Which PC RPGs of 1995 and 1996 have you played? [top 100 voting thread]

[IncendiaryDevice]

Same rules as before, this time for 1995 and 1996.

Notes:

Because 1996 is a bit light in quantity I've merged it with 1995 for the purposes of the voting stage. Each year will be separate on the results thread though.

The further back I go, the further I get from my comfort zone, so please feel free to highlight any games I might have missed that you personally want to see in the polls, or highlight any errors you might notice.

 

[Citizen]

Great games in the list, but where's JA: Deadly Games?

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

Great games in the list, but where's JA: Deadly Games?

Because I read this:

Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games[edit]
Released in 1996, Deadly Games is a DOS sequel to the original game. It features a different format, however, and is considered by some to be more of a spin-off than a sequel. This game features the same engine and top-down perspective as the original game.

In Deadly Games, the player takes a group of mercenaries through a series of missions. The missions are linked chronologically, removing the need for micro-management on a strategic map. The scenario branches somewhat depending on the player's successes and failures. There are multiple terrain types, the mercenaries are hired and fired between missions, and Micky, the first equipment trader of the series, offers his services; for example, he may occasionally sell the player junk equipment, thereby prompting the mercs to voice their displeasure with the deal).

The most innovative aspects of Deadly Games include a wide variety of special ops mission types like hostage rescues, demolition, and infiltration missions. It featured turn limits and a boosted AI as well as networkedmultiplayer capabilities. The integrated scenario and campaign editors allow for the creation of custom strategic scenarios, adding to the replay value. Mercenary weapons can be modified by adding scopes, silencers, and barrel extenders. Heavier equipment such as grenade launchers and mortars are available as well.

Deadly Games was a runner-up for Computer Game Entertainment's 1996 "Best Strategy Game" prize, which ultimately went to Civilization II. The editors called Deadly Games "an excellent expansion pack".

 

[octavius]

It's certainly far more of an RPG than the FPS Strife is.

Missing:
Swords of Xeen
Mordor: The Depths of Dejenol

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

It's certainly far more of an RPG than the FPS Strife is.

So you think I should remove Strife? Is it an FPS with RPG elements, and RPG with FPS elements or a fairly neat hybrid?

Missing:
Swords of Xeen

...

Swords of Xeen is a role-playing video game developed by Catware and published by New World Computing. It was initially released in 1995 as a "bonus scenario" in the Might and Magic Trilogy compilation (the "trilogy" refers to Might and Magic III, IV, and V). [1] Subsequently, it was also included in several series anthologies. The game was never published in standalone form.

Ye-olde-DLC...?

Mordor: The Depths of Dejenol

Added

 

[laclongquan]

What a shit two years~

 

[octavius]

It's certainly far more of an RPG than the FPS Strife is.

So you think I should remove Strife? Is it an FPS with RPG elements, and RPG with FPS elements or a fairly neat hybrid?

If you want only pure CRPGs, remove it. Else you can just as well as JA and X-Com which are more CRPG than Strategy IMO.

Swords of Xeen was a bonus material, not a standalone game, so I guess that makes it not qualify?

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

It's certainly far more of an RPG than the FPS Strife is.

So you think I should remove Strife? Is it an FPS with RPG elements, and RPG with FPS elements or a fairly neat hybrid?

If you want only pure CRPGs, remove it. Else you can just as well as JA and X-Com which are more CRPG than Strategy IMO.

Swords of Xeen was a bonus material, not a standalone game, so I guess that makes it not qualify?

The lists have included lots of hybrids. The question is emphasis. I asked you what the emphasis was in a game and you've just started reeling of the names of other games, as if that somehow enables me to understand the emphasis of the original game under discussion.

Regards Xeen, yes, that would be my thinking too.

 

[Dorateen]

Thunderscape was a good game.

 

[octavius]

The lists have included lots of hybrids. The question is emphasis. I asked you what the emphasis was in a game and you've just started reeling of the names of other games, as if that somehow enables me to understand the emphasis of the original game under discussion.

When playing Strife I never thought for a moment I was playing a CRPG or a FPS with RPG elements. It's a shooter with somewhat more NPC interaction.
JA and X-COM are CRPGs (of the tactical sort, not the storyfaggotry sort) with a Strategy overlay. In comparison AoW and HoMM, where you control armies insted of squads, are Strategy with heave CRPG elements.
But they are all more CRPG than Strife is, IMO.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

The lists have included lots of hybrids. The question is emphasis. I asked you what the emphasis was in a game and you've just started reeling of the names of other games, as if that somehow enables me to understand the emphasis of the original game under discussion.

When playing Strife I never thought for a moment I was playing a CRPG or a FPS with RPG elements. It's a shooter with somewhat more NPC interaction.
JA and X-COM are CRPGs (of the tactical sort, not the storyfaggotry sort) with a Strategy overlay. In comparison AoW and HoMM, where you control armies insted of squads, are Strategy with heave CRPG elements.
But they are all more CRPG than Strife is, IMO.

Well, at his point in time no-one else has chimed in on the issue of Strife, either by posting or rating you, and the game has 8 votes, and while I'm happy to believe your opinion I'm reluctant to make a final decision on excluding it without any second or third opinions. My reason for including it was based on this quote:

Strife added some role-playing game elements to the classic first-person shooter formula, such as allowing players to talk to other characters in the game's world or improve the protagonist's abilities. Contemporary reviews praised these innovations and the story, but also criticized the quality of the graphics and the obsolete engine. Years after its release, the game was retrospectively considered to have been underappreciated in its day, and described as a precursor to games such as Deus Ex.

But I am open to excluding it.

 

[Fowyr]

So you think I should remove Strife? Is it an FPS with RPG elements, and RPG with FPS elements or a fairly neat hybrid?

What RPG elements?
It's just very good FPS (I finished it several times) with open-world parts, NPCs, quests and bit of C&Cs. It doesn't even have any RPG system, just boni to max HP and accuracy.

Played everything except Aspetra, Obsidian Baboon, Excellent Potato and Mordor.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

Fair do's. If no-one objects any further I'll ignore Strife's scores. If people want to defend its rpg status then I'll be happy to listen.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Edit: Also Strife isn't an RPG.

 

[laclongquan]

IncendiaryDevice I do note that Jagged Alliance 2 is considered rpg for a decade now. So if it fit the time frame, add it~

 

[mondblut]

Swords of Xeen is a role-playing video game developed by Catware and published by New World Computing. It was initially released in 1995 as a "bonus scenario" in the Might and Magic Trilogy compilation (the "trilogy" refers to Might and Magic III, IV, and V). [1] Subsequently, it was also included in several series anthologies. The game was never published in standalone form.

Ye-olde-DLC...?

No, stand-alone game in a standalone world using Darkside of Xeen engine and assets. About as DLC as Gateway to Savage Frontier is to Curse of Azure Bonds.

Also, define "playing". Does running it for 5 minutes and realizing it sucks count? I've got a few on the list that I wish I never had installed, i.e. diablow, entomorph, strife, aspetra...

 

[anvi]

Aren't these polls going forward in time? Why are we back in the 90s?! This was an especially awesome year though, loved some of those games.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

IncendiaryDevice I do note that Jagged Alliance 2 is considered rpg for a decade now. So if it fit the time frame, add it~

Jagged Alliance 2 has already been in a poll and was voted into a very comfortable spot in the charts.

Swords of Xeen is a role-playing video game developed by Catware and published by New World Computing. It was initially released in 1995 as a "bonus scenario" in the Might and Magic Trilogy compilation (the "trilogy" refers to Might and Magic III, IV, and V). [1] Subsequently, it was also included in several series anthologies. The game was never published in standalone form.

Ye-olde-DLC...?

No, stand-alone game in a standalone world using Darkside of Xeen engine and assets. About as DLC as Gateway to Savage Frontier is to Curse of Azure Bonds.

Also, define "playing". Does running it for 5 minutes and realizing it sucks count? I've got a few on the list that I wish I never had installed, i.e. diablow, entomorph, strife, aspetra...

Since you're the second person to care about Swords of Xeen I'll add it as a poster choice, it was one I considered for a long time but doing these lists is all about drawing lines and if a game gives me a hint that its excludable I jump at the chance. So, anyway, added.

Re: the definition of "playing", I've defined it many times, but for those who've missed it then its: You've played enough of the game to know whether you like it or not (so excluding failure to install and similar glitches at the pre-game stage, such as getting to the main menu and pressing new game and the game not loading in etc), but yes, you can establish whether a game is for you after any amount of time in a game. So, for me, like you, I gave Diablo a few dungeons and gave up out of sheer boredom, so I voted played, you sound like you needed a couple fewer screen to reach the same conclusion, but you still "gave it your best shot", the amount of time your shot lasts is immaterial [innuendos aside, obv].

Aren't these polls going forward in time? Why are we back in the 90s?! This was an especially awesome year though, loved some of those games.

They alternate between going forward and going back from the polling start date of 2003, for many awesome and detailed reasons that were briefly discussed during the first poll.

 

[mondblut]

Re: the definition of "playing", I've defined it many times, but for those who've missed it then its: You've played enough of the game to know whether you like it or not

That would mean about 20 seconds in. Unless massive party creation is involved, but that already implies I like it.

Alrighty, un-played everything I immediately recoiled from.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

daily bump

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

Bumping to catch people looking at the other similar thread.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

Bumping because Iznaliu just spammed the crap out of the forum and there might be a percentage chance this bump will piss him off.

 

[anvi]

I am gonna play some of these games again.

 

[Iznaliu]

Bumping because Iznaliu just spammed the crap out of the forum and there might be a percentage chance this bump will piss him off.

I have nothing to say and I've given up dealing with these threads.