Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: Kosh on June 16, 2008, 01:49:08 am

Title: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: Kosh on June 16, 2008, 01:49:08 am
Just getting back into this game after a long hiatus, and man I forgot how awesome it was. Check it out.

http://sc2.sourceforge.net/
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: Akalabeth Angel on June 16, 2008, 03:32:25 am
   So this is just SC2 updated? Hmmn, might be worth checking out.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: Kosh on June 16, 2008, 07:47:10 am
More like ported. Not much has changed, although you do have a choice between totally PC version, the "updated" 3do version (it had voices, new music), or maybe a mixture of both. Graphics are still low res (by today's standards) svga 2d dos (although they still had *many pretty colors*).
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: NGTM-1R on June 16, 2008, 09:44:12 am
Oh crap, the Orz got Kosh.

I remember finding this, the music didn't work though for some reason even though the voice did, so I ended up substituting blackhole's Openlancer - Intense Battle track.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: Vidmaster on June 18, 2008, 02:59:07 am
playing this game since version 0.2  :)    Graphics are decent if you choose the correct options in the menu  :nod:
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: BloodEagle on June 18, 2008, 09:46:14 am
I played this a while ago. Aside from having to scour systems for resources while swearing about my low fuel, it was good.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: Kosh on June 18, 2008, 10:06:26 pm
Quote from: ngtm1r on June 16, 2008, 09:44:12 am
Oh crap, the Orz got Kosh.

I remember finding this, the music didn't work though for some reason even though the voice did, so I ended up substituting blackhole's Openlancer - Intense Battle track.

Depends on how you set it up. If you set the music to PC it should work right out of the box, or at least it did for me. If you set it for 3do then, AFIK, you need to download the remixed tracks as well. Personally I just go for the original PC settings, PC music, no voice. You'd be surprised at how good it sounded, especially by the standards of the time.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: Rand al Thor on June 23, 2008, 10:21:33 am
Meh, I enjoyed it quite a bit for a while, but it was just a bit too vast and lacked direction. Too hard to pin down where or what you were supposed to be at next.

Might get back to it but it desperately needs some kind of quest/message logging system so you can review whats going on.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: Vidmaster on June 28, 2008, 09:07:16 am
no you just need to write coordinates and stuff like that down. Good old fashioned gaming  :lol:
Reminds me of Myst  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: NGTM-1R on June 28, 2008, 07:37:24 pm
Or you could consult their wiki, if you're really impatient. :P
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: Vidmaster on July 01, 2008, 09:20:27 am
ruins the game.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: Akalabeth Angel on July 01, 2008, 03:11:21 pm
Quote from: Rand al Thor on June 23, 2008, 10:21:33 am
Meh, I enjoyed it quite a bit for a while, but it was just a bit too vast and lacked direction. Too hard to pin down where or what you were supposed to be at next.

       That's what a non-linear game is all about. Not that the current generation of gamers would know anything about that (for the most part).
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: phatosealpha on July 01, 2008, 09:09:54 pm
With all due fairness, UQM is largely based on the 3DO version, which is neigh impossible without accessing wikis.  A particularly important piece of dialogue was removed, making a certain plot critical sequence incomprehensible.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 02, 2008, 07:15:30 am
Quote from: phatosealpha on July 01, 2008, 09:09:54 pm
With all due fairness, UQM is largely based on the 3DO version, which is neigh impossible without accessing wikis.  A particularly important piece of dialogue was removed, making a certain plot critical sequence incomprehensible.

I'm not sure I believe that, it was all laid out well enough for me to follow, I simply couldn't be bothered to write everything down. :P
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: phatosealpha on July 02, 2008, 08:34:44 am
It's a well known problem with UQM.  Heck, it's one of the top stickies on the UQM Board.  One very particular questline is broken, and it's a plot critical one. 

Were you by any chance playing it PC mode?  I suppose maybe they've updated to fix it somehow, though last I checked, they weren't intending to do that.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: NGTM-1R on July 02, 2008, 04:24:58 pm
Not that I know of. I was playing a much earlier version then this.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: phatosealpha on July 02, 2008, 05:29:48 pm
Well, I'm gonna spoilerize this just in case.

Spoiler:
The mycon/syreen questline is broken.  The mycon are supposed to tell you, if you arrive at their 'special place', that it is not the source and then give you the coordinates of the mycon homeworld.  The lines were never recorded, and no other conversation gives you that information.  Only the homeworld can send the deep child fleet, and it's neccessary to get the fleet sent to get the sun device.  The sun device is neccessary to free the Chmmr, and that's a plot critical goal.

Worse, the response given is cryptic at best and certainly doesn't give you any indication that you're doing something wrong, so it's pretty much a brick wall.  Thus, the 'Why can't I get the mycon to go to organon?' stickie at the top of the UQM forum.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: Rand al Thor on July 02, 2008, 07:25:28 pm
@ Akalabeth Angel,
Dude trust me, I'm not turned off by games that allow freedom of movement, but there has to be an overall driving goal, and although there was obviously one, it just seemed to be diluted by all the other things that crop up. The bird-race getting attacked, the bird race moving, the probes (which without the wiki were, as far as I could tell, untraceable, and I wrote down the origin coords of LOADS, along with alot else), the periodically opening superhyperspace portals (I could never remember to keep track of the dates), and the rubbish combat (I know! More of a subgame than anything).

I think probably I just OD'd on resource collection and trying to explore every system early on. Maybe I was soon to breakthrough to enthrallment but as it is, it'll take a good bit to get me to continue on.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: phatosealpha on July 02, 2008, 10:13:18 pm
Combat is deceptively deep, though in the plot game, a properly upgraded flagship is essentially the death star.

The probes, far from being untraceable, simply aren't meant to be traced with triangulation.  Like most of the information in the game, you get told the exact location if you ask the right people.  And the single quasi-space portal that's timed is really just there so you can get in to find that important thing in quasi-space itself.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: cloneof on July 12, 2008, 06:18:36 pm
Man this brings back memories :D.

I remembered when I got this game at 1998 from a flea market and finished it... in 2005...
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: Nuclear1 on July 12, 2008, 07:17:32 pm
Quote from: phatosealpha on July 02, 2008, 05:29:48 pm
Well, I'm gonna spoilerize this just in case.

Spoiler:
The mycon/syreen questline is broken.  The mycon are supposed to tell you, if you arrive at their 'special place', that it is not the source and then give you the coordinates of the mycon homeworld.  The lines were never recorded, and no other conversation gives you that information.  Only the homeworld can send the deep child fleet, and it's neccessary to get the fleet sent to get the sun device.  The sun device is neccessary to free the Chmmr, and that's a plot critical goal.

Worse, the response given is cryptic at best and certainly doesn't give you any indication that you're doing something wrong, so it's pretty much a brick wall.  Thus, the 'Why can't I get the mycon to go to organon?' stickie at the top of the UQM forum.

Spoiler:
Wow, I had that same issue when I played.  Thanks for clearing that up.  Now to go finish it finally.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: Kosh on July 13, 2008, 10:57:36 am
Quote from: Rand al Thor on June 23, 2008, 10:21:33 am
Might get back to it but it desperately needs some kind of quest/message logging system so you can review whats going on.

Keep in mind it's vintage 1992, so they had to keep in mind your average computer at the time didn't have much memory. At least that's why I think it didn't have one. If it was made any later it probably would have had one. Personally I never wrote anything down, I just remembered it all. In fact even after all these years I can still remember how to win, where some of the best star systems are, locations of artifacts, all of it.
Title: Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Post by: cloneof on July 14, 2008, 04:50:52 am
With a game like Star Control 2? Who would not remember all the good stuff?