[PikaCommando]

Found a bunch of old magazine stuff on SiN. First up is June 1997 issue of Computer Gaming World.



Next up is June 1998. Is there a clean version of the awesome cover art available anywhere?




(how do i crop pdf)


Bonus Section:








Also:





The black magnum appears instead even though the color had been switched to red since November 1997 (judging from the PC Games magazine cover). It sucks that you can't dual-wield magnums in the game even though Blade is dual-wielding it almost all the time (but you can in Wages of SiN; you can even play regular SiN with dual magnums if you open the maps in WoS!).

[deuxsonic]

Sin versus Half-Life versus Unreal versus Daikatana versus Duke Nukem Forever... and 9 more! Wow. I miss the old days.

[PikaCommando]

Can you guess what level this is? Answer is in the album.

First up, I made an album showcasing (probably) every SiN preview CGW did (and I converted the pages to .jpg properly this time), but it seems that there wasn't any for Wages of SiN. Also, the extended coverage for SiN Episodes: Emergence either didn't exist or lost because I can't find it on the horribly archived cgw.1up.com.

Next is some Wages of SiN stuff. Here are some thumbnails-only screenshots (why is it always only the thumbnail that got archived?). There's also previews for SiN (original, updated) and WoS but as usual, all the screenshots are gone.

Given WoS' short development time, I'm guessing there wasn't much changes from beginning to end. But I'm terrible at guessing, so who knows?

[MrFlibble]

Ray Hardgrit posted a review/game impressions article about the game recently:
http://superadventur.../04/sin-pc.html

[PikaCommando]

Nice to see others think that it's more of a Duke Nukem sequel than Duke Nukem Forever itself too. Looks like the new DOOMguy will be a contender for Blade's title of "Toughest FPS Mofo" because he'll be picking up armor and health from fallen enemies just like Blade did.

Here's an almost completely broken SiN press page (no sign on the trailer though). Also, here's a small article on SiN from the August 1997 issue of PC Gamer UK, though it's nothing we don't already know. Does anyone have a copy of the November 1997 issue of PC Games; the one with the SiN cover story; lying around somewhere? I've got a feeling that it has something awesome in it, but I can't find any traces of it online other than this likely contender; only an unrelated German game mag with the same name, and that it was originally called Electronic Entertainment and then PC Entertainment before it became PC Games. The above website also contains some very informative articles in a 6-part feature called The SiN Files. Unfortunately, Part 6 was not archived (fucking hell). There's also that magazine called OGR that has a 10-page SiN feature too (the one with the 'Elexis in the Water' cover) that is sure to have fucktons of cool stuff in it too, but there's no traces of it online outside of archived SiN news page talking about how the article was awesome. According to Wieder, it is also where the red magnum debuted. There's also a 2-page article on Boot Magazine's December 1997 issue but as expected, I can't find anything about it online.

INTERVIEW DUMP
Have a bunch of old interviews on old Ritualistic. Next up are three more interviews about SiN's level design with Paradox, Levelord, and Wieder. There's also a SinED tutorial that has a few broken images. Another interview with Levelord on the characters. There's also an interview with Robert Atkins on old Gamespot UK, but the last few pages are unarchived along with everything else that isn't the seven initial pages (god fucking damnit). PC Gamer also had a feature about SiN (as well as an earlier preview), filled to the brim with broken screenshots. VoodooExtreme also had an archived preview of SiN, screenshots not included. VoodooPower on the other hand did an interview with Joe Selinske, published November 1997. Adrenaline Vault had an interesting interview with the staff of Ritual Entertainment (but it's mostly Levelord). As part of the company hazing ritual, newcomer Charlie Wiederhold is subjected to his first interview as a Ritual Entertainment employee. Lastly, 2 interviews with Levelord talking about how awesome he is; one by Elecplay at E3, the other by Wolfen in October 1997.


Now, for the good shit. First up, wallpapers. People need to stop putting their shitty watermarks on the "Blade vs alpha Vultorns" wallpaper because I can't find the original version anywhere, even on archive.org. Anyone who has the clean 1024x768/1280x1024 version, please post here. This site has a few of them in variable sizes.

Now, for the REALLY good shit. Next-Generation previews of SiN with some new screenshots (that are in shit quality for some reason)! Japanese site with rare screenshots of SiN (and an interview with Charlie that was translated a long time ago but isn't archived, and also switch the numbers in the url from 01 to 04 for more unrelated interviews)! And most importantly of all, this special feature of SiN by GameSlice that had full versions of a few thumbnails that Marphy Black posted (but full versions of fucking cool ass exclusive level editor screenshots and character animations .avi movies aren't archived, fuck)!


If you went through all of that, you may have noticed that all the articles there mentioned 2087 or 2097 as the year the game takes place in, as opposed to the final's 2037. Also, fun fact: while skimming through old game mags, I found a game from 1997/1998 that was called Sin at one point in development, but had the name changed when SiN was revealed. I forgot what the game was, but it's probably Requiem or Messiah or something like that. It's a pain in the ass to navigate .pdf (and I forgot which year it was too, meaning I had to search all those shit again) so unless someone else confirms it first, I'll check again next time.

[Mblackwell]

[Robman]

pscyhic?

[Person of Color]

Activision forced Ritual to launch the game as a buggy beta and basically doomed it. The older versions of the game have horrible load times. They're very fast when patched though, but the old save files won't work.

[MetHy]

I didn't know Sin had an add-on. How is it?

[PikaCommando]

MetHy, on 23 May 2016 - 10:30 AM, said:

I didn't know Sin had an add-on. How is it?

If by add-on you mean Wages of SiN, then I'll say it's very good. A more cohesive experience than the base game, actually.

[Jblade]

MetHy, on 23 May 2016 - 10:30 AM, said:

I didn't know Sin had an add-on. How is it?

It's pretty damn amazing! It not only fits right in with the original SiN's atmosphere but is actually better than it in many areas. There's a lot of Blade and JC banter going on and all of the new monsters and equipment and stuff is kickass as well. It's probably the best expansion pack for a classic FPS I've played (it beats the shit out of Opposing Force which I replayed and actually found pretty lacking in areas)

Only critcism I could level at it is that there's hoverbikes in it but they're MP only. I'm guessing they had plans for a SP section but couldn't get it in time. Still it's well well worth your time.

[Richard Shead]

Ah, a "fairly well planned out" game with "PG-13-ish" content. Can't wait to buy it at my local CompUSA!

[deuxsonic]

Fairly well planned out? If they had an actual plan the game would have been finished in a few years max. That was the exact problem, there was no plan, and George kept wanting more and more things (see game, want that in DNF) so there was no planned end product. At some point you have to lock down what you have, you've got as much of the plan in as you could, and just polish it up.

I did like CompUSA back in the day though, as they had what I felt was a really good selection of computer hardware and software. Now if you need a PSU or a case for your computer, good luck finding ANY brick-and-mortar store that has them. The computer sections of all the electronics stores shrunk to basically notebooks and tablets and not much else.

[PikaCommando]

Quote

SiN Official Strategy Guide (Brady Games)'s Amazon store page

The BradyGames strategy guides will include level maps and solutions to every puzzle.

- Learn the critical paths through the game to achieve the best possible ending/outcome (up to 4 different outcomes). Will include a decision tree with various paths throughout the game.
- Hardcore multi-player strategies for intense head-to-head action.
- In-depth look at all the characters and story line that makeup the Sin universe.

Sin takes place in 2087, where an addictive drug has allegedly caused genetic mutations in its users. The beautiful biochemist Elexis Sinclair is behind the inexplicable phenomena.

Players are armed with hard-core weaponry and are pitted against the meanest, ugliest mutants. The objective is to infiltrate the drug circuit and bring its mastermind to justice - Rid the earth of Sin.

Quake 3D engine enhancements including transparent fog and water effects, translucent models, improved physics and awesome 16-bit color.

Just bought the official SiN BradyGames strategy guide for a hundred bucks. It's not as good as I'd expected (black and white, barebones internet-level walkthrough, and no "map overview" like advertised on Amazon, though it has stats for every weapon but none for enemies) whereas the official Daikatana PrimaGames strategy guide is full-color, has map overview, in-depth info, and lots of good shit (such as John Romero's comments on each level); all that for the same price too. However, the book has its flaws too; the "exclusive interview" with John Romero was only a section from the full interview hosted on their site (1 2 3), no stats for weapons and enemies, and no mention of the Dopefish secrets. From what I can see of the Killcreek poster (it was sort of sealed shut and I'm afraid of tearing it), it's just her grabbing one of her boobs (and she looks tired too, but I guess that's just the side-effect of making Daikatana). It seems to be part of this photo shoot, except it's exclusive for the book. Where did they come from anyway?


I really want to scan the book, but I also really don't have the heart to rip off the pages (and also because they look like they'll rip themselves off any day now).

[Daedolon]

Never seen that picture of Elexis before, some unused costume design?

It's a pain to have to buy two copies of a single book just to scan it while also having an intact copy.

[leilei]

Duke Rocks, on 23 May 2016 - 03:01 PM, said:

Ah, a "fairly well planned out" game with "PG-13-ish" content. Can't wait to buy it at my local CompUSA!

To be fair they did have success with the aforementioned 10-year-olds market they were originally gunning for at least.

[PikaCommando]

Daedolon, on 24 May 2016 - 02:31 PM, said:

Never seen that picture of Elexis before, some unused costume design?

If you're talking about the one on the back of the book, then iirc it was used as one of the loading screens in-game.

[Person of Color]

She was wearing red in the loading screens.

[Person of Color]

I need to rebeat this game already...

Fuck, it's so good, only Deus Ex: Human Revolution is better. SiN is definitely the best "conventional" FPS I've ever come across.

[Frederik Schreiber]

Person of Color, on 26 May 2016 - 07:31 PM, said:

I need to rebeat this game already...

Fuck, it's so good, only Deus Ex: Human Revolution is better. SiN is definitely the best "conventional" FPS I've ever come across.

I'm happy to hear that!

[PikaCommando]

Is there a way to contact the site administrator of Ritualistic? Ritualistic's FTP may be the only way to get all the SiN stuff since every other website is gone/eaten up today. I tried to email via the site feedback thing but I don't think it's working.

[Jim]

are there any custom campaigns or SP maps for SIN?

[PikaCommando]

The only one I know of is Freeport Docks.

There's also a bunch of tutorial maps on The Node, but I don't think they count. Looks like Half-Life took all the mappers away. I remember there was a few other DM maps or something, but I can't find them again.

[Frederik Schreiber]

PikaCommando, on 02 August 2016 - 07:00 AM, said:

Is there a way to contact the site administrator of Ritualistic? Ritualistic's FTP may be the only way to get all the SiN stuff since every other website is gone/eaten up today. I tried to email via the site feedback thing but I don't think it's working.

We'll work on getting a hold of all the old Ritualistic content.
We have the rest of the old SiN stuff.
Expect an official announcement soon!

[PikaCommando]

Frederik Schreiber, on 05 August 2016 - 03:35 AM, said:

We'll work on getting a hold of all the old Ritualistic content.
We have the rest of the old SiN stuff.
Expect an official announcement soon!

Thank you!


By the way, I have directly ripped the soundtracks from the .pak and uploaded it in a .rar if you guys need it for whatever. Also, anyone know who's the singer/band in rammdm? My guess is Rammstein, but they're German.

[Person of Color]

Thanks so much for the rips, but when I played the game the quality was much better. Are you sure there aren't two directories, one for low sound quality and another for high? I know the game has an option to toggle this.

[PikaCommando]

Person of Color, on 07 August 2016 - 10:30 PM, said:

Thanks so much for the rips, but when I played the game the quality was much better. Are you sure there aren't two directories, one for low sound quality and another for high? I know the game has an option to toggle this.

I don't think there is, there is only one folder that contains the music files. I checked the .mus files which I think are the scripts used in-game, and there isn't any sound quality toggle aside from some volume changes.


Also, why the fuck is there so many copies of xenosucc.wav in the .pak?

[Daedolon]

Person of Color, on 07 August 2016 - 10:30 PM, said:

Thanks so much for the rips, but when I played the game the quality was much better. Are you sure there aren't two directories, one for low sound quality and another for high? I know the game has an option to toggle this.

Maybe it's doing some sort of upsampling, similar to how BUILD handles audio files?

[MetHy]

I just went through Wages Of Sin. I used this Steam version, so I'm not sure if it makes any big difference, but I enjoyed it a lot overall, more than the original game.

It had some good level design, with tons of side paths, secrets, and good looking environments. The objectives were fun too. The stealth ones were a bit annoying, but thankfully they're not mandatory. Liked the new weapons and enemies a lot.

Only the lab level was terrible. It was very cramped, with deadly enemies, and annoying doors everywhere that auto-close in the blink of an eye...

But well, it still is Sin, so combat felt weak overall. It's a mix between sound and enemies behaviour, but combat lacks impact. This game has a huge sound problem too, no matter how I set it, guns and enemies were very quiet, and ambient sounds loud and annoying.

I have to say that this game has some great looking 3D models though.

[Person of Color]

MetHy, on 15 August 2016 - 01:35 AM, said:

But well, it still is Sin, so combat felt weak overall. It's a mix between sound and enemies behaviour, but combat lacks impact. This game has a huge sound problem too, no matter how I set it, guns and enemies were very quiet, and ambient sounds loud and annoying.

I had to disable EAX via the config file on my Windows 98 computer to fix this. Some levels still have loud ambient noise, but they're supposed to. Machinery is obvious going to be mixed louder.

If you want SiN's combat to have more impact, focus on hitpoints. The enemies aren't bullet sponges if you sharpshoot.