OHRRPGCE Top 15 - 2013

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Willy Elektrix
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Post by Willy Elektrix »

To do this right, I would really need to play all of the awesome games I never have. For instance, I've been meaning to try Tales of the New World I and Vampire's Curse or years. However, I don't have time to seriously dig into those games in the next week.

#1 Spellshard: The Black Crown of Horgoth) An epic game with lots of awesome ideas. Uses the battle engine in clever ways and provides a satisfying challenge. Having a customizable party was a huge plus!

#2 Darkmoor Dungeon) Hard but fair. Stretches the OHRRPGCE battle engine to its limits.

#3 DUNGEONMEN: Men of Dungeons) Designed by the same people who made Spellshard, I like this game for many of the same reasons. Unfortunately, it was not nearly as balanced and polished. However, having abilities that can be used out of combat was very cool.

#4 Bloodlust) While I didn't actually enjoy playing this game that much. I admire the style and design greatly.

#5 Star Quest) A deeply flawed game by full of enthusiasm. I have borrowed lots of ideas from this for my own games.

#6 Maze of the Red Mage) Well scripted with simple but rewarding game play. However, its difficult to say whether Mogri deserves that praise, or the designer of the original board game. Regardless, I had a blast playing this.

#7 Missing) Great premise and presentation.

#8 Slime Wars) A marvel of scripting and game design. If only it weren't impossibly hard.

#9 Walthros) Balanced game play in an original setting with lots of style.

#10 Crystal Chasers) Challenging exercise in battling, party building, and puzzle solving.

#11 Purgatory) An old game but the atmosphere is engrossing and the design is full of imagination and manipulates the engine in clever ways.

#12 Tim-Tim the Mighty Gnome) Platformers aren't my thing, but this one is fun and well-balanced.

#13 Village People the Video Game) I like this for many of the same reasons I like Walthros. However, it is sadly incomplete.

#14 Tightfloss Maiden) I love games about exploring and this provides a very compelling world to explore. Would be rated higher if it were complete.

#15 Okedoke! La Leyenda Mexicana) I love the world and style of this game. This would get much higher marks if it were complete.

Honorable Mention: Ortega Colonies) This almost made the list, and I'm still not sure I made the right decision by leaving it off.
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Post by Meatballsub »

Thanks for the votes good sir!
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Post by Gizmog »

1. Motrya - JSH357

There's not a lot of OHR games like this. I'm a big fan of the streamlined, no grinding approach that JSH took and an even bigger fan of the "Save after every battle, every battle is IMPORTANT" feeling. There's no "heroes" bumbling around for 4 hours beating up rats and roaches in this game. If I wanted to do that slime, I'd move to Florida. It's a shame that it'll never be finished, but the best OHR Games were always demos anyway.

2. Spellshard: The Black Crown of Horgoth - Shizuma and Harlock

I was in love with this game when it first came out years ago. There was a contest to find secrets in it, the graphics were so sliming amazing and the battles so ball-grindingly tough. I'd never played the NES era Final Fantasies so this kind of nut-punching was new and amazing to me. Probably the longest OHR game, probably the most complete. There's a few parts that are absolute hell which bring it down a peg, but it's still an amazing game that you should try.


3. Dragon Bustier - Shizuma

I think this was his entry to the 2010 8-Bit contest. It has all of the cool things about Spellshard, only in a much smaller package that's easier to swallow. You've got secret characters, traps, Shiz's always great portraits and heroes. A perfect OHR Game.

4. Trailblazers - RetroGamer

Unbelievable accomplishment for its era, for any era. Three selectable characters, bitchin sense of style and great retro platformer action! Has a reputation for being glitchy, but I think it runs smoother today than it did back then. Inspirational and fun!

5. Dungeonmen: Men of Dungeons - Harlock and Shizuma

Little bit more modern looking, but still an expertly crafted, consistent art style. Maybe harder than Spellshard. Maybe too hard. Not unbeatably hard, but so hard that you wonder if it's worth it. There's a million lessons in presentation that a person can learn from this, very nicely polished. Also a couple of things not to do, but I'm told they're being fixed!

6. OHR House - JSH357

Not even sure if I'm allowed to vote on this where it was a movie, but whatever! This was one of the very few community projects that I remember getting any actual attention, with people actually bothering to vote and being at least mildly interested in the outcome. The sequels were just as good (Except for the episodes I wrote in season two. Sorry!) but didn't draw the same level of viewer participation. I've always had a soft spot for JSH's brand of humor and there's no purer expression of it than OHR House.

7. Santa Claus Vs. The Heroists - Santa Claus

For some stupid reason, I either never played this game when it first came out or forgot about it and only rediscovered it on a lark a week or two ago from CP's random game feature. Some of the jokes are a little dated without heroists running around and I'm sure some people will be apalled to see a cameo from Habla No Ingles, but slime all that there's a GREAT action-RPG kind of system going on here that knocked me off my chair. Sorry to be saying it so late, but thanks Santa. It was a hell of a Christmas present.

8. I Made Dis: Director's Cut - RollingStone

In my opinion, the greatest "joke game" of all time and a major influence on my own career, however badly I might've learned from it. The Elvis animation at the end was pretty mindblowing for the time, and the Crocodile Dundee deleted scene was a long-running gag before it was finally realized in the Director's Cut. Maybe not everyone's bag, but I can't play it without smiling and I haven't forgotten it after all these years so slime you it's on my list.

9. Escape The Wolf OHR - James Paige

A Ludum Dare/48 Hours entry and one of the games I never got around to reviewing for my series of 2011 Reviews. It's not the most complex game in the world, but it's fun for an hour or two and does everything it set out to do. Looks nice and you can't beat James's dum-da-dumming of the music.

10. Village People: The Video Game

Gonna admit, I don't remember a lot of specifics on this one. But the concept is insane, the game is good and the dialogue is funny. It would've been really easy to phone it in and let the idea do all the hard
work, but The Wobbler's really done a good job of polishing and making it a good game on its own terms.

11. Thanksgiving Quest - JSH357

Another one that might not be for everyone. Drew Carey's ancestor and Hitler try to fight a vengeful sandwich God. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure I ever beat this to know what else happens. But even after all these years, I remember the unique set up of Drew Carey being the dedicated healer and Hitler the dedicated offense. JSH has always been good at things like that and this had enough humor to get me to look at it and remember.


----------------

I realize I said I was gonna try to replay everything and get it right this time, but slime that noise. These are the games I remember, as I remember them. If I really liked 'em at the time and don't even remember them now, I'm sure there's a reason for that. A lot of the games on my list had good graphics, so a note to all designers out there, if your game is fun to look at people are gonna remember it easier!

I'm sure there's a few I'm forgetting and if they come to me I'll be sure to post a PS: later.

Don't overthink this, guys! Don't give a slime about what anyone else is going to think. Surely you can remember some games you've really, really liked over the years. Trust your memory and vote for them!
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Post by JSH357 »

Well, I caved and decided to do what Giz is doing. Since it has been so long since I played any OHR Games, I feel like I've got the benefit of really only picking the games that stand out big time to me. There are some good ones I'm not mentioning, but these are the most memorable to me. I found myself wanting to include a lot of my own games, but that's understandably not very fair. Here are 15 that I like and remember well.

1. Sword of Jade: Parallel Dreams - The fact that this has been glossed over in every other public vote amazes me. I'll be public in the fact that I had my problems with Fyrewulff back in the day and I'm not in to the furry aesthetic and I did think this game was pretentious, but that doesn't change the fact that it is a full-length, very complete game with an incredible amount of love and dedication put in. The story is carefully crafted, the world is well-conceived, the game is over 20 hours long, and the gameplay has neat ideas that seamlessly use scripting to improve the experience. The battles aren't my favorite (I personally think I have outdone them in Motrya and a few other OHR Games have done better) but everything in SOJ is so on the money I have no problem saying it's the best complete OHR game.

2. Spellshard: The Black Crown of Horgoth - The ancient NES RPG isn't my genre, but again there's no denying the craftsmanship of this game. It gives you engaging choices and has well-designed dungeons. The graphics are basically perfect, too. How many OHR games can claim that?

3. Final Dragon Legacy - As far as Dragon Quest rip-offs go, this is generally the best on the engine. It's fun, not too hard, not too easy, and captures the feel of DQ excellently. A shame it was never finished.

4. ARFENHOUSE!!!1#!!!1 - There's been so much backlash and negativity about this game over the years that people forget why it was popular at the time. I found it hilarious then and I still chuckle about so many parts of it now. I REMEMBER the ridiculous characters from this thing. The game had a stupid amount of work put in to it for what was essentially a big joke, and it all comes together as an overblown post-modern pastiche of a Playstation Final Fantasy game. This is one of the only OHR games I showed to people in real life and they liked.

5. Walthros - While I think it has not aged gracefully, this game shows that you don't need great graphics or really stellar gameplay to make an engaging RPG. Sometimes you just have to put in the work and make something that's fun to get through. The game has a big world, an ensemble cast, and approaches some relatively dark subject matter with a tone that doesn't get distracted by the fact that it's inhabited by floating fish and seals that don't look like either of those things.

6. Transylvania Girls - An incredibly stylish dating sim that is both poking fun at and trying to improve on the Sim Girl formula. It's well-written, really funny, and pretty fun to play if you're in to this kind of game.

7. All the games (Barnabus) - I remember that day of seeing these games being released one by one like it was yesterday. Each of them is short, silly, but has some interesting quality to it that keeps it from feeling like a waste of time. It's like a Guided By Voices album in game format. The finale, Friends, is a hilarious OHR House parody that really warmed my heart at the time: It was the only OHR House clone that made me feel that way out of the many released over the years. I still think Barnabus has yet to release a bad game. Whoever he is.

8. Sleepover - Charbile's half silly half horrifying piece of art remains memorable. There's a huge amount of subtext here about OHR development. Two custom battle systems implemented like it was nothing. Crazy slice effects that I still don't know how to replicate. An excellent soundtrack to set the mood. All of it's held together by Charbile's trollish humor, which isn't for everyone, but I've come to appreciate over the years.

9. Walthrus: Return of the Crystals - This is a parody of a game by its creator, was a big inspiration for my game, Duck, and I still think it was pretty funny. I love that it has so much respect for its source material but rips it alive the way only a creator can at the same time.

10. Wilthawiya - So it's a one-note joke, but it's just so surreal and hilarious that I haven't forgotten about it and it was one of the first games I thought of for the list here. I love the owl, I love the joke, I even love the silly walkabouts.

11. SLIMES! - The best puzzle game on the OHR. It's well-scripted and I could see it doing well outside of the community, which I cannot say for most of the games on this list.

12. Wandering Hamster - The engine seems tailor-made for this game, and you can tell when playing it. James Paige uses his features well. Somehow, just showing off what they do simply without pushing them too hard makes Wandering Hamster an enjoyable "demo" game. It helps that the humor is fresh without being offensive in any way and the graphics are good enough to look nice. We've all played it and we all know it's good.

13. Super Concentration Headache Master Pro - A fun trivia game that works out despite having a really dumb premise. There's nothing challenging about the questions; it's just hard to see what you're doing with all the distractions. The thing I like is that it's so simply and masterfully executed and doesn't try to do something it shouldn't.

14. Tetris (shakeyair) - It's incredibly strange that perhaps the most beautiful game on the engine is a Tetris clone. This runs smoothly, looks gorgeous and it's freaking Tetris so what are you complaining about.

15. Don't Push the Button - One of the first OHR games that I laughed out loud at. It's so very, very dumb but also very creative. It's like a Wario Ware game before that even existed. Giz made a lot of those back in the day, but this is the classic I remember most.
My website, the home of Motrya:
http://www.jshgaming.com
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Post by Meatballsub »

Thanks guys.
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Post by Mogri »

Willy Elektrix wrote:#6 Maze of the Red Mage) Well scripted with simple but rewarding game play. However, its difficult to say whether Mogri deserves that praise, or the designer of the original board game. Regardless, I had a blast playing this.
While the core gameplay and mechanics are similar, my edition diverges from the original in several respects. First is that, thanks to the magic of Computation, the maze is procedurally generated and therefore guaranteed to be possible. Second is that the monsters are mostly distinct and combat is less absolute. Third, to balance around combat taking longer, I doubled the time limit and made movement take two ticks. There's also an additional class or two (notably the Oracle).

That's off the top of my head. The actual rules to the original game can be found in a link on the game page, but to answer your not-a-question, I'd like to think it's a little of both.
JSH357 wrote:I still think Barnabus has yet to release a bad game. Whoever he is.
I believe that when we are worthy of him, he will return.
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Mogri
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Post by Mogri »

Anyway, what the heck... I should probably vote, too. This is a short list that I may expand but probably won't.


5) Escape from Darkavern! by Twinconclusive
I hate you guys for making me think he came back. This includes those of you who didn't make me think he came back.

4) Dreg Sector: The Tract by Willy Elektrix
This is as much a vote for Willy Elektrix as an author as anything. Willy's output has been consistently strange and wonderful. Not content with mere fantasy, his games span time and space.

3) Village People The Videogame by The Wobbler
This is sort of an author vote, too. I wish Paul had the patience to stick to one game (ha ha look who's talking), because it would be the best game.

2) Sword of Jade by Charbile and Fyrewulff
Years later, this is still the most complete and professional effort I've seen out of the engine.

1) DUNGEONMEN: Men of Dungeons by Harlock and Shizuma
I sat down to play this, and I kept playing. DUNGEONMEN is not without issues (it actually has a lot of them), but it's one of the most engaging RPGs I've played in the past couple of years and the pervasive aesthetic is an oldschool D&D romp, which is totally sweet.
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Willy Elektrix
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Post by Willy Elektrix »

Mogri wrote:While the core gameplay and mechanics are similar, my edition diverges from the original in several respects. First is that, thanks to the magic of Computation, the maze is procedurally generated and therefore guaranteed to be possible. Second is that the monsters are mostly distinct and combat is less absolute. Third, to balance around combat taking longer, I doubled the time limit and made movement take two ticks. There's also an additional class or two (notably the Oracle).
Very informative. I take back what I said then. You are the man. Maze of the Red Mage is awesome.
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Post by Meatballsub »

Last week to vote people! If you haven't voted yet and would like to, be sure to get them in by the end of the month.
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Post by TMC »

I'm an awful person, because I chose my list weeks ago but didn't post it as I wanted to write more comments. Oh well just read what JSH said; I'm in surprisingly close agreement with his opinions.

1. Sword of Jade
The re-release with sound effects and new music should be great.
2. Adventures of Powerstick Man
The most amazingly detailed OHR game. The amount of variation and detail in the graphics later in the game is also very nice. Yeah there's an awful lot of text but that means there's a lot of story, which is what I like in an RPG.
3. Motrya
4. Walthros
I think this was the first long RPG that I played (including not just OHR games). I feel so very very bad that I didn't complete the game once the full version was released. Maybe some day.
5. Wandering Hamster
6. Okedoke
7. Tightfloss Maiden
Best atmosphere. Sadly too short.
8. Sleepover
This is a piece of art. This game had an effect on me not quite like any other computer game ever has. Read what JSH wrote about it in his list. Oh I see he called it a piece of art too.
9. Monterey Penguin
It broke my heart when I read a very negative retrospective in HamsterSpeak by PHC of Monterey Penguin stating it "has aged horribly". With a review like that I can't risk replaying and ruining my fond memories. Then recently MBS wrote a glowing review of Monterey Pengiun for The Hamster Wheel with the complete opposite conclusion. The truth is probably somewhere in-between, but it's enough to restore my opinion of this game.
10. Boundless Ocean
I'm not rating this higher because I didn't play far, but it looked darn good so far.
11. Thanksgiving Quest
A lot of fun. What's sad is that I probably wouldn't get half the in-jokes anymore due to having forgotten too much.
12. City of Dreams
I find RPGs with no NPCs very lonely. This game is so good at being eerie that it's the reason I didn't rank it higher. Sadly I didn't finish it: the puzzles are hard!
13. Slimes!
14. Do You Want To Be A Hero
The Wizard's Bomb also deserves to be recommended wherever DYWTBAH is. Really a dual vote.
15. My Little Gahn
The sequel to Sleepover. It would be as good but it doesn't achieve the same level of self-reference. I've played through both of them multiple times, something I can say about very few other games.

A few of the almost-made-its:
The Wizard's Bomb, Horse Game, Dreg Sector: The Tract, Bell of Chaos, Look, But Don't Touch

EDIT: Whoops, forgot Okedoke
Last edited by TMC on Sun Sep 01, 2013 9:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Meatballsub »

A final reminder that the deadline for voting is tomorrow, August 31. If you are still interested in voting, now is the time to submit. Don't wait!
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Post by Pepsi Ranger »

Going off of my fickle memory this time:

1. Spellshard: The Black Crown of Horgoth
2. DUNGEONMEN: Men of Dungeons
3. Okedoke! La Leyenda Mexicana
4. Wandering Hamster
5. Walthros
6. The K'hyurbhi Lands
7. OHR House: Heroes
8. Legendary Heroes
9. Village People: The Video Game
10. Slimes!
11. Mr. Triangle's Maze
12. Vikings of Midgard
13. Castle on the Night Land
14. Surlaw: Armageddon
15. Super Penguin Chef

No real explanation for these. I just think they're all pretty great. There are plenty I've left off this list, but these are the ones that stand out in my opinion that are relatively new since the last Top 15.
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Post by Fenrir-Lunaris »

01. Sword of Jade
02. Boundless Ocean
03. OHR House Heroes
04. Slimes!
05. My Little Gahn
06. Walthrus
07. Wandering Hamster
08. Spellshard
09. OHR House 2
10. Horse Game
11. All The Games
12. Tim-Tim the Mighty Gnome
13. Halloween Quest
14. Don't Eat Soap
15. Transylvania Girls
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Bird
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Post by Bird »

Does anyone remember, which game won this voting six years ago?
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Post by TMC »

I'd like to know too. The results were posted on The Hamster Wheel but that site is gone and the results weren't captured by archive.org. This is as close as you can get to them.

I sent MBS a PM (don't have an email address), but he's told me before that he has no backup of THW. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://ha ... om/*">What archive.org has</a>.

Also, here's an excellent thread of links to previous polls: https://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5885
Would be nice to have that on the wiki; the wiki page is very poor.
Last edited by TMC on Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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