tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post8627078821089914485..comments2024-03-19T06:03:57.317-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Game 281: Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992)CRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger207125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-9363535586737610022021-10-10T12:28:54.707-04:002021-10-10T12:28:54.707-04:00I'm one of those game music-hating weirdos. I&...I'm one of those game music-hating weirdos. I'm such a weirdo that I even hate game music other commenters consider "unintrusive." I somehow survived the game without being artifically alerted to combat by changes in the music.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-62551068646152797562021-10-10T04:09:46.152-04:002021-10-10T04:09:46.152-04:00Why would you turn the music off? Even if you'...Why would you turn the music off? Even if you're one of those game music-hating weirdos, this game has a pretty unintrusive soundtrack. It's never distracting or obnoxious.<br /><br />Besides it serves the purpose of letting you know when you're under attack. With the music off, you may not realize if someone is there is someone attacking you offscreen until you get hit.cyan-birdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09877642186239966068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-12639553661688249422020-06-21T04:22:56.373-04:002020-06-21T04:22:56.373-04:00A very-much-belated reply: it's correct that p...A very-much-belated reply: it's correct that polygons in the UUW engine cannot be positioned arbitrarily. Regarding the slope angles, I don't know if it's 45 degrees, but the slopes are in fact limited to a single angle. The UUW engine (like many first-person games of the time) stores maps as a collection of uniformly-sized tiles, each with a single floor height. You can get an inclined floor by setting the tile to one of the four slope types (one for each of the four cardinal directions); however, the upper edge of a slope tile can only be one height unit taller than the lower edge, since placing a slope tile automatically sets the floor height of the tile adjacent to the upper edge. So while you can put a bunch of slope tiles together to create a longer, taller slope, it's impossible to actually change its angle.<br /><br />The use of tiles also creates some other limitations for map geometry, notably the fact that walls can't be any shorter than a single tile. The engine is more advanced than a lot of its contemporaries in that it supports non-orthogonal walls, but these can only be one of four diagonal wall types bisecting a tile through two corners and can't be set at arbitrary angles. The <i>Doom</i> engine, while lacking some important features of the UUW engine, offered a lot more flexibility by abandoning the use of tiles (which id had used for its earlier 3D engines) and essentially replacing them with "sectors" that can be sized and shaped as the level designer sees fit (within certain limits, of course).Josh Martinhttps://www.twitter.com/MajorHintsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-46811713433785543522019-01-09T10:31:32.780-05:002019-01-09T10:31:32.780-05:00So I recently revisited UA after missing its relea...So I recently revisited UA after missing its release (it actually came out in 2018! Would've been better if it hadn't, though...). I found a delightfully devastating review I'd like to share: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-11-24-underworld-ascendant-review-a-strangely-essential-development-disasterPaulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16594966196618648451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-51620847958802404972018-08-24T15:27:11.649-04:002018-08-24T15:27:11.649-04:00Note that the PlayStation port was only released i...Note that the PlayStation port was only released in Japan.<br /><br />I started playing this around the time you did, but only finished it last night with some trouble. Most of the trouble had to do with not noting certain "quests" and NPCs not exactly following up with helpful dialogue after the initial quest discussion was done. I'll mention more of that as I work my way through your posts. Looking forward to finally reading your take on things.Zenic Reveriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16441583549326102945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-16704633372065459582018-08-24T14:58:39.812-04:002018-08-24T14:58:39.812-04:00In my mind the starting pack at the beginning was ...In my mind the starting pack at the beginning was provided by the guards that escorted me.Zenic Reveriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16441583549326102945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-76622071793515758102018-07-29T19:11:25.120-04:002018-07-29T19:11:25.120-04:00I'm sorry, Canageek. I think if I had time for...I'm sorry, Canageek. I think if I had time for that, I'd spend it writing about jazz, instead of game music, which I don't listen to when I'm actually playing the game.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-33672809089532423992018-07-29T15:45:08.805-04:002018-07-29T15:45:08.805-04:00I know I'm months late, but have you considere...I know I'm months late, but have you considered doing a music review of games Chet? As in, look up the music on youtube from the best version (Or have fans make recordings for you), and listen to it in your preferred setting? (I'm imagining you in a comfy chair, a glass of something in one hand, a pair of expensive headphones on, and a crease on your forhead as your bend your full concentration bent towards it). <br /><br />I imagine most would be "Still in the beeps and boops era" but it would be interesting to hear a music connoisseurs opinion. Plus as you hit more famous games you could also listen to the Video Games Live version (full orchestral covers) or the various fan piano versions, and thus compare the composition to the version actually included with the game. Canageekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03770924810559440307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-43878015506988296102018-03-06T10:18:46.910-05:002018-03-06T10:18:46.910-05:00Oh I did learn alot of English playing Everquest :...Oh I did learn alot of English playing Everquest :D But during Ultima I was like ... 8? ... no idea anymore. <br />Elanaraehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11321352451712755583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-27970103871471236242018-03-05T05:13:10.097-05:002018-03-05T05:13:10.097-05:00I wonder what Lord Vetinari would have done to the...I wonder what Lord Vetinari would have done to the voice actors then... Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16594966196618648451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-42726283516536237832018-03-05T05:09:34.571-05:002018-03-05T05:09:34.571-05:00I'd like to be the NSA guy who's assigned ...I'd like to be the NSA guy who's assigned to reportn on this blog. :-DPaulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16594966196618648451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-80506528479029473942018-03-05T05:02:09.957-05:002018-03-05T05:02:09.957-05:00You should have done it like me: learned English f...You should have done it like me: learned English from computer games. Ultima and Leisure Suit Larry went a long way...Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16594966196618648451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-39766434000628080442018-03-05T04:53:44.675-05:002018-03-05T04:53:44.675-05:00Origin always kinda pushed the envelope where sysr...Origin always kinda pushed the envelope where sysreqs are concerned. Ultima VII required a 486 to run smoothly, and the Wing Commander series practically required a new generation of CPU with every entry.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16594966196618648451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-62832509293933231952018-03-05T04:46:32.804-05:002018-03-05T04:46:32.804-05:00Underworld 2 almost made it into the same year as ...Underworld 2 almost made it into the same year as Underworld 1 (closely missed Xmas release), and uses mostly digital sound effects. Music is still MIDI iirc, though. But those sword slashes and clangs, those dropped items splish-splashing into water, and that iceskating "ring" really make a difference.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16594966196618648451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-38442870216227754082018-03-05T04:42:58.031-05:002018-03-05T04:42:58.031-05:00What I thought when reading some UA previews last ...What I thought when reading some UA previews last week: "wow, somebody's falling into the Spore trap once more". I concur with Tristan Gall, I don't expect much of the game. And the Addict is sadly very correct that the Underworld line in particular doesn't really need a modern entry.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16594966196618648451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-37915190601113242312018-02-28T04:20:26.815-05:002018-02-28T04:20:26.815-05:00The discourse on this blog is so wholesome. We jus...The discourse on this blog is so wholesome. We just wanna have esoteric arguments about crpg terminology, d&d minutiae and video game gambling strategies.Tristan Gallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16769219573533545742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-86102145300319263622018-02-28T01:59:56.984-05:002018-02-28T01:59:56.984-05:00But the U4 player character isn't "the Av...But the U4 player character isn't "the Avatar" when the game starts, even though they are the player's "avatar". They gain "Avatarhood" and become the Avatar of the Virtues. Garriott seems to have understood the term as meaning something like "paragon" or "bodhisattva":<br /><br />> The other was in seeing a television show that “talked about the concept of an Avatar in many Eastern Religions” which “set the game design wheels in motion”. He would clarify this in Addams’ book by saying that it was a documentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls and that it explored the view of Hindus viewing Christ as an avatar figure — someone who had purified themselves to the ultimate level. (<a href="https://extralives.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/from-the-pages-of-the-past-games-of-yesteryear-ultima-iv-quest-of-the-avatar/" rel="nofollow">Source</a>)<br /><br />Unfortunately I can't find the original source (Shay Addams' <i>The Official Book of Ultima</i>), but Wikipedia has a similar paraphrase of that interview.stepped pyramidsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-63697614474417467372018-02-27T22:18:57.845-05:002018-02-27T22:18:57.845-05:00One thing to remember, too....a lot of the process...One thing to remember, too....a lot of the processors did not have the math co-processor in them. A lot of the gaming computers people had were 286 or 386 with no math co-processor. This added a lot of load to the cpu of the time.<br /><br />I remember adding a math co-processor to my computer shortly after trying to play this game and it made a huge difference at the time.Rick S.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-51185812197190408342018-02-27T19:52:26.865-05:002018-02-27T19:52:26.865-05:00Sure, but neither of those sources pertain to avat...Sure, but neither of those sources pertain to avatars being the embodiment of a _player_ in a game or shared virtual experience. Snow Crash and U4 did. And while Snow Crash did mention the term, it's in U4's actual _name_. Vitolyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16842092088550706334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-77174804752106606282018-02-27T09:10:41.650-05:002018-02-27T09:10:41.650-05:00AD&D's Deities and Demigods (1980) gave ru...AD&D's Deities and Demigods (1980) gave rules for Indian gods that incorporated the concept of avatars. But despite owning that book, I hadn't read it cover to cover, thus my first understanding of the term came from one of the most well-known works among the Forgotten Realms novels - The Avatar Trilogy, published in 1989, which deals with the time of troubles (when gods walked Faurun and which provides the backdrop for the Baldur's Gate series of games).Tristan Gallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16769219573533545742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-59310131502764797312018-02-27T01:04:34.627-05:002018-02-27T01:04:34.627-05:00I’d like to point out that the McDonalds people ha...I’d like to point out that the McDonalds people have gotten very very rich by providing consistent, moderate food experiences. The most highly recommended restaurant in the city might have an off night, or may serve food that doesn’t appeal to you. But a Quarter Pounder is always a Quarter Pounder. (Unless it’s a Royale with Cheese.)ThirtyNinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07720392687278454430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-82180679506432362232018-02-26T23:53:26.737-05:002018-02-26T23:53:26.737-05:00Hello, long time lurker here. I think it is worth...Hello, long time lurker here. I think it is worth noting here that in 1990 D&D published a core rules supplement book called 'Legend and Lore' which defined their version of an Avatar (as it related to the in game gods defined within the book). This was my first encouner of the word, and to my mind would have made great strides towards making the term more mainstream to the D&D fanboys.Peter Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13331309832977562658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-91712440354828258122018-02-26T22:32:23.696-05:002018-02-26T22:32:23.696-05:00It certainly is a rather esoterical topic, I'l...It certainly is a rather esoterical topic, I'll grant you that :). But it's always interesting to explore the roots of such things, and especially so for a term like "avatar", which has been so central to digital RPGs for such a long time now.<br /><br />I don't have anything to specifically disagree with in what you said, but I do want to add a few commments of scepticism, which I hope you won't interpret as me just trying to have the last word ;).<br /><br />1. I would be very careful taking stories from Garriott or Stephenson at face value, just as I would be for the LucasArts developers. People aren't just subject to forgetting stuff, they're also subject to auto-suggestion overwriting their memories. It is far from unusual for a developer to tell a different story about a past project at multiple points in their life, and in each case to be convinced he's telling the truth. That's the case even for big things, it's even more so the case for small things. In this case, the question is "when did X first hear the term 'avatar'"?", and the problem is that X may have heard it five times before, and then on the sixth time it made a different kind of impression: but when he talks about this later on, he'll only remember that sixth time. So, these guys could all be saying the truth, but they might also have forgotten something.<br /><br />2. My non-encountering of Stephenson's novel may be related to the fact that I've been studying games specifically, and have done very little on broader virtual reality issues. But the thing is, this is also an inherently unreliable claim. All we have is a bunch of different encyclopaedia-like listings that say the term was popularised by Stephenson: how do we know this is the case? It's something that might have easily been a post-hoc interpretation: the term "avatar" would have naturally become more prominent in the mid-1990s, and Stephenson's book was 1992, so therefore it must have driven this. But that's a big assumption, and so far, I've seen no conclusive evidence to this, all I see is untested assumptions.<br /><br />So, that's my two cents of scepticism :). Doesn't mean your argument is wrong, and I certainly have no "it actually happened like this" counter-argument, but I would still be careful in treating this as a closed matter. There is too much we don't know - which is another reason we should probably shut up now ;).Jakub Majewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04346544936010598248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-40200557512028397302018-02-26T13:22:00.069-05:002018-02-26T13:22:00.069-05:00That's what I think of when I hear Texan accen...That's what I think of when I hear Texan accent, but I've never been to Texas and was just going by pop culture depictions like <em>King of the Hill</em>. You're no doubt right that that's not what real Texans sound like, but I still don't think there's any sense in which Garriott specifically "sounds like a Texan" -- if I didn't know better, I wouldn't know from his accent that he's not from California.Jalen Wandererhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00973042209003357278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-24966363054990639052018-02-26T11:11:22.679-05:002018-02-26T11:11:22.679-05:00Sweet! My CM-64 will finally get some use when I g...Sweet! My CM-64 will finally get some use when I get around to playing this for myself!Van Slanzar de Fanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01767775132251422846noreply@blogger.com