A 3D indie RPG with old-school flavor and a tongue firmly planted in its cheek. Frayed Knights: The Skull of S'makh-Daon features turn-based combat, over a hundred spells (mostly upgradable), over 80 skills (feats), dozens of monsters, and 30+ hours of gameplay. It also features new innovations like the Drama Star system to provide an incentive to play through setbacks rather than reloading, and a detailed trap-disarming / lockpicking mini-game. Now available for Windows XP and above.
This is a very good game with a few innovations (drama star, detailed lock picking, comic-style character talking, etc) that actually *do* add to the experience and aren't just there for the sake of being there. The game has some dated graphics, but i think it looks on par with classics such as Might and Magic 6 which were made by teams much larger than Rampant Games (...that is mostly Jay Barnson with external contributors).
Writing humor is hard because while people fear and mostly want the same things, their sense of humor depends on so many factors of their life and knowledge that is very hard to find topics that have a wide appeal and are not based in total silliness. Still Jay did a good job with the writing in Frayed Knights and while things aren't perfect, they will have you chuckling almost every time the characters open their mouths - or actually, show their text balloons :-P.
Do not be fooled by the humor, though. In Frayed Knights the humor is just the icing on the cake. Below the humorous surface lies a deep and complex RPG, especially for those the magic aspect of these games. This is an important point to keep in mind because Jay could simply use simplistic mechanics and depend solely on the story and humor - and the game could still work. But he didn't do that and the game stands on its own while adds to the replay value (after all in a story driven game once you finish the game, you don't have much incentive to replay it).
I think that if you found Wizardry, Might and Magic or any other similar game interesting, you should check out Frayed Knights's demo. It shows what the game is all about and by itself will take one or two hours to finish.
It's great:D
Fun, snarky, humorous, old-school! Great entertainment! Can't wait for the sequel!
A great turn-based blob RPG. An excerpt from my review for it:
I loved this game. It's what I've been waiting for since Wizardry 8 or even the end of the Quest for Glory series. It's a turn-based "blob" RPG set in a quirky setting where adventuring is a lifestyle choice. Even if you don't like games that aren't serious in nature there is still a wonderful "blob" combat RPG here. On my second playthrough, I skipped past all of the dialogues because I knew them all and I still enjoyed the combat portion of the game immensely. I'm now on my third playthrough and still skipping past the dialogues and still enjoying the heck out it.
If you want a more detailed review of the game head on over to Gamebanshee or RPGWatch.
Five page review from Gamebanshee: Gamebanshee.com
Two reviews for Frayed Knights from RPGWatch: Rpgwatch.com