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So... is there a modern-ish game like Ultima III, Auto Duel, or The Bard's Tale out there?

The Bard's Tale trilogy had a remake a few years back, which I played through last year. The beginning of BT1 is a little easier (you get a little more gold so you can afford healing without looting starting characters), and they have automaps now, but they're basically the same games.

BT2 is a poor design, where you have to visit every square in every dungeon to be sure you didn't miss anything critical. Use a walkthrough for that game, it'll save you ridiculous amounts of time.

IMO, BT1 is the best of the three, BT2 kind of sucks, and BT3 is acceptable but not incredible.

edit: Oh, here's a link:


View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/843260/The_Bards_Tale_Trilogy/
 
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So... is there a modern-ish game like Ultima III, Auto Duel, or The Bard's Tale out there? I got the new Bard's Tale some years ago but didn't really like it. Something fairly simple like those games in that genre would be fun. I've even thought about firing up Moria.
You can try Moonring.
It's free and really well liked. Even loosk like an ultima game.


View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2373630/Moonring/
 

MichaelC

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So... is there a modern-ish game like Ultima III, Auto Duel, or The Bard's Tale out there? I got the new Bard's Tale some years ago but didn't really like it. Something fairly simple like those games in that genre would be fun. I've even thought about firing up Moria.

I don't know if this is what you had in mind. Or do you want something with a more modern look? This is a zombie apocalypse... like Ultima but with zombies. But released recently


View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2330750/Cataclysm_Dark_Days_Ahead/


or this? fantasy RPG

https://www.gog.com/en/game/fate_the_cursed_king

Atom RPG is Fallout inspired... original Fallout. post apocalyptic

https://www.gog.com/en/game/atom_rpg_postapocalyptic_indie_game

Encased is sci-fi based

https://www.gog.com/en/game/encased_a_scifi_postapocalyptic_rpg

Broken Roads is western themed... oh, I think it's actually post apocalyptic but looks like a western

https://www.gog.com/en/game/broken_roads



gaming.amazon.com recently had a bunch of the old D&D goldbox and silverbox games for free. You redeem them through GOG.

Here is one

https://gaming.amazon.com/dragonstr...gress=amzn&ref_=SM_DragonStrike_S01_FGWP_CRWN

D&D Silver Box Classics

https://www.gog.com/en/game/silver_box_classics

D&D Spelljammer

https://www.gog.com/en/game/spelljammer_pirates_of_realmspace

D&D Ravenloft

https://www.gog.com/en/game/dungeons_dragons_ravenloft_series

D&D DRagonstrike

https://www.gog.com/en/game/dragonstrike
 

Nekojin

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If you're looking for a roguelike, I HIGHLY recommend ADOM. It's a long-running Roguelike that is still getting updates, and was given a Steam port (with graphics!) a few years ago.

Just don't pick up Ultimate ADOM, which is a sequel that tried out some new ideas that just fell apart and is largely abandonware now.

Or if you want something else that is Atari-Hard, try Noita.
 
BTW, there have been two attempts at a Bard's Tale resurrection. One was called just The Bard's Tale, and mostly sucked. Then InXile did Bard's Tale 4, which was pretty good.

They were both done by inXile. The Bard's Tale was their first game as an independent studio after the collapse of Black Isle.
 

fitten

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Yeah, I actually played The Bard's Tale when it was originally released (it's still one of my favorite games from that era) ;) Ultima III, as well. I did get the modern The Bard's Tale a while back and played it for like an hour and never fired it up again. I didn't know they did a 4. I played Moria a fair amount way back in the day. Moonring and ADOM both look promising. Thanks. Mostly I was looking for something with a fantasy setting that's easy to pick up for like 15 minutes, save, and go do other things and come back to it... with, of course, the carrot of stats/items/power to keep me wanting to play just a few more minutes.
 

fitten

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The Bard's Tale trilogy had a remake a few years back, which I played through last year. The beginning of BT1 is a little easier (you get a little more gold so you can afford healing without looting starting characters), and they have automaps now, but they're basically the same games.

Yeah, the thing that was annoying about that is they flagged a few larger encounters as a one-time-only thing... for example the 99 Berzerkers, 99 Berzerkers, 99 Berzerkers, 99 Berzerkers room. In the original, once you could handle that room, it became the leveling room. APAR +5 Up, +12 East, +5 North.... (two Monks up front with LO AC... and a Bard with topped out AC, and three Archmages... or two if you have a level 1 you are leveling up) D)efend, D)efend, D)efend, C)ast MIBL, C) MIBL, (and either D)efend or C)ast MIBL depending on that 6th). Teleport to another floor and then back here until your mana runs out, then go level everybody up ;) I still have all my hand-drawn maps from when I played the game when I was 16 :)
 
Yeah, the thing that was annoying about that is they flagged a few larger encounters as a one-time-only thing..
Oh, that's right, I'd forgotten that annoyance. In the Amiga version, that was a great spot for leveling, but god the fights were slow. Still well worth the time, but sloooow.

I was kind of peeved that you couldn't grind there anymore in the new edition. I was assuming it would go a lot faster.
 

Nekojin

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Yeah, I actually played The Bard's Tale when it was originally released (it's still one of my favorite games from that era) ;) Ultima III, as well. I did get the modern The Bard's Tale a while back and played it for like an hour and never fired it up again. I didn't know they did a 4. I played Moria a fair amount way back in the day. Moonring and ADOM both look promising. Thanks. Mostly I was looking for something with a fantasy setting that's easy to pick up for like 15 minutes, save, and go do other things and come back to it... with, of course, the carrot of stats/items/power to keep me wanting to play just a few more minutes.
I fondly remember beating both Ultima 3 and Ultima 4 back in the day. I enjoyed Ultima 3 more overall, but I think that Ultima 4 was a much better game all around.

And after beating U3, I went back and played/beat Ultima 2, then tried Ultima 1 and decided that it wasn't worth playing to completion.
 

fitten

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Oh, that's right, I'd forgotten that annoyance. In the Amiga version, that was a great spot for leveling, but god the fights were slow. Still well worth the time, but sloooow.

Yeah, the scrolling had a limiter on it. It was the same on everything... C64, Apple2, 8088, etc. I'd just set up my first round and then do something else for a few minutes, when it stopped scrolling, it was mostly just stragglers.

I fondly remember beating both Ultima 3 and Ultima 4 back in the day. I enjoyed Ultima 3 more overall, but I think that Ultima 4 was a much better game all around.

And after beating U3, I went back and played/beat Ultima 2, then tried Ultima 1 and decided that it wasn't worth playing to completion.

I played 3 first and then 2 and 1 as well as Akalabeth. Ultima 4 came out and I bought it immediately but it was at a busy time for me... I just didn't have time to play it so I put in probably 20 or 30 hours into it but never finished :(
 

Leaping Gnome

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Mostly I was looking for something with a fantasy setting that's easy to pick up for like 15 minutes, save, and go do other things and come back to it... with, of course, the carrot of stats/items/power to keep me wanting to play just a few more minutes.

Please post back if you find something, I've been wanting something like this too.
 
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Yeah, I actually played The Bard's Tale when it was originally released (it's still one of my favorite games from that era) ;) Ultima III, as well. I did get the modern The Bard's Tale a while back and played it for like an hour and never fired it up again. I didn't know they did a 4. I played Moria a fair amount way back in the day. Moonring and ADOM both look promising. Thanks. Mostly I was looking for something with a fantasy setting that's easy to pick up for like 15 minutes, save, and go do other things and come back to it... with, of course, the carrot of stats/items/power to keep me wanting to play just a few more minutes.
Have you ever played Chrono Trigger? I like the original via SNES emulation the best, though there are many other editions. It's one of the all-time classic JRPGs, somewhat action-based but not ridiculously so if you set the battle mode to "Wait". (which lets you take as long as you want in menus as you pick powers or items to use.)

The game itself isn't necessarily quittable at will; the original design is to only let you save at save points, which are typically 20 to 30 minutes apart. (sometimes less.) But with an emulator, you can use savestates to save anywhere. You just have to remember when you used a savestate versus an actual hard save.

A completionist run is typically about 25 hours.
 
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Grimrock's quite good, although it was done long enough ago that I don't know if it will support widescreen or high resolutions. It's a Dungeon Master-alike, if you're familiar with that genre.

I finished Grimrock 1, but stalled out near the end of 2. My characters just weren't tough enough to finish, for some reason.

edit: yeah, I knew that one was pretty old. GR1 was 2012.
 

fitten

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Ryan B.

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I haven't. I was just before Nintendo and those things. I've heard it's good, I'm just not much of a console person.

It's been ported to mobile and PC. The ports may actually even be decent these days. I haven't looked in a while, but I recall there was a dustup about the visuals being borked by an ill-conceived attempt at smoothing.

I personally consider Chrono Trigger to be the pinnacle of SNES JRPGs. If that sort of thing interests you at all, it is worth playing.
 

Artichoke Sap

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If you haven't played the Wizardry series, some of that is on GOG.
I would say either go for the pinnacle of the turn-based stuff, Wiz7:
https://www.gog.com/en/game/wizardry_6_7 (which is currently on sale 83% off, so US$1.01!)

Or do the amazing graphical overlay of the original:

View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2518960/Wizardry_Proving_Grounds_of_the_Mad_Overlord/

For meeting the "play 15 minutes, come back later," I'm assuming the latter lets you save anywhere, but the former absolutely does. I would quicksave approximately twice for every step I took. :ROFLMAO:
 
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I haven't. I was just before Nintendo and those things. I've heard it's good, I'm just not much of a console person.
Well, as @Ryan B. says, it's generally considered to be the best on the SNES, and one of the best ever, period. Final Fantasy 6 gets mentioned in the same breath a lot; the scope of FF6 is much larger, and there's a lot more crunchy stuff going on (like roaming a specific grasslands for hours to get specific encounters to steal specific powers and items), but the plot is nowhere near as good.

I personally find Chrono Trigger to be an amazing achievement, because the hardware of the era was so limited, and yet they managed to implement such a modern-feeling game using it. In fact, in many ways Chrono Trigger helped define what a modern game even is. However, like most games that are vastly influential, it doesn't feel groundbreaking anymore, because everyone else is doing the same stuff, better.

But it remains fun. It will not blow your mind unless you can mentally put yourself into 1995 mode, but it's a solid game with a neat story, memorable characters, and cute graphics. Thirty years later, it's still worth playing. And it has an astonishing amount of content for a 4-megabyte game. They must have worked so hard to pack everything in there. I've had an image for many years of a bullpen of programmers, with one standing up and saying, "I saved ten bytes!" (in Japanese, of course), a bell ringing, and someone handing him a Snickers, or whatever the local equivalent would be.

edit to add: the litmus test I use for that game is the trial, which happens two or three hours in. Your character will be put on trial. After that finishes, if you're not smiling and having fun yet, the game's not for you.
 

Ryan B.

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But it remains fun. It will not blow your mind unless you can mentally put yourself into 1995 mode, but it's a solid game with a neat story, memorable characters, and cute graphics. Thirty years later, it's still worth playing. And it has an astonishing amount of content for a 4-megabyte game. They must have worked so hard to pack everything in there. I've had an image for many years of a bullpen of programmers, with one standing up and saying, "I saved ten bytes!" (in Japanese, of course), a bell ringing, and someone handing him a Snickers, or whatever the local equivalent would be.

Did you ever unlock the programmer's ending? I don't remember everything that was said by any stretch, I did it years ago. But there was a lot of, "Wow, that was a ton of work, I can't believe we're finally done," and, "OMG four megabytes is so much space!! Look at all the cool stuff we can do with this kind of room!"
 
Did you ever unlock the programmer's ending? I don't remember everything that was said by any stretch, I did it years ago. But there was a lot of, "Wow, that was a ton of work, I can't believe we're finally done," and, "OMG four megabytes is so much space!! Look at all the cool stuff we can do with this kind of room!"
I'm not sure I did, actually. I vaguely remember a room with programmers in it, but nothing about what they said.

edit: that must be a different game. I looked it up on Youtube, and I don't think I've ever seen that ending.
 

Lt_Storm

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Ryan B.

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I'm not sure I did, actually. I vaguely remember a room with programmers in it, but nothing about what they said.

edit: that must be a different game. I looked it up on Youtube, and I don't think I've ever seen that ending.

I never would have seen it without looking stuff up on GameFAQs. The path to get it is only available by starting a new game+.
 

Distraction

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Skald is a good old-school RPG. Pretty bleak, but fun.

Mostly I was looking for something with a fantasy setting that's easy to pick up for like 15 minutes, save, and go do other things and come back to it... with, of course, the carrot of stats/items/power to keep me wanting to play just a few more minutes
I’ve recommended it a few times already, but Wildermyth is that game for me:

View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/763890/Wildermyth/
 
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Yeah I tried Wildermyth and it just didn't click for me. But when playing RPGs I do not want to control a team of characters, I want to control one character.
Single-character RPGs are kind of unusual. I think most these days are probably roguelikes, with occasional exceptions like the Bethesda Fallouts. (the Black Isle 2D Fallouts were classic multi-char design, although you could play them solo.) An example that was just mentioned was Cogmind, which is supposed to be pretty good.

I believe the multi-character focus comes from D&D. That was team-based, and its design principles have persisted for, well, pretty much my entire adult life. You'd think things would have changed more, by now.
 
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