Console RPG Battle 1982

This will probably be the least popular "year battle" poll yet but hopefully there are some people here that have played both games or at least want to discuss.

This poll's for what I'm pretty sure were the first two turn-based console RPGs, Starpath/Stephen Landrum's Dragonstomper for the 2600's Supercharger add-on and Mattel/Tom Loughry's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin for the Intellivision.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...stomperbox.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...mperscreen.png



http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../Tarminbox.gif
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...rminscreen.png


Tarmin is often listed as a 1983 game so it may have come out then but since I'm not sure and both games have 1982 copyrights, that's what I'll go by for this thread.

I have a tough time picking between them because they were both really cool and groundbreaking but in different ways.

Tarmin has a major graphics advantage with its 3d-ish dungeons plus the keypad allowed for a wide variety of commands on different buttons. On the other hand, Dragonstomper is a more varied game in that it has item shops and other NPC encounters. It even lets do a few things multiple ways like bribing a guard or finding ID papers.

Given the usual aging of the RPG genre, there's no way these games will have the same impact for someone playing them way late but they're still playable. The lack of saves means you don't have to invest insane amounts of time into them. Dragonstomper's more accessible to play without a manual because it uses in-game text. I didn't play it until a few years ago and it impressed me. Tarmin I have lots of childhood nostalgia for. Trying to be objective, I think these are close to being equals so I'm going to let my fondness for Tarmin be the tie-breaker.

Dragonstomper for me. I loved the multiple solutions.

I was about to go WAT WHERES WIZARDRY II until I re-read the thread title and noticed "console".

i think it's awesome that a game called dragon stomper even exists.

fuck dragons

How many people actually own a Starpath?

I'd lived in a small town, where the device never was available. I'd read about it in the original Electronic Games.

My neighbor had an Intellevision and one AD&D game. It wasn't that game though.

Treasure of Tarmin for me, though it's admittedly the one I have more experience with. Just seemed very playable and easy to jump into.

I'd be lying if I said I'd heard of either of those. So I vote Dragonstomper on name basis alone.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gamevet

My neighbor had an Intellevision and one AD&D game. It wasn't that game though.

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Yeah, Tarmin's the second AD&D game for the system. The first was the action-adventure game simply called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and later renamed AD&D: Cloudy Mountain. Both games were originally going to be new properties but ended up getting D&D licenses put on them.

Both of these games came out before I was born and I never played either, so I can't say much! But that Tarmin screenshot is very interesting. Is the whole game in that perspective? Before we had an NES my sister and I played the shit out of our Odyssey2 and the InTV the neighbors had. I remember getting really nervous when monsters were around in Cloudy Mountain, and going back to look at screenshots of what scared me so much recently has been... interesting, to say the least. :D Most of my time with the system was spent playing Boxing, though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Grave

But that Tarmin screenshot is very interesting. Is the whole game in that perspective?

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Yep, the whole time except when checking the map.

Option 3: the player?