Nostalgia with Nox

The last time I bought a computer game was the 1980s for the Apple II. That long spell was broken two months ago when I decided to purchase Nox Archaist, a new game released by less than two years ago, programmed so you could play it on an Apple II. The company that made the game is aptly named the 6502 Workshop.

 

One of the reasons why I haven’t played computer games in so many years is that my training (as a computational chemist) and my job (as a professor) mostly involves sitting in front of a computer. I prefer not to spend my leisure time in front of the screen, and hence for many years I have preferred physical board games and card games instead of the virtual experience. Although many of these board games have been ported so you can play them in the cloud, I have never done so. I was tempted during the pandemic to consider it, but never actually followed through.

 

Five months ago, I stumbled on A Dark Room. And I did so because I had been thinking about interactive fiction and its potential use in education and learning. I could perhaps trace this to immersing myself (three years ago) in a board game, 7th Continent, that evoked the old days of choose-your-own-adventure books. Sometime during the pandemic, I did indulge in some screen time at Project AON, going through the first five books. (I never owned physical copies of these books back in the 1980s, my brother had borrowed them from a friend back then.) Reliving the nostalgia was fun! I had forgotten most of the story so it felt fresh. The books aren’t very long, and each adventure takes less than an hour. I even went through the next seven books in the series (new to me), but then lost interest.

 

Back in the 1980s, I was enamored by computer games. The Apple II games that held my attention the most were Ultima IV and Ultima V. These were marvelous realms of story-telling, that far exceeded anything else that was out on the market at the time. I admit that I spent very little actual money on games back then since my only access was to pirated copies, which had been pre-hacked and had no accompanying manual. Eight summers ago, I indulged in my first experience of Apple II nostalgia by replaying Ultima IV, and created my first blog chronicling that adventure. (The blog is only 23 posts, one for each of the sessions I spent playing the game.)

 

With lots of hermit time during the recent pandemic, I seriously considered replaying Ultima V, but didn’t know if I was really up to slogging my way through it. I remember the overall story arc, but not much in terms of the details, and the fun part of not remembering is rediscovering the clues by talking to townsfolk in the game. But I also had a vague recollection of the tedious parts: battle was irritatingly slowed down by “aiming”, the spell system was annoying, and my Olde English Rune reading is extremely rusty. (Back in the day as a Tolkien fan, I could easily read them.) I remember the game space being larger with an Underworld as big as the surface of Britannia, but I also vaguely recall that it was a very tedious slog. But I spent some time reading about the history of the Ultima series and how the games changed over time. I was not drawn to the newer ones, nor the very old ones (although I’ve played Ultima II and III, there isn’t the remotest desire to revisit them). That’s when I stumbled across Nox Archaist.

 

Actually, that stumble happened almost a year ago over winter break. I watched some videos and found the game intriguing. It looked like the designers had thought very carefully about what worked and what didn’t from the older Ultima games, and chose the best parts to include in Nox Archaist within the limits of what the Apple II hardware could handle. I read some reviews (both positive and negative) on the internet. I was tempted. But did I want to really put down some electronic cash on this? And then I’d feel the need to spend time playing it if I made the cash investment. Would it be worth it? I dithered. The spring semester came and went. During the summer, I was finally able to visit my parents in the home I grew up. (With international travel restrictions, quarantines, and ever-changing rules, I had not made a trip home since the pandemic began.) Maybe it was the nostalgia of being home, seeing my siblings, and chatting about old times. (The old Apple II clone died a long time ago.) But when I returned, I decided to give Nox Archaist a whirl.

 

It took two months, playing mostly on the weekends and on the occasional evening before I completed the game. I estimate spending 50-60 hours of mostly enjoyable playtime (with occasional small frustrations of the good kind, mapmaking included). Even when I was not playing, I would spend time looking at the maps and my notebook and puzzling over quests I was stuck on. Did Nox Archaist deliver the nostalgic experience I was looking for? An emphatic YES is my answer! I will be careful to avoid any spoilers in the game so I will stay somewhat vague in what follows. Let me tell you what I really liked about Nox Archaist.

 

The controls are very intuitive to a former Ultima player and it captures the best features from both Ultima IV and V. First, let me say that I thought the game was very well paced. While I did read the manual beforehand (which I never had access to in the 1980s), the game starts off tutorial-like to help the newbie. There are little starter-quests that help you build experience. Nox also streamlines some of the annoying parts of Ultima. You don’t have to worry about stocking up on food. Conversations with townsfolk are significantly streamlined so you don’t waste time guessing prompt words. The automated aiming system in battle especially for ranged weapons takes away the tedium, as does a quick combat option.

 

While there are fewer townes to visit, and I think overall fewer people to talk to, there is a range of mini-quests that keep the game interesting. If you’re not powerful enough to tackle a big baddie, you can work on a mini-quest. The game even keeps track of these for you, although any experienced Ultima player would take more extensive notes keeping track of conversation details you’ve had with various NPCs. The day/night time-tracking of Ultima V gives realism to the town life (not present in Ultima IV) and since camping only restores three-quarters of your hit points and magic points, sleeping the night at inns becomes a common occurrence. Unlike Ultima where I regularly roamed around at night, in Nox I was often either camping or staying at an inn for the night. (They’re much cheaper than going to a healer.) While I had to adjust to magic points not slowly restoring themselves just by roaming around, I feel this gives a little more realism to the game.

 

Making good maps is simply part of an Ultima player’s toolkit. I actually found this aspect to be fun while playing Nox even though it slowed me down. I liked the choice not to have 3-D perspective dungeons and keep the 2-D view in the Depths of Vacuous. The network in the depths of Level 2 was particularly interesting when I discovered its vastness. A good map is very helpful! And although there were fewer townes, the castles and keeps had multiple levels including a basement giving one lots of interesting areas to explore

 

I very much enjoyed the openness of the adventure. While, there is a mainline quest to the game, there are enough side-adventures to explore and artifacts to acquire that do not prevent you from finishing the game even if you miss or skip them. This is unlike the old adventure games of the 1980s where you had to get all the special items (and sometimes in a particular order) to win. And if you missed one, you were stuck, stuck, stuck. I didn’t know the “passwords” in at least two places when exploring the depths, but this wasn’t a problem. (I assume they were to acquire some interesting artifacts that I missed.) I also found what seemed like special items that I didn’t know how to use (mostly gems), but that didn’t stop me from completing the game. And if you’re not strong enough to take on a big baddie (boss-level enemy), in some cases, you can still get what you need to proceed with your mainline quest. This was very refreshing!

 

I liked the more detailed stats on weapons, armor, and skills. It was cool that you could train in five different skills (a good way to use excess gold), but you didn’t have to do so. Much preferable to Ultima’s zap yourself with a magic ball system. I also liked that you weren’t forced to have an optimally built party of adventurers stats-wise. While I did take some time to think about which stats to focus on (or diversify), I didn’t have everything planned out from the beginning and I adapted as the game proceeded. My party ended up being relatively well-balanced overall, I think, even though they couldn't necessarily use the topmost level best weapons or magic spells. It seems there are many paths to victory, once again emphasizing the openness of the gameplay.

 

Let me close by repeating how much I enjoyed the pace of the game. I felt that the timing of encountering challenges, enemies, and big baddies fit very closely to the level of my adventurers. When I first explored a new area, the battles were tough. It seemed that I had leveled up just enough for the new exploration to be a challenge, whether it be on a new island in Wynmar or a new level in the depths, or a big baddie. In some cases, I had to live again to fight another day. In others, I prevailed but it was a close call. My party members leveled up to the penultimate stage as I journeyed my way into the depths for the second-to-last mainline quest. After finishing that, they reached their highest level just before the last big baddie. When I made what I thought was the final assault, I was completely trounced at first. But after ruminating on some prior clues, I figured out the different approach needed. Except for this, and being stuck on a much earlier quest because I had forgotten that you could modulate your voice level in conversation (crucial in just a few cases), the pace of the game was excellent. I was neither way too weak to face my enemies (although sometimes I wasn’t strong enough and had to level up and come back) or way too strong to mop up a big baddie too easily. It was as if the game was designed perfectly for a player like me moving through the game at my idiosyncratic pace! Also, there are also many humorous bits in the game including the final screen!

 

I am very much looking forward to the Nox expansion anticipated in the spring, although I probably won’t get to it until the summer. For those of you who enjoyed Ultima IV or V back in the day, I highly recommend Nox Archaist. For me, it was a blast! I’d say the pacing was better than the Ultima games, without the annoying bits, and I liked the open feel and side-quests that were optional (but fun)! I don’t know if a much younger gamer who started out with more advanced graphics and action in their games would enjoy Nox, but I hope the game does well and that the folks at 6502 Workshop are able to produce more gems like this! And maybe a decade from now, I will replay Nox for nostalgia!