137 replies to this topic

[Xebec's Demise]

That's a nice screenshot of a Small Green Dragon. Does anyone know if dragons come in different flavors?

135 coppers was enough to buy either a Dagger or Stiletto at Occums Weaponsmiths, but you need to begin by Offering about 90-100 and continue negotiating with him. If he does not have a Dagger or Stiletto, try to immediately leave and make your way to Sharp Weaponsmiths near the SE corner of town.

If you had been Good, maybe that Dragon would have left you alone, but then again, maybe not.

axewater, on Tue May 17, 2005 9:26 AM, said:

checked at the smithys for a cheap weapon ... could not even afford a dagger or stiletto yet

I did find the smithy eventually but it only sells expensive stuff (like full knights armor)

I slaughtered a simple dude (a commoner I think, I can't remember ... anyway no loot and barely any XP)
Suddenly everything went downhill VERY fast.... I got a visit from a green dragon (!?!?!) who coughed and I dropped dead
(pic 5)
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Ah well ... better luck next time (didnt even achieve lvl 1 this time)

[Xebec's Demise]

Really? I like the virtual world/alternate reality aspect of needing to sleep, eat and drink. It gives Taverns and Inns a real purpose and makes the game even more realistic and immersive!

AtariDude, on Mon May 16, 2005 8:11 PM, said:

I am not planning to be part of this contest but I do like the screenshots and the stories. I forgot how much I use to hate that feature of the classic RPGs where players were always starving due to lack of food. I am glad that modern RPGs have got rid of that aspect and lets me focus on character building.

By the way, great idea for a contest

[Xebec's Demise]

Gunstar, on Mon May 16, 2005 5:44 PM, said:

Hmm...a bowl of chili was one of the other items I tried, as it was all I could afford at the time, maybe becuase I had to wait until I was famished before I found any money to eat with was the problem?

Here is an interesting quote on the subject of having no food, water or money to buy any. It sounds like you must have 0 coppers.

"If you don't have any food or water packets, going into the taverns can save you. If you have lost all your money and you go into a tavern and sit around for a while, you'll be taken care of. Also, if, when you go into the taverns, you buy a round for the house, that's a very good thing because it makes everybody very friendly towards you, it helps develop the character in the game." - KATHI TREMBLAY, Datasoft's Marketing Project Manager.

[Goochman]

Added scores to the HSC Bonus Game sheet

[Gunstar]

Xebec's Demise, on Tue May 17, 2005 8:30 PM, said:

Really?  I like the virtual world/alternate reality aspect of needing to sleep, eat and drink.  It gives Taverns and Inns a real purpose and makes the game even more realistic and immersive!

AtariDude, on Mon May 16, 2005 8:11 PM, said:

I am not planning to be part of this contest but I do like the screenshots and the stories. I forgot how much I use to hate that feature of the classic RPGs where players were always starving due to lack of food. I am glad that modern RPGs have got rid of that aspect and lets me focus on character building.

By the way, great idea for a contest

I agree, more modern RPG's lack this very depth that makes Alternate Reality so good and immersive. I don't like RPG's where you don't have to worry about basic survival, other than bieng killed my someone or something. Everything in this game effects you, which is what makes it so good. IMHO. sure, it can get tiresome at points if your trying to build a character on multiple attemps, but that makes it all that much more fun, exciting and rewarding when you do finally succeed!

[Goochman]

I pity te folks who had to convert the city to other platforms - The whole game was coded for the 8bit - the complexity alone prob consumed the entire dev budget forget about porting the graphics to another platform

[Goochman]

213 Exp - this game in unforgiving.........I slept 9 hours and got 1 HP back - ran into a rat that sliced me up

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[Xebec's Demise]

That could be due to your low Stamina, but also in an Alternate Reality, just as in real life, you get what you pay for! If you sleep on the Common Area floor, then you do not recover as fast as if you sleep in a more expensive room. When I am starting out, I always sleep for 12 hours.

I also read that you recover faster if you sleep during the night and you select a length of time to sleep that will end up with you waking up in the daylight hours. Sunrise is at hour 4 and sunset is at hour 17, with one additional hour of light through hour 18. I have not confirmed this yet, but I have noticed that sometimes you gain really fast and others you dont, so maybe this is the reason.

Overall, not bad for your first try! Sometimes I have only lived for a couple of seconds with no experience, i.e. show up at the floating gate, suddenly I am surprised by a Knight. WHACK! You're DEAD.

Edited by Xebec's Demise, Wed May 18, 2005 12:04 PM.

[axewater]

Xebec's Demise, on Wed May 18, 2005 8:04 PM, said:

show up at the floating gate, suddenly I am surprised by a Knight.  WHACK!  You're DEAD.

My ... that sounds like a familiar adventure
The food / water / fatigue / diseases stuff makes for the great tales you read in this thread. IMHO nothing comes close these days ... ok maybe Morrowind.

Edited by axewater, Wed May 18, 2005 1:39 PM.

[Goochman]

272 Exp - not worth a screenshot

[Gunstar]

Xebec's Demise, on Wed May 18, 2005 6:04 PM, said:

That could be due to your low Stamina, but also in an Alternate Reality, just as in real life, you get what you pay for!  If you sleep on the Common Area floor, then you do not recover as fast as if you sleep in a more expensive room.  When I am starting out, I always sleep for 12 hours.

I also read that you recover faster if you sleep during the night and you select a length of time to sleep that will end up with you waking up in the daylight hours.  Sunrise is at hour 4 and sunset is at hour 17, with one additional hour of light through hour 18.  I have not confirmed this yet, but I have noticed that sometimes you gain really fast and others you dont, so maybe this is the reason.

Overall, not bad for your first try!    Sometimes I have only lived for a couple of seconds with no experience, i.e. show up at the floating gate, suddenly I am surprised by a Knight.  WHACK!  You're DEAD.

yep, that just happened to me yesterday while attempting a new character; first encounter out of the gate, no chance to even move-SUPRISE-a knight, whack, your DEAD!!!

[axewater]

I had a great char going ... found a jewel and sold it for 72 gold (!!).
But my manager came in and wanted me to stop fudging around and get to work .... I did a 'save state' with the emulator and was never able to properly restore it ... there goes a good attempt down the drain.
I've tried again a few times since but always die before lvl 2
/me tries AGAIN

[Xebec's Demise]

Well, I held out as long as I could to try to let some of you guys catch up or even pass me, but my Alternate Reality was calling me home!

As I stepped back into The City, the cold night air sent a chill through my spine as the wind whistled down the abandoned dark city street. I cautiously made my way towards the Sleeping Dragon Inn, feeling a bit of confidence with my newly won weapons of war, a Longsword and Chain Mail.

Turning the corner of a Side Street I was aghast to see a Wraith moving swiftly and straight towards me! I was surpised. Unprepared, I had only drawn my Longsword half-way before the Wraith slammed me with with a crushing blow! Time to test my new gear in battle, whether I am ready or not! My Chain Mail somewhat softened the blow, as a cottonball would soften the hit from a club, but at least the armor took some of the damage instead of my flesh absorbing it all. Drawing my Longsword I returned the greeting with a mighty Lunge with my Longsword, slashing through what should have been a direct hit to the evil chest of the Wraith. My Longsword did not slow as it passed right through the Wraith, the momentum of the huge mundane sword twisting me to my knees. The Wraith seemed unaffected and retaliated with another crushing blow to my shoulders. I felt the deep wound bleeding down my back and mustered enough fury to manage a good solid swinging Attack direct at the head of the Wraith. The sword swished through the Wraith as if I had taken a swing at a shadow from the moonlit night sky. Seeing how my Longsword was worthless against this foe, I made my escape, but not without paying a price! Those hard earned life-sustaining Food Packets and Water Flasks that I spent several days collecting were halfed, for as I turn to escape, the Wraith grabbed my pack, flinging it open and spilling my supplies. I did not bother to try and grab anything dropped, they way I saw it, my life was more important and this might be my only chance to flee.

Well, as you can see, I lived to tell you my tale.

[Heaven/TQA]

guys... i really like the storys...and i would quit my WOW experiences for a while... and enter this competition but are there REALLY working ATRs of AR around? i mean i have the original discs (and of the dungeon) somewhere but i don't have any 1050 anymore...so i would boot anyway via Sio2pc and laptop on my real 800xl or even playing on 800win where i can savestate...

just let me know as you seem to be craks...

[Xebec's Demise]

Heaven/TQA, on Fri May 20, 2005 12:54 PM, said:

guys... i really like the storys...and i would quit my WOW experiences for a while... and enter this competition but are there REALLY working ATRs of AR around? i mean i have the original discs (and of the dungeon) somewhere but i don't have any 1050 anymore...so i would boot anyway via Sio2pc and laptop on my real 800xl or even playing on 800win where i can savestate...

just let me know as you seem to be craks...

See step two in the original post, for a link to game and emu downloads. These are the ones I am using.

There are many working ATRs on the net. At XL Search you can always find a handful, but I recommend using the ones from step 2 of my post, because I have been testing these and they are confirmed to work correctly.

http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/xlsearch/x...ity&sortby=Name

Edited by Xebec's Demise, Fri May 20, 2005 1:43 PM.

[axewater]

Ok, after many many retries in the last couple of days ... I finally have a character going that has a chance to survive for a while... so here are the 'new adventures of bonanza'.

After passing out in the space ship that I was kidnapped in, I wake up before a huge gate. I pass through and the numbers freeze :



I feel disorriented for a moment and suddenly find myself in a city. I'm wearing some old rags for clothes and find a stack of copper coins in my pocket.
Before I even realise it, a nasty looking figure walks up to me and says 'Your money or your life' .... I don't want to give him either of those so in a fit of rage I smash his skull into the pavement. I look at the blood on my fists and I feel good... that bastard deserved it !
I start scouting around and find some shops. The smithy is a great guy and he agrees to give me a stilletto in exchange for the stack of copper coins I have, hmm this thing might well come in handy for the next time I get mugged.
As soon as I go outside, i'm greeted by another mugger, this time I don't wait for him to ask for my money, I don't have any left anyway, I guess he could be carrying some so I slit his throat with my new weapon. But not before he manages to give me a black eye.
I feel great ... this town is not so bad after all ...

I walk around the town a little bit, it looks like they're all avoiding me now with this black eye. I happen upon a strange building, some figures with beards there let me in and they explain how to take care of that black eye and suddenly there's a flash of light... Somehow I feel healthier then when I walked into this place...



I decide these guys with beards are good to hang out with, so I scout around town to find any others ... indeed I find a few others and they all teach me some wise words, I'm feeling really good about myself now so when I bump into some commoner in the middle of the road and he gives me the eye, I stab him before he has a change to say anything. Ahhh... this feels really good.




I learn more from the old guys, they teach me skills for first aid, how to be quick, how to surprise others and more skills that are perfect for a mindless killer like myself.
Everyone I see in the streets that even looks at me gets to know my knife from closeby and slowly I start gathering some new money. Good, because all this killing is starting make me really hungry !!
Another commoner bites the dust ... and this guy was carrying a war net ! Now that will come in handy for my killing spree of the next day. First some sleep.
I wake up refreshed and feel better then ever .. all this killing is a really good exercise. I notice I have run out of water .. I'll need to get some more from the tavern, but I'm fresh out of cash.... oh well ... time to kill some more commoners I guess.



Getting new water was an easy job, I even ran into a guy who looked like a merchant and he was carrying a few gold pieces !!
I'm starting to feel allmighty in this town, but the guards seem to be picking up on my trail .. they can't seem to leave me alone. Hmm actually it seems everybody has it in for me now. I had to run from a knight in full armor who stole my new water supply.





*** lvl 4 now, armed with a war net

[axewater]

Heaven/TQA, on Fri May 20, 2005 8:54 PM, said:

(snip)
or even playing on 800win where i can savestate...
(snip)

uhmm... no saving your game for this competition !!

[Goochman]

Work in progress -

2092 Exp - Lvl 3

Hungry and Thirsty

Cant get enough copper to sleep or eat - thieves keep stealing it!

Havent raised enough cash to get any armor and havent found any as treasure

Fun playing this again

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[Goochman]

Something got hosed and I all of a sudden couldnt enter an Tavern which spelled doom for me

2201
lvl 3

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[Xebec's Demise]

axewater, on Sat May 21, 2005 8:37 AM, said:

After passing out in the space ship...

*laughs* I've been there! I caught myself with my eyes closed more than once while waiting at the gate for good numbers, almost went into an alternate reality of dreams. Shucks, I probably missed the best stats when my eyes were closed. I also pressed the spacebar many times without even thinking and had to reboot. Is it just me, or does that sound and rolling numbers almost hypnotize you too?

It sure is a good thing you can reboot and skip the intro straight to the character menu by pressing Start (F4) right after Reset (F5). Otherwise, getting good stats would be absolute torture if you had to go through the whole boot sequence every time you wanted to roll again.

Nice Stats btw! Lots of 18s, good screenshot. I would have pressed the spacebar too if I saw all those numbers.

[Xebec's Demise]

Goochman, on Sat May 21, 2005 3:09 PM, said:

Hungry and Thirsty

Aye, that is the most critical point. After buying a dagger or stiletto, you must go to a cheap tavern and begin stocking up food and water.

Try "The Tavern" inside the City Wall in the NW corner of town, you get free water there and the Pemmican (Food Packet) is only 16 coppers each.

There is also an Inn closeby that charges 7 copper for the Common Area Floor.

So fun!

I am going to have to boot up now and play some more!

Forget Ultima Online and World of Warcraft!

Atari Rules!

[Xebec's Demise]

Goochman, on Sat May 21, 2005 9:23 PM, said:

Something got hosed and I all of a sudden couldnt enter an Tavern which spelled doom for me

2201
lvl 3

Is it just me or are Goochman's screenshots blurry to anyone else?

[Gunstar]

axewater, on Sat May 21, 2005 2:44 PM, said:

Heaven/TQA, on Fri May 20, 2005 8:54 PM, said:

(snip)
or even playing on 800win where i can savestate...
(snip)

uhmm... no saving your game for this competition !!

Uhmm, NOT TRUE. You can SAVE, but you cannot BACKUP your saved character to continue if you die, you have to start over. It's possible to make a backup of your character disk to start again from the last saved point if you are killed (normally your character is erased every time you load it, so you have to save again or die!) We all don't always have a full day to waste on playing the game, so saves are allowed.

by the way Xebec's Demise...I'm coming back soon, I've been playing a new character (everyone will get full story soon) and have him saved to continue on my days off. I have screen shots for all the level increases up to level 10 so far (just kidding ). I am at level 4 now though, but have not surpassed Maximus Paine's experience yet...

[axewater]

Xebec's Demise, on Sun May 22, 2005 6:18 AM, said:

Goochman, on Sat May 21, 2005 9:23 PM, said:

Something got hosed and I all of a sudden couldnt enter an Tavern which spelled doom for me

2201
lvl 3

Is it just me or are Goochman's screenshots blurry to anyone else?

Looks like he turned on the feature in atari 800 win 'artifacting'

Goochman - hit ALT-A a couple of times and the GFX should be MUCH better !!
and to avoid that shop-entering-bug ... don't use the save state function from the emulator, only use the 'S' key to save your game. --> don't make backups of your save disk for this competition though 'tis not allowed.

[Goochman]

YOu are correct - Ive got amuch nicer screen to work with - not sure I will continue another character though