I kind of want to play it again. When I was a kid my dad would bring home the old computers when his office upgraded, so I had a 386 when the Pentiums were announced. I didn't care; I loved that computer and installed SB16 with the money I saved up so I could play Rebel Assault. The game barely ran, so I spent a lot of time fucking around with the bundle software.

well, the zork trilogy did come out around that time.. I didn't play them until at least the early 90s, but there was something magical about them. I got RTZ later and it really wasn't the world I had envisioned, even though it was a wonderful game. I guess it's like watching a movie and then reading the novel. But yeah, overall I'd say 90s ruled over 80s.

The Zork games for the most part aren't really RPGs in any true sense of the genre though. They're puzzle-based text adventures. Beyond Zork has some minor RPG elements in it (in that you have D&D-type stats that affect which paths you can take through some of the puzzles) and Return to Zork was the classic Zork formula but with shitty acting.

I suspect those nerds might be way into Ultima.

Oh yeah. Ultima 8.