Merchant Prince II

Zkribbler · May 20, 2001, 13:38

Once upon a time, there was the never-popular "Merchant Prince."

But the wise makers changed its name to "Machiavelli, the Prince" and it was named stategy game of the year, and it became Zkribbler's favorite game of all time.

Then came the dark days of Windows 95, and all the great MOS-DOS games were put on the shelf to gather dust. However, the wise makers have finally gotten off their royal duffs and have re-released "Machiavelli, the Prince" in a version that can be played on Windows 95/98/Me.

The idiots in marketing have decided to resurrect the never-popular name of "Merchant Prince," and they have put a demo game that is really boring because it omits the best parts of the game and have made it nearly impossible to win.

Nonetheless, I played the demo last night, just to make sure the game was the same. The only thing the game appears to have added is a tech tree. I couldn't find the icon to push to build mansions, to buy art, and to throw parties, but I know it's there somewhere because one of my computer opponents built himself a mansion. (Yeah, I shudda gone to the Den of Eniquity and hired an arsonist to burn it down.)

So I'm off this morning to buy myself a copy!!

Soon, I'll be exploring the world, bringing back religious artifacts and precious commodities, bribing senators, buying off cardinals, spreading slanders, embezzling money from the treasury of Venice, and perhaps even assassinating the Pope.

Chowlett · May 20, 2001, 16:50

Being the cheapskate that I am

, and liking generally to try before I buy, I picked up the original game from the Underdogs site. It's DOS only, but complains that...

"You need 512k SVGA available. Try loading VESA drivers"

Or something very similar. Anyone got any ideas how to make it work?

The Rusty Gamer · May 20, 2001, 21:27

I had a little play with the demo, couldn't believe the outdated graphics, and couldn't figure out how to play it anyway since I've never played the original. Doesn't seem worth the bother. Can someone persuade me otherwise?

------------------
"If you post something often enough, people will start to read it"
[This message has been edited by Russell (edited May 20, 2001).]

Chowlett · May 20, 2001, 22:18

Point of fact, Underdogs mentions the new version as well. They give it a storming review, granting it a Top Dog award, and saying "two thumbs up". Interestingly, however, the user rating is only about 5.4 out of 10.

Urban Ranger · May 20, 2001, 23:15

quote:

Originally posted by Chowlett on 05-20-2001 04:50 PM
Being the cheapskate that I am

, and liking generally to try before I buy, I picked up the original game from the Underdogs site. It's DOS only, but complains that...

"You need 512k SVGA available. Try loading VESA drivers"

Or something very similar. Anyone got any ideas how to make it work?

You probably have a graphics card so new that the game wouldn't know anything about. Remember in the good old days of DOS the game must know how to work with the hardware directly. Go to the Website of the card maker and see if they have any VESA drivers for DOS.
[This message has been edited by Urban Ranger (edited May 20, 2001).]

Zkribbler · May 21, 2001, 01:59

quote:

Originally posted by Russell on 05-20-2001 09:27 PM
couldn't believe the outdated graphics, and couldn't figure out how to play it

You're right on both accounts. The graphics have improved little since the original--in some ways I like the old graphis better. And without rules, it's a really tough game to figure out.

The other bad thing about the demo is that it ends after only 15 years. That only gives you enough time to do some trading and a little exploring, two of the more mundane aspects of the game.

When the game starts getting exciting is when you get enough money to start bribing senators and buying cardinals. Getting elected Doge of Venice and/or Pope (via your puppets) is a real kick in the head. As Doge, you can appoint yourself Council Head and start hanging opposing senators for treason. As Pope, you can call a crusade and go kick the snot out of some city that won't trade with you. Then there's the assassinations, the slanders and some occastional arson.

Currently, I'm 50 turns into a 60-turn game. I have Michelanglo designing some artwork for my villa.

I'm Doge, and I control the entire Council of 10 in the Senate

having used bribery, claims of treason and assassination to eliminate all rivals. I control more cardinals than any other player, but I have nowhere near a majority. I'm hoping my popularity will bring in enough votes to get me elected when the current Pope dies.
[This message has been edited by Zkribbler (edited May 21, 2001).]

Chowlett · May 21, 2001, 05:37

quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger on 05-20-2001 11:15 PM

You probably have a graphics card so new that the game wouldn't know anything about. Remember in the good old days of DOS the game must know how to work with the hardware directly. Go to the Website of the card maker and see if they have any VESA drivers for DOS.
[This message has been edited by Urban Ranger (edited May 20, 2001).]

Thanks UR. Neither Creative nor Nvidia list DOS/VESA drivers for my Creative Blaster GeForce 2 GTS (why do they have to have such long names), but I emailed Creative tech support just in case.

Ari Rahikkala · May 23, 2001, 04:48

Chowlett: You can also try the univbe, universal VESA driver. Try picking it up from http://jason-n3xt.org/dos/ (it's in the TechW0rm bootdisk). I hope it works.

Chowlett · May 23, 2001, 05:28

Thanks LightEning, I'll give that a go. Creative emailed back with a wonderfully concise email, the entirety of which was:

"Dear Customer

There is no VESA drivers for that model.

Best Regards
Timo
Tech Support
Creative Labs"

Glad to see they get taught grammar as well....

Zkribbler · May 24, 2001, 01:40

Ah, my first game is over.

After 50 turns, one of my rivals got elected pope.

Luckily, he was a greedy son-of-a-gun. In each of his first two years, he sold six new cardinalships. So guess who bought them?

Meanwhile, I was busy researching poison.

Suddenly, the pope is assassinated.

Nobody knows who did it.

<- me

However, when it comes to electing a replacement pope, guess who now controls the majority of cardinals and thus gets elected.

So at the end of this 60-turn game, my faction controls the Pope, most of the College of Cardinals, the Doge, the complete Counsel of 10, and the admiral.

Plus, my popularity rating is a solid 95%.

I score a 127%.

Urban Ranger · May 24, 2001, 07:49

Chowlett,

That's why it's good to have some really old hardware sitting around, preferably assembled in the form of a DOS machine.

Chowlett · June 2, 2001, 18:10

Argh, stupid cookies, stopping me post

. Thanks Dan for fixing it

!

But anyway - yes, an old graphics card would be quite useful now and again. I suppose I could stick one in a spare slot if I got my hands on one...

Urban Ranger · June 3, 2001, 12:09

There are a couple of local computer shops look like junkyards. They probably got some stuff that can go into museums

Phssthpok · June 15, 2001, 18:16

I don't think the video detection is any better in the new version.
When I start the game it just locks up - and looking at error.txt I just get:

Failed video RAM requirement test: 640x480 and only 1039872 meg available
Failed video RAM requirement test: 800x600 and only 1039872 meg available
Failed video RAM requirement test: 1024x768 and only 1039872 meg available
No valid video modes detected!

Wow ! 1 Gig video memeory and it STILL wont run?

Hardware requirements sure are stiff these days...

John-SJ · June 15, 2001, 20:13

Phsst,

You're mistaken I'm afraid. That's 1,039 Gig and it still won't run!

Not that it matters...

John-SJ

Phssthpok · June 20, 2001, 16:00

Sorry, my mistake.
BTW I did get it running by turning down the hardware acceleration - but then my TV card wouldn't overlay and the picture quality dropped to something like a bad MPEG. Sigh.

( Thinking about this further it must be 1015.5 Gigs

)

Grumbold · June 26, 2001, 18:40

I used to play the Dos version on Windows 95 but I wouldn't be surprised if it is unusable on W2K. The game was great fun multiplayer but a lucky start could horribly unbalance the game (like finding holy relics). I would not want to play the old version single player ever again and certainly wouldn't pay money to get a Windows version that looks as bad as the replacement. They really must have tried very hard to get graphics to look that dated in this day and age. Very disappointing considering the potential that was there for creating another classic, for once focussing on victory through trade and politics more than through warfare.

DarkCloud · June 27, 2001, 12:03

So what is this game? Just a windows version for Machavelli: The Prince, not truly an upgrade?

I have looked at the game on store shelves and the two look remarkably alike.

(p.s. I did like Machavelli [the original game])

Phssthpok · July 1, 2001, 11:36

Apart from a new research option, yes it's basicly just a Windows version with new graphics. The research is just a mail order sort of thing, ie you pays your money and gets the tech next turn. It's got some cool ideas (cheaper bribes, increased defence etc) but otherwise it's just a pain - you only start with small galley + donkey caravan and have to pay for the other ships. (still get a small cog to start with tho, wierd...) IMO the music + sound in the original is much better.

pchang · July 2, 2001, 13:35

I remeber the old DOS game. The idea was good, but it got kind of boring after a while. You just sat around watching all your trade routes move about.