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crpgnut
Captain of the Guard
Joined: 22 May 2002
Posts: 197
Location: St. Louis |
| Dark Disciples: Freeware crpg review |
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This is a review of a freely available crpg called: Dark Disciples. The game can be found at this link http://www.users.bigpond.com/lafebre/ and the review is based on play of about 2/3 of the game.
Dark Disciples is a very fun game that, necessarily, focuses on great gameplay rather than spectacular graphics and sound. If I had to place the game graphically, I'd say late 80's. If you've played the Exile, not Avernum, series by Jeff Vogel then that is about the level in this game.
The story revolves around a single character, male or female, who is the offspring of a criminal father. Your father accumulated a massive debt with the local merchant's guild and then committed suicide. To save yourself and your mother from losing everything, you set out to see if the head of the merchant's guild will allow you to work off the debt in some fashion.
Your character starts with pretty standard attributes: Strength, Intelligence, Stamina, Perception, Agility, and Dexterity. All skills are based off of these attributes and you never raise skills directly. There is one skill, combat, that only increases as you level your character. You cannot add points directly to this skill. If you want to do more damage or use better weapons then raise strength, as it governs what weapons can be equipped.
There are no character classes. By choosing which stats to focus on you are
choosing what type of character you will be. Focus solely on intelligence and you will be able to use all the wands and scrolls in the game well before the end. Your choices of weapons and armor will be much more streamlined than if you chose to focus on strength. If you focus on agility, perception, and dexterity, then you're a thief. If you focus on strength and stamina then you're a fighter. You can also choose to be well-balanced, putting skill points into all of the attributes.
The game is made so that there are multiple solutions to almost every situation that arises. Say that I come to a locked metal door. It is impossible to bash down. A thief character picks the lock, a mage character will use a scroll of knock, while the fighter seeks a weak area in the surrounding walls and bashes that in with his hammer. There will be several instances where you will be unable to progress in a certain direction until you raise your skills. This makes for retracing your steps often, but travelling between maps is very fast. It is quite satisfying to FINALLY be able to bash down that wall or pick that lock. The treasure or clue that is hidden is almost always worth the effort.
The game features several puzzles and riddles. Most of these are pretty easy to solve but a few are real tricky. If you don't like that type of thing, just download the hints file and walkthrough.
What the game excels in most of all is balance. You never have too much money, an empty quest book, become too powerful, etc. I find that after completing a quest, I have just enough money to train myself and replenish my disposable inventory items, i.e. potions, wands, scrolls. There is gambling in the game if you want to try to increase your funds. Inventory space is limited so that you need to be careful in what you carry on you. There is a vault in the merchant city that you can rent to store extra stuff.
This game has been a very entertaining time consumer while I wait for the next NWN, Gothic, or Elder Scrolls game. I would rate it, not counting graphics or music, at an 8.5/10. Give it a try!
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'nut |
Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:14 pm |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
I'll give it a try. I wonder if I'll be able to get over outdated graphic. |
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Fri Feb 11, 2005 8:48 am |
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Lintra
Elf Friend
Joined: 23 Apr 2002
Posts: 9448
Location: Bermuda, the triangle place with SANDY BEACHES |
Okay, I'll bite. File is downloading now ... looks like it *might* be interesting!!
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=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild=
=Just plain clueless= |
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Fri Feb 11, 2005 12:55 pm |
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crpgnut
Captain of the Guard
Joined: 22 May 2002
Posts: 197
Location: St. Louis |
@Danicek and Lintra:
Let me know what you think. I'm really enjoying the game so my perspective is very positive. I'm such an old gamer that graphics mean very little to me. I don't generally enjoy rogue-likes but tile graphics are good enough for me.
It's just so nice not to be out to save the world. You're just a guy out to save his own skin. I was talking to one guy who only got to 12th level by the end of the game. He was playing a pacifist thief and didn't kill except when absolutely forced. I'm playing the jack of all trades route and want to tackle the game at a higher difficulty level once I finish it the first time through.
If either of you get "hooked" we'll have to keep in touch during our play of the game 
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'nut |
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Fri Feb 11, 2005 2:42 pm |
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HiddenX
The Elder Spy
Joined: 20 Jul 2001
Posts: 749
Location: NRW / Germany |
very nice game - puzzles, riddles, quests !
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=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild= |
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Sun Feb 20, 2005 6:42 pm |
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crpgnut
Captain of the Guard
Joined: 22 May 2002
Posts: 197
Location: St. Louis |
I enjoyed it too, Hidden X. It seems to have great balance between the various forms of gameplay. It is a little puzzle heavy towards the end and I mentioned this to the developer, Laurens LeFabre. He added a more combat oriented way through the last part of the game, which I really appreciated. I haven't finished that part yet but I look forward to going back and finishing the game now.
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'nut |
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Wed Feb 23, 2005 4:30 pm |
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Kraszu
Village Dweller
Joined: 03 Mar 2005
Posts: 7
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Can somebady tell me the asnwer to roddle in Under Fort Amber location whit 6 statues of monsters. |
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Sat Mar 05, 2005 2:24 pm |
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HiddenX
The Elder Spy
Joined: 20 Jul 2001
Posts: 749
Location: NRW / Germany |
Look for the monsters' names in the museum in Middengrave.
Their names make a word ...
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=Member of The Nonflamers' Guild= |
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Mon Mar 07, 2005 12:10 pm |
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Naked_Lunch
Village Leader
Joined: 22 Aug 2004
Posts: 86
Location: New york, tangiers, and interzone |
This game is easily one of my favorite games, simply because it offers something modern RPGs don't have these days: ROLEPLAYING! It's also great addictive fun and I really dig the graphics.
BTW, do you guys know about the editor? It's very powerful and even allows you to do total conversions of the DD using the engine. I'm working on a new Post-apoalyptic game right now using the built-in editor. Press CTRL and ` at the same time at the main menu screen and edit away!
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irc.gamesurge.net #planescape #fallout |
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Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:00 pm |
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