ROSS'S GAME DUNGEON: STRIFE

[113]

I'd be interested in the MIDI thing, I can't guarantee anything because I haven't done anything for it in awhile and I'm mostly interested cause one I like MIDI and two I'd like more distractions from my shitty ass depression.

But yeah I'd be up for trying some things just can't say anything would come of it (aside from entertaining myself).

[Presence]

I feel like the Doom engine has a map marking and or overlay feature, although it has been many years since I've played it. I might be imagining things. I know Diablo has an overlay-able minimap.

 

This is definitely a game I'm interested in trying out. Very good episode, was worth the wait.

[scott155]

I thought this was a really good episode that was five feet by four feet, and especially liked the five feet by bits about level design four feet five feet by four feet five feet by four

[VeryShyPerson]

I'd love to try the game, but maze-like level design and short-term memory loss tend not to go well together. ("Was I here before? I don't remember it. But there's some dead enemies that I shot so I guess I was here. Damn, I've got a headache now." And this was in a relatively straightforward level!)

[RandomGuy]

I've managed to get lost in relatively simple games like Half-Life 2, so I imagine that I'd have NO hope in this one.

[DoNotRemoveBeforeFlight]

I can't help but notice the CGI cinematic of Tyrian, Strife, and (incoming game request!) Shattered Steel bear a striking graphics similarity. Were they made using the same software or happen to be outsourced to the same company?

[RoninTactician]

Strife on the mac...any ideas?

 

First let me tell you that I was a PC gamer for years and don't game at all any more-- thus the switch to mac for work (graphics designer). I used to keep a tower around for just this occasion but that stopped a few years ago. I found the GZdoom mac install which was simple enough but does anyone have any idea how to run Strife on it?

[RandomGuy]

When you said that there so few games that had a mixture of primitive and future tech, were you including the Fallout series? It has, among other things, laser-toting mutants setting up shop in a Gothic cathedral, stone age tribals with machine guns, and a high tech pseudo-modern Vegas with an army of robots inside surrounded by a low-tech slum, which itself is surrounded by an old west style wasteland.

 

I also like that style, because it creates scenarios that can't ever exist in the real world [bar an apocalypse, of course]. Having all of this great technology in small amounts and having to be stone age for the rest is just extremely interesting. I particularly like the effect it has on battles. In Fallout: New Vegas, the average NCR soldier carries a semi-automatic rifle- which the nation is industrialized enough to produce- but lacks artillery, tanks, fleets of aircraft, and other things abundant in modern warfare. They do have things like helicopters, power armor, and robots also, but in very small amounts. Their enemies carry an assortment of weapons including homemade melee weapons, primitive late 1800s firearms, modern weaponry, and even occasionally a power fist or laser machine gun.

[scott155]

Any tips on getting this game working on Windows 7?

[Shinr]

Good video, Ross!

 

A nitpick: That Thing that floats over the Oracle that you said we are not supposed to see in the original 1996 game because it will spoil some things? You CAN see it in the original game,

and it is not a spoiler since it is the first one we see in the game, so we have no idea what it is other than assume that it is related to the Oracle. And as a proof that developers meant it to be seen, after we kill the Bishop and then kill the Thing that comes out of his corpse, Blackbird comments that we seen another one somewhere earlier.

 

[Mr Nutt]

Any tips on getting this game working on Windows 7?

Follow the link in the YouTube description and download Strife. Now, if you don't already have it, download GZDoom. Extract GZDoom into a folder of your choice and then place both of the WAD files from Strife (STRIFE1.WAD and VOICES.WAD) into the same folder as GZDoom. Now simply start GZDoom.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Guest (see edit history)

[Ross Scott]

When you said that there so few games that had a mixture of primitive and future tech, were you including the Fallout series?

No, I consider Fallout a little different. Fallout is a state of anarchy, not a stabilized feudal societal. Also, I am overthinking this, but I always thought of Fallout as a totally implausible scenario even with mutants and robots, etc. (except maybe the first) because everything is so dry it's just not sustainable for anything more than a short period of time. Food production just doesn't work for that in the long term. I mean hell, everyone living in the southwest is only doing that because diverting water flow from the colorado river. You need SOME pockets of real agrarian development in order for people to live out in the desert.

 

A nitpick: That Thing that floats over the Oracle that you said we are not supposed to see in the original 1996 game because it will spoil some things? You CAN see it in the original game,

I played the original up through that point, you can BARELY make out the pixels of SOMETHING that is there looking up, it wasn't obvious to me what it was at all.

[RoninTactician]

Thanks @Mr Nutt you helped me as well. In case there is anyone else trying to get this to run on a mac here is how.

 

Step 1: download GZDoom : http://alexey-lysiuk.github.io/gzdoom/

Step 2: run the dmg file and drag GZDoom into the applications folder.

Step 3: download Strife : http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/418/Strife.html

Step 4: unzip the file and then open it.

Step 5: go to applications, locate the GZDoom file, right click, click "show package contents"

Step 6: from the strife folder (the one you unzipped) copy the "STRIFE1.WAD" and "VOICES.WAD" into the "MacOS" folder (GZDoom > Contents > MacOS)

Step 7: start the game and select "Strife1.wad" from the popup menu.

[Mike_90]

This episode felt weird... I mean, Freeman was quite confused with his dialogue. He was referring in a bizarre way to the environment around him and Half-Life looked so different. Are you using a mod?

[VeryShyPerson]

This episode felt weird... I mean, Freeman was quite confused with his dialogue. He was referring in a bizarre way to the environment around him and Half-Life looked so different. Are you using a mod?

 

This is a joke, right? Right????

[Shinr]

I played the original up through that point, you can BARELY make out the pixels of SOMETHING that is there looking up, it wasn't obvious to me what it was at all.

 

First, at that point of the game you are not supposed to know what exactly it is;

 

Second, even when using the original's limited vertical look (as seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?start=599&v=PpcaWm5OaGs), you can clearly see it in detail.

[Ross Scott]

I played the original up through that point, you can BARELY make out the pixels of SOMETHING that is there looking up, it wasn't obvious to me what it was at all.

 

First, at that point of the game you are not supposed to know what exactly it is;

 

Second, even when using the original's limited vertical look (as seen here:

), you can clearly see it in detail.

That guy is using an engine port, the colors for his map screen aren't the original's.

 

EDIT: On his episode 1, he says he's using Zdoom. I mean it's possible my memory's completely off, but I remember TRYING to see what was there in the original, and I couldn't beyond just the very bottom pixels. Keep in mind, the port isn't necessarily 100% accurate to original Strife, just really damn close.

[Agony]

I really love Ross's Game Dungeon, the combination of information and humor is perfect and the games you pick are interesting and clearly important to you. That makes these reviews vastly superior to any other reviews I have seen. Personally I don't care if you make FM, RGD or something else, I like all of them!

 

Also, I sent you email about that MIDI thing. I'd like to do something in return for your hard work.

[RandomGuy]

When you said that there so few games that had a mixture of primitive and future tech, were you including the Fallout series?

No, I consider Fallout a little different. Fallout is a state of anarchy, not a stabilized feudal societal. Also, I am overthinking this, but I always thought of Fallout as a totally implausible scenario even with mutants and robots, etc. (except maybe the first) because everything is so dry it's just not sustainable for anything more than a short period of time. Food production just doesn't work for that in the long term. I mean hell, everyone living in the southwest is only doing that because diverting water flow from the colorado river. You need SOME pockets of real agrarian development in order for people to live out in the desert.

 

A nitpick: That Thing that floats over the Oracle that you said we are not supposed to see in the original 1996 game because it will spoil some things? You CAN see it in the original game,

I played the original up through that point, you can BARELY make out the pixels of SOMETHING that is there looking up, it wasn't obvious to me what it was at all.

 

Anarchy? There are several functioning nations (most are city-states), including the NCR, a fully industrialized republic controlling all of California, plus parts of Baja California, Oregon, and Nevada, and the Legion, a feudalistic barbarian horde that controls most of Arizona and Utah. The NCR produces it's own food and other goods, as do many towns (not all of them are self-sustaining, though). What are you referring to with this comment? The east coast? The entire west coast? The Mojave? The world in general?

[HLPrincess]

This episode felt weird... I mean, Freeman was quite confused with his dialogue. He was referring in a bizarre way to the environment around him and Half-Life looked so different. Are you using a mod?

 

This is a joke, right? Right????

OMG I kind of hope IT'S NOT