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Computer Games That Defined RPGs In the 1980s
adeelarshad82 writes "The 1980s were huge for RPGs. This genre was one of the most defining game forms in the computer gaming world. A recently published article strolls down the memory lane to look back at classic computer games that both defined and extended the definition of the RPG in the 1980s. The roundup includes some obvious ones like Ultima and The Bard's Tale, and others which you may never have heard of."
Nuff said. Great series...humor was great.
I played 7 out of these 10 when they were cutting edge. I wonder if this makes me old or just "classic".
I always liked the RPG in Duke Nukem best, though that was more '90s.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Alot of those games are available for purchase at GOG.com Disclaimer: Not affiliated with GOG.. just a customer. :-)
Seriously when are they going to remake this game? As a long term fan of old school RPGs like Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire 3, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Suikoden, ... Final Fantasy 7 was an epochal and defining moment in the whole history of video games!
It has been consistently voted as the best game of all time. The characters were stunning each deserving of games in their own right, and experienced large character arcs. The story was amazing and well ahead of any film or book I have ever seen/read. The story of FF7 can be understood on multiple levels and there are dozens of themes that are introduced throughout the game, left hanging while more are introduced and then wrapped up later.
The end of disk 1 was the saddest moment I have ever felt playing a video game. Quite how the story built up that relationship and that the unexpected twist was gut wrenching.
FF7 is a skillful masterpiece. The new generation needs this classic in an updated format. It's a shame that games are not timeless like books. They really do age fast.
Wasteland. The spiritual ancestor of the Fallout series.
Sierra Games was big back in the day, and the Kings Quest series from memory were almost as big as the Leisure Suit Larry series.
This article addresses computer games. Zelda, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy are classics, but still console games.
See the title... Computer games.
Circumcision is child abuse.
I bet you even went to brick and mortar stores to buy such games.
My favorite was "Nybbles and Bytes" across from the Tacoma mall. I was sad when they closed.
No sale.
Was the best game EVER. It even beats out system shock 2 which is a masterpiece of everything ever.
I spent so many hours in u7 it's now a part of my psyche.
Yes. I am now insane.
Oh and... FUCK UBISOFT FOR WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO GAMEING! I SPIT ON THEIR BLOODY DISMEMBERED CORPSES!
I like how if you run away from melee range, the melee guy gets a free swing at your back. I like aiming lightning bolts in a line and bouncing them off walls. I like trying to get as many creatures in a fireball without having allies inside. I liked the initial quest to clear the slums of monsters.
Between Pool of Radience/Wasteland/Final Fantasy 1 and Legacy of the Ancients, I learned a lot about where game design can bring you in terms of successful systems.
God spoke to me
Has everyone forgotten this classic?
As a note, Wizardry 1 was really awesome - it was hours and hours and hours of fun. Trebor and Werdna ruled!
The original Final Fantasy wasn't released in the U.S. until 1990, and the original Zelda is more of an action game than role-playing.
Many of the games in the slideshow are a lot more like Shadowgate than Zelda or Dragon Warrior.
Pool of radiance, Something like 15-20 disks
/* TODO: Spawn child process, interest child in technology, have child write a new sig */
In the 1980's, the CRPG scene was not on DOS, it was on Amigas and Ataris, which sported (for the time) cutting edge digital sound and graphics. DOS machines were comparatively primitive. In fact, some of the RPGs they list came from the "A" machines, and were ported to DOS, but they are still showing screenshots from DOS versions.
They also missed Dungeon Master, a game that inspired a whole generation of copies of itself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Master_%28video_game%29
Dink Smallwood is a great RPG and I think was a early influence for popular games like Skyrim with its tongue-in-cheek humour and gory gameplay that was still like any other RPG..but like no other RPG at the same time.
That is all.
Just because in your mind they faded into obscurity doesn't mean they weren't profoundly influential.
These games by and large predate those JRPGs. Dragon Quest, in fact, was inspired by Wizardry and Ultima. Final Fantasy also sees it's roots in those early RPGs. Both have been extremely influential, particularly amongst JRPGs, but they weren't the originators of the genre.
The Legend of Zelda is more unique because of it's arcade-like elements and reduced emphasis on conventional RPG elements. While it's been influential I don't think it's quite had the direct impact of those other games, particularly within the RPG world.
And the most important aspect of all is that this article is about COMPUTER games.
We're fighting a losing battle against the corpus linguists, mate. I fully expect "alot" to be added to the dictionary soon.
Why? Because (theoretically) it follows the same rule as other merged words in English, depending on the part of speech.
Some time vs. sometime
Any more vs. anymore
May be vs. maybe
any one vs. anyone
any way vs. anyway
Even if I never comment about it, I'm enough of a pedant (and German speaker) that it ruffles my feathers just to hear "if" and "whether" misused.
DeathLord: was a nice Ultima-style RPG, although it had extreme copy-protection, where even the data disks were uncopyable.
Odyssey: A Compleat Apventure [sic], decent at the time.
Wizardry series: The trick was to first transfer just-created characters into Wizardry 3, then boot into W1 and transfer them from W3 back to the Proving Grounds... this allowed you to not worry about starting over when done with W1 and W2, although you would lose your items regardless.
The Ultima series was great until 7, when it went into the shitter when EA starting telling Richard what to make -- a microcosm of what EA did to all of Origin -- turn innovative games, and now just churn out Madden sequels and The Sims 3 add-on packs.
Don't forget Quest for Glory. I even bought the soundtrack CD for QfF V.
http://youtu.be/P4p3MXrXlO4
Absolutely wrong. CRPGs were huge back in the late 80's and early 90's, with Ultima, Bard's Tale, Wizardry, Wasteland, etc. Baldur's Gate made the genre popular again but it definitely didn't create "the western scene."
NETHACK! Classic, genre-defining game. Unbelievably funny as well (where else do you get to write a spell with a magic marker(!)?)
and Douglas Adams' BUREAUCRACY. Very difficult even now, but doable.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
I remember playing that until my wife threatened violence :)
Softdisk Publishing? Seems right, but that was a long time ago. It was a DOS game.
The world is my oyster. That's why it's always in a stew.
I've never been into RPG much; but I remember playing this one. The 3D maze was somewhat cutting edge at the time and it was quite fun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Dungeons_%26_Dragons:_Treasure_of_Tarmin
Wearing pants should always be optional.
I used to play telengard on my Atari 800xl. Great oldie!!
Text based. Still there:
www.deepertrouble.org/
'bout disasters, fires, floods, and killer bees.
Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures. It was a pool of radiance style game and a creator of such games. I remember making so many adventures and monsters with that game, well into the late 90's even.
Wait till you get your fair share of "Pong" ... then you can call yourself "Old" or "Classic"
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
7,8, and 9 were all 3D Playstation games... maybe you mean 4,5, and 6?
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
You tried to RTFA?! You must be new here...
There were too many good games to name them all. EOB was one of them. What about Akalabeth? Truly classic. What about some of the early MUDs? Many an hour was lost (when i should have been studying).
NetHack could've been better if it was the Turn-style map of a 3d engine and had multiplayer capabilities, but alas.
That's where Darklands arrives on the scene like NetHack, but centered on the superstitions of Germany it made a much more dreary environment for text-reading games but not as fast-paced as NetHack.
Darklands is only a 10MB download and needs fancy DOS-mode memory settings, and is floating around various antique gaming sites despite not being that old but fitting a CGA visual footprint that looks awesome on a hand-held.
It was one of the first, maybe even the first, to make morality a central part of the game.
I'm a little embarassed to admit that that game probably influence my ethical nature more than Christianity.
Yeah. Wish they'd bring back that game, plus its sequel, Eternal Dagger. I miss WC, with its complex turn-based tactical combat system.
http://desli.de/3ZZ for one ugly web page with all showing. ;)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
A series of articles I enjoyed:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/132024/the_history_of_computer_.php?print=1
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130124/the_history_of_computer_.php?print=1
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/129994/the_history_of_computer_.php?print=1
Not a top ten list, and pagination defeated by print mode.
they eventually released.
Starflight was an incredible game for it's time, so rich in gameplay and could still be run on an Intel 8088 IBM PC XT. I got so sucked into that game, I nearly flunked out of college. It's definitely one for the ages.
I'm almost pushing mid 30s and this list is "before my time". Sure, I was around during the 80s, but home computers with any decent amount of processing power (for their time) were horrendously expensive. Today, my outdated (not getting an official update to Ice Cream Sandwich) smartphone runs DOS programs under DOSBox faster than my first PC ran actual DOS.
That really makes me feel old. Though, I suppose for a bit of false nostalgia, I could run some of the games on this list - on my phone.
---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Those 'RPG's in 1980s were nothing more than approximations of a role playing game. Those games tried to approximate showing you a rock by drawing a triangle. Much like D&D. Now, with games like Skyrim, Mass Effect, The Witcher, we are moving into the era of TRUE roleplaying games, where the world feels living, breathing and your character (if you choose to do so) feels a part of that world. I wonder what future games will be like. I suppose that games are headed towards full immersion (kinect is a first step, VR will probably be next). Maybe in 2020 games will take control of our every sense and give us a roleplaying experience we cannot even imagine today (remember the movie existenz?)
Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday was fun to play.
Ultima, Bards Tale, how many of these games are franchises bought by EA which sits on them and doesn't develop the franchise?
I think The Black Onyx deserved a spot here. It was the first RPG to hit Japan, and it significantly helped shape modern RPGs. The guy who made it (Henk Rogers, who also helped the Tetris developer escape the Soviets) actually had to go to each gaming magazine, individually, and teach them to play it because nobody knew what an RPG was at the time.
I'm in a twisted maze of comments....all alike...
I remember when i had a Tandy computer back in 1989 and this game seemed so impressively huge and deep. Lol i didn't EVER beat it, and it still has a place in my heart. I know its not an RPG, but this is one of my favorite old time games, Amongst with Leisure Larry series.
TOEE is still going strong. For a game that's still closed source, the amount of fixing and extending that has gone on is incredible.
http://www.co8.org/forum/index.php
It's based on core D&D 3.5, although lacks prestige classes and a few things are broken.
There was a discussion somewhere about why TOEE and Jagged Alliance are better than Dragon Age/2/Origins. One of the games' designers said that it's all about turns -- without them there's no proper rhythm.
The graphics are decent in TOEE too.
The new Jagged Alliance might get fixed up yet. The new XCOM might have awesome turn-based combat.
Indeed, the early Ultima games were fairly big in Japan, and the first Final Fantasy game was an attempt to cash in on that by a company which was taking one more throw of the dice before it expected to go out of business (hence the title).
Acknowledging your point about this being a list of computer games rather than video games - if there was a Japanese RPG that deserved a place on the list, it would be the second Final Fantasy game. That's where you start to see the elements that would define JRPG storytelling (as opposed to the Western equivalent) introduced.
I've been playing Dungeon Master on my N900.
Once you get over how low res & repetitive the graphics are, it's a very well designed game.
Along with playing Dune, I realised that these games have as good or better design than modern games.
However, going back to those old graphics can be harsh and what's worse, user interfaces have improved tremendously.
Regarding Dune, you cannot find a Windows RTS that doesn't have right click for move/attack.
The problems with Dungeon Master are the same as from 1985. Each arrow you fire has to be manually picked up and manually put in the right place in your archer's inventory screen. This takes 4 clicks each. Potions are similarly time consuming. The main problem I'm having is the lack of an ingame map. Since the walls look identical for the most part and I'm not going to manually map things, some of the levels are ridiculous.
Anyone wanting to create a classic game could do a lot worse than recreating something like this but with updated graphics and modern UI standards.
Personally I think it was the best Computer RPG of the 80s.
It was like a futuristic Ultima..kind of.
This guy is playing through all of the computer RPGs ever released in chronological order and gives them a critical, but fair review from a modern perspective in addition to interesting observations while he's playing them. He's currently at the end of 1988. It's definitely worth reading if you're interested in the history of CRPGs.
I really miss Dragonflight and Amberstar in that list.
a game spanning only two 360K disks that had hundreds of stars and planets, Easter eggs, and a great story, really hasn't been equaled. Even with just two diskettes they were able to know where you had been on planets. You could move the story for the most part at your own pace and some of the conversations with various races were down right hilarious.
Starlight 2 while not as good had some great ideas as well, especially a race which had three distinct personalities.
Sometimes I think that game designers were far more creative early on because the constraints of the systems were so great. They could not hide behind flash effects and graphics.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
the original Zelda is more of an action game than role-playing.
Zelda is not action, nor RPG: it is action-RPG.
Note that I did not say "an" action-RPG. Zelda is the genre.
Circumcision is child abuse.
Sorry, I failed to realize that this article assumed the US were the center of the world.
One game that isn't given enough credit but was miles ahead of everything for the time was Tunnels of Doom for the TI-99/4A. It was a framework with two games bundled (the simplistic "Pennies and Prizes" and "Quest for the King") that was meant to host further games, though no more were ever released, to my knowledge. it featured:
- 16 colour graphics
- Randomly generated dungeons
- 3D filled vector graphics for exploring, switching to overhead icon-based for combat
- 4 character classes, level progression
- Item upgrades, random effect treasure.
- In-game maps
And this was in *1982*!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnels_of_Doom
http://ridingthecrest.com/edburns/classic-gaming/tunnels/images/
I thought Journeys End on the ZX Spectrum was pretty groundbreaking at the time?
As a player of Ultima 4, Phantasie 2, Bard's Tale 2, and Nethack, I'm a bit disappointed to see them talk about Ultima 3, Phantasie 1, Bard's Tale 1, and Rogue. Now I feel like a square who was late to the game, even though I had my Apple2 in 1980. At least I briefly felt slightly younger.
-Clio
Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
Even in 2012, I still play the fuck outta Dungeon Master. I fire it up every few years and play it through. I don't know why, but ever since I discovered it in my friend's massive pile of Amiga disks, I was hooked and had to get it for the ST, and later for the PC. But then, I've never even heard of:
- The Faery Tale Adventure
- Starflight
- Pool of Radiance
- Phantasie
And yes, I've been around. I just wasn't a C64 guy, my home was the Atari. And I think it needs to be said: this top 10 list sucks! There is so much repetition in there, too many dungeon crawls that all end up being the same. DM was a real-time one, the others were turn-based, but beyond that distinction there was a staggering amount of repetition across titles. It simply isn't a genre that allowed much in the way of innovation. Walk, fight, loot, solve simple puzzles.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
What? I was playing RPGs on computers for nearly 10 years before I ever heard of any of those you've listed.
Now there is a game way ahead of it's time back in the early 80's. I'm surprised they didn't mention this because it was very popular back then.
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
What would you call Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2) then? I enjoyed that game because it was an action RPG, like the Zelda series. Square was never big in that genre of RPG, sad because SoM was a great game.
Those games didn't define RPG's, paper and pencils Dungeons and Dragons did that. Those games just advanced it to the masses.
I've got 101 mod points and you can't have them!
Is it hard action-RPG or soft?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Hard. Definately. It has been so long since I played that game (on a 1 year old 486x66) that I had forgotten about it.
Pool of Radiance series (Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds came out late 80;s) 3rd came out in the 90's. On the C-64 you needed that lovely paper wheel that you had to match up symbols.
to be a small 1 pointer at the bottom of an old thread, but in case anyone is still mining...
In addition to wasteland which was already mentioned (which finally has WL2 coming!!) I think there was another awesome RPGs not mentioned:
Alternate Reality (the dungeon)
This great game has it all - humor, great music, discovery, tons of monsters and items and a neat story. It's really hard, but worth it.
http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemon64.com/games/details.php%3FID%3D101
and a modern reboot:
http://www.crpgdev.com/
You can only be young once, but you can be immature forever.
Crystalis also.
Unix mainframes? Explain please.
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
You traveled from planet to plant in your spaceship, as either a miner, a farmer, or a priest (or unofficially as a criminal, stealing and murdering everywhere you went). No star maps, every planet was randomly found and generated (I loved that the game was completely open-ended). And if you died, you did a roll to see if God would intervene and save your life; there was a 2% chance he would, and give you a huge stat boost to boot.
Empire I: World Builders was the best game I ever played on my Apple ][+.
Which I think may have been the sequel to Pools of Radiance.
Someone also mentioned Wizardry, can't believe they forgot that one.
Brings me back, kind of makes me want to find these and download them... kind of.
God bless we have Bioware. This is only 1 example amongst many that still make good quality RPG's.
Heroes of the Lance anyone? Anyone? Bueler?
...quicker, easier, more seductive the darkside is...but more powerful, it is not.
I was disappointed they didn't mention Alternate Reality. It was definitely ground break breaking technology in that game and it had so much potential if the series wasn't killed off.
...None of the games listed in this article are RPGs.
At least, if you mistakenly believe the RP stands for roleplaying.
Protip, kids: Grinding big numbars to get teh levelz and win teh game!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111eleven in a direct, linear fashion with pre-set dialogue is not roleplaying.
Zelda has always been a neat series. It's got RPG subtones, arcade elements, and overall is somewhat of a puzzler game.
I had a discussion about the various RPG sub-genre's recently actually. Nowdays you've got stuff like Skyrim/Mass Effect which mixes storytelling/RPG elements with shooter type stuff, and a bit of puzzle.
It's a bit hard to classify games nowadays. Is ME3 a shooter/action game with a really good storyline, or an RPG with lots of action.
Skyrim was cool, but to be honest a lot of the deeper character subplots were lost. There were *lots* of little sub-stories but few deep ones.
What happens to older JRPG style games, with turn-based combat. The last game I played that kept true to that form was "Lost Odyssey" (which IMHO is great), but I would sure love to see some other goodies along that style.
How is this informative. Console machines are computers.
This has been written either by someone's Dad, or someone that wasn't around at the time.
Any list of games that has to include Apple entries has to be getting *something* wrong simply because of the overwhelming number of games for the ZX-81, ZX Spectrum, VIC-20, C64, Amiga and Atari ST (the latter two only getting a couple of mentions in this list makes it even worse)
Let's start with 'Starflight' by EA just happening to look like an exact copy of Elite, the *original* 3D spaceflight/ dogfight/ trading game. Or for adventures, Knight Lore on the Spectrum *invented* the 45 degree/ isometric view, but doesn't get a mention either.
Maybe this list should be titled "Games your Dad would have been playing in the 80's", with a proviso that no actual journalism was involved in the making of this article.
Strictly speaking, your wristwatch is a fucking computer, but nobody calls it that.
Computer = "general purpose PC" in common usage, including what they're talking about in TFA.
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
Not to pile on, but Beyond Oasis and Legend of Oasis were also very much action-RPGs.
It's nice to finally see a list of RPGs that are standard "swords and sorcery" or science-fiction fare and stuff that I have actually played.
Personally, I came to computer gaming from the ZX Spectrum, through the Commodore Amiga and then to the PC - consequently I completely missed Japanes game consoles and don't consider that my gaming fun has suffered much as a result of that.
Therefore I have no experience or even interest in Japanese computer RPGs - if anything I am not comfortable with the concept of Anime and child heads on adult bodies, it's all a bit too "weird" for my tastes, though I accept part of it may be a cultural thing.
Besides which, the Japanese computer RPGs I have quickly tried, like Legend Of Zelda, are well made but far too "cutesy cutesy" for my tastes - I'd much rather be down a standard dungeon killing skeletons and surviving on worm rounds - long live Dungeon Master!
Windows 10 is great - I used it to download Linux.
Why are they called consoles then?
If "Starflight" - what about Elite?
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
I must be old. I can understand why one would avoid the trash-80 platform, but Dungeons of Daggorath was the first game I played that had a sense of impending doom to it (that heartbeat and those slowly approaching monster sounds!) And Tunnels of Doom was just way ahead of it's time.
My first exposure to CRPGs was Moria on the PLATO educational computer system. I fondly remember having a lot of fun wasting time on this game - it was what made me very excited when Wizardry came out - they felt very similar to me at the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moria_(PLATO)
Ah, good times!
As far as RPGs in the 80's, yes, it was. JRPGs were (and still are) shit when it comes to any semblance of a sane, coherent storyline or likable, believable characters.
You still face:
7 First Posters [10']
4 Trolls [10']
2 Katz [20']
1 CmdrTaco [70']
Does your stalwart band choose to
R)eply, M)oderate or L)ogoff?
Plan My Week for iPhone
Game consoles are computers.
Technically, of course they are.
But when it comes to language and popular terms, no, they were not called that at all. No one called the consoles 'computers' back then, for they had few of the features that people expected of computers. In the 1980s the 'home computer' was short for 'general-purpose home computer' in the minds of most, a machine that booted up into an operating system from where you executed games, word processors, spreadsheets.. or games which had a spreadsheet pause-screen so you could hit a hotkey when the boss came by and you were playing games at work. No one called the Nintendo a 'computer' even though it was indeed a computing device.
Glad to see FTA made the list. Like Ultima III before it and Skyrim today, it was one of those games that just blew you away with scope and detail. Dramatically richer experience than anything that came before.
Lining up all the games it's also interesting to see how RPGs have evolved from being mostly about combat (Wizardry) to focus much more on exploration and problem-solving. Somewhere down the road somebody will make a fun RPG that doesn't involve killing anything at all.
Precisely! They are similar to Zelda, therefore, they are action-RPGs.
Circumcision is child abuse.
Most JRPG games originated from the home computer scene in the middle 80s.
And when most PC users were blown away by the amazing color spectrum of CGA i was already enjoying paletted 15 bit colors.
These 'better than pc' graphics (don't worry, almost anything had better graphics than pc in those days) helped develop the style that would flourish in the SNES days.
Konami, Compile, Falcom, Square and Enix all were producing great and defining jrpg's in the 80s and some series continue untill this day.
So yeah, for an article claiming to be about /computer/ games it seems to be ignoring a big part of history.
Of the Star Control series, but not necessarily the Starflight series.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_of_Daggorath
I was already into D&D and CRPGs when Star Saga came out and I've played a lot since, but the games have held up as a couple of the most epic and engaging games I've ever played. And they had multiplayer! Okay, multiple people on the same computer, but still.
If only the 3rd game had been published so I could have found out how the story ended! Sigh....
(Okay, it looks like /. believes I'm logged in this time....)
I was already into D&D and CRPGs when Star Saga came out and I've played a lot since, but the games have held up as a couple of the most epic and engaging games I've ever played. And they had multiplayer! Okay, multiple people on the same computer, but still.
If only the 3rd game had been published so I could have found out how the story ended! Sigh....