Talk:Obitus

Article needs rework (Plot,Gameplay)
There are two major problems with this article. First, the Plot is wrong, in the original Obitus Manual (IBM-Version), there is a thoroghly different plot. (It refers to a King Circassia, who is infertile, and seeks help from the wizard DomakK, who helps him to get four Children, who are cursed to hate each other, and his Kingdom is divided into four shires. Then suddenly a strage menacing machine (the tower) appears at the four shire area, and the four lords take parts from it to cause fear. This leds to a cold war between the shires. Wil Mason, who traveled time has to reassemble the machine to leave the land.) I assume, that the author of the article used a Nintendo-Port, as source, a Nintendo tends to change videogames ported to their devices (see Maniac Mansion). I never saw the Nintendo Port, but if that is true, you could keep it in. The other Versions (IBM,etc...) seem to use all the same Plot (with Domakk and Circassia), and so theirs can be considered canon. The second problem is the Gameplay. Obitus is not a sole Maze Game, it features three different regions, with all have a different gameplay. It has maze sections (in first person perspectives), paralax sections (jump and run gameplay, but more focused on martial art that shooting) and interios sections (point and click adventure). Further, the food is not a need to hurry up. Food in Obitus are simply healing items,indistinguishable from potions, that replentish health. The character cannot starve to dead (as opposed to Nethack). Maybe the author confused starvation with bleeding to death, that happens if you are already injured. Further, the character looses health from heavy lifting, so carrying the large gems, may kill you gradually (that is why you should drop most of your inventory when recovering the gem in the catacombs).

In General, the Gameplay-Differences between ports are an interesting point, maybe they should be listed. I know the IBM version, and there is an online review, that deals with the Nintendo version (that trasgresses the most), and that shows some differences :
 * In the DOS Version, there is no Darkness, the Torches do nothing. This is presumely due to the low colour depth, as the DOS version supports CGA graphics among others. The Nintendo version implements darkness. I am not sure, if Armstard and Amiga have Darkness, as this might be something DOS specific, as there must be a reason, why torches are implemented in the original version.
 * The Nintendo Version seems to have random encounters, so characters might pop up if you sleep in the wrong place. The others don't have theese, and everything is in fixed locations.
 * In the original Versions special enemys require special weapons. The Knight at the beginning for example can only be killed with explosives, and is completly imune to arrows and daggers. Also, the final Boss requires a magical weapon, that can be acquired, by solving the quest with the book. In the Nintendo Version, all bosses can be killed with every weapon, so the game looses much of its depth.
 * In the Nintendo version, there seem to bee some hostile wizards in every castle, that are not there in the original versions.

Bugs : I am not sure, if this should go in the article, but for completeness, here is a list of bugs (IBM version)
 * If you start the game in VGA 256 colour mode, the game may crash after the cutscene with the lightning. The reason seems to be an uninitialised variable, because if you load the game in EGA mode, quit and then restart in VGA mode everything is OK. An easier way to pull this off is to write a short assembler programe, that sets the whole conventional memory to zero. It is worth the afford, because the graphics in VGA mode are really amazing (for the time it was released)
 * If you enter the Stoneridge Cave from the catacombs, and approach to the Character "Morold" you get some graphical errors. It seems, that the reason is, that there are no sprites for him from the distance. Maybe it was never intended to enter the Stoneridge Csves from the catacombs, but it helps to avoid the dangerous Stonridge road.
 * The Knights in Burvilleshire are reported to serve lord Blackstone, while the Knights in Blackstoneshire are reported to serve lord Burville. This might be a hint to an invasions, but seems to be a bug.

--79.200.69.153 (talk) 15:37, 26 September 2014 (UTC)