Re: crude games???

[Phoenyx <quazar@dcnet2000.com>]

> And having said that, I wonder if you have ever actually played any
> Apple II games from the DOS 3.2/3.3 era. They are so dramatically
> cruder than anything that has been done in the past ten years that I
> can't imagine anyone thinking that a modern game with the same title is
> in any way linked to the old title. Apart from the title itself, of
> course.

While I will allow that the graphics are cruder, many old games offer
something that the current crop lacks. Well, maybe I should say RPG or
adventure games, which I prefer. These games have substance and style
which to make up for the limitations in graphics and sound.

I have a few favorites such as Might and Magic II which I have played to
completion a few times and still haven't done everything in them. The
MM2
help manual, sold as an enhancement, is excellent also. It offers help
in
various degrees, some of which you have to work for. The MM games on the
pc are more graphics oriented and less content oriented. I find this to
be especially true in the 3d slaughter market where many games are just
a variation on the theme. Don't get me wrong, I think that sort of
programming is awesome, but I don't think that every game should use it.

Another favorite is a series of two games, three if you count the GS
version as a different one. The Questron series runs an overhead view
with 3d style dungeons. The original dos version had crude graphics and
line drawn 3d dungeons but the game itself had great substance and was
very playable.

The sequel, Questron II, which also has the GS version, has much better
graphics. In fact the 8 bit version has one of the best overhead views
of
any Apple II game I can remember. The developers put a lot of effort in
here. Even the curves at the water's edges looks great. The simplistic
interface was also used in at least one other great game, Legacy of the
Ancients.

A couple of rpg games which were published for several systems also come
to mind. The ones I remember were The Magic Candle and Wasteland. While
I have played the PC versions, I still prefer playing on my 2c. Both
work almost identically on either system and the PC versions may have
better graphics, but there is something to be said for the efforts of
some great programmers. Many programmers of the II series actually
enjoyed programming for them.

There is also something to be said for any game which fits on a few
disks
and can run on a 64/128k system and entertain someone for years. It's
not
just the quality of the games but also the loving care the programmers
put into them. It is quite easy to tell which programmers enjoyed making
their games and which did so just for money.

-- 

Thank you for your time and interest. I hope it was helpful
or at least interesting.

Phoenyx,

Apple2 user since March 1984

Links to Phoenyx's pages:
preferred..... http://zip.to/Phoenyx_A2
alternate..... http://www.tinyangeldesigns.com/Apple2