Computer Games That Defined RPGs In the 1980s 350
adeelarshad82 writes "The 1980s were huge for RPGs. This genre was one of the most defining game forms in the computer gaming world. A recently published article strolls down the memory lane to look back at classic computer games that both defined and extended the definition of the RPG in the 1980s. The roundup includes some obvious ones like Ultima and The Bard's Tale, and others which you may never have heard of."
Re:Obvious omissions (Score:5, Insightful)
no number system and pointing and clicking on every pixel of the screen to figure out you need to stick your finger up an owls ass sound like classic RPG play to me, from pen and paper to modern day
oh no, wait that is what ADVENTURE games are ... just cause its set in a fantasy setting, and you get involved with it somehow, does not mean its an RPG. I would play Toejam & Earl like it was like smoking crack, but I would not pretend its nothing more than a Easter egg hunt.
Re:Of all the games mentioned, what's missing? (Score:4, Insightful)
Utterly brilliant ad -- "We stick our graphics where the sun don't shine" -- http://www.atarimania.com/pubs/hi_res/pub_infocom.jpg [atarimania.com]
You know, it amazes me that whomever ended up owning Sierra Online's IP never officially resurrected their "VGA-era" remakes for iPhone and Android (if not Palm). I personally experienced "Day of the Tentacle" for the first time running under ScummVM on a Treo (we were having a hurricane, I knew we were going to lose power, and loaded it up in preparation so I'd have something to play when the lights went out), and it ran fairly well. If Sierra had any foresight (and whomever ended up inheriting them had any brain), they probably digitized everything at 640x480 & downsampled them from that point anyway (or still have the original art ready to re-digitize at 480x848), and with just a few tweaks, they'd sell like crazy (even people who know they can rip and run them with ScummVM would probably just say 'screw it' and pay a buck or two to save the trouble).
Alternate Reality (Score:5, Insightful)