[grenideer]

A new dos version and the windows version are finally out! Pick the game up at the website or www.verge-rpg.com . Please use this thread to report any bugs, leave comments or criticism, or anything else. Thanks, and have fun!
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Diver Down

[js71]

I'm impressed.
As far as I got, at least.
It froze up after I escaped the throne room, just as the guards said 'surround him'. The music kept playing and everything, but nothing happened and I couldn't do anything. Did it freeze up? Or am I supposed to do something?

[grenideer]

That is weird. That was a winv2 bug but it had gotten fixed. On most systems the code works as it should, but I guess entity movement still is a bit whacked out. You redownloaded the entire 20meg zip file and didn't modify anything, right?

Anyway, I put up a savefile that you can continure from. Just change the name to gamex, where x is the saveslot 1-5. When you load the game it won't look like it has the right info, but once loaded and resaved, it will be normal. This savegame starts right after this scene, Drek gets away from the guards and jumps off the tower, landing in the swamp.

http://grenideer.com/diverdown/files/swampfix_win.dds

If anyone else has this issue, please let me know. Thanks.
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Diver Down

[XMark]

I noticed that the music plays at a higher quality in the windows version. I also noticed that it crashed near the beginning of the game when I exited out of the menu after the cluster rifle explosion thing.
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Mark Hall
Abstract Productions
I PLAYS THE MUSIC THAT MAKES THE PEOPLES FALL DOWN!

[grenideer]

ya, i think the windows version uses fmod instead of mikmod. i heard the menu may crash semi-randomly, but it doesn't happen a lot.
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Diver Down

[js71]

I must say, that's some pretty trippy rain you've got in the swamp, there.
And where do I get the bluebird egg?
I know it's supposed to be challenging and all but... Well, to tell the truth, the battles weren't just 'too hard', they were annoyingly pain-in-the-ass hard.
But apart from that, everything seems pretty balanced and thought out so far.

[Rainer Deyke]

Overall I am impressed. There were however a couple of things I found annoying:

• No way to skip the "welcome" intro if you've accidentally selected it.
  
• Nonintuitive keyboard setup. Pressing escape neither brings up the menu nor exits a submenu as I would have expected. F1 does not bring up online help.
  
• The game seems to encourage "hit and run" tactics (aka "fight a couple of monsters, go back to town to heal, repeat"). Some way to heal in the outpost (without using up valuable potions) would have been appreciated.
  
• Related to the above: it's easy to accidentally get into a boss fight while badly injured, and quickly dying a gruesome death.
  
• A couple of puzzles, the "bluebird egg" puzzle in particular, have a high "what the hell am I supposed to be doing" factor.
  
• No way to turn off music or sound effects.
  
• Having to fight (and lose) the hopeless battles with the sleeping sentries on the upper floor of the outpost is also annoying. Some way to surrender (or better yet, load) within combat would have been appreciated.

[grenideer]

thanks for the comments, guys.

ya, the battles are hard. it's more so in the beginning when drek is alone. When you get help you're supposed to appreciate it :).

I didn't bother a skip intro code cause it wasn't worth it. The intro was half-assed as it was. As far as the keyboard setup, I agree with you, but it's pretty much standard verge fare. If you're into verge, it's normal. Battles in this game can get hard, but if you come prepared (ie. buy potions and stuff) you should be fine. The game is supposed to stress thinking and being careful. Also, if you find secrets, like the welcome hall closet, you get free potions and junk to use. Some boss fights do come up to you unexpedtedly. I definitely do that on purpose sometimes. Other times, (like in shin cave coming up) I give fair warning that you're about to fight a boss. The bluebird egg puzzle was one of the hard ones in the original demo. I added a couple extra explanations, and sfx when you get next to the trees, to help out. A couple people still have trouble with it. Music and sfx were important in the game, but customizing them wasn't a priority. Sorry. I never thought about the hopeless battles. I thought it would be cheap to auto-kill and figured players would like this better. I guess not necessarily. Technically you CAN win the battles. A quick alt-x will quit the game and you can restart.

Thanks for taking the time to criticize. I'm glad you like it overall.
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Diver Down

[js71]

[Rainer Deyke]

I didn't find the combat overly hard. Once you have the skinning knife (which you should be able to afford as soon as you enter the town), individual meerwolves shouldn't be much of a problem, and if you collect the veggies from the field north of town, the money just keeps rolling in. Of course if you don't have the knife and you've already blown your money, you're pretty much screwed.

I agree about the ridiculously expensive drink though.

[js71]

Hmm... Well... HOW would you collect the veggies?
"Just some plants growing here."
Is all I get.

[Rainer Deyke]

Locked house on the left side of town. Knock, enter, talk to npc, go to bookshelf, read book.

[Rainer Deyke]

The sliding box puzzle in the condemned mine is seriously screwy. I think I got the green boxes in place, but I can't figure out where the blue boxes are, much less where they're supposed to go. Also, strange things happen if I quit to menu while in a high-res area.

[js71]

...And I'm still stuck in the outpost, wondering if that door leading upstairs has somehow run off to a different dimension, taking my sanity with it.

...

'Scuse me for a second while I let out my aggevation.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I'm done.

[janus]

Man... V2 is just one hell of a hacked-up engine, isn't it? ^_^

I just finished downloading the WinV2 version. Can't wait to try it. :)