jpublic
10-03-2010, 04:41 PM
http://imgur.com/twSKB.jpg
Din's Curse
Developer: Soldak Entertainment
Publisher: None
Platform: PC/Mac (Soldak/Impulse/MacGameStore)
Price: $25
Home Page (http://www.soldak.com/Dins-Curse/Overview.html)
Demos and screenshots available there
I'll admit, I have no idea what nationality this month's game is. Din's Curse is an indie game developed by the group Soldak Entertainment, founded by Steven Peeler, who is the main designer for the game. It's touted as an action RPG in the vein of Diablo, with a world that actually dynamically evolves depending (or in spite of) your actions, with more than a hundred possible character classes. Of note, the game is part of Soldak's Depths of Peril series of games.
After downloading and installing the game (through Impulse) I started it up, and was asked for the longest serial number ever, at 54 freaking characters. Wow, someone is serious about their license keys. Once we're in, I'm pleased to see there's a fair amount of customization, part of which allows me to get the game to my favorite resolution, 1280x720 windowed.
So I decide to start it up and... huh. So that's how they explain the plethora of classes. Basically, there are 6 main classes - Warrior, Rogue, Priest, Wizard, Ranger and Conjurer, and one Hybrid class. Each of the main classes has 3 skill trees they can play with. If you choose a Hybrid, you choose any two skill trees - you trade off choices for being able to customize their skills. There are also some special options you can choose - for example, less experience, less money, unlucky, or a particularly amusing one where you can only equip cursed items.
As is my custom when given a massive amount of choices, I pull out my old tabletop gaming dice. First, we roll 1d7 (1d8 and reroll an 8). I get a two, and thus I'm going Rogue. JPublic the Rogue is created, and on the case. On the next screen, get yet more options. First the monster level. In my case, being Level 0, I can play on Normal and have the monsters start at my level, or go harder and raise their levels (+2 is considered Hard, anything further is probably suicidal). I can also set the game pace, slower for less monsters (and an XP penalty) or faster for more monsters (and a boost). Finally, I can also set the difficulty level - higher levels only being available after you've completed the lower ones. Normal set for everything, and away we go.
http://imgur.com/iU4zB.png
Wherein you create your character, and what sort of initial penalties you'd like to inflict on him/her.
I start the game, and am introduced to the god Din, who apparently doesn't think much of poor JPublic, seeing as "served no god in his pathetic, despicable life", and offers him a chance at redemption serving Din. He gives us our first quest - to kill 15 Blood Orcs. Looking around, I find a 'Warmaster' who offers me another quest, to kill someone before he finishes an altar. The steward also gives us a couple - to kill some dogs and get some stones.
I decide to head into the in-town dungeon, the Caustic Grotto. Inside, I get a lot of Skeletons, Imps, Blood Orcs, and other critters. Interestingly enough, they actually fight each other and not just you, which is a fascinating change from the genre norm where everything in existence wants your hide and ignore each other. Of course, this causes me some issues with Zombies stealing some kills before I can get to them, but there's enough for everyone, I guess.
While wandering through the dungeon causing havoc and committing mayhem, I get to level 2. With each level you get a few points to add to your primary attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Intelligence, Spirit) and a few skill points. As a Rogue, there's 3 skill trees - Thief (with stuff for Disarming, Lock picking, and a lot of passive skill boosts), Trickster (mostly Debuffs, and the Stealth skill), and finally Assassin (with most of the direct damage skills). Unlike many other games in the genre, to level a skill, you have to spend money to learn/increase a skill, which for my poor starter Rogue means I can only choose one. I take Steath. Having full inventory and also with 2 quests under my belt, I book it back to town to get my rewards and sell.
Time for a foray down to level 2 of the Grotto. Upon entering... what the? Why is there an Armorsmith down here? What is he doing here? And why aren't the zombies, I don't know, eating his face? The rest of the level was more of the same, although a hint I got in town about a 'special' room made me scour the place until I found a vault with a bunch of money in it. The high point of level 2 for me (and wow these levels are small) was a 'Plan' I found, which initiated a quest to kill a named critter called Malice. Searching the rest of the level, I found him back at the Armorsmith, getting his butt kicked.
I ran back to the town to clean my inventory again (and turn in the quest), and then headed back to the grotto. Level 3 was fairly easy (and empty, oddly), but I scored the region anyway. Right before I enter level 4, I got notice that Feram (a guy I'm supposed to kill on L5) sent up some Skeleton Bowmen to level 4. Your hero JPublic courageously headed into level 4, and encountered one of the Skeleton Bowmen. It was apparently a 'Champion' critter, and took a few more hits, but with every other inhabitant of the dungeon also going after them, they went down pretty quickly.
http://imgur.com/iU4zB.png
The Caustic Grotto. Bad doggies!
On to level 5, then. I start looking around, noticing the much tougher (and more populous) monsters, when I get a notice that Feram has sent a champion to the town! I rush back as fast as I can, but he manages to kill two town inhabitants before I can get to him. To make matters worse, the townspeople he killed arise as undead and I have to put them down too!
Oh, it's on, Feram, it's on.
I return to level 5 after clearing out my inventory, and in short order I wade through the sea of critters to find Feram. It doesn't take more than a couple special attacks to seperate his head from his shoulders, and after taking a a few minutes to clear out the level, I triumphantly return to town, having achieved vengeance. I turn in the quest, get my rewards, and then, it's on to the next town.
What the hell?!
And thus, the realization sets in. Upon completing the primary quest within a town, the game is basically over. You can then start another town (with parameters you set, like monster level, etc.) and then you can generate a new town. So, let's do that, shall we? Since I had an easy time in my first dungeon, I'll go for a marginally harder experience than the game recommends. Since JPublic was level 6, they recommended I start the monsters at level 4. Instead, I'll put them up a step to level 6.
Oh wow, this was a bad plan. Apparently, the game was right to advise me on the monster levels, as things are much tougher this time around. Notably, the critters are a lot tougher, forcing me to use my healing, my attack skills, and my Stealth power a lot just to survive. Also, as I'm at a higher level, it appears the Caustic Grotto goes a level or two deeper than the last time.
It was also in this run I really ran into how the dungeon 'fights back' as many reviewers have said. As I went down, I discovered that my rush to get as many quests as possible in town was a Bad Idea (tm) as it took me so long to get to the level my target was on I failed the quest. Then, I found that the named critters at various points in the dungeon (like Feram in my first town, Cerberus in this one) is well aware of my mission. On level three, he had started to set up altars throughout the dungeon that caused a specific type of critter to go on rampages, killing some of the other monsters but also leveling many of them up to Champion status. Then, I found out just before hitting level 4 Cerberus had sent a monster to town, and even after I killed that thing I had to be careful, as Cerbie had an 'Evil Gate' active so he could invade the town at any time. I was rapidly losing my ability to cope with what was happening.
http://imgur.com/U1NDR.png
To misquote, second town, much like the first. But sort of not.
And that's really what Din's Curse comes down to. It's a Diablo clone, with the rough graphics and sounds you'd expect from an Indie title, but solid controls, deep gameplay, and a challenge that doesn't let up. The game is trying to present a living world to you, with critters in the dungeon that react and fight to each other, bosses with plans they can launch at any time, and a real sense of urgency and consequences for your actions. When you're told something might happen, you better do something about it quickly or it will happen. I've lost vendors in the town because I wasn't fast enough to deal with an invasion. I've had ambushes set up against me by townsfolk. I've lost towns because I just wasn't together enough to keep a handle on things.
There's also a co-op option (take note, Co-Optimus Crew). Multiplayer appears to have a Local Server option (LAN play, I expect), direct connection to another IP address, or even servers you can set up for multiple players to hook up. I didn't notice any servers set up in my zone (US West) so it looks like the first two are your only options at this time. I strongly suspect the game ramps up its punishment for co-op players.
Din's Curse is a great staple game for your computer, a title you keep installed to play for an afternoon or evening and then put down for a while. It's challenging, hectic, maddening (hence the high Irritation rating below), and remarkably fun.
Addendum: Sober Second Thoughts
I put this game down for a while, and picked it up a few days in advance of the posting date to verify my findings. As I was playing through another scenario, I was struck by how much more Din's Curse could be. There's some brilliant technology and design here, and I feel the main strike against this game is the limited art/sound/creative effort Soldak was able to throw at it. It's still an excellent game, but... it could be more.
1) The JPublic Fun Rating: 3.5 out of 5
2) The JPublic Irritation Rating: 3.5 out of 5
3) The JPublic Value Point: $12.50
Please suggest the next JPWPI game!
Din's Curse
Developer: Soldak Entertainment
Publisher: None
Platform: PC/Mac (Soldak/Impulse/MacGameStore)
Price: $25
Home Page (http://www.soldak.com/Dins-Curse/Overview.html)
Demos and screenshots available there
I'll admit, I have no idea what nationality this month's game is. Din's Curse is an indie game developed by the group Soldak Entertainment, founded by Steven Peeler, who is the main designer for the game. It's touted as an action RPG in the vein of Diablo, with a world that actually dynamically evolves depending (or in spite of) your actions, with more than a hundred possible character classes. Of note, the game is part of Soldak's Depths of Peril series of games.
After downloading and installing the game (through Impulse) I started it up, and was asked for the longest serial number ever, at 54 freaking characters. Wow, someone is serious about their license keys. Once we're in, I'm pleased to see there's a fair amount of customization, part of which allows me to get the game to my favorite resolution, 1280x720 windowed.
So I decide to start it up and... huh. So that's how they explain the plethora of classes. Basically, there are 6 main classes - Warrior, Rogue, Priest, Wizard, Ranger and Conjurer, and one Hybrid class. Each of the main classes has 3 skill trees they can play with. If you choose a Hybrid, you choose any two skill trees - you trade off choices for being able to customize their skills. There are also some special options you can choose - for example, less experience, less money, unlucky, or a particularly amusing one where you can only equip cursed items.
As is my custom when given a massive amount of choices, I pull out my old tabletop gaming dice. First, we roll 1d7 (1d8 and reroll an 8). I get a two, and thus I'm going Rogue. JPublic the Rogue is created, and on the case. On the next screen, get yet more options. First the monster level. In my case, being Level 0, I can play on Normal and have the monsters start at my level, or go harder and raise their levels (+2 is considered Hard, anything further is probably suicidal). I can also set the game pace, slower for less monsters (and an XP penalty) or faster for more monsters (and a boost). Finally, I can also set the difficulty level - higher levels only being available after you've completed the lower ones. Normal set for everything, and away we go.
http://imgur.com/iU4zB.png
Wherein you create your character, and what sort of initial penalties you'd like to inflict on him/her.
I start the game, and am introduced to the god Din, who apparently doesn't think much of poor JPublic, seeing as "served no god in his pathetic, despicable life", and offers him a chance at redemption serving Din. He gives us our first quest - to kill 15 Blood Orcs. Looking around, I find a 'Warmaster' who offers me another quest, to kill someone before he finishes an altar. The steward also gives us a couple - to kill some dogs and get some stones.
I decide to head into the in-town dungeon, the Caustic Grotto. Inside, I get a lot of Skeletons, Imps, Blood Orcs, and other critters. Interestingly enough, they actually fight each other and not just you, which is a fascinating change from the genre norm where everything in existence wants your hide and ignore each other. Of course, this causes me some issues with Zombies stealing some kills before I can get to them, but there's enough for everyone, I guess.
While wandering through the dungeon causing havoc and committing mayhem, I get to level 2. With each level you get a few points to add to your primary attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Intelligence, Spirit) and a few skill points. As a Rogue, there's 3 skill trees - Thief (with stuff for Disarming, Lock picking, and a lot of passive skill boosts), Trickster (mostly Debuffs, and the Stealth skill), and finally Assassin (with most of the direct damage skills). Unlike many other games in the genre, to level a skill, you have to spend money to learn/increase a skill, which for my poor starter Rogue means I can only choose one. I take Steath. Having full inventory and also with 2 quests under my belt, I book it back to town to get my rewards and sell.
Time for a foray down to level 2 of the Grotto. Upon entering... what the? Why is there an Armorsmith down here? What is he doing here? And why aren't the zombies, I don't know, eating his face? The rest of the level was more of the same, although a hint I got in town about a 'special' room made me scour the place until I found a vault with a bunch of money in it. The high point of level 2 for me (and wow these levels are small) was a 'Plan' I found, which initiated a quest to kill a named critter called Malice. Searching the rest of the level, I found him back at the Armorsmith, getting his butt kicked.
I ran back to the town to clean my inventory again (and turn in the quest), and then headed back to the grotto. Level 3 was fairly easy (and empty, oddly), but I scored the region anyway. Right before I enter level 4, I got notice that Feram (a guy I'm supposed to kill on L5) sent up some Skeleton Bowmen to level 4. Your hero JPublic courageously headed into level 4, and encountered one of the Skeleton Bowmen. It was apparently a 'Champion' critter, and took a few more hits, but with every other inhabitant of the dungeon also going after them, they went down pretty quickly.
http://imgur.com/iU4zB.png
The Caustic Grotto. Bad doggies!
On to level 5, then. I start looking around, noticing the much tougher (and more populous) monsters, when I get a notice that Feram has sent a champion to the town! I rush back as fast as I can, but he manages to kill two town inhabitants before I can get to him. To make matters worse, the townspeople he killed arise as undead and I have to put them down too!
Oh, it's on, Feram, it's on.
I return to level 5 after clearing out my inventory, and in short order I wade through the sea of critters to find Feram. It doesn't take more than a couple special attacks to seperate his head from his shoulders, and after taking a a few minutes to clear out the level, I triumphantly return to town, having achieved vengeance. I turn in the quest, get my rewards, and then, it's on to the next town.
What the hell?!
And thus, the realization sets in. Upon completing the primary quest within a town, the game is basically over. You can then start another town (with parameters you set, like monster level, etc.) and then you can generate a new town. So, let's do that, shall we? Since I had an easy time in my first dungeon, I'll go for a marginally harder experience than the game recommends. Since JPublic was level 6, they recommended I start the monsters at level 4. Instead, I'll put them up a step to level 6.
Oh wow, this was a bad plan. Apparently, the game was right to advise me on the monster levels, as things are much tougher this time around. Notably, the critters are a lot tougher, forcing me to use my healing, my attack skills, and my Stealth power a lot just to survive. Also, as I'm at a higher level, it appears the Caustic Grotto goes a level or two deeper than the last time.
It was also in this run I really ran into how the dungeon 'fights back' as many reviewers have said. As I went down, I discovered that my rush to get as many quests as possible in town was a Bad Idea (tm) as it took me so long to get to the level my target was on I failed the quest. Then, I found that the named critters at various points in the dungeon (like Feram in my first town, Cerberus in this one) is well aware of my mission. On level three, he had started to set up altars throughout the dungeon that caused a specific type of critter to go on rampages, killing some of the other monsters but also leveling many of them up to Champion status. Then, I found out just before hitting level 4 Cerberus had sent a monster to town, and even after I killed that thing I had to be careful, as Cerbie had an 'Evil Gate' active so he could invade the town at any time. I was rapidly losing my ability to cope with what was happening.
http://imgur.com/U1NDR.png
To misquote, second town, much like the first. But sort of not.
And that's really what Din's Curse comes down to. It's a Diablo clone, with the rough graphics and sounds you'd expect from an Indie title, but solid controls, deep gameplay, and a challenge that doesn't let up. The game is trying to present a living world to you, with critters in the dungeon that react and fight to each other, bosses with plans they can launch at any time, and a real sense of urgency and consequences for your actions. When you're told something might happen, you better do something about it quickly or it will happen. I've lost vendors in the town because I wasn't fast enough to deal with an invasion. I've had ambushes set up against me by townsfolk. I've lost towns because I just wasn't together enough to keep a handle on things.
There's also a co-op option (take note, Co-Optimus Crew). Multiplayer appears to have a Local Server option (LAN play, I expect), direct connection to another IP address, or even servers you can set up for multiple players to hook up. I didn't notice any servers set up in my zone (US West) so it looks like the first two are your only options at this time. I strongly suspect the game ramps up its punishment for co-op players.
Din's Curse is a great staple game for your computer, a title you keep installed to play for an afternoon or evening and then put down for a while. It's challenging, hectic, maddening (hence the high Irritation rating below), and remarkably fun.
Addendum: Sober Second Thoughts
I put this game down for a while, and picked it up a few days in advance of the posting date to verify my findings. As I was playing through another scenario, I was struck by how much more Din's Curse could be. There's some brilliant technology and design here, and I feel the main strike against this game is the limited art/sound/creative effort Soldak was able to throw at it. It's still an excellent game, but... it could be more.
1) The JPublic Fun Rating: 3.5 out of 5
2) The JPublic Irritation Rating: 3.5 out of 5
3) The JPublic Value Point: $12.50
Please suggest the next JPWPI game!