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ZylonBane

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Posts posted by ZylonBane

  4. Posted

    I would put it this way:  With bankswitching (say, a 32 KB cart) and modern techniques, I have no doubt that TODAY it could be done better.

    Start doubting. The course scrolling of Super Cobra is nothing to do with ROM or even RAM. It's because the 2600 playfield cannot smooth-scroll horizontally. Any horizontally smooth-scrolling terrain you see on the 2600 is built from sprites, or a combination of sprites and the playfield. This technique severely limits the complexity of terrain you can render, and chews up sprites that are needed for the actual game.

  7. Posted

    Galactic Chase was way too slow IMHO...

     

    It may have been a PAL thing, but I always thought it was a bit like playing Galaxians in slow mo...

    Yeah, it does start pretty slow even under NTSC, but it picks up as you go along. You can also start in Expert mode by hitting Select (or Option?) before you start. This about doubles the game speed.

     

    After playing Galactic Chase for a while, Galaxian's spastic animation is intolerable.

  10. Posted

    Nice site, but I can't figure what he's thinking with comments like this-- "When I completed Bumpomov's Dogs in 1983, it was already long past the peak of the computer game boom"

     

    Huh? The Atari software scene was just heating up around then. Games like Karateka, Seven Cities of Gold, Archon, Ballblazer, Boulderdash, et al came out long after '83.

  16. Posted

    If anyone does decide to give 2600 Archon a shot (and I can't think of any technical reason why it couldn't do it), be sure to swing by the Archon: Evolution site. From their Developer Diary--

    Jon Freeman (of Free Fall Associates) has very kindly provided us with a wealth of Archon data/information - all taken straight from the original! We now have the complete set of icon attributes (speed, health, damage etc) as well as much of the AI and background game logic.

  18. Posted

    I also think including "turn-based" is a bad idea, as there are tons of RPG's that are NOT turn based.

    Ummm, re-read the very last part of my previous post.

     

    Regarding your case for Adventure being an RPG... by those standards you could just as well call Doom an RPG.

    • It has a definite quest (reach the exit)

    [*]You have an inventory system (albeit a very simple one)

    [*]There is some strategy involved as to your progression

    [*]There is some strategy involved in fighting the monsters (proper weapon selection)

    [*]There are puzzles to be solved (finding keys in this case)

  21. Posted

    Perhaps... but in that case, there were no RPG's on consoles at all back then. It could be argued that while Adventure is not a true RPG, it at least did it's part to inspire others to create RPG's.

    I think its part was pretty minor compared to the general D&D mania sweeping the country around that time.

     

    I can't tell if Godzilla is joking or not, so I'll elaborate on the "Role-Playing Game" thing. It's just a name. The name is a label, not a literal description of the genre. "RPG" identifies games inspired by pen-and-paper fantasy-gaming. I got in exactly this discussion over on the TTLG forums a while back, so I'll paste what I wrote there--

    This all wouldn't be an issue if people had left the term "RPG" in the pen-and-paper world where it originated, and instead used "CRPG" to refer to computer games which borrow significant aspect of RPGs.

     

    Before you can define a CRPG, you have to define a traditional RPG. Some of the defining characterstics of an RPG--

    • • Stats: You build your character from the ground up, and can explicitly mold how he (or she, or it) evolves over time.

    • Skills: Your character can only do things as well as his stats say he can. Just because you know how to fire a gun, doesn't mean your character does.

    • Story: Your character is directly involved in a plot which unfolds as you progress.

    • Flexibility: There's more than one way to defeat most obstacles.

    • Turn-based: You do this, they do that, repeat.

    • So, when asking if such-and-such game is an RPG, don't compare it to other CRPGs... compare it to the origin of the term!

     

    Another related genre is the Adventure. In an adventure, the character you play is almost always "anonymous adventurer guy". There's no character development... you just march around collecting treasure and solving puzzles. There may or may not be a plot. Usually only one way past obstacles. No skills, other than your own puzzle-solving abilities.

     

    For instance, IMHO, System Shock 1 is an adventure, and System Shock 2 is an RPG. In SS1 you have an invariant upgrade path, via the cool toys you find. Character performance at all tasks is directly dependent on player skill. In SS2, you decide how your character evolves, and almost every action you perform (even walking) is influenced by the stats.

    On computers and game systems, you'll often see RPG or Adventure prefixed with "Action-", indicating that it's not turn-based and that player reflexes are somewhat of an issue. :)

  22. Posted

    I know I'm going to regret this, but it has to be said--

     

    "Adventure" is not an RPG. It is, as the name suggests, an adventure game.

     

    A hard definition of what is and isn't an RPG is impossible, but at the bare minimum you have to have a set of changeable character statistics. Adventure doesn't have that. Neither do E.T. or Raiders.

     

    (anyone who attempts to play the "but you're playing a role" card will be summarily kicked in the nuts)

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