The Gamer's Quarter

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

My computer's working again!

Except it's the wrong computer, the one I used throughout college and haven't touched in 3 years since the harddrive died. Well I finally got around to installing a new one, and I have no idea how long it'll take to get my real desktop back in action, so in the mean time, what should I play besides crawl?

Mindblowing specifications:
368 MB RAM!
1.2 GHz mobile Athlon thingy!
Savage TwisterK graphics card! I don't think they still exist! This may even be embedded in system RAM, I'm not sure! EDIT: Yes I am, and I did the math- that's 16MB of shared-GPU POWER!
Beautiful design by Compaq, upholders of quality everywhere.

For reference, this thing was chugging on the original Counterstrike 5 years ago. I'm pretty sure 3D is out.

aerisdead · . Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 254 Location: Toronto, Canada

Emulation = your friend.
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ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

Disciples II! Ahhh, I love that series - with 3 expansions, I'm considering II a series all on its own. It's a turn-based strategy with some great art and unit upgrades. What? An Inquisitor is coming out to kick ass? Yes. Yes one is.

If you want to try GameTap, now would be a great time. The service just added Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Myth II, X-Com, and another strategy title. Plus there are all the other games on the service (Might and Magic, RPG and turn-based flavor, plus all the console stuff), most of which should run great on your laptop. I think it's a penny for the first month. The new Sam & Max episodes are supposed to be pretty good, too.

You can always take a trip to House of the Underdogs and check out Imperialism II, FreeSpace 2, and a few other freebies. I think those are free. Some are open source but not free - they have details on the site, or if you already own the originals.

Space Rangers 2. An absolutely amazing game that is like Subspace, but with RPG elements, text-based adventures, and tycoon building. The localization is very rough, and some of the missions can kick you in the nuts, but it'll run on nearly anything and is a great game. It also comes with Space Rangers 1.

Buccanneer's Bounty from Cinema Marquee has Patrician III, Royal Port III, and Tortuga. All are great, especially Tortuga, it's actually an action title where you directly control your ship in combat.

These are all mostly 2D, but your RAM might hold you back.
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Ethoscapade · . Joined: 30 Oct 2005 Posts: 276

fallout and deus ex, for two. if your video card is really awful, you might have issues with DX, but i doubt it.

also, my friends and i have been playing completely stupid amounts of worms armageddon and you don't know jack recently. both are strictly multiplayer affairs but also really great.

while you're at it, cave story and seiklus are very nice, and outside of some ABA dabbling the farthest i've gotten with doujin business.

Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:08 pm Post subject:

You can easily run ZDoom with those specs and play DooM II, Hexen and Strife. Terra Nova will work as will Abuse, System Shock and Ultima Underworld.

This thread is making my memory happy.
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Starcraft!
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Lasa · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 128

Jagged Alliance 2!

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Oh shitty. I've just realized this laptop, in its three year coma, has lost sound entirely. No headphones or anything. Pretty much kills this topic!

Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:33 pm Post subject:

Crawl doesn't require sound.
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antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

The floppy version of The Secret of Monkey Island has pretty spare sound to begin with. I mean, yeah, you'd miss out on a handful of nice MIDI tunes, but I'm sure you'd manage to enjoy yourself well enough with music on your headphones.

http://www.abandonia.com/games/19/MonkeyIsland1.htm

This thread is of some interest to me since I'm currently using an old (really old!) IBM Thinkpad -- x86 Family 5 Model 8 Stepping 1, AT/AT compatible (whatever all that means (I don't think it has anything to do with Star Wars)), w/ less than 230mb of RAM, running Windows 2000. So I can hardly run shit. Actually, I had Fallout running on it for a while, and smoothly! But then it froze when I went to pick up a quest (or job or whatever) and it froze when the employer was about to talk to me. I then tried to play Cave Story ... not that I expected it to run at all, but it did, albeit as if underwater. So I'll probably have to stick to DOS games and maybe some mid-'90s Windows stuff.

I mean, not that I'll be stuck with this thing for such a long time.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Unfortunately, you can't download it from Abandonia any longer. Indiana Jones and the last Crusade, however, is still free game. If you haven't before, give it a go. It's impressive just how well designed it is.

I'd suggest going for IF pieces. Or Prince of Persia.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

aerisdead · . Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 254 Location: Toronto, Canada

I played Last Crusade again recently. I even went to all this bother so I could control the fights with my Saturn Pad!

Of course, I abused quicksaves to talk my way out of ALL fights, but, um, it was worth the effort, somehow!
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Well, shit. You could probably get System Shock 1 running, but that's fairly pointless unless you have sound.

I kind of really want to replay System Shock 1, considering that I haven't played it in like 15 or so years.

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Oh snap! Old Apogee games would probably kick ass. Commander Keen, Bio Hazard, Duke Nukem (2D), Rise of the Triad!

Also, Oregon Trail needs no sound!
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

ROTT needs sound! It's half of the entertainment right there! Well, a quarter. Maybe a fifth. But still!
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antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

Persona-sama · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:05 am Post subject:

I suggest Ogre Battle for the SNES emulated. Or maybe Harvest Moon.
Classics that run fine on a 386, indeed!
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AJ 187 · . Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 22 Location: Chicago

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 5:46 pm Post subject:

Hey, Space Rangers 2 installs Starforce doesn't it?
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ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

It does!

If you get it via download - Direct 2 Drive has it - it's StarForce-free.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Ok, well the EU version DOESN'T have starforce! Also, thanks for the info ryan, I didn't know that!
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

There's a bunch of Eroge games that you can't play on Windows XP or higher.
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