap, so we are all vulnerable ”
On Aug 11 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “In addition, some of the most common themes in power metal are things like heroism, perseverance, camaraderie, and (fighting for) freedom – which are often found in fantasy and myth but not specific to it. I think the reason for a lot of the fantasy-ish imagery in PM lyrics is that is lends itself well to expressing those themes. ”
On Aug 11 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “One of the most beautiful dungeon crawler ever, with an absolutely fantastic atmosphere. Beautiful memories from the first half of the '90s. I later replayed the game as part of the whole trilogy, where I moved my trained party between the parts.”
On Aug 11 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “It's a shame blogspot won't let you disable anonymous comments. I know I've accidentally hit "publish" before noticing that I'd been logged out and the ridiculous thing had defaulted to "anonymous".”
On Aug 11 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “Hi Chet!Another idea to accelerate progress:Stick back to your original plan and list: Only DOS and only the games you had in the list before adding all that later missing stuff from the eighties and early nineties, which also would make the blog pure chronological again.Also remove the BRIEF stuff, this is a CRPG blog, not a general gaming blog, no need to have short outlooks on other…”
On Aug 11 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “I just want to express my support for this change in approach. It seems quite a bit more fun and satisfying with regards to making progress and playing high-quality games, while still making it possible to discover forgotten gems and curiosities on occasion. Thank you again for all the great content =) ”
On Aug 10 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “It's an "oopsie" that the game commits universally. Every time gold is mentioned, it's always "p.o."”
On Aug 10 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “The reason for the policy is that some threads get multiple anonymous commenters posting, and it becomes impossible to tell which ones belong to the same person, which sometimes confuses the arguments that they're making. Beyond that, I just find it a bit rude. But between slavish adherence to the policy and preserving valuable material, I'll always err towards the latter. ”
On Aug 10 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “The zarfian cruelty scale was designed for adventures but applies here. If you can save more or less anytime, putting the characters in a worse spot is less cruel to the player, because they spend less time trying to persist in a doomed world. Though the cruelty goes up here for players without Unlock, because you have to know that what softlocked you was failing to buy the magpie.”
On Aug 10 commented on revisiting adventure construction: “I remember first playing this game not long after it first came out in 1984. I was always curious where Stuart Smith got some of the ideas... mainly the names of the magic weapons and other things in this game.... From best i can tell he may have drawn on ideas published in an Early version of Dragon Magazine compiling Babylonian mythos and heroes. In that issue are described the magic weapons…”
On Aug 10 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “As for 'Dream Weavers', I have a few additional bits suggesting it was a kind of sister entity of Imagitec, as suspected above, and existed in parallel with it for a while until Gremlin bought both.In a magazine feature published in June 1993, the journalists looking for the Imagitec offices found the plaque on the door said ‘Dream Weavers’. The explanation: "So, why Dream Weavers?…”
On Aug 10 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Not to mention the Finnish Kale ala and related works: Norse-adjacent geographically, but culturally rather more distinct.”
On Aug 10 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Out of curiosity, what's the motivation for that policy when topical comments are anonymously posted?”
On Aug 10 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “There's a lot of drawing from ancient sagas, which really blurs the line with the fantasy genre. Not least because a huge percentage of western fantasy is derived directly or indirectly from Tolkien, who was openly and directly inspired by the Norse sagas.”
On Aug 10 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Just an off-topic nitpick: As a power metal fan myself, I consider the prevalence of fantasy in the genre to be exaggerated. Sure, you have bands like Blind Guardian and Rhapsody of Fire which are very fantasy themed, and others who have ventured into it or related topics (such as Dragonforce or Hammerfall). But then, Sabaton, who don't do any fantasy, are maybe the "biggest" power…”
On Aug 10 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “At least in this case, I assume that most players are sensible enough to reload instead of overwriting their save game while being trapped in a prison cell. It's different from the really nasty softlock cases where you don't even realize that you can't proceed because you lack some object or clue from earlier in the game.”
On Aug 10 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Since unlock spell works, I assume a character with a high enough lockpicking skill would work too. But I wouldn't count on there being other solutions, early era games never shied away from softlocking the player.”
On Aug 10 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “"You collect 100 000 po"little translation oopsie there, keeping the french currency name (po is short for pièce d'or) instead of gp”
On Aug 10 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “FWIW, there are numerous entries in the 'Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office' in 1994-1995 (filed in 1993) for/by an "Imagitec Design Inc." (no Ltd. or PLC added) with the same address in England and identical logos as the one I referred to above. For a couple examples see e.g. here. Meanwhile, in the same Gazette, there are lots of 'Ltd.'…”
On Aug 09 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “That video is WILD. Thanks for sharing it!”
On Aug 09 commented on game 352 dungeons of avalon ii island: “The idea that anyone played with the default parties in CRPGs had kind of never occurred to me until reading this comment. Like I must have puzzled it out at some point--if nothing else, in Wasteland I always kept one of the default characters at least long enough to sell the default party's stuff--but still. I can totally see the appeal as an adult with a regular life, given how many hours…”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Sounds like a possible softlock if you have neither magpie nor unlock caster? Or is there something in the game that would either be yet another solution, or just a “if you wait long enough, someone is getting you out” softlock-protection. That would be interesting, multiple ways to solve puzzles.”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “It will steal the prison key and bring it to you. ”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “I spent way too much time trying to click on the dagger. Thanks for the hint.”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Noted, thanks. Though I do wish anonymous commenters would stop giving me reasons not to enforce my rules about anonymous comments.”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “1. Buy a magpie2. ?????3. Get out of prison!”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “But you make a good point about the overall dynamic. What RPG player doesn't check behind every waterfall, after all?”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “For me, it's less a desire to ensure that I find every gold piece than a fear that I'll miss actual quest content, particularly in a game like this where I seem to have so many open ends. ”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Good hints, non-spoilery. Thanks!”
On Aug 09 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Steven, I'm going to keep you on speed dial, because issues with company names, mergers, etc. come up all the time.So it sounds like we have some mysteries here. "Inc." means nothing in the UK. In the same era, we have Imagitecs popping up in the United States, where "Inc." does mean something. Yet author Nigel Kershaw is unquestionably British. What was happening?”
On Aug 09 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Now that you mention it, there is something Martinesque about the backstory. I'll ask the credited developer if he gets back to me.”
On Aug 09 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “If Imagitec got sucked up by Gremlin and Gremlin got sucked up by Infogrames and Infogrames got sucked up by The Thing That Is Wearing Atari's Face, then this may be the closest we can get.”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Another CRPG-appropriate band name: They Might Be Giants.”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “I didn't remember how on point the rumor in the tavern are.- The money will be useful for buying the stuff which the rumors mention, as you might need for each party member, the animals are important too.- I opened the game to check out, because I know in the third game you can sell items, but not here... weird... I did not remember this...- By the way I, since I had the game open, I look at…”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “From what I recall you shouldn't be concerned about Helm of Chaos and Shield of Chaos - just a designation, not very chaotic otherwise.”
On Aug 09 commented on game 558 ishar 2 messengers of doom 1993: “Glad I could help, Ishar might have its issues and a lot of they are in the "how I supposed to know that?" lane, but is a small fascinating little piece of crpg history,Fun fact, not related to the game, but Silmarils, would in it late days would publish that infamous 3D platform (sort of Tomb Raider like game) Arabian Nights, which show up in speedruns and it is pretty bad.Apologies…”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Don't forget to ask The Velvet Dungeon to join the lineup. However, the local crowd of warriors and barbarians would probably prefer Slayer.”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Power metal bands is almost exclusively fantasy themed.Industrial metal is often dystopian sci-fi.”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “"There's no obvious way out of the prison, so I resort to testing walls and find an illusory one. Great. I didn't know that was a thing in Ishar. Now I have to test the entire city again."It's kind of funny. Give players one unmarked secret and some of us will feel compelled to check every equivalent spot for the rest of the game. If the reward rate is low, we'll still…”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “I've never played this, but it seems possibly significant that you killed an enemy that dropped 10.000 gold pieces just before encountering a mage that demands 10,000 gold pieces for no apparent reason. It seems less significant that the enemy was ALF.(Though from what the commenters who have played this said, it doesn't sound like you do need to give the mage the money?)”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “If you want your party to be counting crows, you have to have to have a full party and maxed out team spirit (iirc that's just about as funky as you can be).”
On Aug 09 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “I can't help myself.Imagitec Design - Company No. 02120648 - Dissolved. I can't find the dissolution or incorporation date, but UK company numbers run in order. 02120648 would've been incorporated around about 1986, maybe early 1987 (Companies House don't keep old records of dissolved companies, but if a company still exists they do. Company number 02124701 is an April 1987…”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “To me the Ishar games were always impenetrable. I finally got them in the mid 90s and I was awed by how they looked and completely confused on what to do, which is a common theme I had with crpgs at the time (one reason I enjoy this blog so much). I am beginning to believe one reason the pre 1994 crpgs are not that popular in the videogame canon is that they were so much into that game design…”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “"Maybe he's just a hyper-confident beggar."There's a Sherlock Holmes story called 'The Man with the Twisted Lip' where an esteemed banker moonlights as an eloquent beggar in the streets of London with extensive make-up (hence the twisted lip). He started to make more money begging than with his regular job, but his wife must not know, that's the central setup for…”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “If they do decline, the band lineup could be complemented with e.g. Led Horsecart (or Jefferson Ox Wagon), The City Guard, The Dungeon Boys, ... .And I agree the graphics are among the best we've seen so far for that era and still hold up well.”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “According to the walkthrough, the canonical way of getting out of the prison cell is to buy a magpie. ”
On Aug 09 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “I didn't understand your comment at first. I 'stopped' there because I wanted to explain about the Inc / Ltd thing. I'll read the rest of the post later.....”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “"A guy who wants us to meet him in Four Towers Alley between 02:00 and 04:00. I don't know what alley that is."On the west side of the map there is a long alley that connects to an east-west street at the south end and has a dead end in the north. You want to be at the north end between those times.”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Does the tavern keeper of The Blue Velvet look like Tony Bennett or Dennis Hopper? ”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Heh thinking about it many metal bands have fantasy or medieval compatible names. Manowar, Saxon, Helmet, ... ”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “Oh, Ishar 2!! I have very few memories of this game but a general fondness of it. I do recall spending a lot of in-game nights circling through the island killing those bandits until everyone was equipped with armour and axes of chaos and every shop was empty, as many of the random items (and animals) are needed later ”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “I wonder if The Gates are going to decline playing at Dwigdinstock.On Topic, the game continues to look absolutely amazing.”
On Aug 09 commented on ishar 2 average human band: “A couple of generic non ROT-13 hints:There is one thing you can interact with in that sacrifice scene.You sometimes have to travel back and forth between islands to progress quests.A number of quests require purchased items to complete and it's often not obvious.Several of the quests/puzzles are very obtuse and hard to solve without a walkthrough, I'll be interested to see how you go, but…”
On Aug 09 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “I appreciate the clarification on the "INC" thing because I was curious about that. But why did you stop there? ”
On Aug 08 commented on game 90 wizards castle 1980: “I only just finished getting it to work, so he hasn't had a chance to play it yet. I'll let you know how he likes it, if you want.”
On Aug 08 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “I stopped at the point where Chet was talking about the name of the developer. As someone intimately familiar with UK Companies, all British companies have to have either Limited, Ltd or PLC at the end of their name. Inc is meaningless. Having said that, British companies can use any name they like, they just MUST end with Limited. So it's perfectly possible to name a company 'Doncaster…”
On Aug 08 commented on game 63 ultima v warriors of destiny: “I generally agree. However, I don't think there's necessarily a perfect alignment between "honor" and "doing your job," especially if you know that doing your job might lead to an unjust outcome. Lawful evil isn't honorable; sometimes there are bigger principles at work.Note how it plays out in The Fugitive. Initially, Gerard doesn't care because it's not…”
On Aug 08 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Well, that fits with my experience, as I can't get sound to work with the game at all. I was going to try to solve it for the next session.”
On Aug 08 commented on game 558 ishar 2 messengers of doom 1993: “I appreciate the tips. It's good to know that the things that are vague aren't just vague for me.”
On Aug 08 commented on game 480 dungeons of unforgiven 1993: “awwww beans this may have just about made my year, thank you! I hope it did not take terribly long. I am surprised to see that the shadow monsters are duplicates rather than just the original with a palette trick, but that the streeeetched and submerged variants of things like the garbage can and puffball AREN'T duplicates”
On Aug 08 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “As I understand, new findings from older years will continue to be treated the same as they have been: they go into the backlist, where they might get picked as a random selection between games from the main 25 for the year.As for System Shock, it'll almost certainly get blogged here... when Chet's doing 1999 and hits SS2, probably.”
On Aug 08 commented on game 480 dungeons of unforgiven 1993: “The code to render the graphics wasn't in what was salvaged, but I did manage to reverse engineer the format (it uses an RLE scheme, though there must be some hard-coded references to which segments of the palette each image used somewhere in the code...). I did a dump of all of the images (with one particular palette - many do get palette swapped) and put it here:…”
On Aug 08 commented on game 558 ishar 2 messengers of doom 1993: “On the subject of alignment and team spirit is quite hard to tell, because the manual only feature vague descriptions and might claim stuff which may or may not exist (and this get way worst in the third game)... serious the English manual is feels like missing stuff. I wonder it the original french manual was more complete. Because there are some spells, which I have no idea what they do, and…”
On Aug 08 commented on dungeons of unforgiven won one module: “Ah it is nice to see someone else acknowledge the peculiar graphical mirroring. I never considered that might have been difficult to implement, I just ascribed it to the chaotic nature of the game, but true enough Moraff's World doesn't do it despite plainly running in the same game engine.my problem with the 16 color mode is that it obviously has a color approximation system that…”
On Aug 08 commented on dungeons of unforgiven won one module: “I have also "completed" Dungeons of the Unforgiven (https://bimshwel.com/?p=34) and can vouch for it not ending... OH I see Palandus even commented on that old page also. You get a tiny little message in the usual box about the ogeroth transforming into "a tiny cat who scurries away meowing 'I'll be back'" but I believe this is a reference to the unseen helper…”
On Aug 08 commented on dungeons of unforgiven won one module: “As Moraff avoided outright violence in games after this point and campaigned for the supposed environmentalist US presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000 I do think he was trying to push a positive message even in Dungeons of the Unforgiven, as silly as it comes across.”
On Aug 08 commented on game 480 dungeons of unforgiven 1993: “Do you know of a way to view the (i presume) graphic files, like the UFMONx.pics? Or if there is any yet existent concept art of any sort from anybody? I would love to see that.The Couple from Hell do look peculiar switching sides in their boat as they come down a hallway. I noticed that monsters directly in front of the player will mirror in place if the screen is refreshed without…”
On Aug 08 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “For Roland MT32 of course, General Midi ismof course easier and you don't need additional rom files. ”
On Aug 08 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Well that mirrors my experience with GOG bundled Dosbox releases. They also don't have MT32 or General Midi emulation enabled (yes I know out host doesn't care), which isn't their fault since you need some proprietary MT32 roms. And I think (?) enabling it in vanilla Dosbox is more complicated than in other variants like Dosbox-X which is what I use. ”
On Aug 08 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “When did obscurity EVER diminish a good online conspiracy theory Chet! It only makes it harder to disprove. LOL I imagine Mr. Martin having a bit of writers block on some Novella he was writing but couldn't finish, when he gets a call from someone at Imagitech to hire him to write the backstory and game manuals. He accepts to get his mind off of his writers block and they send him the map…”
On Aug 08 commented on game 63 ultima v warriors of destiny: “I know I'm way late to this party, but I wanted to comment on that honor question anyway. It's always made me think of the Fugitive, movie, not show, and this exchange: "I didn't kill my wife!""I don't care!"Just because you believe him to be innocent doesn't mean he is, and turning him in for, say, a trial or judgment is in fact the honorable thing to do.…”
On Aug 08 commented on game 480 dungeons of unforgiven 1993: “I suspect the mirroring is intentional, it was a common way to provide the illusion of motion in games of that era (mirroring the floor whenever you turn/move is super common), however it does look a bit odd on monsters that are pairs of monsters :).I'm not sure on who did which art yet, though I just recently connected with one of the artists, maybe he'll know more...”
On Aug 08 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Although well-meaning, I don't trust GOG's dosbox configs as far as I can throw 'em. Using a version of dosbox you're familiar with and setting the cycles to a number (trial and error) for real mode games and to 100% max for protected mode games can fix up a lot of weird joystick, mouse, keyboard and display flickering problems in DOS games. I think I mentioned that last month…”
On Aug 08 commented on game 558 ishar 2 messengers of doom 1993: “I just realised I'm describing a cult. The grift kind of cult that uses esoteric trappings as a veneer over the true purpose to enrich or empower the leader. Oh dear. Well I'm sure if the protag saves the world eventually its fine.”
On Aug 08 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “There are a number of non-CRPGs that have significantly influenced the RPG genre. A few have already featured on the blog, and most of the rest have been highlighted by commenters at some point or other.I imagine we'll haphazardly hit most of them over the course of things.”
On Aug 08 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “I think that the current popularity is mostly based on Persona, which is a spinoff of SMT, which is technically a spinoff of the original Megami Tensei. And while it would be interesting to look at (the original Megami Tensei was based on the Digital Devil Saga book, while Megami Tensei II is truly the starting point of everything, before coming fully into its own with Shin Megami Tensei), I…”
On Aug 08 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “When I saw the discussions on potential 'console game candidates' for 1994 and noticed two SMT games on the Master Game List for that year, I was also tempted to mention it. Initially I refrained from that because of said history and since our host still couldn't bring himself to even utter its name just this spring when starting Phantasy Star - though I understand he did so at least…”
On Aug 07 commented on game 480 dungeons of unforgiven 1993: “i suppose the sooner you break in the this game, the better. I spent too long trying to conquer the whole thing as a monk without making save backups after I was finally good enough at the game to find it "easy" otherwise, and that is not a practical skill to have.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 480 dungeons of unforgiven 1993: “whaaaaa i had no idea someone was on the internet with information like this. I always wondered what the "correct" size and orientation of those monsters were, and if their tendency to mirror themselves was intentional. I am also glad if Moraff is still around; last I was aware he moved to China and stopped updating his facebook page. Can you say who drew the monsters in the…”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Since Chet mentions receiving forewarning comments of those who already played the game, I fear this will be one of the many RPG incarnations of the “horse drawing meme”. But the Addict has often gifted us some of his best reviews on mediocre games, so I have high hopes for this series!”
On Aug 07 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “VK was thinking of Circuit's Edge, not Neuromancer. I'm always conflating them myself.In any event, on my blog, an exception is never precedent for another exception.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 90 wizards castle 1980: “A fun fact that only a true explorer would have found. How does your child enjoy 1980s games?”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “I am really curious about this one. My brother got this based on the box art and it seemed interesting,but was a bit over 12 and 13 year old's heads at the time. Always wondered if it was worth trying to go back and see about finishing it. Luckily we have a victim...I mean mascot in Chet to do so for us”
On Aug 07 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “Well, play it and find out ;-P”
On Aug 07 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “For everyone's benefit, I used to have a commenter who managed to turn every discussion into something about Shin Megami Tensei, always ending with something like "Maybe you should play Shin Megami Tensei next. For a while, I had a rule banning any mention of the game from the blog. Eventually, I had to mass-delete the guy's comments because he wouldn't stop derailing every…”
On Aug 07 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “Now I want to know what makes it so emphatic. Does it begin with some kind of nipponophobic rant?”
On Aug 07 commented on game 480 dungeons of unforgiven 1993: “Hey, we're trying to be comprehensive about games here on the CRPG Addict. No supplement is too obscure. Plus, you got me to re-read P-Tux7's original comment, which I now find hilarious. In ever game of absurdities, everything is going to be someone's breaking point.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 346 deadly towers 1986: “You are correct. I accidentally put the rank position in the rating. No once noticed for six years! Thank you.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Even the name is a bit similar--Hester/Westeros. But given the obscurity of the game and the date of the first novel, I think we can rule out a connection.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “The Paragon thing wasn't me trying to make a subtle inside reference. I legitimately forgot it wasn't a Paragon game. I fixed it above.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Thanks, Banur. That went over my head.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Only one avenue has been hinted at by NPC dialogue. I don't know if that means there's only one or not. I suspect that the idea is supposed to be that literally getting out of the city isn't as hard as breaking through the enemy siege. If I just climbed the walls, I'd be surrounded by demons.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “I've been wondering if it uses something similar to LOTR since the interface is so similar. I guess I'll find out eventually.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Pretty much how I felt about Starfield. I guess getting disappointed about games is as old as gaming.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “As Leonardo DiCaprio says in Django Unchained, Gentlemen, you had my curiosity. Now you have my attention.”
On Aug 07 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “Haha, I guess I missed the drama! better not to pry too deeply...”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “It is well acknowledged that the War of the Roses provided the framework, yes, though it is a fairly loose adaptation which grows looser as the series progresses”
On Aug 07 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “@CRPG Addict, I would love to do a guest posting or two; however, keeping up with your schedule with three children at home is nigh impossible.-- RandomGamer.”
On Aug 07 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “ 1994 on are not DARK times from CRPG. These are times when a few CRPG's finally made it to the modern form, leaving everything else in the dust, while the advent of proper 3d titles made a lot of people realize that they don't want to play a Dungeon Master clone anymore. What used to be B-tier before now was unmistakeably shit tier. If anything, this is a good reason to revisit a lot of…”
On Aug 07 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “@Alexander, Bioshock is related to System Shock 2 (same designer), but much less so to the original System Shock (different designers), which is more closely related to Deus Ex (same producer). As for RPG status, RPG elements in immersive sims generally ebb and flow, even within the same series. Some have none (Thief), some are full-blown RPGs (UUW, System Shock 2), most fall into a grey area…”
On Aug 07 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “Isn't System Shock the inofficial predecessor to Bioshock? No doubt super-influential, but RPG?Although there is a point to be made that at some point RPGs started to influence other genres instead of the other way round.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 346 deadly towers 1986: “I think the Final Rating value is wrong compared to what you've written in the review.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “> If my only exposure to the game was to its materials, I'd want to play it more than any other gameSomewhat unrelated to this blog, but this was Master of Orion 3 for me. I tracked its development with half an eye, and then it came out, but hasn't yet made way to shops in my country. But I managed to find a PDF manual for it on the Internet, and, wow, there was so much interesting…”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Sid Meier's Civilization (1991) also had a "Civilopedia"”
On Aug 07 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “The argument for Shadowrun over FF or Shin Megami Tensei is that it's possibly the only console RPG that is very emphatically not a JRPG.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 558 ishar 2 messengers of doom 1993: “I'd also count some British developers like Sensible, Psygnosis, and the Bitmap Brothers in that "unique visuals" bracket.”
On Aug 07 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “Yeah, and absolutely FF7 was the first proper JRPG that was big around Europe because its distribution allowed it to. Gnoman knows. Also yeah, 1994 onwards are DARK times for crpgs - Diablo was a hit, Fallout was wonderful, Daggerfall was groundbreaking and Baldur's Gate resurrected the genre, but until them there was a lot of jank and games sank by the long development times like Skullkeep,…”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Did the real-world War of Roses have animated corpses?”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “It has been a thing since the 70s, that is, pretty much since psychedelic rock turned into metal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Metal_(magazine)”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “I was gonna say, each time I read "Harvester of Sorrow" I hear James Hetfield screaming these words in my head! 😝”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Are you saying that the college guys around you that were sci-fi fans or writers were into electro, techno and other electronic music sub styles? Where? ”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Wait till you see its combat system.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “No, it's obviously about how to dig canals on sloping terrain.”
On Aug 07 commented on game 480 dungeons of unforgiven 1993: “I suppose this is old news, but as a long time moraff dungeon game acknowledger I must correct that the rainbow striped garbage can is indeed in Moraff's World, just substantially less common, and its graphics are unchanged for Dungeons of the Unforgiven, as also applies with its similarly overstuffed and overcommon counterpart, the giant ball”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “"The Arte of Locks" is obviously a hairstylist's manual.”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Honestly this games seems competent overall, if overambitious. I'm still struggling to see where the catch is. I doubt this will reach hidden gem territory, but I'm rooting to see it removed from the apparent trash heap at least. ”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “I see a few sources list Imagitec as becoming Dreamweavers in 91, before later being bought by Gremlin, becoming Gremlin Interactive in 96. These sources link multiple alternatives for the ID logo, but I found nothing for Dreamweavers.”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “@Risington Carlos, not my experience at all. Perhaps this is time/place dependent, but in my college days "metal" and "scifi" were two independent variables, and there was not that much overlap between "scifi" and "fantasy".”
On Aug 06 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “SMT has a bit of history on this blog :)Suffice to say, Chet is aware of its existence. Abundantly aware.”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “I read something like a dozen of those Cherryh "Foreigner" books, waiting for anything to happen. It sometimes did, but only maybe for one book in every six. Maybe my mistake was not reading them while listening to metal rock.”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Ugh...just looking at that top down perspective fills me with dread. I bet the combat will be turn based, but so simplistic that it may just as well be real time.But the resting and camping system looks interesting. Reminds me of Magic Candle, which I really liked.”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Re. in-game encyclopedia: MegaTraveller 2 (remember that one?) had in-game library buildings that you could search for keywords on various topics relevant (or not) to the various quests. The party had to enter the library building to access it, so perhaps it's not exactly the same concept as used here.”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Ah yes, my bad. I had forgotten Bloodnet was basically created by a Paragon team operating more or less independently within MicroProse.”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Re Imagitec / logo: Yes, if you look at different iterations of it over the years (e.g. here), it seems that's supposed to be a combination of 'I' and 'D'.This and other sources also indicate the company changed its legal form / name from 'Ltd.' to 'Inc.' sometime around 1992.The relationship with 'Dreamweavers / Dream Weavers' is less clear. Some…”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Looking at the map it seems you could escape by boat, open the gate somehow, escape underground or climb/brake the wall. Is there only one solution or do you get a choice? ”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Isn't A Song of Ice and Fire essentially just the real-world War of the Roses with some additional dragons?”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Nah I think we've discovered that GRRM ripped off Daemonsgate when he created Westeros.”
On Aug 06 commented on moving forward 1994 game list: “I'm sure it's come up before, but 1994 also marks the release of Shin Megami Tensei II, which---though Chet would undoubtedly be frustrated by the controller-only interface---boasts a lot of things that he seems to enjoy in an RPG. A good variety of tactics and spells, actual roleplaying choices, and novel systems (like the negotiation and fusion systems) that actually have an effect on…”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “It could be inspired by a map of England like GoT”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “The relationship between scifi/fantasy and metal is basically a circle between most of its fans. That seriously alienated me back when I met the Spanish fandom - I was obsessed with Detroit Techno/electro and the Warp Records futuristic electronica (Black Dog! B12!) but most of the discussions, debates etc were about what heavy metal/rock album was the best for reading, say, CJ Cherryh. ”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “I thought the same (with the wall at the north and the Veld resembling the swamp west of the Neck), but A Game of Thrones wasn't published until 1996,”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “I think someone took some inspiration from 80's Thrash Metal for naming the Taverns ”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “You missed some lore of this blog :) Some of the Paragon guys went to do Bloodnet and Challenge of the Five Realms. Then the main people behind these two went to do Hell: a Cyberpunk Thriller and Ripper, two point n click adventures. And one, I think, don't want to google now, went for Bureau 13 as well.”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “When he mentioned " 'The Wall' at the far north end of the land and 'Terra Incognita' beyond", I thought this sounds either like Roman Britannia or GoT.”
On Aug 06 commented on game 559 daemonsgate 1993: “Graf, Hans, 'Henglebert', Ingolf, ... these British developers sure love(d) their German names. Though Henglebert could also have been inspired by the British singer calling himself Engelbert Humperdinck rather than the German composer he named himself after.'The Arte of Locks' - not of 'lockpicking'? So I take it it's just a collection of images, like drawings, of…”
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Hello Chet, I´m looking forward to your thoughts on Spellcraft and Magic Candle 3. I hope that professorship isn´t keeping you up too late each night.
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A Christmas Dungeon Adventure would be funny at this time of year to see :)
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