"New" Seven Cities of Gold - Improved?
Allen Hill
Hello,
Has anyone played the "new" (in the last couple of years) version
of Seven Cities of Gold? I played it years ago on a Mac and enjoyed
it then, although it definitely had some limitations.
What is the newer version like on the PC? Is there still a sense
of exploring the unknown (random), hoping to find something before
your food supplies give out? Ditto empire building/conversion of
"natives".
Thanks,
Allen Hill
ah...@hr.house.gov
These views are my own, unless the powers that be have expropriated
them.
Timothy Dale Saxon
"improved" version of 7CoG, let me say that the new one is
grand, save for one poorly designed "improvement." The old
version permitted explorers to establish missions which
produced food, not a minor consideration to those seeking
longer expeditions. For some unfathomable reason, this feature
was eliminated in this edition, making expeditions much harder
and less fun for younger explorers like my seven-year-old son.
Don't expect much in the way of new features either. You won't
find them.
R. Cliff Young
Timothy Dale Saxon <td...@Virginia.EDU> wrote:
>Having slogged through many worlds in both the original and the
>"improved" version of 7CoG, let me say that the new one is
>grand, save for one poorly designed "improvement." The old
I played the new Seven Cities of Gold all the way to the point when I
disembarked at the mouth of a river, did NOT see any message indicating
"You have discovered the mouth of a (major|minor) river!", followed the
river to its other "end", and did NOT see any message indicating "You
have discovered the source of a (major|minor) river!" I think I then
returned to Spain, checked out my map, and realized that many of the
geographical discoveries tracked in the original 7COG were NOT tracked
in the "improved" version. Improved my arse! How could the people
responsible for this "reimplementation" TOTALLY lose sight of much of
what made the original so much fun (and replayable with the random world
generator!)?!? I haven't bothered to play it since, and only have fond
memories of my old C64 version, the whereabouts of which are sadly
unknown...
--
R. Cliff Young <nuk...@access.digex.net>
I can't see
Blind is what I am
--Front 242, "Born to Breathe", 05:22:09:12 OFF
Reed Derleth - KPFA
Is it just me, or does anyone else find one particular feature of this game
annoying: Inching through a village to the town elder. Slow. Boring. I
understand the original colonists probably had to take much care, no sudden
moves,but it makes for really dull game play. I caused so many random fights
that I finally embarked upon wholesale pillage as my primary strategy.
When the new game was announced I thought "Ah, finally they'll fix that
feature and make the game fun!" but it's still there, or so the reviews say.
Amberle S Ferrian
Reed Derleth - KPFA <rder...@well.sf.ca.us> wrote:
>Is it just me, or does anyone else find one particular feature of this game
>annoying: Inching through a village to the town elder. Slow. Boring. I
>understand the original colonists probably had to take much care, no sudden
>moves,but it makes for really dull game play. I caused so many random fights
>that I finally embarked upon wholesale pillage as my primary strategy.
Yes!
---
Amberle Ferrian | Never count on miracles. Rely on them.
amb...@epx.cis.umn.edu| --Little-Known Corollary to Murphy's Law
Paul Rawson
>From: amb...@epx.cis.umn.edu (Amberle S Ferrian)
>Subject: Re: "New" Seven Cities of Gold - Improved?
>Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 14:02:37 GMT
>In article <2s5kp9$f...@nkosi.well.com>,
>Reed Derleth - KPFA <rder...@well.sf.ca.us> wrote:
>>Is it just me, or does anyone else find one particular feature of this game
>>annoying: Inching through a village to the town elder. Slow. Boring. I
>>understand the original colonists probably had to take much care, no sudden
>>moves,but it makes for really dull game play. I caused so many random fights
>>that I finally embarked upon wholesale pillage as my primary strategy.
Yep have to agree with you, this game is actually *WORSE* than it's C-64
version. The game is tedious to the extreme, especially when you have to first
find the villiage chief, and then try to persuade him to trade the same boring
good with you.
This is a game that seeming had a huge amount of potential, ie exploring new
world etc, but failed miserably to come up with the goods, all of the *good*
features of the C-64 version were dropped leaving us with a lame game that
just requires the player to "go throught the motions'
A big BOOOOOOOOOOOO to "Seven Cities of Gold"
Paul
Stefan E. Jones
>
>I played the new Seven Cities of Gold all the way to the point when I
>disembarked at the mouth of a river, did NOT see any message indicating
>"You have discovered the mouth of a (major|minor) river!", followed the
>river to its other "end", and did NOT see any message indicating "You
>have discovered the source of a (major|minor) river!" I think I then
>returned to Spain, checked out my map, and realized that many of the
>geographical discoveries tracked in the original 7COG were NOT tracked
>in the "improved" version. Improved my arse! How could the people
>responsible for this "reimplementation" TOTALLY lose sight of much of
>what made the original so much fun (and replayable with the random world
>generator!)?!? I haven't bothered to play it since, and only have fond
>memories of my old C64 version, the whereabouts of which are sadly
>unknown...
>
>--
>R. Cliff Young <nuk...@access.digex.net>
I second R. Cliff's discommendation. I was very disappointed by the
"Commemorative Edition" of Seven Cities of Gold. It is a pale, hollow
shell (albiet a shell with VGA graphics and sound) of the original,
which I played on my Atari 800.
Another problem: The terrain generation system in the new game seems
totally arbitrary! The old game had a sophisticated "world builder"
algorithm that created mountain chains, ran rivers from the mnts. to the
sea, and placed forests and deserts and grasslands in logical fashion.
In the commemorative edition, rivers are creatd and placed arbitrarily!
They can begin and end IN DESERTS! The graphic set does not even have
a proper river mouth tile;reivers end a few dozen pixels short of
the sea.
The design team that created the new edition had no link to the old;
they were hired by EA to slap this one together on deadline. To hell
with them! Let the jerks stick to their normal job of creating
dumb-ass arcade games. Seven Cities of Gold is a landmark title
that deserves to be done _right_.
Ron Asbestos Dippold
version. Big flaws:
* New Politically Correct mode (with no shut-off option). Gotta be
nice to the natives, and if you aren't, the king reprimands you. Talk
about revisionist history, and totally changing the nature of the game.
* Stupid terrain generator - major rivers do not start and stop at
random, and some of the flow patterns are impossible. The old one had
a better algorithm. And it doesn't announce all the features -
Remember "You have discovered a new plain!"?
* Cities regenerate too quickly. I found two huge Mayan cities close
to each other, and just ran back and forth trading for new gold, etc.,
which mysteriously appeared each time.
* Multiscreen transfer is awkward - and what about "transfer it all,"
or "move it all to the ship, dammit"?
* Doesn't seem possible to turn villages into missions. See
Politically Correct mode.
Plusses:
It certainly looks great. Nice sound effects. I like the gradual
ship damage. I liked the extra items, I just wish they weren't as
hard to manage.
--
Lower your blood pressure - slit your wrists.
RO...@maine.maine.edu
AMES. IS IT POSSIBLE FOR ME TO GET THEM FRON ANY OF YOU? IT WOULD BE MUCH APP
RECIATED. THANKS
Amberle S Ferrian
One, turn off your capslock key. You're SHOUTING!
Two, hit the return key every once in a while, so your message doesn't scroll.
Three, aren't there software stores where you live?