Edmond Dantes
02-25-2015, 09:19 PM
Not sure how many of you already know this, but Akalabeth (Ultima Zero) is on GOG now and they're literally giving it away.
Sorry if this should be in Deals and Discounts, I wasn't sure.
But to keep it relevant to the computer forum, here's a brief thing I noticed:
It includes two versions, one of which is called "Akalabeth 1998." This confused me at first, but I ran both versions and figured it out--vanilla Akalabeth is a direct port of the Apple II version, with no frills and an attempt to look really primitive. Akalabeth 1998 is the version from the Ultima Collection (which had music and colors) and thus is the one I'm more familiar with. One major difference (unless I'm mistaken) is you can't save in the original, while you can in the 1998 version by hitting Q. Also you can exit the 1998 one with Alt-X.
So, it's a freaking old RPG. Why should you play it?
Well, truth be told, I think Akalabeth's greatest strength is just how simplistic it is. It's a "coffee break RPG." You want to explore dungeons and find treasure, but don't want to manage complicated stats or keep track of an involved storyline? Akalabeth lets you run into a dungeon, kill some shit, leave and come back, and how much you give a crap about anything is up to you. So its an RPG for people who want adventures in a D&D-like environment but aren't in the mood to commit. For this reason I keep coming back to it. It's not a great game by any means, but it is to RPGs what Tetris is to puzzle games.
Also its nowhere near as difficult as, say, Rogue. So there's that. The one thing you have to watch out for is food--run out, you die. All else can be found in the dungeons or even won in battle, so I recommend buying a rapier then spending all the rest of your cash on food.
Anyway, go slay some balrogs!
Sorry if this should be in Deals and Discounts, I wasn't sure.
But to keep it relevant to the computer forum, here's a brief thing I noticed:
It includes two versions, one of which is called "Akalabeth 1998." This confused me at first, but I ran both versions and figured it out--vanilla Akalabeth is a direct port of the Apple II version, with no frills and an attempt to look really primitive. Akalabeth 1998 is the version from the Ultima Collection (which had music and colors) and thus is the one I'm more familiar with. One major difference (unless I'm mistaken) is you can't save in the original, while you can in the 1998 version by hitting Q. Also you can exit the 1998 one with Alt-X.
So, it's a freaking old RPG. Why should you play it?
Well, truth be told, I think Akalabeth's greatest strength is just how simplistic it is. It's a "coffee break RPG." You want to explore dungeons and find treasure, but don't want to manage complicated stats or keep track of an involved storyline? Akalabeth lets you run into a dungeon, kill some shit, leave and come back, and how much you give a crap about anything is up to you. So its an RPG for people who want adventures in a D&D-like environment but aren't in the mood to commit. For this reason I keep coming back to it. It's not a great game by any means, but it is to RPGs what Tetris is to puzzle games.
Also its nowhere near as difficult as, say, Rogue. So there's that. The one thing you have to watch out for is food--run out, you die. All else can be found in the dungeons or even won in battle, so I recommend buying a rapier then spending all the rest of your cash on food.
Anyway, go slay some balrogs!