Since it looks like modern RPGs are increasingly drawing their inspiration from videogames, which were in turn inspired by RPGs -- I thought it might be interesting to look at another game that was inspired by Dungeons & Dragons back in the early 80s: Dragon's Lair!

This game was a *massive* hit when it came out in 1983 -- at the height of D&D's pop-culture success.  When it was finally my turn to play in a game (instead of DMing) my first character was a Fighter... named Dirk.

I never finished Dragon's Lair in the arcade (who could afford THAT?), so it was fun to find these clips on YouTube of someone completing the game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnmsgo_4RIY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o_5YowuzuY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5nZUgnFxO4

What I really noticed was how much more important the environment was than the monsters in the dungeon, and how many of the challenges you had to overcome were based on traps, tricks, and the dungeon itself rather than combat.

Watching gameplay footage from Dragon's Lair reminds me of my D&D experiences a lot more than what I see in WoW Footage.

If you're wondering how you can make a dungeon dangerous instead of just adding more and more monsters to it -- there are some excellent tips in these video clips.

I so wanted to play that when it came out.  Alas, my area's arcades never got their hands on the machine.  I wonder how much it would cost now or there is emulation software...

You can get it on HD DVD for the XBox 360.

"Remastered from the original film, this all new 1080p High Definition transfer is the first HD game for your HD DVD player.  The classic laserdisc arcade game is packed full of extras in full HD. "

http://www.digitalleisure.com/contents/DVDRom_games.htm

Widescreen Dragon's Lair HD Trailer  - (1920x1080- 16:9 @ 8/mbps) (.wmv)
Trailer on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLgF_kQT6wA

Quote from: StuartI never finished Dragon's Lair in the arcade (who could afford THAT?), so it was fun to find these clips on YouTube of someone completing the game:

One of the people in my role-playing group did.  He also completed Space Ace and could play Defender for hours.  I think he spent hundreds of dollars getting that good because, well, ATMs were also becoming common around the same time.

Dragon's Lair cost 2 quarters a game -- and if you didn't know the patterns you were supposed to use, you died... a lot... and quickly.

Those 2 quarters got you a lot more gaming on other machines.

Quote from: StuartIf you're wondering how you can make a dungeon dangerous instead of just adding more and more monsters to it -- there are some excellent tips in these video clips.

That is exactly what I'd hope the WotC team was thinking of with 4e's new traps. Except with lots of juicy damage instead of insta-death. Dirk was backed by one hell of a Cleric...that worked for, what was it 50 cent/3 Resurrections or something? I only ever played it once, on a shopping day in the big city.

Whether they hit it or not? :shrug: But yeah that'd be pretty cool. Middle of the fight jumping over a pit of lava, and ducking under spears coming out of the walls, and then whipping around to splitting open some Orc's mellon.