Legend of the Red Dragon---LORD

So you all might not know this...but one of the most nearest and dearest games to my heart is Legend of the Green Dragon (I play on http://www.lotgd.net). Anyways, the game is an all text-RPG and actually spawns from the game called Legend of the Red Dragon [LORD] which was developed WAAAAAAAY back in the day.

I will put the history down below...but to make a long-story short, the original Legend of the Red Dragon was an old BBS game that could be purchased off of a Gameport website for 15-dollars. But the problem with it was that at some point, my computer was so advanced that it could not play it (or so I thought).
So I fought and fought with the ZIP Folder trying to get everything extracted and trying to get it to run, and it refused.
Then I found a way to play it online with Java hosting...and well, a lot of things happened. I found a horse for one (yay for finding random mounts), then I ran into a bunch of merry-men. At one point I even went to rescue a prince inside some castle, and it turns out that it was a HOLL (A human/troll mix) which violated my body and left me crawling away with only 5HP. Totally graphic for those who have such an imagination. Anyways...for those of you who are interested, you should visit http://www.lord.nuklear.org-play.html and here's a bit of history for you then:

• Legend of the Red Dragon LORD:

[taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Red_Dragon ]

Legend of the Red Dragon (LORD) is a text-based online role-playing video game, released in 1989 by Robinson Technologies.^[1] LORD is one of the best known door games.^[1][2] The player's goal is to improve his or her skills in order to defeat the Red Dragon which has been attacking the village. The software is compatible with DOS, Microsoft Windows, and OS/2.
LORD was created by Seth Robinson of Robinson Technologies and is currently maintained by Michael Preslar. Robinson began to write LORD in Pascal to run on his Bulletin board system. As he did not have access to other door games such as Trade Wars, he needed something that would occasionally bring people back to the BBS. The first version of LORD only featured the chatting and flirting systems. Over time, Robinson incorporated features that he had seen work well in other games: for example, the restricted number of turns per day, and the concept of random events, came from a futuristic casino game. Eventually LORD became a mixture of action and romance.^[2]
Initially only intended to run on his own BBS, Robinson eventually received offers from users who wanted to run it on other systems. After the first sale, word-of-mouth advertising increased its popularity.
LORD was a successful game, and by 1993 many BBSs had active communities of players.^[2] Over the next few years, MUDs began to overtake BBS door games as the multiplayer online format of choice,^[2] and in 1998 Robinson sold the game and its sequel to Metropolis Gameport. He went on to write other small games for PC and mobile platforms. His final release of LORD was version 4.00a.
Metropolis Gameport contracted Michael Preslar on January 8, 2001, to continue the game's development. The most recent version of LORD (4.08) was released in 2009 (via the DOSEMU patch archive). According to Preslar, further updates to the LORD software are planned, including a web application and versions for ELF-compatible Linux and Unix systems (completed but available only to beta testers).

[edit] Gameplay

The premise of LORD is that a Red Dragon is wreaking havoc in a town where the player has recently arrived. Multiple players compete over a period of weeks to advance their skills and to kill the dragon. In order to achieve this goal, players must face combat to gain experience. Once they have gained enough experience, they must face their master at Turgon's Warrior Training and advance in skill level. Advancement presents stronger enemies and masters; a player must reach level 12, the final level, before challenging Turgon himself and attacking the dragon.
As a BBS game, LORD uses a text-only interface.^[1] Later versions of LORD made use of RIP (Remote Imaging Protocol) graphics, and required the use of a RIP client to view.
Players select a character class, choosing from among Death Knight Skills, Mystical Skills, and Thieving Skills. While a player is training in a particular skill, s/he is subject to random events in the woods for that particular skill, which provide opportunities for advancement. Eventually, players may master all three skills.
Players can take a certain number of actions every day. Actions could be to fight monsters in the forest, attack other players or to attempt to slay the Red Dragon itself. In addition, every day a player can send a "flirt" to another player character which may range from a shy wink, to sex, to a marriage proposal. Sex may result in contracting sexually transmitted diseases, and female characters might become pregnant.^[2]
There are three non-player characters located at the Inn: Seth Able the bard, Violet the barmaid, and the unnamed Bartender. Seth Able the bard will sing a song for a player. Once a day, players can listen to Seth's song and receive a bonus, such as the doubling of one's bank account, or additional forest or player vs. player fight opportunities. The Bartender provides services and information to any warrior who can pay him in gold or gems, but provides nothing for free.
Male players can also flirt with Violet, and female players with Seth Able (named after Robinson^[2]), in a fashion similar to flirting with other players. Success is based on the player's charm points. A marriage to Violet or Seth may last one day or two months or more; unlike player-player marriages, the software may terminate these bonds at any time. During marriage, offspring are possible, and these bring sometimes surprising benefits to warriors.
LORD allows many players to play simultaneously, in BBSs that support it. This allows real-time player-versus-player battles.
LORD features several in-game message boards, as well as a limited electronic mail system, which allow players to converse. Players may use the mail system to send flirtations to other players of the opposite sex, propose trysts, or marriage (only marriages lead to the conception of children).
The registration system let all players play right up until level six, then it wouldn't allow players to get past to level 7 until the program was registered. Users often sent in funds for that very purpose.



Legend of the GREY Dragon = ANGRY face~!!!

So I do not expect a lot of you to know what it is that I am talking about...but Legend of the Grey Dragon is something that has made me quite bitter towards all-text RPG's. I for one...am a gamer girl who roleplays. My roleplaying career started when I joined what was called "Legend of the Green Dragon" on lotgd.com ---
The server was once host to a Green Dragon all-text RPG with strict rules and regulations on how you had to play. For one, you could only create a character if you could give a valid e-mail address which they would send a link to.
Also, you had to be a certain age to play. Once you got in-game, you could not travel to other worlds until you had gotten your first kill of the Green Dragon and etc, etc, etc. The world was not at all friendly towards noobies like me...and I often found myself getting deleted. Well, then a friend of mine told me about another Green Dragon server. This one was called Lotgd.net <---(obviously different domain ending than .com).
http://www.lotgd.net/ Was not as strict on its rules of play...also, not as strict when it came to creating characters. Also, I found that the atmosphere was lighter and more friendly, and in no time, I was hooked on the game and was learning how to role-play as my elven-character.

Anyways...long-story-short...awhile ago, I wanted to go back to the .COM server to create a new character and try and make a name for myself. But, when I went back to the server...it would turn out that not only was the Green Dragon gone from the site...they had 2-new games: "Legend of the GOLD Dragon" and "Legend of the GREY Dragon".

Well the GOLD server had players...but was cut-off from all access. Strangely enough, the GREY server could still be accessed so I made a character. The format is weird. You are playing as Saxon's Nomads, things from human-history. There are no fantasy creatures, EXCEPT the Dragon itself, and exp is gained the same (through fighting in the forest).
But the town Square has different sections and each section holds different areas of venture. To get armor and/or weapons you must go to one place, enter a different build, then pick the shop, only to get sent back to the main village and have to go the same route again to get to the other shop which was in the same building. Instead of getting waylaid by traveling, you are struck by lightning, robbed, and everything else before making it to your destination, and its all sorts of messed up.
And the F.A.Q. is taken from the original servers of the Green Dragon, so they do not match with the game play of the Grey Dragon at all.

I have finally gotten it all figured out (though I died twice)...but all-in-all this version just makes me angry and gets me frustrated. I will eventually write about my life in the Green Dragon Servers, but until then I'm going to do my best to get the hang of this Grey Dragon and then make that world my own. Sound good?



--Evolution of Mario--

When you say 'Mario'...even the children of the newer generations know of who you are speaking about. Even though he is a character that began back in the day of Arcade games and the original Nintendo...Mario is still around today.
I was lucky enough to have an older brother who had gotten one of the original Nintendo game systems. And so, I was able to play the original "Mario Bro's" games when I was really young. Then, when I got the Super Nintendo...in 1991 they had released "Super Mario World", which was on the "Super Mario All Stars" game, and I was able to play that. The character has changed so much...from going from 8-bit, through the 16-bit stage, then to 2D, and finally 3D. Mario is a hero for all ages!

--Nintendo, Super Nintendo, N64, Gamecube, and the Nintendo Wii--

Anyways...I wont go into the whole history of Mario...just thought I would entertain you with some pictures I found on the web to show you just what I am talking about when I write: "This is the evolution of Mario"~!!!





My newest DS Game---Finally playing Final Fantasy III

This is one of those times where I'm not going to go in-depth about the history of a game...but I wanted to let everyone know what I'm interested in at the moment. My Pokemon high has been gone for some time, and while in Disc Replay the other day with Taz (and her brother Marchello), we had some in-store credits that we decided to blow.

Taz got this vocabulary game...and as for me I picked out Final Fantasy III for the Nintendo DS.

All of my friends know that I am a Final Fantasy nerd...merchandise, video games, strategy guides...it doesn't matter, I will collect anything. Naturally, I am not a big fan of the old-school games with the pixel fighters and all those professions and what-not. Plus, all the story lines seem remotely the same all the way up until Final Fantasy 7---but hey, beggars cannot be choosers, right?

The storyline revolves around the world falling into Darkness and the discovery of the crystals...same as all the old Final Fantasy tales. And instead of having different characters with different specialities and talents, you instead give your character a profession or 'job' which you level them up in. Jobs range from: Warrior, Knight, Dark Knight, Monk, Blackbelt, Ranger, Evoker, Summoner, Black Mage, White Mage, Magus, Adept, Sage, Scholar, Bard, Ranger, Dragoon, Geomancer, Red Mage, and etc.

You have to choose your classes wisely to progress through the game.

I haven't played that much into it...but so far, it's pretty basic. You move from town-to-town, acquire vessels which can transport you over water, over the mountains, and etc. You fly around from city-to-city and complete quests to advance through your storyline...and you try not to die.

For the DS...the game has been redone with new 3D character and area graphics, and the battle system is also 3D as well. The music score is similar to the older games, but that isn't a problem. And there is nothing advanced that has to be done using the touch screen which is good. I don't know...we will see what happens.



Can't Resist the Rabbids---!

*<3*--------*<3*

Does anyone truly remember the old Rayman games? This was obviously before the rabbids time...but they came shortly afterwards (and then there's the fact that the two go hand-in-hand...or did until recently). I myself never liked the classic version of Rayman and found myself skipping it when looking for new video games to play at Blockbuster...

BUT I JUST CANNOT RESIST THOSE RABBIDS!!!

• The Old Rayman Games:

[ taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayman_(video_game) ]

Rayman is a 2D platform video game developed by Ludimedia (which subsequently would become Ubisoft Montpellier in 1996) and designed and published by Ubisoft. It was released on September 1, 1995, for the PlayStation. One year later it was released for the Atari Jaguar, and two months later, a Sega Saturn port was released. On April 30, 1996, an MS-DOS port was released. A port was planned for the Sega 32X, but was cancelled due to the system's low popularity.^{[citation needed]}
The traditional side-scrolling game is about the titular character's quest to save his world from the evil Mr. Dark. The latter has stolen the Great Protoon, which maintains the planet's harmony and balance, and locked away the Electoons, who previously gravitated around it. To save his world, Rayman journeys through six realms, culminating in a battle against Mr. Dark in his cake-themed lair the Candy Chateau. The game features detailed cartoonish graphics, smooth animations at 60 (or 50 in PAL regions) frames per second, and the use of up to 65,000 colours.^[2]



• When the Rabbids Came:

[Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayman]

The Raving Rabbid series is based around Rabbids.
Rabbids originated from rabbits that were bred for extensive experimentation for the international space programs to collect the medical knowledge to support human space exploration. Unfortunately the rabbits became rabbid with rabies like symptoms and were transported to the quarantine center. It was there where an unsuspecting janitor was cleaning, that the rabbids reached through the cage and grabbed his plungers, escaping to the space shuttles and began creating havoc throughout the universe.
Rabbids became a species of maniacal anthropomorphic rabbits that serve as the primary antagonists. Their most well known traits feature various slapstick comedy elements; running around wielding various household objects, dressing up as various other fictional characters, and most of all, constant screaming. Although essentially the "villain" in the game, they have gained a considerable popularity and fanbase through viral videos and media appearances. Many people even suspect them to overshadow Rayman, despite hints that there could be a Rayman 4.^[2][3] The Rabbids left the Rayman series to form a series of their own with the release of Rabbids Go Home in November 2009 and Raving Rabbids: Travel in Time. In October 2010, Ubisoft and Aardman announced a partnership to produce a TV series pilot and several shorts based on the franchise.^[4]
The Rabbids appear as humanoid, stout, usually white lagomorphs with big round eyes and a large mouth with two large incisors. Rabbids tend to be somewhat mentally unstable, and often experience strange adrenaline rushes, where their eyes turn red and they emit a loud yell: DAAAAAAAAH! (although spelled "BWAAAAAAAH!") Other than this, their only communication seems to be random gibberish. This is also often a precursor of the bunny smashing something or attacking someone with its tool of choice, usually a toilet plunger or something plunger-related, such as a plunger-shooter, or other household items, such as feather dusters, ladles, toilet brushes, toy shovels, tennis rackets, sausages and other objects. Rabbids also have a penchant for dressing up. These outfits include French maid outfits, snorkels with duck-shaped swim rings, ninja suits, pirate outfits, and various other pop culture costumes. The Rabbids have made several appearances in non-Rayman games as well, such as Red Steel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up, and Splinter Cell Conviction.

• My Addiction:

My addiciton to the Rabbids came when Taz and I took a trip to Family Video. Because she had recently rented a couple of movies from them, she had coupons which gave her discounts and even gave her one free rental. When she asked me if I would like to rent a movie for us to watch, I wasn't about to refuse the opportunity to get out of the house.

Either way...once we got there, waling around the video store proved tedious, and because Taz and I share different interests in the genre of our videos, I figured I would just let her pick something in hopes that it would be good...so I walked through the video-game section. Taz soon found me...blah,blah,blah...and soon we were looking at the different things they had for PS2 and the PS3 that we could take home.

We wanted to try "Destroy All Humans" because we had been looking at it when we went to disc Replay, but we never brought it home. Then the game called "Obscure" caught my and Taz's attention because it was a horror-mystery game (which Taz has been addicted to as of late) and it offered co-op play...so we wanted that.

Then Taz saw Ravin' Rabbids and I rolled my eyes. I told her that I had heard it was a fun game, but had never played it myself. She just thought the bunnies looked fun and we decided to rent that one also.

We took our games home and started playing them. We started with the alien one, and when that got boring, we decided that we were going to try Ravin' Rabbids. So we popped it in, made a file (Taz was disappointed that you played as Rayman and not a bunny), and then we were swept away into the mad world of the Rabbids.

Tossing cows, Shooting plungers, slamming bathroom doors, and dancing to every hit and smooth jig. It was wacky, kooky, crazy, violent, and all-out hilarious. It was because of this that (when Taz bought me a Wii), we ended up getting the Rabbids party-pack (complete with 3 games) and have been playing that.

• The PS2 version [VS] the Nintendo Wii version.

There is not much of a difference when it comes the PS2 version of the Ravin' Rabbids game versus the Nintendo Wii version of the games. In fact, the only differences between the two games is the controls---(obviously a controller in the case of a PS2 and then a Wii Remote & Nunchuck for the Wii). That and the Wii allows for the Nintendo Wi-fi Connection which makes for universal play.