[Nav_Panel]

Really liked this post, thanks for sharing all the references. I actually did a similar project recently of playing a lot of classic JRPGs, but my research only culminated in a blogpost (https://snav.substack.com/p/26-analysis-rainbow-silkroad) rather than any sort of actual project -- the filesystem RPG is a very cool idea!! Would be fun to get some autogenerated fs dungeons :)

[msla]

The "mercantile RPG" genre sounds a bit like "Drug Wars" or "Taipan!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_Wars_%28video_game%29

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipan%21

[zer0tonin]

That's funny, I remember playing a little bit of a Silkroad themed (MMO)RPG as a teenager (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silkroad_Online). I wonder if this game inspired it somehow.

[moritonal]

Fantastic game. Only thing free my friend and I could play so we'd play nonstop for a summer or two. Learning basic business sense running a shop outside the safe towns was one of those cool things MMOs can really offer. Support harp class was OP as all hell.