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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
| Riftrunner: Preview @ Gamespot Benelux |
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Gamespot Benelux has a Dutch <a href="http://www.gamespot.be/preview.cfm?id=3854&kind=pc" target="_blank">preview</a> of Larian's Riftrunner. The article is accompanied by a couple of new screenshots. |
Mon Nov 17, 2003 2:44 pm |
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Myrthos
Spoiler of All Fun
Joined: 07 Jul 2001
Posts: 1926
Location: Holland |
For those interested, I whipped up an english translation of this dutch preview. I have some issues with it. Especially for the second half it becomes more of a bullet list wihtout bullets. The flow of the story is lost, the same happens in the original one though. Also the one writing this didn't get that the random dungeon generator and the battlefields are one and the same. And if he did get it then it didn't show in the text. I didn't correct these things of course. Besides that I did not spend too much time on spell checking my translation either.
Riftrunner
Not a sequel but a continuance
Then there were two
You – the hero, who else could you be – has been had this time in a very original way. Dark forces have melted your soul with the soul of a Death Knight, not immediately considered to be one of the most popular figures from the Divine Divinity world. The fact that this sinister character isn’t too thrilled about this either, doesn’t make any of it easier. In any case, you are stuck with each other and you both share the same dream: finding a way out of this situation. After asking around in this magical/medieval environment, there appears to be a solution – other than throwing yourself on a sword or (even worse) that after spending years together at he campfire you are suddenly starting to find this black armor sexy. The way out can be found in ‘riftrunning’ – traveling between different worlds – one more real and less populated with demons than others. Before you master this technique you already went through most of the 4 acts of Riftrunner from Larian Studios…. and a few months of your life have probably past unnoticeably.
Last year, after a not too long delay the nothing less than fantastic roleplay game (with the really less than fantastic title) Divine Divinity from the Belgium Larian Studios was released. These guys managed to convince some of the GameSpot editors to remove their beloved racing wheel. A few hours of ‘let’s just see what’s it about’ became rather quickly several weeks of ‘not now, I just reached a new level’. Admittedly, there must have been some national pride amongst the Belgian gamers, but the international role players appeared to have the same opinion.
Life after Divine Divinity
So now there is Riftrunner, a game that not only uses an improved version of the Divine Divinity engine but that also takes place in the same universe. In short a roleplaying game for every Divinity fan and at the same time also for those who were so inattentive to not notice the first game.
Riftrunner is however no real sequel to Divine Divinity. It’s more a continuance of that universe. Larian have apparently listened rather well to the fans and they probably wanted it a bit different at times, but they wanted more for sure. And more is what they are going to get. A gameworld with even more screens, a so called random dungeon generator, a really unlimited amount of options to create and develop your character, 3D animations, an adapted fighting system and all spoken dialogs. And moreover this time you are accompanied by a party on your quests. Yep, that means that together with others you can now chop of the head, arm or tentacle from that otherwise so strong character. Or you can use your teammates to carry all that heavy equipment (or to quietly run away with it at night of course). We also can expect to encounter a new race, according to some source named the Ranaar, who have a distinctive fighting style…. and that is about all we know or are allowed to tell about them.
Make your own magic spells
There is still some work being done for this new title, that will be on the shelves in the stores in the first quarter of 2004. But what we saw up to know, already gave us a real good feeling. At first sight it doesn’t look much different graphically. And even though for a roleplaying game it looked rather well originally, looks can be deceptive. All characters and animations are now in 3D what especially for some monsters can be labeled as being rather impressive. We also have been promised more different types of enemies. Besides that, on a Riftrunner screen there will be approximately twice as much interactive elements than in Divine Divinity. The new character development system allows you to develop your own hero(in) in an almost unique manner. Not only your appearance (you could get fat because of eating too much), but also your skills in magic.
The programmer of Larian demonstrated us that magic spells look different visually based on the ‘ingredients’ of that spell. Quickly after each other we were shown five different variations of a fireball spell, all looking different and all having a different effect on the enemies. There are also more spells and skills to develop this time.
The interface will look familiar to the players of Divine Divinity. The looks remain largely the same, but they also listened to the feedback of the fans. Now you have to open less screens to control your inventory and you can create your magical mix while you are playing. They are details for an already workable interface, but it’s always nice if there are some improvements made. The quest- and dungeongenerator guarantee an even bigger replayability than the original Divine Divinity. Also new are the so called battlefields. Through a portal you get into this randomly created worlds, including randomly created quests. You can not use these to continue the actual story but you can add some experience to your character or acquire a rare skill/item with a swift mission and a lot of monsters.
The first quarter of 2004 never was so far away. This new title from the Divine Divinity universe looks already promising enough to bring water to the mouths of all roleplaying lovers. Now we only hope that we do not have to deal with the same delay tactics. Another point in favor before we wrap it up: You can play Riftrunner using the same configuration as you played Divine Divinity!
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Mon Nov 17, 2003 2:47 pm |
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araczynski
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 03 Apr 2002
Posts: 48
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....smells like diablo 2, and unfortunately looks like it as well. i think i'll wait for PacMan 3000 or something. |
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Mon Nov 17, 2003 7:10 pm |
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Myrthos
Spoiler of All Fun
Joined: 07 Jul 2001
Posts: 1926
Location: Holland |
You sure must have invested the better half of a minute to jump to such a conclusion.
_________________
Kewl quotes:
I often have an odd sense of humor - Roach
Why quote somebody else, think of something yourself. - XeroX
...you won't have to unbookmark this site, we'll unbookmark you. - Val
Reports Myrthos for making me scared and humbled at the mere sight of his name - kayla |
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Mon Nov 17, 2003 7:52 pm |
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araczynski
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 03 Apr 2002
Posts: 48
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quote:
Originally posted by Myrthos
You sure must have invested the better half of a minute to jump to such a conclusion.
no, it did take me about 4 minutes of reading/looking, and i don't think anybody will argue that its another Diablo2 clone. Same style of graphics engine and the inventory interface seemed almost a direct rip of D2. in any case, I hated D2 and by association alone i won't give this game any of my time. I loved the original Diablo though, it was original and i would say very innovative. D2 was completely the opposite, behind the times and a lame attempt to better the first one.
BUT, i'll acknowledge that i'm in the minority with my opinion of D2  so i'm pretty much pi**ing in the wind
In any case, you seem to like the style of games, so I hope its everything you want it to be |
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Mon Nov 17, 2003 9:50 pm |
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Myrthos
Spoiler of All Fun
Joined: 07 Jul 2001
Posts: 1926
Location: Holland |
In contrast to what you think there others who don't look at it as a Diablo clone . I didn't like any of the diablo games. I found them boring with not a lot more to do than just kill another bunch after a while. I never finished any of them. But I'm sure I probably missed the deeper meaning of those games.
Eventhough Divinity had a bit too many 'Diabloesque click-fest' moments. There were enough things to make it a lot more enyoable than Diablo in my opinion.
_________________
Kewl quotes:
I often have an odd sense of humor - Roach
Why quote somebody else, think of something yourself. - XeroX
...you won't have to unbookmark this site, we'll unbookmark you. - Val
Reports Myrthos for making me scared and humbled at the mere sight of his name - kayla |
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Mon Nov 17, 2003 10:18 pm |
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cwey
Village Leader
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 95
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Just a question. Have you ever played Divine Divinity before? I don't think anyone who has played it will say that its just a Diablo clone. Its much more than that though as Myrthos said, the game does have its click-fest moments. I enjoyed it very much and it does have a lot of rpg elements. |
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Tue Nov 18, 2003 1:46 am |
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Val
Risen From Ashes
Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 14724
Location: Utah, USA |
Divine Divinity is not a Diablo clone. If Rift Runner is anything like Divinity was, then it won't be either.
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Tue Nov 18, 2003 2:29 am |
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