What to play after Grimrock? Best gridders for neophytes

[ashi]

I love first person grid-based RPGs. I buy almost all that get released for the sake of support, so I've gone through quite a few of them. Some are great, some are good, some are... not so good.

Here's my list of recommendations for those who have developed a taste for gridders, but don't know where to go next. This is by no means a comprehensive list. It includes games I've either played myself, or have been praised a lot by others. I have not included games that are either legally unavailable, or so old that they would be extremely hard to get into for someone who doesn't have that much experience with gridders.



PSP (Vita compatible)

-Elminage: Original. The reviews were very poor because the localization was terrible. The problems were fixed in a later patch, so feel free to ignore the review scores. E:O is actually a terrific Wizardry clone.

-Class of Heroes 2. This game suffered from the bad reputation of the first game in the series, but everyone seems to agree the second game is heaps better than the first one, and quite a good Wizardry-like.


Vita

-Demon Gaze. It's not out yet, but it's very popular in Japan, and importers like it a lot.


DS/3DS

-Etrian Odyssey series. The general consensus is that you can skip the first game. The series is mainly known for the very high difficulty level, but the newer ones are more newbie-friendly.

-Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. I can't say much about this one since I haven't played it, except that it's gotten good reviews and it has a futuristic setting.

-Orcs & Elves. Unlike all the games above, this is not a Wizardry-like. It's much more streamlined, and it doesn't have random encounters (you can see the monsters in the dungeon). A very short, but fun little snack.


iPhone/iPod

-Doom 2 RPG. Made by the same guys as the previous game on the list, so it's very similar. Surprisingly very good.

-Undercroft. Fairly similar to the two games above. Very good, and completely FREE!


PC

-Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos. Like Grimrock, it's a Dungeon Master clone. An oldie, but still pretty and very easy to get into. Perfect for newbies as well. You can buy this from www.gog.com.

-Might and Magic 3-5. Turn-based combat, no random encounters, open sandbox world. The puzzles come in the form of riddles, not environmental puzzles like in Dungeon Master clones. The emphasis is on exploration. These are very old games, but they have aged surprisingly well and are some of the finest gridders available. Definitely recommended. You can buy the Might and Magic 6-pack, which includes these games, from www.gog.com.

-Might & Magic X: Legacy. This one just came out, and the general consensus seems to be that it's excellent.

[thrive]

Lands of Lore 1 for sure. I wouldnt compare it too much to grimrock. Its more like a fairy tale which creates a great feeling throughout the whole game. Everything fits in this game - superb music, nice and lovely done graphics and a fairy tale story. Its one of my favorite games of all time.
There are a few of those threads already on this forum which games resemble LoG the most. They are Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder for sure.
Also iam not going with the consesus that MMX is excellent. I think it cannot reach LoG and if you compare prices, its a joke - pay double, get worse. Dont get me wrong, its still a good game - I played it through - but not as good as a no brainer to get as LoG. Also the whole Might and Magic series is a bit different from pure dungeon crawling because of the big overworlds. If you talk about grid based RPGs and the resemblance to LoG doesnt matter too much, I highly recommend Wizardry 6 and the 7 over MM3-5. Latter games are also nice though

[ashi]

thrive lähetti viestin:

Also iam not going with the consesus that MMX is excellent. I think it cannot reach LoG and if you compare prices, its a joke - pay double, get worse.

To be fair, MMX is much longer and has much more assets than LoG, like more tiles, monsters etc. Thus the price difference.

[thrive]

Yep there are surely a lot of explainations why price is ok or whatever. Its just my opinion what I stated above. And by the way: I played LoG + addons longer then MMX.

[runequester]

If you aren'ta fraid of Retro, there's the Eye of the Beholder series from the 90s.

[VonStreed]

runequester lähetti viestin:

If you aren'ta fraid of Retro, there's the Eye of the Beholder series from the 90s.

yes!

[Christopher]

Can we add Stonekeep to the PC list?

[VonStreed]

Christopher lähetti viestin:

Can we add Stonekeep to the PC list? :dswilson:

OH YEAH! " “This my home! Monster you leave!"

[Christopher]

VonStreed lähetti viestin:

Christopher lähetti viestin:

Can we add Stonekeep to the PC list?

OH YEAH! " “This my home! Monster you leave!"

Haha YES! That was one of my favorite parts! =D

[Nemo, Forevermore]

I have always been a huge fan of the Wizardry series. Most have out-dated graphics, but Wizardry 8 is still ok graphically. But it's always been the depth and challenge of the Wizardry series that kept me playing.