MagitekAngel Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BydoEmpire Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 (edited) 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 April 14, 2012 by BydoEmpire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 IT was either Dragon Warrior 1 or Final Fantasy 1 on the NES. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Does Raiders of the Lost Ark on Atari 2600 count? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legend Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Rogue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A_Locomotive Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Pokemon Blue. I was a dumb kid and begged my dad to let me buy it because I saw this commercial and thought it was awesome. Bought it literally having no idea what kind of game it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Wizards Crown on A8, one of the best RPGs ever, actually many SSI RPGs are tops. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aikainnet Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Crystalis on the NES. If you can call it an RPG... otherwise it was Final Fantasy with Dragon Warrior I as a close second. I beat them within a day of eachother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legend Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Rogue. Just kidding. Actually, it was Sword of Vermillion for Sega Genesis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Wizards Crown on A8, one of the best RPGs ever, actually many SSI RPGs are tops. I keep meaning to get around to playing that. I have it for my Apple II along with Eternal Dagger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mendon Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Temple of Apshai and its add-on's, Upper Reaches of Apshai and Curse of Ra, for the Atari800. Hmmm.... could Upper and Ra be considered the first ever DLC released???? Mendon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 (edited) 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 April 14, 2012 by Nukey Shay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffraff Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 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. 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffraff Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Adventure/Dragonstomper: The manuals for both of them describe the controllable onscreen character as being "you", so I'd say that they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atarian7 Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Does Pitfall II count? How about Adventure? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeculiarSatyr Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 DragonWarrior Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+thegoldenband Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 I beat Pokemon Blue when I was about ten or eleven. After that, I think it was Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. Then Dragon Warrior. Talk about working backwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemonoidTentacle Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Surely LoZ doesn't count. My first beaten would be Mystic Quest on the SNES. I loved it then, and I love it now. I don't understand all the hate it gets. I think a lot of people are missing the point of it. And it's got a bitchin' soundtrack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asponge Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kripto Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Treasure of Tarmin for Intellivision, on a giant black and white TV while I had chicken pox. I remember the game kept throwing a battle with the final boss at me, trying to get me to finish when I wanted to keep playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffraff Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Ahhhhh yes... Treasure of Tarmin. Perhaps the only game where you do lethal combat with a door. Before battery-backed saves or password saves, this would be the first one. How could I forget? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Pac Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 The very 1st RPG I ever beat was Final Fantasy Legend 3 on the Gameboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 This would probably be better as a separate topic (which text adventure have you beaten) but for me it would be Voodoo Castle from the Scott Adams text adventure series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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