Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.adventure,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.sports,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (
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On Mon, 4 Jul 2005 06:16:26 +0200, Michael Vondung wrote:
> In June, I bought Fate, The Fall (extended version), and Dungeon Lords. I
> also have a subscription for WoW.
Okay, here are the reasons:
Fate: It's a very well-done, "light" breed of Nethack and Diablo 2, which
quite appeals to me. There's no story line, no complex gameplay or steep
learning curve, it's just plain fun for whenever you have an hour or two
for hack'n'slash and treasure hunting. I particularly like how available
the developer is. He even provided his own Excel sheets for various
monster, skill and treasure stats when asked via email. For 20 dollars,
this is a real steal. Get this one if you remotely like the genre, even if
just to support low-prices games.
The Fall: This game came out in Germany in last fall already, but it was
bug-ridden and incomplete like so many titles lately, so I had skipped it.
The developer continued to provide patches and eventually released a 1.2 GB
large update, the "extended version". Most of the bugs had been fixed and
various interfaces were changed based on user feedback. So, I finally went
out and picked up the game. Haven't regretted it yet. So far it seems like
a fun apocalypsic CRPG with pretty graphics and an immersing plot. I'm not
normally into "...in the Ashes" (I'm almost embarrassed that I read these
books!) and "Postman" settings, but I have to admit the setting is very
atmospheric. It's a good game. Patch 1.9, which should be released soon,
will rebalance the weapons and finally introduce facial mimics in the
dialogs, so the international/English release shouldn't be far off. This is
a game I can *now* recommend.
Dungeon Lords: Oh, well, what can I say? Great design, plenty of potential,
but the game is terribly incomplete and unfinished, even after patch 1.3. I
meant to return it to the store, but the softie I am I decided to keep it
anyway. If the developers keep working on it, this could turn into a real
neat fantasy CRPG. As it stands right now, I can't really recommend it,
though.
Preview for next month: I picked up Silent Hunter 3, Thief 3 and Sacred
Underworld (yes, yes, I bought it -- sue me!) yesterday. Haven't had much
time to play those yet, so it'll be a while before I have formed an
opportunity on these games. I doubt I'll buy anything else in July, but
we'll see. SH3 looks extremely promising, and I normally dislike WW2 games
(am too close to the history of my people, and had a grandfather who shared
many of his wartime experiences with me, and he never glorified them --
deep down, I find it perverted to turn the suffering and desperation of
these men and women into a source of entertainment).
Totally unrelated: I just re-read the first six books of Terry Goodkind's
"Sword of Truth" cirlce (had read them in 1995-97) and still believe they
are more worthwhile than most games.
M.