New Scaratings

As a self-appointed, unofficial "Spacewar" referee, I say you have a qualified win. Congratulations...! We are all proud of you.

You have earned your "Spacewar" wings. The original gold plated ones are all gone, but I think I might have a few plastic replicas still lying around the house somewhere. If I can find them, I'll let you know.

Seriously, I'm glad you played the game. Experiencing what games of the past were like, not only provides some entertainment, it also helps us appreciate what preceded the whiz-bang games we have today. If it wasn't for those early pioneers, and the games they created, we would all be just sitting around, and playing solitaire with a deck of cards, when we had nothing to do today.

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"The game is afoot."

You made it to the final challenge...! As I remember, it was some kind of statue god, and he did throw fireballs at you. However, I don't remember how you got by the fireballs and won the game. Guess, I will have to go back and play "Bruce Lee" yet one more time to find out how to dodge the fireballs and beat the game again. I know I can do it, 'cause in years gone by I did it a number of times.

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"The game is afoot."

.......... ..........

Another wonderful DOS game from way back in 1989 is "The Ancient Land of Ys". Guys, you've got to play it. It is a classic. It makes you think. There's lots of action. It's pretty darn tough, but I beat it. So there's your challenge. Good luck, the game ain't all that bad. It's another strong CLOUDY recommendation for classic games from the distant past.

For years I was unable to complete this game. You will find yourself in a never ending hallway with a zillion columns. You need to hit one of them with a hammer, but nothing works. Finally, I searched on line, and found a kid, who knew the trick. He told me that I had to go down a level, and that I would find the column to hit there. Damn, he was right.

I think this link let's you download the game:

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/860/A ... of+Ys.html

p.s. I believe their were 6 sequals, which I never played. Forget the sequals, and just play the original.

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"The game is afoot."

I don't remember this game too much but the layout and graphics kinda remind me of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons "Gold Box" series of games. Those games were probably the best and most fun games I'd ever played on a computer. Pools of Radiance, Secret of the Silver Blades, Champions of Krynn, just to name a few. The best thing they had going for them was that even if you'd never played D&D before, you'd have a blast playing them and be able to understand everything.
Cheers,
--Tony

Whew! I'm going to put this on my CV, with you as a reference. Are the wings coming parcel post?

Seriously, though, it was fun and more challenging than I thought it would be. When I think that "Pong" came AFTER this, I am even more impressed.

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Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

(Is this the game?)

Sounds like I might have missed out on something. I never played any of the "Dungeons and Dragons" games. I was always afraid they might be too complicated, and require some experience and knowledge of the board game, of which I had none. So I chickened out, and never tried the games.

Here's a link to a site that says you can download it for free:

http://www.ddo.com/ddosupport/download-ddo

Here's a link to a site that says you can play it online for free:

https://trial.turbine.com/ddo.php?ftui= ... ral=127284

Let me know, if this is the game you are talking about, because after Googling "Dungeons and Dragons" for a while, I've got a feeling that there are a bunch of versions of it out there.

The first "Ancient Land of Ys" was pretty simple. You didn't need to know anything beforehand. You just stumbled your way through it, figuring stuff out while you went.

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"The game is afoot."

Okay, I'll make a deal with gamers on this thread...

The truth is that there were never any gold plated wings, nor do I actually have any plastic replicas hiding somewhere in the catacombs of my basement. (Sometimes, I just make stuff up for the fun of it.) However, if enough of you guys follow ANON's example, and let me know that you have also played the "Spacewar" game, I will seriously try to find some kind of real "Spacewar" wings, that you can actually pin onto your flight jacket. (Not making this up.) If you play it, I will do my best to come up with "Spacewar" wings. Can't guarantee that I can, but I'll try...!

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"The game is afoot."

No actually that was like a rules supplement that came out. I think it had a dice roller in it and a bunch of the sourcebooks on CD format. It was a nice tool to have while playing but not a game in itself. The games I was referring to looked like this and came to be known as gold box games because of the border around the box:

"Half-Life" (1998) is the favorite game of a live-trivia buddy of mine. It's an older game that will play on Windows XP, but might have problems with Windows 7. The game is played completely on the keyboard, and requires some fast finger action. He got me to play it, but I never got very far. My new housemate, Dave (DHB) tried the game, and over the course of about a week, Dave beat the game.

The game starts out a little slowly, but eventually erupts into non-stop action. There is an amount of thinking, strategy, and finding things involved, but for the most part it's blasting away at the bad guys with the weapons you are able to collect. (Saving the game is extremely important, as you progress.)

The game was released in 1998 and won over 50 game of the year awards.



It's a real shoot'em up, blast'em out game, probably the best in it's time. (No pun intended,but...) Give it a shot, and see how far you can take Dr. Gordon Freeman from the depths of the blown up lab, and get him into outer space to save the world.

p.s. I believe there were two sequals, which I know nothing about, but if you like the first "Half-Life", I'm sure you can easily find the sequals.

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"The game is afoot."

The "Commander Keen" series of games from the early 1990's were a heck of a lot of fun. I'm sure you can find them out there on the Internet. Give them a try, I think you might enjoy them.



Here's some video of "Commander Keen: Goodby Galaxy!":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plXYaKRUEEA

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"The game is afoot."

Gotcha, it's the Gold Box "Dungeons and Dragons" I need to check out. Sure hope I don't have to know anything about the original board game to play these games.

When I get back to Louisville, I'll see if I can pick one up somewhere.

Thanks.

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"The game is afoot."

No you really didn't. That was the fun of these games. Everything you needed to know was in the little booklet that came with it, as far as the races, classes, monsters, spells, etc. I might even have the hint book for this game still. I know I have it for the Pools of Darkness game but that's much later in this series. The hint books had all the maps and where treasure was and things like that.

Also, half-life was an awesome game. I spent many a fun night playing that. I always was attracted to first-person shooters anyway so this game was always up there in my favorites. It had a great story to it as well.
Cheers,
--Tony

"Sherlock Holmes: Another Bow", an old DOS game from 1985, still haunts me to this day. Try as I might I could never beat this simple game from the past. It was a text based game with background graphics. (The graphics did not enter into the play of the game.) Today I only have it on the original 5 1/4" floppy, and I fear that I will go to the grave never having helped Sherlock save the ship.



Here's a link to a site that say's you can download the game:

http://www.myabandonware.com/game/sherl ... her-bow-6h

If someone can walk me through it, and teach me as if I were a 3rd grader how to download this game and play it on Windows 7, I will be eternally grateful. I will need step-by-step instructions, that leave nothing out, and assume that I know nothing. I know very little computer lingo, that you guys take for granted. (Not joking) Thanks.

p.s. Some of you guys might want to try this game. I think it fed me a gazillion red herrings that sent me all over the ship, chasing unimportant stuff, while time ticked away and the bomb went off.

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"The game is afoot."

I briefly mentioned the "Monkey Island" series of games earlier, but I don't think I recommended them as highly as I should. I've got a feeling that none of you guys ever played any of them, and I think you are missing out on some great games and a lot of fun. The four original games were:

"The Secret of Monkey Island" (1990)



"Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge" (1991)



"The Curse of Monkey Island" (1997)



"Escape from Monkey Island" (2000)



Then in 2009-10 they came out with "Tales of Monkey Island".



"Tales of Monkey Island" was sold as a 5 episode download, supposedly to be followed up by a CD.

Here's a link to buy the 5 episodes of "Tales of Monkey Island":

http://www.telltalegames.com/monkeyisland

The episodes are:

1- "Launch of the Screaming Narwahl"
2- "The Siege of Spinner City"
3- "Lair of the Leviathan"
4- "The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood"
5- "Rise of the Pirate God"

Guys, I wouldn't have spent this much time on this post, if I didn't think these were damn good games. They are somewhat difficult, but I don't think you can get killed. They will challenge you in ways that very few games do. However, the best things about them are they they are funny, and a lot of fun to play.

THE ENTIRE "MONKEY ISLAND" SERIES IS A VERY STRONG CLOUDY RECOMMENDATION ! ! !

p.s. You don't have to play them in order, but if you can, I think that's the way to go, because you will be able to pick up on their humor, and the style of their clues and puzzles. You will also get to know characters that repeatedly show up throughout the series.

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"The game is afoot."

Sounds good, Tony, I'll will definitely pick the games up, and give them a try. Hopefully, they will play on Windows 7. I'm looking forward to them. Thanks for the recommendation and the explanation.

p.s. I might send you private messages asking for help every time I get stuck.

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"The game is afoot."

No problem at all. If you buy the DOS based version, it may run on Windows 7 but don't know for sure. I'm sure there's got to be a way for newer operating systems to play those games though. If you get ahold of pool of radiance and can play it, I'll try and find my hint book and send it your way.

Cheers,
--Tony

The old games remain a problem for me. Hopefully, YODA will help me figure out how to get them to run on my Fancy Dan, kinda new computer.

There is another possibility... Maybe, I can simply buy an old computer somewhere with 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" floppy drives that runs on DOS or an early version of Windows. Think I need to check this out.

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"The game is afoot."

Just noticed that I goofed up and repeatedly referred to the "Spacewar" game as the "Starwar" game in several posts. Went back and corrected all of my goof-ups that I could find. Heck, you guys knew what I meant.

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"The game is afoot."

"Sid Meier's Pirates!" is another great game.

Quoting Wikipedia:
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"Pirates!" won many awards at the time of its release, including Computer Gaming World's 'Action Game of the Year' for 1988, as well as two Origins Awards, 'Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1987' and 'Best Screen Graphics in a Home Computer Game of 1987'. It has continued to earn accolades ever since, having been voted one of the top 20 games of all time by Computer Gaming World (November 1996)."
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The "Sid Meier's Pirates!" game I played was a remake released in 2004 to be compatable with new operating systems. It is an extremely good game. It involves may challenges, all of which you guys will figure out after screwing up a time or two. Strategy, planning, and execution are important. The game is not only a lot of fun, it is educational as well. Things I learned from playing the game have actually helped me on Buzztime questions a number of times.

For just one example, try this, "What was the name of Blackbeard's ship?" Playing the game will also help you immensely with the geography of the Carribean.

I'll give you a couple hints about playing the game that should help you. First of all, you should probably consult a walkthrough that teaches you the trick as how to dance with the various governors' daughters. Knowing how to dance is critical to doing extremely well. The other tip I will give you is one I accidentally figured out by myself. After you have progressed pretty far into the game, your crew will want you to divvy up the loot. Early in the game this is okay to keep them happy, but later in the game, if you split the plunder up, the game ends. What I found to keep them happy, and keep the game going was to just to bring more loot in, and not to split it up with them later in the game. (Worked for me.)

Another tip is to not get carried away, and sink ships you have gotten the better of in battle. Once you've got them by the short hairs, don't sink them, board them, take their cargo, accept their crew that wants to join you, and take the ship into your fleet.

Hell, another tip, manage the size of your crew. If you are planning a land invasion of a port city, you definitely want a large crew, because numbers really count here. However, a crew that is too large, while just sailing around, might not be a good idea. They all have to be taken care of, and demand stuff from you. Load up crew when you need them, but don't bring them on board, if you don't.

Yet, another tip, a long land advance across Panama is something you need to do, but not obvious, unless someone tips you off. I just did. (There are some other fairly deep inland excursions that are not obvious also.)

You will also need to learn what type of shot your ship's cannons need to fire as sea battles progress, and you will need to learn how to sword fight, but these are things I think you will be able to figure out for yourselves.

I think this is a damn good game, and I hope one or two of you guys gives it a go.

Here's a video of some of the game play:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idIrXp_pLqg

Good luck, I think you will enjoy it.

p.s. I won almost every sword fight. En garde... Touche... Oh no! Don't look, your fly is open... However, be advised, as you grow older in the game, your swordsmanship begings to deteriorate.

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"The game is afoot."

Cloudy... Barney & Betty called. They are disappointed in you.

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/```\
(o\_!_/o)

Oh yes, the Hills...

Don't think Mr. and Mrs. Hill were ever big computer gamers. It may be cruel for me to say this, but I don't think they were "Last Starfighter" material. Sadly, it is most probable that they are both actually dead, and not out there in space fighting off alien invaders.

I am disappointed that nobody ever came up with an "Interrupted Journey" computer game in their memory. It would have been fun for gamers to try to help Barney and Betty escape and evade the aliens that were out to get them. Better yet, perhaps with characters such as Dr. Gordon Freeman (Borrowed from "Half-Life") injected into the game, we might have taken a few of those short, pasty faced, noseless, hairless, earless, cat-eyed aliens prisoner. Once we captured enough of them, we could help Barney and Betty Hill take over the flying saucer and fly it to Area 51. If you beat the game, this is what you would see, before the credits started to roll:



_____________________________________________________________________

THEY "CALLED", YOU SAID... CAN'T BELIEVE IT...! IF YOU HAVE THEIR PHONE NUMBER, PLEASE LET ME KNOW, SO I CAN CALL THEM BACK. I NEED TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THEM TO CLEAR UP SOME IMPORTANT ISSUES.

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"The game is afoot."

The original "Castle Wolfenstein" (1981) was very primitive by today's standards, but something quite new to computer games at the time. Maybe not, but I'm thinking it might have been the 1st home computer action/adventure game where your little guy actually shot and blew up bad guys on your command, while finding his way around, discovering things, and ultimately accomplishing his mission.

There were at least two sequals, but the original "Castle Wolfenstein", as primitive as it was, in my opinion is the best. The game is a hell of a lot of fun to play, and perhaps the best things about it are that it is simple and straight forward, but somewhat challenging nonetheless.

If you can figure out a way to run this game on your computer today, I recommend you do. I think you will have fun playing it.

Here's a link that say's you can download the game:

http://www.abandonia.com/games/390/Cast ... nstein.htm

p.s. I've tried to play it (Not referring to the above link.) on new computers twice, and ran into impossible problems both times. One problem was what would have taken up only about one square inch of the the screen in the old days, now filled the entire screen. Another time the problem I ran into was that my little guy would dash around the screen at the speed of light. There was no way to slow him down, or control him.

p.p.s. If you haven't already guessed, the game is played entirely on your keyboard.

p.p.p.s. Hell, I know that none of you guys will ever try to find this game and play it. However, if anyone does, there is a CLOUDY tip that I don't think you will ever get from anyone else. As usual, I discovered this by accident, and knowing this will help you beat the game. Dropping the NASI's in narrow passageways BLOCKS all the rest behind them. (When shot, they always fall down horizontally, and will often leave no room for their buddies to get by. The surviving NAZI's can't cross over the dead body, BUT YOU CAN...! This gives you time to explore, think, plot, and plan, without having to worry about being attacked.



Now, don't you just love those graphics...? At the time, they were pretty good...

(Belated edit: If you get a little red "X'" in an emply box where a picture ought to be, just right click on the the "X" and then click on "Show Picture.")

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"The game is afoot."

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liljol, still residing in a humble lil abode in Buzztime's Backyard, San Diego County, in The Horribly Site-Poor Golden State, California...

<--805 NTN Buzztime sites visited as of 11/13/2018...

F CUBS!!!!! FBOSOX!!!!!

FPDRES!!!!! FCHGRS!!!!!

Liljol, man I need some help. Went to the site you gave us, and might have clicked on the wrong thing, but all of a sudden a gazillion things started flying by. Some of the stuff looked pretty good, but I couldn't figure out what to do. Come on, tell us more...!

Is this a game you have played, or is it something that will be coming soon...?

You should probably know that I know less than Jack Shit about new stuff in computer games. Need some help here. Thanks.

p.s. Oh yeah, I'll bet you downed a case of O'Doul's before you made that post. You Irish guys really need to watch that stuff.



p.p.s. Okay, Liljol, I'll give you a way to weasel your way out. Was it a case, a six pack, or just a couple O'Doul's at a weak moment?

p.p.p.s. This is one of the few times in your life that you can lie, nobody will know you did, and God won't care...

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"The game is afoot."

Let's go way back...



"Castle Adventure" (1984) is yet another great Kevin Bales creation. Kevin was in the vanguard that led us to where we are today.

Here's a link that says you can download it:

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/226/C ... nture.html

Give it a shot. If you can get the game to play, you are off on another game that started what we have today. Guys, don't shy away from this game, it's straight forward, a lot of fun to play, and doesn't throw any bullshit stuff at you. However, it ain't a cake walk, just because CLOUDY beat it a time or two.

This is a game that you MUST play, if you want to consider yourself a true gamer!

The graphics at the time were some of the best, but that was a long time ago.



How simple can this be...? Jump into it and lay claim to fame that you beat one of the first computer games... (Or are you worried that you can't do it...?)

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"The game is afoot."