RPGs - A General Overview (3) by James Judge Yes, I definitely do like that title and I think I will stick with it from now it. It has a quiet elegance that just adds to the article instead of detracting from it. Enough of that, on with the show. Last issue I brought you more or less up to date with the current RPG scene, looking at the last great milestone - the Ultima Underworlds. Now let's have a look at just how RPGers classify the different kind of games. If someone mentions an isometric game, most RPGers will know what format the game will take, but do YOU? Well, if you don't, here's a small guide to the main types of RPG you are likely to come across. First off there are the text adventures (listen up Little-Miss-text-adventure-buff!). Yeah, yeah, I know that they are a completely different genre in themselves, but there are a few typing games that try to be RPGs. In all text adventures you take on a role and play the same role through to the end of a task. The same can be said for RPGs. What makes an RPG and a text adventure different, though, are things called statistics (as well as fights). If a text adventure is laden down with stats and gives you a limited parser (maybe even to the extent of choosing one of three options every 'turn'), has a fair number of fights and mentions orcs, sweating warriors and heaving maidens (mainly in distress), then the game is more of an RPG than a text adventure. A notable game of this type on the ST is Wizard's Tower and Legend Of The Red Dragon, on the PC. I don't like these kind of games at all - every example I have seen tries to take the best of both worlds and fails miserably when compared to pure text adventures or RPGs. The next kind of RPG is what I call the ASCII variety. these are proper RPGs that are laden with stats and are (more often than not) based on the D&D or AD&D rules (for good or bad). That means you'll get the same kind of monsters, spells and artifacts as you would playing a pen and paper RPG. The trouble with these games are (1) their simplicity and (2) their graphics. The plot of these games are very simple - go down to the 50th level of the dungeon to kill the evil wizard/balrog/dragon. There is no interaction with monsters or other characters and you play a singular, lone character who, by the end of the game, will reach a ridiculously high level (in excess of 75). The graphics take the form of a map. You see a little flashing blob denoting you and other 'attractions' are represented by similar icons. The problem being that all the graphics are made up from ASCII characters (ie the characters you can get from your keyboard). So, the evil balrog will be just a capital 'B' advancing towards your '*'. Atmospheric or what? A couple of games that are available on all three platforms are Moria and Hack! - both intensely boring (but for a full review of Moria see issue 26 where I give it a thorough going over). The ASCII variety have gotten more sophisticated over the past couple of years (but, luckily, less numerous) and have had their ASCII characters replaced with proper graphics (everyone go 'ooooh!'). The game still lacks depth and variety (and is still reliant on luck for both the level layout and the monsters/items/ traps you fight/find/fall into), though. A couple of the more up-to-date examples of ASCII games are DDST (on the ST) and The Land (on the PC). For a full review of The Land see my review of it! (Ha, nice cross-link there between the features and reviews section!). Luckily, after those three rather poor versions of the beloved RPG we get onto some good kinds and (luckily) the most common. To begin with there is the isometric RPG. An isometric game is a 3D one where you see your character(s) wandering around in a world as if you were seeing them (and the world) via a corner-mounted camera. If any of you have played Head Over Heels, Rentakil Rita, Bride Of Frankenstein or any of the other countless games like these from the Speccy era you'll know what I'm talking about. There are only two games that stand out in my mind when I talk of these. The first is Legend (available for all three platforms) and World Of Legend (only on the PC). Here you take control of a party of four characters in the land of Trazere (first explored in the two first-person RPGs Bloodwych and its Data Disk) and wander across the 3D fractal rendered map, visiting dungeons and following the trail of evil. I've only played Legend and it is a top-notch game (even on the ST!). It relies heavily on fighting (which you can have a greater or lesser degree of control over) and puzzles of the spatial and spell kind. Damn good (see Sue's review of the game in issue 19). The other game that springs fitfully into my mind is Cadaver (and its sequel Cadaver: The Payoff) that's available on all three platforms. Here you play a dwarf who is after one thing - money. The graphics are good and there is only one dungeon. The difference between this and Legend is the problems in this game are more akin to those faced in Head Over Heels (but slightly more sophisticated, of course, and with a medieval slant). Overall good fun, but it didn't grab me where it should have. The final type of game is the good old 3D first-person affair. The first game to make a splash using this view-point was Dungeon Master (boo-hiss) and, boy, did it spark of a huge genre. Great games building upon Dungeon Master have been ones such as Bloodwych, Captive, Knightmare, the Might and Magic series, Chaos Strikes Back and the Eye Of The Beholder Trilogy. They are just the commercial attempts - PD efforts have been the likes of Dungeon Lord and Towers for the ST, Moraff's World and Ancients 1: The Deathwatch (reviewed by moi somewhere) for the PC and Dungeons Of Avalon (1 and 2) and Black Dawn for the Amiga. The PD efforts may not be up to the Captive standard, but some of them are still pretty good fun. This type of game offers you a huge variety of gameplay - you can have spatial, spell and word problems. Mazes, traps and places of interest. Towns, wilderness and dungeons. Interaction with monsters and NPCs (non-player characters) and loads of other things beside. Also these games do something to the ordinary RPGer. Instead of just being happy to play the game and be done with it, the 3D obsessed RPGer will have reams of squared-paper scattered around the computer and a host of colouring pencils (or crayons, depending on their mentality ) close to hand. Why? So they can put every single step they make onto the graph paper with careful annotations about what lever does what and what happens when you enter such and such a room. Don't you Sue? Still, at least it keeps Alex happy converting all of the maps to ASCII format... @~Yup, I LOVE mapping (with crayons too!) ... Sue Technology has now progressed and with the advent of the 486 computer so came a new 3D type of game. One that would knock the socks off anything that had come before. One that would need a Pentium to run properly (but that's another story). With the DM variety of first person games you take a step forward and you move forward a square. It may be easy to map - but it doesn't do much for realism. I know I can turn in more than 90 degree increments! Anyway, this new breed of game did away with all of that. You can now wander around in a fully 3D environment, moving forward as little (or as much) as you wish. Turning to face whatever direction you wish. Hell, your character (these games tended to do away with the four player party and re-introduce the lone warrior type thing) even sways when he walks. These games are brilliant for atmosphere - turn the lights down low, put on some music and get absorbed for the night (and the next day and night. Then get fired for not turning up to work). Also these games can offer just as much interaction as did the old 3D games. Unfortunately the games also require a degree of manual dexterity and spatial awareness, so those of you who find it hard wandering around the hall of heroes using the keypad in DM have got some problems. Luckily most of the games came equipped with an automapper. Games of this latter 3D type include greats such as Ultima Underworld (1 and 2), Betrayal At Krondor and Ravenloft (on the PC), Legends Of Valour and Robinson's Requiem (on all three). And, finally, there is the full 3D game that isn't really an RPG but some PD libraries stick 'em in their RPG section. These include Doom, Wolfenstein (hey - see my review of these two games), Blake's Stone, Descent, and all the other Apogee/iD games of this type. Nothing to say about them apart from the fact that they are (really and truthfully) shoot-'em-ups, but damned good ones. Well, hopefully that will help you in identifying the various RPGs out there in the big wide world. Just don't sample one variety and then judge all other types on that - 3D games are VASTLY different to the old ASCIIs. So, what's in store next issue? Haven't the foggiest. I will spend many hours in meditation, though, and come up with a viable RPG related topic (hopefully). Failing that you'll get my rendition of Amazing Grace... Happy RPGing!!! - o -