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CRPGAddict

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RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In
It was made by Poles. Czechs only made Mafia and some WW2 tactical shooter or something.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Final verdict on Savage Empire: http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2015/05/worlds-of-ultima-savage-empire-final.html

All in all, fantastic work by Aaron Allston (credited for both the overall game story and the game manual) and worth an extra 2 bonus points for afinal score of 48. That's considerably lower than the 68 I gave to Ultima VI, but still in the top 10% of 1990 games, and the third-highest rating I've given in the past year.

I started my series of posts on The Savage Empire praising Origin for re-using a great engine instead of discarding it after a single use. Thus, I was a little surprised and annoyed to find Dennis Owens complaining about the same thing in his March 1991Computer Gaming World review. “Although once upon a time, Ultima stood for innovation and surprise,” he grouses, “[they] seem to have devolved into copies of themselves–all requiring that worlds be explored…monsters be bashed, and objects be found.” I mean, Jesus, Dennis–you could reduce all RPGs to such trite phrasing.Ultimahasn’t lost its innovation just because the creators re-used one engine. Frankly, if they hadn’t, we’d be waiting until Ultima VII for the next game. Would that have been better?

While he does have some positive things to say, his conclusion is mixed: “Compared to any except its own brothers and sisters, The Savage Empire…must be considered dazzling and successful. Compared to its peers, however, the game presents what may be a disturbing view of a possible trend in the Ultima line: caricature.”

In her 1993 “survey” of RPGs on the market, Scorpia was a little more positive, concluding that it was “good for filling in the hours while you wait for the next realUltima,” with which I completely agree.

More posts:
 
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octavius

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Finally he's finished with 1990, one of the years with the largest number of forgettable CRPGs made. Unfortunately the other year with the largest number of forgettable CRPGs made is upcoming 1991...
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Finally he's finished with 1990, one of the years with the largest number of forgettable CRPGs made. Unfortunately the other year with the largest number of forgettable CRPGs made is upcoming 1991...

Large number of RPGs --> large number of forgettable RPGs. Don't knock the Golden Age
 

octavius

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Finally he's finished with 1990, one of the years with the largest number of forgettable CRPGs made. Unfortunately the other year with the largest number of forgettable CRPGs made is upcoming 1991...

Large number of RPGs --> large number of forgettable RPGs. Don't knock the Golden Age

But the good to poor ratio was low in both 90 and 91, with very few really good games. I think 92 and 93 had about the same number of CRPGs released, but the good to poor ratio is much higher.
 

Deuce Traveler

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Grab the Codex by the pussy Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
Finally he's finished with 1990, one of the years with the largest number of forgettable CRPGs made. Unfortunately the other year with the largest number of forgettable CRPGs made is upcoming 1991...

Large number of RPGs --> large number of forgettable RPGs. Don't knock the Golden Age

But the good to poor ratio was low in both 90 and 91, with very few really good games. I think 92 and 93 had about the same number of CRPGs released, but the good to poor ratio is much higher.

It took him a long time to dig out of 1990, and unlike other previous years, I didn't see much that I wanted to try out. A bad year indeed, especially when compared to 1988 and 1989.
 

octavius

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Yeah, it's been a long time since a really interesting game on the blog now.
But Eye of the Beholder is coming up. It used to be my favourite DM-clone after DM itself and CSB, but it's now one of the few old CRPGs that I did not like very much when I replayed it. With Black Crypt it was the other way around, for some reason.
 

Deuce Traveler

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Grab the Codex by the pussy Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
I'm trying a few of the Amiga games thanks to the Amiga Dungeoneering package put together by one of our esteemed members. Mostly just watching the intros and checking out character creation. I am actually a little disappointed because most of them seem like DM clones. I respect the sub genre of real time blobbers, and the graphics in these Amiga gamest are normally very enjoyable, but I prefer the turn-based sub genre.
 

octavius

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Looks like the blog is slowly being taken over by JRPG fans (as if they don't have enough retro blogs and sites themselves). Some very obscure Japanese game that is hardly an RPG, and not even a good game, managed to generate over 100 replies...
 

TigerKnee

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Didn't read the comments section yet, but Virtual Hydlide (a remake of this game) is considered one of the worst games of all time that I wouldn't be surprised if some knowledge of the original spilled over somehow
 
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Hydlide isn't really that obscure and was rather well received in the East. It didn't fare so well in the West since it was brought over very, very late (5 year after the original release for home computers, 3 years after the Japanese Famicom release), at a point where it seemed (and really was) outdated compared to its competition.

It was also among the earlier japanese rpgs and is said to have had quite an influence on the japanese rpg market. So if such a fundamental game made it over to the west, then I'd say it is worth a discussion, even on a non-jrpg platform.

As far as quality goes, the series doesn't hold up too well overall, but Hydlide 3 is actually pretty good and worth playing even today, I'd say.
 

TheGreatOne

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Some very obscure Japanese game that is hardly an RPG, and not even a good game, managed to generate over 100 replies...
Hydlide isn't "very obscure", the NES port is well known. AVGN reviewed it (2,6 million views on youtube), as did some guy named ProJared (950k views on youtube).
 

Kuhrazy

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It didn't fare so well in the West since it was brought over very, very late (5 year after the original release for home computers, 3 years after the Japanese Famicom release), at a point where it seemed (and really was) outdated compared to its competition.
People say this. Apparently Hydlide somehow aged worse in five years than Wizardry or Dragon Quest have in the last 30.

If nothing else, I think a better soundtrack could have saved the game's rep. It has the absolute worst music I've ever heard in a game.
 

Baron Dupek

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*googled Virtual Hydlide*
:hmmm:
That looks like Stonekeep with TPP camera and placed outdoors.
 
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People say this. Apparently Hydlide somehow aged worse in five years than Wizardry or Dragon Quest have in the last 30.
It's not so hard to believe, really. But don't take my word for it - head on over to GOG and try out Akalabeth, then compare THAT to Wizardry.
 

Sceptic

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Divinity: Original Sin
He's back to Eye of the Beholder now.

I did find it funny that he attacked the Drow on sight, then even reloaded when he died and attacked them again instead of exploring the non-violent option, but then at the end of the post he complains about the lack of dialogue on this level...
 

Sceptic

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Divinity: Original Sin
The back story is pretty poor, telling you only that there's a threat (left oddly vague) to Waterdeep and that the Lords want you to solve it. Into the dungeon you go.
I don't understand why he sees a problem here. First it's a dungeon crawler, so story is just an excuse to send you into the dungeon. More importantly, it's a good thing that the threat is left vague, not to mention it makes perfect sense (if Xanathar is planning a sneak attack, he's not exactly going to advertise this little tidbit, is he). It leaves you to discover the nature of the threat and how to deal with it as part of the game. It works a lot better than a generic "Xanathar plans to invade Waterdeep, go down there and kill him using the Wand of Silvas" blurb in the manual, which would also mean that the entire subplot of the Wand would no longer be optional (IMO one of EOB1's greatest strengths, and one not found in most other DM clones, is how nonlinear and open the dungeon actually is. EOB2 might've improved everything else, but I consider it an inferior sequel for this reason alone).

Otherwise his conclusion isn't exactly unexpected (DM is the better game) but I don't think he appreciates some of the game's strengths, or indeed cares about or even notices them.
 

octavius

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Anyone played Dungeons of Avalon?
I never hears about it before myself, but it was an amateur Amiga RT blobber, with very nice graphics, and seems to have quite good level design.
But apparently the devs never bothered to make a winning screen, instead making the game unwinnable.
I bet not even Fowyr completed this one without cheathing (someone had to edit CRPG Addict's characters in order to be able to win the last battle).
 

Fowyr

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Anyone played Dungeons of Avalon?
I never hears about it before myself, but it was an amateur Amiga RT blobber
Stopped right here ;)
I can count Amiga's games that I saw and played on the fingers of one hand.
Seems like a nice DM/Eye of the Beholder clone.
 

Sceptic

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Divinity: Original Sin
But apparently the devs never bothered to make a winning screen, instead making the game unwinnable.
I'm going to call both you and the addict out for reaching this conclusion considering the evidence you actually have on hand.

For those of you who haven't followed the blog, here's how things unfolded: the addict got stuck on the last fight in the game and couldn't complete it. Now I'm not going to bring up exactly what this may or may not mean, considering other fights in which he got hopelessly stuck when there really was no reason (Bard's Tale sends its best). Let's stick to the facts of this story. He's stuck. He sends his saves to a commenter. Commenter sends him back hex edited saves. Keep in mind he has no idea how the game code works, how the saves work, or how the hex editing was actually done. He just took a save that was heavily hex edited in a way that he has no idea about, went on to kill the final boss in a way that may or may not be the intended way of completing the game, and didn't get a win screen.

Now of course, considering these circumstances, there are many explanations for what could have gone wrong:
1) The first one that would spring to mind to anyone with half a brain: you're using a hex edited save with no idea how the save was hex edited, with stat values that far surpass what is normally attainable in the game. Things bugging out as a result isn't just a possibility, it's actually quite likely.
2) He's playing a translation that was made IIRC without any involvement from the developers. He's already encountered bugs that clearly were introduced with the translation, with some text not displaying when it should. It wouldn't be a stretch to think that a similar bug is happening here, with the ending screen not displaying for the same reason.
3) The final fight may not be winnable by normal means. Some of the texts that weren't displayed might be telling the player what to actually do to win, and superior numbers are simply not the way to go. Think of EOB1 where just slashing at Xanathar doesn't work.
4) The game might simply be this buggy, hex editing or not.
5) He's playing the game on an emulator. For such an obscure, it probably was never tested on the emulator, and he might have hit an unfortunate bug due to emulation.

So, which one of these did he and the commenters consider most likely?

Why, none of them of course! They instead went with
6) The developers purposefully made the game unwinnable because they didn't want to bother coming up with an ending screen or text.

:hmmm:

I'm not saying this isn't a possibility. But to immediately decide that it is THE TRUTH? To not even CONSIDER the other possibilities seriously? #2 and #3 were half-heartedly mentioned, though of course as far less likely. #1, the single most likely explanation, was so outside the realm of possibility that no one even thought of mentioning it.

Of course it didn't take long before a commenter pointed out that there was a winning screen in the game, something that becomes obvious with just a cursory glance at the list of file names.

For someone who considers himself some kind of CRPG historian, this is beyond shoddy. It's downright embarrassing.

Personally I consider #2 to be the most likely, with #1 a close second, and #6 far, far down on the likelihood list. It's telling that this is the one many commenters (including octavius, shame on you) jumped on. But then there's a reason I don't comment on the blog anymore.

I'd like to think this is an isolated case. That his usual modus operandi is not to approach any game that has given him some frustrating gameplay by spreading such outlandish accusations as if they were truth. To quote what he himself said: "Short of more information from the Internet, we need to regard this game with heightened suspicion." This kind of posting is precisely the kind that makes your blog look suspicious, and severely undermines its credibility. That the only concession he's made to being even possibly wrong is an edit that says "this may not be the case", by leaving the entire rest of the post unmodified, does not inspire a huge amount of confidence either.

In before I must be whiteknighting for the devs.
 

:Flash:

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Not to mention that one commenter linked to a czech poster who claims to have finished the game (but doesn't remember how).
 

kmonster

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Anyone played Dungeons of Avalon?
I never hears about it before myself, but it was an amateur Amiga RT blobber, with very nice graphics, and seems to have quite good level design.

Look at the blog again. It's obviously not a RT blobber, it's a TB blobber.
 

octavius

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Look at the blog again. It's obviously not a RT blobber, it's a TB blobber.

Right. It just looks so much like a DM clone that I forgot.

Personally I consider #2 to be the most likely, with #1 a close second, and #6 far, far down on the likelihood list. It's telling that this is the one many commenters (including octavius, shame on you) jumped on.

Not really. I just had a hunch that the victory screen would not play. But I considered #6 a possibility; guess I was a bit hung up on those trolls in the final battle.
But I think blaming emulation is more far fetched.
Anyway the CRPG Addict seems to have read your message, and has udated his latest post on the game.
 

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