Gamasutra's History of the CRPG

[A Black Falcon]

Part III out. It's a depressing read because it reminds me again of how truly amazing RPGs were between 1996 and 2001, particularly Interplay and their related companys' ones (Interplay/Black Isle, Bioware, Troika), and how bad the genre is now in comparision... Baldur's Gate and BGII are unmatched games with no competition, essentially. Dragon Age? We'll see, but while some things sound good, on other fronts I'm not sure if it will do it... anyway, great read, if sad because of how great the genre was and how poor it is now. :(



http://www.gamasutra.com/features/200704...n_01.shtml

The period I've termed the "Modern Age" begins in 2002 with the publication of BioWare's Neverwinter Nights, and includes games like Microsoft's Dungeon Siege and Troika's The Temple of Elemental Evil. Although these games have probably sold many thousands more copies than games from earlier periods, they seem to represent more of a looking back than a looking forward, and I'm increasingly worried by the large number of CRPG fans migrating towards MMORPGs. In fact, I don't even consider these games to be part of the same genre, a point I'll get to towards the end of this article.

Dungeon Siege and NWN got good reviews, but were NOT good games...

Criticism of the article: They didn't mention Wizards & Warriors, which is a great game in the Wizardry style, but unique and original... amazing game. Flawed, but every game has flaws; the issue is whether they matter enough to disrupt the good parts. In this case, they don't.

Also (from part II), Quest for Glory is the second-best RPG series ever, after Baldur's Gate... even if they are really adventure-RPGs, not RPGs. Well, QFG V: Dragon Fire, the last one, is a much more standard RPG, but it's also the least fun game in the series...
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/200702...n_08.shtml

[Great Rumbler]

Since when did CRPG not stand for "Console RPG"?

[A Black Falcon]

CRPG meaning "Console RPG"? Hmm, I'm not sure if I've heard it used that way before... CRPG means Computer RPG, and it's always what the PC market has called computer RPGs as far as I know. I guess looking at Wikipedia "Console RPG" has been "CRPG" somewhere, but if so, I'm not familiar with where... "JRPG" for 'Japanese RPG' is the more common counterterm, though of course that is somewhat inaccurate since there are Western console RPGs (though very, very few are console-exclusive, except for handheld titles) and Japanese PC RPGs (yes, there are a few, if not many), but they are the traditional terms.