EyeOfTheBeholder III

[NubeCheCorre]

Maybe it has been already discussed, but i was wondering about a possible port of EOB III on Amiga.. yes, i know it was a commercial game but maybe today, it is not anymore.. I mean that maybe could be possible to contact the software house (i know it was not developed by WestWoodStudios) and try to ask if it would be possible to have the source files and port it to Amiga, so we can finish the trilogy.. or maybe it would be nice to ask directly to WestWoodStudios if they have their own version of EOBIII and ask them if they would..

What do you think about it? :)

[FOL]

Maybe it has been already discussed, but i was wondering about a possible port of EOB III on Amiga.. yes, i know it was a commercial game but maybe today, it is not anymore.. I mean that maybe could be possible to contact the software house (i know it was not developed by WestWoodStudios) and try to ask if it would be possible to have the source files and port it to Amiga, so we can finish the trilogy.. or maybe it would be nice to ask directly to WestWoodStudios if they have their own version of EOBIII and ask them if they would..

What do you think about it? :)

Westwood, were gobbled up by the greedy Electronic Arts. After aquiring Westwood, EA shut them down. Biggest mistake ever, spose from EA's point of view they gained the biggest asset (Command and Conquer).

[Predseda]

EA ruined Bullfrog as well. F**k EA!

[Retro-Nerd]

TBH: EOB III is cleary the weakest game of this series. It isn't really worth to do an Amiga port.

[gilgamesh]

The game was developed by SSI alone, that means you would have to ask Ubisoft for the sources. Since they are likely to say no, you could reverse engineer the file format and write a completely new engine. (Just what spectaculum (http://www.eob2remake.com/) did for EOB2.)

[TheCyberDruid]

I also thought this was already discussed, but I can't find the thread now. CFOU! should have some info about it and maybe he already tried a port :)

[Marcuz]

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=24436&highlight=III
then do a search for "III" without quotes inside that thread.

also:

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=36165&highlight=III

[JemyM]

TBH: EOB III is cleary the weakest game of this series. It isn't really worth to do an Amiga port.

I recently made a full playthrough (http://www.youtube.com/user/JemyM) of all three games for youtube, and let me be blunt; I give nostalgia a bitchslap and hand that price to Eye of the Beholder I.

With levels that provides just 4 variations to the layout and very little story progression, EoB1 for me is almost as the pilot episode to EoB2. EoB3 retains many of the improvements that were made for EoB2. It also added it's own; monster resistances, level draining, throwing hammers, monsters that melt metal weapons, greater variation of maps and setting etc. However, it's story was weaker and the overall progression more linear giving EoB2 the crown.

Much of the complaints against EoB3 was not due to the game, but the engine that made the game slow and choppy. By recompiling EoB3 to AESOP/32 (http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=20601&highlight=aesop) the speed/sound issues are removed.

[Marcuz]

well, minimalist as i am, i prefer EoB I, by much, to the others (with the forest and catacombs exception of EoBII)

It is so bare that let your own imagination build the world and situations around you.
EoB 2 would has a great intro, but:

- in game cutscenes, with their illustration approach make spoil a bit the game, making it look too dull by comparison.

- all the above ground temple looks alike, with not real believable structure.
A game like this uses by necessity abstract exemplifications to excite imagination to make objects circumstantial and personal (for instance: empty hallways close to some 3 levels spanning spider's infestation and some rune inferring some "Kruen" old king, and lo! you have the feeling you are threading on a ancient abandoned dwarves' kingdom!).
But EoB 2 fails a bit in doing that because most of the temple of Darkmoon looks like a not really spatially defined place, harboring more than a dozen of levels of different monsters prisons.
The exceptions, to me are its very dry and creepy looking catacomb, that make you feel like you have to thread lightly, the forest, for the same reason, and for a Robin Hood - ish slant (to me), and possibly the Frost Giant prison, because the strange and unsettling situation of its residents, the treason of their King by Dran and the King' sacrifice.

Eob 3? Its main failures are the heterogeneous and scratchy feeling of it all, with its mix of legacy visuals plus the ones created by the new developers; the size of its areas which, imho, don't really play well with the narrative by abstract concepts i mention above and a lame, not really convincing story.

I resume: story, even its assumptive lack, is still very important in a game that at first look seems only a straight forward hack and slash.
to consider technicalities like monster resistances enough to say the game was improved (engine issues even notwithstanding) in respect of its predecessor, is, to me, a stretch.

[JemyM]

I was once working on a NWN project for EoB2 that begun long before the EoB1 module was released. Our work was more faithful to the original game, so I did spend a lot of time trying to figure out what graphics and design I should use for things like dungeon walls and placements. This means that I spent time thinking about how monsters fit into the architecture and if I could enhance the visuals of a certain area, to give it a sense of being a real area, without making drastic changes to the map layout.

I agree that there are areas that doesn't make much sense. I personally believes that most of the dungeons work. The flavor text fills you in. Darkmoon was built on a Drow structure. The first subfloor is a barrack, second is a hidden area with a hidden prison and a hidden skeleton army. The floors beneath that is an abandoned and forgotten section where margoyles and subterrain critters makes sense.

My imagination is stretched when it comes to the silver and azure tower. The Silver Tower is mostly interesting and make sense as a cleric test. I can see why flying monsters could infest a tower, but I found a sentient being like the Thri-Kreen a bit odd to be in the mix. Azure Tower though makes much less sense, both in architecture and chosen monsters. The entire point with the place seem to be one huge vault for the starfire sceptre but that's it. The level I thought made the least sense was the medusa level.

[Steve]

A few years ago I started programming a 3D remake of the first Eye of the Beholder game. It never really got very far as there was only the basic layout of Level 1. As you can see I was experimenting with light sources. I was planning on adding the Kobolds and worm things but in the end I got bored and moved onto other projects. I still have the C++ source code so maybe I will pick it up again one day.

[Marcuz]

I was once working on a NWN project for EoB2 that begun long before the EoB1 module was released. Our work was more faithful to the original game, so I did spend a lot of time trying to figure out what graphics and design I should use for things like dungeon walls and placements. This means that I spent time thinking about how monsters fit into the architecture and if I could enhance the visuals of a certain area, to give it a sense of being a real area, without making drastic changes to the map layout.

I agree that there are areas that doesn't make much sense. I personally believes that most of the dungeons work. The flavor text fills you in. Darkmoon was built on a Drow structure. The first subfloor is a barrack, second is a hidden area with a hidden prison and a hidden skeleton army. The floors beneath that is an abandoned and forgotten section where margoyles and subterrain critters makes sense.

My imagination is stretched when it comes to the silver and azure tower. The Silver Tower is mostly interesting and make sense as a cleric test. I can see why flying monsters could infest a tower, but I found a sentient being like the Thri-Kreen a bit odd to be in the mix. Azure Tower though makes much less sense, both in architecture and chosen monsters. The entire point with the place seem to be one huge vault for the starfire sceptre but that's it. The level I thought made the least sense was the medusa level.

i agree... medusas, basilisks, those winged demons, nagas, thri-kreen and even wasps... i understand it was for the sake of variety but it was too much... plus the grey-ish (and light hued) walls of the towers, it made it look too bulky, sketchy and boring (to me), while the first levels, the drow undergrounds were much more cool and imagination exciting.

it's a pity you didn't finish the NWN project, i played the first one and (except for the last levels) it was really cool, better than the main campaign imho; i was looking forward to play an EoB II version!

@steve: i remember these screenshots, i found them cool the first time i saw them as i do now.

[Marcuz]

@ Jemy
by the way, i'm watching your longplays, and EoB 3 wasn't as bad as i remembered; there were only some things i really did not like and they were pretty much about the graphics. plus a some bad visual narrative... but not a bad game.

[JemyM]

it's a pity you didn't finish the NWN project, i played the first one and (except for the last levels) it was really cool, better than the main campaign imho; i was looking forward to play an EoB II version!

The entire game was mapped. We used all the original dialogue and flavortext from EoB2 and we had all the original items etc. Unlike the EoB1 version I locked the project to level 7-12 like the original and I didn't add any sidequests beyond expanding the NPC's for a bit. I also spent a lot of time making sure that the D&D3.0 system was supported, requiring me to add some equipment for classes like monks, and I added more arrows, bolts and bullets. Our strongest issue was modelling. We had problems finding some monsters like the Guardian Daemon and there were other models we wanted. The other problem was programming. I learned programming for the module, but it would have been better to have someone with more experience. Also my personal life just crashed in 2004.

You can find some screenshots and portraits here (http://jemym.no-ip.com/EotB2/old/index.html).

by the way, i'm watching your longplays, and EoB 3 wasn't as bad as i remembered; there were only some things i really did not like and they were pretty much about the graphics. plus a some bad visual narrative... but not a bad game.

Thanks man. As a rabid Amiga user myself it took plenty of years before I had my own PC to play the game on. First time I played the game I really couldn't remember what I played afterwards. I found the main villain to be a bit silly and boring. It was when I spent time on the longplay I learned to appreciate it some more since I spent more time thinking on (and expressing) what was going on. Overall I feel EoB3 to be creepier than the first two since unlike the others you weren't moving through inhabitated areas, rather you moved through areas infested with exclusively undead or non-sentient beings. Many of the places either restingplaces for the dead, like crypts and tombs, or cursed or abandoned. Both EoB1 and 2 were placed in inhabitated areas, either groups following (or rejecting) Xanathar or the Clerics of Darkmoon.

[Marcuz]

Hey i remember to have seen that page years ago!
that was some sweet work.