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Post by Discoalucard on Feb 21, 2010 17:15:48 GMT -5
www.hardcoregaming101.net/roth/roth.htmThis is a really interesting game! It's essentially a first person shooter with adventure elements, a nice change from the usual Duke Nukem/Quake style at the time. It also has a LOT of FMV - it's four CDs long!
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Post by Gendo Ikari on Feb 21, 2010 19:12:36 GMT -5
Great! I was thinking about opening a thread about the game when this review comes out. I think ROTH does not truly excel in any of its aspects, but is ultimately better than the sum of its parts. I never found it scary like some people does, but the atmosphere is great and, while the engine was already dated when the game came out (I think it's true 3D though, just with a lot of 2D stuff), they used it efficently. The ending is nice.
You could have mentioned that some weapons recharge automatically and will probably end up as the most used. The bit about "competent actors" is repeated twice in the space of a few lines.
I had no problems setting the 640x480 resolution under DosBox. The fansite also has a handy guide to fully install the game and the FMVs on the hard disk.
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Post by roushimsx on Feb 21, 2010 23:38:07 GMT -5
fuck. yes. Realms of the Haunting is so under appreciated now a days. I keep hoping that GOG would snap up the license so that it could get introduced to a new audience.  edit - I never had any problems getting 640x480 to work either When I was shopping for a new laptop last fall, I actually setup a version of DOSbox on a thumbdrive with mounted disc images Realms of the Haunting and Blood so that I could doublecheck performance. Both games ran like a champ and without a fuss, so I walked out the door $650 poorer and with a bitchin' portable DOS machine new work laptop. |
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Blake Casimir
Full Member
Space meditations from Alpha Centauri.
Posts: 105
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Post by Blake Casimir on Feb 22, 2010 7:52:10 GMT -5
Oh crikey he's posted it, ah thanks Kurt. *hides*
Seriously, I think I definitely need to give this another proof-read at some point (I'm not exactly an expert at writing), but I'm very glad it's up. I bought ROTH off eBay for about £4 or something, and that was far far less than the gameplay is worth, even today.
As for the resolution issue, I wish I had the American version and not the UK one, because it perhaps had some other bug fixes...
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Post by Weasel on Feb 22, 2010 13:42:17 GMT -5
As much as I like that they added voice clips of Adam looking at everything, I think it was kind of lame about how he tends to only say the names of said objects. ("Coat stand.")
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Post by roushimsx on Feb 22, 2010 13:56:48 GMT -5
As for the resolution issue, I wish I had the American version and not the UK one, because it perhaps had some other bug fixes... I snapped up a crap load of great sealed PC games for rock bottom prices back in '01-'02 and the US release of RotH was one of them. If you like, I'd be happy to get some disc images ripped, packed up, and uploaded. |
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Blake Casimir
Full Member
Space meditations from Alpha Centauri.
Posts: 105
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Post by Blake Casimir on Feb 22, 2010 14:42:21 GMT -5
Very kind of you Roushi, but I probably should try my copy with the newest DOSBox again, just in case.
It'd be great if someone could hack higher resolutions into the game, a-la the System Shock mouselook mod...
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Post by Ganelon on Feb 23, 2010 0:29:56 GMT -5
I remember this game being in the bargain bins everywhere in the late 90s. Not sure why though, since it seems pretty fun.
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Post by kal on Feb 24, 2010 8:24:13 GMT -5
I don't know if the article covers quite how unstandardised the control scheme is (which I guess makes sense given the time period - games then use to just make up a scheme). It probably does enough but I want to stress the controls in this game are unrelentingly awkward. Though even including that it's such a unique mash of genres it deserves credit regardless.
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Blake Casimir
Full Member
Space meditations from Alpha Centauri.
Posts: 105
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Post by Blake Casimir on Feb 24, 2010 14:00:32 GMT -5
Kal there's a couple of things, since writing it, that I've felt I need to add. I plan to go over the whole thing again at some point, and yes it is probably worth mentioning that - if anything - the controls feel closer to the Doom / Duke 3Ds of the era, than FPSs of today.
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Post by Weasel on Feb 24, 2010 14:31:45 GMT -5
The interface is decidedly System Shock-esque, with the cursor being independent of the view. I don't remember if the guns will fire directly at the mouse, though, or if they only fire straight forward.
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Post by azazel on Dec 6, 2012 11:35:26 GMT -5
I can run it with 640x480 without problems in DOSbox.
The control scheme is unusual, yes, and reminded me of System Shock, too. It also reminded me of the old Freescape-Engine based game Castle Master. I keep confusing right and left mouse button all the time.
ROTH is awesome. There are not many games mixing FPS and adventure elements. The horror aspects are a bit clicheed which I don't like; it's simply too much, less would have been more. Horror has been done much much better in later games like Silent Hill.
The level design is very good, very nonlinear. Compare this to today's games where it feels like you are moving on rails.
Also, ROTH is huge. This is one of the largest games I have started playing in ages!
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Post by Weasel on Dec 7, 2012 13:22:59 GMT -5
•Elite-clone "Hardwar" [Hardware] Actually, that isn't a typo; there is actually a game called Hardwar that is, indeed, an updated clone of Elite. |
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Post by Gendo Ikari on Nov 1, 2014 9:27:38 GMT -5
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Post by Gendo Ikari on Mar 17, 2015 7:33:15 GMT -5
Again at 99 cents on Steam.
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