Hi All ...

I'm 28 and from The Netherlands. I had an Atari 800 XL and learned about
alternate reality from some Atari magazines.
I think I still have some of the magazines lying around (with the original
full page advertisement).
Atari games were VERY hard to find in the netherlands at that time and I
ended up doing postal orders in the UK.
I was very much into text based adventures such as Jewels of Darkness, Zork
and lots of Infogrames adventures. I was never able to get hold of a 'legal'
copy of AR though. I did however find it at my local 'copy shop'.
AR was my first RPG experience and it has been my favorite genre since. I
only managed to play to city when I was young. Years later I tried playing
the dungeon on an emulator but never really got into it (too much disk
swapping).
Maybe I'll try again some time soon. At one point I actually got the dungeon
working on a C64 emulator on my PocketPC, but again I was faced with loads
of disk swapping, and it was terribly slow (unplayable).

There's a sad story to AR for me as well. I was playing it for months
straight and had built an immensely powerfull character. One day I came home
and tried to load in my character, but the disk was corrupted !!! I tried
all sorts of utilities on it, to no avail. At that point I was so pissed
off, I wrecked the play disks as well... Since then I was never able to play
it again. (I tried to find both legal and illegal copies but the Atari scene
in the Netherlands was just too small.) A few years later I started playing
the ultima series. But nothing ever compared to AR :(

The only game that ever came close to AR in my opninion was the Daggerfall
series, especially the last episode 'Morrowind'.

Ps : I also played the 7 cities of gold a lot on my Atari, damn that was
addictive !

Allan

-----Original Message-----
From: Xavier [Xavier--rocketmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2004 12:30 AM
To: <Address Masked>
Subject: RE: Player ages.

Frank, are you insane? How can you compare the 16 color PC version to the
beautiful Atari 256 color version? What about the lack of sound on the PC?
No way, the Atari and Commidore versions were WAY better.

No, my intention is NOT to start a war here. :)

--- "Piringer, Frank" <Frank.Piringer--msnyuhealth.org>
wrote:

> I cede to your youth.
>
> In terms of the City -- well, I tried playing the PC version, and my
> impression was that it felt very ... Incomplete.
> Not far from your
> estimation. However, the other versions I've played (ST and C64, both
> emulated) fared much worse -- in fact, I thought the PC's graphics
> were superior and much more convenient (no disk swapping!).
>
> There was no Dungeon for the PC. There were rumors of a port, but
> nothing ever materialized. A half-complete Amiga port was done, but
> UAE always choked on the image for me so I can't compare it to the
> others.
>
> In my heart, AR will always be an Apple //c game. I think I still
> have an old 286 Laptop with the City and a few SSI Goldbox games
> installed, but it's not as fondly recollected.
>
> --Frank
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rebecca Steltzer
> [rsteltzer--15wpharmacy.com]
> Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 5:33 PM
> > Subject: RE: Player ages.
>
>
> Actually, the award goes to me!
>
> 23 (and female). I played the PC version - it came bundled with my
> first computer. I was 10 years old at the time (1990 for those who
> don't want to do the math) and quickly became obsessed with Alternate
> Reality. At the time thought that I somehow had received a "broken"
> game - I would go through some doors and get an error message "Can't
> find dungeon.exe" or "Can't find arena.exe", etc. I was also quite
> annoyed that no matter what I did, I could never join a guild. I had
> found it all quite mysterious - there were so many unanswered
> questions surrounding AR.
>
> Of course when I looked it up online later in life I got the answers
> to all my questions - and then some. It really upset me to find out
> that it was never completed - there was no other game I can remember
> from my childhood that captured my attention quite like AR did.
>
> Speaking of the past, I have since played the Atari version on an
> emulator and was always struck by how difficult it must have been for
> you all to make money in the city at the beginning.
> The PC version had
> jobs at various locations - the Inns, the Taverns and the Banks - and
> I could always just work a lot if I needed extra cash (or needed to
> pass some time).
>
> Is there anyone else here who played the PC version?
> How do you think it compared?
>
> Rebecca
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Piringer, Frank
> [Frank.Piringer--msnyuhealth.org]
> Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 10:14 AM
> > Subject: RE: Player ages.
>
> I'm 26 -- so I guess I win!
>
> I got interested in AR back in 1985 (yes, I was 7) thanks to those
> full-page adverts in Home Computing magazine -- the magazine published
> the code for BASIC games, and I was teaching myself the language
> despite being in 2nd grade. Does anyone remember the name of the
> uber-character that was in there--I want to say Jester the Quester but
> I'm pretty sure I'm wrong.
>
> Anyway, I had already gotten my feet wet in the RPG genre with
> Wizardry, but I had gotten fustrated with the multi-character parties
> and quasi-3d maps and had sworn off RPGs until I saw the ads for AR.
> Even though my computer was a meager little Apple //c, with it's
> Monochrome graphics and one 360k floppy drive, it was still being
> developed for and had some of my favorite games still to this day (7
> Cities of Gold, Oregon Trail, and Night Mission pinball)
>
> Unfortunately, the only version I ever got for my Apple was the
> Dungeon.
> Or maybe fortunately, because after playing the City much later I can
> say that the Dungeon was a much more rewarding experience for a young
> explorer. If I had the complete open-endedness of the City I probably
> would have gotten bored pretty quickly. Having all of the dungeon's
> different environments to explore was so fascinating for me. I
> literally spent days just searching every square of the Sewers,
> searching for secret passages and bashing Molds and Rats with my
> torches (my weapon of choice for lv0-3).
>
> To this day I'm dissapointed ARO never got developed
> -- the MMO market
> was still young, and AR was *built* for just that kind of world, ten
> years before they became mainstream. Sometimes, I still boot up AR:D
> in my Apple II emulator -- it just doesn't feel the same on any other
> platform -- and wander around familiar hangouts.
> Not to mention the
> stares I get on the subway when I sing "The Devourer" when I get into
> the mood ;)
>
>
> Is it him or her? Is it scale or fur? Does it occur In the dark of
> night? Crystal Cavern Light? Metal appetite?
>
> I want to know...
>
> I want to know...you...
>
> --Frank
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Darryl Giors [darryl--mindsyncpost.com]
> Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 8:56 PM
> > Subject: Player ages.
>
>
> Wow, I hadn't previously thought of myself as a junior member of the
> AR List but I just might be one of the youngest. I was only 10 Y.O.
> when AR:C came out. My brother picked up a copy a few months after it
> came out but I didn't really play it until Summer of '85.
> I was instantly
> enthralled with the gameplay and one of my best friend's whom I still
> see regularly was into the game as well. It became a regular after
> school habit. I couldn't wait until the Dungeon came out and I was
> counting the days despite the delays that occurred.
>
> Anyhow I'm currently 29. Anybody younger than that around here?
>
> Darryl Giors
>
> Lance, of the City of Xebec's Demise
>
> Tyr, wielder of the Eater of Evil, wrought by the Dwarven Smithy of
> the Dungeon.
>
>
>
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