jplestat
Novice
Dons flame retardant suit:
I thought that the original Dungeon Lords release was one of the low points of RPGs and PC games in general. It was unplayable, had missing features, tons of bugs, etc....It was an unfinished game.
They are now up to Patch 1.4. I was bored the other day and decided to try it with the new patch. I was surprised to find that I really liked it. I saw the collector's edition in the store and knowing it was improved even past the 1.4 patch I bought it, lured by:new monsters, new spells, new heraldries...." as it states on the box. The collector's edition has one of the coolest boxes ever also being a mettalic DVD case. Anyway on to thoughts of the game:
1. Action RPG It does fall into this category. However, it feels very much like Gothic 2 in the impementation. The combat system does take a while to get used to, but it is more varied and interesting than the one in Gothic 2, a game I really liked. Your stats and skils have a huge influence on your success in fights, and there are advanced combo moves and blocking moves with your shield as well as evasive manouvers. It is very well done and I find it fun. It is not just a clickfest and after a while you can develop different fighting styles and strategies for different monsters. Fighting is very hectic as often you are fighting many monsters at once but it is manageable and requires good strategy and tactics to get through. Your skills and stats have a noticeable influence on your combat ability. It is not a mindless click fest.
1b. Magic system. Different types of magic and different ways of casting spells. There are spell crystals, scrolls, books and runes. Each type of magic uses a different system. Magic interface is done by hotkey and works well. Have not done a whole lot wioth magic, but it seems to be well done. One negative I have seen is it is unclear what positive effect addition intelligence or skill in a branch of magic has on individual spells, though the game makes it clear it does. Might have to use them and see the difference.
2. Monsters I have not played the whole game, but so far the monsters are very varied. They look excellent from the standard rats and snakes to hellhounds, skeletons, zombies and trolls being some of the things I have encounted so far. Their attacks are very different and interesting. Some have breath weapons and can make you gag, which is a cool effect. The hellhound breathed inky smoke which obscures your vision and can gag as well. There are humanoids with swords and magic users who cast spells at you. There is also a good variey of types of encounters froms swarms of rats and bats, to very difficult one on one encounters and bosses
3. Graphics Really quite excellent. Swaying grass, very realistic looking buildings, bridges. Cool dungeons. Great looking monsters. Consistently surprised how good the graphics are. Quite possibly the best of any RPG I have played to date. The player character and other NPCs are very well rendered and animated
4. Character system Kind of a little bit of a throwback. So many games now start with a generic character or a forced one. Here you have a reasonable number of race choices at the beginning and several basic class archetypes like fighter, thief, mage, though the manual indicates that eventually you develop into many different and varied subclasses. Character development system is skill based and very well done. XP and leveling give you advancement points which you use to choose the skills your character will have as well as increasing base stats. Increasing the skills has a very noticeable effect on your characters strength, and it si balanced well so that each decision is important and needs thought. Good variety of skills and some are only available to certain classes.Very good system, and gives the game replayability as you can come up with very different builds
5. Story There seems to be a good story here, and the quests have been fairly interesting and varied. Dialogue choices are of the category type instead of branching dialogue but it seems to work well. Someone looking for a complex conversation system like Planescape Torment or Fallout will not find it here, but there are numerous conversations and they add to the storyline and depth of the game
6. There are trap and lockpicking mini-games which are well done and mostly stat based, very similar to the ones in Wizardry 6 and 7
7. Areas So far there have been a good mix of outiside, city and dungeon areas. Better mix here than Gothic which is almost entirely outside.
8 Size Seems to be a very large game. I am only in the first city and the map has many other citiies and areas on it.
9. Stability Excellent, has never crashed on me and I have not seen any bad bugs
10. Interface Is OK, could be improved a little here and there. Map is OK, and gets slightly better with your scouting skill but could be improved. Merchant window interface is not as streamlined as it could be. Combat system definitely takes a bit to get used to, but I have grown to really like it. It has depth, and is tied in well with your stats so it does not seem all twitch. Dialogue and update windows and fonts are done very well and have a lot of polish.
Overall, I am having a great time with this game. If you liked Gothic 1 and 2 I think you will have a blast with this game. It is now a pretty polished product. It is a shame it was not released originally like this it may have been a big hit. It is a very good hybrid of some old time RPG elements with a more modern action combat system, butone that works well. But it is not a Diablo or Sacred type game. It definitely feels and plays like a good stroy driven RPG with an excellent character development system that lends itself to many different builds and setups so replayability is excellent. And it is fun.
I understand there is probably a bit of a negative bias towrds this game, especially becuase of the initial release, but the Collector's edition is an excellent game and in my view worthy of an RPG fans time and money. I am enjoying it as much as any RPG I have played in a number of years and I have played almost all of them.
I thought that the original Dungeon Lords release was one of the low points of RPGs and PC games in general. It was unplayable, had missing features, tons of bugs, etc....It was an unfinished game.
They are now up to Patch 1.4. I was bored the other day and decided to try it with the new patch. I was surprised to find that I really liked it. I saw the collector's edition in the store and knowing it was improved even past the 1.4 patch I bought it, lured by:new monsters, new spells, new heraldries...." as it states on the box. The collector's edition has one of the coolest boxes ever also being a mettalic DVD case. Anyway on to thoughts of the game:
1. Action RPG It does fall into this category. However, it feels very much like Gothic 2 in the impementation. The combat system does take a while to get used to, but it is more varied and interesting than the one in Gothic 2, a game I really liked. Your stats and skils have a huge influence on your success in fights, and there are advanced combo moves and blocking moves with your shield as well as evasive manouvers. It is very well done and I find it fun. It is not just a clickfest and after a while you can develop different fighting styles and strategies for different monsters. Fighting is very hectic as often you are fighting many monsters at once but it is manageable and requires good strategy and tactics to get through. Your skills and stats have a noticeable influence on your combat ability. It is not a mindless click fest.
1b. Magic system. Different types of magic and different ways of casting spells. There are spell crystals, scrolls, books and runes. Each type of magic uses a different system. Magic interface is done by hotkey and works well. Have not done a whole lot wioth magic, but it seems to be well done. One negative I have seen is it is unclear what positive effect addition intelligence or skill in a branch of magic has on individual spells, though the game makes it clear it does. Might have to use them and see the difference.
2. Monsters I have not played the whole game, but so far the monsters are very varied. They look excellent from the standard rats and snakes to hellhounds, skeletons, zombies and trolls being some of the things I have encounted so far. Their attacks are very different and interesting. Some have breath weapons and can make you gag, which is a cool effect. The hellhound breathed inky smoke which obscures your vision and can gag as well. There are humanoids with swords and magic users who cast spells at you. There is also a good variey of types of encounters froms swarms of rats and bats, to very difficult one on one encounters and bosses
3. Graphics Really quite excellent. Swaying grass, very realistic looking buildings, bridges. Cool dungeons. Great looking monsters. Consistently surprised how good the graphics are. Quite possibly the best of any RPG I have played to date. The player character and other NPCs are very well rendered and animated
4. Character system Kind of a little bit of a throwback. So many games now start with a generic character or a forced one. Here you have a reasonable number of race choices at the beginning and several basic class archetypes like fighter, thief, mage, though the manual indicates that eventually you develop into many different and varied subclasses. Character development system is skill based and very well done. XP and leveling give you advancement points which you use to choose the skills your character will have as well as increasing base stats. Increasing the skills has a very noticeable effect on your characters strength, and it si balanced well so that each decision is important and needs thought. Good variety of skills and some are only available to certain classes.Very good system, and gives the game replayability as you can come up with very different builds
5. Story There seems to be a good story here, and the quests have been fairly interesting and varied. Dialogue choices are of the category type instead of branching dialogue but it seems to work well. Someone looking for a complex conversation system like Planescape Torment or Fallout will not find it here, but there are numerous conversations and they add to the storyline and depth of the game
6. There are trap and lockpicking mini-games which are well done and mostly stat based, very similar to the ones in Wizardry 6 and 7
7. Areas So far there have been a good mix of outiside, city and dungeon areas. Better mix here than Gothic which is almost entirely outside.
8 Size Seems to be a very large game. I am only in the first city and the map has many other citiies and areas on it.
9. Stability Excellent, has never crashed on me and I have not seen any bad bugs
10. Interface Is OK, could be improved a little here and there. Map is OK, and gets slightly better with your scouting skill but could be improved. Merchant window interface is not as streamlined as it could be. Combat system definitely takes a bit to get used to, but I have grown to really like it. It has depth, and is tied in well with your stats so it does not seem all twitch. Dialogue and update windows and fonts are done very well and have a lot of polish.
Overall, I am having a great time with this game. If you liked Gothic 1 and 2 I think you will have a blast with this game. It is now a pretty polished product. It is a shame it was not released originally like this it may have been a big hit. It is a very good hybrid of some old time RPG elements with a more modern action combat system, butone that works well. But it is not a Diablo or Sacred type game. It definitely feels and plays like a good stroy driven RPG with an excellent character development system that lends itself to many different builds and setups so replayability is excellent. And it is fun.
I understand there is probably a bit of a negative bias towrds this game, especially becuase of the initial release, but the Collector's edition is an excellent game and in my view worthy of an RPG fans time and money. I am enjoying it as much as any RPG I have played in a number of years and I have played almost all of them.
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