Category: CRPGAddict

The leader of Hamburg outlines the crimes of robber knight Eberhard Gerle.         Someone should make a comprehensive study of the criminal archetypes that have come and gone–made obsolete by sociology or technology. The itinerant snake-oil salesman; the train robber; the yo-ho-ho kind of pirate. The Nigerian Prince must be […]

The king of Questron made me a baron. The King of Syree knighted me. Remind me what Lord British did for me again?            The Kingdom of Syree United States Everlasting Software (developer and publisher) Released in 1992 for DOS Date Started: 20 May 2019 Date Finished: 6 June 2019 […]

Darklands is a very menu-driven game.          I re-started the game and rolled up a new group for this expedition, not so much because I was dissatisfied with the statistics of the old one (although I did need someone with better alchemy skills, I think) but because I was dissatisfied […]

                House of Usher United States Crystalware (developer and publisher) Released in 1980 for Apple II and Atari 800 Date Started: 27 May 2019 Date Finished: 27 May 2019 Total Hours: 5Difficulty: Moderate (3/5)Final Rating: (to come later)Ranking at time of posting: (to come later) A few months ago, commenter […]

The King of Syree bestows the main quest.             Facing an Ultima clone often sends me into a process akin to the Kübler-Ross five stages of grief.              Denial: “Aw, hell. Not another Ultima clone. What–it even has a (Z)tats command? No. No $&@#!* way.” Anger: “What the hell was […]

When you start up the game, this woman says “Welcome to Darklands” in a digitized voice.           Darklands United States MicroProse (developer and publisher) Released in 1992 for DOSDate Started: 24 May 2019 Excited about killing orcs and finding treasure, I fire up a game and crack open the manual. […]

The game starts with an Ultima IV-like scene except that unlike Ultima IV, nothing happens in the view window.               The Kingdom of Syree United States Everlasting Software (developer and publisher) Released in 1992 for DOS Date Started: 20 May 2019 The moment I fire up a game and see […]

The winning screen you’ve been desperately anticipating for 8 years.             Journey United States Infocom (developer and publisher) Released in 1989 for DOS, Amiga, Apple II, and Macintosh Date Started: 20 March 2011 Date Finished: 21 May 2019 Total Hours: 23 (including 9 in 2011)Difficulty: Hard (4/5)Final Rating: (to come […]

For the box art, the developers seem to be paying homage to L. Ron Hubbard.            Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters United States Toys for Bob (developer); Accolade (publisher) Released in 1992 for DOS, 1994 for the 3DO console; later fan ports to other platforms Date Started: 23 March […]

                Darkwood United StatesPublished as shareware in 1992 for the MacintoshDate Started: 15 May 2019 Date Finished: 16 May 2019 Total Hours: 4Difficulty: Easy (2/5)Final Rating: (to come later)Ranking at time of posting: (to come later)                 You are an orphan named Derek who wants to join the elite city […]

There’s no one “congratulations” screen. This is the final screen of the game. The final chapter commenced with a re-visit to the Syreen. After clearly telling me to “LEAVE” in our last encounter, I had thought that the Syreen commander was going to do something without my participation, but it […]

The Game Master gives us some useless experience points at the end of Dark Stone Ritual.            Magic Tower I: Dark Stone Ritual Germany Motelsoft (developer and publisher) Released in 1992 for Atari ST Date Started: 9 April 2019 Date Finished: 12 May 2019 Total Hours: 29Difficulty: Easy (2/5)Final Rating: […]

No, it’s not a sentient, malicious robot. It’s the galactic equivalent of a Lance Armstrong bracelet.              Lots of stuff to talk about, so I’m just going to pick up where I left off. Running out of items on my “to do” list, I next went to where Admiral Zex […]

The Game Master gives me one of the main quests of the game.              At this point, I’ve explored five towns, three caves, and as much of the outdoor area as I can. The outdoor map is structured so you can’t get very far without the skills necessary to navigate […]

The ship stood no chance.             For me, Star Control II‘s combat system is the most difficult and disappointing element of the game, and yet I recognize that it isn’t “bad.” To the contrary, it was a genius idea to take the ship-to-ship combat of Star Control and embed it […]

The authors pay homage to their inspiration.          As I write this, my first entry on Magic Tower I: Dark Stone Ritual has not yet posted, so I don’t know if some helpful commenter will appear with a 27-year-old manual for the game. What I do know is that a […]

Home planet encounters make it clear that you’re not getting on the ground without going through a lot of combat first.            Star Control II is easily the most information-rich game that we’ve had so far. The two Starflight titles were well above the average RPG, but even they didn’t […]

            Sorcerer of Siva United States Automated Simulations/Epyx (developer and publisher) Released in 1981 for Apple II and TRS-80 Date Started: 7 April 2019 Date Ended: 7 April 2019 Total Hours: 7 Difficulty: Hard (4/5) Final Rating: (to come later) Ranking at Time of Posting: (to come later)      […]