Top Down PC RPG From Early to Mid 90s

[Brodie_Bumshine]

Hello, and I want to apologize in advance for how vague this one is going to be. The game I am trying to remember I only played once on a friends father's computer. It was a PC pc, not an amiga or anything else, because I also remember playing Battle Beast and Beauty And The Beast on the same system. As for the timeframe, I don't know when Beauty And The Beast was released, but I know that battle beast was released in 1995, so sometime between 1995 and 1997. Operating system was probably 95, because again, battle beast.

Now, for the gameplay, all I remember is that it was a top down rpg in a fantasy setting, VERY similar in gameplay to ultima pre 7. I vaguely remember going from the starting castle to a cave of orcs nearby and getting totally wrecked. It might or might not have been grid based, and you might or might not have had a party. If you did have a party, they followed you around in their own tiles. I also remember there being a lot of bright primary colors on the color scheme... thats it. Sorry that its not that much to go on.

I also vaguely remember there being a bar at the right of the screen of...party memebers? Or something? Maybe troops? Also, going from the castle to the orc cave was seamless, as in the orc cave was part of the overworld.

[Smiling Spectre]

Check Bloodstone (http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/bloodstone-an-epic-dwarven-tale/screenshots) please? Prophecy (http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/prophecy_/screenshots) looks similar by description, but no interface at right. I definitely know more such games... But I cannot remember any right now. :(

[Brodie_Bumshine]

Check Bloodstone (http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/bloodstone-an-epic-dwarven-tale/screenshots) please? Prophecy (http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/prophecy_/screenshots) looks similar by description, but no interface at right. I definitely know more such games... But I cannot remember any right now. :(
Bloodstone seems to be similar to what I'm searching for, but there were definitely sprites on the overworld.

[Smiling Spectre]

Wait, you mean, there are two maps, like in Ultima? Global and local?

Try Exile (http://www.mobygames.com/game/exile-ii-crystal-souls/screenshots) then. I found also what game I thought of. Enchantasy (http://freelicensegames.com/Enchantasy.htm)!

[MrFlibble]

Hmm, you can also try the Magic Candle (http://www.mobygames.com/game/magic-candle-volume-1) series and Aethra Chronicles (http://www.mobygames.com/game/aethra-chronicles-volume-one-celystras-bane).

Those are DOS games but could quite as well run under Win95.

[Brodie_Bumshine]

Wait, you mean, there are two maps, like in Ultima? Global and local?

Try Exile (http://www.mobygames.com/game/exile-ii-crystal-souls/screenshots) then. I found also what game I thought of. Enchantasy (http://freelicensegames.com/Enchantasy.htm)!

I'm not saying there were two maps per-say. In fact, I vaguely feel like there was only one map.

Also, Magic Candle and Atheria chronicles are a bit too real-time for what I remember. Whatever the game was, the sprites moved from one place to another with fairly little fanfare (no sound effects for movement, no walking animations).

Also, almost positive graphics were not VGA.

I also want to stress that I was, like, 6 when I played this game, so my memory might be a bit spotty in places. If something matches some but not all of what I'm saying, There is a large chance it might be that.

[Brodie_Bumshine]

Wait, you mean, there are two maps, like in Ultima? Global and local?

Try Exile (http://www.mobygames.com/game/exile-ii-crystal-souls/screenshots) then. I found also what game I thought of. Enchantasy (http://freelicensegames.com/Enchantasy.htm)!

Exile is striking REALLY damn familiar. It is HYPER close to that. I vaguely remember there being a river near the starting location, and if you go a bit after that, there is the orc or something den that completely romplestomps me.

[Brodie_Bumshine]

I want to say again that I vaguely remember there being other people following you that had their own sprites.. It was pretty grid based, really similar to exile. I can't really find anything on the exile games other than the one Smiling Spectre posted (google just bullrushes anything I look for into PATH of exile, and if I simplify it further, I get weird league of legends things).

[Smiling Spectre]

Go to official site. All three Exiles are freeware now, I think. :)

Part 1 (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/exile/winexile.html), Exile 2 (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/exile2/winexile2.html) and Exile 3 (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/exile3/winexile3.html). :) Oh, and Blades of Exile (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/blades/winBOE.html) are free too, but it's more construction kit than game. :)

Unfortunately, they are Win16, so unplayable on any x64 windows without emulators. :(

(Also, googling screenshots are better with full name. I.e. "Exile: Escape from the pit", "Exile II: Crystal Souls", etc :)

[Scatty]

Some of your description also sounds a bit like Excelsior (http://www.mobygames.com/game/excelsior-phase-one-lysandia).

[Brodie_Bumshine]

Some of your description also sounds a bit like Excelsior (http://www.mobygames.com/game/excelsior-phase-one-lysandia).

again, graphics are a bit too old for what I'm talking about.

[Brodie_Bumshine]

from what I remember, combat was pretty similar to ToME, if that helps.

[Megaten]

I was thinking, and thinking, and thinking.....and then I made a recap post of what you've said so far, but this computer locked up and I lost it and it's too late at night to type it up again.

But I was thinking about what you said about the cave being a continuous part of the overworld, but the game still being multi-scale. I was thinking that after checking a long-shot guess...

http://abload.de/img/dcplay_000v7btj.png..http://abload.de/img/dcplay_0011szgb.png
..
http://abload.de/img/dcplay_002wzxhi.png..http://abload.de/img/dcplay_003w5ayv.png
..
http://abload.de/img/dcplay_004t8zuz.png..http://abload.de/img/dcplay_00559yfh.png

DBQuest (http://theodor.lauppert.ws/games/dbquest.htm) has a rather unfortunate distinction - it's the only released full game created with the DCGames (http://theodor.lauppert.ws/games/dcgames.htm) CRPG construction kit. As you can see, it was made in an earlier version of the engine.

The thing is, upon starting the game, you can head a screen or so east to find a castle, which (like the house you start by) takes you to a separate map. But to the north-west of the castle, there is a specially-tiled path through the mountain range which passes into a desert. And there is a high likelihood that, while attempting to access the desert, you will be attacked by goblins - who are sufficiently powerful to thwart the attempts of poorly equipped heroes controlled by young children.

I'm not saying this is the game for sure - it's a shot in the dark, really. But as I was revisiting the game, the path through the mountain strongly reminded me of your description of the theoretical orc cave.

[MrFlibble]

Dunno if this is what the OP was looking for, but the game looks pretty nice, thanks for mentioning it! :D

[Brodie_Bumshine]

Dunno if this is what the OP was looking for, but the game looks pretty nice, thanks for mentioning it! :D

He's right, it isn't exactly what I was looking for, but DAMN close! Only thing missing seems to be updated graphics. Thank you, megaten!

[Eagle of Fire]

Hummm... That reminds me mightily of Ultima IV!

[Smiling Spectre]

It was starting message. :D "Similar to earlier Ultimas". :)

[Scatty]

Just to make sure, it's not WarWizard 2, is it? Here (http://www.freewebs.com/braddemowebsite/WarWizard2.jpg)'s the only screenshot that can be found for it on the net, but you can download a demo version here (http://web.archive.org/web/20070203044229/http://www.bradmcquaid.com/WarWizard.htm) (scroll down a bit) to check if it's not what you're looking for.
Best open the second link on something other than Firefox, it doesn't display entirely correct in it.

[MrFlibble]

Just to make sure, it's not WarWizard 2, is it? Here (http://www.freewebs.com/braddemowebsite/WarWizard2.jpg)'s the only screenshot that can be found for it on the net, but you can download a demo version here (http://web.archive.org/web/20070203044229/http://www.bradmcquaid.com/WarWizard.htm) (scroll down a bit) to check if it's not what you're looking for.
Cool, I didn't even know there was a sequel to WarWizard :) Thanks for bringing this up!

[Brodie_Bumshine]

Just to make sure, it's not WarWizard 2, is it? Here (http://www.freewebs.com/braddemowebsite/WarWizard2.jpg)'s the only screenshot that can be found for it on the net, but you can download a demo version here (http://web.archive.org/web/20070203044229/http://www.bradmcquaid.com/WarWizard.htm) (scroll down a bit) to check if it's not what you're looking for.
Best open the second link on something other than Firefox, it doesn't display entirely correct in it.

Sadly, no, but that game DOES look awesome. Thank you!