Getting rid of life meter in Gobliiins 1 \ VOGONS

Getting rid of life meter in Gobliiins 1

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First post, by Paar

Posted on 2019-07-15, 12:56

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I would like to replay the whole Goblins trilogy together with the Woodruff spinoff. I love the games but have a big problem with the first one. If you ever played the game you know there is a life meter that decreases when any of the controlled goblins get scared/hurt. That's the best part in the game, why should I avoid it? Coktel removed the feature in subsequent games fortunately but the first one is still a black sheep because of it. It's a real shame because otherwise it's very good game.

Do you know if there is any unofficial patch/hack that removes the feature?

Reply 1 of 6, by Azarien

Posted on 2019-07-28, 10:17

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I don't know of such a patch, but I am interested as well.

Reply 2 of 6, by Paar

Posted on 2019-07-29, 11:10

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Will probably be forced to make such patch myself... 😀. Won't be easy as I have no experience with assembly hacking for DOS games.

Reply 3 of 6, by robertmo

Posted on 2019-07-29, 19:59

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I guess it may be enough to use dosbox with save states patch if the game itself doesn't support saving.

Reply 4 of 6, by Paar

Posted on 2019-07-30, 08:38

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Even then it would probably break the game, balance-wise. If I remember correctly there is this level with a mummy or a zombie that will suck the life meter if you release it too early. It's a part of the puzzle to figure it out how to avoid. It has been a long time since I have played the game the last time but there could be more instances like this.

It would probably suffice to make a patch that would refill the life meter every time you change a level. If you want to have any chance of avoiding bottomless frustration you have to experiment with full life meter otherwise the fun is gone. The life won't refill until you die or restart the level with a password.

On the other hand the game isn't exactly long so the hurdle with the password system should be bearable. Nevertless I'm so happy they got rid of the life system in all subsequent games...