Darklands

[Space05us]

Anyone have experience playing it? I just started a few days ago, pretty fun so far. I had a few questions about certain skills though and was wondering if any of you would be able to answer them.


Picture of the game just in case you recognize it and not the name.

[Grandpa Troll]

Is this a free online game?

Thanks

[Blaupanzer]

This game is really old. How did you get it? Yes, I played it for quite awhile in the early 1980's. Not sure I remember everything, but I liked it, so I do remember some of it. Ask away, worst that can happen will be I don't remember just what you need.

Showing are the in-game prepared characters, you can do much better.

[Sharpe]

The game is called Darklands - it was released in 1992 - not the early 80's .

Gamespot listed it as being one of the greatest games of all time despite it having a large number of bugs (including several crash-to-desktop ones).

I had the game until a water leak ruined the floppies it was on. I think I remember seeing it available for download on the internet, not sure if it is abandonware or not yet as it was made by Microprose (now Atari).

If it wasn't for the bugs, it would have been a classic - as it was way ahead of its time - sandbox gameplay, lots of cities, fortresses, etc available (though the game does get repetitive after a while and eventually you run out of enemies to fight).

I somewhat finished the main campaign - I was about to defeat the final boss when it crashed (my squad was way overpowered so it didn't stand a chance hehe) and cleared the entire map clear of enemies. I found it had a huge variety of stuff available (weapons, armor, enemies, castles, spells, saints - can't recall what saints did though, just there were too many of them).

[Space05us]

Is this a free online game?

It's an old DOS RPG. I totally bought a copy off of ebay, it's the only legitimate thing to do.

Showing are the in-game prepared characters, you can do much better.

I stole the screenshot from google images, they stole it from somewhere else. I've never used the pregenerated character(s) in any game.


When you train at the inn what determines if you gain a level in that skill? I've tried training a few times and the only characters that gained anything from it were already very poor in that particular skill.

Does their ability to speak common, speak Latin, or read and write have anything to do with it? Do certain NPCs only train up to a certain point?

Also would it be possible to start with every member at 20 and still manage (no doubt after much time and effort) to end up with a well rounded party? I want to try it, but if it's impossible I won't waste my time.

[Sharpe]

This might help

http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/game/564659.html

and as for age 20 - I never tried - I preferred to get more experienced people to start with and gradually replace them as they got too old and their stats started really deteriorating. In the game I got to the final boss though, I only replaced one of them and all of them but that one were very old when they faced the boss but super powerful hehe.

[Space05us]

Originally posted by Sharpe
The game is called Darklands - it was released in 1992 - not the early 80's .

Gamespot listed it as being one of the greatest games of all time despite it having a large number of bugs (including several crash-to-desktop ones).

I had the game until a water leak ruined the floppies it was on. I think I remember seeing it available for download on the internet, not sure if it is abandonware or not yet as it was made by Microprose (now Atari).

If it wasn't for the bugs, it would have been a classic - as it was way ahead of its time - sandbox gameplay, lots of cities, fortresses, etc available (though the game does get repetitive after a while and eventually you run out of enemies to fight).

I somewhat finished the main campaign - I was about to defeat the final boss when it crashed (my squad was way overpowered so it didn't stand a chance hehe) and cleared the entire map clear of enemies. I found it had a huge variety of stuff available (weapons, armor, enemies, castles, spells, saints - can't recall what saints did though, just there were too many of them).

The most recent version supposedly fixed all of the bugs, most of them anyway, and I haven't had any problems yet.

[Blaupanzer]

I don't remember any showstopper bugs, but there are a couple of places in the game where you must go to an exact spot (pixel on the map) and a couple of locations in the end game where the sequence of events is critical but not obvious. It looks like you can do these steps in any order, but only one sequence generates the confrontation you seek. Also note the game lost a lot of popularity by following the German fable pattern in which the heroes must make great sacrifice in order to triumph.

As for age 20, not smart. At a minimum, your character who will be doing the praying needs a high skill to acquire the saints, a skill not available to a youngster. Likewise your alchemist will get you in a lot of trouble without a good initial skill set which takes a few years to acquire. Note: do your alchemy in the wilderness until you get good at it.

Different cities will have different values for weapons, armor, etc. Those prices reflect quality. Note also that quality deteriorates with use, especially when confronting other alchemists, demons, and dragons. In each city, some items will standout, some will just be functional. Even if you can't buy at the time, check prices at the market and in the streets. Also note which saints are available in each city. You can come back later.

I really liked this game.

[El_Cid]

I've started up a few games over the years, always died pretty quick trying the 'dive straight in and work it out as i go' approach.........so read up and look for all the help and advice you can.

This is 1 of the games that keeps me from bothering with modern games. Sure it's old and ugly, but if you get into it there is so much meat on the bone you will remain very satiated for many months to come.

some links:

http://www.darklands.net/ - good source of game playing info

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/darklands - good ol moby info

What rig are you(any of you) running it on? I had problems getting it to run in XP so use my P166 W98se rig and everything runs fine.

I'm up for a few tales on playing this(time permitting)

[Tuberski]

It works with DOSBox just fine.

I hate having to right click everything.

ACK!

[Blaupanzer]

Did I mention that I think this was one of the best RPGs of all time? Microprose was really good at genre development, be it RPGs as here, Turn-Based Strategy games like Civilization, or flight simulators.

Because of the incredibly unpopular ending, no follow-on was even considered seriously. However the map notes that Britain, Italy, North Africa, and the Middle East as possible future directions of play. Ah well, this one-off game is one of the best.

[RGBVideo]

Got this installed a few hours ago.

This is a great game

[Blaupanzer]

No longer have drives for 3.5 or 5 1/2 disks. How can I get a copy (legitimately) on cd or download? Tried UltimateDarklands, but got only a search window on GoDaddy that revealed no direct Darklands info. Thanks in advance for any help.

[El_Cid]

It looks like ebay may be your only hope?
I picked mine up years back in a carboot sale for £5(which i thought was a bit steep for a secondhand old game.....but i wanted it enough).

So VJ - how's your game? give some inspiration and maybe a few of us will crank this up and start posting?

[Blaupanzer]

VJ or Space05us, how goes the game, mostly bug-free? VJ, where did you get your copy and did you need an extra program to slow your PC? I have the original on 10 3.5 discs without all the patches. But my computer lacks DOS, a 3.5 slot and a program to slow the speed. Just curious as to how it's going. The only offers I've seen so far that have it on a PC want $80 ($79.99) for their copy. Seems a little silly when I have manuals and hintbook already, but I'll keep looking.