It’s time for me to do a little talking now about DoP, which, may I just say is a great game, not because it has flashy graphics(which it doesn’t), a strong story(which again, it doesn’t), or even great characters(4 generic classes and nothing in between), but because it’s addictive, and because it’s so cheap. I bought the game for £11.86, now, consider that many games I have played have cost more than that, are played less often, and, in many cases, less fun.
So, let’s break down what is good about, how, and what other developers could stand to learn.
Runs in wine.
This is a big one for me, I abandoned windows for a range of reasons, I even gave up on the idea of PC gaming for related reasons(although I think the enless pursuit of better than real life graphics is a big reason to quit as well). The fact that this game runs so well in wine is a big plus for me.
Simple concept, good idea.
It’s a standard RPG with a strategy element, it’s been done before, but it does not make this game any less intresting, in fact, it’s the opposite effect, by having similar games in the genre it has allowed this game to enter without needing a 400 page manual to explain how to pick things up. The story is very thin, yet it retains an intresting quality, you are one of a group of covenants who stop bad monsters killing town since they all went crazy, easy to explain if someone asks, without you needing to bring out a flow chart for why
villain A is attacking village B because girl C got kidnapped by some other villain, D, who thanks to the cutscenes you know to be the brother to the hero, E, who just so happens to be married to girl C, or at the very least getting it nightly. Oh, and the mayor of village B is infact the father to either the hero, E, or the girl, C, but you won’t find out who until you climb mountain F to collect ultimate weapon G, which was once used to kill A’s great great grandfather H years ago(where H is a nice round number like 1,000 or whatever).
Modding for dummies
There is a free to download group of files, just for those of you that want to break the game in new and intresting ways :p, it’s called the SDK, although I don’t know what it stands for(or why it comes in an installable executable when a zip file would be more appropriate really), anyway, editing the game files is simple, navigate to the game directory(you chose it when installing, don’t ask me), then navigate to the assets directory, in there are 3 zip files, editing their contents is easy and fun(I’ll release a full guide on this at some point in the future)
It has a console
Oh, sure, I’m not sure how to do anything on it, but how cool is that, everything is going back to the day’s of the console, first firefox with ubiquity, now games, next up, Pong 2009 from EA games 
Actually, it’s got some sort of editor for adjusting images and such built in, although I’ve no idea how to use it.
Tool tips
Yes, a game with tool tips, how I hate that in some games, where you read the manual, study the forums and read every single FAQ online to find that no-one explains how to pick up an item, after 5 minutes of clicking and mashing random buttons you learn that it’s the space bar, which when you post on the forum’s regarding that note being added to a manual your met with 2 schools of thought, those that say “DUH i fink ur a r3t4rd 4 nt now that”, and those that say “Ah, yes, it should be in the manual, I’m sure it must have just been overlooked by the original writers” – at least with tool tips it tells you what to use to do everything, which is handy when your learning the game, and once your done you just turn them off. May I also point out how clear the tool tips are:
Right click to use
Anyone confused? Anyone now not know how to use the item? I didn’t even read the manual for the game, between the tutorial and the game I think everything was explained so simply that an idiot could play the game without problems.
Recruits
Want to play as a mage but fear getting your rear handed to you because you can’t physically defeat anything? That’s OK, recruit a rogue or warrior to your party to act as a meat shield.
You can have up to 5 recruits, but without a mod your unable to take more than 1 with you at once, each is selected from the same 4 classes as your character, warrior(hit with pointy end till it rolls over), rogue(stab with point end when it’s not looking), mage(cast spell, run away, cast, run, cast…) and priest(ARG, god help me), which are actualy stronger than I’ve made out(yup, the rogue can do a bit of fighting after it’s been spotted, and the mage doesn’t need to run away too much(although that’s mostly because by the higher levels you’ll be wanting to insta-kill everything anyway). and the warrior can build up rage to do a few specials (the priest really does need a team mate though, there’s only so much healing and buffing can be done before you need someone worthwhile to actually buff up)), but the game is much easier to play with a recruit or 2, even if it’s just to stop you getting someone to take half of the beating for you.
sharing
yup, share with your other characters. If you come across uber sword for your mage it doesn’t translate into a bit of free cash, in this game it translates into a better sword for your warrior, or better still, it translates into a bit of free cash for a level 1 character who wants to buy a nice set of starting equipment.
it’s late now though, and that’s all I can think of, I’ll post some more tomorrow if I get time, maybe even with a bit of an editing guide if I’ve got time.
Tags: DoP
