That's a great idea to use the CRPG Addict as a resource! I didn't realize he had ranked all the games either. I've been in there lately poking about mainly to see what he thought about the Might & Magic games, but I like sorting his spreadsheet.
I'd also recommend the CRPG Book Project, which has indepth reflections on much of CRPG history and all the major games. PDF is free and here.
Looking through the list that he's put together makes me wonder if Champions of Krynn might be a good place to start. Both Krynn and Gateway to the Savage Frontier get good reviews in the CRPG book, but Krynn scores higher on the CRPG Addict's list. Both games are also the first games in a series, so people can continue on if they desire.
As much as I like the idea of Wizardry 6 (40+ hours) or Might and Magic (50+ hours), or even Pools of Radiance (30+ hours) , I think picking something both short and enjoyable would be key for this first attempt.
I think we'll have three types of participants:
- People committed to getting to the end
- People interested in trying the game
- People not interestedA shorter game (~20 hours) might catch more of the middle group.
The Krynn series starts better than the Pool series, I think, but it kind of peters out. Dark Queen of Krynn is not very good, and I got bored and quit about halfway through recently. I'd played through 1 and 2 on an Amiga emulator, got to the third, and just .... was bored. (Also wasn't sure where to go next, that game doesn't signpost as well as the earlier ones.) Never went back, although I think my savegame still awaits me.
However, the first game is quite good, and it implements a bunch of major interface improvements over the Pool of Radiance series. One of the biggest, IIRC, is autorest-until-healed. Your characters cast all their healing spells, rest eight hours, recover spells. If anyone's still hurt, repeat. In fact, now that I think about it, re-memorizing your spell loadout automatically was a big improvement.
In Pool, I think you have to manually choose all your memorized spells, every time, and I think you have to do it without seeing what spells you currently have picked. It was kind of an interface disaster. If you wanted to rest until healed, you had to manually cast all your spells, rest, manually choose what spells you recovered, and then repeat if anyone was still hurt enough to bother. Those first Gold Box entries were very tedious, but we loved them because it was D&D! On a computer! You didn't have to assemble a group of people, you could whack kobolds at 2AM. So what if it was tedious, real D&D mages had to manually pick all their spells too.
I think your pick of Champions is probably pretty good, in the sense that it's much less painful to play, and probably a good introduction to the Gold Box series. But if people want to keep going, the Pool series is more rewarding plot-wise, albeit with much more tedium to get there.
I’m excited to see what we pick next! After the past few picks, I’d love to see something that’s not an isometric.
And, planning to make a push for Tyranny just as soon as I wrap The Alliance Alive! Sounds like Tyranny’s short enough I’ll be able to do it. When I stopped playing, I was at the beginning of Act 2, and just met with Tunon.
I’m excited to see what we pick next! After the past few picks, I’d love to see something that’s not an isometric.
And, planning to make a push for Tyranny just as soon as I wrap The Alliance Alive! Sounds like Tyranny’s short enough I’ll be able to do it. When I stopped playing, I was at the beginning of Act 2, and just met with Tunon.
The second act in Tyranny is the major bulk of the game. Act 3 you can complete in a couple of hours - I think it took me about 3.
I installed Tyranny back when it was free on Epic just to join y'all. Still got the shortcut on my desktop thinking about it...
Sounds like one month is doable at least. Probably just have to start and I'll burn through
Also going to try to finish Tyranny before the end. I just wish it had controller support, would make it a lot easier for me to get into.
Two games I figures would be of interest to the members of this club are moving (or have moved) out of early access:
First is Solasta: Crown of the Magister which is a fairly traditional cRPG using the open source 5e DnD ruleset,
The second is Wildermyth, which is a procedurally generated storytelling RPG which uses a TBS battle system and choices that have consequences long after your party members hang up their swords and staves.
Both are reportedly pretty good.
First is Solasta: Crown of the Magister which is a fairly traditional cRPG using the open source 5e DnD ruleset,
Also part of Xbox Game Pass.
Thanks, GB! Not sure I'll ever go back to play 'em, but for a few bucks, they're well worth picking up, just in case.
Just a quick PSA that we'll start our voting activities for Game #15 on June 18. Time to warm up those RPG engines!
I've asked Steam to start their summer sale on June 24th for us as well, so we'll be able to buy whatever wins at a discount. They said, "Sure!"
June 18: Open Nominations & Seconding
June 21: Close Nominations, Open "Pick 6" Round Voting
(June 24: Steam Sale starts)
June 24: Close "Pick 6" Voting, Open Final Voting (Ranked Choice Voting)
June 27: Close Voting
June 27: Start New Game!
Crap. I need to start Disco Elysium. I am so behind!
FYI Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition is part of this $3.99 Fanatical bundle.
Well, it's the 18th, I'm drunk, there's been way too much critically acclaimed RPGs of late and not enough eurotrash - I'm going to...*rolls dice*...apparently let you off easy by nominating Spider's most competent outhing yet, Greedfall.
I'll second Greedfall.
I'll nominate Sunless Skies, which just got its console release last month.
I'm going to nominate Lords of Xulima.
I'll nominate Planescape: Torment because we've been playing too many new games recently.
Hmmmm. Most of the RPGs I feel like playing at the moment are either lightweight or only just been released.
To that end I'm going to nominate The Outer Worlds as a game I could do with "finishing".
I'll second Sunless Skies though.
Seconding Outer Worlds
I'll second Planescape Torment.
How about The Legend of Grimrock, the first?
I'll second KOTR, and nominate in probale vain Torchlight.
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