Replay: The History of Video Games (68 page)

The trendsetting
Dungeon Master
(1987, FTL, Atari ST, USA) took the genre into real-time and won over many who had previously been put off by the lack of action in RPGs. Provided the blueprint for:

• Eye of the Beholder
  (1990, SSI, Westwood Associates, PC: MS-DOS, USA): Official
  Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
  tie-in that outshined its inspiration.
  
• Captive
  (1990, Mindscape, Anthony Crowther, Amiga, UK): Sci-fi
  Dungeon Master
  with thousands of levels. Its 3D sequel, set in a large virtual city, was even better:
  Liberation: Captive 2
  (1994, Mindscape, Anthony Crowther, CD32, UK).
  
• Ishar: Legend of the Fortress
  (1992, Silmarils, Atari ST, France): Made managing the personalities and relationships of your band of adventurers central to the game. Also attempted to dissuade players from saving too often by deducting gold for each save.
  

From the late 1990s onwards, three companies dominated western RPGs: Interplay, BioWare and Bethesda Softworks.

Interplay’s late 1990s output marked a high point for RPG storytelling:

• Baldur’s Gate
  (1998, Interplay, BioWare, PC: Windows, Canada): Fantasy RPG writing at its very best.
  
• Planescape: Torment
  (1999, Interplay, Black Isle Studios, PC: Windows, USA): A quest of self-discovery that ripped up the RPG rulebook. Deep, unique and often funny.
  
• Fallout
  (1997, Interplay, Black Isle Studios, PC: Windows, USA) and
  Fallout 2
  (1998, Interplay, Black Isle Studios, PC: Windows, USA): An uncompromisingly bleak journey into the horrors of a post-nuclear war world. Its mix of retro-technology and 1950s Americana was sheer genius.
  

After
Baldur’s Gate
, BioWare went on to make:

• Neverwinter Nights
  (2002, Atari Interactive, BioWare, PC: Windows, Canada): The inclusion of the Aurora Toolset turned it into a RPG construction kit.
  
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
  (2003, LucasArts, BioWare, Xbox, Canada): BioWare begins its investigation of branching plotlines, moral grey zones and action that it continued in:
  
• Mass Effect
  (2007, Microsoft Game Studios, BioWare, Xbox 360, Canada): Ambitious space opera.
  
• Mass Effect 2
  (2010, Electronic Arts, BioWare, Xbox 360, Canada): Ironed out the flaws of the original to deliver an arresting sci-fi adventure that was as intimate and subtle as it was action-packed and epic.
  

While BioWare focused on player-driven stories, Bethesda sought to create RPGs that were as open as possible:

• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
  (2006, 2K Games, Bethesda Softworks, Xbox 360, USA): An astonishingly big and diverse fantasy world.
  
• Fallout 3
  (2008, Bethesda Softworks, Xbox 360, USA): The scene-setting intro within the confines of the Vault 101 nuclear bunker gives little indication of the vast and harrowing journey amid the ruins of Washington D.C. that follows. Also try the ethical quandaries of the expansion:
  Fallout 3: The Pitt
  (2009, Bethesda Softworks, Xbox 360, USA).
  

Finally,
Fable II
(2008, Microsoft Game Studios, Lionhead Studios, Xbox 360, UK). While the first game in the series,
Fable
(2004, Microsoft Game Studios, Lionhead Studios & Big Blue Box, Xbox, UK), was an audacious statement of intent, the sequel’s balletic combat, willingness to reject RPG cliché and commitment to letting players be the hero they want to be is a very strong contender for being the best game to have Peter Molyneux’s name attached to it.

Japanese role-playing games

After being introduced to the concept by
Ultima
,
Wizardry
and
The Black Onyx
(1984, Bullet-Proof, Henk Rogers, NEC PC-8801, USA & Japan), Japan reinterpreted the whole genre, starting with:

• Dragon Quest / Dragon Warrior
  (1986, Enix, Chunsoft, NES, Japan): Its manga-influenced art, scene-setting soundtrack, random encounters with enemies, emphasis on narrative and simple controls provided the blueprint for almost every subsequent role-playing game made in Japan.
  Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
  (2006, Square Enix, Level-5, PlayStation 2, Japan) is as good an introduction to the series as any.
  

The first wave of Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs from now on):

• Phantasy Star
  (1987, Sega, Yuji Naka, Master System, Japan): The start of Sega’s fantasy sci-fi fusion series. Best starting point:
  Phantasy Star II
  (1989, Sega, Yuji Naka, Megadrive, Japan).
  
• Final Fantasy
  (1987, Square, Hironobu Sakaguchi, NES, Japan): Darker and more sombre than
  Dragon Ques
  t. Series highlights:
  Final Fantasy VI
  (1994, Square, Super NES, Japan): The series 2D peak, which took place within an eye-catching world inspired by the Industrial Revolution;
  Final Fantasy VII
  (1997, Square, PlayStation, Japan) and
  Final Fantasy VIII
  (1999, Square, PlayStation, Japan): Took the series to international adoration with delightful cinematography, melodramatic plots and memorable characters;
  Final Fantasy XII
  (2006, Square Enix, PlayStation 2, Japan): Five years in the making and worth the wait.
  
• Mother
  (1989, Nintendo, Shigesato Itoi, NES, Japan): World-saving adventure set in 1980s small-town America that mixes humour with an underlying theme of childhood abandonment. The excellent sequel
  Earthbound
  (1994, Nintendo, Ape Inc, Super NES, Japan) made it out of Japan.
  

Shigeru Miyamoto’s
Zelda
series skilfully captured the essence of the RPG within the template of an action game:

• The Legend of Zelda
  (1986, Nintendo, NES, Japan): Mind-blowingly open-ended for its time.
  
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  (1991, Nintendo, Super NES, Japan): For many the best of the series. Timeless.
  
• The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
  (1998, Nintendo, Game Boy Color, Japan): Portable
  Zelda
  and no weaker for that.
  
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
  (1998, Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Japan): The series’ makes the jump into 3D and loses none of its magic.
  
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
  (2000, Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Japan): Eiji Aonuma takes the helm from Miyamoto and delivers the darkest game in the series: a 72-hour scramble to save the world from impending destruction.
  
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
  (2002, Nintendo, Gamecube, Japan): Refreshingly bright cartoon looks. Same
  Zelda
  brilliance.
  

Post-first wave JRPG highlights:

• Secret of Mana
  (1993, Square, Super NES, Japan): Sterling
  Zelda
  -esque action game that evolved out of the
  Final Fantasy
  series
  
• Chrono Trigger
  (1995, Square, Super NES, Japan): A masterpiece created by a ‘super group’ team that combined the talents of the then-separate Square and Enix.
  
• Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
  (1996, Nintendo, Square, Super NES, Japan): Nintendo’s mascot gets the JRPG treatment
  
• Kingdom Hearts
  (2002, Square, PlayStation 2, Japan): Strange but compelling collision between the characters of Walt Disney and
  Final Fantasy
  .
  
• Xenogears
  (1998, Square, PlayStation, Japan): Philosophical and intricate JRPG that dwells on the nature of religion. Following in its footsteps:
  Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
  (2002, Namco, Monolith Soft, PlayStation 2, Japan).
  
• Skies of Arcadia
  (2000, Sega, Overworks, Dreamcast, Japan): Dreamy airship pirate adventure.
  
• Monster Hunter Freedom
  (2005, Capcom, PSP, Japan): Monster safari RPG that comes to life when played with other PSP owners.
  

The most popular JRPG series of all by a long, long way is the cute character cockfighting of
Pokémon
:

• Pokémon Green and Pokémon Red
  (1996, Nintendo, Game Freak, Game Boy, Japan): Where the collect ‘em all craze began.
  
• Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver
  (1999, Nintendo, Game Freak, Game Boy Color, Japan): Added pokémon breeding to the already beguiling mix.
  
• Hey You, Pikachu!
  (1998, Nintendo, Ambrella, Nintendo 64, Japan): Surreal voice recognition game for kids, where you befriend Pikachu.
  
• My Pokémon Ranch
  (2008, Nintendo, Ambrella, Wii, Japan): Import pokémon from the Nintendo DS editions of the game into a virtual ranch run by your Mii.
  

JRPGs also led to the rise of strategy role-playing games, turn-based games that mix the traits of the genre with tactical planning. Kicking off the sub-genre was
Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryu to Hikari no Tsurugi
(1990, Nintendo, Intelligent Systems, NES, Japan), which was later remade as
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
(2008, Nintendo, Intelligent Systems, Nintendo DS, Japan). Strategy RPG highlights:
Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together
(1995, Quest, Super NES, Japan);
Final Fantasy Tactics
(1997, Square, PlayStation, Japan); the musical theatre-influenced
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
(1998, Nippon Ichi Software, PlayStation, Japan); and the deep-but-light-hearted
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness
(2003, Nippon Ichi Software, Otwo, PSP, Japan).

Massively multiplayer online games

Revisiting the history of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games is inherently problematic; not just because of changing technologies, but also because they are as much defined by the people playing them at a single point in time as the design of the game itself. Consequently the heyday of many of the titles that follow here are long over.

The MUDs:

• MUD
  (1980, Richard Bartle & Roy Trubshaw, PDP-10, UK): The starting point for almost everything that followed.
  
• AberMUD
  (1989, Alan Cox, Richard Acott, Jim Finnis & Leon Thrane, Unix, UK): Spread MUDs far and wide with its combat emphasis.
  
• TinyMUD
  (1989, James Aspnes, Unix, USA): Pushed socialising to the fore.
  
• LambdaMOO
  (1990, Pavel Curtis, Unix, USA): Divorced from combat and all about player interaction and creativity.
  
• DikuMUD
  (1991, Sebastian Hammer, Michael Seifert, Hans Henrik Staerfeldt, Tom Madsen & Katja Nyboe, Unix, Denmark): The basis of most big name commercial massively multiplayer role-playing games.
  
• Jurassic Park
  (1994, Samjung Data Service, PC: MS-DOS, South Korea): The seed that grew into South Korea’s influential game industry.