tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post8230471424562982458..comments2024-03-29T10:21:29.354-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: The Black Gate: The Wrong Kinds of SacrificeCRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-5397045906061045162022-05-20T13:07:24.973-04:002022-05-20T13:07:24.973-04:00My recollection is that the price of the reagents ...My recollection is that the price of the reagents that you spend casting "Create Gold" is greater than the value of the gold you create.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-75502317503556919382022-05-20T12:58:37.864-04:002022-05-20T12:58:37.864-04:00Can't you transmute lead to gold? I vaguely re...Can't you transmute lead to gold? I vaguely remember Nakar mentioning this exploitAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-38350374645078902632021-04-27T06:15:46.813-04:002021-04-27T06:15:46.813-04:00Weather.
All I ever had to do was cast Weather.
...Weather.<br /><br />All I ever had to do was cast Weather.<br /><br />MOTHERFU --Evil Midnight Lurkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-25087068536059040702020-11-08T18:55:45.223-05:002020-11-08T18:55:45.223-05:00U9 is boring as hell, just recently finished it fo...U9 is boring as hell, just recently finished it for the first time. It has it's moments, but it's mostly a lame, really broad strokes portrait of Britannia, with most of the cool stuff taken out.<br /><br />I never understood the complaint that U8 goes against the character. He does his best under the circumstances... Is he supposed to accept his fate and let the Guardian win?Joet88https://www.blogger.com/profile/06298640825880372478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-27116471702139206352020-08-01T12:41:29.694-04:002020-08-01T12:41:29.694-04:00If suicide is classified as a crime (like here in ...If suicide is classified as a crime (like here in my country, for example), reviving someone who killed themselves is not only ethical, but just. Also that poor bastard would then put before a court to determine his punished for attempted suicide. If it goes well, the verdict will be to spend some time in an asylum to get therapy. If it goes badly, the suicidal person will enter this weird recursive loop of being put into prison, killing themselves again, being revived again, getting a longer prison sentence for attempted suicide, rinse, repeat. Must be like some hellish purgatory.Libluinihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15524606710871977666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-25409799843811275542020-07-31T16:55:08.122-04:002020-07-31T16:55:08.122-04:00Yup. But this ore is basically worthless. In Ultim...Yup. But this ore is basically worthless. In Ultima VI you could dig for gold!Odyseja Przygodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00496869341236658077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-46867049102468655642020-07-31T14:05:57.936-04:002020-07-31T14:05:57.936-04:00You can't dig in them, but you can use their m...You can't dig in them, but you can use their mining machines to give you unlimited ore.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-10174396192209662632020-07-31T10:51:26.345-04:002020-07-31T10:51:26.345-04:00The mines were one of the most disappointing thing...The mines were one of the most disappointing thing in Ultima VII for me. Game famous for its interactivity, where you can bake bread and forge sword does not let you dig in mines!!! What?!? It was a thing in previous game. Shame.Odyseja Przygodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00496869341236658077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-61750844849425953872020-07-27T06:26:09.405-04:002020-07-27T06:26:09.405-04:00"Yeah, it was definitely Dupre that killed th..."Yeah, it was definitely Dupre that killed that foreman."<br /><br />2 minutes later: "Oh, Dupre's been dead this whole time?"<br /><br />SO much potential for mockery here. Which do you prefer we open with: "Thou hast lost an eighth" or "Let the hate flow through you?" :PDGMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-79128356946227837042020-07-24T13:37:08.596-04:002020-07-24T13:37:08.596-04:00This reminds me of a quote from Nick Hornb's A...This reminds me of a quote from Nick Hornb's <i>A Long Way Down</i>:<br /><br />"I'd spent the previous couple of months looking up suicide inquests on the Internet, just out of curiosity. And nearly every single time, the coroner says the same thing: 'He took his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed.' And then you read the story about the poor bastard: his wife was sleeping with his best friend, he'd lost his job, his daughter had been killed in a road accident some months before.... Hello, Mr Coroner? Anyone at home? I'm sorry, but there's no disturbed mental balance here, my friend. I'd say he got it just right. Bad thing upon bad thing upon bad thing until you can't take any more, and then it's off to the nearest multi-storey car park in the family hatchback with a length of rubber tubing. Surely that's fair enough? Surely the coroner's inquest should read, 'He took his own life after sober and careful contemplation of the fucking shambles it had become'?"CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-370912894503317782020-07-22T01:18:13.733-04:002020-07-22T01:18:13.733-04:00Now if you resurrect them and they commit suicide ...Now if you resurrect them and they commit suicide *again*? Then it's time to leave well enough alone Scott Gagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00096908333138074926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-35995054080244868082020-07-21T17:06:49.049-04:002020-07-21T17:06:49.049-04:00And Fate was 272 hours or so long... yeesh.
And Fate was 272 hours or so long... yeesh.<br />arthurdawghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15045699163846794998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-60340004768264460432020-07-21T14:59:10.606-04:002020-07-21T14:59:10.606-04:00I don't remember what I didn't like about ...I don't remember what I didn't like about Ultima nine, just that in the brief time I played it, it just wasn't fun. Ultima eight annoyed me with the stone jumping puzzles but I still enjoyed other bits of it.Borothnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-33707595152878429602020-07-21T13:31:13.309-04:002020-07-21T13:31:13.309-04:00To each his own, but I'd rather play U8 over U...To each his own, but I'd rather play U8 over U9 any time. <br /><br />A few years ago (partly inspired by the blog, partly by Spoony's retrospective) I played the whole series back-to-back but I couldn't force myself to replay U9.<br /><br />It will be interesting to hear from Chet when he gets there, I suspect he might also prefer U9 to U8 as the Avatar is definitely more in character in U9.Vincehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05019892418296525854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-39852524104835412552020-07-21T09:10:36.343-04:002020-07-21T09:10:36.343-04:00I wanted to join Blackthorn's group in Ultima ...I wanted to join Blackthorn's group in Ultima V and actually do things. But that storyline petered out fast, unfortunately. Harlandnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-62093607543418364632020-07-21T05:22:38.079-04:002020-07-21T05:22:38.079-04:00I definitely joined on my first play through when ...I definitely joined on my first play through when U7 was first released. My recollection is I was aware they were bad, but it was like following bread crumbs and piecing together clues (admittedly obvious ones, but younger me felt like a super sleuth)!Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09555164129781347046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-15499964723750207052020-07-21T03:45:01.106-04:002020-07-21T03:45:01.106-04:00I suspect most people took the test questions from...I suspect most people took the test questions from Batlin and agreed to bring the package to Minoc. <br /><br />By the way, there was a free XP/gold exploit with the quest that was well published in gaming magazines back then (this being before the Internet took off).<br /><br />But you are not yet a member just because you agree to deliver the box - that comes only later in the game.<br /><br />V rkcrpg znal crbcyr qvq abg cebcreyl wbva rneyl fvapr gur Qrfgneq dhrfg pna or gbhtu & vs lbh tb guebhtu gur npghny prerzbal nyy lbhe pbzcnavbaf gryy lbh gung wbvavat gur Sryybjfuvc vf n onq vqrn naq gel gb pbaivapr lbh gb punatr lbhe zvaq.<br /><br />Ng gur fnzr gvzr, vg vf cerggl pyrne gung lbh ner fhccbfrq gb wbva gur Sryybjfuvc ng fbzr cbvag va gur tnzr gb tnva npprff gb gur Zrqvgngvba Ergerng. Gur pnecrg ynaqvat fcbg srryf zber yvxr n qrfvta birefvtug gb zr.<br /><br />On the same topic of the Fellowship and joining:<br /><br />One interesting point that is a bit ignored in discussions of the game is that while the Fellowship & Guardian are obviously up to no good there are two oddities: 1) the Guardian warning you when you enter Destard - that warning sounds genuine unlike the other taunts 2) the weird thing with Elizabeth and Abraham saving you when you are "killed". <br /><br />Maybe the intention was that the Guardian is genuinely trying to recruit the Avatar with Batlin being afraid of losing his position in the hierarchy and trying to get rid of the Avatar. Erikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00947258450306994754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-57610868297431081192020-07-20T23:51:24.469-04:002020-07-20T23:51:24.469-04:00It's not completely bad blood. I believe that...It's not completely bad blood. I believe that that is SOP for EA. They're the only ones allowed to make money on things they own, and will only sell the things they own for more money than they're worth.<br /><br />Besides, there's also the possibility that, somewhere down the line, something could become popular again. And they'd rather not have something they sold make money when they could have been the ones doing so.<br /><br />EA has such a history of things like this that I'm surprised anyone works with them at all. Richard Garriot had already had problems with them in the past when he went to them for help with Ultima Online. And the only thing he owns from that is the character "Lord British".Drawdenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-32651607689849648702020-07-20T21:21:01.258-04:002020-07-20T21:21:01.258-04:00Given that suicide is often an impulsive act "...Given that suicide is often an impulsive act "while the balance of the mind is disturbed" and not reflective of the person's baseline desires, there is nothing inherently unethical about resurrecting someone who committed suicide.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-91717795150244219492020-07-20T20:13:10.353-04:002020-07-20T20:13:10.353-04:00Despite always joining the fellowship and travelli...Despite always joining the fellowship and travelling to Minoc fairly early each time I've played U7, I have never followed the Elizabeth & Abraham trail, it just doesn't seem like a particularly pressing thing to do, especially after you get the Time Lord breadcrumbs.Mikrakovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02359946565373258773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-3105290526874363422020-07-20T17:27:22.161-04:002020-07-20T17:27:22.161-04:00Morrowind had the best writing in the series, resu...Morrowind had the best writing in the series, resulting in the world that had personality as Gerry said above... and it actually had a number of very well-written NPCs (Yagram Bagarn, Divayth Fyr, Vivec).<br /><br />Unfortunately, it also had the worst dialog presentation in the world, making it extremely difficult to enjoy these well-fleshed out characters.Brenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07650899016493335364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-43538993344981791322020-07-20T16:47:53.929-04:002020-07-20T16:47:53.929-04:00Just about the casual/idle voice lines, my issue i...Just about the casual/idle voice lines, my issue is with the entire approach. If I go to any town in Skyrim, I know <i>for a fact</i> that I'm going to hear about all of those things, several times, both entering and exiting. It's just as obviously artificial as if they were silent all the time.<br /><br />Oblivion, bless its flawed little heart, actually did it way better in concept if not execution. Instead of every NPC making a beeline to remind you of your quest journal, they have conversations with each other just as often as with the PC. Of course these NPC-on-NPC conversations were usually ridiculous, but it felt more natural to me than every NPC talking to you <i>and only you.</i>Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14025511634630902101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-35821460548327115432020-07-20T16:21:00.692-04:002020-07-20T16:21:00.692-04:00It's not a technical issue, it's a writing...It's not a technical issue, it's a writing issue. Any individual case of coding an NPC to react to an event is trivial. It's the writing load of coming up with the responses of X NPCs times Y events they could care about.James Nealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16402554691802940518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-14513168710937699872020-07-20T15:44:55.826-04:002020-07-20T15:44:55.826-04:00Come now. Complex flag situations do not impact HA...Come now. Complex flag situations do not impact HARDWARE. They do impact developer time, of course; but a multiclause IF-statement is easy on any 1990s system.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-75723127492925883482020-07-20T15:34:33.317-04:002020-07-20T15:34:33.317-04:00Each individual instance is easy, as long as you k...Each individual instance is easy, as long as you keep a limited scope and wholly-independent events. To pull a recently finished game as an example, coding anything based on Final Fantasy's Four Fiends would be easy, since they are completely independent of one another, are entirely a pass/fail situation, and the only interwoven part is how many you've done.<br /><br />It is when the scope becomes less limited that you start running into difficulties. For a game like this one, you don't have those hard boundaries. Every questline can be solved partially, solved in several different ways, and can interact with any of half a dozen other ones. So fully quantifying any given task would need at least a dozen "if this flag is hit, go there" statments, and might even need "if this flag and this flag are hit, but not this one" contingencies. This exponentially raises the difficulty of creating and RUNNING the game. The former part can be conquered by an ambitious studio, but the limit of installed consumer hardware remains.<br /><br />That's what I think is U7's second fatal flaw - it is just too ambitious for the hardware it had available.Gnomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13920812227941556716noreply@blogger.com