So, here it is. Yet another blog covering Computer Role-Playing Games. Yes, I know...we have seen this a million times before. There are already a myriad of these things floating around in the wide open world of the internet. So why am I doing mine? And why should you care?
Back in 1987, at the tender age of 13, I stumbled upon the fantastical world of computer role-playing games. I had been introduced to the Commodore 64, a hulking giant of 8-bit power, and was completely blown away by the ability to play the types of games that I usually only played with friends in tabletop sessions.
I was a big Dungeons and Dragons player at the time---and was completely obsessed with it. I had countless rulebooks, dice, modules and miniatures littered across my room, and I never missed a chance on a Friday night to get together with my friends and roleplay late into the night.
I was also a huge fan of video games, but my experiences were limited to what I could play in the arcades. I had seen two games in particular that really piqued my interest--Gauntlet and Dragon's Lair. These games were not "true" role-playing games (more on that later) but they did have a fantasy setting and were about as close to Dungeons and Dragons as I ever thought I could get in video game form.
Boy, was I wrong.
It was during that Christmas of 1987 that my friend, who also was our dungeon master for Friday night D&D, received a Commodore 64 as a gift. He was so excited to show our group one particular game he had also gotten as a present---a game called The Bard's Tale.
We spent all night mapping out dungeons, creating characters, and just wandering around the vast expanse of Skara Brae. I had never seen or imagined anything like it. The next morning when I went home, it was all I could talk about to my parents. Even though I didn't have a computer at the time to play CRPG's, I bought anything I could find related to them like magazines and hint books. Thankfully that summer my parents splurged and got me that shiny new Commodore 64 computer---and I haven't looked back since.
For the last 4 months, I have known I have to do something related to computer role-playing games. My bedroom closet holds countless physical boxes, cluebooks and old gaming magazines. They all hold tiny bits of nostalgia---they take me back in time to when I was a teenager, and my only worry was running home off the bus in an attempt to play Ultima V on my Commodore 64 for a few hours before I had to do my homework.
As a gamer, nothing captures my interest and imagination quite like computer role-playing games. Sure, I enjoy the occasional fighting game, platformer or point-and-click adventure, but CRPGs have been a main draw for me for around 30 years of my gaming life.
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This was how you found out about new CRPG's in the "old days".
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I recently jotted down the amount of CRPGs I have played or finished on personal computers over the years, and the result was staggering. I was sincerely in shock, but also saddened that I really didn't have anything to show for it. I had some memories (most of them fuzzy) and many of my old physical copies of the CRPGs of my childhood, but it still felt kind of empty and somewhat pointless.
I know I am not getting any younger. I feel like I should leave something behind to show all the time, effort and enjoyment I have had from playing CRPGs. I want to show the world how great this genre is, and why it is one of the best hobbies I could have ever found.
I found a fantastic blog of a gentleman who goes by the alias of the The CRPG Addict recently, and it was a massive inspiration to take my love for CRPGs to another level. If you have not seen his blog, use the link to check it out. It is fantastic stuff. Essentially he is playing every RPG released on personal computers, in chronological order, and then rating each game on a scoring scale devised upon several key RPG categories.
While my blog will use many of theses foundations, I will also be doing things a little differently here. My main goal is to chronicle games actually released on home computers. This disqualifies a lot of the earliest CRPG's, which were released on the PLATO mainframe system. I will be playing games basically in any order I like, but will be playing the "best" version of each title. This means a game like Pool of Radiance, which was released on multiple home computers, will have the Commodore Amiga version played -- which is widely considered by many to be the "ultimate" version of the game.
I will tend to play "older" CRPGs more so than newer titles, but I do not really want to be cornered into one era. I want to have the freedom to play any title I like without the constraints of the year in which a CRPG was released. I will have a notification bar at the top of the blog, which will detail the games I am currently playing, and what will be coming in the near future.
I will tend to play "older" CRPGs more so than newer titles, but I do not really want to be cornered into one era. I want to have the freedom to play any title I like without the constraints of the year in which a CRPG was released. I will have a notification bar at the top of the blog, which will detail the games I am currently playing, and what will be coming in the near future.
If you are interested in seeing how I will be setting things up, read my entry Ground Rules. If you want more information on how I will be scoring games, check out the entry Scoring System. Finally, if you want to view a temporary list of games I will be covering (this list will change dramatically over time) please check the entry Master List.
Hopefully, this will be a great way to enjoy CRPGs I have completed previously, while exposing me to CRPGs I may have missed over the years. I am looking forward to the journey.
