The best old school rpgs/strategy games

**Whacker** · 03-13-2007, 22:14

Originally Posted by econ21

X-Com1/UFO Enemy Unknown is the one DOS game I still play - although thankfully, there is a Windows version (Gold?) you can use without too much pain.

I'm sure this was a good game, but I actually got started with XCOM2, and prefer that by a good margin. They can both run on Windows if you use Dosbox or VDMsound for the older version, or the loader/patch for the Gold Windows version. I just got done playing XCOM2 for awhile last month, it's a great game to dust off every few years for a stroll down memory lane.

But to me, CRPGs really hit their stride with Fallout and Baldur's Gate which I believe were for Windows.

Ahhhh.... In my most humble opinionated view, Fallout was/is the bar that all PC RPGs must live up to. It's also the #1 game on my personal "I ignored this when it was new and damn do I regret it now!" list. Someone got me to play it back in 2003 and I never looked back. If you're chomping at the bit, I'd say go for this. Some things to keep in mind if you do though; it's old, from 1997, and the graphics were considered "dated" even for then. It will run on both DOS and Windows, but you'll probably have to install it through the cmd prompt and then manually install the 1.1. patch to make it Windows compatible. I never had any problems running it at all, others have, so YMMV. It's going to feel old and clunky, but if you put forth the effort to get into the game and enjoy it, you'll be rewarded like very few other games can.

**Master_Thief** · 03-13-2007, 23:14

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll be sure to check a few of those out. Off to bed though now.

I'll post my opinions tomorrow if possible.

**Kekvit Irae** · 03-13-2007, 23:40

Four words: Eye of the Beholder.
Or even an additional word: Eye of the Beholder 2.

**professorspatula** · 03-14-2007, 01:10

Castles 2. The Pope is as much a nuisance in that game as in MTW/2!!

Oops you said that already. Castles I then.

And don't forget Net Hack. Still updated to this day. Really really old school RPG.

**Geezer57** · 03-14-2007, 15:45

If you're looking for post-apocalyptic sci-fi RPG's, then you need to scrounge up a copy of Wasteland ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasteland_(computer_game) ), which pretty much started it all. Interplay described Fallout as the "spiritual successor" to Wasteland, a well-deserved homage.

Granted the graphics are incredibly primitive by today's standards, but the game play and story line remain superb. All the hundreds of hours I've played that game attest to that!

**Phatose** · 03-14-2007, 17:45

Master of Magic.

**drone** · 03-14-2007, 19:32

Originally Posted by Phatose

Master of Magic.

FTW!

**caravel** · 03-20-2007, 17:29

Originally Posted by Kekvit Irae

Four words: Eye of the Beholder.
Or even an additional word: Eye of the Beholder 2.

Two difficult, but classic, games. I fired it up about 2 years back and got further than ever have before (and that wasn't far). It just doesn't cut it when compared to games like Ultima VII though.

**professorspatula** · 03-20-2007, 19:19

Well to be fair, the EOTB games are more standard dungeon crawl style RPGs, whereas Ultima 7 is more of an adventure with RPG elements. Completely different things really. The Ultima Underworld games are more comparable to Eye of the Beholder. I do love Ultima 7 though. Always worth loading up every couple of years and playing through it again. I wonder if there's anyone else like me, that just before they embark on the final part of the game, that they visit every town again just to say bye to all the characters and trade jokes with Chuckles one last time.

**Kalle** · 03-21-2007, 15:56

Clash of steel (COS), without doubt one of the best and easiest to learn wwii strategy games.

Panzer general 1 as said above.

Gary Grigsbys wargames of diffrent kinds, a bit harder to learn though.

Conquered Kingdoms

Kalle

**screwtype** · 03-22-2007, 07:46

Originally Posted by professorspatula

I wonder if there's anyone else like me, that just before they embark on the final part of the game, that they visit every town again just to say bye to all the characters and trade jokes with Chuckles one last time.

Never played U7, but I confess to sometimes wandering around levels I have already defeated in a game just to admire the graphics and so on. I recently got hold of a copy of M&M9 for example, and I've spent quite a bit of time wandering around dungeons I've already beat just to enjoy the scenery, relive the discovery and drama and make sure there's nothing I missed :)

**screwtype** · 03-22-2007, 07:38

Originally Posted by Caravel

Two difficult, but classic, games. I fired it up about 2 years back and got further than ever have before (and that wasn't far). It just doesn't cut it when compared to games like Ultima VII though.

Yeah, too difficult, IMO.

What made them really tough as I recall was the size of the dungeons, the lack of a minimap and the extremely annoying (and all too common) transport tiles that zapped your party to an entirely different part of the dungeon, making hand mapping just about impossible.

I gave up on EOB1 after a while, then was tempted back to buy EOB2 only to give that up even quicker!