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Update 29 - The expanded edition is released!

crpgbook.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/header3.jpg

The CRPG Book Expanded Edition brings 152 pages extra pages, 56 new game reviews, several new articles, a lot of revised content and a glorious cover art gallery! The total: 680 pages!

You can freely download it here: DOWNLOAD THE CRPG BOOK PDF
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mannefriedrich:
Cheers for the update, that's quite a bit of new content added to this expanded revision indeed.
Probably going to pick up the hardcover of this revised edition, too.

Also good to see that, in the 4 years between the 1st and this 2nd edition quite a few of the reviewed/listed CRPGs have been released on GOG as well, with hopefully more to be ticked off in the years to come.
Post edited February 08, 2022 by Yigdboz
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mannefriedrich: Update 29 - The expanded edition is released!

crpgbook.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/header3.jpg

The CRPG Book Expanded Edition brings 152 pages extra pages, 56 new game reviews, several new articles, a lot of revised content and a glorious cover art gallery! The total: 680 pages!

You can freely download it here: DOWNLOAD THE CRPG BOOK PDF
...
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Yigdboz: Cheers for the update, that's quite a bit of new content added to this expanded revision indeed.
Probably going to pick up the hardcover of this revised edition, too.

Also good to see that, in the 4 years between the 1st and this 2nd edition quite a few of the reviewed/listed CRPGs have been released on GOG as well, with hopefully more to be ticked off in the years to come.
Amen to that.
Awesome new version of my all time favorite book. I like it so much that I'm actually going to buy the new physical version from Bitmap when it's ready, and just sell my first edition for cheap on Gumtree.
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mannefriedrich:
Thanks for the heads up. Was waiting for the update, so maybe time to get around to reading this too.
Doubt it's going to happen, let alone possible unless Bitmap Books still has the records, but a discount for owners of the original edition would be nice.

The expanded obscurities section with cRPGs from European countries with lesser known and less established scenes is a great addition in particular, although a bit brief.
Update 30 – The expanded hardcover print is out!

crpgbook.files.wordpress.com/2023/08/bitmap_books_crpg-book_site.jpg

You can now order the Expanded Edition of the CRPG Book over at Bitmap Books!

This Expanded Edition brings 156 pages extra pages, 65 new game reviews, several new articles, a lot of revised content and a glorious cover art gallery! And it goes beyond the usual CRPG canon, exploring more French, Korean & Chinese-only, RPG Maker, Flash and online RPGs!

Thanks to Bitmap Books, this release was fully proofread by a professional, as typos were one of the biggest issues in the 1st edition.

Of course, the CRPG Book is a non-profit project, so once again 100% of the author’s revenue will be donated to Vocação, a Brazilian NGO that helps kids and teenagers from poor areas to get a better education and find employment. The 1st edition raised £22,845, hopefully this one does even better!

FYI, the proofread text is not on the free PDF yet, I’ll update it soon, together with fixing an issue with high-contrast mode colors and hopefully doing an EPUB version. I will post here once the PDF is updated.

Until then, thanks again to everyone who supported the project!
crpgbook.wordpress.com/2023/08/15/update-30-the-expanded-hardcover-print-is-out
No discount, as expected.

Might pull the trigger anyway if there's enough left from the slave wage by the end of the month and it's still available then.
high rated
Update 31 - The Last Update

crpgbook.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/anito.jpg

It has now been two months since the Expanded Edition of the CRPG Book was published by Bitmap Books, and I’m very happy to share that we made £8,754 since, bringing us to a total of £31.599 raised for charity. A huge thanks to everyone who supported the project!

I also finally finished updating the PDF to include the proofread text, and made some changes for it to work better as an ebook: DOWNLOAD THE LATEST VERSION HERE

▪ The font colour was changed, so that accessibility / high-contrast mode works now (I had no idea this would cause issues, sorry);
▪ Clicking on the table of contents or the cover art gallery now takes you to the review page;
▪ A few games had screenshots in the wrong aspect ratio or with the wrong scaling applied, they’re now fixed.
▪ Some screenshots had been converted to CMYK, I restored all of them to the RGB originals, so colours are much more accurate:

crpgbook.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/cmyk.png

There are some small content changes too: due to new findings, I’ve re-written part of the PLATO RPG section, Nox & Anito: Defend a Land Enraged were added to the book, and I changed the layout of the non-English RPGs page to squeeze in ناناولهپ صرع / Age of Pahlevans and Свод Равновесия: Бельтион / Beltion: Beyond Ritual.

crpgbook.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/beltion.jpg

To be clear, this is 99% the same as the hardcover version that was released by Bitmap Books in August. Please understand that we will not make a new print of the hardcover version just to add these changes.

Finally, this is the last big update to the CRPG Book. Yes, we could always add more games, as well as post-2019 games. But the book is already way too big, and the goal was to make a curated overlook, not a full catalogue or a collection of modern reviews. I’m happy to stop here.

I want to focus on personal stuff now, maybe finally get my “Online RPGs / MMOs / MUDs around the world” project going. But that will take years, don’t expect anything soon.

Thanks again to everyone who supported the project – it’s crazy to think it all began with a Best RPGs list, almost 10 years ago...
crpgbook.wordpress.com/2023/10/23/update-31-the-last-update
Cool that he managed to finish the project.
Btw weird, the last version is ~60Mb smaller in size, compared to the previous one.
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phaolo: Cool that he managed to finish the project.
Btw weird, the last version is ~60Mb smaller in size, compared to the previous one.
Better image compression maybe?
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phaolo: Cool that he managed to finish the project.
Btw weird, the last version is ~60Mb smaller in size, compared to the previous one.
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Cavalary: Better image compression maybe?
Maybe, even if that can also mean lower quality.
But I checked a few random images and they seemed worse in the old version.
So, hopefully there's no issue.
Since the cRPG Book (alongside the 2nd edition of Matt Barton's Dungeons and Desktops as well as the CRPG Addict) is credited as one of the main contributors in helping to put it together:
RPGs have come a long way... and people still can't even seem to agree on a definition.

0:00 - Introduction
1:38 - Origins and definitions
12:21 - But what was the first RPG?
28:53 - The golden 80's
49:25 - The JRPG
57:57 - The turbulent 90's
1:35:17 - The C stands for console now 00's
2:04:29 - 2010's A-side
2:20:48 - 2010's B-side
2:33:07 - RPGs today
The Entire History of RPGs
Post edited March 10, 2024 by mannefriedrich
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mannefriedrich: Since the cRPG Book (alongside the 2nd edition of Matt Barton's Dungeons and Desktops as well as the CRPG Addict) is credited as one of the main contributors in helping to put it together:

RPGs have come a long way... and people still can't even seem to agree on a definition.

0:00 - Introduction
1:38 - Origins and definitions
12:21 - But what was the first RPG?
28:53 - The golden 80's
49:25 - The JRPG
57:57 - The turbulent 90's
1:35:17 - The C stands for console now 00's
2:04:29 - 2010's A-side
2:20:48 - 2010's B-side
2:33:07 - RPGs today
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mannefriedrich: The Entire History of RPGs
For an abridged video version of the book - which it essentially is indeed - this turned out quite decent, thanks for sharing.
The RPG Codex's Top 70 PC RPGs (And Some Hidden Gems)

It's that time again! In 2019 the RPG Codex voted to determine the Top 101 PC RPGs of all time. 5 years have passed, and many new RPGs have been released, so it was time to update the list. This list covers over 40 years of RPG history, and includes a variety of sub-genres, so it's got something to piss off everybody!

We used a slightly different format this time around. In addition to the Top RPGs list, we compiled a list of hidden gems, so that (hopefully) even seasoned RPG veterans may find something new and interesting. The voting thread can be found here. Thank you to all who voted and submitted reviews. Now, on to the list!

#1 - Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game (Interplay, 1997)
#2 - Planescape: Torment (Black Isle Studios, 1999)
#3 - Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (Troika Games, 2001)
#4 - Deus Ex (Ion Storm, 2000)
#5 - Fallout 2 (Black Isle Studios, 1998)
#6 - Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (Troika Games, 2004)
#7 - Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (BioWare, 2000)
#8 - The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Bethesda Softworks, 2002)
#9 - Baldur's Gate (BioWare, 1998)
#10 - Fallout: New Vegas (Obsidian Entertainment, 2010)
#11 - Gothic II (Piranha Bytes, 2002)
#12 - Underrail (Stygian Software, 2015)
#13 - Gothic (Piranha Bytes, 2001)
#14 - Jagged Alliance 2 (Sir-Tech, 1999)
#15 - The Age of Decadence (Iron Tower Studios, 2015)
#16 - Kingdom Come: Deliverance (Warhorse Studios, 2018)
#17 - Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (Blue Sky Productions, 1992)
#18 - Wizardry 8 (Sir-Tech Canada, 2001)
#19 - Disco Elysium (ZA/UM, 2019)
#20 - Icewind Dale (Black Isle Studios, 2000)
#21 - Dark Souls (FromSoftware, 2011)
#22 - The Temple of Elemental Evil (Troika Games, 2003)
#23 - The Witcher (CD Projekt Red, 2007)
#24 - Pathfinder: Kingmaker (Owlcat Games, 2018)
#25 - The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red, 2015)
#26 - Neverwinter Nights 2 (Obsidian Entertainment, 2006)
#27 - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords (Obsidian Entertainment, 2004)
#28 - Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (Sir-Tech, 1992)
#29 - The Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos (The Chronicles of Myrtana Team, 2021)
#30 - System Shock 2 (Irrational Games / Looking Glass Studios, 1999)
#31 - Dark Sun: Shattered Lands (Strategic Simulations Inc., 1993)
#32 - Knights of the Chalice (Heroic Fantasy Games, 2009)
#33 - Knights of the Chalice 2 (Heroic Fantasy Games, 2022)
#34 - Baldur's Gate III (Larian Studios, 2023)
#35 - Betrayal at Krondor (Dynamix, 1993)
#36 - Darklands (MicroProse, 1992)
#37 - Diablo (Blizzard North, 1996)
#38 - Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar (Golden Era Games, 2017)
#39 - Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven (New World Computing, 1998)
#40 - Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (Owlcat Games, 2021)
#41 - The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (Bethesda Softworks, 1996)
#42 - Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (Capcom, 2013)
#43 - Mount & Blade: Warband (TaleWorlds Entertainment, 2010)
#44 - Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare, 2009)
#45 - Pool of Radiance (Strategic Simulations Inc., 1988)
#46 - Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut (Harebrained Schemes, 2014)
#47 - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (BioWare, 2003)
#48 - Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge (Sir-Tech, 1990)
#49 - Kenshi (Lo-Fi Games, 2018)
#50 - Mass Effect (BioWare, 2007)
#51 - Might and Magic IV-V: World of Xeen (New World Computing, 1994)
#52 - Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (Origin Systems, 1988)
#53 - Diablo II (Blizzard North, 2000)
#54 - Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor (New World Computing, 1999)
#55 - Arx Fatalis (Arkane Studios, 2002)
#56 - Dungeon Master (FTL Games, 1987)
#57 - Geneforge (Spiderweb Software, 2001)
#58 - Alpha Protocol (Obsidian Entertainment, 2010)
#59 - ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game (ATOMTeam, 2018)
#60 - Elden Ring (FromSoftware, 2022)
#61 - Neverwinter Nights (BioWare, 2002)
#62 - The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (CD Projekt Red, 2011)
#63 - Battle Brothers (Overhype Studios, 2017)
#64 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos Montreal, 2011)
#65 - Icewind Dale II (Black Isle Studios, 2002)
#66 - NieR: Automata (Platinum Games, 2017)
#67 - Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Obsidian Entertainment, 2018)
#68 - Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (Origin Systems, 1985)
#69 - Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (Sir-Tech, 1981)
#70 - Wizards & Warriors (Heuristic Park, 2000)

Hidden Gems

#1 - Brigand: Oaxaca (Laughing Coyote Software, 2017)
#2 - Caves of Lore (Mike Robins, 2023)
#3 - Divine Divinity (Larian Studios, 2002)
#4 - Dungeon Rats (Iron Tower Studios, 2016)
#5 - Albion (Blue Byte, 1995)
#6 - Prelude to Darkness (Zero Sum Software, 2002)
#7 - Avernum: Escape from the Pit (Spiderweb Software, 2012)
#8 - Titan Outpost (The Boar Studio, 2019)
#9 - NEO Scavenger (Blue Bottle Games, 2014)
#10 - Blackguards (Daedalic Entertainment, 2014)
#11 - Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game (Iron Tower Studios, 2023)
#12 - Tales of Maj'Eyal (Netcore Games, 2012)
#13 - The Dark Heart of Uukrul (Digital Studios Limited, 1989)
#14 - TROUBLESHOOTER: Abandoned Children (Dandylion, 2020)
rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=12405
Post edited August 25, 2024 by mannefriedrich
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mannefriedrich: The RPG Codex's Top 70 PC RPGs (And Some Hidden Gems)
What does it tell about me, when I own 65 out of the "Top 70", and 8 out of the 14 "hidden gems"?
I mean, apart from the fact, that I clearly don't own enough RPGs, yet.