Incline Butthurt Dungeon: Thac0's Ultimate Blobber List

[rusty_shackleford]

If it's a blobber, every fucking jrpg ever made is a blobber.

jrpgs are a subgenre of blobber

 

[Darth Canoli]

jrpgs are a subgenre of blobber

Jrpg is it's own genre, some are blobbers with retarded story and 20 hours long tutorials (Sword City, Coven of Dusk) but most are dumbed down so much they're barely RPGs, let alone blobbers, they're just j-games...

 

[rusty_shackleford]

jrpgs are a subgenre of blobber

Jrpg is it's own genre, some are blobbers with retarded story and 20 hours long tutorials (Sword City, Coven of Dusk) but most are dumbed down so much they're barely RPGs, let alone blobbers, they're just j-games...

they're the same exact thing

 

[Thac0]

Small change:

Removed:
Wasteland
Hired Guns

Both due to not really being a blobber by any stretch of the word.
Also did some small cleaning up by splitting all game series into single entries, as demanded.

Next comes the question of sorting the games.
I am quite unsure what would be the best way to sort the games inside of the categories.
Options are alphabetically, by release date, or by tag as they now are (all stars above all non stars, all non stars above all swords).

It will probably be a while before I tackle the large work of adding pictures and links then, as I got absorbed by Pathfinder Kingmaker in my attempt to finish that before I start a Wrath of the Righteous run.

 

[Rincewind]

I'd just add links to dungeoncrawlers.org and/or MobyGames if I were you. No need to duplicate information if it exists in a better form elsewhere (dungeoncrawlers also has descriptions, videos, tags, etc).

It's an OK list overall, but I disagree with many of the decisions you made, and I find the criteria of dungeoncrawlers.org much better (first-person, grid-based dungeoncrawlers with strictly 90 degree turns, and that's it).

I also think some of the inclusions (especially for the Amiga games) were done a bit haphazardly, but whatever... it's still a good starting point for someone to get a few good recommendations.

 

[Themadcow]

Good list. The generic block for Gold Box games probably does need expanding as titles like Pools of Radiance, while classic, just don't hold up against the best in the series such as Pools of Darkness.

Some sections hold up better than others too. The 3D blobber exploration parts for some reason just look terrible now, despite at the time not seeming much different to BT or Wizardry VI. Yet BT and Wiz still feel fine now while the Gold Box ones are horrible. What never ages is the tactical combat which, arguably, is still best in class.

 

[cvv]

Yo Thac0 I can vouch for 7 Mages - a Legend of Grimrock-like with TB combat and unique musical/sound-based puzzles and other mechanics. It's originally a mobile game but it looks and plays great. Except the terrible UI sadly.

The Keep is another interesting little gem, this time a single-character, real-time dungeon crawler. Can't vouch for it personally, tried to play it years ago but it kept crashing on my old rig, didn't try it since. Steam rating is good tho.

 

[Fluent]

I can also vouch for 7 Mages. Very good blobber.

The Keep is interesting, I am going to play it sometime but I'm currently loaded with games. It does look good, though, and I expect it to be solid since it comes from the devs of the mighty masterpiece Inquisitor.

 

[Darth Canoli]

7 Mages is interesting, sure, as long as you don't pin a star on it, it's fine, it's good but not that good.

 

[cvv]

7 Mages is interesting, sure, as long as you don't pin a star on it, it's fine, it's good but not that good.

It's not a Best Ever Top 10 contender, no, but this is a list of blobbers worth playing. And 7 Mages is definitely worth playing.

 

[Thac0]

I'd just add links to dungeoncrawlers.org and/or MobyGames if I were you. No need to duplicate information if it exists in a better form elsewhere (dungeoncrawlers also has descriptions, videos, tags, etc).

It's an OK list overall, but I disagree with many of the decisions you made, and I find the criteria of dungeoncrawlers.org much better (first-person, grid-based dungeoncrawlers with strictly 90 degree turns, and that's it).

I also think some of the inclusions (especially for the Amiga games) were done a bit haphazardly, but whatever... it's still a good starting point for someone to get a few good recommendations.

That is a pretty good suggestion, since otherwise I would have to work with spoilertags for pictures and links, which would probably get messy.
I am turning all of the game titles into masked links to dungeoncrawlers.org where there is an entry, for games where I can't find an entry I am putting a link to Steam or GoG.
I did the Wizblock so you can see how it looks in practise, Paper Sorcerer is a steamlink, the rest are dungeoncrawlers.org.
Also is it really correct that the original Wizardry 5 Heart of the Maelstrom has no dungeoncrawlers.org link? I linked to one of the Japanese remasters now which includes Wiz V, since it is the same game with different graphics.

Also I took the the swords from 7 mages due to the broad approval here, although I really couldn't get over the atrocious UI. Maybe another day I give it another try.

 

[V_K]

Also I took the the swords from 7 mages due to the broad approval here, although I really couldn't get over the atrocious UI. Maybe another day I give it another try.

I think it's more of a star-and-swords kind of situation. There are some things the game does really well (level design, combat system, some creative spells) and some things that it does really poorly (loot, only having two enemy types per map, atrocious writing).
UI is the way it is because it started as a mobile game.

 

[Atlet]

I didn't read everything, but add Operencia. It's a very good introduction to blobbers for a modern audience. Both Operencia, MM X and LoG's games are good at that. Maybe even Vaporum, but I still don't know if its good, aside being great as an introduction to the genre.

 

[Thac0]

Operencia has been on there from day one, with swords because I expected it to be contested as V_K raised some valid criticisms of it once. I personally like it a lot.
I expected to have to defend including it at all, I didn't expect it to be the dozenth game to get an inclusion request while being already on the list.
CTRL + F exists people.

 

[ghostdog]

Lords of Xulima should be in the list.

 

[cvv]

Lords of Xulima should be in the list.

Third person blobbers are historically marginalized people.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Lords of Xulima should be in the list.

can someone explain to me how jrpgs aren't blobbers if lord of xulima is a blobber?

 

[Jack Of Owls]

I just downloaded 7 Mages (free as a demo on googleplay then with the IAP option to buy the whole game) for my old Redmi Note 5 phone and it looks great for an android game. I guess because it's 'dex-approved it plays great too. We'll see.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I just downloaded 7 Mages (free as a demo on googleplay then with the IAP option to buy the whole game) for my old Redmi Note 5 phone and it looks great for an android game. I guess because it's 'dex-approved it plays great too. We'll see.

I don't know about great, also, i'm not sure the swords should have been removed, it's good but there is some weird mechanics which are not terrible but not very good either, a focus on a more classical and well designed approach would certainly have brought a wider success.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

I just downloaded 7 Mages (free as a demo on googleplay then with the IAP option to buy the whole game) for my old Redmi Note 5 phone and it looks great for an android game. I guess because it's 'dex-approved it plays great too. We'll see.

I don't know about great, also, i'm not sure the swords should have been removed, it's good but there is some weird mechanics which are not terrible but not very good either, a focus on a more classical and well designed approach would certainly have brought a wider success.

Played the first lvl. Too early to form a definitive opinion It runs kind of slow on my old snapdragon 625 but blobbers don't really need to be fluid though I'm not really used to playing games this relatively demanding on mobile devices, or with touch controls (I do have a DS4 controller with one of those phone/tablet holders if I want to get ambitious about it). Certainly playable however. At least it's party-based (?) rather than single PC like The Quest series. At least it's something to do while stuck in a hotel or sitting on the throne, or stuck in a hotel while sitting on the throne. Speaking of The Quest series, what's the opinion on the 10-15 expansions or so that were released on mobile for it that were done by different developers than the original? Are they and their ilk considered worthy for inclusion here?

 

[Thac0]

While entering the Ishar series as hyperlinks I came across Crystals of Arborea on dungeoncrawlers.org.
https://dungeoncrawlers.org/game/crystals-of-arborea/
Given that it has tactical combat, is it as good or better than the Ishar games themselves?
If so it should be a safe inclusion.

 

[V_K]

While entering the Ishar series as hyperlinks I came across Crystals of Arborea on dungeoncrawlers.org.
https://dungeoncrawlers.org/game/crystals-of-arborea/
Given that it has tactical combat, is it as good or better than the Ishar games themselves?
If so it should be a safe inclusion.

Crystals is a very weird thing, somewhere in-between a proper RPG and a boardgame. Here's CRPGAddict's account.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

System Shock is a dungeon crawler and i'm tired of pretending it's not.

 

[Arthandas]

What's the deal with the Stranger of Sword City? It has a "best of the best" ★ recommendation but the SoSW/SoSCR pack on Steam has mixed rating. Is the port bad, did they somehow fucked up the revisited update?

 

[Fluent]

Stranger Of Sword City Revisited is excellent, don't worry about the review status. The other game in the package is dope as well. Some people complained about using a controller I think, but I play with keyboard only and it works great. I'm 30+ hours deep in Sword City and loving it.