tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post7376516761043144151..comments2024-03-28T23:14:06.156-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Game 91: Hillsfar (1989)CRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-16786862897053936622022-11-29T17:39:22.279-05:002022-11-29T17:39:22.279-05:00The Internet is a magnificient thing.
At least, t...The Internet is a magnificient thing.<br /><br />At least, that fan art wasn't following the rule 34.Jorgemánhttp://extrabiotica.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-8973609303019157132022-02-20T23:46:35.989-05:002022-02-20T23:46:35.989-05:00Who knew there was Hillsfar fan art? But there is...Who knew there was Hillsfar fan art? <a href="https://retrogame.info/2/0/53/#tcadanddhill" rel="nofollow">But there is.</a> Harlandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-25588266161661135932014-11-05T18:37:14.859-05:002014-11-05T18:37:14.859-05:00Which is also true.Which is also true.Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-55477019068921507852014-11-05T13:00:20.332-05:002014-11-05T13:00:20.332-05:00It also says that my name is "Chester Bolingb...It also says that my name is "Chester Bolingbroke."CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-17359443859752670812014-11-04T18:52:33.774-05:002014-11-04T18:52:33.774-05:00Dude, it says right in your sidebar that you live ...Dude, it says right in your sidebar that you live in Massachusetts?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-54677659277085125962014-11-03T19:01:37.819-05:002014-11-03T19:01:37.819-05:00Screw you guys, I'm outta here.Screw you guys, I'm outta here.Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-51424458812057829872014-11-03T08:29:06.439-05:002014-11-03T08:29:06.439-05:00Hmm, let the punishment fit the crime, as they say...Hmm, let the punishment fit the crime, as they say...so. Ah, I know: living in Massachusetts. That seems about right.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11630415436281765460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-28738545583587415542014-11-02T23:46:01.014-05:002014-11-02T23:46:01.014-05:00It's all fun and games until Kenny gets killed...It's all fun and games until Kenny gets killed.Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-51584006416486299952014-11-02T16:16:05.250-05:002014-11-02T16:16:05.250-05:00William, I think this Kenny guy just mixed up his ...William, I think this Kenny guy just mixed up his Dovers and accused us of being from Massachusetts. What kind of punishment does that warrant, do you reckon?CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-38559526385494975462014-10-31T05:19:40.650-04:002014-10-31T05:19:40.650-04:00Anyone of you caught sight of this?
http://en.wiki...Anyone of you caught sight of this?<br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_DemonKenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-15881430885375604022014-10-28T00:41:04.280-04:002014-10-28T00:41:04.280-04:00Hmm, I'm sorry to report there is no decent st...Hmm, I'm sorry to report there is <i>no</i> decent steakhouse in Dover, at present. There's a place called the Orchard Street Chop Shop, and it's expensive, but not good. You have to trek to Portsmouth or (oddly) South Berwick for a decent steak.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11630415436281765460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-14589582812256899242014-10-13T18:57:58.697-04:002014-10-13T18:57:58.697-04:00I see from your profile that you live in Dover. I ...I see from your profile that you live in Dover. I grew up not too far from there. Is there still a decent steakhouse--some guy's name, maybe?--downtown?CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-29737263364326000632014-10-13T18:56:40.906-04:002014-10-13T18:56:40.906-04:00I really appreciate these recollections, William. ...I really appreciate these recollections, William. The one thing my blog can't do is recreate the experience of the young player in the year that the game was actually released, and I love it when readers help fill in the gaps.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-62711719835574323712014-10-13T06:05:11.700-04:002014-10-13T06:05:11.700-04:00I think it's also worth mentioning that in our...I think it's also worth mentioning that in our school lives at the time, people were busy playing Oregon Trail ad nauseum, while those lucky folks who topped the waiting list for the Apple IIGSes got to play the first half-hour of King's Quest III over and over again.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11630415436281765460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-72850936721907409562014-10-13T05:57:06.064-04:002014-10-13T05:57:06.064-04:00To make this make perhaps a little more sense, 198...To make this make perhaps a little more sense, 1989. This was between Curse of the Azure Bonds and Secret of the Silver Blades. To a 12-year-old, this was an eternity, and anything that filled the gap was exciting as hell.<br /><br />I played Curse of the AB on my friend's Apple II, which was ageing (to eventually be replaced by a nice PS1, so we could play Wing Commander and Prince of Persia), while he played Final Fantasy I on his Nintendo Entertainment System upstairs. Secret of the SB wasn't even a glimmer in a game magazine. Hillsfar came out, and another friend bought it for his Commodore 64. Around the same time, SSI came out with some (as it turned out totally lame) AD&D Character Creator thing I bought from Electronics Boutique that I paid 30 of my paper route bux for, because another middle-school friend told me would allow me to choose my own equipment and stats for whatever (SSB) the next SSI Gold Box turned out to be.<br /><br />Y'see, being 12-year-olds, we thought it would just sort of work out. Somehow the Apple II characters would play through the Commodore 64 game and then get modified by the editor program and then just play whatever the next (?) game on the...!?<br /><br />Hillsfar, being a training ground for a rogue, was a really exciting release. Would there also be an action game that would let us juice up our magic-users? Fighters? Clerics? WHO KNOWS!? YOU'RE 12!? It was seriously worth it at the time to have even this awful transition, better than nothing.<br /><br />Even for a small cohort of 12-year-olds Hillsfar sucked. I spent 3 hours on (and winning!) the first 2 battles of CotAB on average setting before having to go home. We never figured out how to export/import characters across platforms (there isn't a way). The AD&D creation set turned out to be totally incompatible with any other game. I think we spent maybe an hour on Hillsfar before I went back to Below the Root and the guy who owned the Commodore went back to burning crickets with a magnifying glass in his backyard.<br /><br />10 million billion kajillion years later (1990), Secret of the Silver Blades went on sale at Radio Shack for $40 of my paper route money. You bet your ass I bought it, immediately.<br /><br />I just caught onto this blog and am devouring it, but this is what I feel is...not missing. It's totally honest about not putting these games in their context. But having been there, it still feels odd to me. I've just hit the point where I started playing these games as they came out. Most of the blog I played a decade later, in a similar, self-imposed project that had no blog attached. You've saved me thousands of hours on things like Magic Candle, in which I've had all the files, game, maps, manuals, primed and ready to go, along with a clean, blank lined notebook, just waiting for the will to proceed.<br /><br />For some reason, the lame-ness of Hillsfar caught me, brought me right back to that interminable time between Curse and Secret, and I had to chime in. I'll almost certainly get more chatty from here on.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11630415436281765460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-53984992192348029082014-04-07T14:04:59.902-04:002014-04-07T14:04:59.902-04:00That GIF is way speeded up. I should have made tha...That GIF is way speeded up. I should have made that clear in the post. I was playing at era-accurate speeds.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-67958431535990684652014-04-06T13:42:41.821-04:002014-04-06T13:42:41.821-04:00I remember Hillsfar as one of those games that I t...I remember Hillsfar as one of those games that I thought would be great if only I was better at it. I always thought the minigames would be great for someone who liked action+rpg mix. The lockpick was definitely not that fast -- I remember having minutes to do it. Your emulator must be running too fast.<br /><br />It was a good experiment nonetheless and I like the idea of a "filler" game letting you level up for a larger adventure. Not sure I would have the patience (and definitely not the time) to level up characters in one game for another game now just for stats' sake. I think it can be done properly with the proper mix of stats and story and perhaps unique items but it sure is a difficult mix to get right. Do it wrong and you will alienate new players.BrianLimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07107383864607795783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-30108423130013685442013-08-13T00:51:58.814-04:002013-08-13T00:51:58.814-04:00We'll have to disagree on that, I'm afraid...We'll have to disagree on that, I'm afraid. I wouldn't have even recommended it in 1989, let alone today.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-52596870160099121842013-08-12T14:18:47.645-04:002013-08-12T14:18:47.645-04:00I'm still playing Hillsfar today. As simple as...I'm still playing Hillsfar today. As simple as it is, time has revealed this casual game to be a gem.Don't Cloud Mehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01868427770127555304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-18706045998843915682013-03-05T00:25:20.972-05:002013-03-05T00:25:20.972-05:00I confess I didn't read in detail through all ...I confess I didn't read in detail through all the comments above, but I just wished to say I too do remember that game fondly from my youth (11, 12y, maybe?). It wasn't great, I never got far in it, but it was definitely charming in its way, and stood out from the crowd as quite odd for sure.Georgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10801694109856585537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-59138835960815042582013-03-04T17:11:23.258-05:002013-03-04T17:11:23.258-05:00I'll get back to it eventually. I just couldn&...I'll get back to it eventually. I just couldn't take it this week.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-2349022784618899472013-03-04T16:54:08.590-05:002013-03-04T16:54:08.590-05:00Oh man... I was really hoping you would finish th...Oh man... I was really hoping you would finish that review of Keef the Thief. You see... I played that game when I was 12 and had no sense of discernment. I hold it in my memory in my heart as a good game. I was REALLY looking forward to you tearing it apart bit by bit showing every wart and wrinkle so I could finally let it go and make room in my heart for better things.<br /><br />I know its hard to get through games like that but it's therapy for the rest of us!blue monkeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05500312294932144839noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-84084383760775367432013-03-02T15:59:26.660-05:002013-03-02T15:59:26.660-05:00I'll think about it. I wanted to play Moria an...I'll think about it. I wanted to play <i>Moria</i> and <i>Hack</i>, but I couldn't find working DOS versions. Now that I'm more relaxed about that, I might give them a go. I have to say, though: I'm just not much of a roguelike fan. As I pick up past games, I don't know that I'll give a lot of priorities to roguelikes.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-33455240017466842672013-03-02T15:08:52.704-05:002013-03-02T15:08:52.704-05:00Over thinking is a hobby of mine, which you can pr...Over thinking is a hobby of mine, which you can probably tell if you have seen some of my posts that are a streaming thought dump. Some people may call that style a steaming thought dump but hopefully I am not that bad.<br /><br />If you were not already burning yourself out on Nethack I would push for Moria as a backtrack game as a nice diversion for you. <br /><br />Moria is chronologically much older then the version of Nethack you are playing so it may feel like it is lacking. You would very easily see the influences it has had on modern games with things like Diablo and such though. I love to put the puzzle together of rogue - Moria - Angband - Diablo, or Rogue to Hack to Nethack to others. You skipped Hack too didn't you?<br /><br />Ok off to read your new article.UbAhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13447678457902055799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-19838202132903800952013-03-02T10:54:28.285-05:002013-03-02T10:54:28.285-05:00Off the top of my head, Sim games let you do the s...Off the top of my head, Sim games let you do the same thing. You could import-export and do all sorts of crazy stuff with SimCity/SimCopter/Streets of SimCity.KPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13422463541856138458noreply@blogger.com