Together Retro: First-Person Dungeon Crawlers

[BoneSnapDeez]

You and me both, but I have plenty of other options, so I'm ok.

Well, thanks for sparking my interest in these games, at least. You'll have to finish one someday, if only to see how is compares to the almighty Drakkhen.

And wow, the box art for this first Ishar game is badass -- and familiar to me, as black metal band Summoning used the same art as an album cover.

[Exhuminator]

The sound design in this game is exceptional, by the way.

A lot of reviewers complained about the lack of an OST, but it left more room for the sound effects to resonate.

some areas are just too dark (when, really, they shouldn’t be...Why was it so hard to see in an area literally covered in flames?!)

Shadow Tower.

An HD remaster smoothing out some of the games’ rough edges would really be an experience.

I doubt we'll ever see such a thing, sadly. But I believe you'll find Shadow Tower Abyss is quite pleasing graphically and plays very smoothly.

[Sarge]

Holy plagiarized art, Batman!

[Ack]

You and me both, but I have plenty of other options, so I'm ok.

Well, thanks for sparking my interest in these games, at least. You'll have to finish one someday, if only to see how is compares to the almighty Drakkhen.

And wow, the box art for this first Ishar game is badass -- and familiar to me, as black metal band Summoning used the same art as an album cover.

Yeah, all three of the Ishar games have some awesome cover art. There's also a predecessor, Crystals of Arborea, that sometimes gets called Ishar 0 since it came from the same company. Apparently it plays like a tactical RPG.

I can say already that Ishar looks way better and doesn't play itself like Drakkhen does. Ishar you actually have to control things. Drakkhen, you set the controller down and walk away, checking back on it every couple of hours to ensure a merchant hasn't gotten in the way of your AI grind fest. Instead, Ishar has real-time combat similar to Eye of the Beholder...only much faster, so the few enemies I encountered mowed into me like a grain thresher while I was still figuring out how to attack.

I'll come back to Ishar eventually, but I wanted something I could focus on for the little time we had left in the month, and I just didn't feel like it was going to be something I could figure out in such a short time. I might go with something easier instead. I've got one I'm leaning towards, but here's a quick list of just some of the FPDCs I've got sitting on the shelf to play:

GOG
Arx Fatalis
Elder Scrolls: Arena
Elder Scrolls: Battlespire
Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Eye of the Beholder III
Krynn series
Menzoberranzan
Might and Magic I
Might and Magic II
Might and Magic VII
Might and Magic VIII
Might and Magic IX
Ravenloft series
Thunderscape
Ultima Underworld II
Wizardry 8

Steam
Legend of Grimrock

SNES
Dungeon Master
Obitus

Like I said, I've got options.

[prfsnl_gmr]

The sound design in this game is exceptional, by the way.

A lot of reviewers complained about the lack of an OST, but it left more room for the sound effects to resonate.

Yes. The lack of music is great and serves the game well. It is all about the ambient noise and sound effects. I am playing with a decent set of headphones, and in light of the fact you can’t see anything most of the time, you really do have to use sound to find enemies (and locate hidden doors). That is probably why the character on the game’s cover is blindfolded.

Hearing a door slam shut behind you can be really unsettling depending on where you are in the game and really adds to the tension.

some areas are just too dark (when, really, they shouldn’t be...Why was it so hard to see in an area literally covered in flames?!)

Shadow Tower.

I know...I know...I just feel like the developers had a lot going on under the hood and behind the scenes, and they covered up the fact that game is held together with duct tape by making the draw distance incredibly short. Torches and bottles of light are basically “slow” spells, and even when you use them, the draw distance is still so short that the “Shadow Tower” name fits. (In other words, Shadow Tower is likely one of the few games where the developers made up a name based on its technical limitations. )

An HD remaster smoothing out some of the games’ rough edges would really be an experience.

I doubt we'll ever see such a thing, sadly. But I believe you'll find Shadow Tower Abyss is quite pleasing graphically and plays very smoothly.

I’m looking forward to it! It looks awesome, and I was tempted to play it for TR this month. I decided I wanted to get through the first game...uh...first, however.

Also, I am doubtful we’ll see anything like it either. I still like to think how awesome a HD FromSoftware FPDC Collection would be, though. It would be a system seller (for me).

[MrPopo]

I'm surprised you picked up the Krynn games but not the Forgotten Realms games. Personally I'd recommend you do Pool of Radiance before picking up any of the Krynn trilogy, because those have a higher starting difficulty. So of that list, given the time you still have, I'd say you'd probably be best off with Battlespire, or possibly either Menzoberranzan or Ravenloft; don't know enough about the lengths of the latter two to say for sure. Might and Magic 1 might be a bit too much to chew at this point; there's a lot to explore and map and the maps are pretty intricate (especially the overworld) and there isn't much direction.

[Exhuminator]

Shadow Tower is likely one of the few games where the developers made up a name based on its technical limitations.

I'm not sure it was technical limitations though. The plot supports the name as you come to understand it better. Also FromSoftware produced Shadow Tower after King's Field III, and KF3 had a tad further draw distance. A few screenshots:







I believe the ever present suffocating darkness in Shadow Tower was an aesthetic design, not a programming compromise. I could be wrong of course!

how awesome a HD FromSoftware FPDC Collection would be

I agree with you. Alas for now all we can do is pretty up the graphics in ePSXe.

I decided I wanted to get through the first game...uh...first, however.

You'll be glad you did when you get around to Abyss. There are plot elements that carry over from the first game.

[marurun]

I found the first Krynn game easier than Pool of Radiance.

[Ack]

I'm surprised you picked up the Krynn games but not the Forgotten Realms games. Personally I'd recommend you do Pool of Radiance before picking up any of the Krynn trilogy, because those have a higher starting difficulty. So of that list, given the time you still have, I'd say you'd probably be best off with Battlespire, or possibly either Menzoberranzan or Ravenloft; don't know enough about the lengths of the latter two to say for sure. Might and Magic 1 might be a bit too much to chew at this point; there's a lot to explore and map and the maps are pretty intricate (especially the overworld) and there isn't much direction.

I actually did pick up Forgotten Realms, but it's tough to decipher which games are dungeon crawlers, more tactically-oriented RPGs, action RPGs, etc., with the way GOG has everything grouped. That's why I said those were some of my choices! I know Ravenloft well enough to know it'll want to dick me over at the start because it's Ravenloft, but we'll see. Maybe Battlespire is where I should go.

[MrPopo]

I'm surprised you picked up the Krynn games but not the Forgotten Realms games. Personally I'd recommend you do Pool of Radiance before picking up any of the Krynn trilogy, because those have a higher starting difficulty. So of that list, given the time you still have, I'd say you'd probably be best off with Battlespire, or possibly either Menzoberranzan or Ravenloft; don't know enough about the lengths of the latter two to say for sure. Might and Magic 1 might be a bit too much to chew at this point; there's a lot to explore and map and the maps are pretty intricate (especially the overworld) and there isn't much direction.

I actually did pick up Forgotten Realms, but it's tough to decipher which games are dungeon crawlers, more tactically-oriented RPGs, action RPGs, etc., with the way GOG has everything grouped. That's why I said those were some of my choices! I know Ravenloft well enough to know it'll want to dick me over at the start because it's Ravenloft, but we'll see. Maybe Battlespire is where I should go.

So here's the various groups in the Gold Box games:

Pool of Radiance
Curse of the Azure Bonds
Secret of the Silver Blades
Pools of Darkness

Gateway to the Savage Frontier
Treasures of the Savage Frontier

Champions of Krynn
Death Knights of Krynn
Dark Queen of Krynn

All use the same engine (with upgrades along the way), are first person perspective exploration with the tactical combat engine. Some of them have a world map for exploration between different dungeon areas. The groups are intended to be played as a single storyline with the same characters, using the import feature. There is a side game called Hillsfar, which is set between PoR and CotAB, which is not first person and is really just a series of minigames. I wouldn't recommend it.