First-Person CRPGs

[_oBSOLEte_]

Reading this thread made me search around for M&M2, the first game of the series I played on a 8086 CGA. Seems there's a NES port of the first M&M that may still be worth playing nowadays, with savestates and fast-forwarding. They got a nice looking Gigeresque demon on the top of the screen, maybe foreboding the sci-fi elements of the plot, and the music is a welcome addition.

There's also a PCEngine CD version I need to check out. Those guys at The Repo are awesome really.

 

[brighter]

It's on my wishlist, but they lose me a little at procedural generation

the procgen works for it IMO. the game is structured like Angband, and they have enough variation for things to be interesting. Obviously not gonna beat a King's Field's dungeon though!

 

[Mopeybloke]

I like the idea of them, but never stuck with one for over 2 gameplay sessions or so.

Late last year I tried my hand at Dread Delusion, and it has many of the problems I dislike with such games. First, why so slow? Huge expanses to traverse, and a pitiful walking speed. Why do they keep doing that?

Another problem that weapons seem to not be very impactful. Like, I get I ain't playing an action game, but making it fun to hit things would go a long way.

Finally, movement, besides being slow, has little sense of momentum. Essentially, in these games, it tends to not be very fun to walk around and fight, and that's almost everything you can do.

The good things are the freedom they afford the player. Although choice paralysis can have a negative effect. They weren't made for Japanese RPG bred, coddled players like myself. So please just play the game for me, okay?

The one game I started playing that I think I'll eventually go back and finish is Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. Fighting is actually good in that game. Not only was it designed as an action game, but it inherits the fun physics of the Source engine. Imagine the world if Bethesda had licensed that engine and now all their games had good combat! Imagine!

 

[MasterChiefX]

I've been trying to get into Wizardry recently. I keep struggling but i will give it a couple more tries. The remake of Wizardry 1 has helped me a lot however. I tried the PS1 remake of 1 and was having a hard time, same with 6. I cannot understand these games, on Wizardry 6 i kept getting party wiped within minutes, on my first attempt i died because i didn't know i had to manually equip weapons for first time. After surviving my first encounter...the roof collapsed and killed 3 party members. I tried using guides but it looks like everyone either cheats or rerolls for hours until they get a party full of advanced classes, i don't find that fun at all.

 

[RustySK]

I've been trying to get into Wizardry recently. I keep struggling but i will give it a couple more tries. The remake of Wizardry 1 has helped me a lot however. I tried the PS1 remake of 1 and was having a hard time, same with 6. I cannot understand these games, on Wizardry 6 i kept getting party wiped within minutes, on my first attempt i died because i didn't know i had to manually equip weapons for first time. After surviving my first encounter...the roof collapsed and killed 3 party members. I tried using guides but it looks like everyone either cheats or rerolls for hours until they get a party full of advanced classes, i don't find that fun at all.

Which is a completely fair take! The Wizardry series is ancient at this point and from a modern perspective they're as brutal and clunky as it gets.
I haven't played them all, so take this with a massive grain of salt, but generally speaking you don't really HAVE to re-roll your characters over and over to get optimal results, but it can definitely help a lot.

You need to approach the classic entries in that series as though you're doing a mandatory challenge run.
Failure is very much part of the intended experience. And not in the sense that a modern game may pound its metaphorical chest for challenging you here or there - until you understand what you're doing, these games will kick you while you're down and laugh at you while they're at it.

They're not for everyone. Hell, they're not even for most retro enthusiasts!