I've been going through my bookmarks: seeing which are still valid (I have hundreds! - hoarder :o ), tidying, organising, etc.. This led me to check up on some old games, and associated with this was making sure my desktop was up-to-date, and updating some programs, including games.
Due to this, I checked up on Thang and was pleased that it loaded pretty quickly with no fuss: I'd expected waiting ages for a huge update.. hmm.. maybe that's not such a good thing.. heh. Anyway, the only thing I noticed from my brief visit was that you can now turn the screen/view 360 degrees, instead of the 180 or whatever it was before.. There may well be more than that that's 'new', but that's all I noticed..
Eternal Lands had to get a little visit too and I had to reinstall, due to the program I had no longer being used/supported. There seemed to be a lot of updates, according to the text, but things looked the same and although it's a lovely little game I would like to 'visit properly' one day, I wasn't in the mood for trying to remember what to do!
A 'games crawl' (kinda like a pub crawl but without the booze.. or pubs! :P) would have to include Planeshift - for me. This is one of the most frustrating games I think I've ever come across.. Why? because I've had such a good feeling about it ever since I first found about it, but I always found it a nightmare to play - well, actually getting to play always feels like a major accomplishment!! This time, as previously, it wouldn't update and didn't want to work, so I visited the website and realised there was a new build - good news, but I wish they'd sort out the updater so you don't have to uninstall and reinstall the darn thing every time!! I believe they are in the process of fixing that.. maybe they have, but I couldn't find it on the site. At least I managed to log into the site this time - I even had a nightmare with that last time I tried! I want to love PS but it won't let me!
What else did I visit.....? Oh yes, Puzzle Pirates! Login problems again, but it's more my fault than theirs, due to only visiting these games rarely. PP is a cute, easy little game. For me there are two 'levels' of approach when playing it. You can either get properly into it, making efforts to meet people, progress, and whatever else it has to offer.. Or, like me, you can just jump in and mindlessly have a go at the puzzles. I usually play the 'Bilging' puzzle ('Tetrisy' kinda thing) for a few minutes before logging off, lol.
I double-clicked the Rappelz icon, but after a few minutes of watching it try to download/update and thinking it didn't look like it was having much success, I gave up. It's just not appealing enough to me for me to put any effort into trying to get it going..
This may be an unkind or unfair thing to say, but I can't see me ever getting really engrossed in an Asian game.. They seem 'shallow', often bypassing any attempt to get someone fluent in English to check the content before pumping it out.. support seems a little lacking, but that's probably just a symptom of the modern world.. They do always look very pretty, but.. I'm forever seeking something with 'depth'.. like in the MuD, Cosrin I used to play. Some of the quests were deep.. I remember spending weeks up in a tower with a couple of friends, just trying to figure out how to get to the next bit, cross-referencing clues, going crazy to work it out.. I miss that, along with the depth of emersing yourself in your character... anyway, I digress.....
Showing posts with label MuD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MuD. Show all posts
Friday, August 10, 2007
Thursday, April 06, 2006
After the MUDs
Between playing Terris and Cosrin we discovered the playstation. Again, the roleplaying aspect was of more interest to me, though I suppose you could call most games 'roleplay' games, since you're playing the role of someone else..
Tomb Raider was a great favourite of mine for a while, and I got into Resident Evil for a bit LoL!
I later became hooked on Final Fantasy VII and VIII.
The only game me and my boyfriend both really liked was Syphon Filter. We played that together quite a bit.
I thought he'd like Metal Gear Solid too but he just didn't seem to like it as much as me for some reason: I thought it was great. They come up with great names for the hero in games don't they.. Lara Croft, Gabe Logan, Solid Snake.. heh.
We played Crash Bandicoot a little bit too. It's one of those games that you don't really get into, like you might immerse yourself in Tomb Raider - for me it's the exploring. I love exploring :) I used to drive my boyfriend nuts because I wouldn't leave anything out; I had to look everywhere heh. Crash though.. I guess you just want to beat each level.. it kind of gets annoying but you have to keep trying.. :o Now our little boy likes Crash, especially Crash Team Racing (which he calls 'Crash cars her bandicoot' for some odd reason lol. He calls Crash Bandicoot 'jump boxes'), though he seems to enjoy jumping over the sides or crashing into all the bombs more than actually winning: he doesn't get that yet :D
If you want to know more about any of these old games, do an internet search (e.g: google). Gameseek still sells PS1 games, as well as PS2 (Playstation 1 & 2). Many Playstation games are also available for the PC too.
Of course you can now go online with Playstation2 (you can have a look or buy here). My boyfriend played a little bit of 'Tiger Woods' Golf online and we had a go at Syphon Filter online but as we were trying to figure out what to do and how to do it some guy came and shot us to bits repeatedly which was a little offputting. Hehe. We much prefer computer online gaming.
So.. my life in Cosrin had come to an end and naturally I couldn't help looking for other online roleplaying games. I tried a few other MUDs (e.g: Achaea), mostly through Gmud (explanation here, about 2/3 of the way down) but I wasn't drawn to them and starting all over again didn't appeal to me. Especially with the way I tend to get into them, drawing my own maps and stuff. Of course, not knowing anyone was probably a big factor in the lack of appeal for me.
For a while I dabbled with various games such as Runescape and Everquest but they just didn't have any pulling-power for me. The actual game of Everquest looked brilliant, but, as is sadly often the case, the players ruined it for me. Of course the monthly fee detracted from it's appeal too ^^. Runescape kind of looks out-of-date but I could get into such a game if it weren't for, yep, you guessed it.. the players :(
In my most recent wanderings I found three games which I found quite appealing, for various reasons. I still have access to these games, since they're free, and pop in occasionally to see how they're doing. These are Eternal Lands, Thang Online, and PlaneShift.
Eternal Lands is a little out-dated looking, like Runescape, but it has a nice relaxed feel to it and the players actually communicate with each other like normal human beings and have a laugh, which makes a refreshing change. It's a point-and-click game with the usual killing of monsters and collecting items to trade or make things. I like the training aspect of it. You can buy books and your character 'reads' them to learn the subject matter, which might be about metallurgy, mining, magic, etc..
Thang.. well.. Thang is incredible. It's beautiful to look at, has real-time fighting-monster action and the best player trading system I've come across. You basically drag your items into your 'shop' window, set prices for them, then if you like you can go off and do your shopping, or go on holiday if you want! When you come back, if you didn't set ridiculous prices on things, you'll have more money in your account. Nice! Why don't I play this wonderful game if it's so great (and free!)? Yep, see above.. the players :( It's full of nasty little brats that seem to have a problem with the world and want to take it out on anyone who dares to even look at them. I did pop in the other day though and they seemed to have raised the status of some players to keep an eye on the behaviour of others. The atmosphere did seem better. I didn't stay long on that occasion, but I'll have another look sometime. A lot of players had tags after their names too, which I assume is some sort of Guild system. That will help a lot. If they can sort out the playerbase I think they've got an incredible game there..
Planeshift. As with Thang I'm amazed that such a game can be offered free. The graphics are incredible. Well, they're actually not quite as beautiful as Thang, but then you can wander out of town and walk or run around for what seems like miles, through countryside, with lush hills and trees. You might come across an NPC that can train you or otherwise assist you, or a group of monsters to fight; or you could find a remote building to have a wander around. I had a little difficulty with the user interface in Planeshift and gaining experience seemed to be a rather tedious process. I spent quite some time wandering around the dungeons in town killing rats for poultry (or should that be rattish? heh) experience/money (trias I think it's called). I had a feeling I might have been going the wrong way about it so I looked for other ways and discovered that you could learn to mine materials. I got a pick and off I went happily to pick at the local countryside.. the novelty of this wore off quickly though.. I'm not sure about the players.. I bumped into a couple that seemed okay, but it was all a bit.. lonely.. I visited recently and there seem to be a lot of Guilds set up now, like in Thang. I imagine this will help the community a lot. Games are always easier when you get to know a group of people in them.
Wow, once I get going I find it hard to stop.. Time for a break
*waves*
Tomb Raider was a great favourite of mine for a while, and I got into Resident Evil for a bit LoL!
I later became hooked on Final Fantasy VII and VIII.
The only game me and my boyfriend both really liked was Syphon Filter. We played that together quite a bit.
I thought he'd like Metal Gear Solid too but he just didn't seem to like it as much as me for some reason: I thought it was great. They come up with great names for the hero in games don't they.. Lara Croft, Gabe Logan, Solid Snake.. heh.
We played Crash Bandicoot a little bit too. It's one of those games that you don't really get into, like you might immerse yourself in Tomb Raider - for me it's the exploring. I love exploring :) I used to drive my boyfriend nuts because I wouldn't leave anything out; I had to look everywhere heh. Crash though.. I guess you just want to beat each level.. it kind of gets annoying but you have to keep trying.. :o Now our little boy likes Crash, especially Crash Team Racing (which he calls 'Crash cars her bandicoot' for some odd reason lol. He calls Crash Bandicoot 'jump boxes'), though he seems to enjoy jumping over the sides or crashing into all the bombs more than actually winning: he doesn't get that yet :D
If you want to know more about any of these old games, do an internet search (e.g: google). Gameseek still sells PS1 games, as well as PS2 (Playstation 1 & 2). Many Playstation games are also available for the PC too.
Of course you can now go online with Playstation2 (you can have a look or buy here). My boyfriend played a little bit of 'Tiger Woods' Golf online and we had a go at Syphon Filter online but as we were trying to figure out what to do and how to do it some guy came and shot us to bits repeatedly which was a little offputting. Hehe. We much prefer computer online gaming.
So.. my life in Cosrin had come to an end and naturally I couldn't help looking for other online roleplaying games. I tried a few other MUDs (e.g: Achaea), mostly through Gmud (explanation here, about 2/3 of the way down) but I wasn't drawn to them and starting all over again didn't appeal to me. Especially with the way I tend to get into them, drawing my own maps and stuff. Of course, not knowing anyone was probably a big factor in the lack of appeal for me.
For a while I dabbled with various games such as Runescape and Everquest but they just didn't have any pulling-power for me. The actual game of Everquest looked brilliant, but, as is sadly often the case, the players ruined it for me. Of course the monthly fee detracted from it's appeal too ^^. Runescape kind of looks out-of-date but I could get into such a game if it weren't for, yep, you guessed it.. the players :(
In my most recent wanderings I found three games which I found quite appealing, for various reasons. I still have access to these games, since they're free, and pop in occasionally to see how they're doing. These are Eternal Lands, Thang Online, and PlaneShift.
Eternal Lands is a little out-dated looking, like Runescape, but it has a nice relaxed feel to it and the players actually communicate with each other like normal human beings and have a laugh, which makes a refreshing change. It's a point-and-click game with the usual killing of monsters and collecting items to trade or make things. I like the training aspect of it. You can buy books and your character 'reads' them to learn the subject matter, which might be about metallurgy, mining, magic, etc..
Thang.. well.. Thang is incredible. It's beautiful to look at, has real-time fighting-monster action and the best player trading system I've come across. You basically drag your items into your 'shop' window, set prices for them, then if you like you can go off and do your shopping, or go on holiday if you want! When you come back, if you didn't set ridiculous prices on things, you'll have more money in your account. Nice! Why don't I play this wonderful game if it's so great (and free!)? Yep, see above.. the players :( It's full of nasty little brats that seem to have a problem with the world and want to take it out on anyone who dares to even look at them. I did pop in the other day though and they seemed to have raised the status of some players to keep an eye on the behaviour of others. The atmosphere did seem better. I didn't stay long on that occasion, but I'll have another look sometime. A lot of players had tags after their names too, which I assume is some sort of Guild system. That will help a lot. If they can sort out the playerbase I think they've got an incredible game there..
Planeshift. As with Thang I'm amazed that such a game can be offered free. The graphics are incredible. Well, they're actually not quite as beautiful as Thang, but then you can wander out of town and walk or run around for what seems like miles, through countryside, with lush hills and trees. You might come across an NPC that can train you or otherwise assist you, or a group of monsters to fight; or you could find a remote building to have a wander around. I had a little difficulty with the user interface in Planeshift and gaining experience seemed to be a rather tedious process. I spent quite some time wandering around the dungeons in town killing rats for poultry (or should that be rattish? heh) experience/money (trias I think it's called). I had a feeling I might have been going the wrong way about it so I looked for other ways and discovered that you could learn to mine materials. I got a pick and off I went happily to pick at the local countryside.. the novelty of this wore off quickly though.. I'm not sure about the players.. I bumped into a couple that seemed okay, but it was all a bit.. lonely.. I visited recently and there seem to be a lot of Guilds set up now, like in Thang. I imagine this will help the community a lot. Games are always easier when you get to know a group of people in them.
Wow, once I get going I find it hard to stop.. Time for a break
*waves*
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
My first online game
I tried a few different games, but the first one I remember really getting into was a MUD from the 'Online Games Company' called 'Terris'. It had what seemed like a lot of players to me at the time (100+) and I found it rather addictive for a while. Quite some time later I again returned to the world of MUDs; this time to the world of Cosrin also from the OGC. I got seriously addicted to this and played it for a long time.
If you don't want to know more about MUDs, skip to the next entry :)
Basically you read the description of the location on the screen: it's all in text, no pictures *grins*. There are often clues in the description, and you might find an item lying on the ground. You decide which way to go from the options (N,E,S,W,etc.), then you type the direction and move to the next location. Every now and then you will be faced with a Quest to complete. This could be as simple as delivering an item you found or as complex as working out how the heck to trigger something by solving the mystery in the description in front of you. Of course you may run into monsters, or you might have deliberatly set out to hunt monsters. This is where your training comes in. You can fight the monster using your skills, weapons, spells, or you can run away. As with other games you gain experience by fighting and you increase in level as you gain experience. What the creature drops could, of course, be very useful too.
This can be very engrossing, especially when you discover a clue hidden in the description, which leads you to another place, where you have to solve another puzzle, to get you that little bit nearer to the final clue, which may lead you to a whole new area with items and monsters no-one else has yet seen.
However, what really drew me was the Roleplay. The simplest way to describe this I think is by saying that you act out your role. You create a character, decide it's strength's and weaknesses, it's characteristics and breathe life into it; become that persona. There are many examples I could give but for now I will simply refer to a couple:
A marriage performed by the Dark Queen
The meeting of a dark Hero and a cunning and greedy individual
Ahh, brings back memories. If only the modern, graphical so-called 'roleplaying' games had a fraction of the charisma.. *sighs* I must visit again one day...
Why did I stop playing if I loved it so much? The usual story; things changed. Most of those that I enjoyed playing with and became friends with gradually drifted off.. it just wasn't the same for me anymore..
C'est la vie.
If you don't want to know more about MUDs, skip to the next entry :)
Basically you read the description of the location on the screen: it's all in text, no pictures *grins*. There are often clues in the description, and you might find an item lying on the ground. You decide which way to go from the options (N,E,S,W,etc.), then you type the direction and move to the next location. Every now and then you will be faced with a Quest to complete. This could be as simple as delivering an item you found or as complex as working out how the heck to trigger something by solving the mystery in the description in front of you. Of course you may run into monsters, or you might have deliberatly set out to hunt monsters. This is where your training comes in. You can fight the monster using your skills, weapons, spells, or you can run away. As with other games you gain experience by fighting and you increase in level as you gain experience. What the creature drops could, of course, be very useful too.
This can be very engrossing, especially when you discover a clue hidden in the description, which leads you to another place, where you have to solve another puzzle, to get you that little bit nearer to the final clue, which may lead you to a whole new area with items and monsters no-one else has yet seen.
However, what really drew me was the Roleplay. The simplest way to describe this I think is by saying that you act out your role. You create a character, decide it's strength's and weaknesses, it's characteristics and breathe life into it; become that persona. There are many examples I could give but for now I will simply refer to a couple:
A marriage performed by the Dark Queen
The meeting of a dark Hero and a cunning and greedy individual
Ahh, brings back memories. If only the modern, graphical so-called 'roleplaying' games had a fraction of the charisma.. *sighs* I must visit again one day...
Why did I stop playing if I loved it so much? The usual story; things changed. Most of those that I enjoyed playing with and became friends with gradually drifted off.. it just wasn't the same for me anymore..
C'est la vie.
My first taste of computers/games
My first memories of computer games was playing Atari with my Dad. I remember us referring to 'Atari hand', which was our term for sore hands from pushing the joystics into our palms whilst trying to beat each other at whatever game we were playing: some game which seemed state-of-the-art at the time, but which would now be referred to as 'retro', like Pacman or Pong ^^
It was many years later that I really played computer games much again.
My first taste of an online roleplaying game was at college over ten years ago *cough*. Someone had made an online text-based adventure game called 'Adv' which I started to play. I remember having a joke with someone in the game, then noticing that this guy across the room seemed to be enjoying the same joke. Of course he was the guy I was having a laugh with in Adv..
A few years later me and my boyfriend got a computer, and got online. Wow! :D
It was a Packard Bell 'box-job' (we give you this big box with the computer, software, manuals etc. in it then you're on your own! We never want to hear from you again, let alone help you! LoL) from Dixons. I think LineOne was our first ISP, though it's clouded by the nightmarish memory of AoHELL *shudders*
Once I'd got used to the novelty of being one of the hip and trendy people who were online *grin* I started browsing for games. Of course I remembered Adv. and thought it'd be nice to play something like that. Also, since the computer was only a 486dx (hehe) I had to keep it simple, so a text-based game was ideal.
I found a MUD that I liked and got quite into that for a while, then stopped for some time. I can't even remember why..
I did however resume playing and have always been drawn to multiplayer Roleplaying games, which I still play, though I use the term 'roleplay' loosely since, sadly, I don't come across it much..
Will write more soon :)
It was many years later that I really played computer games much again.
My first taste of an online roleplaying game was at college over ten years ago *cough*. Someone had made an online text-based adventure game called 'Adv' which I started to play. I remember having a joke with someone in the game, then noticing that this guy across the room seemed to be enjoying the same joke. Of course he was the guy I was having a laugh with in Adv..
A few years later me and my boyfriend got a computer, and got online. Wow! :D
It was a Packard Bell 'box-job' (we give you this big box with the computer, software, manuals etc. in it then you're on your own! We never want to hear from you again, let alone help you! LoL) from Dixons. I think LineOne was our first ISP, though it's clouded by the nightmarish memory of AoHELL *shudders*
Once I'd got used to the novelty of being one of the hip and trendy people who were online *grin* I started browsing for games. Of course I remembered Adv. and thought it'd be nice to play something like that. Also, since the computer was only a 486dx (hehe) I had to keep it simple, so a text-based game was ideal.
I found a MUD that I liked and got quite into that for a while, then stopped for some time. I can't even remember why..
I did however resume playing and have always been drawn to multiplayer Roleplaying games, which I still play, though I use the term 'roleplay' loosely since, sadly, I don't come across it much..
Will write more soon :)
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