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I always figured the game's weird time-mixing was part of the atmosphere (yes I know it was largely accidental due to recycling of C&C: TD artwork). Time is Out Of Joint after Einstein's little jaunt, and the world is plunged into a strange, dark and industrial take on WW2 where technology and the course of history have both gotten severely messed up.
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Jan 13, 2019 01:12
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Radio Free Kobold posted:I got a big ol' grin on my face when HELLMARCH started playing in the intro Came in here to say the exact same thing. This game was one of those formative ones, played it endlessly. Not having seen the opening cutscene for over a decade, and I could still remember the dialogue exactly. Then possibly the best theme music of all time... chills down my spine.
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Jan 13, 2019 02:29
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Holy poo poo this game gives me flashbacks. Me and my brother used to go to my dads office at the local university to play command and conquer since we lacked a computer at home, and when red alert came out we pooled our allowance to buy it on release. The improvements in gameplay over Tiberian Dawn were pretty huge, but the biggest part really was presentation. The allied intro level is really really good at showing off everything the game does better. You are given a better snappier commando and blowing up the barrels first thing feels really good. And once you get Einstein out the game shows off actually powerful boat units, as opposed to the mediocre ones from tiberian dawn. And that intro video is perfection. The way he says "time will tell" and then boom hell march.
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Jan 13, 2019 02:32
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Yeeesss, Red Alert 1 was THE C&C game of my childhood. You just know you are in for a good time when the very first FMV starts with Einstein "eliminating" Hitler via time travel. Anyway, onward to Allied 1, which is an incredibly well done intro level. Just everything about it is excellently done. Getting rushed by a few infantry that are easily cut down throws you into the action right away, but in a more controlled manner then C&C1, and you get to use Tanya right away, who is flat out better then the C&C commando unit-wise, especially with the whole C-4ing buildings not spawning infantry. Such a quality of life improvement. Anyway, as for the mission itself, the civilian that runs down into the Tesla Coil is such a nice touch. Shows exactly what those do and how deadly they are. Then as soon as the power is down a second civilian runs down safely, showing the power is off. Not having to guess and risking losing a unit is so incredibly nice. And of course, ending the map with Allied Cruisers leveling the Soviet base makes sure the map ends on a high note. HannibalBarca posted:For the life of me, I have never been able to figure out what year this game thinks it's taking place in. There is an exact answer for this, but kinda spoilers. Suffice to say Stalin is still alive and well, so that will narrow the range down somewhat. UED Special Ops fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Jan 13, 2019 |
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Jan 13, 2019 02:34
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Hellmarch is arguably one of the most iconic music tracks in video game history. Love it.
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Jan 13, 2019 02:36
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gently caress Yeah Hell March!  This is probably the most nostalgic game there is for me, it being, as far as I can remember, the first videogame I bought for my own money. I still listen to Hell March from time to time when I'm driving. And the sound of Einstein's machine that plays when the Westwood logo appears still gives me goosebumps.
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Jan 13, 2019 02:49
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I got the "Herr Hitler" part but can anyone who speaks German tell me what the conversation is? I've always been curious what Hitler says to Einstein.
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Jan 13, 2019 03:13
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Jobbo_Fett posted:
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Jan 13, 2019 03:15
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Gully Foyle posted:Came in here to say the exact same thing. This game was one of those formative ones, played it endlessly. Not having seen the opening cutscene for over a decade, and I could still remember the dialogue exactly. Then possibly the best theme music of all time... chills down my spine. For me it was Red Alert 2, literally the first game I ever played. But otherwise, same experience as everyone else, played it to death, can still remember it, etc.
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Jan 13, 2019 03:28
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oh yeah, Red Alert. I played this game way more than TD when I was younger. Actually I still now prefer RA over TD, partly because it is easier to play and it actually had a skirmish mode, so I could mess around instead of just playing the campaign. also because this song is basically a permanent resident in my brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCQIu4tDlKk
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Jan 13, 2019 04:08
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[/quote] Haha. Sorry, can’t believe I overlooked this!
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Jan 13, 2019 04:36
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Aces High posted:oh yeah, Red Alert. I played this game way more than TD when I was younger. Actually I still now prefer RA over TD, partly because it is easier to play and it actually had a skirmish mode, so I could mess around instead of just playing the campaign. Just the much faster pace alone makes RA1 the superior game to TD.
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Jan 13, 2019 05:30
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Hed posted:
I think a more appropriate translation of his line is "Yes, what's the matter? I don't have time to stand around here" but the given one probably gets the point across.
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Jan 13, 2019 05:34
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Loxbourne posted:I always figured the game's weird time-mixing was part of the atmosphere (yes I know it was largely accidental due to recycling of C&C: TD artwork). Time is Out Of Joint after Einstein's little jaunt, and the world is plunged into a strange, dark and industrial take on WW2 where technology and the course of history have both gotten severely messed up. Some of that is intentional in the art style, like how buildings don't just get a few blown away pieces and burn marks when damaged, like TD and most games do; they positively become torn up and distorted, as if they are cardboard and aluminum glued together. The gameplay changes also add to that, stronger scripting capabilities included. Time for some technical background! As many in this thread know, RA1 came out in 1996, just as Windows 95 and DirectX were introduced to the PC world. During this transitory period, game developers faced a dilemma: they could immediately embrace the new platform, and finally rid themselves of the increasingly creaky DOS system, but risk losing players who haven't adopted Win95. As a result, some important PC games from that era support both systems by offering separate executable files on one CD. However, Westwood also did something slightly unusual about RA1. While Win95 was most likely their main target, for which they had created some spiffy 640x400 Super VGA graphics, they also kept the DOS version at the same 320x200 VGA mode as C&C1, ensuring it is playable by everyone who played the previous game, even people who still hadn't upgraded to a SVGA graphics card! (FYI, all of Westwood's DOS titles were made for the old VGA graphics standard, which only supports outputting 256 colors at the 320x200 resolution, and anything above only gets 16 colors at most. You need an SVGA card to output colorful high-resolution graphics, and programming for SVGA under DOS was a big hassle, which may be partially why Westwood, like many Western PC devs, skipped straight to doing SVGA graphics under Windows.) Nonetheless, RA1DOS gets a few boons. Like C&C1, it has a fully animated installation sequence, which is only represented by static images under Win95; the score screen after each mission is also fully animated, beginning with the score meters "swiping" onto the screen. One thing not covered in this LP is that when C&C1 came out, it was well-knowned for its elaborate installation animation, which establishes a 90s "multimedia is so immerse it puts you in the game!" atmosphere: you are installing this new PC game your bought, instead what you get is a mysterious program called "Electronic Video Agent" (E.V.A.), through which GDI and Nod contact you as the game goes straight from installation to unskippable intro movie ("are you picking this up?") to the campaign select screen, placing the fate of the world in your hands. The C&C95 installer attempted to convey the idea with still images, which again is nowhere near as immersive. The N64 version, developed by Looking Glass, replicated the aesthetic at startup, complete with the audio channel test, though it doesn't really work without the intro movie. The startup sequence in Westwood's Saturn and PS versions is less elaborate. Someone in this thread marvelled at their work squeezing C&C into the tiny PlayStation RAM. Well, one thing unique to the PS version is a joke about exactly that! Westwood posted:Allocating 20,000KB Another quirk of RA1 not seen elsewhere (not even C&C95, which we just wrapped up) is it actually has two complete sets of sprites for infantry sprites. RADOS uses the set inherited from TD, plus new ones drawn to the same proportions; RA95 uses a set that's larger, with a longer gun barrel, presumably to make them more readable under a higher resolution. Even comparing the TD and RA1 LPs here (Youtube resized them from 1024x768 vs 800x600 to 960x720 vs 640x480 respectively, which kinda mangled the sprites), you can see the infantry has grown bigger, to almost the same size as the Ranger car. As a result, the old "tall-pixel" assets in RA95 are actually mostly restricted to the terrain and a few vehicles/buildings like the tanks and walls. This is what I meant when I said RA95 do not reuse as many C&C1 "tall-pixel" assets as you might think in the last thread. The fan patch program the OP is using to play RA95 actually gives you a "small infantry" option, allowing you to use the DOS infantry sprites. cuc fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Jan 13, 2019 |
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Jan 13, 2019 06:24
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Why did einstein take off his glasses, clean them, then tuck them into his shirt?
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Jan 13, 2019 06:28
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Gloomy Rube posted:Why did einstein take off his glasses, clean them, then tuck them into his shirt? They're reading glasses.
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Jan 13, 2019 06:53
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cuc posted:Some of that is intentional in the art style, like how buildings don't just get a few blown away pieces and burn marks when damaged, like TD and most games do; they positively become torn up and distorted, as if they are cardboard and aluminum glued together. The gameplay changes also add to that, stronger scripting capabilities included. Love reading stuff like this. Super interesting. Thanks! When I was a kid, the two main series of games I played were Command and Conquer, and Mechwarrior. At one point in time, my dad upgraded the graphics card in our PC and it rendered the Windows 95 version of Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries inoperable due to driver compatibility issues. I was so bummed, and it took forever for me and my dad to realize that MW2:Mercs actually had the same option as RA did - they included a DOS version of the game on the disc as well. Since the DOS version of Mercs didn't use DirectX, it meant I could play both games again 
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Jan 13, 2019 07:01
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Oh yes, the TD installer's seamless install -> intro -> briefing -> gameplay sequence was genius and had younger me in awe of the slick design. DOS RA is almost as good but not quite. Now that we've seen everything TD, I always assumed that you don't play as yourself, but instead some GDI commander who's begged IT to give him the EVA install discs so he can work from home (or disappear and blatantly defect to NOD). Also wow, I never actually noticed they changed the logo for Tanya from the old TD commando's one, now it's a venus symbol/crosshair mashup. Fittingly 90s cool.
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Jan 13, 2019 07:09
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cuc posted:Some of that is intentional in the art style, like how buildings don't just get a few blown away pieces and burn marks when damaged, like TD and most games do; they positively become torn up and distorted, as if they are cardboard and aluminum glued together. The gameplay changes also add to that, stronger scripting capabilities included. One thing I remember from playing C&C95 when I was a kid was that, back when autorun cds were a thing, when you inserted one of the disks part of the autorun sequence was EVA talking to you and saying "GDI disk detected. To play the Brotherhood of Nod missions, please insert the Nod disk". Like I said before I played way more RA than I did TD, but I have fond memories of just changing the disks simply to hear that
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Jan 13, 2019 07:10
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If memory serves Tiberian Sun also had that seperate GDI/NOD discs thing. I remember losing my NOD disks so for the longest time I couldn't play the campaign until one day I cleaned my room and found them under a pile of stuff. They were all scratched up 
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Jan 13, 2019 07:17
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Oh Tanya, how I have missed you SHAKE IT BABY! CHA-CHING! CHEW ON THIS! Tanya's still my single favorite unit in any C&C game whether or not she's the most effective. She's just the one that has the most -fun- and the best -quotes-. Also the sound of her using her pistols to shoot infantry is the best. Also,am I the only one that has vague OCD in the game wher eyou have to evacuate a unit and it counts as a caualty for th epurposes of going 'off the map' even if you don't lose a single unit in ones like these (*in the original game, rewatching here does not give any Allied casualties)? wedgekree fucked around with this message at 08:53 on Jan 13, 2019 |
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Jan 13, 2019 08:37
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Looking forward to this, you got through TD in what felt like the blink of an eye.Jobbo_Fett posted:
One request? Put the name of the unit above their range metric? I can barely read the name on the graphic on my monitors resolution.
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Jan 13, 2019 09:18
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So in the German version of Tiberian Dawn everyone was turned into robots, how did they deal with Red Alert which is set in the past? Simple, they turned everyone into robots. Except for Tanya. One of her ingame voicelines has her taunt the "tin boys".
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Jan 13, 2019 11:16
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 Chew on this.Cha-Ching. could be an entertaining game.
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Jan 13, 2019 11:23
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BiggestOrangeTree posted:So in the German version of Tiberian Dawn everyone was turned into robots, how did they deal with Red Alert which is set in the past? Simple, they turned everyone into robots. Except for Tanya. One of her ingame voicelines has her taunt the "tin boys".
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Jan 13, 2019 11:56
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Poil posted:But... you can kill Tanya. Just walk her into the base without taking out the powerplant or infantry and she dies. Heck in multiplayer you can set up micro intensive Tanya duels. I don't know, it's weird. The commando in TD was a robot. A robot with an attitude. A commandobot. Maybe it's because she's a volunteer. Maybe it's because she shows up in the FMVs and losing those would have been too much to cut. Would be neat to find out. 
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Jan 13, 2019 12:13
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800x600 ... downscaled to 480p? you monster
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Jan 13, 2019 13:00
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tithin posted:Looking forward to this, you got through TD in what felt like the blink of an eye. Done.
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Jan 13, 2019 14:26
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Strobe posted:Hellmarch is arguably one of the most iconic music tracks in video game history. Love it. Can't wait to see the rest of the game, thanks Jobbo Fett!
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Jan 13, 2019 16:48
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Poil posted:But... you can kill Tanya. Just walk her into the base without taking out the powerplant or infantry and she dies. Heck in multiplayer you can set up micro intensive Tanya duels. Hence, Tanya dying is unfortunate and tragic, but she's only one human. The big war with thousands of casualties itself is still fought "cleanly" with robots, so it's okay for you to send your troops into a meatsteel grinder.
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Jan 13, 2019 16:58
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Wait, they still do it? I thought videogameviolence censorship was over by 2010... e: Actually, thinking of Germany and being silly, anyone knows if there's any history behind the German blurb in Hell March? IIRC it's something along the lines of "weapons ready" but still seems awfully random. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Jan 13, 2019 |
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Jan 13, 2019 17:37
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anilEhilated posted:Wait, they still do it? I thought videogameviolence censorship was over by 2010... I'd like to note that it actually worked to convince my mom to let me play C&C, because I could bring up the "it's only robots" argument; she was against me buying Advance Wars (despite the artstyle being super cutesy) as she didn't like having war presented as a game  .
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Jan 13, 2019 17:42
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To digress briefly: there are two different issues at work in Germany. One, violence/glorification of war, two, use of Nazi symbols. Let's take it one at a time. The first is rapidly disappearing. Yes, games can technically be put on an "index" which means they can't be advertised to the general public or placed on shelves where minors have access to them. The intent probably was to force the creation of something like the 18+ section in video rental shops. (Hey, kids, remember video rentals? God I'm old.) In practice, hardly anyone bothered and those games were effectively not for sale here. Worse, some of the "low violence" versions that were put out as alternatives effectively cut you out of game mods. I remember this loving me over with regards to modding Fallout 3, as the Script Extender mod (fundamental for many other mods) did not like the LV version. Anyway, with the advent of online sales throughout the EU, plenty of people just ordered the Austrian or UK versions of games, because a) uncut, b) we play that poo poo in English anyway, c) usually even cheaper than buying the German version. These days, you see a lot more games coming out in Germany that are explicitly uncut for violence, often with a 16+ label, sometimes at 18+ - with appropriate age checks at the point of purchase. Hardly anything gets put on the "index" anymore. The second admittedly took a long while, but just this year we finally got the state to put together "Use of Nazi symbols as part of art is okay unless it's explicitly to glorify those assholes" and "Videogames are art", so now games with swastikas no longer eat automatic bans. The ink is hardly dry on that, though, so no major releases have yet taken advantage of it. I do expect the next Wolfenstein, whatever it may be, to finally be fully uncensored; I've heard rumblings that the UK versions of the previous games might just be released here as a stopgap, because see previous paragraph - the percentage of German players for whom an English language game is a dealbreaker is vanishingly small, precisely because we've been ignoring the German versions for so long. To rerail this, though: nice work on the LP, Jobbo_Fett! Definitely bringing back some good times. I have less clear memories of Red Alert than of Tiberian Dawn, so this should be good for a surprise or two.
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Jan 13, 2019 18:19
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Just imagine being able to put "Hell March - German Drill Instructor" on your resume
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Jan 13, 2019 18:19
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anilEhilated posted:Wait, they still do it? I thought videogameviolence censorship was over by 2010... This is what I've been able to find. C&C Wiki posted:The commander's shout was a sampled voice Klepacki discovered and found appropriate for the track. While it is not known what exactly he is saying, the most common theory is that it is "Die Waffen, legt an!" (translated as a command to ready weapons in German). The article also mentions that Klepacki composed Hell March in a single day while working on Covert Operations.
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Jan 13, 2019 18:21
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An interesting tidbit about the music in both TD and RA is that it's not MIDI, it's not CD-audio, and it's not tracker music either. It's full sampled recordings without any tricks, other than being mono, medium samplerate, and using a DPCM coding. This gives C&C a huge advantage over most contemporary games, which either had to rely on unpredictable quality MIDI music or low capacity CD music that would cut down on available space on the CD's too, or the relatively large CPU consumption of tracker music. All in all it means both games have a large soundtrack that sounds great everywhere, and Frank Klepacki had full freedom to use any effects and instruments he could get his hands on.
nielsm fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Jan 13, 2019 |
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Jan 13, 2019 19:08
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Two real quick things. The ad linked in the OP was one of two ads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxXkbxF7z0w That's the other one, not as cheesy as the first, but does feature the most 90's room ever. The other one I want to bring in is this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3WGBQKccF8 That's the composer of these games, playing hell march on his guitar in his office.
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Jan 13, 2019 23:51
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FYI I fixed the sound issues with all of the First Decade games not having in-game sound by... installing my Realtek sound drivers instead of using the default Microsoft ones Now I can play along 
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Jan 13, 2019 23:59
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Calax posted:Two real quick things. There's actually 4 sizzle reels I could find, and here they are in "better" quality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPr6Pz3IInk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x3POAAepx4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYUTvqqlS6I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o7aqglKATs
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Jan 14, 2019 00:41
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Allied Mission 02 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyD543v8_6I Allied Mission 02  The year 19XX, we know exactly what year it is, but the current political climate is hectic at best. While the player knows it is an alternate timeline, nobody aside from Einstein and the aide has alluded to such knowledge yet. And, for all we know, the alternate timeline may have erased their memories. Timelines get weird. Soviet Russia has captured Einstein, through unknown means, and we have recently rescued him from captivity. In addition to this, it appears the Soviets have decided to attack the Allied Forces, an alliance formed by most European nations out of fear of Soviet aggression. Despite this attempt to mitigate an attack across national borders, it is now up to the Allies to try to survive. To that end, there is a convoy carrying vital supplies near the Czechoslovakian-Polish border   Possibly in the region of Jesenik/Ostrava/Prudnik. Based on some google-map'ing.  Location: Unknown, Czechoslovakian-Polish border Objective: Clear the area so that the Convoy can reach their destination. Briefing: A critical supply convoy is due through this area in 25 minutes, but Soviet forces have blocked the road in several places. Unless you can clear them out, those supplies will never make it to the front. The convoy will come from the northwest, and time is short so work quickly. Author's note: A nice, simple introduction to base-building with plenty of reinforcements that reminded me of the first NOD mission in Tiberian Dawn.   Name: General Von Esling Aliases: None Affiliation: Allies Occupation: Commander of the Allied forces in Europe Voiced/Played by: Arthur Roberts A seemingly no-nonsense leader who is willing to try unorthodox means if it means completing his goals.  Name: Nikos(?) Aliases: None Affiliation: Allies Occupation: Commander within the Allied forces Voiced/Played by: Barry Kramer A stickler for the rules, and unwilling to use outside help.   TENT BARRACKS ARMOR: Light PURPOSE: Trains Infantry units The Tent Barracks is where all Allied infantry are trained. Some advanced / special infantry units may not be available until other structures are built. Author's Note: The Allied infantry building. Its called TENT Barracks because the Soviet building is also called the Barracks.  PILLBOX ARMOR: Medium PURPOSE: Anti-infantry defense Armed with a rapid fire vulcan cannon, the Pillbox is ideal for defending your base from enemy infantry attacks. Author's Note: Your basic defense building against infantry units.  POWER PLANT ARMOR: Light PURPOSE: Provides power for base structures The standard Power Plant. Power output is directly related to the Power Plant’s condition, so protect them during battles. Author's Note: The regular Power Plant generates 100 Power.  ORE REFINERY ARMOR: Light PURPOSE: Smelts, stores, holds, and converts ore into spendable credits. The Refinery smelts ore into its component elements. Building the Refinery immediately deploys an Ore Truck. The Refinery can store up to 2,000 credits of smelted ore. Author's Note: I never really noticed the "Light Armor", but the 2,000 credit storage is nice. That's twice more than in TD!  SANDBAG BARRIER ARMOR: Light PURPOSE: Passive defense The Sandbag Barrier is good for stopping non tracked vehicles and infantry. All tracked vehicles can run right over this barrier. Author's Note: No more sandbag exploits  . ORE SILO ARMOR: Light PURPOSE: Holds smelted ore This Silo can hold up to 1,500 credits of smelted ore. Guard it carefully. If destroyed or stolen, the amount stored is deducted from your account. Author's Note: The only change is that it's now a 1-tile building, instead of 2.  Construction Yard ARMOR: Heavy PURPOSE: Allows construction of all other base structures The Construction Yard is the foundation of a base and allows the construction of other buildings. Author's Note: Nothing to say, really. It is the building you want to keep alive, at all costs.  MCV* RANGE: N/A ARMOR: Heavy WEAPON: None The Mobile Construction Vehicle allows creation or expansion of a base. Although expensive, the MCV is useful to have around if the original Construction Yard (a favorite target of the enemy) is destroyed or captured. As with any other construction facility, the more of them you have, the faster construction will proceed. Author's Note: An MCV costs half as much as its Tiberian Dawn counterpart, $2500. With such a decrease in cost, its now much easier to expand.  MEDIC RANGE: N/A ARMOR: None WEAPON: Bandages Any friendly infantry near the Medic will automatically be healed to full health. Although a Medic cannot heal himself, Medics working in teams make excellent additions to any infantry force. Author's Note: One of the best additions to the Allied arsenal. Barring one-hit kills, the Medic can extend the value of an infantry force by a large amount.  ROCKET SOLDIER RANGE: Medium ARMOR: None WEAPON: Dragon TOW rocket Capable of rapidly damaging armored units, these infantry make up for their lack of speed with a powerful punch. In addition to dealing with ground targets, their missiles are also effective against airborne attackers. Author's Note: The only thing Rocket Soldiers do poorly is attacking/damaging infantry units.  ORE TRUCK RANGE: N/A ARMOR: Heavy WEAPON: None The Ore Truck collects raw, unprocessed ore. Although slow, it is heavily armored, able to withstand a hammering and still escape intact. Author's Note: Named "Harvesters" in the rules.ini file, they get one great upgrade from Tiberian Dawn. They have the Mammoth Tank's self-healing ability, again up to half their HP. Jobbo_Fett fucked around with this message at 03:04 on Jan 15, 2019 |
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Jan 14, 2019 23:12
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