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File: Utopolis Life.hold (49 KB)
Downloaded 1911 times.
License: Other
From: Unspecified

In Utopolis Life, you take control of Agrippa, Chief Sorceror, who has recently saved the world (again) from the Eastern Evil.

However, all you really want is to settle down, maybe earn a few Shillings... that sort of thing.

Utopolis Life is a virtual city with money system, bank, muggers, two possible jobs, three houses with two improvement options each, various costumes, and one or two secret rooms as well. Oh, and a Grim Reaper...

zex20913
Level: Smitemaster

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I think there are a lot of rooms here that ought be marked as "non-high scorable".

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CuriousShyRabbit
Level: Smitemaster
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Oh, I agree. I think everything except for the dungeons should be non-high scorable.

hartleyhair
Level: Smiter
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Registered: 08-05-2007
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Done.

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I'm currently working on Jerrik's Dungeon, an oldschool Hold for TCB.

hartleyhair
Level: Smiter
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Hold on, this isn't the final version!

The final version I submitted had checkpoints. It also had some bug fixes.

Permission to update?

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I'm currently working on Jerrik's Dungeon, an oldschool Hold for TCB.

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[Last edited by hartleyhair at 11-10-2007 08:04 AM]

hartleyhair
Level: Smiter
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It does. It also explains why The Academy scripting resets you every other sentence.

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I'm currently working on Jerrik's Dungeon, an oldschool Hold for TCB.

CuriousShyRabbit
Level: Smitemaster
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Registered: 10-14-2006
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You'll need to contact Schik about that. The promote button on the HA board puts the latest uploaded version on the Holds board. If there's been an error, only he can fix it.

I have confirmed that there has been an error. This is not the most recent version that we tested on the HA board. This is an old version from September 9 when a broken link to your hold had to be fixed. Please, everyone hold off on downloading this hold for now.

EDIT: This problem has been resolved.

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[Last edited by CuriousShyRabbit at 11-20-2007 10:30 PM]

Stephen4Louise
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I've posted in the HA thread about this, so Schik should pick up on it next time he's online. hartleyhair, can you PM me or CuriousShyRabbit a link to the correct version of the hold?

Steve.

Oneiromancer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

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I uploaded the correct version, hopefully I did it correctly. Please PM me if I screwed up, as I don't check this board very often.

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"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

CuriousShyRabbit
Level: Smitemaster
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Oneiromancer, you are a good person. I have verified that this is the correct version of Utopolis Life, which was approved by the HAs.

Jatopian
Level: Smitemaster
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I've never enjoyed grinding in RPGs, and I have to say I don't enjoy it here. I'm only giving it a 4 because of the scenery and secrets.

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DROD has some really great music.
Make your pressure plates 3.0 style!
DROD architecture idea generator

bflatjeff
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 93
Registered: 04-04-2006
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Well, OK. I'm new to this style of hold.

Is there anything to do here? A little help after "Go to the bank" might be warranted (or is it simply because I'm unfamiliar with this type of game?). Eventually I found the Employment Center (there's no obvious entrance).

Are there puzzles? Fighting? Anything beside writing sentences and buying stuff?

BbJ

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"Stupid, stupid roach creatures!"
- Beethro Bonekin

CuriousShyRabbit
Level: Smitemaster
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Well... this hold is not for everyone... I did not enjoy it personally, but...

There are puzzles (I count six of them). You get to the puzzles by earning money and buying stuff. After going to the employment center, you should proceed to your place of employment and earn some money. You then use the money at the emporium to buy houses, dungeons, and gardens (if desired).

The puzzles include:
* Fighting monsters in 3 dungeons (I liked the third one). You have to buy the dungeons, and in order to buy a dungeon, you have to own the house it's in.
* Finding two secret rooms (these are worth finding).
* Figuring out how to end the hold (you need a lot of money for this).

Sadly, the tedious earning of money took me more than 20x as much time as solving the puzzles.

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[Last edited by CuriousShyRabbit at 11-21-2007 06:29 AM]

bflatjeff
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 93
Registered: 04-04-2006
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Thanks for the description, CuriousShyRabbit. Now I know.

BbJ

____________________________
"Stupid, stupid roach creatures!"
- Beethro Bonekin

Tahnan
Level: Smitemaster

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CuriousShyRabbit wrote:
Sadly, the tedious earning of money took me more than 20x as much time as solving the puzzles.

And herein lies the problem. While I'm interested to see these rooms, I don't know that I'm interested enough in it to actually tromp around the employment rooms for long enough to accumulate the necessary money.

Jatopian
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1842
Registered: 07-31-2005
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Yep. My recommendation for enjoying this hold is to make a copy of it in the editor, set a custom character at the beginning to give you about 30k, and then play. Go to each job once, just to experience it, but that's it.

____________________________
DROD has some really great music.
Make your pressure plates 3.0 style!
DROD architecture idea generator

Snacko
Level: Smiter
Rank Points: 448
Registered: 06-08-2006
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This hold is completely unlike any other hold I've seen before, and it may be worth a download just to see the kind of things made possible with some unique scripting.

That said, it's a bad hold. Not bad as in unsolvable or tedious rooms, but bad in the sense that thousands of games with amateur engines and MMORPGs are bad, it gives little reward for serious time investment.

The basic idea is that you go to tedious jobs to do tedious work for the abstract idea of shillings. Shillings can be used to buy new character models, bigger houses and house add-ons. The most practical use any of these get are to get more shillings.

So it's not that it's a badly made hold, it's simply that it's an interesting experiment that just happens to make a boring game.

2 for both brains and fun.

____________________________
Director of the Department of Orderly Disruptions

Syntax
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1218
Registered: 05-12-2005
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Great concept and good execution. I think most players prefer DROD puzzles but I enjoyed mastering this hold (though it only said "Conquered").

A lot of the grind can be avoided by finding the secret rooms which rewards you with points. Maybe a more structured layout *forcing* players to explore more would have earned this hold a higher score.

Great concept.

Anson
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 67
Registered: 02-05-2007
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Mastered. A great nice hold, it has no Cons, Infact it was very fun. If DROD had Compition Signing, (for who can complte the hold first) this will be a great hold, even imagine... Other players trying to beat you to the end, with getting more and more shillings, im suggesting this. (not for the hold but for DROD)
Now.. My ratings are 1 Difficulty (i could get money easiliy) and i rate 10 for fun.


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Please, I admire Guthix, I solve problems, I fix rules too. I used to be a Scoundril, Complaining about the forums, But now i changed.

west.logan
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 608
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No no no!

So I was enjoying the game. Seeing what one can do with the scripting and liked all of the little RPG elements. Buying the dungeons for the house and the theaters was a great idea. Little touches like beds and gardens was very aesthetically pleasing.

And then I got to the end. The requirement to beat the end is ridiculous. If one bought all the houses (as I did) and bought all the add-ons (as I did) and bought all the costumes (as I did) and even if you found the hidden treasure, you still have to parse sentences something like 100 times in order to get enough cash to exit the game? What fun is that?

The "death zone". If it's not used for anything then why?
The gardens had nothing in them that I could find. Why?
The houses you buy, you have to re-buy if you buy another. Why? Am I selling the house or donating it to the poor? Why don't I get any money from it when I buy another? I bought the mansion first, then went back to get the others and ended up having to re-buy the mansion, very costly.

Some great ideas here but all in all the fun factor was spoiled by the end.

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-Logan