Lost and forgotten (except by us)

[Grotesque]

Not sure if anyone else mentioned this already, but some dude is doing a fan-remake of this game. https://drakanremake.wordpress.com/

drakanremake.wordpress.com is no longer available.
The authors have deleted this site.

 

[:Flash:]

OK, I have never heard of this game before, and I don't know if it's any good, but I think this game deserves an honorable mention for the amount of stuff you can do and the great VGA animations in the menus:

 

[Archibald]

I remember when I was around 8-9 years old I played this game and it looked cool as hell, but I had no idea wtf was going on.

 

[Jarpie]

Lords of Chaos by Mythos Games (aka Julian Gollop & co), I think it gets very much overshadowed by X-Com/UFO and Laser Squad, I remember playing it A LOT when I was young, first on C64 and then on Amiga. Curiously, the scenarios for 8bit and 16bit versions are different and the graphics looks very different in style too.

C64 version:

Amiga version:

I wonder why it's pretty forgotten game.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

I wonder why it's pretty forgotten game.

New version of it called Chaos Reborn came a few years ago.

Besides there was RTwP adaptation called Magic & Mayhem (or Mage's Duel in America) that was released in late 90's.

 

[Jarpie]

I wonder why it's pretty forgotten game.

New version of it called Chaos Reborn came a few years ago.

Besides there was RTwP adaptation called Magic & Mayhem (or Mage's Duel in America) that was released in late 90's.

Doesn't Chaos Reborn have smaller arenas, instead of big maps? Lords of Chaos has quite a big maps, like Laser Squad had, probably bigger from what I remember, but it had fewer scenarios than Laser Squad.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

I wonder why it's pretty forgotten game.

New version of it called Chaos Reborn came a few years ago.

Besides there was RTwP adaptation called Magic & Mayhem (or Mage's Duel in America) that was released in late 90's.

Doesn't Chaos Reborn have smaller arenas, instead of big maps? Lords of Chaos has quite a big maps, like Laser Squad had, probably bigger from what I remember, but it had fewer scenarios than Laser Squad.

It does. Newer game is pretty much multiplayer focused.
There's also less interactivity with environments; if I remember correctly Lords of Chaos had doors and such which are missing from Chaos Reborn.

 

[Jarpie]

I wonder why it's pretty forgotten game.

New version of it called Chaos Reborn came a few years ago.

Besides there was RTwP adaptation called Magic & Mayhem (or Mage's Duel in America) that was released in late 90's.

Doesn't Chaos Reborn have smaller arenas, instead of big maps? Lords of Chaos has quite a big maps, like Laser Squad had, probably bigger from what I remember, but it had fewer scenarios than Laser Squad.

It does. Newer game is pretty much multiplayer focused.
There's also less interactivity with environments; if I remember correctly Lords of Chaos had doors and such which are missing from Chaos Reborn.

Yes it did, and loot around the maps, like weapons for your summons to pickup, and ingredients for potions etc.

 

[Darth Canoli]

New version of it called Chaos Reborn came a few years ago.

Besides there was RTwP adaptation called Magic & Mayhem (or Mage's Duel in America) that was released in late 90's.

That thing is a card game without cards, you just spam summons and so does your opponent until the one with the most powerful summons or the most favored by RNG wins ...
It's garbage.

 

[V_K]

Besides there was RTwP adaptation called Magic & Mayhem (or Mage's Duel in America) that was released in late 90's.

M&M has a bit more complex magic system than Chaos IIRC. And a plot. Although the setup is otherwise very similar, yes. Gollop really is a one trick pony - well, two tricks.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Lords of Chaos is an awesome little game, ripe for RPG Codex 'Discussion' because you create a wizard who levels up, and you get to control his stat and spell progression.

As Jarpie mentioned the 8-bit and 16-bit versions differ, with the single biggest difference being in the fifth scenario (the tomb). Another notable (read: almost game-breaking) difference is that Giant Bats can carry things in the 16-bit versions, but not in the 8-bit versions. With the ability to fly great distances Giant Bats are quintessential scouts in open-aired maps, but the addition of an inventory makes them outright broken.

The retail release only had three scenarios, of which one is single-player only. An expansion pack was released with another two scenarios, but again one of them is single-player only. If that is not enough LoC-action, there's an exclusive covertape-released scenario available on the C-64 called 'Escape from Zol', which has elements from the first and third scenarios of the full game. It's single-player only sadly and you can't transfer the wizard onto other scenarios, but it was only meant to be a demo after all.

LoC is a game that had great potential which I felt was never actualized in its lifetime. If only a level editor had been released for it...

 

[Jarpie]

Lords of Chaos is an awesome little game, ripe for RPG Codex 'Discussion' because you create a wizard who levels up, and you get to control his stat and spell progression.

As Jarpie mentioned the 8-bit and 16-bit versions differ, with the single biggest difference being in the fifth scenario (the tomb). Another notable (read: almost game-breaking) difference is that Giant Bats can carry things in the 16-bit versions, but not in the 8-bit versions. With the ability to fly great distances Giant Bats are quintessential scouts in open-aired maps, but the addition of an inventory makes them outright broken.

The retail release only had three scenarios, of which one is single-player only. An expansion pack was released with another two scenarios, but again one of them is single-player only. If that is not enough LoC-action, there's an exclusive covertape-released scenario available on the C-64 called 'Escape from Zol', which has elements from the first and third scenarios of the full game. It's single-player only sadly and you can't transfer the wizard onto other scenarios, but it was only meant to be a demo after all.

LoC is a game that had great potential which I felt was never actualized in its lifetime. If only a level editor had been released for it...

I remember liking some of the sprites more in C64 version, like the spectre and vampire if I remember correctly, but demon was pretty rad in amiga-version. I think modern, proper remake or remaster would have great potential for online play, without the retarded RNG of what spells you get.

 

[V_K]

CRPGAddict blogged about it btw http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/search/label/Lords of Chaos.

 

[Jarpie]

Not sure why he decided to play it as it's not rpg, it's pretty much just tactical strategy game.

 

[Modron]

Resident archaeologist Jack_Deth dug up his copy of Omega Syndrome, not the latest version mind you but more than we had before:

Here you go, this is apparently version 3.27 so it's not the final version but maybe it can be updated with the update files available on the archive.org links.

https://mega.nz/file/Gx0EVaRR#TFHj5o4049hHa22g8CKVk_SCwQ1ACdx6_9-Wz51-MAc

And scrounged up the registration as well:

First and foremost I'd like to say thanks to the nailed God, the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

https://mega.nz/file/b8UWEabD#GdciU_6m86Ep0z8myKA_Y7m5Fn9VQH7yaV0A3HC4BN4

He has risen.

So you can consider the game officially found again.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I just went through this entire History of RPGs playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbCkenHKmVG7QiqTdQcxglkNjhCTklC9i

What goes through my mind while watching these is the huge technical leap that the games make between 1985 and 1987. Before 1985, most games are still heavily text-based, with some exceptions like Wizardry, Bard's Tale, and the early Ultimas. But by 1985 and 1986 you have games like Ultima IV and Starflight as the most advanced games in the genre. By 1987 though, we see Wizard's Crown (a pre-cursor to the Gold Box D&D games) and Might and Magic and Phantasie.

What's also stunning is how good each Ultima game release looks compared to its contemporaries. Richard Garriott was an amazing programmer, and was so far ahead of the competition up until Ultima V.

Finally, some of those Rogue-like games made me smile. It would be hard for me to get back into the original Bard's Tale, but I could still sink hours into Rogue, Moria, Angband, and Zangband.

Anyway, there's a ton of obscure titles that I never heard of in that playlist, some of which you guys have already covered in the thread.

 

[octavius]

For me the real breakthrough was Dungeon Master in late 1987. Both graphics and UI wise it was a huge leap forward.

 

[samuraigaiden]

How about some first-person alternate history?

Can you imagine a first-person immersive sim, with full 360º movement and dynamic lighting, that not only predates System Shock and Ultima Underworld but in fact also came before Wolfenstein 3D and even Catacombs 3D?

Corporation was released in 1990 for the Amiga and Atari ST.



Now of course this is interesting. But wouldn't it be more impressive if I told that there was a fully 3D FPS game with 3D enemies - all rendered in software mode, of course - that predates Wolfenstein 3D and effectively existed 5 years before Quake? Yep.

Cybercon III was released in 1991 also for the Amiga and Atari ST.



There is no Cybercon I and II. This is one of those games with a number on the tittle to make it sound cool, like Stellar 7.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

God, I wish I could play Corporation. It sounds so freaking neat to play. The care put into the backstory. How you could have the developers put you into the game. But every version seems impossible to play nowadays. DOS requires some mouse program that seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. Amiga...I forget the exact issue but that was screwed up too. The Atari version seemed to have a lot of bad dumps around. There's a Genesis version, I know, but who wants to play a Genesis port of a game that looks to require the mouse?
Although that said, there's some more interesting choices from the passages of computer history, older than the ones Samuraigaiden unearthed...
Galactic Empire (1990, Coktel Vision)

Based on an obscure French TTRPG and out on all three major computer platforms of the era Galactic Empire has a lot of things that are very interesting to encounter in a 3D game of the time. A complex dialog system, trading for items, and even a simple keyboard and mouse control system, although I suspect it wasn't originally intended to be that way. Supposedly it has a lot more interesting things going on, but good luck reaching those. Why has no one heard of it? It doesn't really work on DOS and it is slightly slow on Amiga.
Day of the Viper (1989, Accolade)

Supposedly, it is the first immersive sim. I have no reason to doubt this claim. It also seemed to have influenced System Shock in some ways, as it strangely features a corrupted computer...
Space Vikings (1982, SubLogic)

Beat Elite to the open world space sim by a few years. Instead of playing an intergalactic trader, you play an intergalactic warlord, conquering planets and selling what you can for money. There's a reason why this game is forgotten, instead of frames per second, the game speed can be measured in seconds per frame. I'm not even joking. Its practically unplayable.

And there's also Space Station Oblivion and Terminator which featured full polygon everything, but are less interesting to talk about.

 

[Grauken]

God, I wish I could play Corporation. It sounds so freaking neat to play. The care put into the backstory. How you could have the developers put you into the game. But every version seems impossible to play nowadays. DOS requires some mouse program that seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Found this comment on an abandonware site about mouse and DOS, maybe this actually helps

the mouse works in d-fend reloaded. just edit the d-fend profile, and in the mouse section tick the force 2 button mode box

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

God, I wish I could play Corporation. It sounds so freaking neat to play. The care put into the backstory. How you could have the developers put you into the game. But every version seems impossible to play nowadays. DOS requires some mouse program that seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Found this comment on an abandonware site about mouse and DOS, maybe this actually helps

the mouse works in d-fend reloaded. just edit the d-fend profile, and in the mouse section tick the force 2 button mode box

Well I'll be damned. That actually works. To think that I just passed by that because I didn't use frontends. Imagine that, it is possible to fuck things up doing it the right way.

 

[Grauken]

God, I wish I could play Corporation. It sounds so freaking neat to play. The care put into the backstory. How you could have the developers put you into the game. But every version seems impossible to play nowadays. DOS requires some mouse program that seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Found this comment on an abandonware site about mouse and DOS, maybe this actually helps

the mouse works in d-fend reloaded. just edit the d-fend profile, and in the mouse section tick the force 2 button mode box

Well I'll be damned. That actually works. To think that I just passed by that because I didn't use frontends. Imagine that, it is possible to fuck things up doing it the right way.

Never used d-fend myself, so I find it kinda interesting that d-fends seems to have an option not in the usual config file, if my understanding is correctly. Really weird

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Sleeping God Lie, a 1989 game for Amiga, Atari ST and DOS, that predates first person open-world RPGs, such as The Elders Scrolls.



It is a relatively easy game, the most complex part is to figure out the interface. It has a nice kind of atmosphere... almost relaxing (the intro music is nice too). It was one of the first RPG I have played and completed by myself (on the Amiga). It so obscure that I haven't found any playthrough videos around (only sparse and short gameplay segments)

Edit: obviously it is not obscure enough for the codex: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...seudo-rpg-from-1989-sleeping-gods-lie.111205/

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I remember the name of that game, but it wasn't until I watched the video that I finally saw it in action. And it looks like a Freescape-game.

 

[Don Peste]

Edit: obviously it is not obscure enough for the codex: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...seudo-rpg-from-1989-sleeping-gods-lie.111205/

Look at Infinitron in that thread, pinging felipepepe like they are best pallies.

Those were the days.