I loved that! "If you're wondering why we claim Grimoire is one of the greatest classic style fantasy roleplaying games ever created, look at this comparison with other classic RPGs and decide for yourself if Grimoire really is the largest, richest, most detailed and complex computer roleplaying game ever made." My God he's got an ego. And on a note similar to yours, what is he doing in World of Xeen that takes him 300+hours?

Also speaking of that table, does anyone know what "autowalk" is?

The pitch video is hilarious

Best pitch video ever

The guy does come across as a little insane. I'm looking forward to this.

I'm amazed this guy has got as much pledged as he has. The sad thing is, the game actually looks pretty good... that's providing it ever gets finished.

It's real, and fun. I don't see how all those videos on youtube of gameplay could somehow be faked.

I remember following Grimoire's progress online back then for what seemed like an eternity. Fairly certain I downloaded the demo, too...I seem to remember it running slow on my computer. Yeah, go ahead & u/l the demo, I'd like to give it another try.

http://www.mediafire.com/?caa9fg6c7p6l4qt

The installer automatically installs Grimoire demo with some version of DOSBox (I think), with a shortcut and all, but it didn't work for me when I first tried to run it (maybe because I have a 64 bit OS).

Just install it, then use DOSBox to run "GRIMOIRE.EXE" in the folder where you installed it, it will run fine that way. I attached a screenshot of the beta, you'll notice the art looks different because it got redone later.

I just gave that demo a quick spin and surprisigly enough there's a game there. Not spectaculary awesome even in the 90's standards, but possibly an okay game with a bit frustrating combat system and silly world that seems to borrow heavily from every source you can come up with.

Well apparently the game has changed a lot since 1996, but I guess we'll only know when it comes out.

And yeah regarding the sources, Cleve stated on the Codex that he did borrow from everywhere from early Walt Disney, Larry Niven, Wizardry, etc. Apparently most of the game is scenarios and characters he created from D&D sessions when he was young.

You can see gameplay videos of the "new" Grimoire here:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx9XO24DuuEjagFfU4tNnNtqjd3tQAdaz&feature=plcp

The sad thing is that the game itself looks like just like the stuff I've been wishing for someone to make. If this were on Kickstarter, I might pitch in a little bit.

Wow, he really knows how to promote his game.

This is post mady by him in that RPGwatch linked thread after someone people mentioned, they won't pre-order it but only buy it after it's out:

Originally Posted by Cleveland Mark Blakemore View Post
"Because of crap like this, I'm seriously going to make this game Kickstarter-pledged only. If you guys are lucky you may be able to get a lite version a couple years from now. Initial copies will be going to those who paid for them. So I guess you won't be playing Grimoire for a couple of decades if ever. "


Way to convince people. :-)

I did some searching and it does look like mr. Blakemore is seen as sort of a joke and I really can't blame people for having that view considering that he's been doing the game from the 90's and post boned its relese several times.

The way I see it he simply has too ambitious idea for the game and I don't see how that would translate into a coherent gaming experience.

From what I've heard from the beta testers, the game is actually good --very good. It just needs a little bit of finished touches and it's done. Which apparently has been its status for several years now. Some people are bad at finishing stuff, I guess. Sheesh, 17 years! That's half of my life!

Hm, maybe I should watch the video more thoroughly... I had a quick look at it and wasn't sure if this is a joke project. It looks crappy (in a weird way, not just old... I played World of Xeen using DosBox and enjoyed it - though I don't share the enthusiasm for this kind of games), and the gameplay did not seem convincing either. The "spectacular" numbers came across as a joke, but the guy seemed serious enough, which made the pitch look rather silly in my eyes. Guess I'm just not in the target audience...

edit: Oh, and I completely agree with the person who questioned the 300+ hours of gameplay in World of Xeen. What did he do all that time?