Author Topic: The Ur-Quan Masters  (Read 3907 times)

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Offline Kosh

  • A year behind what's funny
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The Ur-Quan Masters
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/
"The reason for this is that the original Fortran got so convoluted and extensive (10's of millions of lines of code) that no-one can actually figure out how it works, there's a massive project going on to decode the original Fortran and write a more modern system, but until then, the UK communication network is actually relying heavily on 35 year old Fortran that nobody understands." - Flipside

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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
   So this is just SC2 updated? Hmmn, might be worth checking out.

 

Offline Kosh

  • A year behind what's funny
  • 210
Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
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*).
"The reason for this is that the original Fortran got so convoluted and extensive (10's of millions of lines of code) that no-one can actually figure out how it works, there's a massive project going on to decode the original Fortran and write a more modern system, but until then, the UK communication network is actually relying heavily on 35 year old Fortran that nobody understands." - Flipside

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Offline NGTM-1R

  • I reject your reality and substitute my own
  • 213
  • Syndral Active. 0410.
Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
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.
"Load sabot. Target Zaku, direct front!"

A Feddie Story

 

Offline Vidmaster

  • 211
  • Inventor of FS2 bullettime ;-)
Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
playing this game since version 0.2  :)    Graphics are decent if you choose the correct options in the menu  :nod:
Devoted member of the Official Karajorma Fan Club (Founded and Led by Mobius).

Does crazy Software Engineering for a living, until he finally musters the courage to start building games for real. Might never happen.

 

Offline BloodEagle

  • 210
  • Bleeding Paradox!
    • Steam
Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
I played this a while ago. Aside from having to scour systems for resources while swearing about my low fuel, it was good.

 

Offline Kosh

  • A year behind what's funny
  • 210
Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
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.
"The reason for this is that the original Fortran got so convoluted and extensive (10's of millions of lines of code) that no-one can actually figure out how it works, there's a massive project going on to decode the original Fortran and write a more modern system, but until then, the UK communication network is actually relying heavily on 35 year old Fortran that nobody understands." - Flipside

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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
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.
Watch out for the Guns! They'll getcha!

 

Offline Vidmaster

  • 211
  • Inventor of FS2 bullettime ;-)
Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
no you just need to write coordinates and stuff like that down. Good old fashioned gaming  :lol:
Reminds me of Myst  :rolleyes:
Devoted member of the Official Karajorma Fan Club (Founded and Led by Mobius).

Does crazy Software Engineering for a living, until he finally musters the courage to start building games for real. Might never happen.

 

Offline NGTM-1R

  • I reject your reality and substitute my own
  • 213
  • Syndral Active. 0410.
Re: The Ur-Quan Masters
Or you could consult their wiki, if you're really impatient. :P
"Load sabot. Target Zaku, direct front!"

A Feddie Story

 

Offline Vidmaster

  • 211
  • Inventor of FS2 bullettime ;-)
ruins the game.
Devoted member of the Official Karajorma Fan Club (Founded and Led by Mobius).

Does crazy Software Engineering for a living, until he finally musters the courage to start building games for real. Might never happen.

 
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).

 
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.

 

Offline NGTM-1R

  • I reject your reality and substitute my own
  • 213
  • Syndral Active. 0410.
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
"Load sabot. Target Zaku, direct front!"

A Feddie Story

 
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.

 

Offline NGTM-1R

  • I reject your reality and substitute my own
  • 213
  • Syndral Active. 0410.
Not that I know of. I was playing a much earlier version then this.
"Load sabot. Target Zaku, direct front!"

A Feddie Story

 
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.

 
@ 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.
Watch out for the Guns! They'll getcha!

 
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.

 

Offline cloneof

  • 27
Man this brings back memories :D.

I remembered when I got this game at 1998 from a flea market and finished it... in 2005...