Nevill
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2009
- Messages
- 11,211
Hi there.
I was looking at Alex Heartnet's thread about interactive Convoy LP with great interest, and I wanted to do something similar. Probably with FTL or some game that I have a fair understanding of so that the Codexian guidance does not kill us too quickly. However, I kind of sort of have another LP to take care of, so I wanted to do something that could be done quick and without too much investment as a test run.
Enter the Space Rangers. Normally, the game is quite huge and it would take a lot of time to cover it, but currently I am only interested in a single aspect - its text adventures. For those not in the know, SR are a one-of-a-kind game that combines turn-based tactival combat with RPG, adventure and privateer elements into one explosive mix that is impossible to forget. It is a unique experience, and the only game that strikes me as similar is 'Vangers' - another of the half-forgotten gems.
The text adventures of SR were a game within a game. Sometimes it was a barely dressed up classic puzzle, sometimes it was a resource management game, and sometimes it was a small 10 minutes long CYOA. The second game in the series has greatly expanded on this, with quests that sometimes took me hours to beat them (I am looking at you, Master of Iike-Baana, where you are put into an MMO and are expected to grind levels and items in random encounters to have a chance at completing the mission objective). It also helps that in the best of Russian traditions the game heavily encourages the trial-and-error approach where you are expected to fail a few times before you get it right. Or many, depends on how good you are at getting into the mindset of the game's creators.
The plot summary is as follows:
But we won't be seeing any of that in this LP. Only a few missions that the goverments of various planets might entrust a ranger with.
Unfortunately, the developers never got to translating all of the quests into English, especially the more wordy ones. Instead, they took an easy way out and simply altered their conditions so that those who play the game in English would never encounter them. The Russian version of SR2 has 71 of them. The English one only has 34.
I've got my hands on INSTEAD (from IN — INterpreter, STEAD — Simple TExt ADventure), an engine to create and play primitive text adventures with. Someone wrote a module for it that could play SR quests separately from the game, and that's what I'll be using. The downside is that I won't be seeing thematic pictures or hearing scene-related music in the interpreter itself, but that is fairly useless for the purposes of a picture-based interactive LP anyway.
Contents:
Adventure I. Commando.
Adventure II. Gladiator.
Adventure III. Diehard.
I was looking at Alex Heartnet's thread about interactive Convoy LP with great interest, and I wanted to do something similar. Probably with FTL or some game that I have a fair understanding of so that the Codexian guidance does not kill us too quickly. However, I kind of sort of have another LP to take care of, so I wanted to do something that could be done quick and without too much investment as a test run.
Enter the Space Rangers. Normally, the game is quite huge and it would take a lot of time to cover it, but currently I am only interested in a single aspect - its text adventures. For those not in the know, SR are a one-of-a-kind game that combines turn-based tactival combat with RPG, adventure and privateer elements into one explosive mix that is impossible to forget. It is a unique experience, and the only game that strikes me as similar is 'Vangers' - another of the half-forgotten gems.
The text adventures of SR were a game within a game. Sometimes it was a barely dressed up classic puzzle, sometimes it was a resource management game, and sometimes it was a small 10 minutes long CYOA. The second game in the series has greatly expanded on this, with quests that sometimes took me hours to beat them (I am looking at you, Master of Iike-Baana, where you are put into an MMO and are expected to grind levels and items in random encounters to have a chance at completing the mission objective). It also helps that in the best of Russian traditions the game heavily encourages the trial-and-error approach where you are expected to fail a few times before you get it right. Or many, depends on how good you are at getting into the mindset of the game's creators.
The plot summary is as follows:
The second game follows the same premise, only now with 3 robotic breeds that seek to destroy the Coalition as well as each other, turning the game into a massive free-for-all.In Space Rangers, a powerful alien ship called "Makhpella" and its fleet of battleships known as the "Klissans" invade our region of the galaxy. Five races have formed a loose confederation against it, known as the "Interstellar Coalition": The brutish Maloq, the lawless Peleng, the tech-loving Faeyans, the enlightened Gaalians, and the business-minded humans.
The player takes the role of a young pilot voluntarily enlisting into the titular organization known as the Space Rangers. Space Rangers are tasked with defeating the Klissans, but are given full freedom in deciding how to do so. You can fight the Klissans directly on your own, salvaging their technology and researching ways to defeat them. You can trade commodities between planets and earn enough money to turn your ship into a juggernaut. You can raid civilian ships as a pirate, and you can even perform diplomatic errands. Whichever way you choose, your ultimate task is to become powerful enough to drive the Klissans back and eliminate the Makhpella.
But we won't be seeing any of that in this LP. Only a few missions that the goverments of various planets might entrust a ranger with.
Unfortunately, the developers never got to translating all of the quests into English, especially the more wordy ones. Instead, they took an easy way out and simply altered their conditions so that those who play the game in English would never encounter them. The Russian version of SR2 has 71 of them. The English one only has 34.
I've got my hands on INSTEAD (from IN — INterpreter, STEAD — Simple TExt ADventure), an engine to create and play primitive text adventures with. Someone wrote a module for it that could play SR quests separately from the game, and that's what I'll be using. The downside is that I won't be seeing thematic pictures or hearing scene-related music in the interpreter itself, but that is fairly useless for the purposes of a picture-based interactive LP anyway.
Contents:
Adventure I. Commando.
Adventure II. Gladiator.
Adventure III. Diehard.
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