Really Obscure RPGs

[Lord_Potato]

Hi, guys,

waiting for the complete translation for Fallout of Nevada I decided to venture into the unknown and try one of the more obscure RPGs, the kind of which are rarely discussed even in this esteemed company of RPG veterans.

However, venturing into the unknown I would not like to go without some kind of compass (not to be mistaken with quest compass) so, I'm curious about your opinions on these games (screenshots hidden under spoiler tags):

[edit: here is the link to BosanskiSeljak's list of all RPGs mentioned in this thread]



1. Another War - ok, I'll start with the least obscure of them all. A Polish RPG from 2002 with action set during the 2nd World War.

Spoiler

2. Anito - Defend the Land Enraged - propably the only cRPG made in Phillipines.

Spoiler

3. Arcatera, the Dark Brotherhood

Spoiler

4. Dark Secrets of Africa, aparently made by Germans. What is interesting is a fresh setting - 19th century colonial Africa

Spoiler

5. Icarus, Sanctuary of the Gods

Spoiler

6. Metal Hearts Replicants Rampage - seems like a Russian Fallout wannabe

Spoiler

7. Morning's Wrath

Spoiler

8. Paradise Cracked - another Russian game, this time cyberpunk

Spoiler

9. Shadow Vault - it really looks like a Fallout wannabe, but from what I've read is more akin to Fallout Tactics

Spoiler

10. The Banished - from what little I could find, it was also a Polish game, seemed to have really big game world ready for exploration. But I cannot find even a single review on the net.

Spoiler

So, did you play any of these forgotten titles? If yes, what are your thoughts on them? Are they worth the time and effort to obtain and play?

Or perhaps there are more obscure titles out there which you know?

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

 

[Saduj]

I've only played Metal Heart and only through half of the first town. Not a fan. IMO, Planet Alcatraz is a better Russian Fallout clone, even with RTwP combat. *

Some of these games are hard to get. Do you have site that is actually selling all of these?

*Edit: Better does not mean great. I finished it and found it very entertaining/lulzy for the part of the game but after a while it drags a bit.

 

[Serus]

Hi, guys,


4. Dark Secrets of Africa, aparently made by Germans. What is interesting is a fresh setting - 19th century colonial Africa

Spoiler

Some of the games you mentioned I heard of (Metalheart, Arcatera, Another War). Of the ones I haven't heard of this one looks the most interesting. Exactly because of a really interesting setting you mentioned. Is there anyone who played it ? Is it total crap or playable ? Is there an English version ?

 

[Lord_Potato]

Well, some of these might be considered as abandonware. Other titles can perhaps be still purchased. I am just curious if it's worth it.

Thanks for the info on Metal Heart, Saduj!

So, let me add some more obscure titles to the list:

11. Archangel - Polish (?) action RPG

Spoiler

12. Blind Justice - not only obscure but also the oldest title of the ones I presented here (1995). I've heard some good things about it, like it has a story that rivals the one of Planescape: Torment, but I'm not sure if it wasn't just some internet trolling...

Spoiler

13. Dragonfire the Well of Souls - an RPG from Sweden (!) based on their system Dragons and Demons (!!)

Spoiler

14. Gorasul - Legacy of the Dragon

Spoiler

15. Mistmare - alternative history of medieval Europe destroyed by magical fog

Spoiler

16. Vampire Hunters

Spoiler

 

[Lord_Potato]

Some of the games you mentioned I heard of (Metalheart, Arcatera, Another War). Of the ones I haven't heard of this one looks the most interesting. Exactly because of a really interesting setting you mentioned. Is there anyone who played it ? Is it total crap or playable ? Is there an English version ?

According to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hwWXxDeAfE

there is an English version and the game is voiced (not too good voice acting).

 

[Lord_Potato]

I've only played Metal Heart and only through half of the first town. Not a fan. IMO, Planet Alcatraz is a better Russian Fallout clone, even with RTwP combat. *

Some of these games are hard to get. Do you have site that is actually selling all of these?

*Edit: Better does not mean great. I finished it and found it very entertaining/lulzy for the part of the game but after a while it drags a bit.

And thanks for the info on Planet Alcatraz. I'd might check it. Maybe Krai Mira too. I heard they made enhanced edition and fixed most of the bugs. Russians really like their Fallout clones, don't they?

 

[Count Grishnak]

15. Mistmare

If I'm thinking of the right game, this is often cited as one of the worst RPGs of all time.

Edit: From Wikipedia

It was one of only three games to receive a zero-star review in Computer Gaming World magazine.

 

[Crane]

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Icarus, Sanctuary of the Gods

This one's original name is Droiyan, which is the first (?) commercial game in the series. Before that there was a freeware game (same name, same devs) which was way different. There's also Droiyan Next (beat'em up), Online ('nuff said) and a sequel which was only released in Korea and Russia. I tried to translate the Russian version to English, but had to put it on hold for a while due to crappy program structure (it literally dumps the whole text into the savefile, so you have to start over every time you make changes to the ingame text while risking to waste hours of work due to crappy placement of CCs).

EDIT: Forgot to add that Droiyan 2 is a poor Diablo clone. Why the devs decided to go with an ARPG instead of SRPG is beyond me.

 

[octavius]

Paradise Cracked

You know you've been too long on the Codex when you read it as "Paradise Cucked".

 

[Deuce Traveler]

These seem to be obscure because they are foreign and not very good. If I could recommend some foreign, but good games that I have completed and that some may not have heard of I would suggest the following:

1. Prince of Qin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Qin_(video_game)
2. The Legend of Cao Cao: http://kongming.net/legend_of_cao_cao/
3. Fallout 1.5: http://www.resurrection.cz/en/

 

[deama]

These seem to be obscure because they are foreign and not very good. If I could recommend some foreign, but good games that I have completed and that some may not have heard of I would suggest the following:

1. Prince of Qin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Qin_(video_game)
2. The Legend of Cao Cao: http://kongming.net/legend_of_cao_cao/
3. Fallout 1.5: http://www.resurrection.cz/en/

What's your review of Prince of Qin? I tried playing it but the translation was really really bad, as well as the voice acting, I couldn't stomach it. Should I force myself or?

Archangle

I played that one. Hmm, it's an interesting game, it does some parts kinda well like the atmosphere (at least in the first era). It's more of a light RPG, there are come C&C shinanigans but as far as I can tell, they don't change the main story. I would recommend you play this if you don't know what else to play; the game does drag on at certain parts, especially the end.[/QUOTE]

 

[Darth Roxor]

13. Dragonfire the Well of Souls - an RPG from Sweden (!) based on their system Dragons and Demons (!!)

Oh God, I played this shit for like 30 minutes over 10 years ago when it was added to some shitty magazine. This game was downright unplayable.

 

[CryptRat]

If what you're looking for is a good, obscure RPG in a nice setting then you should try Jewel of Arabia : Dreamers. It takes place in an Arabian Nights setting, focuses on exploration first and foremost, in a fully open world or so, and has everything you could expect such as party creation and turn-based combat. It uses a keyboard-based dialog system and in particular you'll hunt keywords to get quests...
The full game is long, with a big world to explore and there are definitely some cool moments, for example you can enter the story of a storyteller. The game makes good use of the setting, it never steps aside from it, there are many (mechanical as narrative) little things here and there that I won't spoil and the main story is nice.
The class system is cool, they're not classic. Besides they are a couple of actually strong items to look for (according new spell levels and reducing MP consumption for some level of magic and such).
The game is not perfect, there are some boring quests, combat is above average but it's not excellent ; exploration is great though, and you can probably do most things in any order provided you're strong enough. Overall it's a very good game.
You need an old mac emulator to play it. Just play the shareware version, then if you like it as much as I did then look for an activation code and go on, the game is big, in particular although I completed it I only got the 4 first levels of spells over 7 (you get these via items) so there are certainly many things, quests especially, I haven't solved.

 

[Reinhardt]

World of Chaos. Unplayable eastern european(i think) game where you playing as ork.

Even turn based, but i can't find screens of combat.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

We got a review of Prince of Qin men.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Keep them coming, guys. I am sure there are some hidden pearls here!

I'm very interested in Prince of Qin - is it more of a Chinese Baldur's Gate or Chinese party based Diablo? What's the combat, real time or RTwP?

Archangel might be worth a try. Also this Jewel of Arabia looks incredibly sexy! Even though it requires a Mac emulation...

What's unplayable about World of Chaos? It looks like poor man's Of Orcs and Men

 

[Reinhardt]

It looks like poor man's Of Orcs and Men

Nah, you recruit party members and fight on hex arenas.

What's unplayable about World of Chaos?

It was broken and never patched, iirc.

Found combat

 

[Grimwulf]

17. Stranger (by Fireglow Studios)

Spoiler

Feels and plays a lot like Rage of Mages, but with more story and less grind. I remember it being actually good, or engaging at least. Alas, seems like it's gone forever - can't find the game anywhere on the net. Used to have it on CD, but fuck knows where is it now.

Spoiler

The story was presented in comix-like fashion. Loved the art. Hated the voiceover.



18. Battle of Heroes (you can't come up with a more generic name if you try).

Yet another game with Rage of Mages gameplay, only with less story and more grind.

Spoiler

Looks bad. Feels bad. Is bad.

 

[Reinhardt]

Battle of Heroes

I remember this thing.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Oh yeah, Grimwulf reminded me, Konung.

 

[vazha]

World of Chaos. Unplayable eastern european(i think) game where you playing as ork.

Even turn based, but i can't find screens of combat.

Sans the unplayable bugs (there are two scenarios: either your char freezes at the final battle of act 1, or the game goes batshit crazy for no reason at all and assigns you shitload of skill points, thus allowing you to wrap up that buggy battle in one turn, but rendering the rest of the game pointless), it had one of the best atmospheres of all the rpg games I've played, quite interesting quests with some nice C&C thrown in, character system not unlike of The Dark Eye and really, really satisfying turn-based combat. It's such a shame nobody modded this to a playable version.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

19. Zenfar

Spoiler

DESPAIR THY EYES

 

[Reinhardt]

Zenfar

I was young and stupid. I think, i still have some shady CD with this turd somewhere.