A site of RPG goodness - yet no Darklands?!!!

[uk_john]

Yes, it's 15 years old, yes it's from a defunct publisher (Microprose), and yes, it's not 3D ala Wizardry 8 or really 3/4 view like Baldur's Gate (except for the tactical battles).

On the other hand, Sid Meier was involved in the AI and tactical battle options. It was one of the first RPG's to have pausable real-time battles and it is the only historically accurate (to a degree) RPG ever published!

It is based on 15th century Germany, and the only deviation it makes is making the assumption that everything that the people of the time believed in, like witches and alchemy and devil worshippers and various creatures in the dark woods, and robber barons, etc in this game would be real. All the armour and weapons, the strengths of both, the alchemy, the saint worship (for divine intervention and the alchemy is all based on historical accuracy!

The other difference is the fact that you just put a party of people together who wish to become famous! You do not get any type of main storyline for quite a time, and when it arrives you can ignore it if you wish! the world is totally open, and the game produces quests and problems 'on the fly' meaning after you finish the main quest (if you take it on!) you can continue playing forever, finding new enemies and new quests and new weapons and armour, etc!

Being 15 years old, it doesn't look fantastic, but it looks pretty good. It gives you menu options for where to go in town, who to talk to, etc, (like in Pirates or Railroad Tycoon, etc) it uses artwork of the time as a backdrop to the menus (which can be quite extensive!) and it has the correct period music.

Lastly, it has one of the best character generation starts of any RPG I have ever played. Period! Each character starts with a social standing, then can have various careers based on that social beginning, each career adds to the age, so you have to think carefully as all the above affects stats and how a character levels up and his/her main skillset, etc. Do you go for an experienced older character who is losing strength and dexterity, or a younger, more fit character with less experience? This part of the game is a game in itself and you can easily play around with it for a long time! Bear in mind that it is easy to drop a character from your party and add a new one, and as all characters age and time moves on day to day, moth to month, year to year, you will not have the same party at the end as you had at the start. Not just because members of your party die, but because they just get too old!

If any RPG needed to be added to this site, I think it's Darklands. You should all download it, start playing and then watch as the 'Darklands thread' just grew and grew!


You can check out a vid of the gameplay here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yfdq...eature=related

"This is a new and better vid to show the game!)

And you can see a review and download the game from:

http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=278

If you find the game on ebay, you better bid over £30/$50 for it, because the boxed game, with it's 200 page manual, is in big demand even to this day!

It comes in at around 12mb and works perfectly in DOSBox with cycles around 12000.

The manual, map and cluebook are available for download from replacementdocs also.

If you are okay with non uber graphics but gameplay that drags you in and doesn't let you go, you need to spend 30 mins with this game! You won't regret it - and you cannot really call yourself a PC roleplayer if you haven't played it!

[Kakero]

This game sounds oddly familiar. Hmm..

Bah it needs Dosbox. I can never make Dosbox to run any games.

[uk_john]

Originally Posted by Kakero This game sounds oddly familiar. Hmm.. Bah it needs Dosbox. I can never make Dosbox to run any games.

Kakero - Try downloading Darklands, DOSBox 0.72 and from the DOSBox site, a front end for it called D.O.G. Use the front end, tell it where you have installed DOSBox 0.72 then tell it where you have installed Darklands, tell it the letter of the hard drive it's the game's on and then go to the CPU tab and enter 12000 in the 'cycles' box then double click on the game title you entered into D.O.G. at the beginning and the game should start in a window. You can then tweak sound and full screen and other things from a directory within D.O.G. that will either fix issues or make the game look and sound better!

With a front end, using DOSBox is 1000 times easier. None of those weird DOS type commands to set up things...!

[Kazilan]

I remember playing this game a long time ago - it had some great still shots in the background behind the text interface. I still remember trying to sneak into castles belonging to robber barons through windows. More often than not my group fell and was attacked by guards. My favorite memory might be of blowing up an inn when I was mixing potions... I could never build up my reputation in that town afterwards but the mental image of four scorched people fleeing an explosion in the middle of the night was hilarious to me. I'm sure the alchemist would have been pleading his innocence to his angry companions the whole time.

I believe I still have the box, manual, and big floppy disks the game came on somewhere. I may have to start it up again sometime, thanks for reminding me of it.

[uk_john]

Kazilan - you're welcome! Any one who has played this game has memories like yours!

[Harkoliar]

wow sounds really good and old! wish i had this when i was a kid lots of time to play around then Ill check it out now

[Captain Obvious]

Looks great! I have been on the lookout for some good old school RPG's! I downloaded it last night and am trying to stealthily print the manual (at work) so i can play tonight!

Cheers!

[uk_john]

Good to hear all are happy to know! Have change the web address for the video so it takes you to a better one that show more of the game options!

[Hayashi]

I remember playing this one... but it was in the days before the internet and it was *hard* to get patches.
I think I'll give this another whirl.