THE ULTIMATE RPG PROJECT

food is also cheap and plentiful.

you start off with something like 300 gold? well you only really need to buy a sling and some food, which you start off with a fair amount anyway. its also a pretty slow drain.

What I really want to see is how the premise is implemented. Your goal is just to become a better person, an avatar of virtue. There is also no big bad nor final boss fight. People say the game really tests your morals, I want to see how this system works .

hm.

beat dq1 again. lvl18 this time.

was going for the "save the princess, beat the dragon king while carrying her" variation of the ending. sorta backfired on me when the text freaked the fuck out when i talked to the king and everything was in symbols.

I'll talk a little about 2 games that I've beat recently: Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu and Dragon Slayer Jr/III: Romancia. Xanadu is one of the most complex games till now, excluding Wizardry maybe. It's basically a dungeon crawler like Wizardry or Bard's Tale but in a sidescroller perspective while in the field and a top-down perspective while in battle or dungeons (Also, without the insane difficulty).

Your character begin in town and train in various houses to choose your atributes to enter the one and only dungeon of the game. It got 8 gigantic floors, each of them increasing in difficulty, traps and plataforming sections. It's an action rpg just like the first one, you bump into enemies to damage them.

Each level has tons of dungeons but only one got a boss in them. After you kill a boss, you get an item to progress to the next level, and so on. In the end, you kill the Dragon and attain the title of Dragon Slayer.

The bad side though is the awkward jumping and plataform sections. It looks like they didn't invented proper jumping physics so it looks like someone is walking up in the air instead of jumping. Super Mario Bros. was released the same year so I can't see why it's like this.

This game contributed a lot to the genre. It influenced Dragon Quest and the way each Final Fantasy title reinvents itself. Xanadu had lots of stuff very advanced for its time: Visible armor and weapon when you equip them, a Magic Knight type of character which you could level both physical and magic levels separately, a karma meter that affected gameplay and levels for each equipment.

The graphics are acceptable but nothing special, even for its time. Also, the game pratically only had one music: La Valse Pour Xanadu. It's catchy though, I put a link to the best version available of the theme.

All in all, thought it was great. Certainly one of the best 3 till now.

8.0/10

Now, I'll talk about Romancia. Well...It isn't very good. Falcon decided that it was better to simplify the complex maze like gameplay of the second game but they just simplified too much. There are no numbers, you've got hearts, like in Zelda. There is no equipment, no shops, nothing.

There is a backstory now, though. You are a prince named Fan Freddy and when you visits a kingdom that has been destroyed by illness, the king asks you to save the princess from the evil dragon. The interesting side of the story is that it really shows sick people, famine and lack of water.

To reach your objective, you have to do various fetch quests around town, curing people, helping with the water supply, and other things. One of the basic gameplay elements is the ability to die and go to heaven. For that, you have to get a soul from birds that were once humans (what). You "sacrifice" that soul to reach heaven while still alive. In the way up, you are attacked by a sun god and a wind god (it would be epic if not for the very dated graphics and presentation). I won't spoil anymore, though.

Again, the main theme is quiet good and it shows Yuzo Koshiro (Ys compositor) skills. The rest is forgettable, however. The graphics are kind bad for the year and the engine is pratically the same as the second game, so expect awkwardness. I also forgot to say that you need to complete the game in under 30 minutes or else it's game over. Yeah. I suggest playing the Famicom version as it doesn't got such time limit. The game is incredible short anyways.

6.0/10

And again, MUSIC:

Xanadu Main Theme Catchy Style https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suScZvP0CCw

Xanadu Main Theme Orchestra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgGwcodJXNE

Romancia Main Theme Official Falcon Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFSJMzE5ZL4

Romancia Main Theme Awesome Cover - RECOMMENDED https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GNxwvbI_7g

dragon quest 2 <3

its almost there. its almost at the point where it becomes the series i know and love~

Tarsen, slow down a bit. Play DQII then wait a little while. Maybe play some games left behind, I don't know. There are still people in 1985.

-sigh- fiiiiiiiine

But you can win DQII meanwhile It's an awesome game, go for it!

yay~

hey steendy, you said dq3 was one of your favourite games right?

then any idea what the best version of it is?

for future reference of course.

The Snes remake is the best one. There is an english translation too

Anyways, it's almost christmas so the project is slow these days. I don't know the progress of everyone, but you must stop at 1986. Let's make a pause on the project till next year. Everyone who is behind can catch up in the meantime.

2013 will be really good, I expect that we play 50 games at least .

And here is a list of everyone's remaining games:

Me: Bard's Tale I and II, Might and Magic I and Ultima IV

Tarsen: Don't know if you'll be skipping Bard's Tale, Ultima IV, Might and Magic I, Romancia

Lemurian: Was playing Bard's tale, Might and Magic I, Ultima IV, Romancia

Razgriz: Xanadu, Ultima IV, Bard's tale I and II, Might and Magic I, Romancia, Dragon Quest.

Danna: Don't know what games you'll be skipping, Bard's Tales, Might and Magic I, Romancia, maybe Xanadu?

Fokias: Where are youuu??? Anyways... Everything from 1985 foward.

luckybreak 91,Viral Cyst and gameboy 2330: No response anymore... Let's wait till next year to see if they will continue.

Well... Merry Christmas!

edited 24th Dec '12 8:03:10 AM by Steendy

i have yet to play any of the dragon slayer games, because im simply unable to find them.

Yeah, I'm still alive in here ^^. It's just that all of december has been pretty busy for me, and I haven't really found the time to make any real progress. I'll be catching up, don't worry

I suggest the Falcon Classics Collection for the Sega Saturn for Dragon Slayer I and II and the NES port of Romancia (It got a fan translation).

Nice to see you here again, Fokias

Gog dang it, I can't get any SNES-version of Dragon Quest working. Looks like I'll be stuck with the NES-version.

odd...

what exact file are you opening, and what emulator are you using?

Yay, it works now, thanks to Tarsen! I'll be catching up to you soon, then.

Good Just bought Might and Magic series for 5 dollars. I'm going to travel a while so everyone can catch up in the meantime. I'll be back in january 5.

But I'll post while travelling to see your progress

huh.

for some reason the dragon king is still alive in the 2nd game.

i just met him.

quite the affable chap, really. (also i think i just agreed to become his successor..?)

Well on my way in DQ. I've got the Staff of Rain...and trying to figure out where to go next. The Seer in the island-town says to go to the monument in the south, but the old man there just says I lack proof and then he kicks me out.

You have to get magic keys in the town near the old man's temple. Then, get the chests on Radatome's Castle. You'll know where to go next.

I already did that (you need Magic Keys to get the Silver Harp, after all).

Still alive. I've just been busy during the holiday season and finishing finals; so I now have time to play games now. I am currently on Ultima IV and Dragon Quest I and taking turns on each one. I have a question on Ultima IV. I'm currently a 6th level Bard with three runestones (Compassion, Humillity, and Spirituality) found and one mantra (MU for compassion) and I don't know where to go next. Any advice on where should I go next? And is it okay if I use a guide besides the ones given with the game?

romancia is quite...boring.

You probably think I am some post and run guy. No, you should not stereotype newbs this way. I have this bookmarked, and I read the updates whenever I can. I am still on the first game, though. I didn't have any chance in completing it in recent days. Maybe I can squeeze sometime in coming weekends.

edited 29th Dec '12 6:51:09 AM by ViralCyst