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What is the first RPG you beat? Ever?


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This thread invites an interesting discussion on just what an RPG is.

You could certainly make the case for Zelda, as it certainly shares some ideas with RPGs. Zelda II comes the closest mechanically, what with experience points and discrete skill levels and all that. But even to consider the series as a whole is to draw connexions. Your character is a blank slate and a silent protagonist, upon which you project your own heroic wish-fulfilments - you know, the original definition of role-playing. In most Zelda games you don't collect experience points, level up, or change class, but progressing through the game does make you stronger - your capacity to take punishment increases, your sword gets stronger, and you gradually amass an arsenal of weapons (and sometimes spells) that expand your options for attack and progression. There is certainly a clear emphasis placed on exploration, and most of the games have at least a few sidequests to take you off the beaten path.

 

So Zelda certainly has much in common with a "standard" RPG, to be sure. Personally, I would be more inclined to call it it's own thing, something original and different entirely. It's sort of like how when Wolfenstein 3D and Doom came out, they weren't "First Person Shooters". Doom was just Doom, and the games that came after it were "Doom Clones." Zelda, I would argue, is a similar case. Zelda is just Zelda.

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I'm guessing it was either Dragon Warrior on the NES or Miracle Warriors on the SMS. I played a lot of RPGs on the c64 and Apple ][ (Bard's Tale, Might & Magic, Gold Box games, etc), but never finished any of them.

 

I had to call the Sega help line to finish Miracle Warriors - the final dungeon was hidden in the desert without any markings. You had to do something like leave a town, go up 8 and left 4 squares then search. I don't know how anyone could have found it without help.

Edited by BydoEmpire
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It's impossible to "win" that game.  You can revisit any level indefinately in all three variations...and just keep accumulating gold, experience, and stats when you exit them.  Wiping out Geb's Spirit with a single magic arrow is a quick way to boost constitution in Upper Reaches level 4 (if it attacks first, just reload).  It's released via traps in 2 of the monk's rooms on the far left.

Edited by Nukey Shay
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I shied away from RPG's in the Apple 2 days (Wizardy, Ultima, etc.) because I just didn't get them as a child. The first RPG I ever beat was in the console days and it was the original Phantasy Star on the SMS.

 

phantasy-star-red-dragon.png

 

It's funny - I beat this game before the Sega call-in Hint team had any notes on it at all. I sent my contact there a walkthru and a videotape of the ending, she was kind enough to send me a huge stack of SMS hints/cheats. Wish I knew where this stuff went.

 

As for first RPG beaten.. hmm. Does adventure count? Dragonstomper? I played Temple of Apshai but I'm sure I didn't beat it.. same with Oubliette. Wizardry 6 was a satisfying win. I put it as my favorite game of all time (at the time). I'd say it still resides in my top-10. There has to be one before Phantasy Star for me but my memory fails me.

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That would be Pool of Radiance on the C64 for me. Loved that game!

 

Epic, Epic game. That damned Lich near the end was hard as hell. I loved this game, you could fail a battle many times if you didn't use the right strategy/get lucky. Paralyze spell was the best. I hated not being able to level your characters past level 10 or whatever the max was.

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I'm guessing that somewhere along the way, there may have been some super-primitive RPG-like BASIC program for the CoCo that I "beat" in the late 1980s.

 

Otherwise, assuming we're ruling out action RPGs like Zelda and Faxanadu, then the first one on my list is Dragon Warrior, and the second one is Final Fantasy. Both were in the early 1990s (possibly 1990 itself, but more likely 1991).

 

Somewhere in there I also finished Dungeons of Daggorath for CoCo, which was the first computer RPG I beat, though I'd first played it in the mid-1980s.

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I don't think Legend of Zelda counts as an RPG either. Personally I put the Zelda games in the same category as the Metroid games: Adventure. Essentially the gameplay is the same. The environments and characters are just different.

 

The first RPG I beat was Final Fantasy I as well. The update/remake for GBA was fun as well.

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