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[Bolkonskij]

Looks like the Mac-exclusive MMORPG Oberin is still around. It's essentially a game where you create your virtual alter ego in a fantasy world. It's heavily inspired by Ultima Online (which never made it to the Mac) but has its own characteristics.

What makes it really interesting is that this Online-Roleplaying game will work on OS9 in 2024. That's amazing! The client can be downloaded from the above page or the respective Mac Garden page.

Anyone among you playing it? I think it'd be fun to sign up and play together with ya'll on the weekends, all from our OS 9 machines. We could form an in-game Mac OS 9 Lives guild :-)

Anyone interested in joining too?

[Knezzen]

Wow! Never heard of this. How could I have missed it? Downloading now

[Bolkonskij]

I knew it way back and was surprised to find it is still around and has a small but loyal fan base. Will join up in the evening, at least that's my plan. We shall see what the family has planned

[Knezzen]

I might do that as well. Thanks for the info!

[Jubadub]

Kinda very busy lately, but I would't mind popping by from time to time.

I saw the Garden page for it a few years back, and decided that after I was "done" with Diablo and Diablo II, I would join up in Oberin. Thing is, I just never seem to be "done" with Diablo, and so never played Oberin.

I will try to boot it up this weekend or the next one. Will let you guys know when I do on Hotline.

[xenocide21]

For your considerations, the long time dedicated players have a weekly Saturday morning hunt at 5AM PST/8AM EST and wednesday at 6PM PST/9PM EST (while daylight savings is observed), both typically meet up at Mirith unless other events are occuring in other cities (discord will announce these events usually)

[Bolkonskij]

Thanks! I'll try to be online - hopefully I can finally get a GameMaster to delete my (demo) :-)

I've been playing a few hours by now. It's an interesting experience. It's not a quest based game where you're following along a pre-set path. But it's more like you create a character and are thrust into this world that you need to explore and find your way. It seems quiet flexible in that you can be a craftsman only. Or a warrior - or spend your time fishing?

So far I've found out how to chop trees for logs and mine rocks for ferrite. Which I later managed to smelt into ingots at the local blacksmithy and even created a simple helmet. At one point I managed to create boards out of the chopped logs but I can't remember how I did it :-D

Feeling adventurous, I ran out of my hometown and along a path towards the city of Andris. Little did I know that there were quiet a bunch of monsters along the way and I just made it into Andris barely alive. Phew. I'm not going out there again - yet. :-)

That said, Oberin's world seems massive. I wonder how long it'll take to discover all these cities and villages that I see getting mentioned. Is there a wiki somewhere with more info on the game world and some beginner's tips & tricks maybe?

Only thing I find really annoying is the day/night cycle, as night seems like an eternity and I can barely see anything on the screen. I'm positive there must be something against that (e.g. a lamp or some spell) but I haven't dug up anything. Had a candle at one point but couldn't light it, so just sold it to the supplies store.

[Jubadub]

I spent a few minutes yesterday with Oberin. Uh, how can I say this: it's really clunky to move around and stuff. It's also incredibly sluggish and choppy, even though I'm running the game at full speed AFAIK on an 1.5GHz Mac mini G4 natively and even using a CRT monitor (smoother) at 75Hz.

I'm sure it's a matter of getting used to, but it honestly feels pretty terrible to play... And the really-not-good music deepens that feeling, but I'm a purist, so I'm not yet using my own music over it.

That being said, I can see the appeal. But you have to give it a really big, real chance in order to let the appeal shine through.

I had similar issues playing Ambrosia's Cythera, although that one did not feel as clunky. But, Oberin is an MMORPG, so it has that going for it.

If for nothing else other than preservation, though, I wish the server software and all the source code for both server and client were also shared. It'd also feel more "liberating" that way.

I will keep trying out Oberin over time, though. Little by little, who knows, I may even get to like it? @Bolkonskij I'm amazed you already got as far as you did all things considered! You are seeking advice from the long-timers, but in my eyes you already became a master compared to me!

[Bolkonskij]

Really, I'm surprised because my mileage DOES differ. I'm running the game on a Mini @ 1,42 Ghz and OS 9.2.2 and I do not experience the sluggishness. Did you up the RAM for the application to 256 MB? Knezzen didn't do and ran into graphical glitches. It faded after he upped the RAM and I can see that xenocide21 also added a note about this on the Mac Garden page. Please try and try again.

Music is a question of taste - I loved to hear Pachelbel play but then just switch it off and stream your favorite web radio in SoundJam MP in the background. I did too :-)

I ran into a bunch of 6-7 human players yesterday in Mirith (?). They gave me some excellent advice on various topics. Like to stay in the fishing village Ler-something in the beginning to get a grasp of the game. Or the fact that you can drop items at the bank to have them put in a storage (really helpful). Oberin really is quiet a complex game and there is very little hand holding and a lot of sandbox type of exploration. I love the going-at-my-own-speed thing but I can see how people don't.

I died the first time in the game yesterday. Frankly because I was stupid and ran out into an era with far too strong monsters. When you die, you continue as a ghost and you need to run back into the closest city's temple to be revived.

What are the nicks of ya'll? I'm "Sir Bolko". You can add me to your party list and see whenever I'm online that way. Maybe we can manage to meet in-game ?

[Jubadub]

Yeah, I bumped the RAM up even before @xenocide21 wrote the advice, the game is just slow/clunky overall. It seems to be just as how the game is supposed to work. Not that it's that big of an issue, it's more of a matter of getting used to.

[Bolkonskij]

Ah yes! Have you played the later Ultima games? It's pretty comparable. The speed is generally speaking rather slow, so it's not a game about hand-eye coordination. Even when in a fight, you do get your time to think. Overall game speeds is rather relaxed, which I enjoy but then I'm fully aware that tastes differ.

Here's a screenshot of me running into the helpful party: http://revontulet.org/2024/12/02/ea82b576bc0d475b95342818d16daeda.jpg

(it's dark because it was night, Oberin has a day/night circle)

[xenocide21]

Ah yes, nice to see some people poking their heads in. There is indeed a way to extinguish the darkness, if you find yourself a Druid, they can cast Night Vision, or provide you with a stack of Night Vision potions. Even more importantly, if you go to the temple in any village (other than lerilin) and hand 50 crystals of any color to the priest at the temple, you will receive a pure crystal which you can drop on one of the many portals (the 4 pointed spires in a square found just outside every city) and it will teleport you to them. Red = Andris, Orange = Lerilin, Green = Mirith, Purple = Marali, Blue = Duldrus, Fire = Hell. One thing I can assure you all of, if you are running the game on anything over 1GHz, you are definitely receiving the maximum performance. it is not the kind of game you will be seeing 60 FPS in, in fact id be surprised if its much more than 10 fps, its just the way it is. Wait until you are in a dungeon with 10 other players and 40 mobs on screen, That is when the lag truly hits, and you are questioning your life decisions. as forthe music.... HOW DARE YOU!!! lol im just kididng. but seriously I love the music score, however if you are that hard up on it, they are just midi files, and you can replace the first 5 files in the music folder with renamed midi files. (the 6th one never worked, even though its present in the folder) and finally.... JOIN THE DISCORD!!!!! I understand some of you may dislike discord, but you have almost no hope of becoming part of this games community without discord. you really do need it. All of the game masters can be hailed and found on discord to handle issues or help activate characters, and turn in RTQ rewards and things of the nature. Please join the discord! we dont bite i promise.

[xenocide21]

Ah yes! Have you played the later Ultima games? It's pretty comparable. The speed is generally speaking rather slow, so it's not a game about hand-eye coordination. Even when in a fight, you do get your time to think. Overall game speeds is rather relaxed, which I enjoy but then I'm fully aware that tastes differ.

Here's a screenshot of me running into the helpful party: http://revontulet.org/2024/12/02/ea82b576bc0d475b95342818d16daeda.jpg

(it's dark because it was night, Oberin has a day/night circle)

Everyone there except for Cyric and Ryx is from Japan. these are our normal saturday japanese players, they are here every saturday. Cyric and Ryx on the other hand, they actually live nearby me, in the same state in fact. Cyric is one of the guild leaders from decades past, I in fact have a character in his guild, as I helped him resurrect his guild hall not so long ago. and Ryx is a brand new player who found Oberin about a year ago and started playing the game, and actually stuck around. I have to be honest... not many people have the mental fortitude to stick with oberin. Even I myself, in spite of managing my guild with a couple of active members, and keep the MG and MR sites updated, dont play often anymore.