Original Warcraft is brutal

Posted by SorinLion@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 46 comments

I started playing it a few weeks ago, and oh boy is it tough to play! Not only was it a pain to get it working in DOS, it's missing so many creature comforts of the later games. I only had StarCraft and Warcraft 2 growing up, so I thought: "oh, I'll give the original a try". I'm still enjoying it, though. Level 4... I had to look up a guide, not gonna lie.💀

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sabudum@reddit

The only good game with the word "warcraft".

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SorinLion@reddit (OP)

Yeah, I got a chuckle when it mentioned "entering the world of Warcraft".

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ryfromoz@reddit

job done!

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ksuwildkat@reddit

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Vinylmaster3000@reddit

Huh, that's weird that this was a pain to get working on DOS. I was able to get it working perfectly, the floppy version at least.

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SorinLion@reddit (OP)

I kept getting memory errors. I had to load most of DOS into high memory before there was enough free for it to run. I'll have to see if I can get The Elder Scrolls: Arena running next.

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Vinylmaster3000@reddit

I had these errors trying to run it on a 386 (for funsies). Problem being that 4MB required you to allocate 3MB on EMM386.EXE to work. You must be running into TSR problems because typically you need 570, which is a far cry from what some games required.

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ItyBityGreenieWeenie@reddit

Warcraft is so fun. If you want to see the one that started this genre, check out Dune II. The first Dune game was very different, but Dune II is RTS.

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SorinLion@reddit (OP)

Thanks, I'll take a look. Been trying to find more DOS era games to try out.

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ItyBityGreenieWeenie@reddit

I love the first Dune, it is a weird hybrid adventure strategy game with a phenomenal soundtrack, especially if you have an AdLib gold or MT32. It was released on audio CD as The Spice Opera.

Another not to miss is the Fallout. The first was DOS or Windows.

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hamburgler26@reddit

Was going to bring up the music for Dune as well, absolutely phenomenal. Its a really great looking game too.

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JJDoes1tAll@reddit

I have that case for my k6-2!

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SorinLion@reddit (OP)

The original motherboard in this case was a Pentium 1 90mhz. I swapped it for a 486 dx2 motherboard, since the original had one of those Dallas RTC CMOS chips with the integrated batteries that's a pain in the ass to fix. I'll eventually fix it, I'm not giving up.

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bonesawzall@reddit

You can still buy new rtcs. I picked one up a couple of years ago for my DEC 486 PC.

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docshipley@reddit

Look for glitchworks on Tindie. He makes a battery hat that sits on top of the Dallas chip.

Not affiliated, just a happy customer.

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SorinLion@reddit (OP)

I'll take a look. I'm just having trouble getting the chip out, it's nestled in between the ISA and PCI slots.

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docshipley@reddit

Ouch.

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LegalIndependent549@reddit

Yes, insanely difficult. The summoned units (in particular the human water elemental) are by FAR the best units in the game, to the point where it's actually silly, but you don't get those until the last two missions. Until then, you're on your own.

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Specialist-Leek8645@reddit

Oh man, WarCraft and StarCraft are very important to me. WC 1-3. Just me and the computer. I waited for like 12 years for StarCraft 2. It's pretty hefty but they did a great job. Wait, that wasn't as recent as it seems.. is the sequel already retro too? I can't keep up. I hate online multiplayer and by the time it finally came out, it was catered in that direction like so many other IPs. It's ok because I can still do skirmishes vs AI.

I also have to comment on your strategically placed Journeyman book. Those are my OTHER very important games. Just played them again recently, need to try Pegasus Prime next.

I'm not kidding. Every time I've changed computers or operating systems, I always try to get copies of those games running. It's a benchmark of worthiness. What good is a machine if it can't run WarCraft3? These games really affected me; I still think about them all the time. I hold on to them from my past and when I get them running it feels like things are as they should be. I don't want to ever loose the ability to play them.

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Carl0s_H@reddit

Work work

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UrWHThurtZ@reddit

Your sound card works perfectly!

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illinistylee@reddit

I’m much funnier in the retail version

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0xKaishakunin@reddit

Your will, Sire?

My Liege?

Wörk wörk!

My parents hated those sound bites coming 24/7 from my room in 1994.

I was blasted that you could group 4 units together. In Dune II you had to click every Devastator individually. What a pain.

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hullgreebles@reddit

Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged Reporting, Acknowledged

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tiny-starship@reddit

Have you tried the remastered version they put out? I’ve been thinking of getting jt

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SorinLion@reddit (OP)

I considered it, but I wanted to try it in its original form. That, and it was fun putting together this 486 system, gotta play something on it.

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badaboommx@reddit

I remember that I finished when I was a kid, I doubt that I can do it today.

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TheCh0rt@reddit

You'd be surprised, I played it with my son recently and breezed right through it

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matt95110@reddit

I remember playing the original C&C when it came out and I thought it was the hardest game I had ever played. I was off for a few weeks around Christmas and I beat both campaigns in a day.

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Lumornys@reddit

Clunky controls, using keyboard shortcuts is a must. Pathfinding is so bad you often have to micromanage every single soldier.

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ta_thewholeman@reddit

The feeling of bones crunching beneath your feet is confirmation of your awesome victory!

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Kurgan_IT@reddit

I loved the original warcraft, much more than the original starcraft, even if they were basically the same game. We had quite some LAN parties with Warcraft, Doom (of course) and Diablo.

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oskich@reddit

Used to play the Warcraft 1 demo over modem against people I found on the local BBS.

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HeywoodJaBlessMe@reddit

Oh man, we sure loved it upon release. I remember downloading the shareware at 2400 baud and then using pkzip to compress it so I could fit it onto a floppy to share with friends at school.

We were so hyped for Warcraft 2 that I think its the first video game I ever played on the day of release. There was five or six of us crowded around the computer. Such a huge improvement

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Positive_Chip6198@reddit

In the shareware version, skeletons didnt have a timer, so you could fill the screen with them. I was so dissappointed when the game released and my skellies fell apart all by themselves.

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smoothvibe@reddit

Golden times! Really miss them.

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mtest001@reddit

Zog zog!

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Outside-Storage-1523@reddit

RTS back then seemed to be more brutal. I tried to play through Red Alert campaigns and missions and many of them are pretty hard.

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sabresfanfml@reddit

My early childhood computer! Parents purchased it in 1993. Quantex 486 DX2 66mhz, 800mb hd, 14.4k modem, quad speed cd-rom. Razor-sharp full-tower case. Completely obsolete in three years.

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AshuraBaron@reddit

Same as you, grew up with War2 and SC. Only tried War1 MANY years later and found the lack of QoL to be too much. I did finally go through the whole game when the remaster came out. Still tough though. Had to use cheese to get through some missions or spamming. Not as buggy as War2 though. Which is part of the charm of War2. They NPC may just spam dragons, their logic may break and they will just mine the whole time. Who knows!

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SorinLion@reddit (OP)

Yeah, I found that out the hard way. One of the guides I found showed an effective way to navigate level 4, since typical movements were ineffective.

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hugh_jorgyn@reddit

"pot of gold"

"hurry up guys"

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SorinLion@reddit (OP)

Heh heh, I'm not looking to cheat just yet.