Games I've Been Avoiding & Why

[@pelouro_7]

Battle brothers is not that long, It only took me 250h

[@phamdung9424]

Yes only...😂

[@soggie7157]

Pfft look at this speed runner bragging

[@fiyamage]

😂

[@benfields8044]

Ya i only got all the achievements at about 600h. Pretty Casual if you ask me

[@sowhat3430]

Long life bro, we meet again!

[@Steve-xh3by]

Battle Brothers is one of my favorite games of all time, and I've been gaming since the 1970's. I keep coming back to it over and over.

[@krackawoody2556]

You’ve been playing it since 1970? You’re almost halfway done with the game then!

[@Fallout3131]

@@krackawoody2556😂😂😂

[@TheAxebitten]

The simple visual style was keeping me out of Battle Brothers, but 2 years ago I decided to try it out. And was very surprised of how imersed I got. That feeling of going in an adventure and getting new challenges at every step. It's great. That being said, I would not go for 100%. Some specific challenges were made to be extremely difficult, even with the perfect gear. Just be be clear, you don't need to do those fights to finish the game. I highly recomend trying it out and, personaly, will probabiliy play again to try different endgame crysis

[@davenewtender4294]

Maybe I am in the minority here, but I don't really care if you 100% a game and get every little useless achievement. I watch your content because you have a calm, mature and drama-free approach to reviewing video games in genres that I play myself. So I really hope the requirement of 100% does not stop you from reviewing some games and rather make an exception for the ones would just take forever or have almost unobtainable achievements

[@Aqua-pl8qw]

"calm, mature and drama-free approach to reviewing video games" very well said, that´s what I appreciate too about this channel

[@whosaidthat84]

I'm with you but I totally get why he wants to start true to his channel.

[@cwjustcw1261]

Same. Means nothing to me to 100%

[@OGsSweet]

I'll second this

[@OliverEdwardV]

You could just name the video "... - Review After (Effectively) 100%" No one cares about an online gameplay achievement in XCOM, for example. There's no value to making yourself fuss around with the logistics on that

[@kimberlymason1060]

Im 55 would love to see the eye of beholder series as very dear to my heart. They started my rpg journey. But understand they probably dont stand up today. xx

[@isidornimages]

I'm slightly younger but very much in the same position. The Eye of the beholder series were my entry into the realm of CRPGs and D&D and I still have the original game boxes.

[@GGPoohBah]

I'm 32 and Eye of the Beholder was one of the first games I messed around with on DOSBox. That opening cinematic was and is still amazing.

[@SpecShadow]

EotB trilogy is one of the easiest old RPGs to get into tbh. As long as someone didn't got "lazy" from playing modern AAA games...

[@smilingbandit6900]

leave many things behinde^^

[@grey_wulf]

The Gold Box AD&D video games are nostalgia fuel for me. I remember playing Pool of Radiance on my old Tandy 1000 and felt I was instantly transported to The Forgotten Realms.

[@MrBrainfreeze43]

He is making me feel my age! I fondly remember the Dragonlance games from that time.

[@RhondaFizzleflint]

Same here, my bro and I learned a lot of english vocabulary by playing Champions of Kryn and Buck Rogers on our C64.

[@dkf343]

@@MrBrainfreeze43Same here! I played both the isometric gold box games and the Dragonlance side-scroller, in all their CGA glory. As fond as my memories are, I don’t think I could bring myself to play them now. That being said, it’s extremely satisfying just hearing them mentioned on a gaming channel. I’ll occasionally hear a KZbin creator mention the Ultima games (especially Underworld) or Planescape Torment, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard these gems mentioned even in passing.

[@RobinDuehring]

I played so many Gold box games - I can remember my hubby and I playing Pools of Radiance on an IBM ATX with a flip down amber screen my Dad gave me. We'd stay up so many nights with paper puzzle wheels and graph paper adventuring through the forgotten realms together. It kicked off a lifelong love of gaming.

[@hanli5416]

My start for gold box rpg was champions of krynn, the first one i owned finished and loved was secret of the silver blades. The magnum opus however was pools of darkness with level 40 dual multi characters and level 7 spells and you kinda battle gods.

[@jimruch5196]

Battle brothers is my favorite game!

[@donpizzaplays8529]

What's so cool about it? Does it have a story or it's more a sandbox where you're trying to get stronger mercenary group?

[@idojuegos2151]

@@donpizzaplays8529to me is the combat, the game is a turn based tactical gem a must play if you like turn based games

[@emilm8603]

same

[@duedman-alleswasknallt5775]

@@donpizzaplays8529 The combat is sooo satisfying. And contrary to some rumors it is NOT super RNG heavy if you know the basic combat rules. Yes - Your dudes can get oneshot in the beginning. But in the beginning they got not much XP anyway and.... no one forces you to play ironman ;)

[@predragpesic5953]

@@donpizzaplays8529 There are some story elements to it, but it is all very, very light. And so yes, it is a sandbox about building up your mercenary company. It is inspired by 90s classic called Darklands. If you enjoy the 'mercenary company' genre, another game that you might want to look into is Wartales, which is even better than Battle Brothers, for me at least.

[@mariozimmermann7307]

I was constantly asking for a Battle Brothers Review, now I know why Mortismals is not doing it, its just a big time investment. I think I can make my peace with it, but still think your are missing out on a great journey with your crew of mercenaries. Anyways cheers

[@Tostigroover]

FF12 The Zodiac Age comes with a 2x (and I believe even a 4x) battle speed option. It significantly cuts down on the boring, grindy aspect of Yiazmat. I do not remember what exactly happens but at the final five or ten percent, the boss changes a tactic, leading you to toggle off or on a Gambit. Like I said, I don't exactly remember what it was. But as long as you keep an eye out for that and maybe go back to regular speed to anticipate that section, the increased battle speed is a godsend. Love your videos, by the way. And I am neither PC gamer nor CRPG player

[@capellamidlight]

What also really cuts down on Yiazmat kill time is the expulsion of the damage cap. So you can set up a character to use the Black Robes with a dark elemental ninja sword with all the buffs and do 50k damage a hit in 12 hit combos. I beat Yiazmat with the fast forward function in around 30 minutes thanks to the changes. It’s definitely not what it was in the vanilla game. And regarding Zodiark, if you enter with a Knight equipped with the Excalibur and the White Robes and all buffs, you will DESTROY him. He will die before he even starts the invulnerability phase.

[@sisyr5615]

I love Battle Brothers. Arguably one of my favorite tactical RPG's ever made.

[@ClibanariusJJ]

XCOM2 isn't that long. I only have 14700 hours logged in it on Steam.

[@ShupekMan]

The Gold Box RPGs seem so incredibly outdated that even as someone who has played 99% of the other D&D adaptations for PC, I'll probably never try them.

[@Unknown-jt1jo]

You'd definitely have to flip the mental switch that cares about contemporary graphics/QOL improvements. They were great games, though.

[@EastyyBlogspot]

Thing is age and adulting change my taste in games, when I was young I loved epic rpgs and turn based games....but back then I had all the time in the world, and now in my 40s free time is a luxury and I find myself playing games with quick gameplay loops and short missions and the turn based and epic games have taken a back seat

[@Outmind01]

Maybe once the kids are off to college you can revisit those epic games more.

[@switters8679]

@@Outmind01 It's not just kids, which weren't mentioned at all. Maybe once you grow up you will understand.

[@EastyyBlogspot]

@switters8679 that is the depressing part...I have no kids and already have little free time god help me if I do have kids lol

[@Suikojunkie]

I am married, have a kid and i’m an executive manager in the finance sector. I can go days without playing and it doesn’t matter because i genuinely love those games and no amount of real life obstacles and adulting will change that. I adapt. Still play long rpgs because at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how many games i finish by the the end of the year. It’s about the experience.

[@mrfender03294]

I'm just glad, that I played Witcher 3, before I started working 😂

[@bobtron_3000]

Pool of Radiance is the game that got me into both ad&d and pc games. And the whole gold box series is naturally something that I love. People who have been played bg3 probably would be interested in finding out that there are characters in Pool of Radiance that pop up in bg3. However, playing these games in this day and age is very, very, very rough. Quality of life, graphics, old school ad&d stuff like thac0. But, still, the stories hold up, the lore is awesome and it's a great rpg experience. Another thing though, the first few are set in the same world as bg3, the later ones are set in different worlds with different lore, and if you don't know anything about Krynn and Dragonlance then it's most definetly an uphill battle.

[@Gregorovitch144]

I'd say Battle Brothers is an important game to review on your channel Mort. It's combat mechanics are arguably one of the most sophisticated and interesting (as well the hardest of the hardcore) ever developed. But, as you say, 100 percenting it is not viable, there's certainly no business case for doing that. Maybe you could do vid entitled something like "Battle Brothers - review after.....err....I'm not quite sure %". For example you could complete a single campaign to end game using save scumming and then try a couple of campaigns starts on hard/ironman to see how far you get. This would give some intersting stuff to talk about re: the difference when playing BB on ironman (which is considerable) as well as setting a realistic limit on how much time to invest in the project.

[@Rzynweg]

Exactly!

[@interdictr3657]

Yeah, how about you just have a category of reviews that are not 100%

[@Desintyx2]

Battle brothers absolutely doesn't have "It's combat mechanics are arguably one of the most sophisticated and interesting (as well the hardest of the hardcore) ever developed" that is simply absurd

[@Rzynweg]

@@Desintyx2 Well, combat is satisfy and probably main reason why this game is so popular within its niche. "Arguably one of (...) ever developed" is not an absurd. It is very good marketing which is in line with FEELINGS of many ;)

[@mrzepher2539]

The Avernum series are a great series of RPGs

[@DoomsdayMayBeOkay]

You are in for a treat with FFXII Remastered, its much better balanced and looks pretty good for a PS2 era game.

[@Azuris190]

I agree, it looks really good and the new Version is just so good to play (fast forward to grind).

[@slipknotpurity00]

There are some really good mods for it for PC. Mod "The Struggle For Freedom" is great. It basically assigns a canon version of each character and they get a custom license board that only lets you select things that support that build. Makes it feel like the older Final Fantasy games where each person that joins is a predetermined class rather than modern Final Fantasy games where every character is a blank template and they can all be all roles.

[@DoomsdayMayBeOkay]

@@slipknotpurity00 very interesting good to know

[@maboilaurence8227]

@@slipknotpurity00 This is ironic considering the Revenant wings spin off for the DS did this right, returning characters follow a strict archetype which imho makes much more sense theme wise.

[@juanchiapa2882]

​@@slipknotpurity00 Actually I intended to buy Zodiac Age from the Steam sales and download that mod. The only thing I haven't decide it's if I first play vanilla and then with the Struggle mod or go directly with the mod :P

[@jephreysouth6793]

I'm 1800 hours into Battle Brothers and still don't have every achievement; although I am close. Getting through the first crisis would be manageable but all achievements would just be brutal. But it still is a great game. I have had to invoke some QoL mods to make it more tolerable though. Faster map move speed, faster combat and stat preview just saves tons of time and suffering.

[@duedman-alleswasknallt5775]

I'm like 1300 hours in and I also did not have all of them. Never even tried to understand the cultist loop. The crisis are piece of cake imho. The endgame encounters can be challenging. And definitely use at least faster combat. With that even the big zombie fights become fun again.

[@brunothefreak8826]

There are a lot of old rpg series, that you haven't covered yet: Ultima Eye of the beholder Might and Magic (not heroes of might and magic) Wizzardry Bard's Tale Lands of Lore Realms of Arcania (The old dark eye trilogy) System Shock They are all awailable on GOG, but they are really old school and most of them are dungeon crawlers. You might need a high tollerance for frustion for at least some of them. And if you want to play them, I would recommend a pencil and some paper since auomapping and a questlog weren't a thing back in the days. Otherwise you might want to give some older games a try, that are a bit older but not as old as the ones I named above like: Two Worlds 1 + 2 Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Venetica The Dwarves Arcania (aka. Gothic 4 and regrettably the worst part of the series)

[@cmdr.jabozerstorer3968]

Didn't Mort play the System Shock remake last year?

[@MortismalGaming]

I have indeed already reviewed System Shock and KoA

[@brunothefreak8826]

@@MortismalGaming Oh, I was going throgh your video list and I somehow missed them yesterday. Sorry for this mistake.

[@karlklein2263]

See the thing about the copied homework idea with xcom is that, they got all the questions right. Just like fromsoft and the soulslike genre. Xcom has strategy nailed.

[@glowerworm]

Yeah it's really dependent on the player. Inscryption is very much the same thing where every aspect but the story is copied from other games, but copied well and collaged nicely, so idk how i feel ab it

[@yewtewbstew547]

The other thing I'd say about that, which certainly applies to FromSoft games but I think in many ways also applies to both XCOM 1 & 2, is that none of the copycats have actually surpassed them. I haven't played a single non-FromSoft souls game that I'd even say was close to beating Dark Souls 2, which is my _least_ favourite FromSoft souls game by a decent margin. That's just how far ahead of the game FromSoft are. Elden Ring, Sekiro, and Bloodborne are so far ahead of the "competition" that it's kind of embarrassing. With XCOM 1 & 2 the quality gap is probably narrower, but there also haven't been many _direct_ XCOM knockoffs. The FromSoft knockoffs are shameless, but the only thing that really comes close to feeling like a direct XCOM 1 & 2 knockoff is Phoenix Point... and unfortunately that's just not as good. Xenonauts is more of an original X-COM/UFO Defense clone, not an XCOM 1 & 2 clone. Basically what I'm saying is, even though they're older games at this point and have been copied by many others, XCOM 1 & 2 still offer an overall unique experience. There still isn't anything _exactly_ like them, let alone exactly like them but better. Which, imo, means there is still a good reason for people who missed them to go back and play them.

[@Matthewjs33]

Well said.

[@Readceras]

Looking forward to your Avernum coverage!

[@Paul_McSeol]

A Gold Box Retrospective would be amazing. I still fondly remember those from the “way back when.”

[@Unknown-jt1jo]

The Spiderweb Software games are great! I *highly* recommend playing "Avernum: Escape from the Pit" (and the other remastered sequels). It's basically peak old-school indie CRPG. Impressively, they are still making games 30 years on. Sadly, they are no longer gorgeously sprawling games in the Avernum mold. Jeff Vogel, the developer, is now in his 50s, and says he no longer has the stamina for it.

[@Xiuhtec]

The Pool of Radiance series was so good. It would still take a long time to actually 100% though; there were so many side areas and quests that would be very easy to miss, even in just the first game of the series. You could easily "win the game" without ever even exploring the overworld part of the game at all, just sticking to the various blocks of Phlan itself. Despite playing probably hundreds of hours as a kid I'd bet I missed some things myself. Very difficult too, if you take rolled-stats characters, though much easier if you cheat and just max out all the stats (you can edit at will during creation). It was also pretty unforgiving in what choices you could really make building a party; it's based pretty RAW on AD&D (as in 1st ed), which had fairly low level caps for any demihuman races, strength caps for females, and the like, so you were somewhat shoehorned into an all-human group with males for any fighting classes, and multiclassing would hit a given game's level cap sooner (implemented as an XP cap) so strongly encouraging single classing as well. Still a great way to experience the classic fighter/cleric/magic-user/thief party system of classic D&D. (Just don't accidentally stumble into a tavern at the start of the game, there was a wildly high chance of a bar fight breaking out and a level 1 party would TPK easily in the ensuing brawl.)

[@Tangeffect]

Psstt a little secret for you. Youre the only person who says you need to 100% games to review them. We will watch it and respect your opinion without you needing to do it. Ive beat alot of games and have never hundred percented any of them. Doing a bunch of arbitrary check lists that a developer just came up with in order to make up achievements for a game so that we could "100%" complete it was smart to keep people playing their games and add hours, but do they actually add anything to the game that would change how you feel if you didnt actually 100% it?

[@fran9426]

Been watching for a long time and I agree with this sentiment. I’m here because of your taste in games and your opinion of them, Mort. Whenever I hear the 100% requirement I immediately imagine how it could be a liability for the channel. It certainly has never appealed to me as a viewer. You’ve been doing this a long time so I’d like to think maybe 100% isn’t as big of an impediment since it hasn’t stopped you so far. But this video exemplifies the contrary; you mention some great games that you won’t review because of the 100% requirement… who benefits from this outcome?

[@Killbomb]

I came to say this as well. A review of a standard playthrough of games like these would be enough.

[@-Monad-]

I disagree, I like his current method

[@CaptainPerfect]

That's just his thing and he wants to do. But I wouldn't be against it either.

[@gleipnirrr]

the sentiment is nice, but if you want someone to give you quality, you need to let them do what they know is right

[@WhatWillYouFind]

Definitely look up the Avernum "games talk" interview. The perspective of being an indie developer within a tight niche for decades was an insightful viewing.

[@Unknown-jt1jo]

I've been following the speaker, Jeff Vogel, for a long time. He has a good substack called "The Bottom Feeder" about indie development.

[@Youcah]

FF12.. what a love hate relationship.. So hyped, I was in my first big job and couldn't wait to play it when I got home.. and within a week of late nights, it was over.. I didn't grind at all and walked over every main story boss, and It ends where other FF titles would move into their third act. Replayed for the optional bosses but by then my friends had already figured out how to AFK beat Yazzy. It's set in my favorite square universe; Ivalice. Tactics and Vagrant Story being my two favorite square titles.

[@IngensViator]

Ff12 was my first foray in Ai combat. The gambit system is glorious. Spent so many hours tinkering the ultimate afk system. The same reason I play pillars of eternity 1/2 and dragon age origins. Unicorn overlord in the switch is the latest one. All these are personally great games for me 😊

[@shoutingstone]

The Gold Box games were a big part of my 90s gaming andbi completed several of them. Without the benefit of nostalgia goggles though, I imagine the archaic style is very hard to get into now. I would 100% watch any video you made on them though

[@Quintus_Fontane]

If the games industry could make a new years resolution to just do away with multiplayer achievements for games which are primarily singleplayer, that'd be great. Of course they won't, but still. I can dream.

[@maxpower8549]

it is only the steam achievements but brütal legend rly pisses me off with that for an otherwise incredible game, also aged rly well and has an awesome soundtrack

[@v.y.o.]

Does not completing these kinds of achievements significantly detract from your enjoyment? As someone who doesn't care for achievements it's just so difficult for me to genuinely empathise with this sentiment =(

[@maxpower8549]

@@v.y.o. no, to me it does not detract anything. I just play through a game normally, most times on hardest difficulty, and then afterwards i look at some of the achievements as like a cherry on top like if i missed something. You should not look for achievements beforehand because they might spoil secrets. Now with mortym here, it incentivises me even more to get a few games to 100% on steam just for fun, adds some replayability to a few games imo

[@DrasticSkuba]

That has prevented me from getting the platinum trophy for many games. I live in China, so playing multiplayer isn't viable for the majority of games on my end

[@v.y.o.]

@DrasticSkuba I get that this prevents you from getting that trophy, but I don't see the appeal of that trophy, thus my confusion. But I do hope for your sake that this kind of nonsense stops, anyway.

[@kaydens6964]

Battle brothers is the best tactical game ever made. It’s not even close.

[@zekthemad]

Death Knights of Krynn was my first RPG back in the day, played on my very snazzy Windows 3.11 computer. I still have some CDs with most of the gold box stuff somewhere.

[@Baraz_Red]

About Goldbox games on Steam and GOG: thankfully they come with the Companion tool (mod) that makes them much more user-friendly (mapping as you go and leveling beyond strict racial limits), and I am finishing the Dragonlance trilogy right now in fact. Having played a few when I was young and now, I have to say they have some of the WORST designs and rulesets I have ever seen. The list of things I find terrible about the design would be too long and it has NOTHING to do with the time period and engine (I am a 50+ year old gamer). Using the same engine, I would radically change A LOT about the rules and gameplay. Just one example: I had a character lose over 10 levels from vampires and Restoration (a level 7 spell!) only gives 1 level back! No matter what you do, you can easily have lost about 250K XP. Even with the Companion "drain fix" button, it is troublesome to the point of reloading and doing the fight all over. I still enjoy creating my party and dungeon crawling, but I still find it terrible. :P // On a positive note, they have almost no bugs (exception: do not store items in bank vaults): quests work fine if you play the game normally (no teleporting).

[@slamchowder9509]

The idea of doing overviews of gold box games would be great! Dark Sun first please :D

[@TheHanmore]

The Gold Box games are what got me into rolepolaying. Being born in the early 80s, they were just the right era for me :)

[@phantomlotus1323]

A retrospective on Gold Box would be cool. Thanks for the enjoyable videos this year, I'm looking forward to what's ahead in 2025.

[@alderic]

With the Gold Box Companion app, which add some quality of life stuff, like an automap and insert some text which only appear in the game manuals (because back there, they could not fit everything inside, the game would come with a book featuring some additional descriptions) iplaying them is doable... but trying to do all of them or just the main ones (the Pools of Radiance) might be a lot, they aren't that long, but some later games get a bit repetitive, specially the Secret of the Silver Blades (this is the one, where I was). However, if you wish something different, but more ahead in the timeline, I recommend the AD&D Dark Sun games.

[@ogun6464]

Wow, I remember those gold box games. I'm not really a crpg guy, but damn those are a deep cut

[@Shoelessjoe78]

God I miss SSI. So many games I thoroughly enjoyed... 😢 But I'm also getting up there, I played all these as they came out.

[@demonbox7780]

Oh man the Gold Box games, I still remember how excited I was when they were coming out, but yes probably not the most popular kind of CRPG to display. Battle Brothers is one of the games I spent more hours into, so I totally can understand you point there too.

[@duedman-alleswasknallt5775]

3:48 - no suffering. You will experience Diablo-like item hunt with immense tactical depth, great enemy variety and superb smacking sounds. Best do not start with Ironman. Take a tested map seed from the forums (RNG generated trash maps can really make it a less fun experience). Learn the 2 very basic combat mechanics the game does not tell you: 1.: Spears and Swords got +% to hit 2.: Each extra unit next to an enemy provides +5% to hit to all others RNG can and will get you. But it is not nearly as punishing as some folks keep making you believe.

[@evilmiera]

I JUST got the whole Goldbox series, wanting to mod them up a bit with that launcher. But I really, REALLY wish they'd get remade with more modern interface and graphics. It physically hurts to try to play the first games.

[@penguinguyx]

For the Gold Box Games, I'd be excited to see/hear your review of Buck Rogers.

[@danielslinger9017]

It's okay to skip reviewing games and just remember your time with them fondly. Don't burn out reviewing old games just because people pester you about them, the constant stream of new games is hard enough to keep up with already I'm sure.

[@haydens5321]

Battle Brothers is amazing and their new game Menace looks like an improvement on all fronts

[@TheSauronchik]

Battle brothers is my second fav game of all time, right after BG2. But yeah 100% will take some time. I'm sure 95% is enough ;)

[@vauxhallprefect6847]

I've got so much nostalgia for the Gold Box games, Champions of Krynn in particular I remember long hours on the phone with a friend as we raced to play through it. I still play them now and then and find them enjoyable, both as games and as a bit of nostalgia for the old AD&D systems too. I'd recommend Amiga versions though, where you generally get better sound and graphics (particularly of the earlier games). It really makes a difference having proper sounds accompanying movement or combat, rather than the IBM beeps.

[@wyrmisis]

Avernum! I started playing through the re-remakes this year. I'm maybe halfway through the second. Good stuff.

[@christhompson9140]

No mention of the Ultima series? A hugely influential, important and legendary series would fit perfectly with the channel.

[@FriskyDolphin]

In your opinion

[@ir6734]

@@FriskyDolphin Huh? What opinion? That's literally the fucking series that started the genre?

[@FriskyDolphin]

@ cry more

[@interdictr3657]

Should at least give u7 a blast

[@oldsaddad7274]

While Frisky here is certified braindead, if you want some pretty great Ultima retrospectives go watch Majuulars videos, he's done up to U6

[@Quon]

I have memories of beating Yiazmat as a kid in 10 IRL HOURS....keeping my ps2 and crt tv on all night, staying up till like 8am, i guess i was surely unoptimized TT

[@kharacon]

Champions of Krynn was my first crpg while Pools of Darkness kept crashing after the final fight, so I kept replaying it to get a party of 39 paladin/ranger 40 level wizard dual classed imports. The moon system and no paladins made those Krynn series feel different from Forgotten Realms.

[@AnthonyJAttard]

I recall playing the Gold Box games and crawling through dungeons, buildings and the outside through the Forgotten Realms. It was my first look at Dungeons and Dragons and brings back happy memories during a difficult time in my life. I also enjoyed reading the novels and went into the Drizzt Do'Urden stories. It started because my sister's eldest son was interested in D&D and wanted to play Pools of Radiance and role play with friends. She was concerned about the misinformation regarding D&D and "the dark side". I assured her that it was more like "The Lord of the Rings" but you could choose to be whatever character you were interested in role playing and was likely to be more social then anti-social.

[@thepancakemann]

XCOM 1 and 2 and Battle Brothers are among my favourite strategy games EVER on PC. At least you've put off playing some greats.

[@martinruddy651]

Hope you had a good christmas with your kid?

[@NipunNimesh-it8sx]

I hope the same!

[@Tazandd]

What a nice thing to say?

[@wurmschn3693]

It was wonderful, thanks for asking :)

[@MortismalGaming]

I did, thanks!

[@FunFooFurat]

something unique about the gold box games was the ability to transfer characters through to the next game in the series. baldur's gate carried that on and i've not seen it done again since.

[@axeldrane]

I think you could still do it through the Mass effect Trilogy, but I agree its a mechanic that sadly underused. Baldur's Gate 1,2 and TOB allowing the player to keep exporting the same player so the story comes full circle was one of the most epic gaming experiences I've had to this day.

[@Jaroartx]

Neverwinter Nights allow to transfer characters, also not sure but Solasta crown of the magister, surely has the same feature

[@Unknown-jt1jo]

@@axeldrane The Mass Effect trilogy allows you to transfer character choices, but not actual character stats, so that's a bit different.

[@deprofundis442]

My friend... I wanted to make a documentary about SSI and the Goldbox games, and despite having a stack of documents collected from research, I have been putting off the task of actually playing and recording footage of the series because it is a huge task on its own. I wish you luck.

[@egamruf]

Some of the old SSI games are definitely still worth playing. Specifically I'd say you should go back and try Dark Sun: Shattered Lands and, less confidently, Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager. I'm not sure you should feel compelled to do the rest... just like I wouldn't suggest you do reviews of Ultima 1 - 6, or the early Might and Magic series (before number 5 certainly). Some of those games, with respect to the gamers (including me) who played them at the time... aren't... good anymore.

[@Wolfhamm3r312]

I'm really looking forward to the BB review ^^ but you'll definitely need the DLC for that review since they add a substantial amount of mechanics and quality of life improvements

[@MortismalGaming]

Yeah I own all of it already

[@AkZeal76]

Dark Sun: Shattered Lands review would be pretty great ngl

[@ZenPaladin]

I'd love to see the gold box games up here. I'm 46 and played a few of them back when I was a kid.

[@wyomingsioux]

3:12. In one of Mortym’s other videos, I commented that the end of 2024 was when I first started to play Battle Brothers- after years of hesitation. There were two factors behind that indecision: the bust-like chess pieces used to represent the various units (which I did not find appealing, initially) and the notorious difficulty. But after hearing little but critical acclaim, year after year, I finally gave in and bought it during the GOG sale in October. For a few months, I was hooked. I grew to enjoy the unconventional artstyle and the rigorous gameplay. But I would agree with Mortym. If you want to obtain all the achievements, it’s a prohibitively long game, especially because of the steep learning curve and completely random maps, which can place legendary locations at the very far edges. I tried to clear all such locations in my first campaign (Rebuilding A Company) but even after 260 hours (and Day 160, in-game), I have not done so. I got stuck at the Kraken swamp, as I couldn’t find enough Unhold pelts to advance to the fight. Even after busting several advanced Barbarian camps with armored Unholds, I ended up with an assortment of other parts- no pelts. At that point, I got burned out by the grind and put the game aside. I intend to return to it at some point but I need a break. And that’s not counting the various other campaign backgrounds that are available. To 100% the game, you have to play through all of them and each represents at least 80 hours of play and is practically an entire game of its own.

[@MrBCWalker01]

SSI's CRPGs are more than just the Gold Box. There's the Silver Box (Dragonlance) series, _Phantasie_ (worth it), _Star Command_ (a Space Opera game), and a few more single-character games such as _The Summoning._

[@afeedareifiz8045]

7:06 I'm sure someone else has already mentioned this by now, but the FFXII Zodiac Age revamp also removed the 9999 max damage per hit limit, which really cuts down the kill time for superbosses like Yiazmat and the Hellwyrm. It took me weeks-worth of play on the original to take down Hellwyrm, but only a couple of days in Zodiac Age.

[@Duckman8213]

I beat Yiazmat in 15 minutes in the Zodiac Age. I beat the trial version in 3-4 minutes. The final trial 100 is absolutely impossible without a cheese strat (won’t spoil the strategy but you can watch how the speed runners beat it very fast). I played it back in May for the first time. Balthier is the main character he even said so himself “I’m the Leading Man!”

[@mikejenkins1270]

My first CRPG was a SSI Gold Box game, Dark Sun Shattered Lands. My second was a Genesis game, D&D Warriors of the Eternal Sun. Back then when the term was created no one would blink an eye at a CRPG on console because the C (computer) wasn't an indicator of PC vs console, it was an indicator of tabletop vs newfangled electronic RPGs.

[@PeculiarNotions]

Man, the Gold Box games. That takes me back.

[@christophermzdenek]

Oh man, the Gold box CRPGs... I remember playing all of these (except Buck Rogers) on original release on my Commadore 64 (and eventually replaying on my C-128). To this day, I love the hundreds, if not thousands of hours I played them and messed with the Hex Editting to make over-powered monster characters. I had no idea they were available on Steam. Might need to check that out.

[@ariemugisatriaji8928]

7:10 Yiazmat actually got nerfed in Zodiac Ages version, it doesn't need as much time as vanilla version back then.

[@TheLocalDisasterTourGuide]

Personally, I would be very interested in the Gold Box videos! I know you've got to consider video traffic, but at the very least, you'd have my attention!

[@thedevilsidiot2559]

I remember getting stuck on pathfinder and looking up guides I saw your channel and I thought you were a machine. Helped me get into these games. I'm glad you're still going but don't burn yourself out.

[@meanmanturbo]

Two games I would want you to try out, first is Jagged Alliance 2. You did JA 3 and you might want to see why people hold JA 2 in such high regard. Second is the Microprose Darklands which is totally unique. First real time with pause game I know of and a unique setting of 15th century Holy Roman Empire where you have to pary to actual saints. An entrielry skill (your characters skills) based system where you learn by doing and build your character by choosing career steps like in the table top rpg Traveller.

[@ashuggtube]

Jagged Allliance 2 v1.13!

[@VenlyssPnorr]

Great to see all the love for BB in this comments section. To date still my favourite game of all time. The fact that it takes so long to see and do everything is definitely a curse and blessing all at once, though! While I'm eagerly looking forward to Menace from Overhype it would be fair to say that my dream game would be something with BB systems but kind of merged with the old Star Wars West End Games setting. Recruiting a rag-tag band of Trandoshans, Gand, Rodians and the like and then watching them all get cut down within a mission or two.

[@sbef]

Have you tried the Reforged mod? Unlike Legends, it is an expansion of Vanilla game and has completely revitalised my love for the game. Give it a shot

[@VenlyssPnorr]

@sbef will check it out. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@wyomingsioux]

9:00. I’m not surprised by this “oversight”. I’m from the older generation of gamers who played SSI’s D&D games when they were first released, but they are all before Mortym’s time. Why would we expect him to play them? He has never styled himself to be a retro gamer. Us old timers may wax nostalgic about Wasteland (the first one), the Eye of the Beholder series, Wizardry, Ultima, and Might and Magic (especially the first 5 games), but they don’t hold the same charm for those who didn’t grow up with them. Forget the graphics- the clunky UI’s would have put off many even in the generation that they were released. On the other hand, Digital Eclipse released a remaster this year of the first Wizardry game, Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, which would be feasible for a 100% review, if Mortym had the time and interest. The mechanics are admittedly dated however, even with some modern QoL flourishes.

[@garryame4008]

People interested in DND might be interested in a video covering the gold box RPGs

[@thedivine5897]

Seeing that thumbnail really gave me a kick haha, right after just leaving another comment ab Battle Brothers yesterday! Glad to have the reasons addressed to it not appearing yet. Guess I can stop leaving lengthy comments about it for you!! I too hope you can find the time - it is certainly a lengthy one to soak in all it has to offer, just as you said - but well worth it, as I've well described aha. I have 1k hours, played since 2017, and literally still have not even completed the special legendary locations. XCOM2 would have been another I was thinking of commenting about, as especially after getting WOTC, have personally had soooo much fun playing through it. While nothing hits that same itch as Battle Brothers, one of the closest is XCOM2. Love the content you create, keep up the great work : )

[@sbef]

Battle Brothers is my favourite strategy game of all time. I have 250h on it, never seen the end game, it's brutal, it's gory, it's just perfect for masochists and perfectionists. I love that game to bits, and I usually don't care about strategy or RPG games.

[@ianfrazier9896]

I hope that hypothetical Gold Box series video goes well for you. If it does, I hope you’ll consider tackling the Ultima series as well! Ultima VII in particular is a classic, and a key inspiration behind BG3 and Larian as a whole.

[@grumpyoldwizard]

I loved those gold box games! I played them back in the day. They were revolutionary and transformative games at the times. I got short of breath when a new one came out, longing to play them, lol.

[@amuro9624]

A good way to do the old crpgs is to make long videos of basically a recap of the whole playthrough. A lot of people tend to click on those out of curiosity kinda like a documentary on a relic of gaming. I tend to watch these types of videos in the background while I'm doing something else or to fall asleep. In terms of KZbin algorithm I'm pretty sure it works well too cause the algorithm favors long videos.

[@deathbagel]

I loved the gold box games, they were some of my favorites from back in the day. I originally played them on my Commodore 64... I am dust.

[@spaceghostohio7989]

Pool of Radiance on my C64 was the first game I played...I think I'm older than dust...

[@HanaNoMaude]

I remember playing FFXII at launch and I played the ps2 version for years. XII is in my top 5 personal FFs and so eventually I had to try the Zodiac age version which I did about 4-5 years ago and it really makes a difference. One thing I do go back and forth on though is how they changed the abilities grid for jobs and character progression - both versions are distinct and different and rewarding in their own ways. I may prefer the original slightly but acknowledge the Zodiac version is likely all around better and would be curious to hear your take! That said, I do not envy the job of having to complete FFXII 😅

[@magnumbeef]

If you wanted an interesting way to approach the Gold Box titles, you could do your own spin on what Majuular's been doing with his *excellent* Ultima retrospectives recently, or how I Finished a Video Game handles his retrospectives. You wouldn't need to go into all the detail they do on those games' development (though it would be interesting historical stuff that I haven't seen anyone else covering), as I know that would be a LOT of effort on top of just playing through them all. But reviewing them with that kind of approach would make for some very interesting viewing, and would accommodate your thought of going through them series by series vs game by game. Just a thought!

[@darryllyle5250]

I want to see you cover the Gold Box games myself and Avernum. I think I've even recommended you cover Avernum in my comments from past videos.

[@leyasu888]

Definitely agree on the gold box games being really hard to play on modern PCs. I grew up playing them and have very fond memories of them all, played the krynn games to death back in the day, bought them all on steam and wanted to play them as a blast from the past but my gosh it felt so hard to play them after so long.😅

[@justinlenderking423]

They're super janky and those decoder wheel rune things are an effin nightmare

[@toomin232]

The Exile 3 demo was my very first CRPG and I played it obsessively!! I cannot wait for you to get to Avernum 3!

[@gregq8]

I am on the same boat with FF12 - so many fond ps2 memories, I am beyond certain I'll play the remaster, but no idea when. One thing that doused my enthusiasm is that they aged down the characters to anime ages in the remake. Specifically Balthier lost like 10 years. I really liked how 4 of the characters were adults in contrast with the 2 teenage protags, I thought it added so much more weight to the story.

[@carlrosenzweig1867]

Well that "rest" didn't last too long lol. Love your content, but I promise I'll still check out your channel if you give yourself more time off! I have such fond memories of games like Pools of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Wizardry, and the like from back when they were first released (I'm a lot older than you). I've avoided revisiting them because I've assumed having them live in my mind is a better experience than actually replaying them at this point. Still, I'm sure for anyone who wasn't around to experience the transition from pen and paper rpgs to the first implementations of crpgs it would be interesting as an examination of the history of the genre if nothing else.

[@MSaint]

Oh I would love to see you playing and reviewing SSI rpgs, as well as Wizardry/Ultima/Might and Magic/Bard's Tale/Eye of the Beholder/Dungeon Master games. Fingers crossed that these will show up on the channel eventually.

[@DrasticSkuba]

I love the XCOM games. The one thing that does drag it down for me, especially on higher difficulties, is enemies a fee instances of randomly being able to see and shoot at you through multiple walls and/or ceilings as if there is nothing between you and them.

[@trblemayker5157]

Hope you cover Battletech!

[@TrabullRDC]

Exile might be the first rpg I've ever played on a pc. It's really cool to see you cover Avernum.

[@WBWhiting]

FF12: Vaan could have been replaced with his brother, Reks (who you play in the prologue) and the plot would be improved. The character Penelo could be cut and nothing in the plot would be affected. Your party is 6 total characters and 1/3 are plot useless. The events of the brief prologue comprise 1/2 of the games total plot development, the other half of the plot events are evenly spread across the hundred+ hours of gameplay and are things like: walk across four regions (of the game's total ~24 regions) to grab a macguffin. This is a single-player MMORPG, they really ramped up the grindiness of the gameplay from previous single-player entries. if you want the most powerful weapon in the game, its a 1 in 144 chance to drop from a certain treasure chest. If you want to beat the most powerful bosses, it will take hours to grind through their dozens of health bars. The Paramina Rift and Giruvegan are beautiful and interesting places, I found everywhere else boring and forgettable in comparison.

[@anthonyfaccaro7118]

Most people that hate this game are upset theres no love story. Its just a story, and not as good as others in the series. The ones that LOVED it like myself....gambit system, no random battles. Some people thought it was too easy because of gambit, but for me made the game way more fun to play. The rest is personal taste. Ive played games with horrible plots because gameplay was fantastic. But like another comment said, vagrant story is another of my personal faves, and its awesome these are in the same universe.

[@cmdr.jabozerstorer3968]

I know those XCom-likes are all similar in regards to the combat but you should check out Phoenix Point. There's also Xenonauts 1 and 2 but they're more like the original UFO: Enemy Unknown games which later were rebooted into XCom. There's also XCom: Chimera Squad, which isn't very good. I also note no mention of Ultima. Infact, two of the Ultima games were similar to the Gold Box and Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder games.

[@DaRatier]

Can say considering the number of Goldbox games, it be better to do a retrospective then your usual 100% reviews. They are unique games that defined a lot of RPG gaming today. Yet be interesting to get a break down on them and how they stand to this day.

[@xGarrettThiefx]

The Gold Box CRPG's need a big video like you said, they're not for everyone one but they are very satisfying to play especially if you are of that vintage !

[@Zaqnak]

in FF12 Zodiac Age you can reduce max stats of Yiazmat which makes them do no damage and make them take more damage, then you can safely play it on 4x speed and be done with it in no time at all

[@mhjmstultiens]

Are you familiar with the Might & Magic CRPG series? Classics and specially part 3 and onwards they're very entertaining. I was also thinking Legends of Amberland (1/2), which mimic the M&M gameplay.

[@kirktown2046]

The original Exile games were some of the best CRPGS ever... The writing, the exploration... Oh gosh I'd love to see you go in and play them blind and persevere through with all the jank. Brutally difficult, but such a satisfying sense of progression.

[@Unknown-jt1jo]

The Exile/Avernum series captures the wonderfully grungy feeling of playing table-top RPGs in the 1970s and 1980s. In that sense, it was already nostalgic, since it was made in the mid-to-late 1990s.

[@perryshaffer8358]

It'd be interesting to see your take on the Might and Magic series of CRPGs. I remember playing them when they first came out on my 380/86. I also played the Gold Box games and Ultima with the same machine. I remember thinking the graphics were much better in M&M3 than, say, Pool of Radiance. Man, thanks for that Gold Box segment. It led me down a path of Memory Lane I haven't visited for a long time.

[@felixcortez7604]

Might & Magic 3 was mij first RPG and it was the best of the series

[@perryshaffer8358]

@@felixcortez7604 Though they were a step backward graphically, I thought M&M4+5 (World of Xeen) was pretty cool, too.

[@nickholk3379]

Love your channel and Happy New Year

[@MortismalGaming]

Happy new year!

[@kylesmith6081]

Path of the Midnight Sun is probably the older DnD game im most excited to hear about! I grew up hearing about this absolutely dark DnD setting and never got around to playing it myself!

[@Voeris1]

The quality of life improvements they added to Zodiac Age are great.. and not even in release, after they released the Switch version in an update.. now you can save 3 sets of gambits for each character.. and you can reset the Licence Board, so you don't feel so much pressure selecting jobs or Espers to assign.. Been meaning to start a new playthrough since then..