It's not that bad!

[Scrivener]

Ok, so I'm really, really, really bored (Maybe I should do some homework? ....naw). Yesterday I was going through some of my older games and came across a couple that I never really finished playing:

1) Sea Dogs

2) Echelon

3) Ultima 9: Ascension

So after a couple coin tosses and a roll of my pewter d20, I decided to give Ascension another chance at life. It ran BAD, even on my modern-day, cutting-edge, super-computer. However, in a suddens stroke of genious (Inspired by the game's not-so-elegant MIP-mapping) I unchecked the MIP-mapping support box. Huzzah! The answer to my problems. It ran smooth as a babies bum.

At least for three hours (At which point it filled my HD with massive ammounts of swap file information, dropping the game to sub-8fps), a quick exit, 10-minute wait (While my HD thrashed about like a beached fish as the swap file emptied), and I was back in the game running smooth as glass. And you know what? It's really not that bad. Even after 2 years of sitting on a shelf collecting dust, it's still one of the prettiest games I've ever seen (IMHO, it actually looks better with MIP mapping disabled), and the story aint half bad either. Maybe I'll actually finish it this time.

[ 10-16-2001: Message edited by: Scrivener ]

[pkzip]

Echelon. Don't get me started. Needed a patch to run on AMD chips, fer godsakes. Said patch was, um, tardily forthcoming. Unpredictable results with each graphics driver update. Most afterthoughted implementation of multiplayer since Hidden and Dangerous, including horrifying warping. Horrifying when the server wasn't crashing every three minutes. Menus that would sometimes come up in the cyrillic alphabet, no joke. Well-intentioned Russian coders who ended up having their hands and tongues tied by the distributors (or was it the publishers, or both). Check out their forum, still some hangers-on hoping for an additional patch.

That game was like a junior high school cheerleader: enticing eye candy with some perky bits, but not mature enough to deliver without a whole lot of manipulation that left you feeling dirty and ashamed for trying.

Okay, maybe I need to think up a better analogy.

[Emmett.hendrick]

quote:

---

Originally posted by pkzip:

[QB

That game was like a junior high school cheerleader: enticing eye candy with some perky bits, but not mature enough to deliver without a whole lot of manipulation that left you feeling dirty and ashamed for trying.

Okay, maybe I need to think up a better analogy. [/QB]

---

Oh Jez thats terrible I definatly think you need a new one. Yeuck!

[Guest rtoolooze]

Hmmmmm.... I'm looking at my dusty old copy now, wondering if I should give it another try. I think I will just because you did Scrivener, I'll report back with my results later, but for now, its off to freakin work!

[Scrivener]

Wow, really? I never had any of those problems. I think the only quibble I have with the game is that it's just so friggin hard. I played one mission for 45 minutes missing part of my wing (I scraped another ship. I could feel the drag. Very cool) until, while fighting an enemy ship..... I just couldnt pull up fast enough and smashed into the ground. Game over. Aigh!

[ 10-17-2001: Message edited by: Scrivener ]

[Urza]

I wish I had a pewter d20...

Maybe I'd get more critical hits with it.

[Guest]

A friend of mine gave me Star Trek New Worlds, Oh my god, I am SOOO glad that I didn't spend money on this piece of crap...

I have tried to play it, but some of the buildings that you must build in the missions are MISSING in the build menu, and the darn thing crashes at the most ridicluous times. WASTE OF MONEY, WASTE OF DISK SPACE, WASTE OF TIME!!!!