tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post3896813578883600476..comments2024-03-29T02:34:55.592-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Dark Heart of Uukrul: Final RatingCRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-88164504399177261812022-12-15T17:17:39.473-05:002022-12-15T17:17:39.473-05:00a well-deserved score for a fantastic little under...a well-deserved score for a fantastic little underrated gem.<br /><br />my run-ins with this game likely started as early as 1998/1999 in the era of abandonware. it's a game that likely never shipped to the place i was living when it was new, so it just flew under the radar for me, too.<br /><br />the only magazine i was really reading at the time was ACE magazine [which was a GREAT forward-thinking publication], but their adventure and rpg section was very on-again/off-again.<br /><br />so the result was that i just never encountered this one in the wild, but have retroactively heard nothing but good things about it.<br /><br />but having tried it across the years [and finally managing to buy a legal copy from gog], it has always struck me as a fantastic hidden gem of the genre.<br /><br />re-reading your posts again, i understand entirely how you felt when you got to this gimlet: you'd been playing it on again/off again and i'm not sure that's the best way to play a game like this, but your enthusiasm for it [almost] always came through and i'm glad you discovered it, also.<br /><br />as always: thank you for your considered opinions on these games, it's always fun when you stumble across something like this and bring it to light.lostwolfehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697299839262994456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-33458716972346003572022-08-22T20:44:27.683-04:002022-08-22T20:44:27.683-04:00I have just gone live with my website above, and h...I have just gone live with my website above, and have my own freely available mapping software created specifically for old-school, blobber, CRPG games. It is called CRPG Mapper. I'd love to get some opinions on how well it does the job so if you are interested, please give it a look at https://kejabrsoftware.wixsite.com/kejabr-software.Ken Bruhttps://kejabrsoftware.wixsite.com/kejabr-softwarenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-68386452619989256292022-08-20T11:43:22.875-04:002022-08-20T11:43:22.875-04:00Thank you for hinting me towards Grid Cartographer...Thank you for hinting me towards Grid Cartographer. Three times as expensive as Uukrul but i will give it a try. Mirduknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-8823226429949817452022-08-20T02:13:40.097-04:002022-08-20T02:13:40.097-04:00I don't know what these "free mapping pro...I don't know what these "free mapping programs" are - I've certainly never found one. Excel can work, but it is really far more difficult and more intensive than it has to be. <br /><br />The simplest and best solution is Grid Cartographer. It isn't particularly cheap, but it runs extremely well and is specifically designed for classic RPGs. For many games (though not, at present, UUkrul), there's even a customized version of DOSBOX that hooks directly into GC and automatically tracks your position.Gnomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13920812227941556716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-36527550726901602582022-08-19T19:38:10.803-04:002022-08-19T19:38:10.803-04:00As much as spreadsheet users hate seeing it done, ...As much as spreadsheet users hate seeing it done, it's pretty common for people to just do their mapping in Excel with the cells formatted into squares. If you need something more specialized, there are dozens of free mapping programs out there, too.Kearudanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-2850706373305738382022-08-19T13:02:55.343-04:002022-08-19T13:02:55.343-04:00Inspired by the blog i decided to play Uukrul. I t...Inspired by the blog i decided to play Uukrul. I thought the automap was sufficient but already encountered an unmappable area. Now i am hesitant to start mapping on paper knowing the dungeon sprawls in all sorts of directions. Sure there must be a digital solution? Mirduknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-90113157916570142362021-03-28T00:38:24.774-04:002021-03-28T00:38:24.774-04:00I just discovered Dark Heart of Uukrul on GOG, too...I just discovered Dark Heart of Uukrul on GOG, too. Glad it's noted on the blog. It's a very fond childhood memory in which I mostly died a lot, and then sometime after reading this I downloaded and played through the game as an adult. I figure I owed the devs at least a few bucks for all that fun, and hope this resurrection of the game rewards them a little for a great game that didn't get the recognition it deserved on the first pass.Quirkzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16409671254311123117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-56925914462681787272021-03-01T20:03:44.153-05:002021-03-01T20:03:44.153-05:00Got any cheese?Got any cheese?Zack Macomberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18077050078436768492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-80474574467202918482020-12-19T16:49:25.057-05:002020-12-19T16:49:25.057-05:00I was about to report this, see that someone beat ...I was about to report this, see that someone beat me to the punch. It was an instant-buy for me at $6.<br /><br />Glad to see this game packaged for people to appreciate.Wes Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16830727226859189206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-15195006671827177512020-11-12T11:50:38.848-05:002020-11-12T11:50:38.848-05:00Dark Heart of Uukrul is avalible from gog.com, but...Dark Heart of Uukrul is avalible from gog.com, but with a sad story in the background as Scott Greig a.k.a Kill0byt3a who was trying to bring it back to market passed away in march 2020.<br /><br />Link: https://www.gog.com/news/breleaseb_the_dark_heart_of_uukrulOdyseja Przygodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00496869341236658077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-65836511542569457562019-11-12T04:11:33.503-05:002019-11-12T04:11:33.503-05:00"I particularly like the way the priest start..."I particularly like the way the priest starts out frustrating and a liability to the party, but by the end is a mighty fighting machine."<br /><br />This is an interesting twist on the trope from old D&D rulesets that says 'Warriors are linear, Wizards are quadratic' (referring to how their power scales as they level up). It seems in this game that it's the Priests who are quadratic!asdasdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15459638043573476026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-90222586675249680292019-03-08T13:56:16.538-05:002019-03-08T13:56:16.538-05:00"We just have to keep in mind that there are ..."We just have to keep in mind that there are a lot of players who aren't interested in being "immersed" in a CRPG--players who are far more interested in the tactical challenge and puzzles"<br /><br /><-- Oh I think you're very wrong about this. There's a reason why games like Skyrim and Witcher sell well. Actual game mechanics matter, too, because they help glue the game together, keep you engaged, and carry the player along.<br /><br />I also think people often find the combat elements of games tedious and want to "blow past" that as fast as possible. Take especially games like Pokemon where you get interrupted by random battles all the time. Its why players keep trying to find better gear and increase their stats, so they can blow past combat easier. Its why people use cheats and save states in NES emulators. Its why people use save scumming to get around mistakes. And in Ultima V, for instance, everyone rushed to get the magic axes, which were way OP (and IMO also ruined the fun of combat).<br /><br />Back when I was a kid and I played Super Mario with friends, we used to discuss all the different types of monsters and stuff in the game and designed our own levels. Its the stuff in games that sparks your imagination that attracts lots of people.<br /><br />Game mechanics like puzzles and combat are necessary too, I just think this attitude that nobody likes immersion except RPG nerds couldn't be further from the truth. I find it more that the RPG nerds are the ones that tend to be into the stats die rolls.Brian Shapirohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09260038965020343601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-43191189659215514252019-03-08T12:08:33.545-05:002019-03-08T12:08:33.545-05:00Its strange to me that one would choose this game ...Its strange to me that one would choose this game as an example of 'abstraction' versus 'simulation', where it has a complex hunger system and you can't always count on resurrection because corpses decay. Consider not only a lot of modern RPGs giving that up, but even the Ultima games released at the time had something more simple. The encumbrance system is also another aspect of simulation, something Ultima V didn't have, as is the different states of health, and the complex feeling of the magic and prayer mechanics. You also mentioned the feel of the sprawling passages. Weapons also break, and there are more individual pieces of armor to put on. Uukrul has a lot of strong simulation aspects common to survival RPGs.<br /><br />There are other areas where the game could maybe be critiqued from the same perspective, but all the "real" aspects of the game mechanics I think actually helps the game a lot.<br /><br />Its not that I favor either "abstraction" or "simulation". All RPGs have a balance of the two. But to me, making RPGs about puzzles and progression and states such misses the point. If that's all it is, you might as well just get a big book of puzzles or play a strategy game or whatever else gives you the same stats and puzzles without all the pesky storytelling.<br /><br />Role-playing is about playing a "role", hence the old saying about "role"-playing vs "roll"-playing. You're a real character (or characters) in a world, have choices to make, have limits in how you can make them, and those choices have meaningful consequences. In order for those consequences to be meaningful they have to feel real in line with the storytelling of the world. This involves some degree of immersion and many games get by and be immersive with minimal simulation or realism, but simulation and realism helps increase the depth of it.<br /><br />And The Dark Heart of Uukrul has some strong aspects of simulation, and uses it in smart ways to make the game feel deeper.Brian Shapirohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09260038965020343601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-7123419348765547402019-02-23T00:53:50.176-05:002019-02-23T00:53:50.176-05:00+1 anon: I'm afraid the contrastinging perspec...+1 anon: I'm afraid the contrastinging perspectives are inevitable.Rangeroushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05384980667033682190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-50912764398872473432018-12-12T02:20:59.655-05:002018-12-12T02:20:59.655-05:00This game was not only reviewed in Spanish magazin...This game was not only reviewed in Spanish magazines, but it kept being popular way longer than its time. Probably because of the time games were taking to appear in the country, compared with their initial release.<br />It even made the top5 list in Micromania up to 1993: https://archive.org/details/micromania-segunda-epoca-58/page/n31 page 32 (in Spanish)shankaohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06194425920878224732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-48212625623722650152018-08-04T12:28:16.167-04:002018-08-04T12:28:16.167-04:00It's a rare condition, this day and age, to se...It's a rare condition, this day and age, to see such a good game on the CRPGAddict's page. A dungeon crawler of the grand design, some people say is even harder to find. A labour of love for the CRPG family!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-88223353295023125992017-10-18T00:23:06.403-04:002017-10-18T00:23:06.403-04:00I loved this game so much as a kid, and still thin...I loved this game so much as a kid, and still think of it from time to time -- I got here because I was searching for the "I will rule" riddle, wondering about all the hinted backstory of Eriosthe there. It took me a while to finish, and I never solved everything; I remember I opened the dragon through pure button-mashing. The game's writing is just beautiful. I'm so glad the game is not entirely lost!Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08812585579948568921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-7400042670692216872016-10-17T10:29:03.544-04:002016-10-17T10:29:03.544-04:00"I find a iconographic, tactical combat scree... "I find a iconographic, tactical combat screen much more satisfying than first-person hacking and slashing." Yes, I agree. It must come from childhood, when you moved army men or playing pieces around a board. There is something tactile about isometric combat, rather than the wizardry model, which is abstract in the extreme. JJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-44000399508862744142016-08-12T11:43:32.216-04:002016-08-12T11:43:32.216-04:00I thought I posted this on one of your Uukrul post...I thought I posted this on one of your Uukrul postings when they originally happened, but I guess not; I owe my handle to this game, and its decision to require one of each character class. Between having to make a magician and seeing the swank little mysterious faceless dude icon, my childhood self decided I had to come up with the coolest name imaginable if he was going to be worthy of that robe. Fifteen minutes of typing up random names later, I came up with "Quarex Osis" which I decided in awe must be the coolest name in history.<br /><br />You would think 25 years later I would not think it was still cool, though.<br /><br />Regardless, I am glad to have finally finished this game via proxy. I got like four of the stone hearts and found something seemingly inescapable without a recent backup...it has been far too long to remember what seemed inescapable. Good times.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-90172406296188271852016-05-14T02:49:46.127-04:002016-05-14T02:49:46.127-04:00And here I am again, having finally played through...And here I am again, having finally played through. You definitely did introduce the game at least to me, for which I'm very thankful. I haven't enjoyed it quite as much as most, in part because I screwed up badly ending up walking dead while being half way through as I mentioned in the comments for "more puzzles". But still I agree this game is a hidden gem.fireballhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01094871771537115267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-86945254256993261652014-07-15T12:25:57.884-04:002014-07-15T12:25:57.884-04:00Umpf....another rare gem. Unfortunately, my addict...Umpf....another rare gem. Unfortunately, my addiction is a bit more expensive then just playing crpg's. I have this urge called collecting, which can be very expensive depending on the subject since I share it with many other people out there ;) . Unfortunately crpg's definitely ARE expensive, the older the more. This one here is also pretty rare. I've waited a whole month before finding an acceptable offer on ebay. You should feel lucky if you already own this.fireballhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01094871771537115267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-24677901662845511932013-11-14T21:45:33.132-05:002013-11-14T21:45:33.132-05:00Great that CRPG Addict is acting as an Underdog Re...Great that CRPG Addict is acting as an Underdog Reviewer to give these old forgotten gems the recognition they should deserve. XDKenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-9534021154873707642013-11-14T19:11:32.885-05:002013-11-14T19:11:32.885-05:00I started playing this game based entirely on your...I started playing this game based entirely on your review of it. I am absolutely blown away by the quality of it and attention to detail. The exploration is wonderful, and I like that the battles feel tactical without being too long, tedious, or frequent. Thank you for reviewing it!Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08117105886460788732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-63564061517767841782013-02-09T02:16:43.914-05:002013-02-09T02:16:43.914-05:00If you like Wizardry, I can't imagine you woul...If you like <i>Wizardry</i>, I can't imagine you wouldn't like <i>Uukrul</i>. I strongly encourage you to check it out.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-7891237902138065492013-02-07T10:44:58.691-05:002013-02-07T10:44:58.691-05:00Shame I never heard of this game. Sounds like I mi...Shame I never heard of this game. Sounds like I might enjoy it even more than Dungeon Master. It's odd, but I originally came here to read your playthroughs of Wizardry. Despite us disagreeing on the merits of that franchise, I found myself sticking around to hear about all the exciting games I've missed or never even heard of. This has already paid off with Ultima, a series I probably wouldn't have revisited otherwise.<br /><br />In short, thanks for finding gems like this to give me something to look back to!Tanuveinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12397078211341079561noreply@blogger.com