Universe - Final Rating

Written by MenhirMike

To quote Frodo Baggins: It’s done.

The Universe Wikipedia article has this to say about the development:

Responding to some of the criticism directed at Curse of Enchantia, Core Design described Universe as being "a lot" more logical and less linear than their first adventure game. They also described the text-based system as an improvement over the use of only icons, the benefits being that it allowed conversations between characters and simply "it works". They also acknowledged that Curse of Enchantia had "suffered considerably" due to inclusion of action sequences, something that "adventure gamers don't want in their games”, so the ones in Universe were made "short and simple" enough.

Did Universe deliver on those promises? 

Goblins Quest 3 – Fairy chess

By Ilmari

French opening?

Universe - Won!

Written by MenhirMike

We left the Mekalien crawler with a cloaking device in our hand, where we can insert the Power Gem. This results in a device that’s powerless and devoid of life - wow, for all the trouble we went through to get the Power Gem, it’s been pretty underwhelming so far. Since the Mekalien didn’t give us any direction, I figure that making my way to the Mekalien Defense Outpost one more time would be the way to go. After all, if the Emperor is leading his fleet to war, a defense outpost sounds like a perfect place to meet him and maybe use the cloaking device to sneak aboard his flagship?

Alas, it was not meant to be, there is nothing except for empty space on the defense outpost. Not even a “Go away or be blasted out of space!” warning one would expect when approaching a military base in the middle of an active conflict. While flying around aimlessly again, I finally ran into a Colossus prison ship when entering the Mekhallantor Galaxy, which showcases yet another great piece of artwork. Neat, so maybe I’m going to use the cloaking device to spring Malinaa and Silphinaa out of prison and escape with them in tow?

If only the writing was as good as the art.

Goblins Quest 3 – Day and night

By Ilmari

I had almost forgotten that Blount was supposed to be a professional reporter. I guess the newspaper articles of the events have been penned by the goblin himself, but it’s so easy to forget that when you don’t see the actual process of putting them down. Of course, it has been a tradition since at least Tintin that the famous reporters do more of the hero business than the actual job they get paid for. In any case, Blount had just found an opportunity to do an interview with queen Xina, when something dreadful happened.

It’s full moon again

Universe - The Door into Summer

Written by MenhirMike

We begin this session in the spaceport after our daring escape from Baron Kaleev, ready to buy a ticket out of here. The only ticket is to the Mekanthallor Galaxy, and the airline doesn’t even guarantee that we get there because it’s a conflict zone. I tried to see if the high security ID would buy me a ticket elsewhere, but it cannot be used at all here. I had pretty high hopes when I got it, but so far it’s been completely useless.

I am surprised that Silphinaa’s ID still worked to buy a ticket on a space ship - I guess that Science Fiction authors of the early 90’s couldn’t foresee the TSA? But no such foresight was needed, 1990’s Total Recall had better airport security and required at least a disguise.

It also gave us the awesome shot of an animatronic head opening.

With the ticket in hand we’re entering the landing shuttle that brings us to the freighter, just in time before Kaleev’s droids catch up to us. If the Baron is directly ordered by the Emperor King to chase us, why didn’t he lock down the spaceport to prevent escape? I wonder if Kaleev learned all about law enforcement practices from the Lytton police department. (Thinking about it, Keith and Kaleev do sound somewhat similar, so the theory might have legs.)