Bluddy
Reviews
Depths of Peril (Windows)
An epic, randomized ARPG with MMO elements
The Good
Much as I discovered this game after playing Din's Curse and wanted to find out about the world of Din, I couldn't resist putting up a review of Depths of Peril after reviewing Din's Curse.
This is Soldak's first offering, and as such, it had to flesh out the world of Depths of Peril, a world thrown into conflict by rampaging monsters, warring factions and hordes of the undead. The story doesn't stand out too much from the standard fantasy fare, but the level of detail is admirable, and to Soldak's credit, they figured out a unique way of parceling out bits of information: short stories about the world can be found in tomes while adventuring, and each one gives you an attribute bonus. I found this to be a terrific way to make you care about the books you find, unlike the soporific volumes in Baldur's Gate. Of course, nobody requires that you actually read the books, but I really enjoyed them.
The game is similar to Din's Curse, or I should say Din's is similar to this game, since this game came first. This game also belongs to the action RPG genre, though Depths offers a couple of twists on the basic formula. Wizards play much as in other Diablo-likes, but rogues, warriors and priests recharge their mana-equivalents (momentum, rage and faith, respectively) in a different manner. For example, rogues gain momentum by killing enemies while priests recharge their faith by praying. This gives the click-fighting a different feel than other ARPGs.
What makes the game really unique though, is the open world in which it takes place. You play the part of a member in a 'covenant' (clan) of barbarians, defending the barbarian town of Jorvik against invaders while at the same time battling the competing covenants. Your most precious possession is the lifestone to which all barbarians in your covenant are bound. It allows you to regenerate when you die, but each rebirth strains the lifestone somewhat, and the strain from continuous deaths can place the stone in jeopardy. Your goal, other than defending the town, is defeating other covenants by destroying their lifestones or alternatively, allying with them. In order to accomplish this you recruit members to your covenant by carrying out quests. Your fellow covenant members can adventure with you one at a time, which gives a multiplayer feel to the game. They are also useful for defending your lifestone and for raiding the other covenants.
Speaking of the other covenants, they won't take your attacks lying down. They'll create alliances, break them, fight with you and amongst themselves, and go out into the world to try solve quests before you do. As can be imagined, this gives a very 'realistic' feeling to the world. You could be traveling in the Sinking Desert when suddenly you'll spot a member of another covenant fighting monsters, perhaps even getting into trouble and needing your help.
Other than the other covenants, the world is the real star here. Much of the mechanics from Din's Curse are here, though they aren't as fully developed yet. Bosses will gather minions and start causing trouble in the countryside. If left alone, they will usually cause even more trouble, for example by kidnapping your vendors. They won't wait for you -- they constantly work on strengthening their forces and causing mischief. It's not quite the hectic pace of Din's Curse -- the town is packed with powerful barbarians after all, rather than the squishy, easily slaughtered humans of Din's. In this game, you aren't the only hope against the forces of darkness. Rather, you're one of several groups wishing to prove themselves worthy in the brutal barbarian struggle for survival.
The graphics of Depths of Peril seem to me much easier on the eyes than Din's Curse despite this being the earlier game. They won't win awards in this day and age, yet they have a vibrant, colorful quality to them that really works for me. The city of Jorvik has a rustic, peaceful feel to it while the surrounding countryside blends colors in a way not really seen anywhere else. Each section of the countryside has its own native flora and fauna (usually fatal to you) and the occasional dungeon level breaks up the cheery mood with a dark, foreboding atmosphere.
I should reiterate that I'm not that fond of action RPGs in general, though after liking both this game and Din's Curse maybe I should reconsider that statement :)
The Bad
Since I arrived at this game after playing Din's Curse which is fairly similar, I noticed both its advantages and shortcomings vis a vis that game.
The first issue you might come across is the uneven difficulty level. Due to the random nature of the game, bosses are often ridiculously strong. I had one boss who just constantly hung out with another boss in the same area, and the two of them formed an unbeatable force. This has been improved in Din's.
The next thing you may notice is that all of the areas are squares. Rather than producing randomly shaped areas, the countryside consists of square maps as in X-Com 1, with passageways between each square. This bothered me initially until I realized it would be very hard to generate a landscape randomly that wasn't arranged in this way. Ultima 7, for example, had a hand-crafted world map that resembled real geography, but that would be very hard to do in a randomly generated terrain. Maybe we can hope for it in Depths 2.
The dungeons in the game are minimal and a little annoying compared to Din's Curse, but that's not a fair comparison since Din's entire focus is dungeons while here they're an extra.
Making friends with other covenants is all about selling them your junk, or at least the junk that they want. While this takes a common element of ARPGs (selling junk) and turns it into something more interesting, I would have preferred making friends in some other way, perhaps questing.
Finally, the ugly face of balance rears its head. Some skills in the skill tree are very powerful while others are near useless. This is a common problem in all RPGs, though.
The Bottom Line
You don't often find RPGs with dynamic worlds, or with AI players that actively dog you and compete with you. You certainly wouldn't expect to find these things in action RPGs. And yet, Depths of Peril together with Din's Curse are games that provide a world that feels both urgent and dynamic. While Din's excels in its own sub-niche, DoP also offers AI factions and an epic feel that gives it a unique flavor all its own.
Whether you're arriving at Soldak's world for the first time, or you played Din's Curse and you want to learn more about the background and experience another twist on the same unique formula, you can't really go wrong with this game.
By Bluddy on January 31, 2011
Din's Curse (Windows)
Even if you don't like Diablo, you may still love Din's Curse
The Good
It wasn't the first time I came across the plain looking Soldak website. Each time I looked at the quaint site I examined their games with interest, but never really built up the motivation to even download the demo. It took a review by Tom Chick (now on www.quartertothree.com) to convince me to give their games a try, and boy was I glad that I did.
Din's Curse won't wow you with graphics, though if you can get into a circa-2000 mindset and if you keep the fact that this game is lovingly crafted by one or two developers, you CAN get in the groove of things. It won't wow you with a slick execution of the Diablo formula, which it borrows heavily. But it may just blow you away with the things that it does right.
The idea is simple. Take Diablo 2's gameplay of clicking, item seeking and skill trees, and combine them with a dungeon that is randomly generated and feels alive. As a champion of the god Din, you must attempt to rescue one town after another before they fall victim to the dungeon that lies beneath. Sounds a lot like Diablo, right? Except Diablo didn't have dungeon bosses that invaded the town when they got pissed. And it didn't have quests to rescue poor townsfolk where the hostage could actually die if you didn't get there fast enough. Nor did it have a dungeon that could cave in around certain parts if you use magic that's too powerful or hit support beams.
In other words, this is like Diablo, except randomized to the Nth degree, and packed with interwoven quests that really affect the game world. The favorite phrase on the Soldak forums is 'emergent gameplay' as fans tell stories of events they never imagined, all happening because the game follows rules that lead from one random event to another until the whole thing takes you by surprise. Leave a grouping of monsters in a dungeon for too long, and they'll fight until one becomes boss. The boss may challenge the town. He might build a machine that causes darkness everywhere, which will cause food prices to go up since food will be scarce, making it much harder for you to keep fighting. It's pretty awesome.
Speaking of forums, the developer may be one person, but he produces patches like... well I was going to say like a large game company but we all wish large companies were this prolific with their patches. He's extremely responsive and any issue is resolved promptly. If there's something you think should change in the game and you write about it in the forums (and it's a good idea), there's a good chance it'll change.
The Bad
I'm not crazy about Diablo :) And I don't deal well with the cognitive dissonance of not liking Diablo and yet loving this game.
Graphics may be an issue for you, but I have an old computer so I'm quite happy that the graphics aren't demanding.
The Bottom Line
This is a game you should really try, because there's a good chance you can't predict whether you'll like it until you try it. It's the classic indie underdog, but it's also something quite special that we should really be encouraging. A unique spin on an old formula that (IMHO) blows that old formula away.
By Bluddy on January 23, 2011
Thief: The Dark Project (Windows)
A stunning game for people who want thinking with their action.
The Good
The strongest thing this game has going for it is the atmosphere. Your universe in the game is a city combining industrial-era technology and magic that has not really been explored before by other game. Ruling the city is a religious cult called the Hammerites, which worships the symbols of industry. Narrative is presented using plain but terrific-looking cutscenes sandwiched between the 13 or so huge missions. The atmosphere in each mission is augmented by the best 3D sound I've ever heard (much better than Half-Life, for instance). You really feel that you step into the shoes of Garett, a cynical thief who was taught the art of invisibility in the dark by a mysterious group called the Keepers.
Each mission takes you a very long time to finish. This is because unlike most shooters, here the goal is not to be seen by the bad guys. Stay in the dark and keep quiet, then silently follow the guard and whack him on the crown of the head or shoot him with an arrow from a distance. Forget fancy rocket launchers and shotguns. The weapons here are a bow with multiple purpose arrows, a blackjack, and a sword for an emergency ie. when you're caught. The empahsis here is definitely on the thinking, not the fighting.
Another one of the great parts of this game is the creatures. The generic baddies are the guards and the Hammerites. The AI is phenomenal. They'll snoop you out when you make a sound or if they catch a glimpse of you in the dark. Some of the more exotic monsters are the scariest creatures in the history of computer games. The zombies freak you out like nobody's business, and the Haunts are ghostlike creatures that mutter the coolest things (Join ussss!). The AI will constantly surprise you with what it can do. Some people didn't like the undead missions, but I thought they were the best part of the game. My guess is those people didn't like getting scared, but if you do, you'll love the undead.
Since the missions are mostly non-linear, there are usually many ways to accomplish your objectives. These vary between the difficulty levels, meaning that there is replay potential to the game.
This game is a classic. You have to get it, if only to try it out.
The Bad
There is a lack of balance to some of the action. It's too easy to clear an area of bad guys, and since Thief has many non-linear levels where you backtrack you get to wander through some boring areas where everyone's already been wiped out. Undercover, for instance, is completely devoid of atmosphere if you blackjack all the Hammerites. Looking Glass corrected this flaw in System Shock II, where (Like SS1) the bad guys respawn, making every area constantly tense.
Also, the blackjack is too powerful. One hit in the back of the head will take out most enemies. This is why the zombies are great. They're immune to blackjacking (and hacking and shooting). It's worth noting that some players have the habit of not using either the blackjack or killing anyone (the latter is enforced in expert difficulty). This allows tension to be maintained throughout.
These are minor gripes, however.
The Bottom Line
This game surpasses almost every expectation you may have had about the 3D 1st person genre. You're a master thief using stealth and shadows to steal from rich lords and plunder ancient tombs. You get caught up in a fantastic plot to destroy the city as you know it and only you, the cynical thief, can save the day.
By Bluddy on April 12, 2000