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John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 2:42 pm
by robcook
So a week or so ago I sent a load of Oric .tap files to John Gage to review. He replied that he gets lots of review requests so asked for just one, I chose Damsel 'cos I know how angry he gets at hard games and they don't come more difficult than Damsel! I haven't watched it yet but be warned, there is likely to be a lot of swearing! The comments are also funny :) ie. "That game would test the patience of the Dalai lama!" and "Wow - that first level is just ridiculous."

Enjoy :)



I'll send him something a bit easier for the next review!

Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 7:28 pm
by kenneth
His comments reminds me Don't Press The Letter Q...in the other way. :mrgreen:

Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2020 10:30 am
by ibisum
Every time I see this game I think it'd be the perfect target object of a game-playing machine learning project. I don't think there's any other way to complete it.

I remember the author showing up once, telling us he and his fellow programmer didn't think it was too hard - but that they'd been testing it so much they didn't notice it had become unplayable. ;)

Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2020 11:29 am
by Dbug
I wonder if it's a game that would be possible to disassemble, and tweak the levels so they are more user friendly :)

Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2020 6:08 pm
by mikeb
Would it be fairer to ship Damsel In Distress along with the "cheat-code secret keypress" (requires 10 key depressed simultanously ... and for some reason the published code in OUM/Your Oric didn't actually work for me, I ended up finding another set of 10 keys that worked on my machine!)

That way you can skip forward to level 2+ and play the other levels.

Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2020 7:38 pm
by robcook
I think every level was equally ridiculous from my hazy memory of using the level-jump cheat. It didn't make the experience any more fun for me :)

I have dispatched the next game to John for review - Oricium. Should get a less annoyed result.

Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2020 7:52 pm
by Symoon
IIRC I finished the game completely to make screen grabs for oric.org. But of course I used the save/restore from Euphoric, after each jump ;)
BTW, loved the conclusion on the video :D

Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:44 am
by robcook
I just spotted this OTHER video about Damsel In Distress, along with Lone Raider, posted on another YouTube channel less than 24 hours ago. It's a long watch at almost an hour - haven't watched it yet but fully intend to today. Enjoy!


Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2020 4:05 pm
by robcook
As requested, John Gage has now reviewed Oricium :) Will watch the vid shortly but his comments appear much more favourable than Damsel's!


Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:25 pm
by Steve M
Maybe you should try reviewing some games, Rob. I think you'd do a better job.

Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:40 pm
by robcook
Steve M wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:25 pm Maybe you should try reviewing some games, Rob. I think you'd do a better job.
Heh. I don't fancy being 'out there' with a YouTube channel. Too shy these days! I applaud those who are brave enough to put themselves in the firing line though. Maybe a website... that'd be more my area. I used to own the oric.net domain until I stupidly let it expire, which would've been ideal.

Btw, having my daily Oric search on YouTube, came across this uploaded in the last 24 hours. Bit weird coverage of Oricium with NO gameplay!


Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:51 pm
by robcook
Well, I just put in a price request for oric.net as it's just a holding page. Within minutes, got this bargain deal:

"oric.net is currently valued: $4,788"

Think I'll pass.

Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2020 11:28 am
by Steve M
What about Atmos.net or 48koric.net ?

Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2020 12:07 pm
by robcook
Steve M wrote: Fri Apr 03, 2020 11:28 am What about Atmos.net or 48koric.net ?
First one is taken. Second available :)

Re: John Gage reviews Damsel In Distress!

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2020 12:41 pm
by robcook
I haven't watched this yet. It's a 12 minute video so looks like he spent a bit of time on it.