CRPGAddict

[octavius]

Haven't played U6 yet since I want to work my way up from U4 (which I have almost finished now). I think its interesting how much the Addict loves the interface considering how much Spoony hated it, which got me a little 'scared' of U6. So who is right on this?

Well, it depends. I would say that Spoony is right, but CRPGAddict's impressions are colored by the fact that he's been playing very old RPGs. He's seeing things in the historical context, you could say. U6's interface is unwieldy, but the things that it allowed you to do were revolutionary at the time it was released.

You've been playing old RPGs too, so maybe you'll agree with him, or maybe not.

I've been playing only old games myself for the past three years. Of all the games I've tried, along with emulated old ZX Spectrum games, Ultima 6 and 7 are the only ones I gave up on due to the UI (including the view area). So I have to agree with Spoony and disagree with Addict. The view area of U6 is claustrophobic and the UI for item management was unwieldy compared to U5. Opening a chest a dozen items would pop out making a smudgy pile on the floor with individual items hard to make out. Only good thing about it was the paperdolls.

 

[Infinitron]

CRPG AddictFebruary 9, 2014 at 12:44 PM
1. Not really. The two Worlds of Ultima games sound really dumb, so I can't say I'm looking forward to them.

crpgaddict WTF.

 

[rpgcodexusername]

crpgaddict you cunt, when the fuck will you review the greatest crpg of all time: Star Trail and the other two RoA games that are nearly as good?

Mother Russia, you onanistic jackass, it looks like around fall 2017 at current rates of play. The first RoA should be around winter/spring 2015, though!

He got the measure of DerpHaira pretty quickly

 

[crpgaddict]

I could swear that, early in my blogging career, some reprobate on this forum criticized me for not finishing Wizardry II. So I came here to quote that post and say, "Boom, motherf@#$*!" and link him to:

http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2014/03/wizardry-ii-won.html

But I can't find the post, so maybe I just hallucinated it.

Meanwhile, having not visited in a long time, I find Octavius going on about the breasts in Wizardry VI. Man, seriously? You comment on my blog all the time, and now I find you trashing me on another site? I explained exactly what my problem was with the nudity in W6--not the nudity itself, but some creepy, long-haired, mustached 80s dude pushing nudity in my face. I don't know how else I can explain the difference. Your character is OUT of Silver Blades.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

octavius , thou hast been summoned.

crpgaddict , congrats on finishing Wizardry II. I am a big fan of the Might and Magics, Ultimas, rogue-like games, and others that require you to grind a bit in dungeons, but I never could get into the earlier Wizardry games. Eventually I want to beat Wizardry I at least, and can appreciate anyone who has taken the time to win Wizardry 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. It's a feat I never seemed to have the patience that is required.

I do agree with Octavius that you go a bit overboard about the nudity, especially since you have an appreciation for modern CRPGs. You state that you think it is creepy that some greasy dude drew a half-nude girl to admire in the game, but you have to admit its a bit creepy that the female romance and sex dialogues from modern CRPGs such as Dragon Age: Origins are written by the same kind of person. I don't know how you can be disturbed about a picture on one hand, but not creeped out by modern games and their pushing you to actively participate in their fanfic-like dialogue on the other hand.

 

[Whisper]

CRPG addict i always read your posts on blog, ty for providing interesting read.

 

[felipepepe]

I should thanks you as well crpgaddict , not only for the awesome text (you should compile a book - I would buy it), but for the great images with correct aspect-ratio in .png. Stole many of those for the now mythical Top 50 cRPG Reviews. :3

 

[suejak]

He is, in fact, writing a book.

 

[felipepepe]

He is, in fact, writing a book.

Yeah, I found a blog post about that, but it was in early 2013... no updates since then?

 

[crpgaddict]

He is, in fact, writing a book.

Yeah, I found a blog post about that, but it was in early 2013... no updates since then?

It's been tough to prioritize this project, especially given how much time I spend on the blog already. I'll get something out eventually, but I'm not going to post any more about it until I have it at least 3/4 finished.

 

[Whisper]

He is, in fact, writing a book.

Yeah, I found a blog post about that, but it was in early 2013... no updates since then?

It's been tough to prioritize this project, especially given how much time I spend on the blog already. I'll get something out eventually, but I'm not going to post any more about it until I have it at least 3/4 finished.

As reader of your blog for 3 years, can i ask of something?

I wait for one particular game - called Arcaterra the dark brotherhood - can you try to finish it in your blog?

This game is non-static, i.e. NPC lead their own life not depending on you, events happens at time they supposed to happen not depending on you and a lot things are randomized from start. Also NPC dont talk with your forever, you can ask some questions but talking a lot will bother them (some faster, some can talk longer) so you need come another day.
So all in all its very close to reality game. And there is no walkthru for it, except 1 and no lets plays. I knowu have ability to finish hard (not combat, but intellectual) games.

 

[crpgaddict]

I wait for one particular game - called Arcaterra the dark brotherhood - can you try to finish it in your blog?

It's on my list for 2000. I'll do my best to get to it, but unfortunately I'm not going to go outside of my chronology, so stick with me for the long haul.

 

[TigerKnee]

By the way, according to some other blog post of yours (Wiz 4), I think it was Wizardry 3 people were razzing you about. Also it was RPGWatch.

http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2010/10/wizardry-iv-paroled.html

 

[Whisper]

I wait for one particular game - called Arcaterra the dark brotherhood - can you try to finish it in your blog?

It's on my list for 2000. I'll do my best to get to it, but unfortunately I'm not going to go outside of my chronology, so stick with me for the long haul.

....

 

[laclongquan]

I remember that name, it's slightly similar to arcanum so I tried it. Dont remember much else.

Google screenshot and they cant even jog my memories.

Conclusion: bad game.

 

[V_K]

It was an overambitious bugfest with pretty backgrounds and shitty rtwp combat. The only good thing about it was its dialogue system.

 

[Whisper]

Crpg addict, please ignore two dudes above. And ty for playing this game in future. Probably one of most non-linear and close to reality game i saw. You are one of best gamers i know, so i hope you can succeed in it.

IF you finish it - you will be first who will do letsplay-type on it on internet.

 

[The Weary Adventurer]

I wait for one particular game - called Arcaterra the dark brotherhood - can you try to finish it in your blog?

It's on my list for 2000. I'll do my best to get to it, but unfortunately I'm not going to go outside of my chronology, so stick with me for the long haul.

Love your blog man. You have been a big inspiration on me for starting one up myself! Great work!

 

[Sceptic]

crpgaddict is now playing QFG2. He likes it. Unsurprisingly since it's an awesome game.

To force him to post here more often, I'm going to reply to some of his comments here instead of the blog.

However, I'm curious about one thing: if my mage becomes a paladin, can he use a sword? That I think fighters are somewhat "boring" doesn't mean I want to fight with a dagger for four more games.

You shouldn't be using your daggers much as a mage. I mean, you're a mage! Cast those spells! The only time you'd be using the dagger is if you've cast Zap on it first, but the other offensive spells are generally more useful. Be advised that, if you turn your Mage into a Paladin (it's possible in QFG2, and in fact quite easy, compared to the Thief), you will be getting the Paladin-only events in future games as opposed to the Mage-only events. It's the way the games work. If you want the full Mage experience, don't take the Paladin way. Then again, if you're playing the game blind, you might end up a Paladin without meaning to. Just remember what Paladins are supposed to do and how they're supposed to act (Rakeesh tells you quite a bit about all that).

I consulted the map hoping there would be an "Arcana Tarik" or something. There was nothing like that, but there was a dead-end street in a very obvous place at the top of the map, where some kind of facility would have symmetry with the other plazas and buildings. I figured that must be it.

Casting Detect all over the city would eventually lead you to this alley and to the door. Oh and don't be afraid to cast Detect elsewhere too, there are a lot of places where it gets you a reaction (IIRC such as outside Aziza's).

a guy I didn't know, a blacked-out portrait (curious about that)

I'm pretty sure there's away to ask about these two, and even to get them to sponsor you. Make sure you save before trying the black portrait!

 

[abnaxus]

Corey Cole is commenting on his blog, neat.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Corey Cole is commenting on his blog, neat.

Yep. She's been a regular commenter for more than a couple years now. Sometimes she adds comments on obscure RPG games she played that have no connection to her company, so it's cool to see that she was not only a designer but also a serious enough fan and player of the genre.

 

[octavius]

Corey is a she? What's with Americans and their androgyne names?

 

[Tripicus]

Corey is a guy. JC has an interview of him and his wife on Matt Chat.

 

[Sceptic]

Corey's the guy, Lori's the girl.

 

[Infinitron]

http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2014/07/game-155-ring-of-darkness-1982.html

So imagine you're an eager young player in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s, and you've just unpackaged your new Dragon 32 or ZX Spectrum. Maybe in some magazines you've heard about the Wizardry or Ultima series in the U.S., and you start looking around for something to fill that RPG craving. You find nothing, unless you want to type the code for The Valleyyourself. You start to suspect that the U.S. is going to dominate the Computer Age.

Then a company like Wintersoft comes along and offers a game like Ring of Darkness. You don't care that it's a breathtakingly obvious ripoff of Ultima; it's not like Richard Garriott--the prick who has the audacity to call himself Lord British--was porting his stuff to your little Welsh machine. It's all you have, and you love it.


Fighting an "evil ranger" in the wilderness between a river and a city.

When I say "breathtakingly obvious ripoff," I couldn't be more serious. The product would be indistinguishable from Ultima except for the couple of features it steals from Akalabeth and Ultima II. These include:

• Overland, iconographic surface navigation is contrasted with first-person wireframe dungeon movement.
• The game has the same attributes, races, and character classes as Ultima, plus modifications to attributes based on race and class choices.
• The same enemies pop up in the wilderness, including "evil rangers" (Ultima)
• The command list is copied almost directly from Ultima, including (K)limb, (Z)stats, and (I)nform and Search.

The Z-stats result.

• A king gives you random quests to visit signs and slay enemies (Akalabeth and Ultima) and takes your gold for hit-point increases (Ultima and Ultima II)
• Oh, but you also get hit points when you leave dungeons, based on the number of enemies you killed! (Akalabeth, Ultima)
• Quests offered by kings alter between visiting signs and killing specific enemies in dungeons (Ultima)
• Towns feature little counters selling weapons, armor, spells, and food. You engage them by walking up and hitting (T)ransact.
• Bartenders give hints when you buy drinks (Ultima).
• Spells appear as inventory items that deplete as cast (all three games)
• You need to constantly watch dwindling food supplies (all three games)
• Magic only works in dungeons (Ultima II)
• A king's castle features a princess in jail and a jester wandering around who steals from you. And guess what the jester has to say?

Oh wow. I wonder if MMXI heard of this one.