Feel free to comment and discuss this game here. Also, if you have any useful tips or tricks don't hesitate to share them with the others! Thanks!

Review and Download (if available)

This game was originally known as Mars Saga for the C-64.
One of my favorite things about it was if you didn't feel like following the plot you could just run around the city and beat people up.

I don't recall playing this game (I probably never stumble across it in the past).
How about the plotin the game , is it a decent one?

Anyway it's great to see old games that you pratically don't know about or never had the chance to play. ^_^

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Elwing @ Sep 6 2006, 09:54 AM) [snapback]253132[/snapback]</div>I played this game about 10 years ago and found the story to be quite good. I don't remember the storyline exactly but I do remember itching to keep playing since my characters were getting stronger and was getting deeper into the story. Something about an alien conspiracy...

I also remember playing this game, although it was more like 15 years ago.

The plot was the best part of it- the story was so rich, imaginative, and complex I can still think of it today. The gameplay was astoundingly poor, clumsy, and as the reviewer stated, REALLY BORING.

The storyline kept me playing for a month or two, but then i gave up was the gameplay frustrated me.

first post!! (been lurking for a while ;) )

i've actually been waiting to see this game at abandonia since i started coming here a couple years ago. I can recall playing this game nearly 12 years ago. it came in a "sci-fi" game collection with some kinda "death race" game, a wierd fighting game, another "eye of beholder-type" cyberpunk rpg and something else i cant remember. this was my favorite of them all. in fact i played this game before getting x-com! but not by much.

ive gotta dl this one for posterity

I like that game, can't explain why!! :D

However, there's something missing: The list of the weapons. At the training center, when you ask to train in a specific weapon skill, you are asked what lenght/weight it is and I can't figure what to type in. Maybe you could do the same way you did with Master of Orion, and upload a picture with all technical infos about the firearms :)

And, to say it again, I love this game and you did the review very well.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ringworldwu @ Sep 6 2006, 08:52 PM) [snapback]253237[/snapback]</div> That's Deathtrack. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ringworldwu @ Sep 6 2006, 08:52 PM) [snapback]253237[/snapback]</div> That's Tongue of the Fatman. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ringworldwu @ Sep 6 2006, 08:52 PM) [snapback]253237[/snapback]</div> That's Circuit's Edge, based on the George Alec Effinger novel "When Gravity Fails" (which is a cooler name I don't know why they changed it) <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ringworldwu @ Sep 6 2006, 08:52 PM) [snapback]253237[/snapback]</div> That was Prophecy: The Fall of Trinadon, a fantasy RPG. What it was doing in a collection called "Sci-Fi Power Hits" I dunno. It was a cool collection, though.

Oh, and props on your Niven-inspired name. Louis Wu is awesome!

Infocom also had a hand in making this game, there i've posted a useless fact :ok:


Edit: They were the publisher.

AFAIK, Infocom was both developer and publisher here.

I loved this game way back when, and I grew deeply fond of my party of characters, yet even though I got quite far (or so i thought at the time, so who knows ;)) the game came to a crashing halt at some point because I didn't have the weapon list.

I've tried looking for it but have so far been unable to find it. I am seriously hoping someone can come up with the list, without it there's not much point in playing.. AND I WANT TO PLAY! :D

When you install the game there should be either a mot_docs folder or a mot_docs.zip archive in the directory where you installed it to. When you look into the motvg.html in this mot_docs folder/zip you will find by going through the file that there are strange objects made with X'es. Just try to imagine those X'es as the dots/pixels of the shown weapon in the weaponstraining facility ingame. Just type in the information that is asked with the unit of measurement shown.

hi

Does any one have access to the numbers for the weapons to gain access to the weapons training centres?

Jeremy

this game is pieace of bad games! I don't like this, because it is booooooring and aweful game. :(

I've been ckecking out comments trying to decide whether to download the game.

I noticed people are looking for a certain weapons list, so I searched

http://www.replacementdocs.com

for "Mines of Titan".

You can find the manual and a PC Quick Reference Card there, and maybe they contain the list.

Hope it does. Bye!

I cant believe ANYONE is slating this game, its actually awesome...

Im 18 years of age, and this game was released the year i was born, I was brought up as a young boy to familiarize myself with computers and from the age of ~5 or 6 i was playing "Uncle Ian's game" - Mines of Titan, honestly at first i was just running around fighting the baddies but it became so much fun when i got entangled in its story line, obviously the graphics are nothing spectacular, nor is the sound nor is the actual game play.. but u need to understand this game is 18 years old and when you put it in perspective its one of the greatest ever...

mon the mines of titan :D

plus i found my original box :D with manuals :) LOL

and for guys having probs with the weapon stats theres plenty sites in the internet with manuals - all the details for weapons are in the manuals :) enjoy xx

Mines of Titan.... holy cow - I remember playing this game with one of my friends in high school. We were totally addicted to it.... then, after months of play - we made it to the end.... and it either crashed or the ending made so little sense we assumed it was broken. One of those things <_<

Now, I remember one other thing - and we totally guessed this playing the game - making money in the game was really tedious and time consuming and weapons, training, etc. were all pretty expensive. You could gamble in the game and one of the games in the casino was 'keno'.

So here's the tip - IF you're in the mood to have lots of money (really don't think you're missing much in terms of gameplay here by this loophole).

If you save before you go into the casino and play keno.... mark down the numbers that come up winners. Think you can do it for a few rounds. Then restore. Go back in and play....

same numbers come up.

whats up with this game? Can it be finished?

I used to play it ages ago, like when i was 12. But was never able to finish it.
My older bro said that the game was a beta release, so wasn't finished, and the final release was canned?
I dunno, i was only 12, so i believed him.

Downloaded to play in XP but game opens a dos window, asks me about my graphics, asks me about my save drives, I hit enter and then it crashes/error.

Any trick to launching this game in XP or should I just go for DosBox?

Going with DOSBox is a better idea here.

Haha, wow that was fast...

Yeah, I figured as much and went ahead and got DosBox- ahh the nostalgia!

Anyways, I think I'm all set as soon as I figure out how to save this game...

Wow... great game. I think I may have the box and manual for this still. I never did finish it. The combat system was really poor. It took me a while to figure out how not to shoot my own guys. Has anybody actually finished this game? I'd like to know.

"Online game emulators now distributing the game, which is classed as abandonware and therefore free for download, are often marred by a corrupted file that crashes the game at the end of the last battle. This makes it impossible to complete the game and prevents the end sequence which occurs after the final quest is done. In order to complete the game it may be neccesarry to obtain an original version of the game on the floppy disc format of the game, although they are rare (even on ebay.)" - Wikioedia

Played it then, play it now...
 

I had it on Commodore 64, bought the Sci-Fi pack and played it on my IBM 486, and have played it on abandonware now. It never gets old. The only changes I've noticed is the free download version doesn't have the addictive (or endlessly droning) music through out... though, if you search for 8-Bit Weapon, he's remixed it into some cool techno music.
Only problem I've had is some of the free versions crash, either at the end, or if you actually walk to Proscenium on foot and try to enter.

Love this game
 

I have loved this game since getting it new for Christmas 20 years ago. I replay it every 4-5 years. It may just be the nostalgia, but I love this game. I beat it yesterday after about 3 hours of playing.

If you're considering playing the game I would suggest these strategies:
1) Ditch your starting character as soon as you can. Don't waste time and money developing him. His stats are lousy. Start with a marine instead and don't settle for less than really high stats in might, agility, and stamina (these determine your health).

2) Start by going around attacking citizens and muggers--there are no negative consequences for killing innocent bystanders.

3) Develop one character at a time. Get that one maxxed out before even adding additional characters to your party.

4) Your first skill your main character needs to learn is programming. Get it high enough to hack into the terminals. Once your hacked-in, get war games clearance--don't waste time training in rifles or handguns.

5) After killing enemies you will be "ready to learn." Focus on these skills for all your characters:
a) battle armor (just train in it once and then buy battle armor)
b) automatic weapons (get it up high enough to buy a particle beam)
c) medical (train enough to buy a med kit c)
d) Golum (only at the weapons shop in Parallax and only after developing all your characters to the max in other areas and only after talking to the right repair shop clerk)
e) Max out might, agility, and stamina (starting with the lowest first)

6) Get money. There are two quick ways. The first is to hire a medical recruit with over 1000 credits, live through a battle, take his money, and then drop that character. The second way is to use the Keno hack (save the game, play keno, record numbers, load the game, and replay using the same numbers and the maximum bet).

7) If when you try to learn medical you get a message that says "Your natural abilities can only do so much" try increasing your education.

8) Figure out the storyline. I won't tell you too much here. Your best bet is to hack into the terminal and read everything you can, track down the bounties in the police stations, and pay the repair shop clerks credits for information (you will not be able to complete the game or train in golum unless you pay off the clerks--the clerks in Primus won't tell you anything, but the ones in the other two cities are loaded with hints and clues). Then you'll want to go basically everywhere you can--including areas that are supposedly off limits or restricted (there are only two times you need to go to the surface though so don't waste a lot of time out there).

9) You may find near the end of the game that the story is stuck. Go into all kinds of places again. You might find new clues in hospitals, universities, and so on. You'll never learn anything at a bar.

10) Use the computer to fight your battles for you. The computer is better at figuring out where to stand and who to shoot to ensure you don't hit your own party members. Be careful though because when the computer is running a battle a character will only heal himself, not any other party member. That's why it's important that each character have his own med kit C.

11) Save often and good luck!

I did not play this one but I remember playing Mars Saga and paying Keno to death. I don't recall any "keno hack" for the C64 but there may have been.

Fantastic game...
 

Great hints from JeremyB.

I played this when I was about 12 and again a couple of years ago under an emulator. The plot was great, and the original box had a sealed envelope you were only supposed to open after breaking into some guy's office in the game. Sweet :)

I really enjoyed building up my characters, starting with beating on kids (?!) and working my way up through the thugs and the cocky cops that were always giving me the hairy eyeball. The first time you can defeat a team of bounty hunters: sheer satisfaction. The team recruitment system is very cool as well in this game. You can sign people up in bars, barracks, etc. and the types of people available depend on the locale.

Here's my tip to making the game less of a slog if you want to focus on the (very cool) plot. Some strategic approaches to your team will doom you to having to play every battle by hand, or to counting on hoping that the enemy doesn't concentrate their fire on some weak or slow character.

1. Ditch the main character.
2. Stat priorites: You need to max out agility on everyone so you go first in battle. Crucially important. You need to be able to get medical high enough for the best medkit. The rest is window dressing, really. Oh, and go for younger people with relevant skills (education, agility) over older dudes. Younger characters seem to have higher fixed stat gain limits (physical and skill).
2. You can autorun combat, but also autorun one or more characters during manual combat, or tell them "do what I told you to do last turn". Use this to your advantage.
3. Set up every member of your team with the best medkit (medkit C, if I recall correctly) -- this way, on auto, the character will automatically heal themselves (or a nearby teammate) if you need it. Once you get your team set up, you can basically put everyone on auto all the time until the last boss fight.
4. Specialize in RIFLES. This is because 1) battles go was faster than if you use "duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-DUHN" auto weapons, and 2) because the best gun in the game (Reaver rifle) is a rifle. This will also let you focus your "learning points" by not wasting them on multiple weapon types.

Also, if I didn't want to grind for cash (medical and hacking school is expensive!) I shamelessly recruited legions of med students and let them wander into friendly fire as per Jeremy's suggestion.

Bottom line: this game is one of my favourites of all time.

One of my favorite things to do in this game (c64 mars saga version) was to go to the laser slots. I'd get enough in there (forgot my system) to bet max and slowly gain (either it was a lucky streak or just how the game was). I'd then hook up my autofire controller and flip the switch and then take a nap or go to sleep for the night. Next time I turned on the TV I had so many credits it was ridiculous. I think I once left the computer on for a few days doing this and ending up with hundreds of thousands if not millions of credits. Hard to recall.

Those questions were part of the copy protection of the time. If you had a boxed original, there was a weapons booklet that gave you that info. It was one of the famous Infocom "feelies". I'm not sure what to do about it now.