tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post5033966849994026990..comments2024-03-29T02:34:55.592-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Game 258: Gates of Delirium (1987)CRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-57743887266741784242023-10-05T22:49:06.478-04:002023-10-05T22:49:06.478-04:00Just for the record, there were Radio Shack stores...Just for the record, there were Radio Shack stores in Canada in the 80s. spiffyphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10833010337264886842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-31074500762852822282022-05-28T20:28:33.402-04:002022-05-28T20:28:33.402-04:00What I meant by "stuff like this site": ...What I meant by "stuff like this site": It wasn't meant as an insult - I just meant that I don't often read gaming/game sites in general (I'm not a gamer), nor do I read reviews much, or play-thrus, or whatever you want to call such things. No biggie - not my thing. But of course, not doing that, I missed the publication of this particular post.<br /><br />I was more amused than anything by the mention of the archive created, which made me want to post to a dead thread - I figured that you mentioned me, so why not? :D<br /><br />I did find what I believe to be a copy of the archive site you mentioned, and I posted links to it. It's not the original site, but something LCB saved and "resurrected" after the original disappeared. That said - I don't know who created the original - it certainly wasn't my site back then. But it was nice someone did that.<br /><br />I will say that your review did decent showing of much of the game. I enjoyed seeing the screenshots.cr0shhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04113324252539707534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-28907591807224678312022-05-28T13:53:30.887-04:002022-05-28T13:53:30.887-04:00There are things I don't understand about your...There are things I don't understand about your comment, but I agree that my attempts to be funny fell flat, and this post was unnecessarily insulting to the platform and people who owned it. I paid penance for that 5 years ago in the comments above, but unless I'm willing to disingenuously edit the original post, it's just going to keep insulting new readers, for which I can only apologize again.<br /><br />Speaking of insulting, I wonder if you care to elaborate what you mean by "stuff like this site."CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-17988484012061682042022-05-28T13:27:26.760-04:002022-05-28T13:27:26.760-04:00Did some googling - found these:
http://www.lcurt...Did some googling - found these:<br /><br />http://www.lcurtisboyle.com/nitros9/gatesofdelirium.html<br /><br />http://www.lcurtisboyle.com/nitros9/gates_archive/index.html<br /><br />Dunno if that's the same "archive" - but it seems to have everything...in case anyone cares...AndrewAhttps://www.phoenixgarage.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-40690562425775827782022-05-28T13:12:27.450-04:002022-05-28T13:12:27.450-04:00I never read stuff like this site, so it was funny...I never read stuff like this site, so it was funny to find it, the review, the snarky comment over the "archive site" (anyone have a link - working or not, because I can't recall if that was something someone else made, or a link to an old iteration of my website?)...<br /><br />Going by the receipts of the stuff my parents bought me for my Color Computer systems (I had both a CoCo 2 and a CoCo 3 - the former ultimately upgraded to 64K and the latter to 512K - and I still own all of it, three decades plus later - my CoCo 3 sits next to me right now!) - jeez, they spent a ton of money for everything, and my dad didn't make much per year (decent money for the '80s and where we lived - but just barely "middle class" of the time)...<br /><br />They lived long enough to see me establish a long career as a software engineer - and my Color Computer was among the steps along the way (arguably the biggest step - though my earliest real "programming" experience was the simple LOGO turtle like "programming" for my Milton Bradley Big Trak - another toy of my childhood I still own).<br /><br />Did other machines of the time have better graphics, sound, etc - sure - but they needed them because of they all used a cheaper CPU (in general the 6502, mainly) - the 6809 was known as an expensive CPU back then. I do wish they had paired it with something better than the 6847 for graphics, as Motorola did have a few other options - or went with a different manufacturer's controller altogether - but it is what it was.<br /><br />In short - for the most part - the CoCo, no matter which iteration - was pushing the pixels, making the sound effect, and music - all using the CPU only, for the most part. It's only too bad that some of the stuff we've seen lately in the past decade or 2 done with the CoCo 2 & 3 couldn't have been "discovered" back then...but you could say the same about other machines of the era, too.<br /><br />Gates of Delirium was a clone, maybe it ripped off some stuff, I dunno - but that was the kind of thing back then, especially on the CoCo. Most of the major publishers and "game houses" back then ignored the Color Computer almost entirely. It was probably difficult to port code over to it - I really don't know. But we did have something none of the other home machines had (if you could afford it at the time): OS-9<br /><br />A multi-tasking, multi-user operating system on an 8-bit machine - that was not a common thing back then...AndrewAhttps://www.phoenixgarage.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-45026081827504801862021-02-20T17:39:55.086-05:002021-02-20T17:39:55.086-05:00Thanks, i readed all, and the comments, very inter...Thanks, i readed all, and the comments, very interesting stuff. Continue the good work of documenting theses games on your blog. My inner child want me to redo that game 33 years later but its a very long and difficult game :) Thanks again for all this work, very appreciated. Greenstang02 from québec canada.unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03814765963079504607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-61753414970193328372021-02-19T20:49:31.329-05:002021-02-19T20:49:31.329-05:00I get a lot of comments in which the commenter doe...I get a lot of comments in which the commenter doesn't seem to be adding to what I said or refuting what I said but simply outpouring his or her own experience with the game. <br /><br />That said, re-reading your original comment three years later, I don't know exactly why I responded the way I did. It's probably because your first sentence says "really great game." My entry does not support the idea that it's a really great game. It's fine if you disagree with me, but when someone disagrees, I expect them to say something like, "I read your entry, and I disagree--I think it's a really great game." By not making it clear that you were offering an alternate perspective, it sounded to me like you hadn't read the entry at all.<br /><br />However, the rest of your comment offered new and original material and insights on the game. It didn't deserve to be dismissed with such a flippant response, and I apologize.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-54814095382296772312021-02-19T19:09:32.358-05:002021-02-19T19:09:32.358-05:00I dont really understand what you are trying to ex...I dont really understand what you are trying to explain, but i guess you are just like that and its ok everybody its own. Anyway i plan to redo the game, its was very good.unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03814765963079504607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-30232312943393907132018-03-05T18:06:35.445-05:002018-03-05T18:06:35.445-05:00I'm always amused by these comments that appea...I'm always amused by these comments that appear to have read the title of my entry and nothing else.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-50032936575409121902018-03-04T16:33:01.760-05:002018-03-04T16:33:01.760-05:00Solved the game back in the day, really great game...Solved the game back in the day, really great game. This is why i googled it today and found this website. If i recall correctly, you can overpower your caracters, but in the other world, but its kind of too late and useless because game is near the end. Would be useful to gain extra powers before engaging the super dungeon. One tip i remember, kill everybody on first world (i mean everybody, kings included) on all the town and castles and then when everybody is maxed up engage the big dungeons, you will escape with half the players dead :) Oh and use the magic bows if the players can handle them, only way to succeed. unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03814765963079504607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-34879166742688978612017-08-31T02:30:04.940-04:002017-08-31T02:30:04.940-04:00The LOL gave you away, you joker. The only person ...The LOL gave you away, you joker. The only person who likes Trump nowadays is Trump himself.Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-83817172071549120652017-08-31T01:33:43.463-04:002017-08-31T01:33:43.463-04:00It'll come back before the end of 1987. I just...It'll come back before the end of 1987. I just need to be in the right mood to re-engage it.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-33180936366019197832017-08-29T07:35:15.770-04:002017-08-29T07:35:15.770-04:00I'm a Trump supporter and I read the blog. LO...I'm a Trump supporter and I read the blog. LOL! Screw you, haters! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-13515864782840179592017-08-25T13:33:12.802-04:002017-08-25T13:33:12.802-04:00Yeah, Stu did a good job on it, no need to waste t...Yeah, Stu did a good job on it, no need to waste time on an Ultima clone. I was kind of doing it as CRPG design research for myself... Still working on that big one for the TI. :)<br /><br />I would say, though, that if you were a TRS-80 Color Computer owner back in the day, this game would rock in that you DO have an Ultima game to play. It does feel and play just like one in terms of game mechanics. It just doesn't compare favorably today because it's a clone and it lacks any kind of decent background.<br /><br />Hey, speaking of Deathlord... when are you going to finish that one?Adamantyrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14962009901412877763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-65046590098749772582017-08-25T12:01:41.914-04:002017-08-25T12:01:41.914-04:00Thanks for posting your experiences. I think you&#...Thanks for posting your experiences. I think you're probably wrong about the contest: SOMEONE was destined to win, after all, and they only gave prizes to the first X players who filled in those cards. But I do agree that it's slightly harder than <i>Ultima</i> for the reasons you say. I didn't decline to finish because it was hard so much as because it was boring. After peaking at Stu's account of the dungeons, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Not where he'd already documented everything so thoroughly.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-81948636888018006502017-08-24T20:38:31.933-04:002017-08-24T20:38:31.933-04:00I was taken aback by "overpriced" too, s...I was taken aback by "overpriced" too, since we had one, so it couldn't have been expensive. After reading the conversation and looking it up, I've realised it must have been the original 16k model (and possibly secondhand). My Dad wrote some little educational programs for it for my Mum to use in her job teaching remedial English at primary schools. Like Quirkz above, we only had a black and white TV to plug it into at home, defeating the point somewhat.Bunyiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09568418061481970011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-10205869344183087872017-08-24T12:01:57.967-04:002017-08-24T12:01:57.967-04:00After a day of play, I'm pretty certain the ga...After a day of play, I'm pretty certain the game was designed to be MORE difficult than Ultima II-IV deliberately.<br /><br />Some examples:<br /><br />- Treasure chests only yield between 10-40 gold, instead of the 0-99 of Ultima.<br />- Leveling and hit points are 50% higher. (150 verses 100)<br />- Spell costs are marked up, and there are less spells per class<br /><br />My guess here is that because there was a contest involved, they didn't want the game easy to win. (I'd say something about not enough play testing, but honestly in this era? Nobody play-tested things for balance reasons, only for code issues and bugs, and typically the same devs who wrote the code would do the play-testing.)<br /><br />And while they copied a lot of things well, they also missed a bunch of details.<br /><br />- The ship graphic is static, it doesn't change direction. This does let you fire all four directions instead of just broadside though.<br />- Other than the pirate ship, monsters don't have ranged attacks on the travel map<br />- Dragons don't fly over water<br />- The classes are not balanced well. U3 had useless classes but GoD is worse. For example, druids in U3 recovered MP twice as fast to compensate in other areas, GoD doesn't.<br />- As I played, I noticed the main world map started getting very sluggish... and I realized why. The southern continent is a wide horizontal swath of "spawn friendly" territory, and monsters kept getting added to it until there was an army of them consuming CPU time. Once I got a ship I was able to blast them away and make the game performant again, but clearly no one thought to put a cap on monster spawning...Adamantyrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14962009901412877763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-32639516620853510602017-08-24T11:36:51.399-04:002017-08-24T11:36:51.399-04:00Oh yes, that's the other nickname for the mach...Oh yes, that's the other nickname for the machine! I think it started with the TRS-80 Model I/III era, but carried over to the Color Computer.Adamantyrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14962009901412877763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-17297262669207607042017-08-24T08:24:43.300-04:002017-08-24T08:24:43.300-04:00Gates of Delirium is a great Yes song. Looks like ...Gates of Delirium is a great Yes song. Looks like this game sucks. I'm a Commodore man, so I never messed around with the Trash-80.Digital Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782507961551502030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-85050182873498205662017-08-24T00:17:42.365-04:002017-08-24T00:17:42.365-04:00... Well said! I disagree, because I believe that ...... Well said! I disagree, because I believe that race, gender, and class are all intertwined, and need to be unraveled together. But I'm glad you understood the debatey/non-confrontational nature of the question.Joet88https://www.blogger.com/profile/06298640825880372478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-84762730958882123332017-08-23T22:11:04.839-04:002017-08-23T22:11:04.839-04:00Joet88, that's a perfectly fair question that ...Joet88, that's a perfectly fair question that deserves an answer. The simplest answer would be to say that, if my Facebook feed is any evidence (and I have friends from pretty much the entire political spectrum), class and economics are the one thing that people aren't angry enough about.<br /><br />With every other hot-button issue, there's a level of rage and righteousness that sometimes crosses the line into catastrophizing even the most trivial offenses or imagined slights (which becomes counterproductive, as it fatigues and alienates even the most sympathetic reader). But I literally can't think of a single person I know -- certainly not an American: maybe there are a couple Scandinavians -- who talks about class with anything like the fiery anger it deserves, and I can't think of a single time that my feed has lit up with an issue whose main and most distinctive aspect was class-based injustice (as opposed to race, gender, sexuality, etc.).<br /><br />So, if I'm to be totally candid, I'd say first, that addressing economic inequality would damn near solve most other problems related to what some people call "social justice". And second, that it's basically an untouchable third rail in American politics, because if there were ever a full accounting for all the sins, injustices, thefts and other misdeeds that have been perpetrated by the haves against the have-nots (and the economic elites against everyone else), it would lead to what that apocryphal Chinese curse describes as "interesting times". It's much less threatening to the status quo to debate how many racist/sexist angels can fit on the head of a pin than it is to ask the question of how some people came to have so much while others have so little, and what should be done about it.PK Thunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14416777230563913195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-32346881827980174982017-08-23T21:05:53.569-04:002017-08-23T21:05:53.569-04:00Land of gates is actually kind of a cool name, mak...Land of gates is actually kind of a cool name, makes me think of SigilJoet88https://www.blogger.com/profile/06298640825880372478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-7156747594475256672017-08-23T21:03:51.867-04:002017-08-23T21:03:51.867-04:00Just a quibble about this quibble. Why say you'...Just a quibble about this quibble. Why say you're thoroughly sick with outrage culture, but then proceed to justify your outrage with multiple paragraphs? It's okay when you do it, but it's too much when other people do it? Personally I think you have every right to say something without being ostracized. If you don't feel the need to "tone it down," why should anyone else?Joet88https://www.blogger.com/profile/06298640825880372478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-13126375242518437492017-08-23T20:35:13.031-04:002017-08-23T20:35:13.031-04:00Yes, brave sir anonymous, games are for everyone, ...Yes, brave sir anonymous, games are for everyone, but this is a blog. Your enjoyment of games is not being infringed on by the fact that one of over 800 posts on this particular website mentioned politics. No one is oppressing you.Tristan Gallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16769219573533545742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-72007826526242441012017-08-23T19:38:39.859-04:002017-08-23T19:38:39.859-04:00Slightly off topic, I was very impressed with the ...Slightly off topic, I was very impressed with the similar level of effort that fans at mightandmagicworld.de put into Fate, Gates of Dawn. In contrast, my pitiful chicken scratchings aren't really worth having posted. It's great to see all of these labors of love for games long past their sell-by date :)Rangerous the Secondhttp://www.fategatesofdawn.comnoreply@blogger.com