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I'm really tempted to get Ascension. I remember trying to play it on my old celeron 500mhz / Voodoo 3 and even though it was a complete slideshow it's open worldness blew my stupid young mind. It did crash so much I had to sadly abandon it though, is it any good?
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Aug 23, 2012 12:58
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Ah, finally, Lands of Lore 3! It's just like LoL2, except that the main character isn't hilarious, the graphics (for characters especially) have somehow worsened, the stat system can be easily trivialized and the story isn't as engaging as Luthor's double whammy of getting rid of his curse and stopping the well developed bad guys.. ..BUT! The spell system has been expanded, there is a tiny bit more puzzle solving and exploration, the lighting and spell graphics have improved and the locales are varied enough to be interesting, with a few actual spectacles in some of them! Neither LoL2 or 3 holds a candle to the first. LoL2 has a lot going for it early, but falls off pretty hard come endgame both in terms of graphics and things to do, while LoL3 is very similar to 2 without feeling empty in its environment during the last stages. Also, LoL2 doesn't have the ludicrous fifth part that its sequel has, which involves a tie-in with the Command and Conquer universe, pitting our medieval hero against the rogue NOD AI CABAL and his military installation in a nuclear wasteland.. Yeah.., which MIGHT peeve off a few fans to the series!
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Aug 23, 2012 13:13
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Dear EA, Please release U9 source. Thank you, Teethgrinder
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Aug 23, 2012 13:40
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JohnnyBigPotatoes posted:I'm really tempted to get Ascension. I remember trying to play it on my old celeron 500mhz / Voodoo 3 and even though it was a complete slideshow it's open worldness blew my stupid young mind. It did crash so much I had to sadly abandon it though, is it any good? Ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. 
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Aug 23, 2012 13:40
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JohnnyBigPotatoes posted:I'm really tempted to get Ascension. I remember trying to play it on my old celeron 500mhz / Voodoo 3 and even though it was a complete slideshow it's open worldness blew my stupid young mind. It did crash so much I had to sadly abandon it though, is it any good? From watching the Spoony Experiment playthrough of it - no, it's not. It's horrible and it crashes constantly. And the Avatar is an idiot. And so's everyone else.
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Aug 23, 2012 13:40
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The sale finally convinced me to pick up Ultima Underworld 1+2 and Ultima VII. Haven't played either Underworld at all, and the half hour I spent with VII on a friend's computer in 1996 was sort of mindblowing. Not sure why I never bought the game, but I'm really looking forward to it.
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Aug 23, 2012 13:52
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They've also just added new bonus content to the Ultima 4,5,6 bundle - an 'Interview with Richard Garriott'. The file is called 'ultima_4_cassette.zip' so I assume it's quite old. edit: and you can get it for free since they added it to the free Ultima 4 release too. Which I had hidden so didn't see immediately!
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Aug 23, 2012 13:52
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Lands of Lore 3 looks terrible, and I think the fact that there are no gushing user reviews yet is pretty telling. Normally someone writes a few words of praise for every new release.
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Aug 23, 2012 13:57
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They've also added design documents for Martian Dreams.
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Aug 23, 2012 14:04
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Corin Tucker's Stalker posted:The sale finally convinced me to pick up Ultima Underworld 1+2 and Ultima VII. Haven't played either Underworld at all, and the half hour I spent with VII on a friend's computer in 1996 was sort of mindblowing. Not sure why I never bought the game, but I'm really looking forward to it. U7 and SI are some of my favorite games of all time and I still fire them up now and again. If you can get past the graphics and the combat wich is kinda meh Im sure you'll love it, especially if open world sandboxish type games are your thing. JohnnyBigPotatoes posted:I'm really tempted to get Ascension. I remember trying to play it on my old celeron 500mhz / Voodoo 3 and even though it was a complete slideshow it's open worldness blew my stupid young mind. It did crash so much I had to sadly abandon it though, is it any good? A lot of people pretend U9 doesn't even exist not even Pagan got that kind of treatment. I wouldn't go that far but really its a bad game theres really no other way to put it. Oh and those crashes you experienced you better get used to those if you decide to pick this game up.
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Aug 23, 2012 16:57
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JohnnyBigPotatoes posted:I'm really tempted to get Ascension. I remember trying to play it on my old celeron 500mhz / Voodoo 3 and even though it was a complete slideshow it's open worldness blew my stupid young mind. It did crash so much I had to sadly abandon it though, is it any good? I think it's not as much absolute garbage as people make it out to be. The open-world (though it's not that open) and exploration aspect is good, and the dungeon crawling/combat isn't terrible. From a pure gameplay perspective it's decent, if a bit forgettable. It's not great but not the abomination it's often decried as. Where it falls flat on its face is that as an Ultima it's complete poo poo. The plot is terrible, the characters are all idiots with tons of cringe-worthy dialogue, and it overall feels like a terrible Ultima fanfic than a bona-fide Ultima game. A lot of the bile for the game comes from Ultima fans mad at it for pissing all over Ultima canon. And the fact that it was ridiculously buggy and unstable on release. The GOG version may clean that up though, I dunno. If you can look past the idiotic plot and focus on the exploration/gameplay you might be able to get some entertainment out of it. There are plenty of better games you could get for six bucks though.
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Aug 23, 2012 16:58
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SpRahl posted:U7 and SI are some of my favorite games of all time and I still fire them up now and again. If you can get past the graphics and the combat wich is kinda meh Im sure you'll love it, especially if open world sandboxish type games are your thing. Yeah, I actually really like the graphics so I'm good on that front. They're right in that sweet spot where everything is crisp 2D art with a sense of style and enough detail to make out what each object is supposed to be. When games tried to make sprites look like photos or added polygons to the mix, the results were usually offputting to me. Now that I've played a bit of the opening to Ultima VII, the thing that stands out the most is how there are so many objects to inspect and interact with in the environment. I love that. Even if you don't have a use for most items, just knowing that you could pick them up means a lot.
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Aug 23, 2012 17:09
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As someone who never played an Ultima game, except for UO, why would I be interested in the series? Is it worth picking up the first one and working my way through or is the nostalgia value all there is?
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Aug 23, 2012 17:33
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TraderStav posted:As someone who never played an Ultima game, except for UO, why would I be interested in the series? Is it worth picking up the first one and working my way through or is the nostalgia value all there is? U1-U3 are pure oldschool and you probably won't like them. I played them and I don't even like them. U4 is a funny intermediary: it's still pretty outdated but it introduces a lot of great concepts that shouldn't be missed. U6, U7, and (to a lesser extent IMO) U8 are the most modern and playable of the bunch. Ultima 8 gets a bum rap for its gameplay but the story is pretty good and really makes you feel like an rear end in a top hat. Ultima Underworld is fantastic and even though it takes some time getting used to the controls, there's no other game quite like it except Arx Fatalis. Ultima 9 belongs in a steaming pile of "lovely sequels" with MoO3 and Angel of Darkness. Avoid it or at least watch Spoony's LP series if you want to see how horrendously bad it is.
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Aug 23, 2012 17:39
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al-azad posted:U1-U3 are pure oldschool and you probably won't like them. I played them and I don't even like them. U4 is a funny intermediary: it's still pretty outdated but it introduces a lot of great concepts that shouldn't be missed. U6, U7, and (to a lesser extent IMO) U8 are the most modern and playable of the bunch. Ultima 8 gets a bum rap for its gameplay but the story is pretty good and really makes you feel like an rear end in a top hat. What's the 'hook' with the games in general? What makes it unique and awesome from other RPGs?
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Aug 23, 2012 17:40
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Open worlds, adult characters, interactivity, morality systems, party members you can actually interact with, thoughtful unique stories... There was nothing else like them at the time, and in a lot of ways there still isn't.
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Aug 23, 2012 17:46
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THE BAR posted:Ah, finally, Lands of Lore 3! It's just like LoL2, except that the main character isn't hilarious, the graphics (for characters especially) have somehow worsened, the stat system can be easily trivialized and the story isn't as engaging as Luthor's double whammy of getting rid of his curse and stopping the well developed bad guys.. Somehow I always felt like I was the only one to play these games. I love LoL2, one of my favorite games of all time and was the first game that really got me into computer RPGs. I was extremely excited for LoL3, so much so that I would check Westwood's website every day for updates. I don't think I've ever been so hyped for a game and then subsequently so disappointed when it came out. Don't buy LoL3 everyone, just don't.
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Aug 23, 2012 17:51
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I could never get into Ultima 7 or 6 because of the controls. There are some great games just under the surface of all that stuff, but that stuff is just so offputting I'm having a hard time of it. Then again I also feel like I should finish Ultima 3-4 before I start moving into the next few titles.
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Aug 23, 2012 17:52
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Spoony didn't even mention the fact that someone who is very obviously Richard Garriott is locked up in the dungeon of Lord British's castle. I think that kind of pushes things from "lazy cash grab" to "actual calculated insult to the buying public because gently caress you we're EA and we can do that."
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Aug 23, 2012 17:52
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^^^Avatar to a ghost: "Stealing is wrong." Avatar to another ghost in the same area: "You should have stole the goblin totem and your village wouldn't have been murdered." Thanks, whoever wrote this game. You're really going places. TraderStav posted:What's the 'hook' with the games in general? What makes it unique and awesome from other RPGs? The hook is interaction and exploration. The goal of Ultima 4 is to become the living embodiment of virtues which means you have to behave in an exemplary manner. Ultima 5 is about discovering the true names of Shadowlords, the antithesis of virtue, whose influence negatively affects the townspeople (they'll steal, run, or attack you depending on who is influencing them). Ultima 6, 7, and 8 are more straightforward RPGs that focus less on being good but they're very large, open world games with a heavy focus on exploration and NPC interaction. Ultima 8 in particular has you dealing with demons and cultists; it's a very violent and unnerving game (or at least it was when I originally played it as a kid). Ultima Underworld is dungeon crawling at its finest. The controls are stiff but I still hold it in high regard when it comes to level design in a video game. I remember the first time playing it I got lost 5 minutes into the first level because I fell into an underground river and was washed across the entire map into a secret area I didn't know existed. The Ultima series is very much mired in old school mechanics and they're not as friendly as post-2000 RPGs, but keep a pencil-and-paper handy and you should do find. The games include detailed manuals and in some cases they're required reading for story related content. I beat Ultima 4 the first time a few years ago without the assistance of a guide and filled up a couple sheets of paper with notes. I got frustrated a few times but getting to the end paid off. al-azad fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Aug 23, 2012 |
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Aug 23, 2012 17:53
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voltron lion force posted:Somehow I always felt like I was the only one to play these games. I love LoL2, one of my favorite games of all time and was the first game that really got me into computer RPGs. I was extremely excited for LoL3, so much so that I would check Westwood's website every day for updates. I don't think I've ever been so hyped for a game and then subsequently so disappointed when it came out. Don't buy LoL3 everyone, just don't. Oh, yes, I did in no way want to encourage any purchases of LoL3! ..Unless you're a nostalgic fool like me with a completionist streak. 
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Aug 23, 2012 18:11
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al-azad posted:^^^Avatar to a ghost: "Stealing is wrong." Stealing from the Avatar is wrong, stealing from anyone else? That's just Avatar tax.
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Aug 23, 2012 23:45
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Not having been violated by Ultima IX, I mostly watched the Spoony videos for amusement. That didn't last long, that boy is shrill. From what I saw, though, a lot of the complaints about the game are about "betrayal," or diversion from the game canon, which I guess is pretty legit, but many of the issues Spoony had were kinda nitpicky, and apparently other (better) Ultima games either made little sense in places or diverged from canon also. Some of the "the Avatar doesn't seem to know the very land he's spent 8 games in" still looks like the kinda stuff that they shoehorned in for folks that aren't familiar with the series, and I'd chalk that up to the publisher probably forcing the developers to be more noob-friendly. Kinda stupid, but not horribly offensive, c'mon. Put all that aside, and it still doesn't look like a very good game. It looks like a buggy, inelegant, very boring game. It doesn't seem like a MoO3 level of horrid, it seems more like a Star Control III level of uninspired and dull. doctorfrog fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Aug 24, 2012 |
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Aug 24, 2012 00:52
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Ultima IX is a poor game, even if you ignore all the previous Ultimas. It's buggy as hell, even with the latest patches, is repetitive, has a poo poo story, and is basically all around bad. That said, for $3 it's not that bad of a deal. U9 is one of my favorite bad games to screw around in, what with the stupidity and hilarious jumping mechanics (if you center the cursor on an object, and it's green, you can jump on it, even if it's a ten foot tall pole).
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Aug 24, 2012 02:06
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The most fun you can have in Ultima 9 is abusing the physics to build ladders out of random crap to get to places you normally couldn't get to. One time my friend built a ladder to the top of Lord British's castle. There really is a lot of exploring you can do, too. And since skeletons reconstruct themselves after you kill them, I took all the pieces of one and put him in a cage in my room that I built out of staves. Sometimes you just need to make your own fun in these terrible games. ^^^ I spent a lot of time abusing said jumping mechanics. It was fun as hell trying to scale a mountain by leaping from polygon to polygon. Or maybe I was just easily amused as a kid.  Edit: And since we're talking about exploring in U9, here's a page that shows you how to get to the unused maps for anyone brave enough to actually install this burden of a game: http://hacki.bootstrike.com/english/articles_orig_maps.htm Clearly there was a lot of content that was planned for, but never came to fruition. Sackmo fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Aug 24, 2012 |
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Aug 24, 2012 02:14
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From what I remember reading about the development of U9, this version of the game (which is the 3rd) had to be cut severely due to lack of staff and a strict time limit from EA, so a game that would have been bad became a festering pile of poo poo.
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Aug 24, 2012 02:28
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Non-GOG related, but the adventure game puzzles in this article are just...wow. Check the King's Quest and Runescape ones.
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Aug 24, 2012 02:48
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Charles Martel posted:Non-GOG related, but the adventure game puzzles in this article are just...wow. Check the King's Quest and Runescape ones. I'd say it's perfectly GOG-related since half the games on the list are on the service.
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Aug 24, 2012 03:55
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It's been a few years since I played The Longest Journey, but I don't remember the rubber duck puzzle being that bad... which probably means that I got fed up with it five minutes in and decided to look up the answer instead. And you can't have a discussion about the cat hair mustache puzzle without mentioning Old Man Murray's Who killed adventure games? article.
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Aug 24, 2012 04:10
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404notfound posted:It's been a few years since I played The Longest Journey, but I don't remember the rubber duck puzzle being that bad... which probably means that I got fed up with it five minutes in and decided to look up the answer instead. Somehow I managed to get through a few discs of TLJ with no issues with the beginning puzzles. I think I ran into some difficulties in arcadia but otherwise no problem. My brain probably doesn't work that way anymore....
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Aug 24, 2012 04:25
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doctorfrog posted:Put all that aside, and it still doesn't look like a very good game. It looks like a buggy, inelegant, very boring game. It doesn't seem like a MoO3 level of horrid, it seems more like a Star Control III level of uninspired and dull. Look at the LOL3 screens: that game came out the same year as U9. Granted it's not a high-budget release in a major series but the difference in what's going on in the screen is huge. Zachack fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Aug 24, 2012 |
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Aug 24, 2012 05:28
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doctorfrog posted:Not having been violated by Ultima IX, I mostly watched the Spoony videos for amusement. That didn't last long, that boy is shrill. It's not apparent in hindsight but the most important thing is that the game didn't run on any hardware at all. I remember Xplay (Gamespot TV?) review and even on their beast PC it looked like a slideshow. It was billed as a Zelda killer, and the world was pretty impressive, but playing the game out of the box was nearly impossible and the patch only made it slightly better. If you're going to make a bad game, make it playable at least.
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Aug 24, 2012 05:44
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I wonder if they're ever going to add more Maxis titles. A-Train or SimTower would be nice.
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Aug 24, 2012 05:45
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Those adventure game puzzles just reminded me of Mission Critical, one of the most intuitive adventure games I've ever played. It stars Michael Dorn and even has a cool little semi-RTS mini-game.
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Aug 24, 2012 05:51
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Zeether posted:I wonder if they're ever going to add more Maxis titles. A-Train or SimTower would be nice. I wasted so much time on SimTower back in the day. I'm hoping it makes it on there eventually.
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Aug 24, 2012 05:52
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404notfound posted:And you can't have a discussion about the cat hair mustache puzzle without mentioning Old Man Murray's Who killed adventure games? article. It's sort of funny, in the Doublefine Adventure documentary, they have a bit with Tim Schafer talking to Erik Wopaw (OMM) on how to make a good adventure game. Erik's response was that he didn't like the puzzles anyway so "just make another one of your old bad ones!" The guy worked on writing the writing in Portal and Psychonauts, so he clearly knows what he's doing in terms of making entertaining videogames, but I think he pretty much saw the puzzles as an unfun barrier to the story. I can't really argue that he's totally wrong, and I LOVE adventure games.
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Aug 24, 2012 06:08
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Ugly In The Morning posted:I wasted so much time on SimTower back in the day. I'm hoping it makes it on there eventually. I'd be interested to know where the distribution rights for Sim Tower lie today. Maxis only acted as publisher for the game, I assume they had some sort of exclusive distribution deal outside of Japan, but I wonder how long it was for. AFAIK SEGA published the GBA and DS ports under the title "The Tower" so I imagine that at least the name still lies with EA.
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Aug 24, 2012 06:33
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Well I love Ultima IX, I'd buy it but it's already installed and working fine on my current Vista PC. The world is really quite pretty and large, the score is fantastic (a shame it's not included here) and there's memorable moments through-out. Before Morrowind this was my first open world game that actually looked good and I think I'll be going back to it for a stroll around Britannia for some time to come. People really, really hate it though.
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Aug 24, 2012 06:45
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Listening to this cassette of Richard Garriott talking about making Ultima for his career is really deflating my self-esteem. It's a pretty good listen, though. If you own any of the Ultima games, check out your shelf to download it in the extras.
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Aug 24, 2012 07:41
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I'd kick a cat (macro) to get a legit version of SimTower. Does anyone know if it even works in Win 7? IIRC, it was a Windows 3.1/95 game, which is like saying that it will only work on a Jacquard loom.
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Aug 24, 2012 08:12
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