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Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2016 8:09 pm
by hasseapa
Hehe, I was even closer to finish it yesterday than I thought - I only forgot to apply the Finnish text clue.

Will give 7:43.37 a go 8) Who knows, I do better when I play it fast and by instinct. My biggest problem - by far - was to avoid damage by the fast, homing-in head in the room next to the church door. It was here save states really helped. I have learned to deal with it now, however.

The congratulatory end sentence? I found it straightforward. The purpose of the game, as implied at the start, was to avoid having your soul sacrificed.

Very wisely designed game - it never overreaches and slows down. The most enjoyable isometric game I have played. I was always very fascinated by Fairlight and its manipulation of objects and by The Great Escape and its living NPCs, but for sheer playability, I prefer this one and the about-30-room size is just perfect.

A VIC-20 masterpiece for sure.

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2016 6:53 am
by joshuadenmark
Safely arrived to Denmark.
IMG_2831.JPG

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2016 2:09 pm
by orion70
I've downloaded a digital copy myself, and made a small donation. Thanks for this, it's technically and visually impressive for a VIC. I'll be cutting my teeth in isometric games with it during my next few days at home (not my cup if tea though, and the satanic setting makes it even less appealing for my taste).

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2016 2:38 pm
by Misfit
I promise that my next game is less dark. More rainbows and colours.

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2016 2:57 pm
by joshuadenmark
Misfit wrote:I promise that my next game is less dark. More rainbows and colours.
:mrgreen: oh no, I'll like the demonic darkness :twisted:

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2017 3:59 pm
by Navvarr
I ordered two copies a couple of days ago- really only meant to buy one but to be honest, I'm so blown away to be buying such an amazing new Vic20 game that I'm happy to support the project.

Looking forward to playing Pentagorat - looks incredible. Really looking forward to any new projects in the future.

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 6:31 am
by mrr19121970
My cassette arrived, thanks. Also the blood red tape. I am not really sure what to do with it, so put it in my pile of other new games.

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 7:46 am
by fgasking
Thank you for such a great game - been playing for a few days over the holiday break on the real thing, and i'm amazed to see such a game of its kind on the Vic 20. :D

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2017 2:19 pm
by Ola H
My tape arrived in Sweden yesterday and I managed to squeeze in two hours of playing time before bedtime. Wonderfully atmospheric to play at 3 A.M on a winter's night with just the CRT TV providing light! So far I have found 3 objects - one of those I haven't figured out how to use yet. Puzzled by the dark room and the rooms which seems impossibe to travese without vastly improved jumping ability or a vehicle, but hopefully I'll manage to progress further tonight.

The difficulty level feels just right and thankfully the game is a lot faster and more responsive than most (all?) isometric games on the C64. Besides ranking as one of the most atmospheric games ever on the Vic 20, it surely also must be one of the most technically and graphically impressive games ever on our computer - always pleasing to see the Vic do something beyond the capabilities of the Atari 2600 :D

It's hard to fathom how I would have reacted if I had received this game for Christmas 1983 before I had played C64 and ZX Spectrum games - it would probably seem almost unreal ... or almost like VR - like I had a real representation of a dungeon/castle inside my my computer!

All in all an outstanding effort, head and shoulders above all other arcade adventures on the Vic :D (I guess I'd rate Zok's Kingdom as number two)

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 11:39 am
by Ola H
1,5 more hours and one more object found :D Not sure how to progress though, maybe I need to save enough energy to survive the dark room and the room beyond the library? The door there beckons me...

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 12:41 pm
by Misfit
My packet arrived yesterday. Penultimate is an amazing cartridge.
Image

I could give few hints, but no.. you have to solve all puzzles without my help. :D

Thank you for your support!

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 2:32 pm
by Navvarr
My two cassettes turned up today- I also had tracked down a 32k Ram pack from ebay- which means my Vic now ready 28159 bytes free.

I load the game up- it loads as you'd expect then around 30 on the tape counter the screen goes blank and nothing else happens- tried a few times- no joy.

Am I doing something wrong??

Is my Ram pack perhaps not working? 28159 seems a bit short of 32k?

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 2:49 pm
by orion70
Navvarr wrote:Am I doing something wrong??

Is my Ram pack perhaps not working? 28159 seems a bit short of 32k?
Nope. I don't know what possibly went wrong. Try load"",1,1 maybe?

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 3:28 pm
by tlr
Navvarr wrote:I load the game up- it loads as you'd expect then around 30 on the tape counter the screen goes blank and nothing else happens- tried a few times- no joy.
Many datasette counters are different, what does the on-screen counter say when the screen goes black?

In most cases when there is a load error the border will turn to thin red stripes over a typical turquoise/white screen. If it doesn't there is a chance something else is wrong.

...and "LOAD" or <shift>/<runstop> is sufficient.

Re: New release : Pentagorat (32k)

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 5:11 pm
by Navvarr
Ok, some weird stuff happening- and I'm pretty sure it's down to the 32k ram pack I bought on ebay.

It appears to show the correct ram but on the top row, sixteenth character it constantly changes colour - so when I boot up my machine the

V - as in V2 is constantly flickering - if it was an unexpanded Vic20 it would be location 7680 + 16 - ie 7796


Weird eh - looks like my 32k ram pack has some memory errors- tried unplugging then plugging in and what not- same flickering character.