Joe Molotov
Member
I got the opportunity to purchase the following item a few days about for a mere 5 quatloos:
* Stonekeep
* The Bard's Tale
* The Bard's Tale II
* The Bard's Tale III
* The Bard's Tale Construction Set
* Ultima Underworld
* Ultima Underworld II
* Dragon Wars
* Wasteland
* Might & Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen
* Might & Magic V: Darkside of Xeen
* Wizardry Gold
Maybe not the 12 best RPGs ever made, but this is a solid collection. Stonekeep I seem to remember not living up to the hype after it's much-delayed released, but who has time to worry about that when you got the M&M Xeen games, Ultima Underworld, and Wasteland right there staring at you. Wasteland is, as you probably know, a sort of precursor to Fallout.
Playing some of these games reminds me of why I used to love these kinds of games. It's just pure unadulterated hack & loot action. There isn't a half-hour long intro about your main character is love with some chick but he doesn't know how to tell her and then his village gets burned down and they get separated but he's still in love with her even though she's a horse or some emo BS like that. These are RPGs for men. Manly men who just want to cleave a kobold in half and take it's Vorpal Sword.
*cue The Battle Hymm of the Republic*
I don't want to see 15 minutes cut-scenes of your party's entrance into some cerulean city of enlightment and wonder and unless I can just get in there and start hacking people to bits for no good reason and then steal all their awesome stuff. I don't want to have to guess anymore about the gender of my main character. I don't want to play as the loser who keeps getting betrayed by his friends because he's too stupid to see the painfully obvious and the game won't let you intercede on his behalf. I do want to stab some stupid shopkeeper in the face next time he sends me on some stupid fetch quest for an item that I need for saving the world.
Who's with me!?
*cue fireworks in the shape of an American Flag*
But seriously though, Wizardry Gold...aka Wizadry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant...has there even been a better RPG made? Don't answer that, because you're probably wrong. And here's why:
- Wizardry VII has a plot (apparently), but is so good that you can ignore the plot completely and still have the best game ever. I don't remember ever doing a single story-related quest in my entire run of the game, and I played it for at least a hundred hours. All I know is that there's something about a Dark Savant and he's trying to get the Astral Dominae and some robot guy teleports you totally against your will down to the planet of Guardia to stop him. Sounds pretty awesome, but I never really got any farther than that. Probably because I killed any NPC that might have given me any clues.
- Which brings me to the second point, which is that Wiz7 has alot of awesome NPCs to kill. In one part you have to scale this tower that serves as a training ground for initiate wizards. As you ascend in rank, you gain access to the upper floor. The head wizard tells you that if you can make it to the top, he'll turn over his rank of Wizard Master to you. Fortunately he was lying, which means you get to fight him. Also, there's a Old Blind Rat-Man that you meet up with at some point. I think you were supposed to help him, or maybe he was supposed to help you, but at any rate, I just fought him instead. So naturally he turns out to be an crazy Rat Ninja who also happens to be one of the toughest NPCs in the game. Defeating him gives you the most awesome Ninja staff in the game.
- Which brings me to the third point, which is that Faerie Ninjas are the most powerful race/class in the game. If you don't know why this is a positive, just repeat it to yourself a few times. Faerie Ninjas. Faerie F'ing Ninjas. If you're wondering why they're the best, it's simply because their super-high agility gives them an impenetrable defense after just a few levels. Plus they can use the awesome Rat Ninja Staff.
- I played this game for what had to have been hundreds of hours, never even got close to beating it, and still rate it as one of the most satisfying gaming experiences ever. Beat that, Fable!!
There just aren't that many RPGs from those days that are still around anymore (besides Elder Scrolls, of course). Some games try, but inevitably fail, to capture the glory days (like The Bard's Tale remake :vomit: ). But at least we still have the memories, and this righteous RPG anthology! Too bad it's been out-of-print for like a million years.
Interplay! If you can hear me from the depths of bankruptcy hell, you need to re-release some of your RPG collections! And make them work with Windows XP, because it's a real pain trying to get them working DosBox. There was also a pretty sweet Forgotten Realms Collection released around the same time. Do they even own the rights to these games anymore? WTF is even going on with Interplay these days? Inquiring minds want to know, kinda, but not really.
* Stonekeep
* The Bard's Tale
* The Bard's Tale II
* The Bard's Tale III
* The Bard's Tale Construction Set
* Ultima Underworld
* Ultima Underworld II
* Dragon Wars
* Wasteland
* Might & Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen
* Might & Magic V: Darkside of Xeen
* Wizardry Gold
Maybe not the 12 best RPGs ever made, but this is a solid collection. Stonekeep I seem to remember not living up to the hype after it's much-delayed released, but who has time to worry about that when you got the M&M Xeen games, Ultima Underworld, and Wasteland right there staring at you. Wasteland is, as you probably know, a sort of precursor to Fallout.
Playing some of these games reminds me of why I used to love these kinds of games. It's just pure unadulterated hack & loot action. There isn't a half-hour long intro about your main character is love with some chick but he doesn't know how to tell her and then his village gets burned down and they get separated but he's still in love with her even though she's a horse or some emo BS like that. These are RPGs for men. Manly men who just want to cleave a kobold in half and take it's Vorpal Sword.
*cue The Battle Hymm of the Republic*
I don't want to see 15 minutes cut-scenes of your party's entrance into some cerulean city of enlightment and wonder and unless I can just get in there and start hacking people to bits for no good reason and then steal all their awesome stuff. I don't want to have to guess anymore about the gender of my main character. I don't want to play as the loser who keeps getting betrayed by his friends because he's too stupid to see the painfully obvious and the game won't let you intercede on his behalf. I do want to stab some stupid shopkeeper in the face next time he sends me on some stupid fetch quest for an item that I need for saving the world.
Who's with me!?
*cue fireworks in the shape of an American Flag*
But seriously though, Wizardry Gold...aka Wizadry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant...has there even been a better RPG made? Don't answer that, because you're probably wrong. And here's why:
- Wizardry VII has a plot (apparently), but is so good that you can ignore the plot completely and still have the best game ever. I don't remember ever doing a single story-related quest in my entire run of the game, and I played it for at least a hundred hours. All I know is that there's something about a Dark Savant and he's trying to get the Astral Dominae and some robot guy teleports you totally against your will down to the planet of Guardia to stop him. Sounds pretty awesome, but I never really got any farther than that. Probably because I killed any NPC that might have given me any clues.
- Which brings me to the second point, which is that Wiz7 has alot of awesome NPCs to kill. In one part you have to scale this tower that serves as a training ground for initiate wizards. As you ascend in rank, you gain access to the upper floor. The head wizard tells you that if you can make it to the top, he'll turn over his rank of Wizard Master to you. Fortunately he was lying, which means you get to fight him. Also, there's a Old Blind Rat-Man that you meet up with at some point. I think you were supposed to help him, or maybe he was supposed to help you, but at any rate, I just fought him instead. So naturally he turns out to be an crazy Rat Ninja who also happens to be one of the toughest NPCs in the game. Defeating him gives you the most awesome Ninja staff in the game.
- Which brings me to the third point, which is that Faerie Ninjas are the most powerful race/class in the game. If you don't know why this is a positive, just repeat it to yourself a few times. Faerie Ninjas. Faerie F'ing Ninjas. If you're wondering why they're the best, it's simply because their super-high agility gives them an impenetrable defense after just a few levels. Plus they can use the awesome Rat Ninja Staff.
- I played this game for what had to have been hundreds of hours, never even got close to beating it, and still rate it as one of the most satisfying gaming experiences ever. Beat that, Fable!!
There just aren't that many RPGs from those days that are still around anymore (besides Elder Scrolls, of course). Some games try, but inevitably fail, to capture the glory days (like The Bard's Tale remake :vomit: ). But at least we still have the memories, and this righteous RPG anthology! Too bad it's been out-of-print for like a million years.
Interplay! If you can hear me from the depths of bankruptcy hell, you need to re-release some of your RPG collections! And make them work with Windows XP, because it's a real pain trying to get them working DosBox. There was also a pretty sweet Forgotten Realms Collection released around the same time. Do they even own the rights to these games anymore? WTF is even going on with Interplay these days? Inquiring minds want to know, kinda, but not really.
