[Toblakai]

in reply to: Ultima Series #2318

Thanks for the lengthy replies. I think I will see if I can find Ultima IV. The screenshots of 1-3 make me hesitant to invest any time in it. I did really like the story in UUW and liked the “open world” play style. Unfortunately it was a huge time sink and you really needed to keep notes. U IV will probably be the same.

Edit:

Alright, I downloaded the game from GOG for free and started it. Really needed the manual and reference card to understand the interface. The Map provided with the game seems totally useless and written in their runic alphabet too. The in game map does not show town names, which is annoying for new players as they are not familiar with the map, but this is probably a technical limitation of the hardware at the time.

The partial text interface makes the conversations a bit basic, just pumping everyone for information. Also I died in the game, due to lack of eating or lack of sleep I guess. Is there a hint that you need to do this? Because it was just game over and zap to lord Briton. I understand you need to seek him out anyway, but this feels like the wrong way to reach him. Right I’ll restart my game once more and see if I fare better this time around.

[Toblakai]

in reply to: Ultima Series #2314

I still have UW: Stygian Abyss in my dosbox folder. It runs well in it, though the rendered graphics screen in the UI is hilariously small by today’s standards. I liked this game and managed to finish it with some walkthrough help.

I never played any of the other iterations. Is there one that stands out as the ultimate Ultima game? I might have to try more of them. The Coles said in the interview episode that Hero Quest/Quest for Glory was a “response” in part to the ultima series, so there must be something here that is worth a podcast.

[Toblakai]

in reply to: Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty #2313

You are right. Even though I played Dune 2 through recently, the unit interface is horrendous. And despite the 1.6 version I had, sometimes the map still had building and unit limits depending on the amount of units and buildings the AI had. It is quite annoying in the later missions that you have to destroy enemy buildings to finish your base. Also waiting to build units after the enemy rush.

I have never heard of legacy, is it on gog or steam?

Dune 1 might be the better option, also liked that game a lot, played though it several times. Strange hybrid RTS with RPG. The RPG element was small and the RTS quite weird compared to other RTS games. Quite a unique blend. And atmospheric as hell, good music, great art etc. I remember a summary of the book in the game although they changed the story to fit the game events. And having read the book and seen the movie, yes this game captures way more of that than Dune 2

Dune 2000 is thankfully beyond this project. A command and clone version of dune 2 that was too difficult for me to finish. It had some of the atmosphere but it felt somewhat paint by numbers.

[Toblakai]

in reply to: Populous, and other Bullfrog classics #2303

Talking about bullfrog games, how about Syndicate?

It had good 3d graphics for the time, but I remember it mostly for the distopian futurescape. It had atmosphere in spades.

[Toblakai]

in reply to: Tie Fighter #2281

I have seen X-wing played and was stunned by the 3d space graphics back then. I played X-Wing vs Tie Fighter myself and its campaign Balance of Power. Only reason I own a joystick. But I think this was from the windows 95 era and so beyond the scope of this podcast/forum.

[Toblakai]

in reply to: Ducktales : The Quest for Gold #2278

Hello, just found this podcast and I love it already. Seem like I missed some really great games last year..

Just re-downloaded this game to show to my kids. And I remember that even in the days I owned a 386 with a switch for 12 or 33 mhz the game had speed issues in the mountain and jungle levels, when it would sometimes speed up. No bugfixes in those days. I run it at 5000 cycles in dosbox and it operates like it did back then.

I still find the labyrinths the most difficult, though i think the levels are fixed per location like mountains are, so once you have found a safe path, it will always be like that. I just don’t care enough to write them down, plenty of treasure elsewhere.

Hard mode is still pretty hard, although that is mostly due to crashing your plane in impossible to pass levels with Mcscrooge flying past all the hazards. Ever came across some aliens camping a radio mast with a storm cloud above it? Pass that Mcquack.