RPGDX > Forums > Design and programming > Old Skool.

Mandrake · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2003 1:22 am Post subject: Old Skool.

Learn from your masters, the history of the RPG genre:

http://bioinfo.mshri.on.ca/people/feldman/vgmuseum/index.html
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Mandrake · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2003 1:45 am Post subject:

more old skoolin RPG history:

http://www.rpgtimes.net/rpgtimes/article.php?article_id=393&origin=current

http://www.rpgtimes.net/rpgtimes/article.php?article_id=323&origin=archive

http://www.rpgtimes.net/rpgtimes/article.php?article_id=331&origin=archive

http://www.rpgtimes.net/rpgtimes/article.php?article_id=355&origin=archive

http://www.rpgtimes.net/rpgtimes/article.php?article_id=371&origin=archive

Why, may you ask, am I posting all of this stuff? I was thikning that playing/researching older RPG's (ie: the ones I grew up on, before I designed and amde video games) might give me a fresh perspective on a genre that seems to be growing a bit stale from too much clog in the console style rpg engine. By clog, I mean repetetion.

So I thought, heh, might start lookign at all the classics I used to play back in the day. Read about them. Remember what made tem special or revolutionary. It's kind of like how the future-ists took art back to it's origins via deconstructing the modern forms in order to create a new form of art.

EDIT:
and another:

http://www.classicrpg.com/
http://www.newcomer.hu/Pages/MainEnglish.htm
http://www.legacyoftheancients.com/

if anyone knows of any more links I would appreciate it if you posted them here :)
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"Well, last time I flicked on a lighter, I'm pretty sure I didn't create a black hole."-
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Sirocco · Mage Joined: 01 Jun 2002 Posts: 345

Legacy of the Ancients.... jeezus, that game took me forever and a year to beat. I found it superior to it's siblings, Questron (1 and 2) and the Legend of Blacksilver.

Yum.

.

Mandrake · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2003 6:35 pm Post subject:

BigManJones · Scholar Joined: 22 Mar 2003 Posts: 196

I remember playing 'temple of Apshai' a few times on my c64 from the tape player (yeah, that sucked) then when I finally got a disk drive I remember actually beating Roadwar 2000 - now that was a fun game. I played the first Bards tale but never beat it. I think I owned a couple of other SSI turn based war games. I used to have the Infocom 'Hitch hiker guide to the galaxy' too.

I tried a c64 emulator and downloaded the Elite .tap file - waiting 1/2 hour for the tape to load on a p3 is a little too nostalgic for me. That blue screen STILL give me a headache.

Rainer Deyke · Demon Hunter Joined: 05 Jun 2002 Posts: 672

I *liked* Stronghold (the original). Just played it again last year, and enjoyed it. Sure, it's not a rpg, and it might run slow in real-time mode (which I never used), but there's something in that game that appeals to me.

Ironshanks · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2003 10:00 pm Post subject:

I never enjoyed old RPGs. I don't know why, but early games from the genre really just didn't appeal to me. I tended to find them more difficult to operate than challenging.
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Mandrake · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2003 10:09 pm Post subject:

Ironshanks · Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2003 10:51 pm Post subject:

Well now that you mention it, I haven't played many RPGs at all...and I've been a console hobo so they're pretty much all PC. I remember Quest for Glory being one of my favourite games, but I wouldn't call it an RPG. Pretty much the Summoning and Daggerfall were the only ones I got to play and enjoyed. More recently was Morrowind, and Neverwinter Nights I found somewhat fun for the editability of it. Now that I think about it though, I haven't really played many games at all...I know OF many, or have played some once at a friend's house or whatever, but I'm no expert.

Anyway, I never was into the console RPGs, I tried playing through Chrono Cross, FF7 and Star Ocean, but none of them really kept my interest.
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That's not a broken link, it's a PICTURE of a broken link. It's really very conceptual.

Sirocco · Mage Joined: 01 Jun 2002 Posts: 345

Mandrake · Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2003 6:20 pm Post subject:

also- Ironshanks- I want to apologise for that last comment. It was rude of me to bitch like that, but being a fan of the old games, I notice alot of people walk into them seeing the name RPG, and then expect FF7. And then complain when the graphics, gameplay, and etc aren't the same. The worst were the reveiws I've read for Ultima 4. Someone said, "This game is horrible. bad graphics, bad gameplay, I'm surprised anyone ever played it."

Sorry about that last comment.
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"Well, last time I flicked on a lighter, I'm pretty sure I didn't create a black hole."-
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Jihgfed Pumpkinhead · Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2003 8:13 pm Post subject: Letters from the Wasteland Home

Interesting links, Mandrake. I started playing RPGs with Final Fantasy 3, Earthbound, and other SNES games, so I'm not really in touch with the old-school games.

I found Wasteland on one of those sites, though, and I must say, from what I've seen and played so far, it's a fantastic little game. So, thanks.

It suffers from the same problem I've seen in almost all old-school games, though: clumsy interface. More than graphics or anything like that, I think this is the main barrier separating modern players from old RPGs.

ThousandKnives · Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2003 9:00 pm Post subject:

m2j · Guest

Two of you have confessed to using apple ii's, so I'm gonna put it here:

I love old computers, I collect them. I found an apple ii in my school so I, er, stole it. That sounds really bad, I actually took it from a pile of things going to be thrown out, but I wasn't able to get anything apart from the keyboard block.

now this is the embarassing bit:

i've got it tuned to my tv BARLEY and I can turn it on, but it just says apple ][ or something (the reception is bad) and I can't get ANYTHING else to happen, it won't even beep. No key's apear when you type them, I've tried as many combinations (ctrl+alt+del) etc as I can think of and NOTHING works.

Does the machine have an memory os built in or does it have to be turned on with a disk/tape there to be loaded?

Can anyone help me?

matt

Ironshanks · Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2003 11:34 pm Post subject:

Heh, no offense taken, I didn't even take those comments as angry :)

I was practically born a generation late for a lot of the early RPGs as well, and experiencing them second-hand tends to have less appeal.
_________________
That's not a broken link, it's a PICTURE of a broken link. It's really very conceptual.