hicksman

The PC version was my version as a kid. Knowing what I knew at ~6 years old it was IMPOSSIBLE. Being one of the 16 bit versions it is a departure from the original, and being cut down also makes it a poor example of the potential of the series. I think I mentioned it earlier in the thread but the manual mentions sound but there actually isn't any. Its been ages since I've thought about it but I seem to remember an anecdote about a single guy porting the game to PC and as a result never got to implement a lot of what made the game unique. That was largely the case for ports on PC in the mid 80s. I remember having a few ports of NES games my friends were playing and them being an awful rendition of the original. Thanks for keeping this thread alive. By the way, does anyone know what happened to this guy? https://www.landbeyond.net/ Updates have stopped and his domain cert expired. Never a good sign, especially since it looks like his progress discouraged Acrin @ crpgdev.com to stop his port. Now we have neither.

I dug the 2600 out of my childhood closet at my wife's request this holiday, and found that just about all of the controllers don't work. I found tutorials for the stick and paddles, but nothing for the Kid's Controller. Additionally, the paddle instructions don't seem to be able to fix the issue i'm having. The Paddle: When I turn the controller, while playing Breakout for example, I get no response on screen until i'm about 95% of the way around, and then the paddle on-screen shoots to the other side. Moving the controller in the opposite direction only a hair will shoot the paddle back to the other side. I took it apart as the tutorials say, cleaned it and it doesn't seem to change it. I have noticed the black ring that i'm cleaning is kinda two different tones of black - kinda greyish towards the solder points and black for the rest. But cleaning it doesn't seem to yield any more dirt or a change in color. Any ideas? I also am trying to clean the Kid's Controller. I have three games that all act odd when i use the KC, for example, Big Birds Egg Catch, none of the buttons successfully move Big Bird. He just stands in place and jitters/twitches a little when you push the button. Opening the controller reveals almost nothing - Certainly nothing dirty, gummed up, rusted or rotted. I'm at a total loss here unless there's something in the insulation of the cord that I can't see. Anyone have any tips? Quite a few of the links recommended here lead to dead pages and the others don't tell me anything that'll help these two issues. Thanks for the help.

FastRobPlus: Yeah, i noticed the finer details in the ST screenshot; it definately has a unique style. I'm definately going to play more of it this weekend. Kroah: Like i said, i just started on the ST version, so i dont know too much about the differences. I DO know that its a 16b version, so it has guilds, spells, jobs and simplified combat. I've always been going on the idea that the developers of the ports probably used the same internal logic for how the game worked as Philip did. They were getting paid to make the game work on a new platform, not dream up new ways for the character's stats to increase/decrease, you know what i mean? So, i just assume they're all pretty much the same on that front. Going on that logic, i would guess that the only things that are different in the games are the things that couldnt translate over to the next platform well. So we have different graphics and less sound because of the graphical/audio complications on each platform. But, thats just my guess. I also noticed something the other day and that is during encounters where you're suprised, you actually turn and face a different direction sometimes - its more realistic that way to be suprised from a direction you're not looking, but I dont remember that in the Amiga or PC version.

Hey all, I was messing around with my various versions, testing some things out and I thought of doing a little comparison. It was my first time playing the AtariST version of The City, which is actually nice considering its all on one disk -- one of my major peeves against playing the original version. On the other hand, the graphics are very pastel-ish which doesnt really fit the game very well. So, thats PC, EGA in the top left, AtariST in the top-right, Amiga in the bottom left and the original in the bottom right. There's downsides to all of them, really. The amiga looks the best in my opinion, but emulation is slow. The music is also off, but then again, so is the original's. (and the PC version hardly even has any) By the way, the ST version's music is spot on. I've never actually seen it played correctly, so that was a new experience.

awesome. I wonder if the feature is broken in the PC version (like the sound). I'm going to load up WinUAE tonight and try it out.

Agreed... BUT I pulled this from one of the files... The *NPC* isn't interested in your offer. The * NPC * takes your *item* and leaves! The * NPC * grabs your *item*, but doesn't leave! The * NPC * thanks you for your offer but refuses it. The merchant gives you a compass. watch.

hey guys, hope somebody still reads this thread... Does anyone know how to get a timepiece in The City? I read that you can get one in a shop, but I've never seen one. In the code of the PC version, it hints that you can get both a timepiece and a compass from a merchant - i would assume after you give him money. Only problem is, i've tried giving money several times and never got one. Is there something else i'm supposed to give? Gems/jewelry perhaps?

yay alexandria. (i'm in old town) I love that this thread dies for months at a time and then new people pop in and talk... It's fun to play all the different versions of the game and find the differences. One day we should put up a table and compare them all, complete with screenshots and everything. It's so weird that the PC version is such crap, by the way. I hate the atari emulators so i rarely play the original version of the game; the pc version is the easiest to get running and i dont have to screw with an emu. Unfortunately, it has little to no features that made the original distinct. By the way, I never told you guys that i have the amiga version working on my GP2X. if you dont know what that is, check the wikipedia.

actually xd, in the retro datasoft newletter post here on atariage, they say that clothes dont mean anything until the city couples with the dungeon or something to that effect. although it is odd that they would have such an intricate setup for absolutely no reason at all.

wow i didnt know there actually WAS a waterfall... The only version of the game i ever seriously played was the PC version, and thats probably the worst implementation of the city.

i tried using Artmoney on the pc version, but i didnt get anywhere past the character stats. Cool program tho. Its for changing the memory resident variables for your health and stats, etc, but you have to identify the stats in memory first, which i couldnt do. Maybe you could do better.

agreed, a lot of the traits and their relationships are well known, but HOW they affect one another is a different story.

ahh, formulas. If you can figure out any other formulas for AR, i would appreciate if you would share them. They are the last bit of info about the game that we haven't really been able to figure out.

I like it! As a person who only owned the PC version, i missed out on all the music until i got an atari emulator to work about 2 months ago... Thanks Gary. Enchanting! It still has its old magic... 922228[/snapback]

Hey Gary, whats new!? Got any secrets about AR you want to share?