🚀 go-pugleaf

ma...@mits.mdata.fi (Ossi M{ntylahti) writes:


>>Theres an AD&D game in my local shop called Spelljammer. It was on
>>special. Anyone played it before? Is it like Pools of Darkness?

>I am sorry to say, but Spelljammer is one of the Worst ADD -games I've
>ever played. It has no dungeon adventuring (I was unable to found any
>after a week's playtesting.)


>The game itself is like classic Elite (trading and flying in 3D realm),
>but there are only about 20 space ports where you can trade. And the
>gameplay is really boring. I would not waste my money on this product.

I'm afraid I have to agree with much of this.  I have all the AD&D PC
games, including Hillsfar, & I'd have to rate Spelljammer at the bottom.
Sure, it's got nice graphics, because it ignores standard BIOS routines
and writes straight to the card (=> no stealth in QEMM), and after doing
the real Spelljammer it's nice to have a go on the computer version.

The long range combat is nice, adheres to the rules fairly closely, and
is good - for an arcade game.  However, the plot is virtually non-existent -
I _finished_ the game in 4 hours, and I wasn't even trying to - so much
for 50+ hours to complete.  It is full of bugs - both real ones and in
the actual plots & set out (i.e. you have to pay several hundred gp
for _air_ when you dock at a port - but all the ports are on _planets_ -
you should only pay for air on asteroids etc.  You also have to pay
several 100 gp on import duties on your cargo - even when you have
none).

It is unfair to compare Elite to Spelljammer - you can make money trading
in Elite.  You can't in Spelljammer on standard goods - there'd be
absolutely no commerce in a system set up like this one, as all the
stuff you buy sells for half-price on _every_ other port, regardless
of rarity etc.

Furthermore, you can "accidentally" complete the game out of sequence,
if you go to the right place (e.g. head out from the solar system for
a really long time and wait for a ship to show up, you'll find someone
in the ship which tells you how to get to the final confrontation).
Plus there are several missions you cannot complete due to bugs - it just
won't accept you've finished them, plus the ship you start with has a
speed & MC that are completely wrong (much too good), plus any ships
you buy/capture afterwards have completely wrong MC/speeds (much too
bad), plus improving the ships can often make them worse, plus it won't
let you have two ships at once, even with enough crew, plus there are
bugs in the taking of weapons on one ship & putting them on the other,
plus it won't let you salvage Spelljammer Helms of captured ships, even
though they're worth more than the ships put together & are nearly
invulnerable, etc. etc. etc.

All in all, a real disappointment.  Frankly, I'm getting sick of being
used as a beta-tester for games - it's bad enough having to do it with
commercial products :-) ;-(

Peter K. Campbell
p.cam...@trl.oz.au.
#include <std.disclaimer>