Golem. anyone played it?
 

Golem is a turn based strategy released somewhere between 2001 and 2003, right before the company which produced it, went bankrupt. I was lucky to get it with the pack of "Seven Kingdoms" (Crappy game, if you ask me) and "Caesar 3" (Yay!). Basicly a metorite fell down and sunk the earth. So now there are humans, cyborgs, and magic users. The units are in ports which work alike towns in HoMM series. The units are produced over a period of few days - 30 seconds or so. Netherless, the game is somewhat enjoyable.

So... anyone played or heard about it?

never heard about it, but sounds nice!

Heh... I dunno if it is protected or whatever. The game is not even close to being known.

never played it but heres some info

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/golem/index.html

Basicly the only source of info on it on the internet. On other thought... I wonder if we can review it? :D

Golem (also known as V.O.T.E.R. Golem during production) was a serious case of vaporware for several long years. The concept has changed multiple times during the development, and I remember there have been at least three different plot concepts presented. Could dig up some of those materials - I believe I still have the old gaming mags that wrote about the game.

When it came out, it was a major flop, several years behind in terms of design and graphics when compared to the strategy games of its time.

Wow... I wonder how many of the CD's were produced. Is it rare or anything? Is there more info behind the game? Why V.O.T.E.R.? For water?

It appears that the company is gone and the game is't sold anywhere is it Abandoned?

If the game is really vaporware and that the best you can find is a preview of the game in gaming magazines instead of reviews, chances are that you'll never find a working copy simply because sadly it doesn't exist...

So it is out there somewhere.
and probably fine to upload it.

Wait... so what the hell am I looking at, then?
It has installer and all missions. nothing missing.
Is it legal to upload it or anything?

Box scans, anyone?
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...olemCover1.png
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...olemCover2.png

Well then it's not vaporware. :p

It's plainly written 2004 on the box, so it doesn't fall under our 10 years rule...

This game actualy look interesting. There is no such things as a RTS/Adventure game. Those two genres completely clash together and can't mix. :D

Ok then... let's wait till' 2014. :)

I'd rather say it's TBS/RTS rather than RTS/adventure.

how can be turn based real time. there are 2 games or something?

There are 3 modes:
Turn based
Each unit has limited movement which it can use every turn.

Half/Half
You can move your units while the timer is ticking down.

Real-Time
Every 30 seconds, another day starts, producing units, resources, e.t.c.

that's turn based :P

Original War is a turn based RTS. However, it mean that you can pause the game whenever you wish, and that it's practically impossible to win if you don't 'cause it's a very hardcore strategy game. You can't win Original war by simply rushing units to their death like the vast majority of RTS games...

Xcom: Apocalypse could be considered a turn based RTS too...

True... because most of the time, the maps are too large to play turn-Based. :p

I have just found other info here:
http://games.gamepressure.com/game_info.asp?ID=1212

It's quite new, I think we should search buy links first.

Nothing new really. Except it being for 12+ rather than 6+ as said on my scan.

Your boxscan doesn't have written "Published by Lemon Interactive" :P
Edit: Sold at Amazon
($0.01 + $3.99 shipping)

Epic price. XD

Because the game creators thought it sounded nice. Then they dropped it because they could not produce a sensible backronym out of it.

Multiple sources confirm 14th May 2001 as the original release date.

Also, I've found out that the publisher has apparently changed its name rather than close up - for a dumb one, too: http://www.eeezee-products.com/

Well there goes the Vapoware idea. :/

Anyway, at least they live on... although in what seems to be an epic failure.

Hey,the world will be destroyed in the 2014,so no chance to play Golem :worried:

2012 to be precise.

I feel now that Abandonia has a topic for everything already :blush:

I too have this game, somehow in multiply copies. Not that it'd be a particularly good game though...


The game is real-time strategy what uses certain periods of time as rounds, and yes, it can be paused.

It is a VERY boring game, and the controlls are aweful.
First, most of the screen is taken for control-panels. So the actual play-screen is tiny! Also the clicking is not self-evident.
Above this, there are 3 races only by names, they are actually difficulty-settings. The bug-like race it the tutorial (it really has tons of tutorial-messages for its missions to teach you the controlls), the humans (= magicans) are the middle-level, and cyborgs are the "hard" (at least form the order that seems logical, as I didn't finished humans).
All races have the same abilities (ok, in some special magic-skills they differ, but who uses those?), same ships, same buildings - you get the idea. Ok, they require different materials to build from, but I don't rly consider that a difference.

About it being a strategygame: there is only 1 strategy in it: numbers win. Rly, just get yourself covered with as many ships (preferably aircraft, as on 90% of units it is true that: ships can damage ships, submarins can damage ships and submarines, aircraft can damage everything), then invade the whole map.
To build unites you need mines, so you have to know the map, so before every mission you just send out all your starting-ships, scout the fog-of-war away as much as possible, restart the level and capture all the mines. This is 100% important as mines can have their own defenses, what has devastating power. Rly, they can eliminate entire folltas by themselves (not to mention they can be repaired in 0.1 seconds to full health if you have the resources)!

The game has some nice videos in it, but it just doesn't worth the effort if you ask me...

Hey, I completely agree with you. The game has little to no worth when it comes to gameplay. It's still a fun little diversion, at least for it's originality (or at least, originality in ripping off certain other games (Heroes of Might and Magic comes to mind)).

This reminds me, I need to check the current status of the game.

I pulled this out again, just for the heck of it, and in the middle of the mutants (humans are the eay difficulty, mutants medium, robots hard) the game became very hard (or I'm just rly out of practice).

Now to say something positive I checked my notes on the missions, and they are VERY creative (I just could forget about the "visit the vulcano" quest, what I have no idea about the win/loose requirements). Too bad the actual gameplay, even when you get accustomed to it, never rise above middly uncomfortable.

The mission I just reached shows on the other hand anther BAD side of the program. It is about a large force attacking my terrioty immediatelly, so the logical plan is to sit and push them back, while repairing the damaged units. The problem is, that on the same hex can be no less the THREE units (submarine, ship, flyer), so there is some problem Huston...

Must mention that there are a LOT of quests in the game! 16 per race as it seems. I know some people like lots of quests, but for this it seems to be a little too much. Not that anything would turn repetitive, as they really had good ideas, but the amount of time it takes... At least some more movies would have been cool.

Now some info on the mutants:
their ships selfregenerate! Not fast, but it is there, just in case they suffered little damage, or you don't have the resources.
The problem is, it is no longer like for the humans. Basically no unite can attack all three type of unites (underwater, water, air). I don't want to imagine what the cyborgs will haveXD

Hah, I just realised there are only 12 missions per "race", and 4 "tutorial missions" implemented at the beggining of the United Clans. That gives some breathing.

Now, in the storyline (what isn't that comprehensive if you ask me, or I'm just not used to twists of the backgroundstory in computergames, in which case the story is awesome), the Gens are the Looser race (with capital L).

Let me tell you the story as far as I learnt it (SPOILER ALERT!):

After a certain event (meteor-blast?) humanity divided to 3 races:
- regular humans with medieval technology and magic(!). They are called United Clans.
- mutant freaks. They're called Gens.
- cyborgs (no idea about these yet). They are called Cytex.
These three lived in peace until one day a king grew old in the United Clans, and started to pass the throne to the heir the regular way: help some cities, do some battle on the border. But he made a fatal mistake: the king while allowing a village captured by the gens to make his heir able to reclaim it, himself went to the border too. And this time the Gens arrived with forces.
Naturally the king died, the heir took his place. To strenghten his position he started small fights along the border just for the show.
This didn't seem so well in the eyes of the Gens though. The mutant race took it as message of war.
The young king (as HeWhoWillNotBeNamed) turned to his scientists for a super-weapon. They told him about the ancient legend of the GOLEM. The young king started an investigation where that thingy can be, during what he offended Cytex borders...
Naturally the information about the secreat (re)search slipped out (there are hints in the story that there are traitors amongst the UC), and the other two races went after it too.
Though the UC did achive some results in advanced weaponry, they were pushed away like leaf in the wind (of course in the last mission with the UC you "win", but that is just a "what if" thing if you ask me). The remaining forces joined to the Cytex.

Meanwhile the Gens had a split of the race (f*ing mutation, eh?). The GOLEM was an active legend among this race, but the rebelling minority took all the writings for obvious purposes.
During this racial war the Gens developed more and more advanced technology.
A diplomatic accident also happened with the Cytex. The C built an unathorised camp in the demilitarized zone (how resembling this to some real world happenings, eh?), what the Gens happily accepted and declared war against them.
Now the thing is, the Gens in their rush and GOLEM-research forgot to defend their capital. So the above happening was only a trick of the Cytex to stop the developement of the secret weapon.
From this point the Gens runned after the happenings, ever close, never in reach.


(I'm currently at the last mission of the Gens, so no new info will turn up I bet on the side of the Gens. My only hope is, that finally the ending-video will contain some info about the GOLEM, as until now I saw nothing related to it. Fat chance, but...)

Synthesis is not your strong point i guess :perv:

You mean ...?


EDIT:
I just figured out "magic". The spells can be put on each ship through the magic tower individually. The spells last forever (until the unit exist). But I have no idea what is "power score", or how to aquire them, so I could not use abilities require those (the 0 requirement-ones are passive abilities).
I also did not try out offensive abilities, so I do not know if those harm my flottile too or not.
Also for the Gens "Fasten" although by description has "three dose", I could neither research above level 1, nor put more then 1 level on the ships.

Must note too that the "best" (and second best) units although are told to be able to attack all three kind of units, they can actually harm only two kind. Darn.

Another minor thing: if you "repair" dead unites they disappear. This can be good or bad, considering they still block your way until they completly sink. Would also worth to check if this produces resources.


TheCytex story (spoiler alert!)

Ok, first thing first: the ending video of the Gens are exactly the same as the United Clans. Epic failure.

Now onto buisness:
The story of the Cytex starts in the middle of the other two story. The government hears the rumor that the other two "lower race" (should I say something?) started to bother with the GOLEM, what they refer as "D's plans". So the Cytex starts to secure their resources.
Next they see a "contract of peace" between the Gens and the UC (this was when NEAR the C's border the two other empire started quarelling about some GOLEM related parts), so they start preventive strike on the Gens (on the named border)!
After aquiring named parts from the Gens the Clan turned the tide against the Cytex to aquire the pieces from them (no reason to stop in the middle of an attack, right?). The reinforcements are far away, so the Cytexes are in some trouble (but not much).
*Cytexes are being busy bulding their GOLEM*

(more info later, will add it here)