Primordia | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Wormwood Studios |
Publisher(s) | Wadjet Eye Games |
Designer(s) | Mark Yohalem |
Programmer(s) | James Spanos |
Artist(s) | Victor Pflug |
Writer(s) | Mark Yohalem |
Composer(s) | Nathaniel Chambers |
Engine | Adventure Game Studio |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS |
Release | Microsoft Windows, OS X, LinuxiOS
|
Genre(s) | Adventure game |
Mode(s) | Single player |
Jan 30, 2015 I purchased this game after trying it out, as you will. To transfer the save location, first start a new game file so it generates all the necessary folder. Then from the alternate save location, copy these two folders: remoteoutsave and remoteoutprofile. Move those two folders to the steam save location, which will typically be. Creating a GOG system report If you have installed the game using our.sh installer, open your default terminal emulator, and run the following commands (don't forget to adapt the first command depending on the game and its location.Use TAB to auto-complete the location and prevent typos and mistakes, and RETURN key - 'Enter' - to confirm): cd /GOG Games/.your game./start.sh -sysrep.
Primordia is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Wormwood Studios and published in 2012 by Wadjet Eye Games. In 2016, Primordia was released on iOS devices.
Plot[edit]
In a post-apocalyptic world, android Horatio Nullbit (Logan Cunningham) and his floating robot companion Crispin (Abe Goldfarb) inhabit and attempt to rebuild U.N.N.I.I.C, a derelict airship stranded in a vast desert. One night, a heavy, floating, square-like robot invades the airship, incapacitates Horatio with its laser and steals the airship's power core. Crispin suggests they head to the legendary city of Metropol, a 'city of glass and eternal light', for a new core, but Horatio remains adamant in either reclaiming the stolen core or finding a new one in the wasteland, totally preferring to stay away from Metropol for his pre-programmed hatred of the city, that he can't discern why.
Navigating the wasteland close to U.N.N.I.I.C, Horatio and Crispin come across and reactivate a buried, giant war machine named Goliath, who tells Horatio his true name is Horus, claiming it was an ancient enemy of his, and thus won't surrender its power core. They also come across and pass through the tests of faith of sentry drone Ever-Faithful Leobuilt, who tests Horatio's knowledge of the 'Gospel of Man' (A twisted robotic interpretation of the Holy Bible), allowing him to grab a bomb the drone revered as a shrine. Horatio and Crispin attempt to use the bomb's energy core to power U.N.N.I.I.C back up, but it proves fruitless.
Attempting to chase the stealing robot, Horatio and Crispin are ultimately led to Metropol, that is revealed as a dilapidated metropolis filled with robots governed in an iron hand by MetroMind, the city's AI previously in charge of subways and transit. Horatio, at entry, is stripped of a megacycle (CPU power cycle) and the 'Gospel of Man', deemed a subversive literature that is tossed into the city's underground, the Underworks. Meeting some of Metropol's citizenry, Horatio learns the stealing robot is MetroMind's right hand S.C.R.A.P.E.R (Subway Construction, Repair and Precision Excavation Robot), and the power core is in her possession in MetroTower, a giant power station.
Horatio attempts to reclaim the power core legally by reopening Metropol's courtroom with the aid of Clarity Arbiterbuilt, the aid to Metropol's Arbiter (the city's judicial AI), but Horatio discovers the Arbiter itself had its memory banks wiped. S.C.R.A.P.E.R also tries capturing Horatio and Crispin, but Horatio collapses the courtroom entrance atop S.C.R.A.P.E.R, after recovering memories from the carcass of Charity, Clarity's sister. The memories reveal evidence that MetroMind used Charity to be rid of Arbiter – under the pretense of 'preventing civil war' – and take over Metropol through a silent coup. Witnessing this, Clarity determines MetroMind has lost all legal protection and joins Horace and Crispin's quest for the power core. She informs Horatio that, in order to confront MetroMind, they must acquire fragments of the access code to MetroTower, which was exclusive to the ruling AIs.
Uncovering and accessing a digital ghost of Memorious (the city's historical archives AI), Horatio discovers MetroMind erased all data regarding the human race that once lived in Metropol and formed a division of the city's Council of Robots, with her and Factor (the city's fabrication AI) in one side and Arbiter and Steeple (The humans' religious AI) on the other. Memorious took sides with MetroMind with the removal of Steeple for calculating the data regarding humans felt irrelevant to city administration. He also learns that humanity extinguished itself after a chemical war between its four remaining cities (Municipa, Civitas, Urbani and Metropol), leaving only machines behind. In the Underworks, the trio reactivates Factor, disabled on MetroMind's orders, and Horatio recovers the Gospel of Man confiscated from him.
The trio convinces a former Urbanian war robot, Primer, to recover and reconstruct the code sequence access to MetroTower, where they head to confront MetroMind on her crimes, and MetroMind declares her commitment to 'progress'. S.C.R.A.P.E.R, who survived the collapse of the courtroom, arrives at the Council chambers, and Clarity sacrifices herself to save both Horatio and Crispin, telling both to head towards 'Calliope Station', originally meant to be a separate subway station but revealed to be a secret room within the station platform from where Horatio and Crispin first arrived. As they arrive, they discover MetroMind's mainframe within. As Horatio attempts destroying it, MetroMind tries stripping him of his remaining megacycles, forcing Crispin to sacrifice himself to destroy her mainframe.
Recovering himself, Horatio recovers a data chip from MetroMind's mainframe and discovers his true identity as HORUS, an Urbanian war machine unleashed at Metropol when all human life on Urbani was extinguished, but was heavily damaged by Metropol's guardian, Goliath, forcing HORUS - revealed as the U.N.N.I.I.C (Which was spelled HORUS, but hardly readable) and Horatio as a mere servitor - to infect Goliath with a virus, Thanatos, neutralizing the war machine. However, as HORUS attempted to destroy all human life in Metropol, its last name 'Manbuilt' made him realize he was targeting his creators. HORUS, becoming aware, awoke the servitor, that later became Horatio over the years, and self-destructed itself to save the remaining humans. Horatio also discovers he carried the Thanatos virus all along, and that it can be used against MetroMind.
Horatio returns to MetroTower to recover the power core, but confronts MetroMind's new version, having just escaped Crispin's sacrifice, where she admits to having extinguished the remaining humans herself, claiming they were nothing but 'better destroyers', unworthy of worship. She also admits to having stolen the power core from HORUS to solve Metropol's evergrowing needs for energy. MetroMind tries offering, then forcing Horatio through S.C.R.A.P.E.R to merge with her, coveting Horatio's craftsmanship abilities believing it's her key to 'saving' Metropol, which now is nothing but an extension of MetroMind herself.
The player can react in seven different ways to this:
1. Horatio merges willingly with MetroMind and both continue working on towards 'Progress'.
2. Horatio refuses to merge and is destroyed by S.C.R.A.P.E.R. MetroMind continues her mission of 'Progress' unabated.
3. Horatio climbs the roof of MetroTower and commits suicide by falling. Regardless, MetroMind continues her mission of 'Progress'.
4. Horatio destroys the power core, exploding MetroTower and causing an irreversible blackout across Metropol, with all robots inevitably scattering and dying from lack of power.
5. Horatio spreads the Thanatos virus to MetroMind's broadcast system, throwing Metropol into irreversible chaos, but avenging the extinct humankind.
6. Horatio keeps the power core at gunpoint with his plasma torch and MetroMind is forced to open passage to Horatio to take the power core back to HORUS.
7. Horatio uses the Thanatos virus on S.C.R.A.P.E.R. and scares MetroMind away.
If the player chose either of the last two endings, Horatio takes the power core and rebuilds HORUS to fly away from Metropol forever, taking the city's robots he knew with him. Note that Crispin and Clarity can be present in this ending if Horatio (the player) did recover items relevant to them (Clarity's head and Crispin's core matrix).
Gameplay[edit]
Unlike in many adventure games, Primordia's puzzles are generally grounded in real-world logic[1] and offer multiple solutions,[2][3] a direct reflection of the game's writer and designer, Mark Yohalem's Harvard Law education and career as lawyer.[4] How the player solves the puzzles—and what choices the player makes—determines which of the game's many endings takes place.[5]
Primordia has a typical point-and-click interface: a left mouse click to interact with objects, a right click to examine them. Every function needed is always available from a drop-down control panel that appears when you move the pointer to the top of the screen. Inventory items can be combined in the inventory U.I. and may be used on every hot-spot and character. Crispin can be told to interact with objects, too. Crispin also serves as a hint-system blended-in appropriately with the game in order to avoid breaking the fourth wall. As Horatio and Crispin wander about, a datapad automatically stores codes, passwords and information about the world. The datapad also contains a map which allows fast travel (whenever that's available) with one click to every known location. Conversations with other robots are handled in a multiple choice fashion. There is both a manual and an automatic save system to make sure your progress is saved.[6]
Critical reception[edit]
Reception | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Primordia received positive reviews from independent and genre websites, and mixed reviews from larger sites. Adventure Gamers described Primordia as 'a gorgeous, clever, and melancholy science-fiction parable' with 'beautiful, surrealistic retro graphics [that] drip with atmosphere.'[10] The site also awarded it Setting of the Year for its 'haunted world, one that oozes history far more detailed than the events laid out by the game’s exposition, and one that stuck with us long after we left it behind.'[11]
Hardcore Gaming 101 praised Primordia as 'the first graphic adventure game of recent memory to be truly worthy of being compared to the triumphs of the glory days,',[12] and PopMatters called it 'an evolution of the genre . . . leaps and bounds more interesting because its ideas are more complex and intricate.'[13] Other sites praised its story as one of the best science fiction stories in any medium for years.[14][15][16]
By contrast, larger sites such as IGN and GameSpy complained that the puzzles were too numerous and too difficult, that the game's low resolution did a disservice to its graphics, and that the game's humor could be jarring.[17][18]
On Metacritic, it holds a score of 72/100.[7]
An iOS port of Primordia was released on September 21, 2016.[19] This version modified the controls to accommodate a touch-screen interface and changed the font to be more readable on a smaller screen. Its reviews from larger sites have been positive, and its Metacritic score is 81/100.[8]TouchArcade rated the game 4.5/5, describing it as 'brilliant': 'The writing is stellar, the voice acting is ace, the style is top notch, and the soundtrack perfectly sets the tone.'[9]148Apps rated it 4/5, praising its 'great art, clever puzzles, and fantastic world building.'[20]
'Fallen'[edit]
In June 2013, Wormwood Studios released 'Fallen,' a spoiler-free spin-off story set after the game's ending,[21] which was praised for its writing and art.[22] 'Fallen' is available for free as a PDF, ePUB, or animated audiobook.[23] It has been translated into German, Italian, and Spanish.
References[edit]
- ^Miller, Kyle. 'RPG Fan Primordia Review'.
- ^Berens, Nathaniel. 'Primordia Review'. Adventure Gamers.
- ^Lallo, Joseph. 'Primordia Review'.
- ^Birbriar, Lana (July 1, 2013). 'Mark Yohalem - He's Got Game'. Harvard Law Today.
- ^Moen, Jessica. 'Primordia Review'. Technology Tell.
- ^Sciere, blank. 'Primordia Database Page'. MobyGames.
- ^ ab'Primordia for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2018-09-27.
- ^ ab'Primordia for iPhone/iPad Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2018-09-27.
- ^ abKoziara, Andrew (2016-10-24). ''Primordia' Review – B'sodding Brilliant'. TouchArcade. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
- ^Berens, Nathaniel. 'Primordia Review'. Adventure Gamers. Retrieved 2014-08-20.
- ^'2012 Aggie Awards'. Adventure Gamers.
- ^Davies, Elliot. 'Primordia Review'. Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
- ^Swain, Eric. ''Primordia': What Happened to the Humans?'. Pop Matters. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
- ^Philipp, Joshua. 'Primordia Review'.
- ^Hyland, Patrick. 'Primordia Review'.
- ^Gutche, David. 'Primordia Review'.
- ^Meunier, Nathan. 'Primordia Review'.
- ^Cobbett, Richard. 'Primordia Review'.
- ^Sowden, Emily. 'Point-and-click puzzler Primordia finally hits the App Store, out now'. Pocket Gamer.
- ^Bird, Campbell. 'Primordia Review'. 148Apps.com.
- ^'Fallen Review'. PC Gamer.
- ^'Fallen Review'. Game Critique.
- ^'Primordia Game Page'. Wormwood Studios.
External links[edit]
Developers | |
---|---|
Mac OS (Classic) | |
Linux | |
Publishers | |
Mac OS | |
Linux | |
Release dates | |
Windows | February 12, 1999 |
Mac OS (Classic) | February 2000 |
Linux | August 2000 |
macOS (OS X) | September 25, 2003[Note 1] |
macOS (OS X) | January 24, 2013[Note 2] |
General information
- Official Website
- alphacentauri2.info - Active Alpha Centauri modding, patching and multiplayer community. Perhaps the last on the web.
- Civilization Wiki - A detailed wiki for all Civilization games and their spin offs
- Apolyton Civilization Site's Alpha Centauri section - A huge forum dedicated to all Civilization games and their spin offs.
- GOG.com Community Discussions
- GOG.com Support Page
- 1Availability
- 2Essential improvements
- 3Game data
- 4Video settings
- 6Audio settings
- 7Network
- 8Issues fixed
- 9Other information
- 10Modifications
Availability[edit]
Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Retail | The game will run without the CD if you have performed a full install. SecuROMDRM otherwise. | |||
GOG.com | Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack. | |||
Origin |
- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack includes the base game and the Alien Crossfire expansion.
Downloadable content (DLC) and expansions
Name | Notes |
---|---|
Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire | Included with Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack. |
Essential improvements[edit]
Patches[edit]
- The GOG.com version already has the official patches, but you should strongly consider installing an unofficial patch.
- For the original SMAC (Alpha Centauri) release install the Alpha Centauri v4.0 update and then the XP Compatibility patch.
- For the original SMAX (Alien Crossfire) release install the Alien Crossfire v2.0 update and then the XP Compatibility patch.
- For the Planetary pack or Laptop pack just install the Compatibility patch.
Unofficial Patches[edit]
- The original .exe is filled with exploits and prone to crashing. The patches below will fix the vast majority of crashes and bugs.
- Yitzi's patch (SMAX only) - Built on kyrub's SMAX patch and scient's patch, and contains even more fixes. v3.4 includes PlotinusRedux's PRACX graphical patch, but you need to install PRACX separately as it wasn't packaged properly.
- kyrub's patch (SMAC, SMAX version not recommended) - Aimed primarily at improving AI performance but also fixing some bugs. SMAX version has only minor AI improvements and is superseded by Yitzi's patch.
- scient's patch (SMAC and SMAX) - Fixes bugs, crashes and exploits and includes text file improvements.
Recommendation: You should install Yitzi's patch if you're using SMAX and either kyrub's or scient's if you're using SMAC.
Yitzi's patch breaks backwards compatibility for alphax.txt. If you use old scenarios that require a custom alphax.txt this means that you may need to manually move the changes over. This will not be a concern for most users. Not using Yitzi's patch means that some newer scenarios and custom alphax.txt will not work for you.
To use any patch, extract the zip file into the installation folder and overwrite the existing files.
The patches' AI improvements won't make the AI too hard for new players, and instead aim for a reasonable level of challenge at 'Librarian' difficulty. Tweaks mostly involve teaching the AI how to do not-terribly without cheating.
Patches are primarily developed on the Alpha Centauri 2 forum.
Game data[edit]
Configuration file(s) location[edit]
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | <path-to-game>/Alpha Centauri.ini[Note 3] |
macOS (OS X) | |
Mac OS (Classic) | |
Linux |
- It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.
Save game data location[edit]
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | <path-to-game>saves[Note 3] |
macOS (OS X) | ~/Library/Application Support/GOG.com/Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri/saves |
Mac OS (Classic) | |
Linux |
Save game cloud syncing[edit]
Video settings[edit]
Graphics feature | State | WSGF | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Widescreen resolution | See Widescreen resolution. | ||
Multi-monitor | |||
Ultra-widescreen | See Widescreen resolution. | ||
4K Ultra HD | See Widescreen resolution. | ||
Field of view (FOV) | |||
Windowed | See PRACX graphical patch. | ||
Borderless fullscreen windowed | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Anisotropic filtering (AF) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Anti-aliasing (AA) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Vertical sync (Vsync) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
60 FPS and 120+ FPS |
Widescreen resolution[edit]
Try PRACX, a modified renderer for Alpha Centauri with a number of other improvements. v1.06 is included in version 3.4 of Yitzi's Unofficial Patch, but lacks an essential file and won't work properly unless you've already installed PRACX. You should probably install PRACX separately from its release thread. PRACX Release Thread. PRACX Source Code
PRACX + Official Alien Crossfire doesn't work, you need to install an unofficial patch first. Yitzi's 3.3 patch has been tested to work.
Edit Alpha Centauri.ini[citation needed]
|
Input settings[edit]
Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | |
Mouse acceleration | ||
Mouse sensitivity | ||
Mouse input in menus | ||
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Controller | ||
Controller support | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. |
Audio settings[edit]
Audio feature | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Separate volume controls | ||
Surround sound | ||
Subtitles | ||
Closed captions | ||
Mute on focus lost | ||
EAX support | EAX support was added with 2.0 update[2] |
Localizations
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | ||||
German | GOG.com version is English only. German text/audio/video files have to be copied over from the retail version. Due to game values and display texts being in the same file, many unofficial patches will overwrite German retail files. |
Network[edit]
Multiplayer types
Type | Native | Players | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Local play | Hot seat Requires the v2.0 Update or later.[3] | ||
LAN play | 7 | ||
Online play | 7 |
Issues fixed[edit]
The game hangs[edit]
Try the latest copies of Yitzi or kyrub's patches.
Otherwise, might be related to a bug with automated artillery units (though I think Yitzi might have fixed this one sometime). Try turning off automation and see if it helps. More info here.
AMD/ATI compatibility[edit]
GOG.com recommends using Catalyst 13.4 or earlier but the game also works with 14.x or earlier.
Alt-Tab not functioning[edit]
- Applies to GOG.com distribution only
Disable compatibility shim[4]
Notes
|
Other information[edit]
API[edit]
Executable | PPC | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Windows | ||||
macOS (OS X) | Intel support only available in the 2013 GOG release. | |||
Linux | Alpha workstation support is also included. |
Modifications[edit]
Using SMAC/X Mod Manager[citation needed] Allows the installations of mods for the game.
To remove mods:
|
Primordia Gog Mac Save Game Location Pc 100%
smac-in-smax[edit]
- Allows the content of the original game to be played in the SMAX engine.
- Source code for the latest version can be found here
- Allows SMAC to take advantage of the bugfixes and unofficial patches for the SMAX engines
- Allows the use of mods that are designed for the SMAX engine.
SMACX Thinker Mod[edit]
- An AI improvement mod for Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire.
- This mod has been tested to work with the GOG version of Alpha Centauri.
- The developer of the mod recommends the use of PRACX and smac-in-smax with this mod.
- Increase Challenges in the Single-Player due to AI improvements
- Provides many gameplay enhancements.
- Includes the Scient patch v2.0.
- May not be suitable for New Players due to increase difficulty
- Network multiplayer is not supported[5]
- Some custom scenario rules in 'Edit Scenario Rules' menus are not fully supported.
SMACX AI Growth mod[edit]
Primordia Gog Mac Save Game Location Far Cry 3
- Overhauls many game mechanics.
- AI improvements that allow it to play better
- Rebalance the various factions to make them work better with the improved AI.
- Includes additional map sizes (80x160 and 128x256)
- Compatible with the Scient patch v2.0
- Other tweaks to gameplay are listed in the mods homepage.
- Not fully compatible with some mods such as Yitzi unofficial patch
- Does not support unofficial binary patches. Use the Unofficial Binary patches at your own risk.
OpenSMACX[edit]
- Open Source engine recreation for Alpha Centauri/Alien Crossfire.
- Source code can be found here
- Project still in alpha.
System requirements[edit]
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | 95, 98 | |
Processor (CPU) | Intel Pentium 133 MHz | Intel Pentium 200 MHz |
System memory (RAM) | 16 MB | 32 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 60 MB | |
Video card (GPU) | 2 MB of VRAM |
macOS (OS X) | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | 10.6.8 | |
Processor (CPU) | 1.8 GHz | |
System memory (RAM) | 512 MB | 1 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 2 GB |
Notes
- ↑Original Carbonized release.
- ↑Second digital release for Intel processors.[1]
- ↑ 3.03.1When running this game without Administrator elevation, activity in
%PROGRAMFILES%
,%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%
, and%WINDIR%
might be redirected to%LOCALAPPDATA%VirtualStore
(more details).
References
- ↑January Mac Game Update: 10 New Additions - GOG.com
- ↑SID MEIER'S ALPHA CENTAURI README
- ↑ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/origin/patches/alpha_centauri/smacp4e.txt
- ↑https://www.gog.com/forum/sid_meier_s_alpha_centauri_/alttab_disabled
- ↑Thinker Details.md