Computer Gaming
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Realms of Quest III on VIC-20
Ghislain has been very hard at work on an excellent old-school looking rpg VIC-20 homebrew.
Check out the thread here on Denial VIC-20 community.
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Chaotic Neutral Human Fighter/Ranger (3rd/2nd Level)
I did the What DnD character are you meme (130 odd questions)
Kinda odd coz thats the character I create in any CRPG that I can play (usually I pick ranger over fighter but dualclassing both is nice). My stats are a bit low :( doh!
I Am A: Chaotic Neutral Human Fighter/Ranger (3rd/2nd Level)
Ability Scores:
Strength-15
Dexterity-14
Constitution-15
Intelligence-14
Wisdom-15
Charisma-11
Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral A chaotic neutral character follows his whims. He is an individualist first and last. He values his own liberty but doesn’t strive to protect others’ freedom. He avoids authority, resents restrictions, and challenges traditions. A chaotic neutral character does not intentionally disrupt organizations as part of a campaign of anarchy. To do so, he would have to be motivated either by good (and a desire to liberate others) or evil (and a desire to make those different from himself suffer). A chaotic neutral character may be unpredictable, but his behavior is not totally random. He is not as likely to jump off a bridge as to cross it. Chaotic neutral is the best alignment you can be because it represents true freedom from both society’s restrictions and a do-gooder’s zeal. However, chaotic neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it seeks to eliminate all authority, harmony, and order in society.
Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.
Primary Class:
Fighters can be many things, from soldiers to criminal enforcers. Some see adventure as a way to get rich, while others use their skills to protect the innocent. Fighters have the best all-around fighting capabilities of the PC classes, and they are trained to use all standard weapons and armor. A fighter’s rigorous martial training grants him many bonus feats as he progresses, and high-level fighters have access to special melee maneuvers and exotic weapons not available to any other character.
Secondary Class:
Rangers are skilled stalkers and hunters who make their home in the woods. Their martial skill is nearly the equal of the fighter, but they lack the latter’s dedication to the craft of fighting. Instead, the ranger focuses his skills and training on a specific enemy a type of creature he bears a vengeful grudge against and hunts above all others. Rangers often accept the role of protector, aiding those who live in or travel through the woods. His skills allow him to move quietly and stick to the shadows, especially in natural settings, and he also has special knowledge of certain types of creatures. Finally, an experienced ranger has such a tie to nature that he can actually draw on natural power to cast divine spells, much as a druid does, and like a druid he is often accompanied by animal companions. A ranger’s Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.
Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus
Detailed Results: Alignment: Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (15) Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16) Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17) Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (22) True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (23) Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (24) Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXXXXX (9) Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Chaotic Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXX (11) Law & Chaos: Law ----- XXXXXXX (7) Neutral - XXXXXXXX (8) Chaos --- XXXXXXXXX (9) Good & Evil: Good ---- XXXXXXXX (8) Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (15) Evil ---- XX (2) Race: Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14) Dwarf ---- XXXXXXXX (8) Elf ------ XXXXXXXXXX (10) Gnome ---- XXXXXXXX (8) Halfling - XXXXXXXXXX (10) Half-Elf - XXXXXXXXXXX (11) Half-Orc - XX (2) Class: Barbarian - (-2) Bard ------ (-6) Cleric ---- (-2) Druid ----- (0) Fighter --- XX (2) Monk ------ (-13) Paladin --- (-21) Ranger ---- XX (2) Rogue ----- (-2) Sorcerer -- (0) Wizard ---- (0)
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Monday, February 04, 2008
Gates of Delirium update
I need to do an update to my Gates of Delirium saga on armchair arcade… I admit to being a bit lazy lately (ok, much has been happening in life) on the gaming front.. even tho its the only game I am playing right now 
if “playing” is the operative word.
Lets see if I can grind down and get another key and blog it for the ArmchairArcade,...
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Wednesday, April 04, 2007
GP2X dev : Fishguts I : Changes
I’ve been doing some minor alterations on Fishguts for the GP2X, I’ve changed a lot of my design and goals, and in doing so have gutted out all non-pc support, but don’t fear, GP2X + PSP support will be added back in.
I want to work to get a nice basic CRPG going (Its going to be very Ultima II + Ultima III style), this greatly simplifies combat (I envision Fishguts II to go party mode).
I’ve got some more code tools written in the process. I’m doing a lot of prebuilt data now, rather than have a cellular automata create random dungeons all the time, I’ve take that processing out and I am going to build a collection of about 256 random maps (256 of small maps, 256 medium, 256 large, 256 narrow+long, 256 short+wide), with my encoding + compression they are tiny, but it takes the pain out of the CA construction then doing flood fill testing for connectivity from entrance and exit.
I also have some tree conversation data in my scripts that my conversation and map compiler will turn into nice valid precompiled lua code.
This stops short circuiting and going from A to Z and asking about X, since unless someone tells you about X, Z will feign ignorance about said topic.
Take for example, digging for exotics in Ultima III, once you know where they are, you can always dig even if you have not talked to the people who have give you the clues to the location.
By ripping out the GP2X code I will get a good PC interface, then I can do a separate GP2X/PSP interface. Right now its a GP2X interface on a PC which does not work well/intuitively.
I need to work on some more tile graphics first, I’m going to add some more varied things (bridges, etc) and some other stuff. I’m thinking of going back to black backed tiles so there is a more uniform look to the maps than have water an entire blue tile, that makes everything very blocky/chunky and squarely defined.. This means redoing all my tiles.
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Friday, March 23, 2007
Gaming pundits
Apparently I’m not as interested in online game as the pundits seem to think I should be. I’m all for the free online gaming experience, ie: diablo was ok.. But I’m certainly not going to be paying monthly fees for something I will use twice a month.
GameTap looks awesome, and I really want to play some of those classic games, and its even worth booting into windows to play it but, again, Im not going to pay monthly subscription fees for something I want to use twice a month.
Game Publishers used to be happy you purchased the game for 60$-100$, but now they want you to pay that AND the monthly fee, and buy the online extras (Psst Kid, want the new costume? secret level? pay here)..
You have to pay programmers, artists, musicians etc… I survived on the drek pumped out on the C64 and loved it (yeah there was real trash but there was the unquantifiable awesomeness as well), but yet cant really get excited about any of the high-gloss drek pumped out now.
Maybe that’s why I own a GP2X so I can write my own RPG drek with 16 colour graphics and play the Vice C64 emulator.
I owned a dreamcast for all of a week (played+beat soul calibur then sold it), have never owned any other console. Wont be buying a PS3 or xbox360 or Wii.
What’s wrong with me that I dont like gaming and consoles and online play! Im supposed to have given my left nut to own a Wii/Xbox/PlayStation…
Maybe I am the forgotten niche gamer, I never really made it out of the early-mid 90’s…
Why would I want to care about online persistent worlds making online fleeting 5 minute friends and meeting people who’s sole intent is to kill you and spoil any game play your trying to invoke.
Jaded crotchety old geezer that I am…
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Monday, February 19, 2007
Some rose tinted memories of CRPGs
After Matts couple of CRPG articles, I’ve sat down and thought through rose tinted memories on my favourite CRPG titles, time for some armchair commentary on my favourite golden age CRPG’s.
Magic Candle, Wasteland, Questron II, Curse of the Azure Bonds + Pool of Radiance, Eye of the Beholder, Bards Tale II, Ultima III, Demons Winter.That’s quite a range of CRPG’s; we have good old CGA graphics of Ultima III up to the VGA of Eye of the Beholder. So what makes them all enjoyable as each other?
Each of my favourites brought something special with them and they are all pretty unique when implementations are compared to each other.
Implementation Info
- Mapping heavy games, Bards Tale II, Eye of the Beholder
- Strategically Combat heavy games, PoR, Azure Bonds
- Light Strategic Combat, Ultima III, Magic Candle, Demons Winter
- PrePlan Ahead combat, Wasteland, Bards Tale II
- Strongly skill-based games, Wasteland, Magic Candle
- Pseudo 3D graphics, Eye of the Beholder, PoR, Azure Bonds, Bards Tale
- Top down tile graphics, Magic Candle, Wasteland, Demons Winter, Ultima III, Questron II
- Single Player Character, Questron II
- Party Based Players, Magic Candle, Wasteland, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Pool of Radiance, Eye of the Beholder, Bards Tale II, Ultima III, Demons Winter.
Technical Breakdown
- CGA Graphics : Ultima III
- EGA Graphics : Ultima III, Magic Candle, Wasteland, Questron II, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Pool of Radiance, Bards Tale II, Ultima III, Demons Winter.
- VGA Graphics : Eye of the Beholder
EGA in this instance refers to IBM PC EGA and Commodore 64 16 colour graphics (Which is also why Ultima III is listed twice as I played it on the C64 and PC).
One thing they all have in common is the Epic(tm) storyline.
Sequels, Sequels, Sequels...
Not all sequels are good. Magic Candle I for instance is head and shoulders above its two sequels. MC II+III took everything that made part I great and.. screwed it up big time. Apart from stepping up to VGA 256 colour graphics, they were more of the same with extra monotony. The gold box games died after Azure Bonds. Bards Tale III and II were just more of the same as I. Wizardry II+III were designed as add-ons to part I and not really separate games.
The Ultima series is the only game with real progression in its sequels up to a point, Part of that was Richard Garriots insistence each game have a new engine, hence we have two parts to VII rather than the second part being number VIII.
So in no specific ranking order, lets bust out some rose tinted commentary;
Ultima III
I list Ultima III as my fav, I also love VI but can take or leave every other Ultima. A lot of people rave on and on about how great U-VII was and U-IV but for me, U-III is really the bomb. By the time of Ultima III they had worked the rough edges off Ultima II and honed it into a good, focused game.
Through these rose tinted memories, Ultima III really captured my imagination; I had an entire continent to wander around, with its own individual towns and people in them that I could talk to. I was mesmerized by the scale of it all... And then to find the hidden continent through the whirlpool! I remember writing down all the clues people said in every town, taking copious amounts of notes.
The story unfolded piecemeal, bit by bit as the player explored the land and dungeons. The hallmark of the epic discovery.
I have somewhere in my parents house, old notebooks filled with character conversation and notes on what everyone said to keep track of all my clues and who said what about what/whom.
Magic Candle
Magic Candle for me, picked up where Ultima III left off, there was a unique story, an epic epic epic sized world, an abundance of people to talk to in all the different towns. A real night and day time system, skills for earning money. Its biggest disappointment was its dungeons. Very tiny and poorly done fake isometrics, were the only blight on an otherwise superb game.
MC1 introduced some nice little touches into the game play, like the washed out bridge that needed ropes to get across. Finding mushroom patches on the map to save you spending money on them in town.
Trying to earn money was really annoying, but at least you could leave someone working in the gem shop while the rest go off and do other things.
The continent also felt huge and immersive. Trying to travel from one side of the map to the other took an age making it feel big. Finding hidden caches of mushrooms and the washed out bridges were cool. I also loved that you didn’t know who was in the overland combat, just that a skull bones icon would advance toward you on the map.
Wasteland
Wasteland had an awesome skill system and very open play, and what’s more, there is no dwarves and lots of napalm! The quality really shines in this game, and it should, since some of its designers were none other than folk who worked on the Tunnels and Troll tabletop rule set. Blood Sausage indeed.
Sometimes you wanted to punch out the AI. Some NPC's were notorious for unloading full clips of ammunition when a little less would have sufficed.
Hands up how many of you shot Red Ryder in Highpool? This game had so many interesting things to do, and was probably the first game to really use skills in a way that was not tacked on as an extra. Another well done piece was the ability to split the party up (and a requirement to win the game).
Using the same combat engine as Bards Tale II made the game enjoyable. I’m not sure a tactical 2d icon combat system would have worked as well (Plus you wouldn’t get those neat animated portraits).
Questron II
This is a really cool beginner crpg, being neither too easy nor too hard. The interface is basic, and with a minor number of arms and armour to choose from, there is nothing overwhelming. It’s a single player game and I remember thinking it was neat to see your glowing white PC icon walk animatedly in each direction rather than being a static square. Its a little schizophrenic in its 3d dungeons in the second part of the game can be quite hard for the unprepared, and are a stark contrast to the early game.
Curse of the Azure Bonds + Pool of Radiance
CotAB Is my fav as they refined the engine, but Pool really kicked it off. So much has been written in the past about Pool of Radiance. The unfolding epic mystery story of "The Boss" was classic AD&D stuff. A much more advanced Wizards Crown combat engine was awesome for tactical combat.
I really loved that the town clerk would offer you a couple of quests and you could pick and choose what you would do and in what order, and just exploring everything from the interior maps to the overland and finding the Lizardman Castle really opened up the scope of the game. I remember being offered the Valhingen Graveyard quest early in the game and how seriously hard it was to complete, that it was mostly recommended you complete it practically at the end of the game.
Some of the odd things (character portraits you created for your characters that you never saw after you created them), were dropped and some things (the 'fix' command) were refined in the progression of the Gold Box games.
The biggest thing they didn’t get correct was the PC scaling between games. You start in PoR as a level 1 weakling. Azure Bonds would knock you back some when you imported, and by the time of the third game, Secret of the Silverblades you were godlike so they knocked you back again.
The range of monsters from the start of the game to the end were so wide that AD&D couldn't scale the monsters up the way the PC's scaled from game to game.
They tried to fix it by starting new series with some success (The first two Krynn gold box games), and the Frontier series (the most overlooked of the gold box series). They even tried to go to VGA and digitized music with the last entries (Pools of Darkness, Treasures of the Savage Frontier, and Dark Queen of Krynn in that order).
It didn’t help that Secret of the Silverblades was seriously lacking, in story and direction / level design.
Pool of Radiance was really something else though at the time.
Eye of the Beholder
Most people call me crazy for putting this ahead of Dungeon Master. Yes DM is a really super awesome puzzle fest, but I never liked the interface. Certainly on the PC EoB had better graphics and sound compared to DM, and DM really felt like a poor ST/Amiga port (and it was) on the PC.
I don’t remember ever wanting to head butt a monitor so bad as when I won this game and got its notorious ending. What a letdown with the rest of the games cinematics, sound effects and wonderful hand drawn vga artwork.
The biggest pimple on this game is its reliance on rations and making you eat all the time. Sure you had a create food cleric spell but it detracted from the game (much as it does in nethack and crawl).
Dungeon Master really spawned its own little type of genre (DM, Eye of Beholder, Captive, Bloodwych, Black Crypt, Ishar, Lands of Lore, etc) The majority of folks being on the Dungeon Master side of the table, me, I like the Eyes...
Bards Tale II
The bards tale games were masochistic games for those who liked mazes and mapping. More like Dungeon Master without the 3Dness.
Some of the clues were pretty cunning, requiring you to look over your handmade graph paper map to see what clues were spelt out in the maze designs. It also liked to throw riddles at you to let you proceed or get access to other parts.
For all its hindered and fifty odd monsters, they managed to share a limited number of animated portraits, which kind of worn on you pretty quick.
Just imagine a modern day game making you draw your own maps! People would riot because the game doesn’t play itself for you.
This game was all about masochism, from mapping to combat.
Demons Winter
I love this game, and I don’t know why, since there is so much wrong with it, I can only put it down to truly rose colored glasses. Don’t get me wrong, its a fun game, but really has some glaring faults. It could have been so much more.
One thing I liked in this game that’s not so apparent in other CRPG's is its usage of items. The dungeons have quite a few items that you need to use in them, for example in the first dungeon you (should) do, there are keys, mallets, serums etc, and each one provides different clues. Use the key on the rat cage, and the rat runs through the wall showing you a false wall. Use the mallet on the coffin and the serum and revive one of the prisoners and get more info. It adds more to the game play and makes the dungeons less boring. It gives each dungeon more purpose than just trying to find the exit or the stairs down.
What I didn’t like was the maze in the first dungeon, draws wall tiles all around you, but the ones you can pass through have 1 pixel different from solid wall tiles... I never figured this out until recently (on an LCD screen) as my screen was never big enough / sharp enough to tell there was a difference! ARGH!
Demons Winter does have a great list of skills, classes and attributes which makes it interesting (Want a fighter with a dedicated kungfu skill?). Several different magic spell systems (Fire, Wind, Earth, Iron, Spirit)
Being a sequel, it was also more interesting to play if you had played the Shard of Spring, it was the same land, same towns, same landmarks, only you had more than one continent to explore.
Another cool event happens in this game, the entire continent freezes over... you'd best be prepared. Time does matter here so if you have not got your characters ready when it happens, you might need to start again (Although this huge event doesn’t trigger until much later in the game).
Closing
All of my favorite games have some serious flaws, and all contain things that today’s gamer would just not stand for (taking notes? making ones own maps! preposterous!). But none of it diminishes my rose tinted memories.
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Tags: Classic Games • CRPG
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