It's like Drug Wars in the Wild Frontier!

October 16, 2009 6:30 AM

Friday Flash Fun: Frontier is an adventure RPG with an economic bent, very similar to Caravaneer. You travel from town to town dealing in the goods available in each town.

Spend some of the money you make upgrading your transportation and your companions. You can choose to join one of the two guilds opposing each other, the Buccaneers and the Enforcers. If you join a guild there are quests to complete which move you up the ranks.

If you want a simpler, less time consuming game, try Mad Virus.

posted by schyler523 (15 comments total)

You Have Died of Dysentery
posted by sidereal at 7:03 AM on October 16, 2009

Needs more postappoacalypse and dark humor. I like the engine and the concept, but at the same time, I'd like more of a story. Frankly, if the people at Bethesda made an iPhone/DS game just like this one but set in the Fallout creative universe, complete with fleshed out characters and a backstory, I'd be thrilled.

Yes, I'm that critical of a free game.
posted by mccarty.tim at 7:25 AM on October 16, 2009

I got off to a slow start as I upgraded my vessel too quickly and had more capacity than my meager bankroll required. Still playing because it's kind of fun, but is there an ultimate point beyond "keep going and make more money"?
posted by explosion at 7:49 AM on October 16, 2009

Played this a few days ago, but got bored quickly. Too easy. Same actions over and over.
posted by ursus_comiter at 8:53 AM on October 16, 2009

Uncharted Waters anyone?
posted by scrutiny at 8:56 AM on October 16, 2009

Uncharted Waters was dope! I still have a notebook with the coordinates for all the waypoints in the game written down.

I will have to check this out.
posted by reenum at 9:46 AM on October 16, 2009

The villagers are buying oats at outrageous prices!
posted by Flashman at 10:25 AM on October 16, 2009

I'm enjoying it to an extent, but the inability to heal is a real drag. I'm walking from town to town trading oats with a sucking chest wound, which just doesn't seem right somehow.
posted by Shepherd at 10:30 AM on October 16, 2009

...with musical depth provided by Sufjian Stevens, and quite possibly cruel and unusual if used for interrogations.
The rest of the game is pretty good.
posted by cleancut at 11:13 AM on October 16, 2009

...with musical depth provided by Sufjian Stevens, and quite possibly cruel and unusual if used for interrogations.

Well I love Sufjan, but the music is making me want to blow my brains out after 2 minutes...why would they burden a fun little game with this god-awful annoyance.
posted by tdstone at 12:12 PM on October 16, 2009

Played this a few days ago, but got bored quickly. Too easy. Same actions over and over.

Yep, and the battle takes one turn to find out if it's advantagous to keep fighting or surrender. Theives take your shit and you can't do anything about it. Otherwise you just check the travel guide and buy stuff from the present town so you can resell at better prices in the next. Meh.
posted by P.o.B. at 4:48 PM on October 16, 2009

There's also a glaring weakness in it: there's one town that buys Iron at a healthy 20 % mark up compared to the price of Iron in the town next to it. When you find that, the game becomes more like a commute than an actual game...
posted by NekulturnY at 3:20 AM on October 17, 2009

It was really simple once I figured out prices didn't fluxuate. Still played through; it was fun!
posted by Korou at 8:27 AM on October 17, 2009

Yeah, once I found out where Root was, Root became the place where I sold everything. I was getting at least a 25% profit on every run there.

Interesting concept, though. Would love to see a more developed, more varied game where this was the core mechanic.
posted by kafziel at 10:28 AM on October 17, 2009

Or just do silver and diamonds between Firetail and Toccuna.
posted by Evilspork at 9:19 PM on October 17, 2009