Good RPGs?

[Lord Thag]

I was wondering if you all could give me some links to good Atari RPGs. I love the older style games. I'm well aware of Ultima, Apshai, and Alternate Reality. I've played Ali Baba and Gemstone Warrior. Are there any other RPGs that are worth playing on the 8-bits? My town seemed to carry very few back in the day.

[athleos]

i don't know of any RPG's since i am new to the atari thing, but i have the same question and would even like to ask you how Ultima, Apshai, and Alternate Reality are and if they are worth playing? sorry to hijack but it's something i'm curious about as well.

[+remowilliams]

Wizards Crown and Eternal Dagger were fantastic.

[Heaven/TQA]

Yeah. Played Wizard's Crown and Eternal Dagger for months and being crying when my character discs has gone corrupted.... still love the gfx.

[Bunsen]

One (two) of the best: Phantasie and Phantasie II.

 

The other games mentioned are definetely worth to play.

 

Also might worth a closer look: Questron, Ali Baba, Return of Heracles.

[Lord Thag]

i don't know of any RPG's since i am new to the atari thing, but i have the same question and would even like to ask you how Ultima, Apshai, and Alternate Reality are and if they are worth playing? sorry to hijack but it's something i'm curious about as well

 

Sure. Ultima is one of the higest regarded RPG series of all time. On the Atari, III and IV are the best, the latter being one of the best RPGs of all time in my book. The earlier ones are ok, but very dated. Check out Tempest's thread in the Classic Gaming General forum for an indepth look at this great old series.

 

The Apshai series is much simpler than Ultima, and there are a bunch of different ones (Temple/Upper Reaches/Hellfire Warrior/Curse of Ra etc). My recommendation is that you use the 'Temple of Apshai Trilogy' one, which is all of the earlier games in one bundle with much improved graphics and the ability (mercifully) to use a joystick to move. The games themselves are similar to Rogue or a very early Nethack. Dungeon crawling, basically. There is a final game called Gateway to Apshai which is an action oriented spin on the concept, and it is probably the best of them, kind of like a hybrid of Zelda and Rogue. I like them. They are good 'beer and pretzel' games where you just kick back and have fun.

 

Then, there is Alternate Reality. Gods, where to begin? These games (there are two, the City and the Dungeon) are the most amazing thing you've ever seen on an Atari (or any computer from the era). 3d first person graphics that scroll (seriously), graphics that make everything else look like it was programmed on an Apple II, and more depth than you would believe was humanly possible to cram into a game that size. Someone on these boards mentioned that they played a character for years and then the character got sick with SCURVY after years of the character eating food packs and no vitamin c! That's how detailed it is. Think a proto-Wolfenstein 3d crossed with Bards Tale and Oblivion. This forum clued me in to the game's existence. Theres a great thread around here about it. Use the search

 

As to the rest of the suggestions, I'll check them out. I just tried Return of Heracles. That is some addicting stuff, there

[Velcro_SP]

As to the rest of the suggestions, I'll check them out. I just tried Return of Heracles. That is some addicting stuff, there

 

Yah, Return of Heracles is addicting. I remember running around the garden getting turned into a deer for some reason. And that innkeeper Procrustes was getting me in another part. I found Heracles less-advanced than Ultima 4 and Alternate Reality, but perhaps it was equally fun.

[JohnJr]

Ultima 3 is haunting.

 

-John

[Lord Thag]

Yah, Return of Heracles is addicting. I remember running around the garden getting turned into a deer for some reason. And that innkeeper Procrustes was getting me in another part. I found Heracles less-advanced than Ultima 4 and Alternate Reality, but perhaps it was equally fun.

 

a friend of mine stopped by this afternoon, and ended up playing it with me. We ended up playing for a couple of hours. We completed a couple of the challenges, but got hosed when my uber-powerful Ajax got turned into a snake, and Theseus, my friend's character, got zapped on Olympus.

 

Fun game, if a bit unfair. Being able to play with a dozen friends is pretty cool.

[eru]

For me it was AlternateReality and Phantasie - they took sooo much of my time

[Gunstar]

I like all the Ultima games, even U1, and the Apshai Trilogy, but my all time favorite RPG's are Alternate Reality the City&Dungeon on the Atari 8-bit. I'm a big western RPG fan, but even though I've played tons throughout the years from ST/Amiga 'Legends of Valour' and 'Ishar Trilogy' to Xbox's Elder Scrolls, Alternate Reality is still my all-time favorite. Especially the CITY, even though it has no real quests like the Dungeon or any of the other RPG's like those above, and is just random encounter, it is so deep in character stats and item and time/season/weather detail and other areas that it's never been matched. As was stated, a character can be played for years and still have something new happen to the character or something new found or encountered.

The truth is, the Atari is one of the best platforms ever for old school RPG's like Ultima or Apshai or Phantasie, etc., but I went from Apshai to Alternate Reality, and when I then tried Ultima and Phantasie and others later, they didn't get as much playtime as they deserved becuase I had been spoiled by Alternate Reality the City and Dungeon. After the sheer depth and cool 3D FPS graphics, I expected too much from all other Atari RPG's and they were never able to live up to it for me.

Edited March 1, 2008 by Gunstar

[telengard]

I was wondering if you all could give me some links to good Atari RPGs. I love the older style games. I'm well aware of Ultima, Apshai, and Alternate Reality. I've played Ali Baba and Gemstone Warrior. Are there any other RPGs that are worth playing on the 8-bits? My town seemed to carry very few back in the day.

 

Questron is pretty cool and very U3-ish (I think it may use the same engine). My friend claims that there is a bug such that you cannot finish the game. Gotta love a game that has a gambling mini-game!

 

My fav of all time is Ultima III. Couldn't recommend it enough.

 

~telengard

[robcatron]

My personal favorite that caused me to miss so many college classes - ARD as my buddy and I called it - Alternate Reality the Dungeon.

 

I never cared for the City at all, but to me, the Dungeon was the best RPG ever released for any 8-bit computer.

 

Also, Ultima II means alot to me. It was the first big adventure game that I ever beat (my bro-in-law and I way back in the day). It was so cool.

 

Other than that, not much there for me on the 8-bit. The SSI games never apealed to me at all.

[Lord Thag]

I'm really wanting to dive into AR. The game looks and sounds soooo good. I must admit, however, I'm a bit intimidated. Not sure where to begin. I have the disks, but no manual. I'm waiting for my registered copy of APE to arrive so I can make some backup disks to play off of. I plan to spend a saturday getting to know the game.

 

As to some of the others, Wizard's Crown/Eternal Dagger are both quite fun. The combat engine is way ahead of it's time with individual body part hit detection, bleeding etc. Kind of a cross between Wizardry and Ultima.

 

Another excellent (but apparently rarely played) RPG is Fountain of the Gods. It's hard as hell, but I find myself playing 'just one more game' a lot. Very similar to rogue, only better.

 

And I'll tell you something else. After spending a week fooling around with some of these positively jurassic RPGs, I've been amazed at how advanced some of them were. AR in particular, from what I've played, contains a whole bucket of features that have never been duplicated. The combat in WC/ED is far more in depth than any newer RPG that I can think of. Many of the others incorporate neat, original ideas that seem to be lacking from all the modern crap with the usual plot device of a 16-year-old decendant of (insert generic ancient hero) with the power to (insert generic ancient power) gets his village nuked by a group of para-military circus freaks in the employ of (insert generic villan) and goes off to reclaim his heritage in the company of a large-breasted-yet-comically-naive girl whom he never quite gets it on with. Did I mention I hate those?

 

This early stuff might have been low res and lacking (sometimes) in play control, but it was damned intelligent and demanded you be GOOD or you were dead, fast. I like that you made your own characters. I like that the games kicked your ass if you were stupid. Once, long ago, I used to like RPGs. At the end of a week with my Atari, I now remember why.

 

 

 

I miss the games that treated you like you were an adult, you know?

[Heaven/TQA]

AR:the dungeon is one of the first RPGs i really finished without any hints & tips... it was great when first discovered & grabbed the loot of the dragon or when i first entered the alien ship...

 

never was much into the city but friend of mine played it for months and months (now he is a WOW geek... ). went for a custom sword waited 2 weeks until the smith finished the goods... i have to admit that i know every song of AR and love the intro when you get captured and the starfield with the "the waves are pounding on the shore..." lyrics... but i am more a "quest like" RPG guy...so more into Wizard's Crown, Eternal Dagger, Ultima 3, Ultima 4 which i played for ages and then i realised that i can not finish the game simply because my map disc had an empty sector where a dungeon entrance would be... years later i found the map in a mag and realised that my copy was corrupted...

 

then on ST i loved Dungeon Master (great...great...XBLA version! ) Dragonflight & Amberstar...played Captive...but never went into Ultima 5 f.e. unfortunatly there never were the Amiga conversions like Eye of the Beholder and never played Bard's Tale (! unbelievable...)

 

today I am playing WoW, Lord of the Rings Online, Zelda etc, Diablo 1+2, Baldur's Gate, Nerverwinter Nights, Oblivion, Lord of the rings xbox, Knights of the old republic, mass effect, final fantasy, dragon quest etc etc etc...

 

hmmm... seems that i am an RPG genre fan... and all started with 2600 Haunted House (very intensive), an adventure on vic-20 and then AR....

Edited March 1, 2008 by Heaven/TQA

[japh42]

I'm really wanting to dive into AR. The game looks and sounds soooo good. I must admit, however, I'm a bit intimidated. Not sure where to begin. I have the disks, but no manual. I'm waiting for my registered copy of APE to arrive so I can make some backup disks to play off of. I plan to spend a saturday getting to know the game.

 

REST SNIPPED---

 

 

Try these links. found them having discovered Atari800WinPlus and remembering the years I played AR...

 

The Original Alternate Reality Homepage Since 1994

 

 

And

 

Atarimania AR The City

 

The second on scanned the in box manual and stuff. Including the starting map.