Can We Get Another Turn-Based CRPG Already?

Despite enjoying the current crop of RPGs available on the market, one of the editors at Bits n’ Bytes has taken his desire for a modern grid- and turn-based CRPG and encapsulated it into this “Retro Week” editorial. We’ve been lamenting about the absence of these types of games ever since Heuristic Park’s Wizards & Warriors and Sir-tech’s Wizardry 8 became old news:

The games I’m talking about are wonders such as the old Might and Magic series, the Wizardry games, or Lands of Lore. These were games that gave the impression of a first-person viewpoint without the modern day 3D world in which such games now exist. The game world was broken up into a massive grid, with individual squares making up a pre-determined space of about 10 square feet. Just enough space for your party of 4-6 adventurers to battle hoards of pixel-based baddies. You could move in four directions provided nothing was blocking your path, or just turn around to observe your surroundings in four directions.

Often times, each space your party moved on the map translated to an increment of time passing in the game world. A single space could mean 10 seconds, followed by another space, and another passing of 10 seconds. This also meant that if you had an army of goblins two spaces away, ready to tear your party apart, you could sit their contemplating your next move (run away?) while enjoying a sandwich. In case your wondering, I don’t want to bring these games back just to enjoy food while playing. I know videogames have a pause option.

Many of these games had great stories, often much more complex and involved than other games of the time. But in the end, most were really massive dungeon-crawls. Receive quest to obtain the Sword of Smashy-Smashy from the elder wizard of the village you were hanging out in. Go to the nearby (Tower of Doom) or (Cave of Foreboding) and travel through level after level of monster-infested, trap-laced, loot filled dungeons until you find the sword, often guarded by some sort of boss and found (conveniently) in the very last room of said dungeon. If this sounds familiar, it’s because the same formula is used today for most RPGs and dungeon crawls, only with fancier graphics and real-time, action packed combat.

And I’ll say it here: I Love these modern real-time RPGs. The Oblivions and Witchers of modern day gaming are excellent products, with rich stories and exciting gameplay. But that doesn’t mean I don’t yearn for the old fashioned stuff.

So do we, Armand. So do we.