The History of Computer Role-Playing Games

[Gambit37]

The History of Computer Role-Playing Games

Part 1: The Early Years (1980-1983)
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070 ... n_01.shtml

Part 2: The Golden Age (1985-1993)
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070 ... n_01.shtml

Part 3: The Platinum and Modern Ages (1994-2004)
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1 ... puter_.php

Really worth a read!!!

[oh_brother]

Very interesting - and very long! - articles.

The things I particularly felt were the games that I have missed - Elder Scrolls in particular seems to be a big one. I must start making better use of DosBox and download a few classics.

I also agree that Baldur's Gate 2 is perhaps the best CRPG I have played - it gave me as much entertainment when I was 20ish as Dungeon Master did when I was 12ish.

And finally I share the authors concern that MMORPGs will drown out or simplify single player RPGs. I have no interest in playing WoW. Not taht I am antisocial, I just don't think I would have much in common with the average player, mainly due to age. A bit like forums - these forums are a nice place to hang out because everyone is friendly and polite. But a number of other forums (e.g. Bioware) are just full of angry, angry people...

[beowuuf]

Yeah, the argument is always that without some persistence that others can see, single player RPGs sometimes lose their luster to many gamers.

[Ameena]

I'll get round to reading those articles when I get time, but right now it's a little after 11:30pm and I'm off to bed soon. But they sound interesting and I'll get to them at some point...probably at the weekend when I'm waiting for Wuffy to pop up for our DnD session .

Edit - Okay so I ended up reading those pages tonight. Wow, that took me a couple of hours, lol - I suppose it doesn't help that I'm doing it on a Friday night so I'm kinda tired anyway. It's now nearly quarter past midnight! Anyway...interesting articles. I haven't played many of the games from the first one (well, I wasn't even quite born then, after all ) but recognised a few of the names. Incidentally, I acted on that tip-off from Raixel about the first two Elder Scrolls games being available for free download and I've now got them but it's gonna be a while before I get round to playing them - after I finish with The Witcher I've got plenty of other stuff waiting too - it's a matter of which order I end up playing them in .

[ian_scho]

A great find, Gambit. I read it all and add a few of those mentioned to my wishlist!

Thanks.

[Jan]

Oh, only now I've realised it's written by Matt Barton - I mean still the same Matt Barton (see http://dungeon-master.com/forum/viewtop ... =2&t=28934)! This guy is everywhere! Interesting reading!

[ferala]

That sounds interesting to read! As soon as i have time i will read them.

I see people mentioning The Elder Scrolls. There are not many like me who actually mean Arena The Elder Scrolls when they say that. Usually they only know Oblivion. But I actually played Arena back in the days and i loved it. It was very buggy (not as buggy as Buggerfall), but still it was very playable. Some of the bugs were actually quite enjoyable: making a spell that does 1 damage and 1000 damage per level and also drains all mobs in the dungeon of their hitpoints and turn those hitpoints into a shield on yourself and such

I wonder if Nethack is mentioned there as well. I am a big Nethack fan. I only play pacifist though.

I am also a huge fan of the Might and Magic Series (up til VII), but i am pretty sure they are mentioned in the above history.

Btw i have played Wow for about 5 years, very fanatic i must say. The biggest problem is that to improve in the game you have to spend a lot of time. It is a big time sink and not very compatible with having 2 small kids.

[Ameena]

It sort of bugs me, somehow, when people talk of Oblivion as though it's the only ES game, or as though it's the best one. I wouldn't be surprised if most people haven't heard of Arena or Daggerfall, though - I hadn't heard of the ES series at all till my dad got Morrowind (GotY edition) for himself for Christmas one year. Then I sort of got hooked on it for ages and it was great fun . I did find out that it was the third game in a series and found out the names of the other two. Later, I got my own computer, shortly after Oblivion GotY came out, and got that and played it. It was good, but I still prefer Morrowind. I don't get why people make such a fuss of graphics in games these days...I suppose they must be spoilt by all the fancy games out there or something - to me, who still plays games like Frontier and Llamatron (Atari games, for which I use DOSbox) and of course DM, I don't really give a smeg about what the graphics look like, as long as I can tell what's what .
Going back to the previous ES games, I have downloaded them after someone here (Raixel, I think it was) mentioned in another thread that they were available for free on Bethesda's website - I went and got them both (just in case they disappeared at a later date) but haven't installed or played them yet - they're on a bit of a waiting list right now .
As for MMOs, I played EQ for about four years, starting when it was at its peak (though of course I didn't know that at the time...nor did anyone else, I expect ) and sort of fizzling out after it became so changed from the game I played that it felt like a different game. It's even worse now. I suppose it's something all MMOs will suffer with eventually - the constant addition of new content to keep high-levels happy (and increasing the level cap and stuff) which wildly unbalances the game and causes everyone to just abandon all the old levelling zones to rush as fast as they can to the high levels so they can raid for the uberest loot, just because they can . EQ used to be basically "Hey, there's a world - here, you can make a character for it. Off you go. Have fun." and a lot of the fun was just in arsing about and socialising and stuff. I'm sure it still is now, but there's so much uber content and stuff that I think people probable concentrate more on rushing to 80 (or whatever stupidly high number the level cap now is) so they can be "uber" than on just exploring the world and poking around in zones they've never been before. Plus everything has been made so easy now - no matter what class you are, you can get pretty much anywhere with just the click of a mouse button as there are teleporter pedestal thingys that can send you to any town or whatever (though I don't expect many people bother visiting any home towns these days since I think all the main spells from all classes can be got off NPCs in one building in one zone ). Ooh I've turned this into a bit of a rant, haven't I? Oh well, lol...roll on EQC - I'll play that .

[ferala]

Wow, that was a long read. Cost me hours to read the entire history.

There were many games i had not even heard about (mostly because they were made in the early 80's on systems i didn't own and apart from that i didn't have enough money to buy them all and apart from that i had other games to play and had not formed my taste for CRPG's yet).

Fortunately a lot of my all time favourite games are praised:
- Dungeon Master (ofc!)
- Ultima Underworld (what a hype it was in those days and mostly about on what computers it would be able to run)
- Arena: The Elder Scrolls
- MuD's
- Diablo 2
- Might & Magic series
- and many more

Very good games i obviously missed:
- Pool of Radiance
- Fallout
- Runescape: Torment
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Baldur's Gate 2

Some of these are still playable so i can make up for it.

[Jan]

Definitely start with Fallout 1 and 2! You won't regret it!

[oh_brother]

No! Don't listen to Jan! Start with the Baldur's Gate Series!

Actually I don't know, I never played Fallout. I have been meaning to for ages.

[ferala]

i did play baldur's gate, icewind dale, icewind dale 2, neverwinter nights. I just somehow missed baldur's gate 2 i think.

[KayBee]

I really enjoyed that article, it brought back good memories. I played a lot of the games mentioned but I apparently missed a lot of other good ones too.

[ferala]

I have son of 3 who constantly asks if he can watch me play DM. Not sure if that is a good idea, but he likes spiders getting killed. Would be funny when he gets older that he also likes to play this game (if it still can be run)

[Ameena]

Heh, I think a lot of us who were born in the 80s spent some time watching our parents/older siblings playing DM. I know I played it myself, though not till about 1990 (the year I turned six), but also spent lots of time watching my dad play it. Just think, if your kid watches you playing it and finds it scary, then he can grow up and join this forum and reminisce about how scary he found the monsters back when he was three .

[Gambit37]

I found the DM monsters scary when I was sixteen!

[Ameena]

Lol yeah, I still don't like the Scorpion noise, or the Dragon (and therefore Hellhound/Rat) one...the latter mainly because it makes me jump if it's right next to me, and if it isn't right next to me I know I have just a second or two to move in A Direction before I get a Fireball in the face...and then I still might if I accidentally step in the wrong direction anyway .