New Games on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/css/logo.jpg en-us Developed by Interplay Productions and distributed by Electronic Arts, The Bard's Tale series is considered by many to be one of the pillar classics of computer fantasy role playing games.

The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate allows players to create characters, form parties and adventure across different dimensions to defeat a mad god. Combat is turn based and players can choose the actions of every member of the party.

From the box text:
"Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed.... Someoneâ€â€

]]> 10 May 2007 02:37:21 Developed by Interplay Productions and distributed by Electronic Arts, The Bard's Tale series is considered by many to be one of the pillar classics of computer fantasy role playing games.

The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight allows players to create characters, form parties and adventure throughout the lands. Combat is turn based and players can choose the actions of every member of the party.

From the box text:

"Do you believe in legends? Legend states that, 'Unimaginable power is bestowed upon the one who reforges the Destiny Wand...' Regardless of whether or not you hold faith in the stuff of legend, you must defeat Lagoth Zanta, regain the seven fragments, and reforge the Destiny Wand â€â€

]]> 10 May 2007 02:27:38 Developed by Interplay Productions and distributed by Electronic Arts, The Bard's Tale is considered by many to be one of the pillar classics of computer fantasy role playing games.

The Bard's Tale allows players to create characters, form parties and adventure through Skara Brae. Combat is turn based and players can choos ethe actions of every member of the party.

From the box text:

"Long ago, when magic still prevailed, the evil wizard Mangar the Dark threatened a small but harmonious country town called Skara Brae. Evil creatures oozed into Skara Brae and joined his shadow domain. Mangar froze the surrounding lands with a spell of Eternal Winter, totally isolating Skara Brae from any possible help. Then, one night the town militiamen all disappeared. The future of Skara Brae hung in the balance. And who was left to resist? Only a handful of unproven young Warriors, junior Magic Users, a couple of Bards barely old enough to drink, and some out of work Rogues. You are there. You are the leader of this ragtag group of freedom fighters. Luckily you have a Bard with you to sing your glories, if you survive. For this is the stuff of legends. And so the story begins..."

]]> 10 May 2007 02:08:39 Dragon Force is a rare and extremely sought-after role-playing strategy game, released for the Sega Saturn. It was created in Japan by Sega and translated into English by Working Designs in 1996. It has since been re-released on the PlayStation 2 as part of the Sega Ages series.

Category: Strategy role-playing game

Release Dates: March 29, 1996 (JP), November 30, 1996 (US), September 1997 (EU), August 18, 2005 (JP Sega Ages re-release)

Developer: Sega

]]> 26 Mar 2007 10:16:52 Breath of Fire III is the third RPG in the Breath of Fire series. It was originally released for the PlayStation in Japan in 1997 by Capcom, and was later brought to North America and Europe in 1998. It was ported to the PSP and was released in Japan in August 2005 and in Europe in February 2006.

The game follows the adventures of Ryu (the protagonist) who is the sole survivor of the Dragon Clan, as he struggles to discover why his clan was wiped out. The adventure takes him to many places, on journeys thought impossible, and in the end he will discover power in the ability to choose his own future.

As the last survivor of the Dragon Clan, Ryu must continue his struggle against the evil goddess Myria, who has taken over the world and now controls it.

]]> 07 Mar 2007 06:23:52 Breath of Fire II is the second role-playing game in the Breath of Fire series. It was originally released for the Super Famicom in Japan in 1994 by Capcom, and was later brought to North America in 1995 by Capcom, before Laguna released it in Europe in 1996. It was later re-released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan under the name Breath of Fire II: Shimei no Ko, which translates to Breath of Fire II: The Fated Child. It was re-released in North America and Europe in 2002 under the original title.

]]> 07 Mar 2007 06:17:16 Breath of Fire is the first role-playing game in the Breath of Fire series. It was originally released for the Super NES in Japan in 1993 by Capcom, and was later brought to North America in 1994 by Squaresoft (now Square Enix). It was later re-released for the Game Boy Advance worldwide, this time by Capcom themselves.

]]> 07 Mar 2007 06:08:53 Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

This maze-style Dungeons and Dragons-like game has you lead your party of six charaters into the dungeon below Trebor's castle to search out Werdna and retrieve a powerful magic amulet.

This classic RPG led to several sequels and set the stage for future RPGs such as The Bard's Tale and Might and Magic.

Developers: Andrew C. Greenberg & Robert Woodhead
Released: 1981

]]> 03 Mar 2007 10:23:21 This really simple game based on a few warriors, wizards, archers, and paladins set out to avenge there alleged kings death, King Ferdinand of Seria. Your the main character and you set out to accomplish quests to complete the tasks at hand. This game is a bit like the classic Zelda games, gameplay wise. Its all 2D and midi music, which adds to the classic environment. Come join us in the world of Severty.

]]> 25 Feb 2007 10:46:35 After being prevented from taking over Britannia by the Avatar, the Guardian has a new plan. Sending his chief servent, Batlin, to a new world through a portal common to both, the Guardian begins his new plan for domination of the universe.

As the Avatar, you chase him into this new world to thwart his evil designs.

Ultima VII Part 2 was the only true "sequel" in the Ultima series to share the same number and engine as a predecessor. It takes place literally days after the events of Ultima VII part I (The Black Gate), sending you to a completely new world.

Ultima VII is still playable on modern systems through a great open-source engine called "Exult."

]]> 08 Dec 2006 10:30:39 The third game in Quest for Glory series is set in the Africa-like world of Tarna, where you travel with your new liontaur friends you have met in the second game. Shortly after your arrival, you learn about the conflict between the liontaurs and the neighbor Simbani village, populated by the leopardmen. It is now time for our hero to become a skillful diplomat and to prevent an upcoming war between the two nations.

The gameplay system of "Wages of War" is the same as in the two previous games. The game plays like an adventure, with puzzles to solve and characters to talk to, with the additional of RPG elements: combat (action-based) and character development. You can play as either a fighter, a thief, a mage, or a paladin, and raise your skills directly after battles or by performing various actions. Graphics and interface underwent a major change. This is the first 256-color Quest for Glory game, and the first one to utilize the new, icon-based interface.

(from the Moby Games QFG3 page)

]]> 05 Dec 2006 11:32:14 From the Moby Games entry:

The fourth game in the now well-established Ultima series featured an improved game engine, with color graphics and better character interaction (you could now have actual conversations with NPCs). But what really makes Ultima IV shine is its radical departure from any other RPG made before or since in terms of the story and goal.

Instead of building up your character by any means possible in order to face the Ultimate Evil in a big bang up showdown, in Ultima IV you were trying to become the Avatar, a role model of sorts for the people of the land. This meant upholding the "eight virtues" and basically trying to become a better person. In most RPGs you chose to be a just/nice hero because the people you'd help would usually provide you with some nice equipment for your services, but in Ultima IV you helped people not for a reward or to advance the plot but simply because it was the "right thing to do". The game actually frowns on behavior that was typical of most other RPGs, such as backstabbing fleeing monsters or picking up everything that wasn't nailed down even if it didn't belong to you. The game keeps track of all your actions, so if you went about killing and looting like in most RPGs, you'd never finish the game.

This VERY different approach to the game's ultimate goal is what makes Ultima IV famous so many years later, and became the sort of design philosophy that made all the following Ultimas so unique in their genre.

Of course, the game still has plenty of traditional RPG elements such as dungeons to explore and hostile monsters to kill, as well as a typical final "Holy Grail" type quest where you had to find the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom to complete your transformation into Avatarhood.

In 1996 Computer Gaming World named Ultima IV as #2 on its Best Games of All Time list on the PC.

The game was released for free to the public. The original MS-DOS version is available on many sites, and a game engine recreation is now available for for Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux.

]]> 05 Dec 2006 01:59:25