Together RPG - Western RPG - Planescape: Torment

[MrPopo]

The only thing more hardcore than Wizardry is trying to play Wizardry II and III on the PC without backing up your saves.

I hear Wizardry IV is the hardest of the series. That's the one where you play as Werdna, the villian from the earlier games. Having just been defeated, you start with nothing at the bottom of a dungeon. I haven't played it myself, but the CRPG Addict had some choice words about the game.

Might & Magic I on the other hand is one of his highest ranking games. If we want to play one of the big foundational PC RPGs, I'd suggest that one over Wizardry or Ultima. But that's a whole other discussion.

Love CRPG Addict. I think on its own Wizardry IV is the hardest, but Wizardry II and III have the additional wrinkle that they are tuned for carrying over a party from the previous game, and if you wipe your corpses are stuck in the dungeon until another party can go and retrieve them. And the game auto-saves, so unless you back up your saves you need to raise up multiple parties and keep them roughly equal in strength or you'll have to start all over again with Wizardry.

[BoneSnapDeez]

That blog is awesome, just discovered it yesterday.

I really wish the Wizardry 1/2/3 collection on Super Famicom (released in 1999!) had made it over to the States. It's pretty sweet.

[Raiiban]

I just spent a little time looking at some of the other WRPGs on this list that I'm less familiar with, the older ones.

I haven't played many WRPGs as a whole and I've played very few WRPGs prior to the Infinity Engine era which seem to be a bit more streamlined and refined compared to the older ones like Wizardry and the original Wasteland. I honestly don't know if I could handle them or not. They seem very complex and full of meta that you need to employ or suffer the consequences. Maybe I'm wrong and most of these are a bit easier than they seem?

Even if some are very difficult, I'm almost curious to try one just to see how far out of my comfort zone I could go and enjoy a game.

[Jmustang1968]

Voting ends tonight, then we start on action rpg voting.

[Menegrothx]

Even if some are very difficult, I'm almost curious to try one just to see how far out of my comfort zone I could go and enjoy a game.

Ultima 4-7. Not only because they were very innovative and influental back when they came out, but because they are still beyond what most RPGs do when it comes to world simulation, lore and story. The storyline for the Ultima 4-6 trilogy is brilliant even by today's standards. Pretty much all objects in the game world have a function. Ultima 5 had daily scheuldes for NPCs back in 1988 etc. 1988!! Those games were way ahead of their time.

Might & Magic I on the other hand is one of his highest ranking games. If we want to play one of the big foundational PC RPGs, I'd suggest that one over Wizardry or Ultima. But that's a whole other discussion.

Hell no. Ultima=RPGs=Ultima (and RAW is Jericho)

[Hatta]

I meant Ultima I. It's a very thin game. Ultima II is kind of crappy too. Ultima III and later are all great candidates.

[MrPopo]

I meant Ultima I. It's a very thin game. Ultima II is kind of crappy too. Ultima III and later are all great candidates.

I dunno, I found Ultima III to be grindtastic. It's definitely a proto form of what became the JRPG, but since it was such a forerunner it lacks a huge amount of refinement.

[Menegrothx]

I meant Ultima I. It's a very thin game. Ultima II is kind of crappy too. Ultima III and later are all great candidates.

Fair enough. Although I personally don't really see any reason to play any of those really early games unless they still hold up like some games made during the latter half of 1980s do (Phantasy Star, Wasteland, U4+U5...). How's Bard's Tale? Quest for Glory is an intresting take on the genre, combining point and click adventure with RPG elements. 3 and 4 look quite good (as do many other early 1990s point and click adventure games). Although I'd rather play stuff like Arcanum, Planescape, Deus Ex, Fallout, Baldur's Gate 2, VtbM etc before playing any early 1990s non dungeon crawler WRPGs.

[TheSSNintendo]

Never really heard of Planescape, but I might give it a shot when it's time.

[MrPopo]

Never really heard of Planescape, but I might give it a shot when it's time.

If you've never heard of Planescape it means you've never spent any time among fans of Western RPGs.