[Recommend] Old School Dungeon Crawl

Jubeh

Guys I am feeling the need for something oldschool. Something that lets me use my imagination, and something that is unreasonably difficult. I like dungeon crawlers the most, but I am also up for text adventures if they are rad enough.

Games I like that are somewhat relevant:
-The Shin Megami Tensei series
-Zork
-Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
-Way of the Samurai (for being unforgiving)

I am not looking for something with an incredible story, but I don't mind it. I am looking for something simple and chill. I've got dark spire coming in the mail right now, and I've been reading the etrian odyysey LP that (dude Im sorry I forgot your name) has been posting, and that game looks neat too. Looking for stuff along those lines.

Also I am tired of roguelikes, and have played way too many of them.

I have a 360, PS2, DS, and a PC that is really lame. So no I cannot get Demon's Souls. ):

Help me guys.

korodullin

Wizardry 8.

BeenieWeenie

Nethack is always a good option if you don't mind ASCII graphics.

[EDIT]...no roguelikes. My bad.

Aegeri

Icewind Dale.

zilo

Dungeon Hack. It can be hard to track down but it has procedurally-generated dungeons and it's old enough to run on anything.

CygnusZ

Shiren the Wanderer

Rainfall

Aegeri wrote: »

Icewind Dale.

Or Baldur's Gate 1. IWD is pretty great, though.

VacuumJockey

Torchlight is essentially a best-of-breed-Diablo-II clone; you could check that out . It'll run even on a netbook, and there's a free demo.

Blurbl

Admittedly I don't have much experience with Dungeon Crawls, but Etrian Odyssey 1 and 2 for the DS, which you mentioned, are great. Hard in the beginning, not so much later on unless you take lower tier classes.

Redneck Sith

I second Torchlight, just play it in hardcore mode on the highest difficulty setting for a pretty tough challenge.

Plus, it's only $20.

PatboyX

The forums will show you the way:

Kelor

Castle of the Winds. Norse mythology crawler with randomised levels. I'm pretty sure this is the first one I ever played.

Both chapters are available from the creator for free now.


Fuck those Manticores you run into sometimes when you open a door though.

Visti

PatboyX wrote: »

The forums will show you the way:

I wanna lime this picture.

Then there's Crawl, which also had a big thread somewhere, if you like the old-school Nethack-clones. A lot more accessible, I feel.

edit: oh, you mentioned Crawl. Silly me.

Taramoor

Well, I find it's always good to toss in Torment, Diablo I or II, or Castle of the Winds as mentioned above.

I don't think I ever actually uninstalled Torment OR the two Diablos from my machine. They're just there in case I need them.

Visti

It IS always good to play Torment, but as a dungeon crawl?

Kelor

I've had Castle of the Winds on just about every PC I've had for the last 15 years or so.

So easy to just start a new character and go chopping up goblins.

Magic Arrow is the best starting spell.

Taramoor

Visti wrote: »

It IS always good to play Torment, but as a dungeon crawl?

I don't care if he asks for a good Hummingbird-based shooter for the 32X, Torment is still a solid recommendation.

Sorenson

If your PC ain't too lame and you've wanted to try/already play D&D, you could try picking up Neverwinter Nights 1: you can get the Diamond edition which is core+the two expansions and some premium modules new from Amazon for 13 bucks and change, and there are a CRAPTON of user-made modules that can give you your dungeon-crawling fix: plus, multiplayer!

On the PS2 side, you can pick up King's Field: The Ancient City, which is a pretty awesome first-person dungeon crawler by the same developers as Demon's Souls (and is really the forerunner of DS anyway). The two previous games haven't aged well but TAC is still pretty decent so long after its release.

EDIT: Baldur's Gate? Man I dunno about that, I don't think it really fits the dungeon-crawling criteria the OP's asking for, plus 2e rules = absolute shit. IWD is much more spelunking-oriented and uses 3E.

EDIT: Man that reminds me I've gotta' finish Castle of the Winds one of these days. Hell I think it's sitting right there in my Games Folder now that I think about it.

EDIT: Nope, just the zipped archive for it. I'd have to restart anyway since I remember jack squat about where I left off.

Although I DID notice my Daggerfall folder, which is also another awesome suggestion. This is hardcore old-school 2D sprite-based dungeon spelunking, though, with massive motherfucking dungeons that have the potential to do on and on and on and're chock full of shit like secret passages and traps and hidden switches and elevators and whatnot. But man it is awesome.

DeathPrawn

Given the lack of Nethack in the OP I'd be inclined to suggest Nethack, although it might fall under "unreasonably difficult".

Similarly, Spelunky. Old-school in a bit of a different way, but still dungeon-crawly and still awesome.

[edit] D'oh, didn't notice the "no roguelikes". Spelunky still might be different enough to intrigue you.

Glal

korodullin wrote: »

Wizardry 8.

Echo

zilo wrote: »

Dungeon Hack. It can be hard to track down but it has procedurally-generated dungeons and it's old enough to run on anything.

I loved this game to death.

Now what was that other crawler I played called... Lands of Lore! Same crawler style, but more story. The CD version had Patrick Stewart doing some voicework.



Also: Wizardry 8.

Constrictor

Eye of the Beholder series?

Total dungeon crawl, runs on anything these days.

Samuelson

Aaaargh, how do I load custom icons for Castle of the Winds? where do I put the icons etc.? Google fails to answer this question concisely ...

EDIT : Oh and is there any digital download website I can get Wizardry 8?

Sorenson

Custom icons? Bah, REAL men run through dungeons wearing naught but a barely-decent bulging blue codpiece.

I could never get custom icons to work, either.

Hotlead Junkie

I second Shiren the Wanderer (DS) and Spelunky (PC). Both have old school, well polished mechanics but look great and shiny and are still incredibly hard, random and rewarding.

Pastee

Wow, I can actually help here.

Ultima Underworld II - (Underworld I is just as fun, but visually 2 fills up the screen more)

Planetfall - (This Infocom game has problably the best sidekick ever. Floyd the Robot)

Any of the "Phantasie" series - (yes, this is really old school)

Legacy of the Ancients - This was an evolution to "Questron" an Ultima rip. Excellent game though.

Wizardry 7 - (Yes, Wizardry 8 is awesome, and looks awesome. Wizardry 7 had a better story, and more crawling.)

Wizard's Crown - This is an insanely complicated role-playing game from SSI for the old 8 bit systems. Prepare to invest some time in this one. "Eternal Dagger" is the second in the series.

Gold Box D&D Series - These will always be awesome crawlers.

Ultima III - Still the best (Yes I'm old, bugger off)

Bard's Tale II - Best out of that series.

Alternate Reality: The Dungeon - The City was good, but this was so much better I would start here.

Wasteland - Just because I had to add it.

TechRat

I know you said you're trying to avoid rogue-likes, but since everyone seems to be suggesting Shiren the Wanderer I'm going to also throw in a suggestion for Izuna - Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (DS) and its sequel. I've only played the first one, but its fun and balls-hard in the you-can-only-save-between-levels-and-don't-try-to-cheat-by-turning-off-the-DS-because-you'll-lose-all-your-progress-anyway kind of way.

I also kind of like Orcs and Elves (DS), which is another 1st person dungeon crawler though it's a bit more action-oriented and not quite as difficult as Etrian and the like.

You will both love and hate Dark Spire. Trust me.

maybecca

Might & Magic. I've always heard World of Xeen (the 4th and 5th games combined) is the best, but hey, GOG are selling the first six games for $10. They have some other neat RPGs as well.

TechRat, I played Orcs & Elves on my phone - is the DS version any good? If it's the same thing again, meh, but does the DS version add anything significant? Like some gameplay?

citizen059

maybecca wrote: »

Might & Magic. I've always heard World of Xeen (the 4th and 5th games combined) is the best, but hey, GOG are selling the first six games for $10. They have some other neat RPGs as well.

TechRat, I played Orcs & Elves on my phone - is the DS version any good? If it's the same thing again, meh, but does the DS version add anything significant? Like some gameplay?

There's not much difference.

I really enjoyed O&E on the DS, but I'll admit - after a single playthrough it got traded in @ Gamestop. I didn't really feel the need to play it again, ever.

Ah_Pook

wizardry: tale of the forgotten land is on the ps2 and is quite fun

urahonky

The Wii has Shining in the Darkness on VC, and all the genesis collection games have it. I love that game so much.

Mugaaz

Demise : The Revelation. Awesome old school dungeon crawl. Not a roguelike though. I've been playing it for years.

Spindrift

Glal wrote: »

korodullin wrote: »

Wizardry 8.

Grislo

Wizardry 8 happens to have a pretty good demo, a full run of the first dungeon.

Wizardry 8

Icewind Dale 2 was a good suggestion too. Low on story, high on orc killing and dead cat smuggling.

Drake

TechRat wrote: »

I know you said you're trying to avoid rogue-likes, but since everyone seems to be suggesting Shiren the Wanderer I'm going to also throw in a suggestion for Izuna - Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (DS) and its sequel. I've only played the first one, but its fun and balls-hard in the you-can-only-save-between-levels-and-don't-try-to-cheat-by-turning-off-the-DS-because-you'll-lose-all-your-progress-anyway kind of way.

I'll second these as a lot of fun, with a light personality and sense of humor. Don't bother trying to hunt down the original though, I'd just go with the sequel. Big improvements in every way over the first one. It's also not as rape-your-face difficult as Shiren or classic PC Rogue-Likes. It has a ton of boob jokes too.

IvanIssacs

Does GoG or D2D have Icewind Dale 2 for sale? I've been wanting to play that for years but always heard it was terrible compared to IWD1.

korodullin

IvanIssacs wrote: »

Does GoG or D2D have Icewind Dale 2 for sale? I've been wanting to play that for years but always heard it was terrible compared to IWD1.

There is literally no such thing as a bad Infinity Engine game.

4rch3nemy

Monster's Den: Book of Dread is a fun flash game that might be easier than what you're looking for. However, it has everything else you're looking for, really.

Give it a try. You'll lose 5 minutes if you don't like it and you'll "lose" 5 hours if you do like it.

oc2001

I know you did not say you have a PSP, but a good crawler is D&D tactics.

Another on the PC is Temple of Elemental Evil...

Grislo

IvanIssacs wrote: »

Does GoG or D2D have Icewind Dale 2 for sale? I've been wanting to play that for years but always heard it was terrible compared to IWD1.

It's better than the first. It should be pretty cheap if you don't mind buying a used copy from somewhere.

IvanIssacs

I found IWD1 + xpac and IWD2 for like 22 bucks new on amazon.