tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post3543768602366991267..comments2024-03-28T20:51:01.807-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: The Black Gate: The Next GeneratorsCRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-88206919412918539092023-03-12T14:41:36.545-04:002023-03-12T14:41:36.545-04:00A closed economy can be fine as long as there is r...A closed economy can be fine as long as there is room for prices to fluctuate. Are you introducing too much ore? The price of ore should drop. Instead, now you have to create items with the ore. A somewhat dynamic economy is probably why I like UO so much.Zack Macomberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18077050078436768492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-74710956575947747022021-08-20T19:35:48.639-04:002021-08-20T19:35:48.639-04:00You also have to wait a *long* time for the baby t...You also have to wait a *long* time for the baby to actually be born. That character happens to be my favorite romance in that game, and Ive never actually seen the baby born. Now, granted taking your pregnant wife along is almost as bad, but I liked to think my PC was genre savvy enough to know that the single most dangerous thing you can do is let your pregnant lover out of your sight while you fight gods.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-80696265802444692212021-03-11T00:32:49.379-05:002021-03-11T00:32:49.379-05:00From Chet's post:
"It's important to...From Chet's post:<br /><br />"It's important to understand that at the time, I didn't know what had just happened. <br />I figured that maybe something I'd found previously--like the prism from the other generator, <br />or my destruction of the first generator--had kept the red moongate from working.<br />Much later, I do some Googling and learn that the moongate was supposed to have worked, <br />kicking the Avatar backwards. I just happen to have walked through the gate across the <br />one set of pixels that are bugged, allowing me access to a place that I was supposed to<br />have done a lot more things to reach"<br /><br />Wow, I triggered this bug too and was able to walk through the gate. For me it happened on my first attempt <br />so I didn't even realize it was bug right away since moongates were doing odd stuff in U7. I had saved my game on the outside of the moongate so on my first resetting after failing the maze, I tried walking through the gate again and bounced off it. I tried again and again, and it took a couple dozen attempts to hit the gate just in the right spot to reproduce <br />the bug and get through again.<br /><br />And then, just like you said, when the Timelord was released, I thought "hmmm, what hourglass?"<br /><br />To make it worse, I had actually found the hourglass by chance when I was poking around in paws, but I had not figured out Penumbra's puzzle. I was horribly tangled up from the out-of-order events and asked a friend to lookup a walkthrough to help me get untangled <br />with the least exposure to spoilers possible. <br /><br /><br />Taking in all the commentary about Ultima 7, bugs, sandbox, out-of-order fragility etc, I think a lot of valid points have been made. For me personally, in terms of what impacted my enjoyment of the game, while the couple bugs I encountered weren't ideal, what negatively<br />impacted my enjoyment the most was combat being....what it was. <br /><br />That said, I did enjoy the game overall. That said, it's not likely I'll ever replay U7 whereas I have no doubt I will replay Ultima V again (I already have several times). U3_Guruhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12044735933085333528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-50107165324562415092020-08-04T19:03:10.165-04:002020-08-04T19:03:10.165-04:00https://www.filfre.net/2012/02/ultima-part-1/https://www.filfre.net/2012/02/ultima-part-1/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-84842717062407479952020-08-01T03:59:30.301-04:002020-08-01T03:59:30.301-04:00Do you have a source for that? As far as I remembe...Do you have a source for that? As far as I remember, Ultima was named after the phrase "Ultima Thule", which is also a signpost in the first game.Radianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03866535042372152723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-21801353437293864512020-08-01T02:42:52.017-04:002020-08-01T02:42:52.017-04:00Bit of trivia regarding your comment that the game...Bit of trivia regarding your comment that the game is called Ultima not Ultimatum. The original title of the first game was Ultimatum but there was another game called that so LB shortened it to Ultima. Blacbraunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01798086823277087151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-12210580355632141002020-07-31T10:49:27.087-04:002020-07-31T10:49:27.087-04:00I played two games that blow my mind in case of de...I played two games that blow my mind in case of dealing with unusual player behaviors. There were Deus Ex and Witcher 3. They both feels like thier creators thought of every possible opportunity of breaking gameplay and prevent it. You found a quest item or kill/talk to someone before taking quest? Don’t worry, it will be addresed (Witcher 3). Hostiles are breaking to your brother apartment? Do not escape, hide in safe and the outcome will be totally different (Deus Ex). That felt amazing!Odyseja Przygodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00496869341236658077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-34350134691415955352020-07-30T05:14:15.743-04:002020-07-30T05:14:15.743-04:00Well, the first time I won fallout, I didn’t even ...Well, the first time I won fallout, I didn’t even find said object. So that’s a bit of an issue,Tristan Gallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16769219573533545742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-42766639669675822292020-07-29T23:34:22.564-04:002020-07-29T23:34:22.564-04:00T2 cost 10 times as much as T1. It was a blockbust...T2 cost 10 times as much as T1. It was a blockbuster, not a breakout genre film like the original. Which meant it was subject to the era's developing audience analysis, attempting to give it a broader audience (what today is sometimes called a "four-quadrant film"). "Add a kid" and "add some jokes" are both long-standing blockbuster traditions, although the former is less popular these days.<br /><br />I've always been convinced that the goofy tone of a lot of '80s and '90s SF and fantasy can be traced back to Star Wars. If you can't have 2001-style visuals, at least you can have silly robots. Of course, Star Wars was sincere in its mixture of silly and serious in a way a lot of later attempts were not.stepped pyramidsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-79778620465840022082020-07-29T15:31:42.015-04:002020-07-29T15:31:42.015-04:00"an open world with this much interactivity i..."an open world with this much interactivity in it was so novel at the time"<br /><br />I think that was the real issue.<br /><br />Due to system requirements/hardware issues I didn't end up playing this until maybe 4-5 years after release. I had seen it upon release, and was completely blown away by it, but my PC just couldn't run the game.<br /><br />Which, honestly, I think is probably why the Addict has mentioned that the game isn't quite living up to his memories of it.<br /><br />All of that interactivity is awesome, until you realize that memory leaks and poor coding can lead to it breaking your game. Well, that, and the fact that most of said interactivity is ultimately just background noise. <br /><br />It's not really compelling gameplay by today's standards, or even by PC gaming standards a few years after it's release.old wow bastardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13219195579845781590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-2874185830404513152020-07-29T11:37:50.395-04:002020-07-29T11:37:50.395-04:00The Pendari are a race from Star Trek Voyager, alt...The Pendari are a race from Star Trek Voyager, although this game may pre-date Voyager. The Rock played a Pendaran.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10443898147875372489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-84285771996324448852020-07-29T08:47:21.498-04:002020-07-29T08:47:21.498-04:00In my mind the way Chet is playing it is the right...In my mind the way Chet is playing it is the right way. This was by far my favorite PC RPG as a kid, and I never played it the right way or actually finished it. I always completely ignored the plot. I was so amazed at how detailed the game world was, how the NPCs all seemed to have their own schedules and all the items could be used. I saw that and it made me just want to play around with the game, and just explore the world, without worrying about the quest, or make up my own quest like Chet is doing with the rune stones. I had never played anything like it before. I never really cared about the silliness of some of the plotlines or how bad the combat was or how broken the world was because I wasnt playing it like a normal video game. I was playing with it like it was a toy using my own imagination. I never finished it until I came back to it as an adult like 15 years later and was disappointed by the actual quest, so nostalgia does play a big part in how this game is remembered. If this was the first open game you ever played than it would feel very revolutionary in spite of how good it was as an actual game.The Dukehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18021667637255061683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-62683200732858772862020-07-28T22:26:36.503-04:002020-07-28T22:26:36.503-04:00Probably also worth remembering that an open world...Probably also worth remembering that an open world with this much interactivity in it was so novel at the time that people were more than willing to forgive the bugs as a natural consequence of trying something ambitious. See also: Ultima Online.<br /><br />Actually, on a different tack, see also: the entire works of Peter Molyneux and his various game studios.GregThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01532920274312703426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-86585381540523287822020-07-28T22:24:17.093-04:002020-07-28T22:24:17.093-04:00This was my experience with Fallout: New Vegas, th...This was my experience with Fallout: New Vegas, that even years after release seemed to be built out of nothing but bugs leaning against each other precariously and elaborately enough that from a distance it looked like a game. I bailed after about eight hours.<br /><br />Whereas Ultima VII is a game I completed organically and without hints or walkthroughs, which is unusual for me with RPGs generally. Not saying that everyone complaining about the bugs is wrong, just saying that I was lucky enough to get the "intended experience", and loved it.GregThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01532920274312703426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-54469594183038200012020-07-28T20:47:29.962-04:002020-07-28T20:47:29.962-04:00I tend to prefer closed systems in theory, but in ...I tend to prefer closed systems in theory, but in actuality I tend to feel like the system should fit the setting. A closed area should have a closed system, and vice versa. Something like that is why I bounced off of System Shock hard when I tried playing it a while back, although the fact I was expecting "Ultima Underworld on a space station" in general was the bigger reasonTwibathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11872080022551062309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-19282510022095878662020-07-28T20:12:16.565-04:002020-07-28T20:12:16.565-04:00It's just one of three romance possibilities, ...It's just one of three romance possibilities, Jarl, and even then you have to do some specific things. It's also only in expansion.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-16753326502249770842020-07-28T20:04:40.427-04:002020-07-28T20:04:40.427-04:00The Elder Scrolls worlds are large enough that whe...The <i>Elder Scrolls</i> worlds are large enough that when areas inevitably respawn, it seems relatively natural. I agree with Iffy's comments about the dangers of a closed system.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-7442000757196165122020-07-28T16:49:30.490-04:002020-07-28T16:49:30.490-04:00Respawning is one of those things that causes an i...Respawning is one of those things that causes an issue at different abstraction levels. In something as abstract as Wizardry, you can shrug it off a lot easier than an Elder Scrolls game that presents itself very much as "what you see is what you get".Gnomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13920812227941556716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-44471439361409112652020-07-28T16:47:11.863-04:002020-07-28T16:47:11.863-04:00Not so much. You can sort-step the main quest in b...Not so much. You can sort-step the main quest in both games, but both of those are a "we need this object, go find it", so there's not much of a disconnect if you find it early and skip the intermediate clues. Gnomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13920812227941556716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-87158547535084822362020-07-28T15:42:00.575-04:002020-07-28T15:42:00.575-04:00In terms of mechanics, I think you don't want ...In terms of mechanics, I think you don't want to have your economies be closed-system. It can create a walking dead situation, which is just about the worst sin of game design. If you have an open system (respawning) then the worst case is the player has to grind. In a closed system, if you get to the boss, and you can't beat them with all the RNG scumming tricks, you have to start over and make different spending decisions. Note that this includes both money, XP, and any other economies you might have in your game.<br /><br />With a closed system, even if you are very thorough about calculating how many resources the player would need, some player will make monumentally bad decisions that you didn't expect.<br /><br />So, respawning is the lesser evil to me...Iffy Bonzooliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07519858732154180575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-25020755734378395232020-07-28T14:51:27.404-04:002020-07-28T14:51:27.404-04:00I need a time Machines...I need a time Machines...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-57547253667146386742020-07-28T14:41:17.203-04:002020-07-28T14:41:17.203-04:00Can't remember if I've already posted this...Can't remember if I've already posted this sentiment, if so, apologies.<br /><br />All of the sequence related problems you've encountered just remind me of why I've never completed this game. Every time I tried, I'd stumble into something out of sequence, or overflow some invisible memory buffer, and my game would, essentially, break.<br /><br />This created a real catch 22 situation. Do I read a guide, in order to figure out Origin's "correct" approach to the game? Thereby spoiling any real challenge?<br /><br />Or does it make more sense to just play something else.<br /><br />I'd generally just choose the latter.<br /><br />Which is unfortunate. Many claim this game is a gem. But to me its always just been a buggy mess that I couldn't organically complete.old wow bastardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13219195579845781590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-55276590273896833662020-07-28T14:24:50.799-04:002020-07-28T14:24:50.799-04:00Posts occur roughly every 60 hours, and alternate ...Posts occur roughly every 60 hours, and alternate between games. Each Ultima post is about 5 days apart.Tristan Gallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16769219573533545742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-42921961155672213902020-07-28T13:04:49.770-04:002020-07-28T13:04:49.770-04:00Hell, in Dwarf Fortress dwarves have been known to...Hell, in Dwarf Fortress dwarves have been known to use their babies as <i>shields</i>.Raifieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08478524519453417677noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-84038504254149341232020-07-28T12:35:13.975-04:002020-07-28T12:35:13.975-04:00When is this next time, it's been two days sin...When is this next time, it's been two days since this entry was posted.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com