The Codex’s Best Computer RPGs (pre-Diablo)

[honko]

Codex user: -Let's do a pre-diablo best RPG list!

Codex Mouthbreathers chorum: -But, we barely played any 80s and 90s RPG, you're so meaaaan!

Codex Mouthbreather beta: -It's alright, i've played one, I can vote and give my expert opinion!

Codex Mouthbreathers Chorum: -Oh, you're right, I've played 2 (other one) And i've played 2 as well! (other one) Three here, hahaha, let's vote!

Codex Neckbeard beta: -Me too, i've only played the ultima franchise but what else is there anyway, let's vote guys!

Codex Neckbeard delta: I'm calling my twatter friends and i'll tell them which game to vote for, because they don't even know what is a RPG but they should give their my opinion as well!

You only play blobbers so you can pretend you have friends!

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

4 Points:
Ultima Underworld 1

2 Points:
Wizardy VII
Darklands

1 Point:
QFG IV
World of Xeen

 

[Boomer_007]

4 - Ultima 7: The Black Gate
4 - Wasteland
2 - Betrayal at Krondor

 

[680x0]

3 pts. Wasteland
3 pts. Dark Heart of Uuuuukrul
2 pts. Castle of the Winds
1 pts. Temple of Apshai
1 pts. Rogue (sorta defined my fave genre)

 

[buffalo bill]

Deuce Traveler: Any chance we can get the total scores thus far?

Nope. That's a lot of work and it is still going to be difficult for the Ring of Prestigious Gentlemen to check the numbers with me. I've noticed a few people change their vote with new posts instead of editing their old ones and a few others didn't quite follow the rules. Other posters have been doing updates, however, so maybe one of them will do another summation for you. Personally, I think we should just wait because it might encourage voters to change their votes if a game they don't like ends up running away with one of the top positions.

Also, to answer a previous question about why many rogue-likes have been left out, but Rogue was left in; Rogue was the one that started it all and had a commercial release from Epyx while many of the other rogue-likes did not. We decided that justified Rogue being on the list. Personally, I'm a huge Angband and Zangband fan, and I also wanted Omega included since it ranked so high on CRPGAddict's site. But if we were going to include those, we would have had to include literally dozens of others that would have flooded the listing. We had to cut the rogue-like list down by some criteria otherwise we would have had DnD, Dungeon, Rogue, Telengard, The Tomb of Drewan, Moria, Sword of Fargoal, Hack, Larn, Nethack, Omega, Mike's Adventure Game, Castle of the Winds, Imoria, Angband, Boss, Unreal World, Crossfire, Ragnarok, Dungeon Hack, Fangband, ADOM, Zangband, AlphaMan, Kaduria, Linley's Dungeon Crawl, GW-Angband, Over, Rogue's Quest, the Minstrel's Song and probably ever major overhaul of each of those all included in the list. Keeping it to commercial releases helped justify only commercially released versions like Rogue, Sword of Fargoal, Castle of the Winds, Ragnarok, and Dungeon Hack making the list. Unfortunately, this meant keeping the well-received Omega and my loved Zangband off the lists. As a side note, the only Angband derivative I ever beat was Sangband. Being able to put points into your own skill development certainly made the game easier. The later DOS version of Zangband remains my favorite rogue-like of all time, followed by late-DOS Angband. Those two games are unforgiving towards me, but I still love them despite the abuse.

On the commercial side I beat Castle of the Winds and Dungeon Hack. I never stuck with Rogue long enough to make a serious attempt. I did play a ton of Moria in the early 90s since my girlfriend was a huge fan, but I never beat that one either.

If I follow you, the main reason for leaving roguelikes off the list is that including them (other than Rogue) would make the list of games too long? Tbh this seems like a pretty arbitrary reason to exclude a class of games from the initial list, and (as you say) this has forced you to not include some really great games (including e.g. ADOM, which I'd bet many Codexers have played at some point). I know, as you say in the OP, we can vote for any game on or off the given list, but I suspect that there is a selection effect (or a similar cognitive biasing effect) that will skew votes mainly toward games presented in the OP. And I am genuinely curious how the hivemind stacks classic roguelikes against other classic games.

(also, there are games in the OP that didn't get a commercial release, like Eamon)

 

[Tigranes]

Well, you can only vote for games you've actually played, so picking from that subset...

5: Ultima Underworld
4: Wizardry 1
1: Princess Maker 2

 

[Lady Error]

Edit 2: Sorry, I have usually no Desire to post on the Internet when I'm sober, but 5+1+1+1+1+1 makes 10 ? Have I missed some Rule ?

5 games max.

 

[Rincewind]

You don't even have to like BaK, but claiming that the combat "hasn't aged well" is just ridiculous.

Yeah, the combat is actually one of the best parts of it, agreed. It's quite fun.

The final vote still has to be certified by the electors of the Ring of Prestigious Gentlemen.

Indeed, and I fully trust they will start with declaring BoK ineligible for the #1 position. The current state of the results is an absolute outrage!

Otherwise, things went downhill pretty quickly and we ended up with the situation I described 10 pages ago in my long post. But it doesn't really matter, even thought the final results of the popularity based poll will be pretty much useless, the individual lists from the R.P.G. members (plus from a few other 40+ guys who actually played most of these games) are still pretty informative and valuable.

 

[Lady Error]

The results so far:

Spoiler

Looks like we have at least two or three people who already compiled the results. Might be a good idea to compare notes.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Good, blobbers are kept of out to 3. Only 2 of them sneaked into top 10.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Good, blobbers are kept of out to 3. Only 2 of them sneaked into top 10.

BaK is a part blobber. Ultima Underworld is the blobbiest.
Checkmate.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Good, blobbers are kept of out to 3. Only 2 of them sneaked into top 10.

BaK is a part blobber. Ultima Underworld is the blobbiest.
Checkmate.

I am sure you know what a blobber is, so I'll just say: no, they're not!

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Good, blobbers are kept of out to 3. Only 2 of them sneaked into top 10.

BaK is a part blobber. Ultima Underworld is the blobbiest.
Checkmate.

I am sure you know what a blobber is, so I'll just say: no, they're not!

No u

 

[Crashed Whale]

2P Eye of the Beholder

1P Might and Magic 3

3P Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss

3P Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant

1P Might and Magic: World of Xeen

 

[Darth Canoli]

See this is 100% wrong. Because BaK combat has aged pretty well. It is still a very good tactical mini-game stuffed into the larger game. You have positioning, spells, distance modifiers, ranged and melee combat, managing buffs/debuffs, equipment condition, special items. There is a shit-ton of stuff crammed into the BaK combat, and you will use most of it.

Again, amazing how wrong and dumb you are on this. You don't even have to like BaK, but claiming that the combat "hasn't aged well" is just ridiculous.

• First, the combat view is probably the worst ever implemented in a cRPG.
• The combat animation and walking speed is also one of the worst.
• The combat UI is just bad.
• And don't get me started on the traps

Great, combat mechanism are good but after 3 fights, it's so tedious you have to be autistic to keep playing the game.

 

[Casual Hero]

10 points to Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord from me.

There may be some games I prefer, but I'd like to see it get some representation anyways.

 

[Lady Error]

10 points to Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord from me.

There may be some games I prefer, but I'd like to see it get some representation anyways.

5 points max per game.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

10 points to Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord from me.

There may be some games I prefer, but I'd like to see it get some representation anyways.

5 points max per game.

Ok
Wizardy 2
Proving 2
Grounds 2
Of the 0
Mad 2
Overlord 2

 

[Difera]

05 points:
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands

02 points:
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss

02 points:
Eye of the Beholder

01 point:
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception

 

[Casual Hero]

Obviously I don't pay enough attention.

5 to Wizardry 1

4 to Phantasie

1 to Dark Heart of Steve Urkel

 

[GandGolf]

5 points for the complete Ultima 7 (Black Gate/Serpent Isle with both expansions)
3 points for Might and Magic, World of Xeen
1 point each for each of the Ultima underworld games.

 

[Riel]

4 points:
Rogue (epyx)
Ultima Underworld

2 point:
Eye of the Beholder

 

[Bibbimbop]

2 points for Darklands
1 point for Hero's Quest
1 point for Betrayal at Krondor
1 point for Ultima V

5 points for Princess Maker 2

 

[cvv]

5 points: Wizardry 7
2 point: Betrayal at Krondor
1 point: Lands of Lore, Wizardry 6, Might and Magic 4


Altho I call BS on the 1996 cutoff point because M&M 6 and 7 are p. vintage and one of the best RPGs ever made. Same for a couple of other post 1996 greats.

The real cutoff point, as every truly prestigious Codexer obviously knows, is 2001, i.e. the release of the last great inclined RPG - Wizardry 8.

EDIT: sry, forgot about 5 points max. Fixed.

 

[V_K]

The real cutoff point, as every truly prestigious Codexer obviously knows, is 2001

If that were the cutoff point, there wouldn't be any point in making the poll. Anyone who has spent a week on the Codex can name the top 10 of such a poll in their sleep.