scotland wrote:Tower of Doom - that'll work! I'm not the biggest Inty fan, but the system is growing on me over time. I really like the AD&D / Cloudy Mountain game and I have toyed about with Tower of Doom. Graphically, its quite a game for the Intellivision. Looks like The Critic gave it a B+. I may have to go back and try it again this weekend.
Cloudy Mountain is great, though (as I'm sure you'll agree) it's not an RPG even if it's sometimes characterized as one. Wonderful game, though.
Tower of Doom is a true roguelike with a serious learning curve, but once you get on its wavelength, it's beyond anything else on consoles from its era. I first played it at a friend's house during the NES era, and was totally astonished at what I was seeing -- a true, computer-grade RPG, the kind I used to read about as a kid (but couldn't play since we couldn't afford a serious computer), on a console I had no idea could pull something like that off.
scotland wrote:The OP wasn't specific about why someone doesn't like RPGs, that's why I also brought up rogue-likes as an 'entry drug' to RPGs.
Oh, I completely agree -- I think roguelikes are a great idea for this, as they cut out all the emo, plot devices, etc. of JRPGs and strip the game down to its leanest essentials.
BTW if you haven't played Dungeons of Daggorath you really should check it out (a PC port is available so you don't need to deal with emulators). On a technical level, it's an absolutely incredible feat -- a real-time, wireframe, first-person 3D RPG from 1982, on a low-end computer without hardware sprite support or a soundchip. More to the point, it's one of the most terrifying, stressful, intense games I've ever played, and an absolute masterpiece.