THE ULTIMATE RPG PROJECT

I figure I'll start where you guys are, at Ultima 3, and catch up on the rest later.

TV Tropes Powers. Activate!!!!!

People are going slow these days so if you want to start from the beginning, feel free to do so. You have plenty of time to catch up to us, you decide though. I'll add you up on the group then. Drop by the chat when you have the time

edited 12th Nov '12 4:59:48 PM by Steendy

I was playing Ultima 1(damn gelatin cubes) on dosbox and Morowind on pc, along with that Xenogear and CT on PS and SO: TTEOT on PS 2 - simultaneously.

Ones I have finished is Suikoden II - not the perfect ending(don't know where is that Kobold's son), Chrono Cross(bad ending), BOF IV and FF IV PSX ver. And couple of other games I can't remember.

I almost finished Suiko IV(damn boss) and FF-XII(damn side quests). I still have a lot to finish.

Not sure if that how it goes, but I want to finish up all PS and PS 2 RP Gs first.

Ah, we're officially doing them in chronological order. As in, we start with Akalabeth/Ultima I and then follow the development through the years.

Right now we're at Ultima III (1983) and will be moving on to 1984 with Dragon Slayer pretty soon.

Of course, that's not supposed to hinder anyone in playing the games they want. I'm playing Xenogears on my Wii.

edited 13th Nov '12 8:40:46 AM by Lemurian

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

I'm done with Dragon Slayer What to say about the first JRPG on the list...

Well, it's a very unpolished game. Even the remake for the Sega Saturn I've played is extremely simple. Unlike Wizardries and Ultimas, the backstory here is non-existent. You're some guy who has to slay a dragon, thus, the Dragon Slayer title. Apparently, your house is inside a dungeon, and you have to fight through thousands of silly monsters, like hearts, television screens, green feets and the like. Of couse, you also have the standard fare of skeletons, dinosaurs and penguins...? I digress.

Your objective is to kill a dragon somewhere in the stage. At first, you need to get coins and crystals to raise your HP and ATK respectively (by the way, these are the only atributes).You can get those by opening chests with a key. As your stats go up, stronger monsters will begin to appear from the gravestones, the source of all monsters in this world. One downside though, is that you are only able to carry one item at a time, with the exception of coins and magic jars. That means you'll be going back and forth between the crystals and your house. There is also an ring item which you can use to push around walls to bypass all this labyrinth or even push your own house to get to an area with lots of crystals.

Going back to the topic of enemies, there are some of them that makes you want to break the screen. You have to rely on savestates on those. For example, THE GREEN MONKEY. If you touch him even a little, he'll drain all your str points in one go. As there are no ranged weapons in the game, just run like hell or else, you'll have to start collecting crystals from the very beginning. There are other monsters who drains stuff like magic jars, but they are not too troublesome.

Speaking of magic, I almost didn't use them. They do stuff like breaking a wall, teleporting radomly around the dungeon or flying. No attack nor buff spells exist. And as jars are stolen easily, there is not much point anyway.

The dragon is insanely strong, possessing 600k hp and 500k str. Should've had talked about the insane values. Your max attribute on anything is 999.999. Disgaea, anyone? Anyways, when you have about 500k str, you can take him out easily. After that, 4 crowns are scattered across the dungeon and your house gets trapped by an infinite amount of monsters. When you get the 4 crowns, just bring them to your house and it's done. The first level, that is.

Now, speaking of graphics and music (talking about the original here, not the remake) it's acceptable. For some reason, the floor is all blue instead of black or green. The character makes a little animation as they walk, meaning they actually take a step, unlike the teleporting travelling of Ultima. He doesn't change directions though. There are only two musics: the opening music you hear before you can move your character and the walking music. The opening music is some terrible version of the Slavonic Dances of Dvorak. And the walking music is an interesting feature. I heard it is a version of The Entertainer soundtrack, meaning the game doesn't have any original music.

Things on the Sega Saturn remake are a little better. It has 2 music again, but composed by Falcom staff so they are at least acceptable. The opening theme is well composed if a bit simple. The dungeon theme is TOO simple and loops too earlier but it's good too. I wish I could show you some examples of the music on youtube, but the remake is so unknown that you can't find on it.

All in all, I had fun with it, despite its shortcomes. Didn't beat it because it's the same thing over and over, stages that change the layout each time. I passed stage 1 and 2, and just that took me hours. I heard it has 10 stages. Anyway, if I had to rate it, I would give 6.5 maybe? Speaking of that, let me grade the past games as well. This is based on what it might felt like playing these games when they were released, taking in account graphics,sound,plot and the like available at the time.

Akalabeth - The first commercial game, no overworld graphics,no objective, unpolished but fun. 6.0

Ultima I - Large but empty world, expanded everything in Akalabeth, fun yet simple combat. 7.0

Wizardry I - Gigantic for its time, 100 enemies, lots of stat effects,classes,races...too hard. 7.0

Ultima II - Weird, experimental, no clues on what to do. Interesting time travelling. 6.5

Wizardry II - Adds boss fights, KOD equipment, actual things to do at each floor. 7.5

Ultima III - Large AND alive world. Good backstory, good world building (A city that only appears if the moons are aligned, each city having a different theme and a lost continent). Great things to come, the best game yet. 8.0

Wizardry III - ??? Skipped it (for now) From what Lemurian said, it seems to be better than the first ones. More roleplaying, apparently.

Dragon Slayer - Just reviewed that. 6.5

Our progress so far: Danna is writing a book (only this month), Tarsen is READING books, Fokias is studying (I suppose), Razgriz is currently playing Ultima III, I'm done with Dragon Slayer, as is Lemurian. Also, welcome new guys! If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

edited 13th Nov '12 10:39:43 AM by Steendy

I might have read the list wrong and it's actually there, but why isn't Persona 4 part of the list?

edited 13th Nov '12 2:30:16 PM by luckybreak91

TV Tropes Powers. Activate!!!!!

Ought Kingdom Hearts 3 D Dream Drop Distance be added to that list on the first post?

Switch FC code: SW-4420-1809-1805

Persona 4 will be added later because I forgot to put it. When we began the project, I think KH 3D wasn't even out, I'm going to put it later, thanks! Any interest in the project?

In Chronological order? That requires years of free time, man! But, I guess I can start this during the summer vacation(I am a video gamer, and this is what I do for a hobby, after all). Good thing I still have my saves in in the first Ultima(still in feud with gelatin cubes) and Wizardry.

Also, there is a mention of Waste Land but not 2400 A.D? That's not good, man.

edited 14th Nov '12 3:53:11 AM by ViralCyst

Maybe I forgot to put 2400 A.D too... Anyway, you'll be playing in chronological order too? We can help out if you are going to start at the first Ultima or Wizardry Should I add you to the member list?

^^ Yeah, we're crazy, we know.

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

I think I'll start with the first two Ultima's before Ultima 3 out of a fear of missing any story connections.

TV Tropes Powers. Activate!!!!!

Don't worry, whatever there is of backstory is very little and mostly in the manual. You won't be missing out on the plot by skipping to III.

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

I'll add you on the group then. Regarding Ultima, you'll only lose out on gameplay mechanics evolution and graphics. Some town names and enemies, perhaps. Not that it matters much. The continent is also totally different even though its meant to be the same. There is also an explanation for that later.

If you want to skip, I suggest you watch The Spoony Experiment for Ultima I and II. Here: http://spoonyexperiment.com/2010/07/04/ultima-1-the-first-age-of-darkness/

http://spoonyexperiment.com/2010/07/19/ultima-2-revenge-of-the-enchantress/

If you want to play though, there is still a lot of time. Drop by the chat when you can.

P.S: Viral Cyst, want for me to add you to the group then?

edited 14th Nov '12 8:14:29 AM by Steendy

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The customary random different version of Ultima III's backstory I found:

The third tale begins with the defeat of Minax and the eradication of her world of darkness.

Her evil completely purged, the hordes of orcs that had been terrorizing the countryside vanished to parts unknown. The kingdom once again enjoyed a time of comfortable peace.

One day, one of the adventurers who continued to stand guard against evil brought back from the ruins of Minax's keep a stone slab engraved with odd writing.

From what the wise priests and druids of Yew could decipher, the slab seemed to have been used in a spell of awakening - cast by the dread Mondain and Minax.

But who or what had been awakened - whether it was human, inanimate, or demon - was a riddle not even the most learned of priests could solve.

Time passed again; the decades flew by.

The kingdom had lived in uninterrupted peace - a peace that was gradually broken by a series of inauspicious events.

It began with the sudden appearance of a comet that glowed red in the night skies beside the light of the twin moons of Trammel and Felucca.

The star of ill omen broke apart in orbit, showering the earth below with debris.

The fragments gouged the earth, and from its depths erupted an unearthly cry. Earthquakes came to plague Sosaria, and travelers were once more threatened by swarms of orcs.

The people fled their towns, seeking the shelter of caves and castle walls.

Even travel on the high seas was imperiled by the appearance of dangerous sea creatures and pirates. Evil had spread across the land once more!

Amidst the terrible quakes and cries of the earth arose an ominous island surrounded by a sea of lava.

There were reports of those who claimed to have seen a castle beyond the rising steam, but no one believed them.

But wise Lord British, who felt evil emanations coming from the island, ordered an investigation.

But the team never returned from their destination. There was but one survivor...

Gravely wounded, the researcher kept muttering to himself in his delirium: "From the depths of Hell...He comes for vengeance! He awakens...we cannot allow it! Hurry... He must be stopped... Hurry...to the Isle of Fire!!"

Once more, Lord British decided to call forth a hero to combat the crisis the kingdom faced.

But the task with which the heroes were charged was difficult indeed. Monsters roamed the earth fearlessly, while innumerable dungeons lay waiting to swallow them whole.

Even worse, they had no knowledge of the nature of their foe.

They had only one clue...

A clue left on the deck of a sailing ship whose passengers had disappeared, as if spirited away by demons...a single word, written in blood..."EXODUS."

edited 14th Nov '12 6:13:12 PM by RazgrizX

Yeah, yeah, add me. Also, where is the chat?(okay, got it)

My progress so far, http://tinypic.com/m/fuxcuh/2

And I have no idea where the hell I am or what I am supposed to do right now.(I think to clear a dungeon for a king or something and get a red something).

Also, don't expect me to finish the games so quickly, I am quite the busy guy right now.

edited 14th Nov '12 11:26:59 PM by ViralCyst

You are on the south-western continent◊ Note

, the Lands of the Dark Unknown.

As for what you are to do next...what quests have you completed?

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

You have to do 4 quests to make progress. I suggest you raise your stats on the pillars (places around the world that raise your stats) and then complete the quests to kill the 4 monsters.

Here's a map: http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/pc/ultima1/overworld.shtml

You can find the location of the pilars on the map too.

Bah, I don't like to rely on guides, but what to do. (I saw a vid where a guy draws a dungeon map pathway using a squared notebook - scary thought that).

I have no idea, but I think after looking at a guide, I think need to find the tower of Ozymandias.

So, how's the progress?? I've been out for some days and now I'm back

Almost done with Ultima III, and about three quarters done with the Let's Play of Dragon Slayer II Xanadu.

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

finished arc the lad 1, started arc the lad 2, was gonna start lunar but i just remembered im gonna go play fe1 remake so i can go play new mystery remake.

...im starting to wonder if i have a problem with my attention span.

There! Finally done with the NES-version of Ultima III. It was fun, and easier to deal with than the GOG-version, but a lot of the grinding for gold became very tedious. But the graphics were nice and the music pretty good.

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

Raz is playing Ultima III right now and I started Xanadu. Where is Fokias? o.o

edited 19th Nov '12 2:05:08 PM by Steendy

Sorry, ain't got much time to play at the moment, studies and stuff catching up to me. :/ I should have some time to play soon, though ^^