John Romero is back to make you his bitch!

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 6:57 pm

Well, not that he words it like that anymore, but anyway... after the Daikatana flop, everyone though he was doomed to work on low-budget PocketPC games and N-gage ports. Well, look again! John Romero is ready to give new life to an Atari classic. This one looks awesome!

Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows - interview with John Romero

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:03 pm

interesting news. i'll have to watch that one.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:11 pm

I'm really looking forward to this one. Regardless of Romero, LOL. What I'm interested about is Gauntlet. I hope this team will make a decent game, the previous 3D ones were pretty bad, I've heard.

The artwork for Seven Sorrows is gorgeous, have a look at gamespot.

And now let me quote from Uncleclive

Games whose sequels really should have been a lot better than the original by now. No. 1774: Atari's Gauntlet

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:18 pm

yeah those previous 3d ones were pretty ass. i used to play them a bit as they were the only quick games available in a local movie-theater. it is so sad that there are no actual arcades in my area.

i have been tempted to ask this laundry that has a Marvel vs. Capcom machine if i can give Dimahoo a run (bought it without having arcade set-up first).

roushimsx · Post by **roushimsx** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:49 pm

On a sidenote, John Romero is an amazing 3d level designer and did some pretty awesome work on Anachronox. It's also interesting that id's games haven't been as good since he left (Quake 3 did have some interesting levels and concepts, but at no point did it ever rival the first time I played Q1DM3. Quake 2 is better left unspoken of, and Doom 3...lord...what a disappointment. Technically amazing, but just not fun).

the guy is a pretty crappy manager/leader, but he's an awesome worker bee.

Daikatana tends to get slammed on the hardest by the people that have never even seen or played it. Sure, it had its flaws (1st episode was mediocre, in game cinemas were terrible, voice acting was bad, teammate AI destroyed the single player game, initial save system sucked), but the strengths far outweighed those (After the first episode the level design quality ramps up considerably, co op was an absolute blast, deathmatch was very enjoyable). Pick up a copy for a dollar or two now a days, patch it up, and play with some friends at a lan party. thank me later.

The new Gauntlet looks and sounds pretty impressive (and from what I've heard from others, so far it IS pretty impressive) and I'm strongly looking forward to it.

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 9:15 pm

Actually I like Quake 2 a lot.

roushimsx · Post by **roushimsx** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 9:20 pm

Stormwatch wrote:Actually I like Quake 2 a lot.

I disliked the single player (it did a nice job of showing how hub based gameplay could be tedious and dull), though from what I understand the expansions were quite good (wouldn't know..didn't pick them up. Loved the Quake 1 expansions though) and the multiplayer was just flat out terrible.

There were some nice mods for it (Action Quake 2, anyone?) but for the most part it was the first time I remember thinking that maybe id should just switch to making engines and leave the game making to people that could..you know...make games. Raven's Quake 2 engine games were their last good games as well (Soldier of Fortune wasn't bad and Heretic II was just flat out awesome).

Oh well, we'll always have Commander Keen... *pouring a 40*

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:05 pm

roushimsx wrote:Daikatana tends to get slammed on the hardest by the people that have never even seen or played it. Sure, it had its flaws (1st episode was mediocre, in game cinemas were terrible, voice acting was bad, teammate AI destroyed the single player game, initial save system sucked), but the strengths far outweighed those (After the first episode the level design quality ramps up considerably, co op was an absolute blast, deathmatch was very enjoyable). Pick up a copy for a dollar or two now a days, patch it up, and play with some friends at a lan party. thank me later.

Amen, the game is just fun for some reason, maybe because the environments were varied and well designerd. Kept me interested a hell of a lot more than the Unreals. Then again, I suck at FPS's so I shy away from playing multiplayer.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 11:14 pm

"the previous 3D ones were pretty bad, I've heard."

Not really, IMO. Gauntlet: Dark Legacy is great, but so is Gauntlet: Legends, if you can get the DC port.

But, yeah, I'm also looking forward to another Gauntlet game!

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 4:14 pm

The main problem with Gauntlet Legends (I've not really played Drak Legacy) is that the boss fights are tedious and about twice as long as they need to be.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 5:28 pm

read Masters of Doom. sure it is slightly flawed but it is a very interesting read on the history of id (and of John Romero after he left). i bought my copy about 2 years ago, and still enjoy reading it now and then (i read books like a fiend).

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 6:47 pm

I loved the long boss fights.

I hope Romero doesn't mess with the formula of the game.

Strychnine · Post by **Strychnine** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 9:14 pm

landshark wrote:I loved the long boss fights.

I hope Romero doesn't mess with the formula of the game.

I'm sure Romero will manage to monkey it up somehow. He has the talent of a bean. A BAKED BEAN.

The whole Gauntlet series in 3D kinda...hmm sucks imo. ESPECIALLY the one for the DC. I mean, my sister loves it, but she's 13. And we all know what 13 year old girl's heads are filled with. Pink ponies and boys and stupid. So clearly, it is bad.

In seriousness though - the game completely lacks any visceral appeal of slaughtering hoards of shit-ogres and crested demi-squirrels. You need more feedback than "ugh" and disappear. Look at Devil May Cry - when I kick that stupid shadow puma in the throat - I know he feels it!! That's what makes retarded games like gauntlet fun. That's why Diablo, Diablo II (THE MOST RETARDED GAMES EVAR) are fun. That's why only after 25 hours you realize that you've WASTED 25 HOURS OF YOUR LIFE CLICKING YOUR MOUSE. And that's why 2 months later you spend another 25 hours of your life CLICKING YOUR MOUSE.

That and the shiny things. Monster's need to spit out enough shiny things to keep people interested. If they don't, why kill them? Why wreck havok on the ecosystem by slaughtering Warbling Moose Fairies who ONLY WANT TO EAT AND TAKE NAPS? Because they have shiny things in them.

Super Mega C · Post by **Super Mega C** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 3:14 am

I always thought is was funny how guys like Romero and the dude who did Perfect Dark were packing up and leaving their companies back in the day, because they wanted to do their own things and make "different" kinds of games. Then the first game they make after leaving is an FPS. Anyhoo, I do wish him the best luck with the new gauntlet (even though it's only a name as far as the new guantlets are concerned) he is a good designer.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 6:24 am

I loved the 3d guantlets because they felt alot more strategic to me than the originals.

The originals were only playable if you could memorize the levels and know exactly where to go for food.

Where as with the 3d ones, you could play strategically, picking off spawners here and there. That and they were excellent multiplayer games. I had alot of fun with them and that's why I'm worried that Romero is getting his hands on it.

And Diablo/Diablo II. So many hours lost ... so much time. I loved those games. Diablo II is still fun to find. It's that whole leveling up and 'new stuff to find' gig that keeps me going.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 8:20 pm

Guantlet Legends was amazing (even the N64 port). And it's just popular to hate John Romero right now. He's not that bad.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 8:31 pm

At least the 3D Gauntlets have a POINT to them; ie an end in sight. The only 2D one I've ever played that did was Gauntlet IV for the Genesis.

I could care less what noises monsters make when I off them; hacking and slashing matters a lot more to me, and there's plenty of great hacking and slashing to be found in both 3D Gauntlet games, IMO.