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From: swarren@eugene.uucp (Steve Warren)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Good cheap games
Message-ID: <1663@convex.UUCP>
Date: 5 Sep 89 17:19:08 GMT
References: <30794@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <725@dsacg2.UUCP> <1614@convex.UUCP> <734@dsacg2.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@convex.UUCP
Reply-To: swarren@eugene.UUCP (Steve Warren)
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Organization: Convex Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx.
Lines: 60

In article <734@dsacg2.UUCP> nor1675@dsacg2.UUCP (Michael Figg) writes:
>In article <1614@convex.UUCP>, swarren@eugene.uucp (Steve Warren) writes:
>> In article <725@dsacg2.UUCP> nor1675@dsacg2.UUCP (Michael Figg) writes:
>> >I don't play many games but for the price (approx. $16.00) 'Emerald Mine'
>> >is a good buy. The graphics and sound aren't fantastic but it is 
>      .
>      .
>      .
>> the internal drive.  The game uses 2 disks at a time, so I have to do some
>> extensive (~5 min) disk churning while the master disk reconfigures
>> itself to use one drive for both disks (since the system isn't there to
>
>
>This might be 'Emerald Mine II' which is more like $34.95. The version I
...
It was indeed 'II' that I was referring to.  I thought I made that clear
but I must have erased the reference when I posted it, since you were
confused about it.  Sorry.

I have managed to get through the first 7 levels, I am stuck right now
at level 7 (it starts at 0).  This is a very challenging "Dig-Dug" like
game (only you don't have a harpoon).  I can see it will take some effort
to get through all 80 single-player levels (there are 20 levels that
require two players to cooperate to get through the level).

Sometimes I have to load the level into the screen editor and reconnoiter
before I am able to conquer it.

I like the editor feature.  This means that this game will always have the
potential for new surprises.  Hopefully new levels will show up on the
'boards eventually (I plan on making some, once I've conquered all these).
...
>to load. Regardless of whether this game is two disks or not, if you're
>thinking about buying anything for your Amiga and you don't have a second
>drive, then go for that first. Unless you've got a hard drive and maybe
>4meg.

Well, I've done OK for some time now with my 1000 on one drive (I've been
very poor you see...), but I'll be moving up to something with room for
two internal drives soon (I'm not poor any longer).  So why buy an
external drive now?  The max floppy drives I'll buy is two, and I plan
on keeping them both inside the box (I hate having expansion peripherals
all over my desk :-).  No, I've survived till now, and I think I'll make
it another few months.

BTW, lots of people have only one drive.  My concern with Emerald Mine II
is that the instructions tell you how to set up for one drive, but it
doesn't tell you how to use the game in that mode (ie when do you swap
disks).  There are no disk requestors.  So it is really trial and error
to figure out when to swap.  And "error" in this case *may* mean a corrupted
master disk.  My first master disk got corrupted while I was trying to
figure out this problem.  Fortunately for me my copy was purchased at a
local dealer and they replaced it no questions asked.  And no, there was
no disk activity when this happened.  The machine had hung because I wasn't
swapping at the right time, and evidently it left something undone on the
master disk right before hanging.

--Steve
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