Greatest RPG Fans Forum

"Dark Stone"

Email this topic to a friend
Printer-friendly version of this topic
Bookmark this topic (Registered users only)
 
Previous Topic | Next Topic 
Conferences Potpourri, Grab Bag, etc. Conferences Game Review (Public)
Original message

admin (124 posts) Click to EMail admin Click to send private message to admin Click to check IP address of the poster
Jan-24-00, 08:12 PM (Pacific)
"Dark Stone"
This is an easy one to sum up: "Diablo, party of two.... your game is ready" Seriously, it seemed exactly like Diablo, with better graphics (seems to be the common theme these days) and you (try to) control two characters instead of just one. There is a little more above ground interaction than Diablo had, but it is just as insubstantial.

This one will have to be nearly free (and I'd have to have a lot of time to kill) before I would buy it.

  Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

  Table of Contents

 
 
Lobby | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic

Messages in this topic

DrSlop (297 posts) Click to EMail DrSlop Click to send private message to DrSlop Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
Jan-26-00, 08:25 AM (Pacific)
3. "Diablo and the 3rd person revolution"
It seems to me that ever since Diablo became such a big hit, all current rpgs use that annoying isometric 3rd person perspective view. In fact, the only two games that I can think of that are set to come out with the traditional 1st person view are W8 and Bradley's game. In my opinion, this is a terrible change in the crpg genre. 3rd person perspective inevitably end up being click-fests, and always fail to create the sense of actually being transpoted to an alternate world. I haven't played many of these new crop of games (though I'm hearing a lot of good things about Torment), but looking at the screenshots just never grabs me and makes me want to try it out.

OE

  Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

admin (124 posts) Click to EMail admin Click to send private message to admin Click to check IP address of the poster
Jan-26-00, 08:51 PM (Pacific)
4. "1st vs. 3rd person "
To me, it doesn't matter much. I agree that 1st person puts you more into the game, where 3rd person puts you more as an overseer or director. (BTW, what is 2nd person - looking "over the shoulder?)
The stumbling block I have (being a nitpicker) is I could never decide which of the six characters I was supposed to be "viewing as" - i.e. whose eyes I was looking through.
Personally, I kinda like 3rd person better because you can see more around you (fewer bad guys sneaking up behind you )
  Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

admin (124 posts) Click to EMail admin Click to send private message to admin Click to check IP address of the poster
Jan-26-00, 08:54 PM (Pacific)
5. "Torment?"
I also have heard a few good things about it (from real people - not the "professional" reviews), and like you, the graphics/ads never enticed me. I had no idea it was and RPG. Maybe someone who has the game (I hear there is no demo available) might lend a review here?
  Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

jog (36 posts) Click to EMail jog Click to send private message to jog Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
Jan-27-00, 00:44 AM (Pacific)
6. "RE: Torment? (long)"
Well, I'm gonna try.
On the positive side, it's a real AD&D CRPG following the rules and giving you a familiar feeling. The graphics are weird - *necrophiliasts* might love it. The overall feeling can be compared with reading H.P.Lovecraft, the *world* is created lovingly and executed fully detailed. The story reminds me of - unsuccesful - Lands of Lore: you wake up in a mortuary, you are immortal and have no idea who you are, where you are and what to do. You meet your first companion, a cynical skull looking for a body (and female company). He's quite funny - like all of your companions he lives his own life and has certain ideas of the world - and he WILL tell you. As the story goes on, you meet a lot of people who know you from your countless *lifes* before and begin to learn about yourself.
There are some new(?) ideas in the game like improvement of abilities by tatooing certain symbols to your skin - if you are able to understand the guy who should do it. Another interesting point is the possibility to advance (almost) without fighting - you gain much more XP for talking to the right people, giving the right answers, asking the right questions and solving hundreds of quests.
So, as a positive resume, you enter a bizarre world with crazy people from different worlds, weird species and a lot of surprises.
On the other hand, the manual is a -bad- joke, far away from the older AD&Ds. The controls seem very ponderous to me, in a hard fight I would become insane. The conversations are not annoying - they are far beyond that. If you ever thought you would know what a *clicking orgy* is - forget it, here's the MASTER. You talk to (I guess) thousands of people, starting with 3 to 6 possible questions with each of them branching out into as many possible answers which also.....
And you HAVE to try all to gain XP and find the important hints!!!!!!! I played about 20-30 hours (still being at the beginning - it seems to be very huge) and spent at least half of my time with *clicking*.
The Nameless One (you) is the only character in the game who is single-class which means that you have to switch between the classes to learn all of your fate and all abilities. The problem - I have no idea how. The manual says you will have to talk to the right people - maybe that will come later.

So you should give it a try - if you are patient because it IS a REAL CRPG in a *new* cosmos with a lot of surprising ideas, but, of course, IT'S NOT WIZARDRY.

  Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

woodelf (2 posts) Click to EMail woodelf Click to send private message to woodelf Click to check IP address of the poster
Jan-27-00, 04:32 AM (Pacific)
7. "RE: Dark Stone"
I wanted so desperately to like this game, but just can't. Maybe it's the animation, maybe it's the blatant ripoff from Diablo, or maybe I'm too harsh in comparison to D. For whatever reason it never grew on me.

The lack of a b.net meeting place also killed the chance of this game becoming a HUGE hit, IMO.

  Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

elrond (83 posts) Click to EMail elrond Click to send private message to elrond Click to view user profile Click to check IP address of the poster
Jan-27-00, 08:47 AM (Pacific)
8. "RE: Dark Stone"
It's definitely one of those things you have to do multiplayer to really enjoy. Of course then it feels even more like Diablo. I guess I'm just too sick of looking for that 'perfect' game, since it seems to have been an eternity since I've found one that was even entertaining. On the bright side as someone mentioned in another post somewhere, it would appear that the game formerly known as Swords and Sorcery has found a publisher, and may even run on my computer
  Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top


Lock | Archive | Remove

Lobby | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic
Rate this topic (1=skip it, 10=must read)? [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 ]
Powered by DCF2000 ©1997-2000 by DCScripts. All rights reserved.