159 lines
9.3 KiB
Plaintext
159 lines
9.3 KiB
Plaintext
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THE SAVAGE EMPIRE
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Are you tired of Lord British always summoning you to an ever-changing
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Britannia to beat the wizard, destroy the demonic computer, prove your worth,
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rescue his majesty, and generally save the world over and over? Bored with
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troll-bashing? Finished with dragon-slaying and strutting your virtues for the
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common folk, only to receive a "Well done!" and a ticket home as your only
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rewards (you don't dare brag to your friends and neighbors for fear of the
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rubber room)? For once, wouldn't you like to shed that sword and go where you
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don't have to be a shining example of virtue to all?
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Well, take heart, Avatar, and visit a lost part of your own world for once!
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Steamy jungles, swamps, volcanoes, and primitive tribes (among other dangers)
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await you in THE SAVAGE EMPIRE, the first scenario in THE WORLDS OF ULTIMA from
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the minds at Origin. (This review is based on the IBM-PC version of the game.)
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Your game package includes the latest issue of "Ultimate Adventures" (Vol. 59,
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No. 11 -- November, 1990), which you don't really need to read: You've written
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the feature article yourself! Nevertheless, you would like to make sure they
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spelled your _nom de plume_ correctly. (Excessive pride is unbecoming an Avatar,
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so naturally, you used the pen name "The Avatar"!)
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Opening the magazine, which has the look and style of those old Science
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Fiction/Fantasy pulp rags (complete with heroic illustration and scantily clad
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woman on the cover), you flip past the letters to the editor (some nut is
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obsessed with making explosives from scratch), and settle down to read the first
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chapter of "Valley of the Thunder Lizards."
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Driven by dreams of a tribal princess-in-distress named Aiela, and a request
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from Lord British (yeah, a cameo role) to investigate your moonstone and "the
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ruined ones," you visit your friend Professor Rafkin at the museum. There you
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meet Jimmy Malone, a nosy reporter with an anachronistic style and a big file on
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you (your mysterious disappearances, etc.).
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It seems the Professor has been sent a flawed moonstone from an old student,
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which on closer prodding opens a twisted moongate that draws you, Malone,
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Rafkin, _and_ the entire lab into the land of Eodon, aka THE SAVAGE EMPIRE!
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After a wild rescue of the Princess Aiela from a huge flying reptile, you meet
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her tribe, the Kurak. She was on the run from Darden the Huge, prince of the
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Urali, when the creature attacked. You spend a short time in her camp with your
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friends, and meet a dead ringer for your comrade from Britannia (whom you knew
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as Shamino), when Darden's forces attack!
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Despite a valiant effort, Darden recaptures Aiela, you are knocked out, and
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your friends are lost. So ends chapter one of "Valley of the Thunder Lizards,"
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and the game begins. Your quest: Reunite your friends, rescue Aiela, and attempt
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to bring peace to all the tribes of Eodon. Yet, there may be other forces at
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work here....
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All this prologue and more are to be found in your issue of "Ultimate
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Adventures," but will you complete your quest and return safely to write the
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next chapter?
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As you may have surmised, I enjoyed the documentation a great deal. It did a
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wonderful job of revving me up for the game. So ready was I that I feared being
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disappointed by the game itself. I'm happy to say that, thanks to my imagination
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and the very creative graphics, SAVAGE EMPIRE held my interest.
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Luckily (or not, depending on your tastes), SAVAGE EMPIRE is not combat
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intensive; it's more puzzle-oriented. Unless you fight lots of Myrmidex, you'll
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probably see your Avatar advance only one level. He'll start out at level 6, and
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his hit points (as well as the other characters') seem to be dictated by their
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stats and luck. The dungeons (caves and Myrmidex holes) are very simple
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one-level mazes. There's a lot of overland travel involved to complete the
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missions and gather materials, although you can discover a shortcut method.
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The majority of the NPCs in a particular tribe respond with identical, limited
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dialogue, but this is adequately balanced by one or two tribe members who are
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capable of in-depth conversation. Depending on who is in your band, interesting
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and humourous comments are exchanged among the NPCs. One tribe carries on a
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dialogue reminiscent of a Three Stooges' routine; it was really fun! I highly
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reccomend having Jimmy Malone in your party: His smart remarks really liven up
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some of the conversations, and his notebook is very useful for keeping track of
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your quests.
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The combat system is essentially the same as the one in ULTIMA VI, but instead
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of all those combat options (which I never totally understood), the choices for
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the other party members are trimmed down to four: Close (approach and attack
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nearest enemy); Ranged (fall back to for missile assault); Retreat; and Command.
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Quite a bit simpler than Flank, Assault, and those others in ULTIMA VI, isn't
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it? The weapons and armor are strictly primitive, with one or two exceptions:
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Those you build (you get to work from absolute scratch), and those you find.
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One thing that annoyed me is that you enter combat mode automatically. This
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means that whenever an NPC in your party is attacked, the eyes of Fabozz go from
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green to red, and everyone attacks, chasing enemies who are running or out of
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your sight. This wastes ammunition and subjects the party to unnecessary damage;
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it also requires your Avatar to get them all within sight before continuing.
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(The alternatives are to put them all into command mode and fight
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single-handedly, or keep switching combat mode off.) In addition, the image of
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Fabozz (at the top of the main diplay window) usually blocks the position of the
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sun (day) or the moon (night), making it difficult to estimate the time.
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The magic is a simple but ample shamanistic system, using three totems or
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skulls to invoke the three spirits; also, one of three offerings that the shaman
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casts into the wind yields nine possible magical effects.
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Eodon is populated by several tribes, most with discernible ethnic origins, and
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unique attitudes and cultures, giving you ample room to offend and step on toes.
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The monsters are strictly of prehistoric origin, with slight differences due to
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interbreeding.
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As to the endgame, some have commented that it came too fast upon them and was
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too brief, not satisfying. Myself, I found it consistent with the story line,
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not unexpected, and a pretty good wrap-up.
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The SE interface is the same as the one introduced in Ultima VI: a bit
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confusing at first, icon-based and easiest to use with a mouse or joystick,
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although keyboard input is also smooth. The VGA/MCGA graphics are well done, in
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a style that appears Aztec in nature -- fitting because the land is rumored to
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be hidden in Central/South America. Unfortunately, I am unable to speak for the
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music/sound effects, as I have yet to purchase a sound board. However, players
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in The Gamer's Forum have had nothing but good things to say about the sound,
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although it requires every bit of memory you have. AdLib, SoundBlaster, and the
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MT-32 board are all supported.
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To date, a few bugs have been reported, most notably, a problem with inventory
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managment. If your inventory is full and you unready an item, you may lose it
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permanently.
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The game may be played on any 100% IBM-compatible computer. A machine speed of
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10MHz or better is strongly recommended, as is a hard drive. A minimum of 558K
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of low DOS memory must be available to run the game, and if you want to have the
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music soundtrack, expanded memory must be present (as well as the Adlib,
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SoundBlaster, or MT-32 sound cards). The game may run too slowly on some
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machines if PC speaker sound effects are chosen, so some users may have to
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choose "No Sound."
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Mouse support is provided for the Microsoft Mouse with Microsoft Mouse driver
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v7.0; other mice or drivers are not guaranteed to work. MCGA/VGA, EGA, and Tandy
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16-color graphic modes are supported.
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My copy of SE came with two 5-1/4" high-density (1.2 Mb) floppy disks that (at
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a cost of $9.95) can be exchanged for either four 3-1/2" (720K) disks, or seven
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5-1/4" (360K) low-density disks. I'm not certain if Origin is selling the game
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in the other formats; you may have to send the disks in for exchange or copy
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them to your own disks.
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You can copy the disks with the install program, either to blank floppies for
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backup, or to your hard drive. (The "Ultimate Adventures" magazine serves as the
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only copy protection: After you create your character, there's a one-time lookup
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of a random word.) When installing to hard disk, two modes are available: One
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saves disk space by decompressing the files during game play, and the other
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saves time by decompressing during the install. The difference in disk space is
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approximately 2Mb (3Mb vs. 5Mb); I suggest the second method, unless you're
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tight on space or have a fast 386. The decompressing during install takes a
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while, but it's worth it.
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I found this first scenario of WORLDS OF ULTIMA to be quite good, small bugs
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and my personal ordering problems aside. If the next game of the series (rumor
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has it that it will be on Mars and modeled after Edgar Rice Burroughs) lives up
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to SE, it will be worthwhile indeed.
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WORLDS OF ULTIMA: THE SAVAGE EMPIRE is published and distributed by Origin.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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