Agesilaus
Antiquity Studio
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2013
- Messages
- 4,460
The 2nd is considered by some the best one. I never played it, i always have it on a "to play" list but that list has >100 titles so it might never happen.The order is mostly from best to worst but i wasn't overthinking it:
1. Wizardry 7
2. Darklands
3. Cataclys DDA (RL/open world)
4. Knights of the Chalice 1
5. Battle Brothers (barely a crpg but still better even in its crpg-ness than many proper crpgs)
6. DoomRL (or Jupiter Hell) (RL)
7. TOME4 (RL)
8. King of Dragon Pass (not strictly a crpg though but close and good game and i am short of great crpgs at this point)
9. Betrayal at Krondor (a storyfag crpg but a good one)
10. Icewind Dale 1
Other picks i considered:
Mount & Blade Warband (not strictly a crpg but close - especially some mods )
Ultima V
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup - DCSS (RL, a version from 5+ years ago),
Quest for Glory (1 and 4, i consider them mostly adventure games not crpgs but they are fabulous)
Might and Magic 7
NEO Scavenger
I might have forgotten some good and important titles. In fact i'm pretty sure i did.
Also i am 99% sure that KotC2 would be on that list if i had played it already.
Hmmm based on this I went and picked up QfG 4. QfG 1 is undeniably an amazing game that deserves eternal praise. Specifically the command-line version, but I'm willing to give QfG 4 a shot despite its mouse interface and new graphics. Adventure Games entered a steep and almost irreversible decline with the advent of mouse-based interfaces, but if QfG 4 is being paired with HQ/QfG 1 specifically then maybe it is good. I will soon find out.
As to 4. Objectively - it is worse that 1, especially as an adventure game with puzzles. However it a great setting with some quirky humour but also a few genuinely scary and or sad moments in my opinion. Also is very buggy unless there is some new fan-made patch since i played it.
Hmm I will probably just give number 2 another shot, then. I bought a collection, so it has them all. I prefer the graphics of QfG 2 anyway, and have played it before (but never finished it). I don't know if any game really captures the unique magic of QfG1. It had great adventure game scenes/puzzles, it had a combat system and interesting variety of monsters, players had to explore the forest around the town, somewhat complex skillset and progression that impacted how you played, etc. Also, it's got nostalgia going for it, and it pre-dates the time when adventure game interfaces and graphics went overly cartoonish and mouse-driven. Heroine's Quest imitated it, but something didn't click for me with that game. Quest for Infamy is one I need to spend more time on, but waiting for the Beta 2.0 to reach full release (the dev is still around, he posted on his patreon a few days ago).