sNeaksieGarrett on 3/1/2013 at 22:26
It definitely sounds appealing.
gunsmoke on 3/1/2013 at 23:22
You would like it, sneako.
Maxmillion on 4/1/2013 at 02:16
Quote Posted by gunsmoke
THANK YOU! I didn't know Realms was on GOG. I loved that game! Highly recommended if you haven't played it, and I will explain my love for it if anyone is interested.
Actually, if you could elaborate that would be neat. Just checking the date has me wary. I am firmly a gamer of the 3d era, and 1996 is represents something just at the edge of my usual tolerance range.
Allow with your genuine love, some specific details would be appreciated:
1.) Does this have an interface designed by hate goblins from a hell dimension? (SS1, I am looking at you.)
2.) Does it have production values that have aged poorly, in stuff like laughable VO work, hard to see what the hell is going on graphics, etc.
3.) Any significant, never patched bugs?
Volitions Advocate on 4/1/2013 at 02:52
ROTH has an interface very similar to SS1. Less complex, but ergonomically similar. The cutscenes are all Live Action in that mid-90s 320 x 240 horrible low res era, but the acting and makeup isn't so bad. Some of the "Normal" (ie. non-mystical characters) people might seem a funny in their wardrobe, but this was the 90s after all. Voice work is better than passable.
It is trial-and-error in some parts, but the gameplay is very satisfying in a survival horror type of way. Like many sur-hor games, if you count your shots well enough you'll end up with plenty to spare, it awards exploration and has a VERY cool mood to it.
I'm not a fan of anybody saying it "Holds up even to today's standards" because NONE of these old games actually do. If ROTH was re-made today I would buy it in an instant so long as it wasn't "syndicate" bad.
Having said that. ROTH is an amazing and ambitious game. I recommend it and had tons of fun with it. I"ve still never beaten it but I've reached the final act, and it goes from spooky mansion to mystical plane of existence, to a terrifying alien-like demonic lair and has bits of Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider in there as well.
Truth be told, it is a good game and still playable despite its age, either you'll like it or you wont, but the deciding factor will be whether or not you can handle playing a game of its age, because it's good regardless of that fact. No judgement on my part if you hate it, but if you can get over the 3D era bias, it's worth the playthrough.
TTK12G3 on 4/1/2013 at 03:45
Quote Posted by Maxmillion
System Shock has a bad interface.
I recently played the C&C3 demo. System Shock's UI is glorious compared to some of the monstrosities I've seen, even in recent times. At least SS's was comprehensible.
Shadowcat on 4/1/2013 at 03:52
Quote Posted by Volitions Advocate
ROTH has an interface very similar to SS1. Less complex, but ergonomically similar.
I'll take slight issue with that statement; ROTH's interface
is less complex than SS1, but ergonomically it is much worse: in the default configuration you literally need four hands to access all the main movement and interaction controls at once, as you require the mouse, the cursor keys,
and both sides of the main keyboard. And this to manage less functionality than SS1 enabled with the standard human quantity of hands. It was completely absurd.
However this is fully mitigated in the GOG release, due to it running under DOSBox, because DOSBox enables you to (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2059242#post2059242) remap all the keys to whatever you prefer (at which point the relative simplicity compared to System Shock will probably also pay dividends for you).
If you (
http://www.gog.com/forum/realms_of_the_haunting/transformation_patch_uk_us_version) convert the UK version to the US version, the game gives you some key rebinding options (which is simpler than using DOSBox's remapper); however certain keys still cannot be overridden in the US version, so you may find this insufficient. The DOSBox remapper has no such limitations, so is the more comprehensive solution.
You still won't have a mouse-look interface. (
http://www.gog.com/forum/realms_of_the_haunting/autohotkey_script_for_toggling_mouselook) You can just about hack it, but I strongly recommend
not doing that, because you lose the contextual cursor, and that is absolutely critical for telling you when you can interact with things. The game becomes unnecessarily difficult when you lose that information.
ROTH is one of my all-time favourite games. It shows its age, unquestionably (enemy AI is rubbish, it has a lot of cheesy FMV (but it's not all bad), and some of the puzzles are tedious); but it's absolutely worth playing despite all that. The fact that players loved it even with the original fixed keybindings probably speaks volumes in itself :)
Shadowcat on 4/1/2013 at 06:59
Quote Posted by Maxmillion
Does this have an interface designed by hate goblins from a hell dimension? (SS1, I am looking at you.)
I imagine we've more or less covered this. I suspect you'll find the interface slightly annoying due to turning with the keyboard rather than the mouse; but as you'll be able to remap everything, it'll be manageable.
Quote:
Does it have production values that have aged poorly, in stuff like laughable VO work, hard to see what the hell is going on graphics, etc.
I guess this one is pretty subjective, and my opinion is definitely biased, however I think the game has aged "as expected" more than "poorly". It's an old game and it looks it, but I think any bits that are
bad were always bad. On the whole I think it's aged okay.
I'll note that the graphics, while never mind-blowing, were actually pretty detailed for the time. The architecture and textures did an excellent job of creating recognisable environments, and I think that fact helps quite a lot.
Furthermore, ROTH's audio is extremely good (music, effects, and a significant amount of the voice acting), and that's something which doesn't really age at all. As such, the game remains very atmospheric.
Quote:
Any significant, never patched bugs?
None that I know of.
Xeogred on 4/1/2013 at 07:09
It's weird I have a hard time getting into System Shock myself because of the interface/controls, yet I played Ultima Underworld a year or two ago and didn't have a problem with that one at all honestly. SS1 seemed clunkier or something.
icemann on 4/1/2013 at 07:32
Quote Posted by TTK12G3
I recently played the C&C3 demo. System Shock's UI is glorious compared to some of the monstrosities I've seen, even in recent times. At least SS's was comprehensible.
If you hate 3's you'd love C&C 4's :p.
TTK12G3 on 4/1/2013 at 13:56
Quote Posted by icemann
If you hate 3's you'd love C&C 4's :p.
Just to clarify, I meant CCRA3, but I will check those out for laughs.
