Dragon Riders of Pern - Dreamcast (SPOILERS!)
Kendrick Kerwin Chua
Just finished Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern for Dreamcast. Spoilers
ahoy. You were warned. :)
Spoiler space goes here. Please don't truncate, for the benefit of those
of us who still use Unix newsreaders...
Ok then. Has anybody else finished the game? I got to about 90 percent
before it got really annoying and tiresome (the prison dungeon) and I only
bothered to go all the way to the end because I knew I was almost there.
Combat is awful, and buggy... If you save your game in the middle of a
fight with multiple enemies, reloading the game will show your dead
opponents standing there as if alive again. They don't do anything, which
says to me that the game still has those characters flagged as dead, but
is displaying the wrong graphics. Anyway.
Does this game have multiple endings? If it does, then I got myself a
really downbeat closing cinema... The four remaining good guy Dragonriders
are out in the middle of the desert, staking out the main villain to die.
No dialogue. No followup. Is this consistent with the source material? I'm
told that the game is meant to be a 'gaiden' side story to the novels.
On the up side, I did find most of the secrets. Found all ten Weyrwoman
candidates, the secret white bug and the secret white fire lizard
companion. I get the feeling I've missed out on at least two or three
little side quests, unless the FAQ is correct about some game sequences
being removed for time... Apparently there are snippets of dialogue which
refer to quest which don't exist in the game. Oh, who did your Gold
hatchling pick for impression? I'm curious to know if actions during the
game change the candidate chosen.
Oh, one other thought... Does this game have any relationship to the Epyx
title of the same name that was released for PCs back in the 80's? Just
curious to see if it's worth hunting down.
Not a bad RPG for $20. First one I've actually finished in a while, not
counting Landstalker a month ago. :)
-KKC, who notes that everybody on Pern seems to wear very very tight pants
according to the game graphics. :)
--
Do you know what colitas smells like? Do even your old friends | kendrick
treat you like you're something new? What do you do when your | @io.com
dreams come true and they're not quite like you had planned? Does a |
room full of noise and dangerous boys still make you thirsty and hot? |
Christine Leston
Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote in message ...
>
>Just finished Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern for Dreamcast. Spoilers
>ahoy. You were warned. :)
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>Spoiler space goes here. Please don't truncate, for the benefit of those
>of us who still use Unix newsreaders...
>
>
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>
>Does this game have multiple endings? If it does, then I got myself a
>really downbeat closing cinema... The four remaining good guy Dragonriders
>are out in the middle of the desert, staking out the main villain to die.
>No dialogue. No followup. Is this consistent with the source material? I'm
I don't know anything about the game, but the practice of staking out
criminals before a threadfall, to be eaten by Thread, is mentioned as a
possible punishment during a Pass. I think it was in either Renegades or All
the Weyrs of Pern. No mention of what crime you would have to commit to be
punished this way.
C.M. Leston.
Hartley Patterson
>
> Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote in message ...
> >
> >Just finished Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern for Dreamcast. Spoilers
> >ahoy. You were warned. :)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Spoiler space goes here. Please don't truncate, for the benefit of those
> >of us who still use Unix newsreaders...
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> <snip>
> >
> criminals before a threadfall, to be eaten by Thread, is mentioned as a
> possible punishment during a Pass. I think it was in either Renegades or All
> the Weyrs of Pern. No mention of what crime you would have to commit to be
> punished this way.
Yuk! I'm having the shivers just *thinking* about that. Talk about cruel
and unusual punishments.
--
"I think of my beautiful city in flames"
http://www.newsfrombree.co.uk
A medieval spreadsheet, enturbulating entheta and how to outrun
Thread. PGP ID: 0xC27CDDDC
eaglovnein
they ever did resolve the whole Thread issue? Last book I
read on this had the dragons flying up to the Thread planet
and getting eating up.
On Wed, 05 Sep 2001 16:22:02 GMT, kend...@io.com (Kendrick
Kerwin Chua) posted:
Kendrick Kerwin Chua
eaglovnein <scot...@crosswinds.net> wrote:
>As an ex-Pern fan, could you shed some light on whether if
>they ever did resolve the whole Thread issue? Last book I
>read on this had the dragons flying up to the Thread planet
>and getting eating up.
Hm. I'm not a Pern fan, so I'm not sure where the game fits into the
storyline as set by the novels. But I'm sure that the events of the game
occur before the events you have described here. The game occurs over the
last five days of a particular threadfall, and there's no space travel or
any other advanaced Thread management. :) All the action of the game
occurs on the planet.
No spoilers here... For reference, V'kai is still weyrleader at Fort, and
the game begins with the death of the weyrwoman Nalaya. Hope that helps
you place the events of the game in context.
-KKC, who wonders when they'll make a video game out of the Dark Justice
TV show. :)
Hartley Patterson
> Hm. I'm not a Pern fan, so I'm not sure where the game fits into the
> storyline as set by the novels.
The Pern stories span 2500 years, and the game is set in a time period
for which no stories have been or will be written. This was deliberate,
so as to give the game designers the freedom to produce original material
without the risk of clashing with existing or any future stories.
There are still some limitations - your character shouldn't be able to
eradicate Thread forever or kill the last Queen dragon for example!
For those interested, there are nine periods in which Thread fell on Pern
and dragonriders were active. Of these four are covered by existing
stories, one has been allocated for a forthcoming novel and one is set
aside for computer games leaving three 'unbooked'.
eaglovnein
read to unravel the mystery of the Thread planet? It's been
bugging me for years, but seeing as her books had always
been so darn voluminous, don't really want to plough through
too many nowadays.
On Thu, 6 Sep 2001 13:33:53 +0100, Hartley Patterson
<hpt...@vossnet.co.uk> posted:
Barbara Needham
wrote:
>So my question is, which of these newer novels should I go
>read to unravel the mystery of the Thread planet?
For only one book to find this out read All The Weyrs of Pern, you'll
miss some of the prequel events, but if you don't care about that --
that's the one.
--
Barbara Needham
Christine Leston
eaglovnein wrote in message <3b9a1537...@news.singnet.com.sg>...
>As an ex-Pern fan, could you shed some light on whether if
>they ever did resolve the whole Thread issue? Last book I
>read on this had the dragons flying up to the Thread planet
>and getting eating up.
Spoiler space goes here. Please don't truncate, for the benefit of those
>>of us who still use Unix newsreaders...
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
The only one where multiple dragons go to the Red Star is All the Weyrs of
Pern, but they don't get eaten up by Thread. You may be thinking about
Dragonquest, where F'nor and Canth go up for a recce and get either
thread-scored or sand-blasted (or both).
C.M. Leston.
Christine Leston
Hartley Patterson wrote in message ...
>Christine Leston:
>>
>> Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote in message ...
>> >
>> >Just finished Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern for Dreamcast. Spoilers
>> >ahoy. You were warned. :)
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >Spoiler space goes here. Please don't truncate, for the benefit of those
>> >of us who still use Unix newsreaders...
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> <snip>
>> >
>> I don't know anything about the game, but the practice of staking out
>> criminals before a threadfall, to be eaten by Thread, is mentioned as a
>> possible punishment during a Pass. I think it was in either Renegades or
All
>> the Weyrs of Pern. No mention of what crime you would have to commit to
be
>> punished this way.
>
>Yuk! I'm having the shivers just *thinking* about that. Talk about cruel
>and unusual punishments.
>
>
>
That's probably why the dragonriders weren't chit-chatting as they did the
staking. It would go against the grain to stake someone out, as they were
trained to protect people from Thread.
C.M. Leston.
Kendrick Kerwin Chua
Christine Leston <cle...@direct.ca> wrote:
>Hartley Patterson wrote in message ...
>>Christine Leston:
>>> Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote in message ...
>>> >Just finished Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern for Dreamcast. Spoilers
>>> >ahoy. You were warned. :)
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >Spoiler space goes here. Please don't truncate, for the benefit of those
>>> >of us who still use Unix newsreaders...
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> <snip>
>>> >
>>> I don't know anything about the game, but the practice of staking out
>>> criminals before a threadfall, to be eaten by Thread, is mentioned as a
>>> possible punishment during a Pass. I think it was in either Renegades or
>>
>>Yuk! I'm having the shivers just *thinking* about that. Talk about cruel
>>and unusual punishments.
>
>That's probably why the dragonriders weren't chit-chatting as they did the
>staking. It would go against the grain to stake someone out, as they were
>trained to protect people from Thread.
For the record, at the end of the game, D'kor is appointed Wingleader
after the death of S'bor. The villain Roth turns out to be D'kor's rival
from long ago, who was passed over for impression when the Bronze dragon
Zenth hatched. Like all cartoon villains, Roth decided that the proper
action thereafter was to take revenge on the weyr by poisoning cattle,
causing a plague, corrupting lesser Dragonriders and trying to poison the
gold egg shortly after the death of the weyrwoman. At the end of the game,
it's D'kor's decision to stake Roth out. Don't know if this is normal, or
if there's usually some sort of judiciary process.
Something I just now noticed... A lot of the dragons in the Dreamcast game
are named for places or characters created by H.P. Lovecraft. The green
and blue dragons are named Yugoth, Niggurath, and Nyarl, among others. Are
the dragon names in the books usually references to other science fiction,
or was this just a conceit of the programmers?
-KKC, who has too much useless information in his head.
Christine Leston
Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote in message ...
>In article <WKMl7.3965$Wo4.3...@brie.direct.ca>,
>Christine Leston <cle...@direct.ca> wrote:
>>Hartley Patterson wrote in message ...
>>>Christine Leston:
>>>> Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote in message ...
>>>> >Just finished Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern for Dreamcast.
Spoilers
>>>> >ahoy. You were warned. :)
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >Spoiler space goes here. Please don't truncate, for the benefit of
those
>>>> >of us who still use Unix newsreaders...
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> <snip>
>>>> >
>
>For the record, at the end of the game, D'kor is appointed Wingleader
>after the death of S'bor. The villain Roth turns out to be D'kor's rival
>from long ago, who was passed over for impression when the Bronze dragon
>Zenth hatched. Like all cartoon villains, Roth decided that the proper
>action thereafter was to take revenge on the weyr by poisoning cattle,
>causing a plague, corrupting lesser Dragonriders and trying to poison the
>gold egg shortly after the death of the weyrwoman. At the end of the game,
>it's D'kor's decision to stake Roth out. Don't know if this is normal, or
>if there's usually some sort of judiciary process.
By the Ninth Pass there seems to be very little in the way of judiciary
process. Fax killed Weyrleader F'lon (in a duel) and almost the entire
Ruathan bloodline, and all the other Lord Holders did was make sure he
didn't do the same to them. The Lords generally kept order within their own
holds, and the Weyrs and Crafts disciplined their own members.
I believe AIVAS re-introduced the idea of an over-riding Legal system.
>
>Something I just now noticed... A lot of the dragons in the Dreamcast game
>are named for places or characters created by H.P. Lovecraft. The green
>and blue dragons are named Yugoth, Niggurath, and Nyarl, among others. Are
>the dragon names in the books usually references to other science fiction,
>or was this just a conceit of the programmers?
Probably the latter.
C.M. Leston.
Hartley Patterson
> >>>> >Just finished Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern for Dreamcast.
> Spoilers
> >>>> >ahoy. You were warned. :)
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >Spoiler space goes here. Please don't truncate, for the benefit of
> those
> >>>> >of us who still use Unix newsreaders...
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> >
> >>>> <snip>
> >>>> >
> <snip again>
> >are named for places or characters created by H.P. Lovecraft. The green
> >and blue dragons are named Yugoth, Niggurath, and Nyarl, among others. Are
> >the dragon names in the books usually references to other science fiction,
> >or was this just a conceit of the programmers?
>
> Probably the latter.
Dragon names *always* end in -th and are unique.
There are no naming cross references on Pern so far as I can recall,
though AMC did name a couple of minor characters after personal friends.
Perhaps the programmers were thinking of Marion Bradley's Darkover
series, where some names in the very first novel were lifted from a
horror story by another writer.
Taki Kogoma
to alt.fan.pern decree...
>I don't know anything about the game, but the practice of staking out
>criminals before a threadfall, to be eaten by Thread, is mentioned as a
>possible punishment during a Pass. I think it was in either Renegades or All
>the Weyrs of Pern. No mention of what crime you would have to commit to be
>punished this way.
IIRC, the only crimes warranting that penalty are rape and murder.
Gym "I think it's mentioned in Renegades and Skies..." Quirk
--
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk -- quirk @ swcp.com | "I'll get a life when someone
(Known to some as Taki Kogoma) | demonstrates that it would be
Retired 'Secret Master of | superior to what I have now."
rec.arts.startrek' | -- Gym Quirk
(e)magius
> Gym "I think it's mentioned in Renegades and Skies..." Quirk
I really need to go back and catch up on my Sev. ;)
Best,
--Imad "(e)magius" Hussain
_____________________________________________________________________
"Consider this somewhat stronger argument for the immortality of
artists: a) In a great work of art, an artist codes up a large part of
his software, his personal feelings about life; b) When one deeply
immerses oneself in a work of art, one takes on, for a few moments, the
actual software coded up by that work; c) Therefore every time one truly
appreciates a work of art, one is, for the moment, isomorphic to the
artist, and the artist is thus (briefly) reincarnated over and over. If
there were, a hundred years from now, someone exactly like you, would it
make a difference to you? Would this be any different from being frozen
for a hundred years and then resuscitated?"
--Rudy von Bitter Rucker, _Infinity and the Mind_
_____________________________________________________________________
eaglovnein
the library and second hand shops now.
On Thu, 06 Sep 2001 08:08:37 -0700, Barbara Needham
<barba...@newsguy.com> posted:
eaglovnein
On Thu, 6 Sep 2001 08:36:08 -0700, "Christine Leston"
<cle...@direct.ca> posted:
I can't really remember the title now. What I do recall was
that it was a very sad occasion and somebody died in the
attempt. Was that Dragonquest or All Weyrs?
eaglovnein
storyline (which seems quite cool), is the gameplay up to
par?
On Thu, 06 Sep 2001 18:12:49 GMT, kend...@io.com (Kendrick
Kerwin Chua) posted:
>In article <WKMl7.3965$Wo4.3...@brie.direct.ca>,
Meredith
drangonrider and my dragon can get me out. Any ideas?
"Kendrick Kerwin Chua" <kend...@io.com> wrote in message
news:Kisl7.150611$Lw3.9...@news2.aus1.giganews.com...
Kendrick Kerwin Chua
eaglovnein <scot...@crosswinds.net> wrote:
>This is making me want to get a DC again. Other than the
>storyline (which seems quite cool), is the gameplay up to
>par?
No spoilers here... Unfortunately, the gameplay is frequently frustrating.
On one hand, this seems to be the first RPG developed in-house at UbiSoft
UK, which makes many of the gameplay and combat concepts very unique. The
experience system is meaningful and affects your ability to interact with
other characters, and the combat system has a lot of potential. However,
there are a lot of problems with the camera and the controls which could
have been resolved if the developers had played a few other console RPGs
and learned from those mistakes. Chronicles of Pern appears to be a port
of a PC game, which may have something to do with that. If I were using a
keyboard and not the DC analog stick, I might not get stuck or killed so
often. :)
In the US, the game is only $20. Assuming you're not broke or in debt,
it's not a bad investment. Unless you're saving up for Shenmue II. Hope
you enjoy it if you do get it.
-KKC, who is starting to dislike science fiction and fantasy writing in
general... Can't a writer not have a political agenda, or think they were
married to some celebrity in a past or present life? :)
Christine Leston
eaglovnein wrote in message <3b9b385f...@news.singnet.com.sg>...
Neither. F'nor and Canth were in bad shape after their trip, but lived to
fight Thread again. Maybe something like that happened in Skies of Pern? I
haven't read that yet.
Could it have been a MUD or RPG you were thinking of?
C.M. Leston.
eaglovnein
have to get it all again, system, mem card etc, which cost a
lot. Are there any cool and cheap DC bundles out nowadays?
On Fri, 07 Sep 2001 10:44:18 GMT, kend...@io.com (Kendrick
Kerwin Chua) posted:
>In article <3b9c39b5...@news.singnet.com.sg>,
eaglovnein
<cle...@direct.ca> posted:
It was definitely a book I read back in school. Haven't
played any MUDs/MUSHes relating to Pern. It was a very sad
event, where something died, either the dragon or the pilot,
and they were teleprojecting the horrific images of the
Thread planet back to Pern. Now, if only I knew where I'd
kept those books.
Chris Beilby
"eaglovnein" <scot...@crosswinds.net> wrote in message
news:3b9d7ef1...@news.singnet.com.sg...
> Have to consider carefully, after all, if I do get it, I'd
> have to get it all again, system, mem card etc, which cost a
> lot. Are there any cool and cheap DC bundles out nowadays?
Or you can get the PC version of the game.
Chris Beilby
> played any MUDs/MUSHes relating to Pern. It was a very sad
> event, where something died, either the dragon or the pilot,
> and they were teleprojecting the horrific images of the
> Thread planet back to Pern. Now, if only I knew where I'd
> kept those books.
>
There is not any instance where a Dragonrider dies while on the Red Star.
The only person we know of that died while flying into the Red Star's
atmosphere is Avril Bitra, who did so in the Admiral's Gig from the
Yokohama, and no one is likely to mourn her passing. You may be thinking
that Canth and/or F'nor died, based on the reactions of every rider, as well
as those folk with Fire Lizards (I remember that Menolly was particularly
affected...)
Taki Kogoma
to alt.fan.pern decree...
>There is not any instance where a Dragonrider dies while on the Red Star.
>The only person we know of that died while flying into the Red Star's
>atmosphere is Avril Bitra, who did so in the Admiral's Gig from the
>Yokohama, and no one is likely to mourn her passing. You may be thinking
>that Canth and/or F'nor died, based on the reactions of every rider, as well
>as those folk with Fire Lizards (I remember that Menolly was particularly
>affected...)
IIRC, there were a handfull of older dragons/riders that did not
make it back form the AIVAS Massed Weyrs mission: Lost *between* or
something along those lines.
--
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk (Known to some as Taki Kogoma) quirk @ swcp.com
Just an article detector on the Information Supercollider.
Christine Leston
Taki Kogoma wrote in message <9ng72e$4...@boofura.swcp.com>...
>On Sat, 8 Sep 2001 04:46:21 -0400, did "Chris Beilby" <cbe...@hroads.net>,
>to alt.fan.pern decree...
>>There is not any instance where a Dragonrider dies while on the Red Star.
>>The only person we know of that died while flying into the Red Star's
>>atmosphere is Avril Bitra, who did so in the Admiral's Gig from the
>>Yokohama, and no one is likely to mourn her passing. You may be thinking
>>that Canth and/or F'nor died, based on the reactions of every rider, as
well
>>as those folk with Fire Lizards (I remember that Menolly was particularly
>>affected...)
>
>IIRC, there were a handfull of older dragons/riders that did not
>make it back form the AIVAS Massed Weyrs mission: Lost *between* or
>something along those lines.
No, they arrived home eventually, reporting on having found themselves in
unfamiliar weyrs. I don't think anyone would have stayed lost once they
realised they'd slipped between times. All dragonriders in the Ninth Pass
know about the possibility of going between times --- it was well publicised
in the Ballad of Lessa's Ride.
C.M. Leston.
Kasatka
> No spoilers here... Unfortunately, the gameplay is frequently frustrating.
Aye! I have this annoying camera angle problem where every time I'm in a
place that has a lot of bends and close spaces (ie, a cave), my camera gets
stuck behind a wall. I have to undo the camera lock, and try to manually
move it myself, but the camera has this weird pan around thing, and not a
simple forward/backward, left/right thing which makes it even more
frustrating.
> In the US, the game is only $20.
*sob* I paid $30!!!
~ Kim
Kasatka
Meredith <j-dme...@home.com> wrote in message
news:ISYl7.218838$%a.86...@news1.rdc1.sdca.home.com...
> Help I'm stuck in the caves under fort hold. I can't even see my
> drangonrider and my dragon can get me out. Any ideas?
Okay, off the top of my head (and I'm not sure this will work, but if it
doesn't email me at kasatka(at)whale-web(dot)com and I'll give you the
proper instructions.
Are you on a PC? Cause that's the only one I know - Anyway, hit "5" on your
keypad, and you should see "Camera Lock Off" or something like that. You can
pan the camera around by hitting various numbers on your keypad. I can't
find rhyme or reason to the panning, so mess with it a bit. If you really
screw up with your panning, hit 5 again to lock it onto your character
again, and then hit 5 again to unlock and try again.
~ Kim
Kendrick Kerwin Chua
Kasatka <kas...@excite.com> wrote:
>Meredith <j-dme...@home.com> wrote in message
>news:ISYl7.218838$%a.86...@news1.rdc1.sdca.home.com...
>> Help I'm stuck in the caves under fort hold. I can't even see my
>> drangonrider and my dragon can get me out. Any ideas?
>
>keypad, and you should see "Camera Lock Off" or something like that. You can
>pan the camera around by hitting various numbers on your keypad. I can't
>find rhyme or reason to the panning, so mess with it a bit. If you really
>screw up with your panning, hit 5 again to lock it onto your character
>again, and then hit 5 again to unlock and try again.
This really makes me mad, because the Dreamcast version is simply a
Windows CE port of the PC version... Which means that in all likelihood,
this 'Camera Lock' control is available in the DC version somewhere.
Perhaps as a menu option or a button on a second controller? In either
case, there are at least three or four undocumented controls in the
Dreamcast version of the game which made playing much easier once I
discovered them. Argh!
-KKC, who just finished Neutopia on TG-16, and can't decide what RPG to
play between now and Shenmue II. Maybe I'll try to finish Armada again?
Sonarrat Citalis
>This really makes me mad, because the Dreamcast version is simply a
>Windows CE port of the PC version... Which means that in all likelihood,
>this 'Camera Lock' control is available in the DC version somewhere.
>Perhaps as a menu option or a button on a second controller? In either
>case, there are at least three or four undocumented controls in the
>Dreamcast version of the game which made playing much easier once I
>discovered them. Argh!
That sounds like a job for a GameShark to me.
-Sonarrat Citalis. (Email: remove the tasty vegetable)
Dragon Code: DC2.Mfps+D Gm L12f T600l Phlwlt Sku Cpi/wh:wh,ebl+ Bic/wa
A18 Fr+"strawberry" Ni M+ O+ H $- F R+++! Ac~ J+ U+ I+ V Q Tc++ E+++!