Orcs & Elves DS gone gold

I called a few Walmarts, they said they didn't have the game.

I want the damn stylus. Sigh. It's a shame I don't like the game (at least I think I don't. :lol:)
 
Found it today at Walmart. Didn't plan on buying it for MSRP, but the stylus fiasco made it an impulsive thing.

It's not even a sticker that's on the package, the stylus note is printed on the slip for the cover, so apparently they have 2 printings of the game, one specifically w/ the stylus and one w/o.
 
I'm really hoping eBay pulls through on this one, but I doubt it. I don't have the money to drop $30 on a game just for the stylus, though.
 
I just want to confirm that Wal-Mart has the version with the stylus. I went to my local store (Howell, MI) today and they had a bunch of them in. As mentioned in one of the previous posts, the notice saying it includes the stylus is part of the actual cover. Thanks to you guys I was able to get the version with the stylus, thanks!
 
I got mine from Wal-Mart in the mail. No go - no mention of stylus on the label. I'm going to return it. Oh well - $2 of shipping down the drain.

-HM
 
Well that sucks.

But at least you knew for sure it wasn't the golden ticket and didn't have to open it to find out.
 
I actually gave up and opened the damned game after a weekend of visting no less than 6 Wal-Marts and striking out. I figure if by some miracle the stupid Wal-Marts around here get it in, I'll buy it and sell this one used.

But it may never happen. Here in CT they don't go out of their way to sell anything unique in an attempt to get people in stores, because poeple buy whatever crap is being sold.

Oh yeah, the game is good. I beat it on regular difficulty in about 6 hrs of game time. Am going back trying to find all the secrets and monsters. It gets a thumbs up, even though it is short, and there are some interface issues I have with it. But it's beyond fun, and I think I didn't put it down until I finished.

-HM
 
According to the thread in the deals section, this is a universal price drop. D'oh!

Oh well. I had some extra birthday cash. Besides, everyone knows how quickly games can drop in price, so I shouldn't be too surprised.

Since this is Carmack's 1st venture on the DS, I'd have loved if they did something w/ Doom RPG (or ported both on the same cart!) Hopefully, if this game isn't selling well, it won't discourage them from doing more on the DS.
 
Advertising would've been nice. Or putting the stylus in stores other than Wal-Mart. Or making sure that Wal-Mart carried it. I love id, but they, and Fountainhead, and stupid, stupid EA, really screwed up the release of this title.

-HM
 
WHAT?! It is $20 at BB now, too!

I don't have my receipt, but I paid with credit. Hopefully I can get this price-adjusted.
 
[quote name='Hollow Man']Advertising would've been nice. Or putting the stylus in stores other than Wal-Mart. Or making sure that Wal-Mart carried it. I love id, but they, and Fountainhead, and stupid, stupid EA, really screwed up the release of this title.

-HM[/quote]maybe it's their marketing strategy. i know if every single o&e game had had the stylus, this thread would be long dead.
 
No store within 100 miles here.

If anyone can get a copy of this with stylus I'd take it off their hands for $25.
 
[quote name='Rocko']No store within 100 miles here.

If anyone can get a copy of this with stylus I'd take it off their hands for $25.[/quote]

I don't intend on getting rid of mine, but next time I'm near the store where I bought it I can see if they still have them and grab one for you.

I don't know when that'll be, but if you'd like I can try to PM you when I know I'm going.
 
[quote name='johnnypark']I don't intend on getting rid of mine, but next time I'm near the store where I bought it I can see if they still have them and grab one for you.

I don't know when that'll be, but if you'd like I can try to PM you when I know I'm going.[/quote]
sign me up too plz
 
eb has them for 20. still got a 10 buck gift code knocking down to 13 shipped


BUT IF this is like a doom first person then i pass. i get first person sickness
 
[quote name='johnnypark']I don't intend on getting rid of mine, but next time I'm near the store where I bought it I can see if they still have them and grab one for you.

I don't know when that'll be, but if you'd like I can try to PM you when I know I'm going.[/quote]

Sure, that'd be great. Just note that I want the stylus- don't bother if it isn't the one that includes a stylus. Thanks. :)
 
Rocko and banpeikun, check your PMs, I believe a pligrimage to southside is in order tonight, which means I'll be able to go to the store where I bought my copy.
 
Not only did I score copies for Rocko and banpeikun, but I got to return my copy (still sealed) and re-purchase it at the lower price, so I got my $10 and everyone gets their game :)
 
Great, those jerks won't refund me my $10 online. So I paid more AND didn't get the stylus. Man I'm pissed.

-HM
 
[quote name='Hollow Man']Great, those jerks won't refund me my $10 online. So I paid more AND didn't get the stylus. Man I'm pissed.

-HM[/quote]

For the record, mine wasn't price-adjusted or refunded, I had to return the game and get the full $31.xx back, and then re-purchase a new copy. Wal-Mart apparently only does refunds in price reduction difference within 7 days, so don't feel too bad.

Still, my sympathies!
 
Man, if I could just get my hands on a stylus I'd be happy. I have no idea why id/Foutainhead bothered to make this an exclusive to Wal-Mart if so few carry it. The on-line store checker STILL lists it as not being in any Wal-Marts within 100 miles of me.

-HM
 
I thought it was a pretty fun game. Not very lengthy but it didn't get boring for me. The story is just told with text and some camera pans but it kept my interest. I'm definitely looking forward to more stuff from these guys.
 
The online inventory checker is full of crap. I checked yesterday morning to see if any of the three Wal-Mart stores in my area had it, and the site said no. I still had to go on my lunch break to pick up some stuff, though, so I swung by the game case and they had 4 copies sitting there neatly, clearly labelled with the $20 price. I picked it up, it said it had the stylus inside, and it does...so I'm happy. :)
 
[quote name='darkwingduck13']The online inventory checker is full of crap.[/quote]
Since it had been a couple of weeks since I did my scouting of umpteen stores, even though the on-line checker says nowhere in my area, I checked at one store on my way home from work. And lo, a million copies of O&E. So me, being the stupid id fanboy that I am, bought one. Now one of my friends gets an extra present this year - my old game box and instructions, but an unused copy of the game (since I'll keep my old one with my save games).

Ah well, so ends my saga. I still hate id/Fountainhead/EA/Wal-Mart for not making the stylus easier to get. Not to mention the no advertising, and the stylus should be available at places besides Wal-Mart.

-HM
 
[quote name='Hollow Man']Since it had been a couple of weeks since I did my scouting of umpteen stores, even though the on-line checker says nowhere in my area, I checked at one store on my way home from work. And lo, a million copies of O&E. So me, being the stupid id fanboy that I am, bought one. Now one of my friends gets an extra present this year - my old game box and instructions, but an unused copy of the game (since I'll keep my old one with my save games).

Ah well, so ends my saga. I still hate id/Fountainhead/EA/Wal-Mart for not making the stylus easier to get. Not to mention the no advertising, and the stylus should be available at places besides Wal-Mart.

-HM[/quote]

Agreed. I avoid shopping at Wal-Mart like the plague (for a lot of reasons I won't discuss so as to not to derail the thread), but I made an exception for the exclusive version. But it was never clearly stated it was exclusive to Wal-Mart (any 1 retailer), and the ones from the website aren't even the right version (as you learned, HM).

Really, I blame EA. It seems like it would be the publisher's responsibility to properly advertise, PR, and distribute any version of the game. Not really a surprise they screwed it up so bad.
 
I agree, it's definitely EA's fault. id Software did post on idsoftware.com (eventually) that it was exclusive to Wal-Mart, but why they would agree to such a deal is beyond me. I guess it was EA's decision.

Of course the fact that id/Fountainhead went with EA is annoying, but I believe it's because EA acquired Jamdat, who was the company that published their first cell phone game, Doom RPG.

This was about as opposite of "cheapass" as I could get.

-HM
 
I think at this point we can call the 'special' release a bonafide disaster. Here we are, 80+ posts in, and maybe 15 of them are about the game, and all the others are about trying to find it.

EA acquired Jamdat? I had no idea. I met w/ them at E3 when I was still a qualified member of the gaming press, and they were really nice/awesome guys. They probably did have a contract w/ id that obligated id to publish under EA.

First Valve, now id... it's like all the good FPS makers are having their games published by them. Why can EA make sure that there are endless mountains of shitty sports games at every retailer you can imagine, but they screw up a single release from a major, world-renowned developer like id? It just ain't right.
 
Yeah, here's one article on EA acquiring Jamdat.

I really don't know why they don't care more. I was really looking forward to the O&E DS release. They showed it off at QuakeCon hard: they were quite proud of it, and rightly so. But in the end EA didn't do a good advertising job. Hell, they dropped the price after, what...2 weeks? That's faith in the title, huh?

And the reviews for the game are quite good. If the word was out there, I think people would buy and enjoy it. The game has good mechanics, character, and style. The turn based system makes it perfect to play on the go. Most important, it's fun. Nice job EA - just keep spitting out that sports crap.

-HM
 
Soo . . .

How is this game anyway? I've been tentatively looking at it. What does it compare to in terms of gameplay style?
 
Not to single you out exclusively, but it always boggles my mind when people ask this question (of any game), when it's really easy to type, oh, I don't know, "orcs", "elves", and "review" in any search engine and get a billion results.

Or easier, just look through this thread, where its gameplay has been discussed (old school turn based dungeon crawler).

-HM
 
[quote name='Hollow Man']Not to single you out exclusively, but it always boggles my mind when people ask this question (of any game), when it's really easy to type, oh, I don't know, "orcs", "elves", and "review" in any search engine and get a billion results.

Or easier, just look through this thread, where its gameplay has been discussed (old school turn based dungeon crawler).

-HM[/quote]

I'm looking for personal reports and not reviews, or else I wouldn't be browsing this thread. :)

Also, I have paged through the topic, and almost all of the discussion has revolved around supply issues or the quality of the pack-in stylus. My post isn't the first complaining about lack of game discussion!
 
Ok, ok, I thought I would've said more considering I own this game on my phone, the DS (two stupid copies), plus O&E 2 for the phone. But if I didn't, here we go:

Orcs & Elves is a turn based dungeon crawl RPGish game created by John Carmack, programmer vunderkid at id Software, responsible for Commander Keen, Wolf3D, Doom, and Quake. He also was something of a popular Dungeons and Dragons DM back in the day, so his wife convinced him to bring the world he created to a title for her company Fountainhead. It was his second title of this type: the first was Doom RPG, which he wrote in a weekend after ranting about how lousy cell phone games were.

What's wacky about the game is that if you're at all familiar with the original Wolf3D and Doom, it sort of reminds you of that. The engine is similar looking and behaving, and the menu structure also is similar. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. Good for people like me, who adore John Carmack, but probably not good in the long haul, since it isn't very DS-centric. They did an ok job, but I honestly found it easier to cycle through the menus with the buttons rather than stylus.

Anyway, the thing that jumps out about the game, in my opinion, is the style. Even though the story isn't anything new, it's still entertaining, plus it has wit and character. The cast is amusing, and it's fun to continue to play simply to hear what everyone says next (even though it's all told via text).

You don't get individual stats for strength, intelligence, wisdom, etc. But there are quite a few weapons, potions, armor, etc. to choose from, so you can play according to what suits your style. The DS version also added spells, which are fun, but not necessarily needed (not to mention the fact that it's annoying to use them, since you have to sketch out a rune on the screen like the first DS Castlevania game).

But simply put, if you like a game with character where you get to hack and slash your way through a pretty dugeon, hunt for secret doors, and barter with dragons for loot (although you'll wish you had a numeric keypad), go for it. It's a bit quick at ~6 hours (depending on how much you hunt for hidden stuff), but now that it's dropped to $20, I feel it's worth it.

-HM
 
It's a universal price drop.

It looks like I may not be able to get rid of my extra copy via my friend (someone else apparently already bought it for him for the holidays). So if anyone's interested in acquiring one, maybe we can work something out. I'll know for sure in another day or so.

-HM
 
[quote name='brandonabley']Soo . . .

How is this game anyway? I've been tentatively looking at it. What does it compare to in terms of gameplay style?[/QUOTE]

It's very similar to any of the old school RPGs where you move around through a dungeon of discrete 3D boxes. Stuff like Bard's Tale. (Only it's much less complex and shorter than The Bard's Tale or most other old school PC RPGs.) Also there aren't random encounters and you don't enter a special battle mode when you bump up against an enemy. You see the enemies in the level just like anything else and you can fire a ranged weapon at them, run away, run up to them, etc.

With most enemies for every action you take (shoot a weapon, swing a sword, take a step) they also take one action. i.e. turn based.

I thought IGN's review was pretty good if you want some additional info.
 
[quote name='wubb']With most enemies for every action you take (shoot a weapon, swing a sword, take a step) they also take one action. i.e. turn based.[/quote]

Right. There are some monsters who will get in two actions per turn. There is also a potion (haste, I believe) which gives you two actions per turn.

-HM
 
seen a few at a local place with the sylus . might grab a few and see about dumping the stlus here or ebay. hell ebay they are fetching 20 to 35 (more then the game alone)


if anyone is insterested in buying one pm me a price shipped i might grab a few if the offer is nice : )
 
[quote name='slidecage']seen a few at a local place with the sylus . might grab a few and see about dumping the stlus here or ebay. hell ebay they are fetching 20 to 35 (more then the game alone)


if anyone is insterested in buying one pm me a price shipped i might grab a few if the offer is nice : )[/quote]

How very kind of you to offer fellow CAGs an inflated price on the stylus. I'll take 2 at $25 each. Shoot me a PM.

Just started the game today and got through the Prison. I like it! Definitely not my kind of game at all, never played anything like it. But it's fun.
 
[quote name='Rocko']How very kind of you to offer fellow CAGs an inflated price on the stylus. I'll take 2 at $25 each. Shoot me a PM.

Just started the game today and got through the Prison. I like it! Definitely not my kind of game at all, never played anything like it. But it's fun.[/QUOTE]


LOL no i didnt say i was going to sell them here for 20 to 40 each. just saying they are fetching 20 to 40 on ebay. (dont see why people would pay that much for them, but then again why do people pay 25 to 30 for the yu gi oh cards that come for free in the ds games : )


are these things very small. and how easy are they breakable.
are the included in the cases . the one i picked up says something about a sylus inside (grabbed the last one at the closest walmart. If the snowstorm dont hit tonight i got another one i can run and see)



the one i got says something like

ORCS AND ELVES

then besides the Teen rating it says FREE WAND STYLUS

it looks like the ones on ebay BUT are these things inside the case or some plasticwrapped on the outside of the case


im not where the game is right now and didnt have time to rip it open


i wonder if i could just toss these in a bubble envlope and they wont get broke or i would have to send them in 2/3 day boxes
 
[quote name='slidecage']LOL no i didnt say i was going to sell them here[/quote]
[quote name='slidecage']if anyone is insterested in buying one pm me a price shipped i might grab a few if the offer is nice : )[/quote]

What?
 
[quote name='Rocko']What?[/QUOTE]

i need sleep....


I was saying i probally be intersted in selling some here if i get some (looks like storm may miss us. they were calling for 3 inches by nightfall got 1/2


I was just saying they are fetching 20 to 40 on ebay. I wasnt expecting people to pay 20 to 40 if i sold them here. was just saying they were fetching that much on ebay what is shocking.

should know by Monday if i can get more then the 1 i got in hand for myself.


If no snow then maybe tomorrow if not tomorrow then probally monday since walmart is right down the road from where i work. should of stopped today but wanted to get home before the so called snowstorm hit

10-15 shipped would be nice since it would knock the game down to 10 (what i would pay for a game like this)
 
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