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"Diane" <phonyaddress@invaliddomain.com> once tried to test me with:
> I appreciated and enjoyed your review. Combat & skill building are the
> highlights. Skill building is one of the very neat things abut DL. I
> wish more games used this system.
I agree, I was impressed with the skill tree and how that worked. I also
liked that you could spend your advancment points as you got them and not
have to wait until you leveled up.
> I lurk here a lot and post a little, but have enjoyed the CRPG genre
> since Ultima I. I had to offer my opinion about DL after playing it
> for a couple weeks.
>
> I really, really dislike this game. Perhaps it's a bit too combat
> oriented with those snickering goblins around every corner that I find
> more annoying then fun. Perhaps it's because the game does not appear
> to have any depth. It may be because as you say, it seems unfinished.
The problem is, there's a good combat system, a good character advancement
system, and pretty decent graphics. But they just don't MESH into a
coherent RPG. Yeah, there's quests and there's a story there but it just
feels kind of hodged podged together. The dungeons (later ones, not the
sewer/theater thing at the beginning) offer some pretty nifty action
puzzles, and of course, lots of combat. It's almost like different people
were in charge of different parts of the game but it didn't all mesh
togther very well.
Also the obviously missing stuff just breaks your immersion. I mean, an
empty inn, with no furniture, and no other guests? Same for all the other
buildings I found.
> I will not continue on with a game with functions in the manual that
> just do not seem to work in the game. I read somewhere that the next
> patch is not going to address the non-functioning automap. I mean the
> thing with the hair in skin color and stuff, no biggie, but why put it
> in the book and then not have it working in the game...sad.
It's like they ran out of time and just said "okay ship it." They didn't
even have time to remove the features they were planning to add from the
manual or from the help screen. I suppose I don't care that much about not
having a map or customized characters, but that's just two signs of an
overall lack of polish. I did like the voice acting, though. But that's
about the only thing sound wise that was compelling.
And the dialogues were just an endless stream of the NPC talking. They need
to break up the conversations and actually let the main character speak
some, it just doesn't flow well. In a real life situation you don't let a
person you just met ramble on for five minutes about stuff without getting
in a word. The little "pick a key word" thing is just a way to put in
pauses, it never feels like you're having a conversation.
As a result, the NPCs feel hollow, and ultimately, unsatisfying. They're
just a signpost on your way to the next leg of the quest.
> I have been a fan of DWB since the early Wizardry series, but this is
> downright awful. My 2 cents, but then I'm probably the only one on the
> planet that enjoyed Wizards & Warriors and played it through more than
> once.
I thought Wizards and Warriors had more charm than Dungeon Lords did, even
if it was perhaps even buggier at launch. But that's my two cents. I'd like
to see DL more polished, but we'll just have to see if that ever happens,
my guess is a lot of what's wrong can't just be fixed by programmers, so I
doubt it changes much.
I appreciate your feedback! Glad you took the time to de-lurk and post.
--
Knight37 -
http://knightgames.blogspot.com
Once a Gamer, Always a Gamer.
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