tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post4985347304251137623..comments2024-03-29T02:34:55.592-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Game 371: Amberstar (1992)CRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-83379962899677891682023-09-18T21:44:21.471-04:002023-09-18T21:44:21.471-04:00I recall seeing the quotation dash in South Africa...I recall seeing the quotation dash in South African and French literature, though the double-chevron was more common in French. Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09703211229982182936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-11026244979931821582023-09-15T12:26:58.506-04:002023-09-15T12:26:58.506-04:00In Italy the dash was often used for dialogue text...In Italy the dash was often used for dialogue text too. But it was mainly a formatting convention used in the past. As far as I can tell from my books, the use of dash was abandoned in the '80s. Now dialogue lines use double quotes or << ... >>Nifftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-78437600697838970942023-03-07T10:00:20.119-05:002023-03-07T10:00:20.119-05:00I like Shards of Yendor. Makes me think of Ultima ...I like Shards of Yendor. Makes me think of Ultima Online.Zack Macomberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18077050078436768492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-43339305630201286292022-10-10T11:52:00.805-04:002022-10-10T11:52:00.805-04:00"Town exploration is accompanied by a theme-a..."Town exploration is accompanied by a theme-and-variations composition. [...] the game gets praised for its music, and I wanted you to know I took time to listen and analyze before turning it off permanently"<br /><br />I guess that's better than nothing so we shouldn't complain. Nevertheless, the praise probably refers to the soundtrack as a whole, composed of 20+ different tracks. Therefore, not sure how much of the full picture a single one can provide (might depend on the degree in variation in style etc. among the pieces).<br /><br />However, reading your final rating post on this game later - "Music fans will bump up this category a couple of points for the sheer variety of quality compositions (although a fair number appear to have been at least partly plagiarized) that play in different situations." - it sounds as if in the end maybe you did check them all out, even if only briefly?Buscanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-74657851242458812902022-02-18T05:35:15.953-05:002022-02-18T05:35:15.953-05:00Game of Thrones had a bard called Marillion. That ...Game of Thrones had a bard called Marillion. That fits better than a knight.Mazzyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11245948513812229763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-68372534937938315812020-09-02T20:10:52.750-04:002020-09-02T20:10:52.750-04:00That was my initial reaction as well... Oh, the me...That was my initial reaction as well... Oh, the memories!King Tutnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-32503026229482523432020-08-28T06:44:33.962-04:002020-08-28T06:44:33.962-04:00Back in those day, we called the game "Bugsta...Back in those day, we called the game "Bugstar", because noone I know was ever able to finish it. However, the one thing I still remember about the game, is its absolutely stunning music! In my memory it was truly magic and I didn't notice that it loops every 90 seconds :DKalvasflamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-28042708847463392542020-06-30T21:14:51.986-04:002020-06-30T21:14:51.986-04:00I kind of think "Shards of Yendor" would...I kind of think "Shards of Yendor" would work well. ;)Don Alsafihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02444013338961937244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-91966560771224163892020-06-30T15:53:51.431-04:002020-06-30T15:53:51.431-04:00Those rough edges in DOS were not that big a deal....Those rough edges in DOS were not that big a deal. Pretty much everything was little more complicated than keeping a post-it with your sound card settings, and the biggest hassle was just freeing up enough Conventional Memory before DOS Extenders were invented.<br /><br />For outliers like Ultima VII, a bootdisk was a viable solution. I remember that I set up a ton of nested config files selected from a on-boot menu, but I was strange.Gnomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13920812227941556716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-81225300910612283392020-06-30T15:12:14.329-04:002020-06-30T15:12:14.329-04:00↑↑↑ SPOILER ALERT ↑↑↑↑↑↑ SPOILER ALERT ↑↑↑Finckinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-18720792467281948872020-06-30T15:11:21.845-04:002020-06-30T15:11:21.845-04:00↑↑↑ SPOILER ALERT ↑↑↑↑↑↑ SPOILER ALERT ↑↑↑Finckinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-37847173663205428762020-06-30T14:53:24.606-04:002020-06-30T14:53:24.606-04:00At the inn in the town to the north you can get a ...At the inn in the town to the north you can get a couple more companions, one of which will be immensely helpful when you're starting out.Lars Hnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-17079663857998351162020-06-30T08:04:28.974-04:002020-06-30T08:04:28.974-04:00Your chance to hit depends on the attack ability (...Your chance to hit depends on the attack ability (ATT). You can raise abilities at the guild when levelling up, depending in your class. The game isn't fully clear about that beforehand, but you can join only one guild per character.<br />Your damage is mainly dependant on weapon and other equipment and displayed in the inventory with a sword symbol.sucinumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14198771998880365061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-72192387083376914802020-06-30T04:38:51.377-04:002020-06-30T04:38:51.377-04:00The Wikipedia has some more info on that in the Qu...The Wikipedia has some more info on that in the Quotation mark article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark#Quotation_dash<br /><br />It is common in some languages, but details vary. The Polish convention, for example, is to replace all but the last quotation mark in the line with quotation dash; this is easy to notice in the lines when there is both character speech and narrator speech. For example:<br /><br /> - I seek love and truth - said Avatar.<br /> - And what about courage? - Lord British asked - Thou shall not forget courage.<br /><br />I actually like that convention much better than English use of quotation marks, especially single quotation marks, which look very similar to apostrophes, but I admit that it might be because I've been reading books in Polish for a decade before I started reading books in English.KarbonKittynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-89523100919369287762020-06-29T23:38:52.853-04:002020-06-29T23:38:52.853-04:00Ha. I had the manual for a different game opened a...Ha. I had the manual for a different game opened accidentally. I thought it was going to take 100 xp, or about 200 rats.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-6120029352329653632020-06-29T23:20:37.023-04:002020-06-29T23:20:37.023-04:00I understood that. However, I had just completed t...I understood that. However, I had just completed the second chapter of legend of heroes trails in the sky where I was literally doing local quests that in the end tied together with the overarching one so I had to bring it up. Also I'm like the LOOM(tm) sailor for this game so I'm sure you'll hear me bring it up a few more times until you give in and play it...Gamerindreamsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-28313545007130003902020-06-29T22:37:00.923-04:002020-06-29T22:37:00.923-04:00You need only 30 XP to join the guild, that are ab...You need only 30 XP to join the guild, that are about 4 rats to kill. Finckinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-38697573349129740982020-06-29T22:15:34.883-04:002020-06-29T22:15:34.883-04:00Fair enough that DOSBox smooths over many of these...Fair enough that DOSBox smooths over many of these rough edges for you. But that's exactly what Amiga emulators do not do for you. Even though there were only a handful of actual Amiga models, the emulators are throwing Agnus and ECS and Picasso at you, and chip RAM and the answer is you really don't want to touch any of it for most games. But then a game doesn't work and then what?<br /><br />I guess I'm saying that Amiga emulator UX could do a better job serving their Critical User Journeys.Iffy Bonzooliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07519858732154180575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-70982076990256081962020-06-29T22:12:48.832-04:002020-06-29T22:12:48.832-04:00I'm hoping someone can tell me what I'm mi...I'm hoping someone can tell me what I'm missing here. The characters can't choose classes because, as I understand it, they need to rise to Level 1 before they can choose guilds. Until they choose classes, they can't equip any decent weapons and armor. With what they have, though, they can barely defeat rats, let alone the tougher enemies in both the wine cellar and the sewers. Viola NEVER hits, and Silk only does about once every six tries. Is there something obvious that I'm missing?CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-77451433596489170772020-06-29T20:47:09.866-04:002020-06-29T20:47:09.866-04:00I hope this isn't too much of a spoiler, but y...I hope this isn't too much of a spoiler, but you've got to make sure to search all of the barrels and chests and bits of furniture you see. Some of them have vital items. For instance, gur cnagel unf gur pebjone lbh arrq sbe gur gnirea pryynef.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-1544216697164891582020-06-29T20:21:49.739-04:002020-06-29T20:21:49.739-04:00DOSBox makes it easy to play the old games, but ba...DOSBox makes it easy to play the old games, but back in the days configuring MS-DOS to run a game was often a real pain. There were different incompatible sound and graphic cards and not every game were compatible with all common cards.<br />You needed to tell the game the interrupts and DMA ports of your hardware. And you needed enough free memory in the lower 640 KB RAM to start the game, problem was that drivers also resides there, so sometimes you had to pass the mouse driver or do other tweaks. There were XMS and EMS memory and a lot of other stuff to know. You needed different boot configurations for different games.<br /><br />The Amiga was the easy and uniform platform and the MS-DOS PC was complicated and fragmented.Finckinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-43798464168977443752020-06-29T19:52:09.429-04:002020-06-29T19:52:09.429-04:00At the thalion source page following fun cheat for...At the thalion source page following fun cheat for the Amiga version is described. Typing 'schnism' in the game gives you these messages (tested is myself, and the messages are in English in the German version...): <br /><br />- You almost found the password... · <br />- Do you really think entering "SCHNISM" twice will bring anything? · <br /> -Look, nothing will happen, no matter how many times you enter "SCHNISM". · <br />- How many texts do you think I've got in here? <br />- Alright, you win. If you enter "SCHNISM" one more time, the cheatmode will be activated. · <br />- Fooled you! (I admit this was a very bad joke.)<br />- You are obviously deranged. Please stop entering "SCHNISM" or I'll kill all your party members. · <br />- That's it! No more "SCHNISM"s!!!<br /><br />An there is a real cheat code in the game, typing tempus fungit activates it. With the HELP key (yes, the Amiga had a help key) you can see the commands (the page above also lists the commands...). The teleport command could help to escape a dead end scenario. Finckinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-26161300847488304962020-06-29T19:33:29.542-04:002020-06-29T19:33:29.542-04:00Just found out that the German DOS patch is an uno...Just found out that the German DOS patch is an unofficial patch for the CD version. All German CD versions later than 1995 are likely based on the same bugged master and have two corrupt files, which lead to some graphic bugs. The files MAP_DATA.ALL and LABBLOCK.VGA are damaged.<br />The above linked patch is fixing only the MAP_DATA file, here you can find also a patch for the LABBLOCK file: <br />http://thethalionsource.w4f.eu/Artikel/Astarloesung.htm<br />(WARNING: This page is full of spoilers, you can find the patches at the bottom of the page. To avoid seeing spoilers best use the PAGE END key.)<br /><br />Somewhere in that document are also some bugs of the English DOS version described:<br />"Two of the main bugs of the English PC version worth mentioning are the 'Item Charge' bug and the 'Missile Bug', as I call them.<br /><br />- The Item Charge bug occurs when you use up all the charges in a magic item, and while the item will disappear from your inventory (make sure it's equipped before you use the last charge), all the attributes the item gave will stay with your character. ... *SNIP*<br /><br />- The second bug, the 'Missile Bug', occurs when you hold a missile weapon (bow, longbow, sling) in your hand and instead of holding an arrow in your right, hold a shield (towershield, Shield of Parry, buckler). Next time you attack, your character will fire the shield as if it were an arrow, and the shield's defense/ attack and anything else you gain while holding it, will be added to your character! But the shield will disappear, ... *SNIP*"Finckinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-62610464780883741142020-06-29T19:30:44.577-04:002020-06-29T19:30:44.577-04:00The problem for me, as someone who didn't real...The problem for me, as someone who didn't really have much exposure to Amiga contemporaneously, is knowing all that good information. PCs were endemically variable, so almost anything is possible... and games generally had to work across all that variety of CPU, memory, graphics, sound configurations.<br /><br />The Amiga emulators don't seem to give great guidance on when to use what, or what is safe to tweak and what isn't.Iffy Bonzooliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07519858732154180575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-12893376472944472752020-06-29T17:17:16.595-04:002020-06-29T17:17:16.595-04:00Going first into the sewers beneath the tavern? So...Going first into the sewers beneath the tavern? Sounds like The Bard's TaleP-Tux7https://www.blogger.com/profile/03201162995038006540noreply@blogger.com