SSI Games Discussion

[BogusMeatFactory]

Many of you may or may not recognize Strategic Simulations Inc., but you most definitely do recognize their role in crafting some of the most memorable classic Western RPGs and Strategy war titles of the late 80's to the mid 90's. They are responsible for the string of great Advanced Dungeons and Dragons titles like the Eye of the Beholder Series, Ravenloft, The Buck Rogers Games, Menzoberranzen and my personal favorite, the Dark Sun series. Others may know them for their strategy war titles like the Panzer General series.

Whatever the case may be, I feel like this company should be a topic for discussion in the community about what titles people enjoyed playing, as well as talking about what titles were disappointing.

For me, I was introduced to their games in 1996 as part of their AD&D Masterpiece Collection was released, featuring a multi-CD set of games including, Dark Sun: Shattered Lands, Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager, Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession, Ravenloft: Stone Prophet, Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse, and Forgotten Realms: Menzoberranzan.

I instantly fell in love with the Dark Sun games, lost in the post-apocalyptic fantasy world ravaged by magic. Although other games entertained, like Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse, I never really got into the other titles as Dark Sun demanded so much of my time and attention. Anyone had experience with the other titles and think I should give them another shot?

Anyways, does SSI's games still hold up today in a modern gaming world? What about collectability of their Gold Box titles? Any thoughts and feelings about the titles in particular? Let's discuss!

[BoneSnapDeez]

Played a ton of classic D&D games, but I'll admit that most were questionably legal downloads.

I do own Dark Sun: Shattered Lands and Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession. Excellent games. Love the settings for both.

As far as collecting goes, the Gold Boxes are amazing looking, but I assume most are quite rare now. Plus, I wouldn't want to deal with the floppy disks of the older games.

Too bad we probably won't see something like the Masterpiece Collection released ever again. I did pick up the D&D Anthology when it was released a few years back, but those are the newer non-SSI games.

[BogusMeatFactory]

Played a ton of classic D&D games, but I'll admit that most were questionably legal downloads.

I do own Dark Sun: Shattered Lands and Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession. Excellent games. Love the settings for both.

As far as collecting goes, the Gold Boxes are amazing looking, but I assume most are quite rare now. Plus, I wouldn't want to deal with the floppy disks of the older games.

Too bad we probably won't see something like the Masterpiece Collection released ever again. I did pick up the D&D Anthology when it was released a few years back, but those are the newer non-SSI games.

I am glad that I still have the Masterpiece Collection in disc form, although it is still loose. Another great compilation set was the Forgotten Realms Archives which have a TON of the Gold Box games like all 3 Eye of the Beholder Games and Pool of Radiance and it's subsequent sequels. It is a great little set, even if I only have the cardboard CD case, which also has all the artwork on it. The stinking copy protection wheels though are lost to time as I have ZERO idea where they went, if they are still alive at all. Oh those whacky copy protection wheels. Such a pain in the butt!

Do you prefer more of the dungeon crawl type like with Eye of the Beholder, or do you prefer the more Role-playing Oriented like with Dark Sun or Buck Rogers?

[BoneSnapDeez]

I prefer the Dark Sun / Buck Rogers styled games.

Actually, I think Dark Sun may be the best SSI game (Shattered Lands that is, I believe there is a sequel but I haven't played it).

That reminds me, when I was a kid I always thought that SSI only made D&D games, so therefore I thought Buck Rogers was a D&D character.

[BogusMeatFactory]

I prefer the Dark Sun / Buck Rogers styled games.

Actually, I think Dark Sun may be the best SSI game (Shattered Lands that is, I believe there is a sequel but I haven't played it).

That reminds me, when I was a kid I always thought that SSI only made D&D games, so therefore I thought Buck Rogers was a D&D character.

Haha, I don't blame you. I agree that I feel that Dark Sun, with all it's horrible horrible game breaking bugs, is the best they made. the combat was great and entertaining and the way they encapsulated the real magic of a real D&D session was fantastic.

The sequel, Wake of the Ravager is a direct sequel which you could import your characters from the previous game into was also really really good, albeit even more buggy than the first. Has some hysterically bad voice acting too!

I very much view Dark Sun as comparable to Ultima 7 in terms of detail and variety in things you can do. There are lots of things going on that could be easily missed. This is a game I always revisit over and over again (which I am doing right now), because of this. I always seem to find more and more in it.

[Nemoide]

I have that AD&D box set from the 90s, but I haven't seriously played any of the games in it. I started them up and that's about it, but I got the impression that they're pretty primitive and I wasn't in the mood for that kind of thing at the time. For some reason I'm a lot more comfortable playing ancient console RPGs than PC RPGs?
I think 2nd edition AD&D and its settings are cool though, so I'm glad to have access to them and do intend on playing them eventually!

[BogusMeatFactory]

I have that AD&D box set from the 90s, but I haven't seriously played any of the games in it. I started them up and that's about it, but I got the impression that they're pretty primitive and I wasn't in the mood for that kind of thing at the time. For some reason I'm a lot more comfortable playing ancient console RPGs than PC RPGs?
I think 2nd edition AD&D and its settings are cool though, so I'm glad to have access to them and do intend on playing them eventually!

Yeah, the pre-1990 stuff is very primitive and I never found appealing, even though I should honestly give it a shot. If you are looking for a console like experience, there are a few SSI games that were ported to console like Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday on the Sega Genesis and of course Eye of the Beholder on the SNES and Sega CD (featured on Together Retro as well!). Buck Rogers is a double edged sword, however, as you have limited classes and races to choose from, but exploration and navigation is done in a third person view on console in contrast to the first person perspective for exploration and the wider variety of character types.

On the whole Console vs. PC debate on RPGs at that time, I think it really boils down to East vs. West in terms of development ideas. From the mid-80's to the mid-90's, PC RPGs has a HUGE concentration of dungeon crawl games, very much influenced by D&D, whereas JRPGs take their influences from Manga and Anime, having an almost episodic like structure in their storytelling.

[Jmustang1968]

I keep flirting with collecting the SSI games and have even bought a few. Problem is I dont have a PC that will play them and are really just dust collectors.

I love the Buck Rogers games and would want to play more SSI games.

[BogusMeatFactory]

I keep flirting with collecting the SSI games and have even bought a few. Problem is I dont have a PC that will play them and are really just dust collectors.

I love the Buck Rogers games and would want to play more SSI games.

You bring up a great point about classic PC games. Really, a lot of people I know who are classic PC collectors collect for the box art and overall look. Games like the Gold Boxes, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers and more are definitely worth owning just for the visual appeal.

I always found it strange that a lot of people are willing to pay money to acquire, refurbish and modify their home consoles, but don't think about spending money to build an old school PC from scratch. It is really quite inexpensive.

We also do have GoG and fancy ol' DosBox for those not willing to go that extra mile. It is all really about finding the right games.

[Tanooki]

I have to admit I've never played one single SSI game, ever, even in my oldwarez days on efnet back in the 90s I never grabbed one. I mean the box art was bar none some of the best ever with that high quality fantasy art you'd expect from a similar era paperback book cover or a D&D box set/book. I was in my teens though and pencil/paper gone semi-obtusely done digital just didn't do it for me as I got over the D&D thing in jr high when I played it a bit with a few others. Sometimes I think I'd like to try the stuff, but they do tend to hate newer PCs, especially 64bit newer PCs.

Perhaps DOSBox would help eh? Perhaps some of that is even pre-tuned on GoGames.com? I've never looked.

It is true that some buy/keep old boxes for the art. I'm guilty of it with just a few games. I've got my original 'talkie CD' release (CIB) of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and over the years I've put the box on display as it's movie poster quality and done by the same artist. I've got Infernal Machine but it's boring, but I also do have a few others. Wing Commander Kilrathi Saga and the Tie/Xwing Collectors Series boxes look amazing, yet sometimes even premium CD boxes like the DOOM Collector's fold out with 1+2+FD on it looks slick as well. SOmetimes that's just what it comes down to, artistry. It's why I have a sealed yellow version of Metroid in a shadowbox, the art.