Welcome Hivers and especially gamers to my retro PC games section. I'm Shandalar and this is a topic close to my heart, as memories always take me back to my childhood years. I have been playing games for over 30 years and would love to share with you the early days of video game history.
This content is for you. I hope you enjoy my stories, reminisce with me, and the quickest of you can win a some Hives in the contest question posted at the end of the topic.
Sit back and relax, we're starting...
I liked RPGs like I liked girls. And just like I won't forget the first one, I won't forget my first RPG. It's called Dungeon Master. It was first released for the Atari and Amiga, and four years later, in 1992, PC users got a port version. It wasn't the first game of its kind, but it could be said that this game popularized the dungeon crawl genre the most.
It was the first to offer 3D surround sound, which could be used to detect that a specific monster was approaching the party. Graphical effects mainly consisted of lighting the area near your group, whether it was a torch going out or a spell fading out.
The game was also more point-click for its time, where you could use the mouse cursor to interact with the environment, instead of the by-then-common interaction through defined texts like: "open, use, pick up".
The last big innovation was an unconventional way of leveling. Characters didn't gain so-called expirience points, but improved immediately after the action they performed. Warriors improve with every axe strike, and at a certain level of mastery they learn new strikes. Mages learn to cast more and more powerful spells, while not tiring as much when casting weaker ones. Ninjas become better at throwing objects and shooting crossbows.
Characters have 4 basic attributes: strength, dexterity, wisdom and vitality, which determine everything else. The amount of hitpoints and the weight of equipment they can carry. The amount of mana that affects spellcasting, or the value of stamina and its recovery rate. This in turn determines the speed of physical attacks. Additionally, characters have resistances to fire and to spells. The last definition is two professions. Primary and secondary. These in turn determine how quickly heroes can improve their skills.
You control a squad of four heroes, which you assemble in the opening of the game. Each member has their own specialty, and some can be more versatile at the expense of not really excelling at anything. Your group is divided into two pairs. In the front, warriors who fight at close combat and repel enemy attacks. Behind them are then wizards, alchemists and other more vulnerable members who support the squad with spells, throwing weapons or shooting.
The controls are quite intuitive. You move with the arrow keys and use the mouse to click attacks or build spells from runes. Spellcasting is handled very elegantly. You have 6 runes at your disposal. First you enter the spell power (1 - 6) and then another one to three runes that define the spell/potions. For example, 1 - 4 is a magical torch at 1st level. 6 - 4 - 4 is a fireball at 6th level. You won't get help in the form of written spells at first, but over time you will enter them automatically.
You can also use the mouse cursor to interact with the environment. Pick things up off the ground, lay them down, throw them, press mechanical buttons, or open doors with keys.
Each of the characters has its own inventory. There are 17 slots for found items, 4 slots for armor, 1 slot for amulets, 2 slots for items the character holds (mainhand and offhand), 2 slots for waterskin or potion bladders, and 4 reserve slots that automatically reassign items to offhand if the character holds nothing in it. These reserve slots are used mainly for throwing items such as daggers and starfish, or for arrows or sling stones.
In addition to equipment items, you collect food and refill water along the way. You restore health and mana by sleeping. After sleeping, the characters are the quickest to waste food and drink. If you don't feed them or give them something to drink, they slowly start to die.
The objective of the game is to pass trought the 16 floors of the dungeon, find the magic staff and defeat the Grey Lord. Each floor has its own specifics. Types of monsters, puzzles and loot. For some floors, you'll find that you can't find any food and have to return to the upper levels where it was plentiful.
After all, if you encounter all ghosts and skeletons within a level, you won't get a steak out of them when you kill them. If one of your heroes dies, you can revive them on the altar that tends to be near the staircase on some floors.
I remember the first time I picked characters based on the picture and what they had in their inventory. I never got very far with them. This game was intellectually farther than my brain could take. However, I persevered, trying different combinations and pushing further and further through the dungeon. I never spared my squad, and they were dying on me like a treadmill. The worst was losing a member with a torch, or a wizard who kept the light going with a spell. In the absolute darkness after that, the destruction was completed very quickly.
My Dad drew maps on paper. He also had a list of spells he had figured out and I added some of them. I dont drew the maps, but remembered them by heart.
I remember being excited by the genre of the game, but the endless dungeons and dying had a terribly depressing effect on me. I was downright scared of some of the enemy creatures. I overcame my fear in the game and every time I discovered the stairs to the next floor, I was filled with awe and anticipation of what challenges would await me there. It was truly a great adventure.
You've defeated the Grey Lord, watched a short animation of life returning to a destroyed village, and the question of what to do next has been raised. You couldn't choose the difficulty, and apart from the loot from the monsters, everything was encrypted. If you wanted a challenge, you could create a squad of only two characters, or you could go through the entire dungeon with a single hero.
I didn't get into this limit pushing until I was older, in the second part of Dungeon Master - Legend of Skullkeep.
I have to admit that it's not a completely different experience, but you start to understand the potential of the characters and the dangers of the adversaries a lot more. Have you also played any oldshool dungeon crawlers?
Contest question for 10 Hive for the fastest correct answer.
Guess how many times it is possible to drink from the water bag, assuming it is full.
#1 The legend of Kyrandia
#2 Anotherworld
This is an original article published exclusively for the Hive community and its content is the intellectual property of @Shandalar. All rights reserved.
