Robots! Pew pew! Revolution! Let's play 2400 A.D.! -- Done!!

[Crooked Bee]

Let's play 2400 A.D., a futuristic Ultima-like!

(Or should I say "Ultima lite"?)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

0. Introduction
1. A revolution's brewing
1b. Interlude: Robots, weapons and items
2. On our own
3. I got the power
4. Things we need
5. A full-on assault
6. Fireworks

Sup folks. I need a little break from Dark Heart of Uukrul, else I'll soon start going around my momma's basement searching the walls for secret doors, shouting LENTIIS! and invoking prayers to Ufthu, so without further ado let me begin a new diversion -- a new blind LP...

2400 AD is an Origin game published in 1987/1988 for DOS and Apple II. It's, uhm, a futuristic urban Ultima-like in space (!) basically, designed and produced by Chuck "Chuckles" Bueche and having Richard "Lord British" Garriott in the "Thanks to" section of the credits. Chuck Bueche was, along with Richard and Owen Garriotts, a co-founder of Origin and, according to Wikipedia, Lord British's school friend and, uhm, university roommate.

In the Ultima series, Bueche is represented by Lord British's court jester, also named Chuckles. In later games in the series, Chuckles is notorious for taunting the series' main character, the Avatar, with silly riddles and games.

The premise of the game is quite simple: the year is, yeah, 2400 A.D., the place is a city called Metropolis, the capital of a more or less recently colonized planet called Nova Athens, and, well, the problem is -- you've guessed it -- that the malevolent robots! (tm) are now in power. The robots are controlled by an alien race called Tzorgs, and let me assure you, nobody invited them to take over, they simply seized the authority by force, those bastards! Let me quote the timeline from the manual.

2213-2277 A.D. Planet XK-120 is colonized. The first inhabitants name it Nova Athens. It is a small, strategically-located world in one of the fringe systems administered by the United Stellar Council. The capital is called Metropolis; it is established as a repository of learning on what is otherwise a mining planet. Scholars throughout the galaxy vie for appointments to the new, well funded Metropolis University. A team of Tzorg xenobiologists arrives to pursue an esoteric research project.

2278 A.D. Metropolis continues to grow, while other population centers on Nova Athens remain undeveloped and devoted primarily to mining activities. Extensive subway and slidewalk systems are completed. Megatech Industries provides many jobs for the increasing number of highly-trained scientists who graduate from Metropolis University. The United Stellar Council awards top-secret defense contracts in the field of plasma physics to Megatech. A Tzorg engineer heads Megatech’s design group.

2291 A.D. A botanical garden is opened in the northeastern section of the city. Many rare varieties of flowers are cultivated along the winding footpaths. Construction begins on the Bellevue Apartments which will offer residents the latest high-tech servomechanical conveniences and will overlook a lush park. The university library catalogs an additional two million infodisks, making its holdings second to none in the galaxy. A group of Tzorg robotics experts automates all city utilities plants.

2313 A.D. Jetway Transport awards a substantial prize to the inventor of a personal jet pack for everyday use. Neurosurgeons at Metropolis Hospital gain galaxy-wide acclaim for their spectacular achievements in synapse repair. Centennial exhibitions, concerts, and galas attract an endless stream of Nova Athens inhabitants as well as offworld visitors. A young entrepreneur scores a marketing coup by establishing a chain of franchised “Burger Barn” restaurants throughout the city. The Tzorg Ambassador and diplomatic staff are suddenly and inexplicably recalled. Soon thereafter, Tzorg attacks commence against outlying planets.

2324 A.D. A technician at a Metropolis electronics firm develops a micro-miniature energy generator. Hyperjazz fans line the street for days to catch a glimpse of celebrity Dyna DeRange during her promotional stopover at Bizarrdo Music. A long-anticipated summit meeting between representatives of the United Stellar Council and the Tzorg Empire is held in Metropolis. The talks end in a stalemate.

Soon the evil Tzorgs are victorious!

2332 A.D. Remote mining settlements and defense outposts on Nova Athens are subjected to unremitting Tzorg assaults. Causalties flow into Metropolis Hospital. University classes are boycotted to pretest a military draft instituted by the United Stellar Council. Shortages of some consumer products occur. Megatech scientists race to complete work on numerous defense projects.

2335 A.D. In a series of lightning strikes, Tzorg troops conquer Nova Athens and institute marshal law in Metropolis. Public Tracking and Registration Offices are established. Scientific research is prohibited. The Botanic Gardens become the City Dump. A small, disorganized, resistance group begins efforts to sabotage the newly-built Tzorg Authority Complex.

The Tzorgs are running the place now, and things aren't looking well for Metropolis. Martial law is imposed, and the Tzorgs continue to wage war against mankind throughout the galaxy. Soon, they are forced to shift their forces from Nova Athens to the outlying sectors, and they leave Metropolis in the iron grip of their robot police force, with long jail sentences imposed for those who break their strict laws.
A small resistance group appears, however, willing to overthrow the usurpers. They don't lack in energy, too bad they are too disorganized to pose any real threat to the robots. Meanwhile, the war rages on.

2346-2399 A.D. Mounting pressure in other sectors of the galaxy forces the Tzorgs to install the Robot Patrol System in Metropolis and leave the planet. City services are disrupted, and luxury apartments fall into disrepair. University enrollment dwindles. Repeat offenders and black marketeers sometimes find haven in the dank and twisting steam tunnels beneath the city. The Underground network and its information files grow.

2400 A.D. The Tzorg War continues to rage. Galaxy-wide military offensives against the Tzorgs by the United Stellar Council cause trade lane blockades. Rationing of food commences throughout Nova Athens. Sporadic, though increasingly organized resistance to the Tzorg Robots in Metropolis results in the imposition of indefinite jail sentences for inhabitants with five or more Social Demerits. As more Metropolis residents are jailed or disappear, workers from other Tzorg-held territories are imported to replace them. The frequency of contraband checks increases. A member of the Underground discovers a secret route into the Tzorg Authority Complex.

Things brighten up for the resistance once a secret route into the Autority Complex is discovered. And it is here that our hero enters the stage...

Metropolis. Founded in 2213 A.D. by the United Stellar Council as the capital city of the planet XK-120, a mining planet and center of learning throughout the galaxy. That was the past. In 2315 A.D., Metropolis is invaded by the Tzorg. The new conquerer leave the planet but install a Robot Patrol System to keep the locals in check. Now the only resistance against the Tzorg occupation is a small group of resistance fighters of the Underground network.

Now in the year 2400 A.D. the final hope to overthrow Tzorg rule over the city is to infiltrate the Tzorg Authority Complex through a recently discovered secret route, access the terminals, and shut down the robots. That is if they had a computer specialist... That's where you come in. As part of yet another shipment of miners from other conquered Tzorg lands to replace the 'disappearances' of past workers, you have been contacted by the Underground to join their struggle against the Tzorg. The contact leaves instructions for you.

Please help us. It's too late now for me -- too many SD's. But you're new here. They don't know you yet. You might have a chance against them. Take this notebook. *You're given a diary of a resistance member.* Read it. Learn our story of despair... and hope.
I can't explain more. Time is short. There are others in the city -- loyal members of the Underground -- who will help. Trust them as I trust you. Find Spider; he'll start you along.
Good-bye, friend, and... good luck.

I won't be quoting the entire Journal of a Rebel, as it is called in the manual, it's too tl;dr. So yeah, you're a computer specialist who arrives with the latest shipment of off-world workers imported by the Tzorgs. Having the advantage of no prior police record, you are free to roam the central city, gathering information and items with the help of the underground. You must find a way into the Tzorg Authority Complex, reach the main control console, and end the robot rule by deactivating the entire robot police force. If you can accomplish your mission, Nova Athens will be free, the USC forces will gain access to it, and the citizens will walk the streets without fear. Sounds nice an' easy?

Welcome Bee, our protagonist. He's standing in the Public Tracking Office. He has just checked in with the tracking official behind the counter. The office walls are composed of red brick, and there is a window in the west wall, just north of the door. Chairs line the east side of the room.

Yup, folks. There is no possibility of choosing Bee's sex at the character creation, so Bee's a dirty chauvinistic male. I forgot to capture a screenshot of the character creation process, but it's really simple. You're given 99 points to distribute among four attributes:

ENERGY (EN): physical prowess and stamina
AGILITY (AG): manual dexterity and skill
IQ: mental capacity and knowledge
AFFINITY (AF): attractiveness and congeniality

Quite simple, really. This is a blind LP, and there are no hints in the manual as to which attributes are more useful, so I just distributed the points the way I wanted to. Bee's a smart and likeable fellow, so his IQ is 30 and AFFINITY, 29. The remaining 40 points are evenly split between ENERGY and AGILITY. I hope we'll be given the option of engaging in some robot diplomacy? Well, who knows. (Here's, by the way, what happens if your Affinity is too low: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LTB6I3EPuw. ) Oh, and apparently attributes can be improved as we make progress in the game -- provided we'll manage, of course.
Apart from the attributes, there are some more things on the status screen. SD is the number of demerits you have. Once it equals 5, you're sent to jail, simple as that. C is the amount of credits you have, in our case it's a mere hundred; 999999 seems to be the max. T is the most horrible of all stats -- it's a timer! We have 1822 ticks left until Bee has to report in to the Tracking Office -- the building we start it -- again. Devilish! And definitely the most annoying feature of the game.

The date:time is 2400:0178 -- and counting!

The official tells us we can only check in again once our T counter is below 500. Oh well.
The DosBox cycles parameter is set to 3000, so time is running out quite fast! Later I'll set it to 800 so that ticking could go at a pace closer to normal.

The commands available to Bee are pretty standard, with the gameplay reminding me of both Ultima and Wasteland.
A is for ATTACKing with the currently activated weapon.
B BREAKs open a locked door, the chances of which are affected by Bee's energy level.
C allows Bee to CLIMB up and down ladder -- or even climb OVER people roll or some objects.
D drops an item Bee's carrying. ("You must remember where you dropped it, or use the SEARCH command to locate it," remind us the manual. "Maintenance robots might dispose of dropped items before you retrieve them"!)
E makes Bee ENTER a personnel transporter and generally travel between transporters around the city.
F allows Bee to attempt FIXing an item that is broken. Bee's ability to repair an item depends on his intelligence, strength and agility.
G, followed by a direction, GETs an item that we've dropped or found.
L allows Bee to LOAD energy into an item -- say, a weapon -- from a power node. THIS IS AN ILLEGAL ACTIVITY AND WILL ACTIVATE ANY ATTACK ROBOTS IN THE VICINITY though!
O OPENs or closes a door.
P PUSHes an object -- such as a chair or a table -- provided our energy is high enough for that.
R makes Bee READ signs on doors to identify buildings and such.
S searches for items or hidden doors nearby.
T allows Bee to TALK to people or computers.
U gets Bee to USE an item he's carrying. The USE command is also used to activate/deactivate a weapon, energy shield, or other devices.
W alternates between walking and running. (Running will increase your maximum energy!, hints the manual.)
X eXamines inventory -- Bee can carry only up to 8 items, so we'll have to find a safe storage, I think. (Active items are indicated by "A", broken by "B". Items that require energy cells show the level of charge in their internal cells as a two-digit number. Passcards display their passcodes. ZAC -- zone authorization cards -- list the zone.)
Finally, Z allows us to ZURRENDER! to the authorities if we are outgunned, trapped, or if we become lost and unable to find our way out. (Surrendering when you are lost has the effect of alerting nearby robots. You will be taken to jail, and your possessions will be impounded.) Phew. Sounds kewl.

Exploring the town, uncovering info, clues, and alternative ways of doing things seem to be what this game is all about! Oh, and shooting robots. Many robots. Pew pew! It's a blind LP though, and a secondary one compared to my ongoing Uukrul LP. Which means it may or may not be updated, say, once per two-three weeks or more, and I may or may not be able to beat the game. Consider this simply an introductory LP, in which I'll be randomly wandering around the city of Metropolis, fighting the robot police army, and doing stupid things just to see the results they yield. My only goal is to bring this gamey to your attention and to have fun! Nope, it looks like I'll finish this LP fairly quickly.
Anyway, let's get this shit started.

 

[Azira]

Innerestin!

 

[Kz3r0]

 

[Crooked Bee]

Update 1: A revolution's brewing

Some lone feller has made himself comfortable in a corner of the tracking office.

His name is Eddie and he doesn't know shit:

He could probably have something useful too say if only I knew what to ask him about which I don't.
We also get random unnamed NPCs saying random lines of which as we'll soon find out there's a very limited supply:

Best thing since mashed potatoes apparently.
We exit the tracking office and eXamine our inventory:

A Hand Phaser and a Grid Readout. The latter is a device that specifies our position in the city location grid, and the Hand Phase is the most basic -- and worthless -- weapon: "A basic hand weapon that emits a short, narrow, weak charge of energy. Requires some skill to use. Relatively sturdy." By the weapon using "skill" this game probably means Agility, but I'm not sure.

As the mysterious note quoted in the first post of this LP tells us, we must be looking for Spider. That is supposed to kick in the main quest. Well, screw that! Bee's on his own!
First thing Bee does is, of course, illegal.

We load our Hand Phaser with energy using a nearby power node.
SUDDENLY

AN ALERT RINGS THROUGHOUT THE PLACE
I'm not yet experienced at all at this point so before I can think of anything an alarmed robot runs up to Bee fast as hell (cycles = 3000 ) and shoots us before we can say "oh shit". Bee goes down and...

...wakes up in jail! Sure, it's called the Social Rehab Center, but it's just a jail, pure and simple.
Naturally, we're stripped of all our possessions and credits! Oh well.

Good thing there's a secret escape route in the cell. Guess the resistance has been kind enough to provide it for their members. Bee isn't yet officially a resistance member, but what the hell?

We push the bed to the south and enter the secret passage.

Having climbed one level down, we...

...discover another inmate. His name's Guido, and he isn't trying to escape. Well, his loss.
Bee climbs further down and finds himself in a greyish corridor. We've found the underground! (Which is a part of the main quest actually, but we haven't even gotten to it yet. )

Virgil is a bro, he tells us we can recover our confiscated stuff. For that, we must go back to Guido and ask him.

The storage room on the first floor, hmm?

Secret?

Fritz: The route through the maze.

Maze?

Fritz: The maze to the boost lab.

Route?

Oh-kay. For now, however, we'll just be wandering around randomly to get a grip on the way this game works.
We meet Jimmy who knows the code for some terminals:

Code?

Nice to know.
Another person is selling goodies:

Too bad we're outta credits.

We travel through some twisted passages (no way we're getting back), reach some stairs, climb them, and find ourselves in a largish corridor:

Going east, then north. Meet Vince D. Weller:

Vince needs an energy boost that you can apparently get somewhere around here. Duly noted.
Oh, and meet Leroy:

The Revolution, yay!
But what's that about "weapons"?

Plasma Rifle isn't mentioned in the manual, so I assume it's a kind of "secret" ultra-powerful weapon. Hopefully we'll be able to find it at some point.

Melvin is looking for Tim. Screw them both.
A feller nearby is dealing in energy cells:

Buying cells is an alternative way to load our weapons with energy. But we're out of credits, and using power nodes generally sounds more fun, provided we'll learn to deal with robots the hard way.

One level down, we come across Tony:

The code for what, the binary maze? Ohwow. Uhm, code?

Tony: Ask Horace, he knows the code.

Horace?

Tony: He's around here somewhere.

Hmm, let's hope we get to meet him.
Oh yeah, almost forgot. We found several Booster Pills along the way:

Booster Pills are powerful but dangerous. To quote the manual, they "provide temporary large boosts in energy, agility, and intelligence. While great in a pinch, these pills take their toll by reducing the maximum levels of energy, agility and intelligence you can achieve after a full rest." Doesn't sound too good, eh? Useful only in case of emergency.

Looks like we've found our way to the surface. But what's that lady saying about a terminal?

Scanner?

Laurel: Talk to Verne about one.

A maze, a scanner... WTF. This game is complicated. Let's check the manual.

SCANNER: Provides a long-range view of the immediate area.

Oh, sounds useful. I guess we'll need one. At some point. After we start playing the game properly, that is.
Homer, who keeps an eye on things, tells us of a mysterious office:

Spooky. Tell us more!

Homer: I shouldn't say any more. I could get in trouble.

Coward.

Our timer has run out, by the way! A message appears:

Meh, who cares. We're experimenting, after all.

Meet Raphael, a real pro at looking busy:

Cool to meet you, Raph. But we must on.

Insert :facepalm: here.
One means of transportation in Metropolis is using Transport Tubes:

Transport Tubes bring you one level up or down.

We meet Ponzine. He's mysteriously suspicious:

Uhm, maybe Spider? (Another part of the main quest, it seems. Ah the pleasure of RPGs without railroading...)
Spider indeed turns out to be the correct answer:

Code 0977. Oh-kay. (The fuck is going on?)
We keep wandering around this area of Metropolis. (Which area is this? Like hell I know.) Mark's filing paperwork, poor sod:

Tell us about paperwork, Mark!

Kewl! Can we have the codes? Apparently, no. Bee doesn't succeed in getting any more info from Mark, and so we move on.
Jean loves mazes, we do too:

We ask Jean about mazes:

Jean: I heard Jimmy got through 'em though.

We already met Jimmy in the underground as we escaped from the jail. And he already gave us a code. We appreciate the hint though, Jean.
Marion is another named NPC:

What's the point, you ask? There is none. Or is there?
And so we go about. An unnamed NPC thinks robots are horrible creatures:

Another one asks a totally rhetorical question:

Zenor greets us:

Eh?

Zenor: Brehm Bank & Trust! East of the Authority Complex.

Oh. Good to know, I guess?

Duly noted, yay!
As you well know, lectures are for brainwashing:

And the robots are your friends!

In case you're wondering why, even though our timer is out, we aren't arrested or anything yet, well...

...as Bee walks further east he's assaulted by three (!) robots at once...

...and wakes up in jail again! Oh noes!
Escaping to the underground again but taking a different route we end up a funny maze of identical square rooms:

Funny place. Reminds me a bit of a certain maze in Uukrul, the one you need to cross to get to the urn -- but much much easier.
We finally get to a fellow who asks if we want an IQ boost. Of course we do!

It costs 1000 credits though, and we don't have any money. Oh well.
Going on through the maze we come across another fellow, this time offering us an energy boost:

It costs 1500 credits, oh my...
Another funny way of accessing some areas in this game is by climbing pipes!

Yup, climbing pipes, lol.

We reach the subway aka metro aka tube or whatever.
Trains!

This is a game in which you can be overrun by a train! Truly one of a kind. Too bad our character can't be a female named Anna.

True dat.

So... let's get hit by a train, dear readers!

Oh noes!!!

We're taken to the hospital, but as we don't have any money...

...we end up in jail again, yay!

Oh-kay, enough of fooling around. Let's get the main quest started. We're supposed to find a certain Spider. Eddie tells us we can find him at Joe's and gives us directions (yeah, that's what Eddie is there for), so off to Joe's we go:

(We must press R near the door to read the sign saying "Joe's Bar".)

We ask the bartender about Spider:

Then we climb over the counter (oldschool! ) and enter the back room.
First we meet Joe...

...and then -- hell yeah -- Spider himself!

Join the revolution? Sounds fun!

Oh noes, you won't give me a fetch quest, or a kill-the-rats-in-my-basement quest, now will you, Spider, dear?

Spider tells us to find a certain Reggie at some place called Jonnie's Corner and get the password from him.

Spider: When you come back with the password, we'll be able to get started. That's all for now.

This begins the main quest. Yay! Truth be told, it took me quite some time to find Jonnie's, which I finally did. In case you wonder why this is supposed to be a test, well, here's why: Jonnie's Corner is located in the eastern part of Metropolis, one for which we don't have an official authorisation card -- a ZAC -- yet. So we'll have to be discreet.
First, however, let's explore around some more. Here's a Megatech Warehouse:

Inside is a man called Hal, and he's a talkative one:

The first thing he does is ask us if we're looking for the main console, lol. Finding the main console and deactivating it is, as you surely remember, our main goal in this game. The console is located on the upper level of the Authority Complex, and it's apparently quite hard to get there. A person named Sasha may know more:

Noted. Thanks, Hal!
A nameless NPC can't bear the robots anymore:

Poor NPC. Things were naturally much nicer before:

Robots are scary:

And the Tzorgs, being properly evil, sure love their brainwashing:

We can buy a Subway token at a nearby subway station:

It only costs 2 credits, so we buy one. Who knows, it may well come in handy.
We're also given a wider galactic perspective:

Thing are looking bad indeed. Good thing Bee is here to save the day. Eventually.
We can borrow some credits at the bank...

...but I'd rather not. The interest rate is probably too high.
A secretive NPC has a piece of advice for us:

Advice?

Oh well, I suspected as much.
Bobbie's keeping the books:

And Kim is a workaholic:

Fair enough.
We're running out of time, and so hurry back to the tracking office:

The timer is back to 1999. Good.
Meanwhile, Brenda is investing out of town -- doncha know there's a revolution brewing!?

Smart girl.
Peter owns the bank. Literally:

Uhm, advice?

Thanks, Peter.
Yeah, the chief way of obtaining credits for us in this game seems so far to be killing robots and stripping them for credits.

CREDITS: Medium of exchange in Metropolis. You earn credits by disabling robots and searching them for their energy sources. While you cannot use these energy sources to power your own equipment, they are in great demand and are readily accepted by merchants for trade. When you collect energy sources off disabled robots, you will be informed of the credit equivalent that you have aquired. Note that it is best to disable robots as soon as possible after they have recharged at a power node because you will receive the most credits at that time.

We'll be sure to try doing just that -- once we get a better weapon maybe?
We meet Hugo who runs a repair shop:

Nice, we'll be sure to remember this place.
Elo is a mysterious one:

We say "yes".

I believe we already met Wes though.
To the north is one of the restricted zones:

Jonny's doesn't seem to be in here though.
Also, note that Bee's AFFINITY attribute has increased. The more NPC chat you engage in, the more your AFFINITY grows! Kewl.

Another nasty thing that can occur as we relaxedly explore around, is getting our weapons confiscated by a special kind of robot:

Fuck. We have to submit.

Good thing I've recently saved the game. I reload and make sure to avoid the bloody confiscator robot.
Having again checked in at the tracking office to reset the annoying timer thingie, we now enter the eastern zone of Metropolis:

There's a special kind of robot patrolling it looking for those who don't have a proper ZAC, so we better beware and stick to the outer walls!
Finally we find Jonny's place.

We're told that Reggie is upstairs. Good. We climb over the bar and head upstairs.

We've found Reggie, folks!

Let's ask him about the password:

The password is MADEIT! Great.
We return to Spider and tell him the password:

He gives us some items as well as another task -- to find Harvey and ask him about the underground:

Of course, the game assumes we haven't yet been to the underground. Well, we'll play along.
I wonder what Spider gave us...

Hmm, a passcard to FA74, some Plastiform -- basically a healing item -- and, yup, a Hand Blaster!

HAND BLASTER: Similar to the hand phaser, but supplies a wider burst, making it easier to use effectively.

Hand Blaster is a better version of Hand Phaser. Well, let's assume this is the better weapon I've been waiting for!
Now let's save a game and...

...

... kill a robot!


There's one standing right nearby, as you can see from the above screenshot. So we load up the blaster from the power node...

(NPCs don't seem to react at all.)

...and attack the robot!
Bee attacks and attacks and attacks...

...but nothing happens. I guess this robot is simply not active. My bad.
Let's attack an active one:

The robots in Metropolis come in different kinds, all described in the manual. This is a Sentry, a Class 1 robot -- "A Sentry robot will stand guard in one place until alerted, at which time it will pursue for a short distance and attack its alert target" -- and we kill it easily. Searching it gives us 98 credits! We've scored our first kill and grabbed our first loot, yay!
You can also note that our AGILITY has improved after the battle. Good.

I wonder what happens next... Will Bee find Harvey and aid the glorious revolution? Stay tuned to find out!

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Must admit, I have never played this game. When it was released, I had a C64 and this didn't make that platform. After that, never bothered.

What are your impressions of the game? Any similarities with other games?

 

[Crooked Bee]

This is my first time playing this game, and I'm still only a couple of hours in, so I can't really offer any well-informed comments. So far it reminds me of an "Ultima lite" or "Wasteland lite", with attribute checks but no skill checks (there are no skills in this game), one character instead of a party, an action-ey combat system in which you must hurry to take a turn before your enemy does (I dunno what this kind of system is properly called, round-based maybe?), no level scaling (many types of robots are way beyond my level and can one- or two-shot kill me), and the timer, oh the timer, how I hate thee. Overall, the gameplay is pretty basic but fun. The city of Metropolis is quite large, with two underground and several above-ground levels to explore; there also seems to a lot of clues, mazes, and secret passages around. The police robots have their routines, some are patrolling the streets and can confiscate your illegal belongings or check your ID. Inventory management plays a large role, as you can only carry up to 8 items at a time, some items are illegal and can get confiscated, etc. You can interact with pretty much everything provided you have enough energy (pushing things, breaking doors, climbing, etc.). The atmosphere is a bit wacky, closer to Wasteland than to Ultima in that regard, even if definitely not as wacky.

There's also a review at Mobygames you may want to check out: http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/2400-ad/reviews/reviewerId,2172/

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Thanks for that. Sounds like it might be a nice diversion, especially considering the latest Vogel fiasco.

You might enjoy 'Escape from Hell' as well, since you seem to be on an old school CRPG bender.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/escape-from-hell

I enjoyed it. Wacky it is, but good as well.

 

[lightbane]

Perception: It seems Bee is lping another obscure/ancient game. Well, good for us

[...] else I'll soon be going around my momma's basement...

 

[Crooked Bee]

[...] else I'll soon be going around my momma's basement...

:D

You might enjoy 'Escape from Hell' as well, since you seem to be on an old school CRPG bender.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/escape-from-hell

I enjoyed it. Wacky it is, but good as well.

Heh, thanks, looks nice.

EDIT. Changed the thread's title a bit so as to include the current update number.

 

[Kz3r0]

Seems that the best way to play this game is by going full Shepard and using the money looted to boost your attributes.

 

[MMXI]

It's been a while since I played this game. Thanks for inclining the playground.

MORE!

 

[Crooked Bee]

Interlude: Robots, weapons and items

I forgot to introduce the different kinds of robots roaming the city of Metropolis to you in the first update, so here they are, straight from the manual. Some are piss easy to kill or avoid, some are, to put it mildly, not. The manual insists we'll need to memorize their looks and patterns of behaviour to play the game efficiently -- well, we'll see about that.

And here are different kinds of weapons -- note that not all weapons are listed in the manual (for instance, the plasma rifle mentioned in the last update) -- as well as items:

All in all, even this basic arsenal doesn't look half bad, I think, and the enemy variety is also quite okay. Looking forward to going all X-TREME! once our attributes and equipment allow that. And who knows, perhaps we'll even be able to find secret weapons and items, yay!

Seems that the best way to play this game is by going full Shepard and using the money looted to boost your attributes.

Probably, but at the start our options are quite limited, really, as Bee is very, very weak and can face (at most) only 1 robot of the lowest class at once. I don't think we'll be able to loot more than several hundreds of credits this way. I'm actually thinking of a more, uhm, diplomatic and flexible route, provided this game has one, but we'll see about that -- this is my first and experimental playthrough, and I'm no mondblut, so I won't be grinding and powergaming too much. I'll be rather just, uhm, doing whatever I'll feel like, without too much effort or insistence, and see where it gets me, if anywhere.

It's been a while since I played this game. Thanks for inclining the playground.

MORE!

You're welcome. MORE will have to wait a bit though.

 

[MMXI]

I like the way they completely ran out of ideas for robot roles past level 1. Each level 1 robot seems to have a purpose in the game, while everything else just seems to be unique by name only.

I can imagine a really awesome modern turn-based RPG like this set in an even bigger city and with multiple party members that it is in your best interests to scatter throughout the world in order to do their own thing. You see, in fantasy RPGs it makes sense to go around in parties because of the lack of communication technology. In futuristic games you can send a hacker and a soldier (for protection) off to hack into the computer systems of a defence company in order to bring down the security of a prison, allowing your thief (to scout ahead) and demolition man to break some political prisoners out of jail.

But unfortunately all we get are shitty RPGs with generic gameplay such as Gears of War with a dialogue wheel (Mass Effect), a first person shooters with statistics (Fallout 3) and a first person shooter with swords instead of guns (Oblivion).

2400 A.D. might be a pretty simple and unremarkable game that understandably isn't well known today, but it sure as hell had better ideas in (for the time) than the shit we get fed today.

 

[Crooked Bee]

^ What you describe sounds indeed too good to be true given the current state of the industry. Oh well. :/

I like the way they completely ran out of ideas for robot roles past level 1. Each level 1 robot seems to have a purpose in the game, while everything else just seems to be unique by name only.

Yeah, the higher-level robots are simply stronger versions of the low-class ones, guarding the more restricted/heavily defended areas. Which makes sense in a way, but it'd be cool to have more "exotic" robots, yeah.

2400 A.D. might be a pretty simple and unremarkable game that understandably isn't well known today, but it sure as hell had better ideas in (for the time) than the shit we get fed today.

Yup. Even with the simplicity of its role-playing system, 2400 AD has more gameplay variety than most games today. Not to mention that even this game would probably be too disorienting and frustrating to a modern gamer. :/
Oh gosh, I'm sounding like a 100-year old. Whatever.

 

[lightbane]

The worst part is that even the games we consider to be "dumbed down" will be masterpieces compared to the shit that will follow, and so on the cycle will go until the gaming market collapses... But enough with that, more updates!!

 

[SCO]

Unfortunately, collapsing by now is a fantasy. Much like movies before, the market is big enough that morons are a captive audience, but AAA titles cost so much and are so risky that only indies will risk anything not to be focus group massaged.

Maybe some kind of open repository of art, could bring out some better indies.

The great ET collapse will not happen again.

The RPG genre might die though. Much like, say, musicals died for a little bit.

 

[Fowyr]

Hm. Another game to play.

 

[spekkio]

It looks like certain somebody

Decided to do some more dungeon location crawlin'

 

[Crooked Bee]

Update 2: On our own

This is very much an exploration-based game: you can go wherever you want provided you can handle it -- handle the robots hunting after you when you're in a restricted area, handle the locked doors requiring either 20 or sometimes 50 points of energy to break them open, handle the puzzles and codes, etc. The goal of this update is to collect at least some clues as to what Bee should do next -- given that his ultimate goal is making it to the main console and disabling the robot police army. So yeah, in this update we'll be grinding -- killing those nasty robots! -- in between collecting clues and stuff, and our attributes will grow, yay! Let's see what we can find out.

One interesting feature of this game -- which is a totally "fluff" or atmospheric feature, of course -- is that the city of Metropolis is very much alive. Not only do the robots, as I already mentioned, have their routines, but there are also public announcements being heard from time to time. Like this one:

Another announcement I got was about a subway line being closed for repairs, but I can't find the screenshot for it. Anywayz, it's pretty kewl, I like.
We go around the downtown killing robots and collecting credits, the process that I won't be covering here as it's pretty simple: kill a robot and grab the credits or, alternatively, be killed and reload or make it out of the jail. Easy. Robots, by the way, recharge themselves / are recharged by other robots after a while using the power nodes. So yeah, the power nodes are around for robots' own needs, that's why using them by ordinary citizens like us is illegal.

An NPC called Art informs us about the system of transporters around the city:

Nice, but we'll have to find out the code first. We ask Art about the code:

Art: Sid must know it, he uses the transporters all the time.

Sid?

Art: He hangs around in the Underground.

We'll have to find Sid, then!
Larry runs a nearby electronics shop:

He sells some stuff we don't really need at the moment; plus I've no idea what "HV Osc" and "Mic'stat" are, those items aren't mentioned in the manual.
Jerome, a clerk in the back room of Larry's, tells us there's an entrance to the underground here:

Things?

Jerome: Oh... like the ladder to the underground in the back.

Nice. I don't really want to go to the underground right now, but let's check the ladder. It's behind a locked door so we break it open:

Breaking open doors marked in blue requires 20 energy, which then slowly regenerates. Yes, this game proudly features health regen. Popamole! There is however no cover system, and you're pretty much screwed in combat if you face multiple robots no matter if you have health regen or not, it's just too slow to matter.
So yeah, there's a ladder in here, behind another door we must break open:

Good, we'll be sure to keep that in mind!
Simone works at the registration office and she seems to have found info about a really useful secret device:

Hmm, we'll apparently need it at some point. Noted.
Another NPC, named Cynthia, complains about the robots using too much computer time:

The reason for that being, the number of robots is rising!

Scary!
From the registration office we can get to the local Hospital. Joyce is here, waiting for his friend Sharon who got hit by a train (just like we did in the previous update ):

Holly tells us she's looking for something called "guidance device":

Why?

A transporter beneath the junkyard?

That definitely sounds important!
And here's Sharon, the one who got hit by a train:

Poor thing. :/
Kelly's working here at the hospital, she says one of the patients is behaving oddly:

I know, I know! It's the energy boost she's talking about. We already covered it in the last update.
Meet Nick, an administrative officer:

Nick tells us about another patient:

"Found the sequence"? Sounds intriguing. We'd better check it out.
We also meet Vernon:

He doesn't say a word more, and I don't know what to ask him about -- that's why I think he's a plot-critical NPC. We'll probably be sent to him by someone else further down the road.
Shifty is, well, a shifty one:

Secret?

Wade, however, calms us down:

We come across Don -- the one who knows the sequence:

Sequence?

Useful!
Lola is a receptionist, her purpose unclear:

And Mitch is extremely good at making ... what, bug sandwiches!?

Ewwww.
Jetway is another store nearby, and it sells Jetpacks for 1000 credits each:

Hmm, I wonder if we're going to need one...
At a Megatech Warehouse, Rosemary is ... doing nothing!

And Luna is a true comrade, yay:

Good to know.
At the nearby Burger Barn, Dorothy is making burgers:

Synthetic burgers or bug sandwiches? Which is better and why? Discuss!!
And Mike is selling motors at a place called, unsurprisingly enough, BB Motors:

They sure do.
Let's no head to Novue Apartments to find Harvey!

Entering the Eastern zone... Hush hush.

And here're the apartments, nice.
Dallas is making fajitas:

It's like a mojito, only female and with a "fa".
And here's the door Spider gave us a passcard for:

Behind it lies another entrance to the underground:

We won't be heading there just now, though. First upstairs we go!
Gerard is a failed actor involved in faking passcards:

Passcards?

Gerard: Ask around at Marti's.

Marti's is a place nearby, so we'll be sure to.
Sasha is here, the one who, as we were told in the previous update, knows about a secret entrance to the Authority Complex:

Entrance?

Sasha: Chris has some information. He's upstairs.

I feel being kicked around. :/
We go upstairs and meet Chuck:

Another NPC who tells us nothing until we know what to ask of him. And we don't. Oh well.
Chris -- the one Sasha sent us to -- is behind a locked door which we break open roll:

Stop tossing me around, you bastards!! :godimsomadtheyremovedthissmiley:
And finally, here's Harvey, the one Spider told us to ask about the underground:

The only thing he tells us is one we know of already -- that there's an entrance to the underground here. He doesn't tell us what we should do next or anything. I ask you, dear readers, where's mah handholding!?


We only have our ultimate goal: hacking the main console. Everything else, we're supposed to find out and do on our own!



So yeah, let's head to the Pensionne:

Dave hangs out here some:

As advised, we ask him about the tunnel:

He tells us that Dallas the fajita-maker knows where it is, which means we must go back to the Novue Apartments for that.
We also meet Sophia here, who works at Megatech:

That's that. And back to Dallas we go, asking him about the tunnel:

Oooooh. Kewl.
The next place we visit is Marti's Kwik-Stop:

It's here that Gerard told us to ask around about fake passcards.
We ask Wilma just that:

Passcards?

Nice. ZACs are, as you remember, Zone Authorization Cards, and passcards apparently require a code to be saved onto one.
We ask Wilma about Jeff's whereabouts:

Wilma: I don't know where he is. Ask around, someone will.

And what about the code?

Hmmm, sounds mysterious. I guess we'll get to know what that means later.
At Ned's Dry Cleaning...

...we meet Ned, but he's another one of those NPCs who don't say a word until asked the correct thing, so we go away.

We visit the tracking office to check in and then return to the Novue Apartments. It's time to go ... underground!


Carlos is the first person we meet here:

Things?

Carlos: You know, weapons and other devices.

He tells us that Wes is selling weapons somewhere around here, and Nguyen is selling devices. Nice!
On this level we also stumble into Jeff, the fake passcards seller:

50 credits for a passcard and 150 for a ZAC? Well, that doesn't seem like much.
We buy a ZAC for the eastern zone of Metropolis:

Good, now we can wander around the eastern zone without the danger of being arrested by a police robot.
One level down is Pinkie, the leader of the revolution:

Yup!

In a true sandbox RPG-fashion, Pinkie only gives us the names of those who can aid us in our main quest: Mark, Robert, Sasha, Richard. We can visit them in any order. But first, quite obviously, we must find them!
Mark?

Pinkie: He's at Administration.

Robert?

Pinkie: He's at Megatech.

Sasha?

Pinkie: She's in the housing area. (Yeah, I know, we already met Sasha.)

Richard?

Pinkie: He's at the University.

Oh-kay, a lot of places to visit. We have only been to the housing area where we met Sasha, but we haven't yet been to the Administration, Megatech building, or the University. The city of Metropolis is pretty huge, yeah.

Alfonso is the next NPC we meet as we crawl through the corridor:

He knows the location of a secret stash of energy cells.

Alfonso: Climb the pipe down the hall and look around.

We do indeed find a pipe to the north -- and climb it:

We arrive to small room; searching it reveals some energy cells:

We take some. Nice.

Our inventory's full though. :/ We'll need to do something about that.
Going back, we meet Barney who -- just like Simone in the last update -- tells us about a device called "field disperser" which lets you bypass force fields:

We'll probably need it for our mission, so let's keep an eye (and ear) out.

And here's Wes, the fabled weapon dealer:

He sells Hand Phaser (50 credits), Hand Blaster (120), Mini Cutter (500), Laser Cutter (1000), Blaster Rifle (2000), Pulse Laser (3000), and Stun Gun (200). Kewlity kewl. We'll be sure to buy something, just not now; for now we're just exploring.

In the previous update, a guy called Mervin told us about Tim, the one we can sell our stuff to; well, we finally get to meet him down here:

Without knowing that Tim can buy your stuff, you won't get anything from him; you must input "sell" first. But I forgot about that at this point, so we'll return to Tim a bit later.
Going further east down the corridor, we meet Leroy. We already met him last time, which means we've come full circle; this area is now more or less familiar to us. Good.

And here's Sid, the one who -- as Art told us -- "must know" the code for the transporters:

Almost?

Truth be told, I couldn't get the code out of Sid for some reason Perhaps we're supposed to visit him later?

But anywayz. We go back downtown to check in, and then grind some more.
We also visit a new place, Bizarro Music roll; Uzella is working here:

Pointless.
We grind and grind -- and now Bee's ENERGY equals 45, and his AGILITY, 40!

Also, all the NPC talkie-talkie has raised Bee's AFFINITY up to 80!



Only Bee's IQ remains unchanged.
We also have A LOT of credits now, so let's buy a Heavy Shield from Verne:

It costs 875; we acquire it.

Verne: I think you'll like it.

Now we should activate it... Yup, here it goes:

The Heavy Shield is now activated, and now we can (hopefully) face higher-level robots!



The next update will have to wait though, as my period of procrastination is over and I must get back to doing some real life thingies.

So here's the info on all the NPCs we've met so far (updated after update #3!!)

Metropolis: Downtown
Art: informs you about the transporters: "they transport you to different sections of the city, but ya need their access code to use 'em"; "Sid must know it, he uses the transporters all the time", "he hangs around in the Underground"
Tracking Office
Eddie: gives directions to Spider and Joe's Bar
Joe's Bar
Gus: the bartender at Joe's Bar
Joe: the owner of the bar
Spider: the man the mysterious note mentioned: asks you to fetch the password from Reggie at Jonny's Corner: that done, gives you a Hand Blaster and a Plastiform and tells you to find Harvey at the Novue apartments and ask him about the underground; "welcome aboard!"
Megatech Warehouse
Hal: tells us about "the main console" -- it's "on the upper level of the Authority Complex"; tells us to ask Sasha (in the apartments) about the secret entrance to the Authority Complex
Brehm's Bank & Trust
A clerk offers to lend us some credits
Bobbie helps keep the bank's books
Kim is a workaholic
Brenda manages the bank's investments; informs us that "there's a Revolution brewing"
Peter likes making money and is the bank's owner; tells us we can earn credits "by destroying and stripping robots"; nice!
Hugo's Repair Shop
Hugo can fix things for some credits
Burger Barn (near Hugo's)
Elo tells us that Wes sells weapons in the underground
Larry's Electronics
Larry: sells HV Osc (450 credits), Mic'stat (700 credits), Energy Cell (650 credits), Grid Reader (250 credits)
Jerome: tells us about a ladder in the back which is an entrance to the underground!
Registration Office
Simone: found some references to a device that would "protect a person from force fields"; we'll apparently need it at some point
Cynthia: complains that the number of robots is rising
Hospital
Joyce is waiting for Sharon, who got hit by a train, to recover
Holly tells us a guidance device is required for "a transporter beneath the junkyard"; "using a guidance device in th' transporter lets ya get t' sections ya couldn't ordinarily get to".
Sharon got hit by a train
Kelly says there's a patient who "said she knows a guy that can raise your energy; she called it a 'boost'" -> see the Underground section
Nick, administrative officer, informs us about a patient who says he "found the sequence"
Bennie steers clear of Nick who's in a bad mood today
Vernon is here, his purpose unclear
Shifty and Wade tell us about a plasma rifle
Don knows the sequence; "the one for the first tunnel transporters is '18,09,12,15'".
Lola is a receptionist
Mitch's Bug Sandwiches
Mitch makes bug sandwiches; ewwww!
Jetway
A clerk is selling Jetpacks (1000 credits), Energy Cells (300) and Grid Readers (250)
Megatech Warehouse (near Jetway)
Rosemary is doing nothing
Luna is "on a job for the Revolution", "trying to find parts to build a plasma rifle; they never break, you know"
Burger Barn (near Eastern Zone)
Dorothy is making synthetic burgers
BB Motors
Mike sells motors
Bizarro Music
Uzella: "the local music guru"
University Bookstore
New! Lisa is selling books
Gilbert's Electronics
New! Gilbert trades in electronics; "with what can I assist you?" -> electronics: "tubes" and "regulators" -> tubes: "I threw one out just the other day" (meaning we must find it in the nearby trash heap); "regulators" -> "I'll trade you an energy regulator for a microstat".
New! Kirby: right outside Gilbert's: gets rid of the junk around here; give us a clue about the trash heap
City Maintenance Department
New! Nancy keeps the slidewalks running
New! Brian searches through the trash for anything useful (another hint re: the trash heap)
Southern Subway Station
New! Naomi: hanging around near the station: tells us that a Transporter Guidance Device is needed to get through the tunnel into the Authority Complex; "ask around at the University"
City Sanitation Department
New! Beth registers complaints all day
Moe's Place
New! Moe: when asked about his broken refrigerator, Moe tells us that Hugo is the one who fixes things around here

Metropolis: Western Zone
Laurel: Right near the underground exit: tells us that a scanner is "of great use in getting through the maze" to the terminal; tells us to talk to Verne about a scanner --> see the Underground section
Homer: in the street: tells us about a mysterious office "that people go into and never come out of"
Raphael: "a real pro at looking busy", that's that
Dexter: helps Juan with the cleaning
Ponzine: tells us, after we mention Spider, that the passcard code to the terminal is 0977
Mark: doing paperwork: mentions "terminals that give deactivation codes for the robots; they're needed at the Control Console"
Jean: in a building: tells us there's a maze right under the building through which you can get "to the terminals"; tells us that Jimmy has succeeded in getting through the maze --> see the Underground section
Marion handles the public utilities, "water, electricity and such"
Zenor: in the street: tells us that "they have vital information for you in the records department" at the Brehm Bank; tells us to ask Zerben about Tzorgs

Metropolis: Eastern Zone
Jonny's Corner
Jonny: tells us where to find Reggie
Reggie: the one spider sent us to; tells us that the password is "MADEIT"
Novue Aparments
Dallas: making fajitas: when asked about the tunnel, says that "the tunnel entrance is in the junkyard; there's a trail in the trash at the back; take 8 rights, 2 lefts, 1 right and another left"
Gerard: tells us about fake passcards: "ask around at Marti's"
Sasha: knows a secret entrance to the Authority Complex: tells us to speak to Chris who's "upstairs"
Chuck: ??
Chris: the secret entrance, he says, is "through the tunnel; ask around at the Pensionne; it's next door"
Harvey: the one spider sent us to, we ask him about "underground": "look behind the lift tubes downstairs"
Border Pensionne
Dave: works at Bizarro Music Shop: tells us that Dallas knows where the tunnel is
Sophia works at Megatech
Marti's Kwik-Stop
Marti: the store's owner
Wilma: when asked about passcards, says "Jeff forges passcards and ZAC's, but people say you need a code"; doesn't know where Jeff is; when asked about code, says "I think it has to door with the numbers on the doors"
Ned's Dry Cleaning
Ned: ??

New! Metropolis: Southern Zone
Rhonda: in a small park near the southern zone entrance: "I can help you"; "a field disperser is the best armor you can get"; "ask around at Megatech".
University Faculty
Cheryl works with Linda; "talk to Linda about her research"
Linda: when asked about "research", tells us she was working on a Transporter Guidance Device; "it would allow people to get into the Authority Complex; the person carrying it can use any of the four 'funny' transporters to get to the fifth"
Alice's Restaurant
Juli works with Alice
Alice: "I can get you anything you want"; tells us about weapons being sold in the underground
University Administration
Bob keeps books; tells us we must go through the subway to get to the research lab
Fred is doing research on a plasma rifle; "I've found references to one having been around, but it broke; ask Eggbert about it, he should be somewhere in this area"
Eggbert, when asked about plasma rifle, tells us that "when it broke, the owner took it apart and sold the parts" to some "electronics dealers"; "ask Jerrold about the dealers in town"
Jane tells us there's a pile of junk behind Gilbert's; this is yet another reference to the trash heap being important
Richard tells us that Bob knows something about a "strange device" (apparentl the Transporter Guidance Device) he once saw in "a research room" (i.e., the collapsed research lab)
Jerrold works with Fred; tells us about Larry and Gilbert selling parts
University Main Building
Rudy tells us there's a room full of energy cells at System Storage

New! Metropolis: Northern Zone
Denise is trying to find Verne who sells time bombs --> see the Underground section
Ellen is also looking for Verne
Megatech Building A
Benny works with Robert; "I think he's across the slidewalk"
City Water Works
Ofelia is fixing leaks all day
Megatech B
Mickey is a machinist; tells us about the IQ boost
Oscar files the blueprints; tells us about the blueprint room
Sanford tells we're sure to be lost in the big junkyard (the one hiding the tunnel into the Authority Complex) without a Scanner
Megatech D
Jackie keeps the pipes running; tells us about Les being a brilliant inventor; "given the plans, he can build almost anything"
Floyd also keeps the pipes running; tells us about the energy boost and IQ boost
Megatech E
Lily supervises out here
Robert tells us about the blueprint room
Megatech F
Les, when given the blueprints, offers to build the Field Disperser for us for 3500 credits

Prison/Rehab Center
Guido: says where you can find your confiscated stuff -- in "the storage room on the first floor"; useful whenever you're imprisoned, naturally

The Underground: 1st underground level
Area 1: Prison escape area
Virgil: Near the prison escape stairs: says to ask Guido about stuff
Fritz: south down the corridor from Virgil: describes the route through the maze to the boost labs ("just take the doors in the corners going in")
Jimmy: further south from Fritz: knows the access code for the terminals; the code is "ACCTRM followed by a the number of levels it is underground, minus two"
Verne: east from Jimmy: sells goodies: Plastiform (50 credits), Disruptor (300 creds), Time bomb (125), Detonator (100), Booster Pill (25), Heavy Shield (875), Scanner (300), Video Scrambler (850)
Energy cells dealer: in the room south from Melvin: deals in energy cells, obviously
Area 2-1: Under the Novue Apartments
Carlos: Tells about Wes selling weapons
Jeff sells fake passcards (50 credits) and ZACs (150 credits)
Area 3: The one with Tim and Leroy, accessed from near Wes'
Tim: the one you can sell your stuff to
Vince: down the southern corridor: tells us about energy boost, but nothing specific
Leroy: north from Vince, on the intersection: tells us about the existence of plasma rifles
Melvin: west from Leroy: says there's a man named Tim who you can sell stuff to; great! Tim, by the way, seems so far to be the only person you can sell stuff to

The Underground: 2nd underground level
Area 1: Transit betwen Leroy's and prison escape
Tony: in the corridor you can access by climbing down the stairs west (?) from Melvin: tells us about Horace who knows the code for "the binary maze" and is "around here somewhere"
New! Horace: when asked about the "code" (for the "binary maze"), says the code is DDDUD.
Area 2-2: Further under the Novue Apartments
Pinkie: "I organize the revolution": "Mark, Robert, Sasha and Richard can get you started on your mission; ask around about weapons and devices you can get through us"; Mark is "at Administration"; Robert is "at Megatech"; Sasha is "in the housing area"; Richard is "at the University"
Alfonso: "I know where you can get energy cells"; "climb the pipe down the hall and look around" (-> a secret energy cells storage you can reach by climbing a pipe to the north from here)
Barney is looking for a device called "field disperser" which "lets you go through force fields without getting hurt"
Wes sells weapons: Hand Phaser (50 credits), Hand Blaster (120), Mini Cutter (500), Laser Cutter (1000), Blaster Rifle (2000), Pulse Laser (3000), Stun Gun (200) --> stairs to level 1 to the west of Wes
New! Sid "almost has" the "access code for the transporters"; when asked about "access", tells us the code: LETSGO.
New! Elroy tells us about a "Transporter Guidance Device" located in a "collapsed" University lab and needed "in a particularly puzzling section of the tunnel entrance", i.e., in the tunnel leading to the Authority complex.
New! Sybil: right near Elroy: works for Hugo repairing things

The Underground: Boost maze
IQ boost: 1000 credits
Energy boost: 1500 credits

Phew, there's already a lot of them! Truly a huge underground, and not just underground, network.
Next time: we'll be looking for Mark, Robert, and Richard! Oh, and we'll be sure to ask Zerben about Tzorgs.

 

[Fowyr]

Hey, what about Pyramid?


Just kidding.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Sorry, I'm just taking a short break from Uukrul. Not many people seem to be interested in this little LP though. :/ :attentionbee:

Spoiler

And I've already beaten the Pyramid, or at least I think so.

 

[Fowyr]

Can't pay much attention, going to play this game one day.
Good, so Great Engineer awaits. I liked this sanctuary.

 

[MMXI]

This is definitely one of the better LPs on the codex. When a Mass Effect 2 LP has far more interest than this LP you know that the codex is doomed. Keep up the good work.

Oh yeah, this is a map of the game world.

 

[spekkio]

Sup, Drog 2011?



Newshit with fuckable aliens gets more attention on 'Dex than an old game with no bloom? How totally unexpected...

 

[MMXI]

Sup, Drog 2011?

I couldn't have joined any earlier else I wouldn't have been MMXI.

Newshit with fuckable aliens gets more attention on 'Dex than an old game with no bloom? How totally unexpected...

Not unexpected at all. Merely a sign of the times.


Anyway. Please, sir, I want some more.