Real old school CRPG's

Here's a quick list of my top old school RPG's from yesteryear, largely inspired by my recent forays into Abandonware and a realisation that they don't make this style of game any more (except, perhaps, the recent Eye of the Beholder remake on the GBA, see below).

The Bard's Tale

So recently I was harking after a good dungeon crawl and I came across abandonware. This is where the company that made the game has gone out of business, so you can just download it. Using the DosBox emulator, I've been playing through this classic recently which I never completed first time around. Mangar's tower, I could never get into the damn thing. One thing about this addictive game is how hard it is. Not only are the masses of monsters trying to kill your weakest character all the time but the dungeons themselves are so fiendishly designed I've never played a game so difficult to beat. Areas of darkness put your torches out, sliding floor plates spin you around in areas you don't notice, invisible teleporters shoot you round to identical areas in the same dungeon level. Absolutely brilliant, but sometimes frustrating. Part one of a trilogy.

Pool of radiance

A great game on the Amiga this one, also with a city as a base like the Bards Tale, but with much of the city unsafe and needing clearing out of monsters to make safe once more. Tactical combat was great in this one, with positioning of party members becoming very important and the encumberance rules affecting movement rates.  Part one of a series of five games, I think. I can remember playing the fifth at my friend's cousin's house, taking a couple of characters each between three of us!

Bloodwych

A two player dungeon crawl! I must confess, when I played this as a kid, I never quite got the combat and magic aspects. Sometimes I would completely hammer the enemies and sometimes I would get slaughtered. It featured some very interesting dungeon puzzles that would require each player to position his party in the correct place to say, open a portcullis. Good fun!

Eye of the Beholder (GBA)

Just look at these screenshots:

 

This really is an old school game, on a more modern platform. The beauty of it is that it also works on the Nintendo DS, so when I picked this up I gave it a thorough play through. It has one of the worst menu systems on the planet and a very confusing movement system (you move in the tactical combats by pushing diagonal) but, if you can get past that, the dungeon is very deviously designed. Not in the same league as the Bards Tale's by any shot, but much, much harder than more modern roleplaying games. There's something very old school about realising the dungeon itself is more than just a backdrop, but an obstacle that works against your progress. I'd recommend picking this up from eBay.