isamu wrote:Out of curiosity, wasn't Chaos Strikes Back considered a sequel to DM? If so, why did Interplay call their game "Dungeon Master II Legend of Skullkeep"?
Chaos Strikes Back was considered to be more of an expansion. Of course many fans see it as the true sequel.
Daniel.
A gently fried snail slice is absolutely delicious with a pat of butter...
Thels wrote:Lands of Lore was of course heavily influenced by EoB, considering they were both made by Westwood.
Since EoB inspired both LoL and LoG, of course there are some similarities between the latter two.
I didn't actually see many similarities with LoL; but I saw tremendous similarities with Dungeonmaster (and EOB). Lands of Lore had animated portraits and fully voiced characters, as well as item pickups that would integrate the compass and automap. In LoL there were interactive cells where you could click on more than just buttons and pull-chains to deal with merchants, converse with NPCs, or even reveal new NPCs. It also featured many outdoor [above ground] levels; (forests, cities, and even a cutscene for ship travel).
Magic was handled as a choice of one global spell (at a time), and at a power-level from 1-5 by all PCs (up to what they were capable); and all PCs were spell casters. the spells could even affect the environment ~like when the player uses 'freeze' to solidify the bubbling swamp sludge so that it can be walked across.
I would really like to see a few similarities like that made available to mappers when the patch is released.
Thels wrote:Lands of Lore was of course heavily influenced by EoB, considering they were both made by Westwood.
Since EoB inspired both LoL and LoG, of course there are some similarities between the latter two.
I didn't actually see many similarities with LoL; but I saw tremendous similarities with Dungeonmaster (and EOB). Lands of Lore had animated portraits and fully voiced characters, as well as item pickups that would integrate the compass and automap. In LoL there were interactive cells where you could click on more than just buttons and pull-chains to deal with merchants, converse with NPCs, or even reveal new NPCs. It also featured many outdoor [above ground] levels; (forests, cities, and even a cutscene for ship travel).
Magic was handled as a choice of one global spell (at a time), and at a power-level from 1-5 by all PCs (up to what they were capable); and all PCs were spell casters. the spells could even affect the environment ~like when the player uses 'freeze' to solidify the bubbling swamp sludge so that it can be walked across.
I would really like to see a few similarities like that made available to mappers when the patch is released.
To me most of the additions to the basic formula of DM and EoB in games like LoL felt like gimmicks. Not necessarily bad things but not really bringing any new dimention to the gameplay that was as rewarding and felt as natural as the mechanics already defined by DM. The main difference I found between EoB and LoL was the level design. The environments were overly mazelike in a very boring way, and the whole thing was very uninspiring. I played it because of my love of all things 1st person and RPG but felt unsatisfied. Games like Menzoberranzen and other RPGs of the era with similarly Doom inspired pseudo 3D graphics were good but never had the magical quality that DM and EoB managed. The next boom of RPGs was the isometric one inspired/led by Black Isle Studios - level design became less important, more of a backdrop to more advanced combat engines, varied encounters and more story driven gameplay. That approach is also evident in more modern RPGs. Skyrim may have brought the Dragons, but LoG firmly puts the Dungeons back into computer roleplaying!
Isaac wrote:the spells could even affect the environment ~like when the player uses 'freeze' to solidify the bubbling swamp sludge so that it can be walked across.
I would really like to see a few similarities like that made available to mappers when the patch is released.
That could probably be possible. There is one part in the game where you need to use a fireball spell to open the way to the next puzzle. So the scripting ability to do it, is there. It's the "solidify the bubbling swamp sludge so that it can be walked across" That would take some work, mainly the textures of it.
Isaac wrote:the spells could even affect the environment ~like when the player uses 'freeze' to solidify the bubbling swamp sludge so that it can be walked across.
I would really like to see a few similarities like that made available to mappers when the patch is released.
That could probably be possible. There is one part in the game where you need to use a fireball spell to open the way to the next puzzle. So the scripting ability to do it, is there. It's the "solidify the bubbling swamp sludge so that it can be walked across" That would take some work, mainly the textures of it.
Is it possible to swap out a trap for a decoration in realtime ~via Lua? (I get the impression that it is ~but I don't know. The engine supports hot-loading and realtime editing... so I would assume this could be done).
Isaac wrote:Is it possible to swap out a trap for a decoration in realtime ~via Lua? (I get the impression that it is ~but I don't know. The engine supports hot-loading and realtime editing... so I would assume this could be done).
The video of the editor showed that people can put in custom scripts. So while they might be able to make new textures, they can probably move around those that are already in the game. So yeah, probably can be scripted to change a trap for a Decoration, if by 'in real time', you mean when they activate the trigger that makes it do that.
jontycampbell wrote:LoL is on GOG for $6. I'm off to buy it now. Have all the bugs/annoyances been patched out by now or modded out at least?
It's both LoL 1 and 2.
Lol1 from GoG is patched equivalent to my original CD version [ver 1.02 D]
LoL 2 is a lot different. It was really incredible at the time... but suffered a delayed launch (and that was crippling to their sales to have fully 3D games to compete with on the shelves ~since it was not one). The game is a 2.5D engine, but it handles moving "3d" objects in the view; you can move and even stack boxes on top of each other in this 2D game, and then stand on or jump off of them.
I've not come across bugs in either that prevented play. (There probably are some, but I've never found them to interfere). Lands of Lore is really good; I like LoL2 also.
