Your first CRPG?

[Naniyue]

  Unless you count a couple of brief classroom excursions with Adventure to Atlantis on the Apple IIe (monochrome) back in 1986, my first CRPG was Wizardry on the NES.  It was on sale, and I could just barely afford it.  Swords and Serpents was also available, but something told me to get Wizardry.  I did play Swords and Serpents later, and actually liked it, but I am glad I cut my CRPG teeth on a colorful and sonorous version of Wizardry.

  Maybe this is partially why I tend to shy away from most JRPGs, as I feel the first person perspective is more immersive.  This led me to my second CRPG, the NES version of Might & Magic, which soon became my favorite classic series.

  What was your baptismal CRPG?

[_joshuaTurbo]

My first ever was Bard's Tale on NES. I thought it was super cool, and I loved the party system. I had a hard time getting into games where you started by yourself, or never had people join your party.

[Naniyue]

Translation of the Famicom version of The Bard's Tale, bringing back content cut from the US release:

https://www.romhacking.net/translations/7179/


The NES really did have some interesting first person RPGs:

Deep Dungeon III, English translated.  Be sure to get the bug fixes and graphics changes.
Deep Dungeon IV, English translated.  You start out with one character but gain more.
Might & Magic, of course! Again you start with one character but can VERY quickly get more at the inn.  There's also a restoration patch, if you like.
Swords & Serpents.  Up to four human players! Or control all four solo.

Anyone else?  In addition to The Bard's Tale, I was thinking that Ultima or Wasteland would have been mentioned by now!  Or even the SSI gold box games.  Of course, Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior/Quest on the Japanese side of things.

[Naniyue]

Phantasy Star?  The Black Onyx?  Fallout?

I'm really surprised to not see more replies!  It doesn't have to be old stuff!  If your first was, say, Octopath Traveler, that's OK!!

[Necromancer]

I don't know for certain what would've been my first, but I've never been a fan of trying to wrangle a bunch of stats.  Might and Magic 3 on Turbob was likely the first game that I put much time into, though I never finished it.

[Naniyue]

  MM3 was long and tough, especially if played hardcore style!  I think the graphics actually look better on the Turbo than in the original PC version!!

  How about action RPGs, then, like Ys, Daggerfall, Fallout 3, or even Diablo?  As long as there's enough of both stat progression and NPC interaction, it will count.

[Necromancer]

For less stat heavy RPGs, I'm sure Ys was the first for Turbo, seeing as it came with the Duo.  As a young robot of limited means, I didn't have a ton of games early on, but eventually added Ys 3, Dragon Slayer, Order of the Griffon, Theron's Quest, and the aforementioned M&M3.

Prior to the Duo, it would've been the Final Fantasy games on GB.

[Naniyue]

Final Fantasy Legend (Saga) 1 and 2 on GB were nice.  The third one had it's problems, though.  Final Fantasy Adventure was good too, and actually has been colorized, among other things.  The FFL 1 port for the Wonderswan Color has been translated, and is a nice upgrade to the original.