Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Incline Dark Sun

Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
5,103
Started a play-through of Dark Sun: Shattered Lands. If it goes well, I want to play though Wake of Ravager as well. I actually tried this before, but it didn't take, but these days, with so many great RPGs being released every day, ... yeah....

So anyways, just escaped out of the Arena. Pretty early in the game, but here are my initial impressions:

- Graphics haved aged pretty badly, especially for a 2D game. I mean, you can tell what everything is, but it just looks bad aesthetically. Perhaps it's not that they have aged, but were bad to begin with.

- Gameplay-wise, I am really digging it so far, for two reasons: player agency and freedom.

Player agency: Unlike most modern games, the gameplay here is very active, you are told only the basics, and have to figure out everything else, which is exactly how it should be. Some spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution. So one of the guys in the slave pens told me he will help me escape if I get him a valuable gem. The gem belongs to another guy who was chained in the Arena itself. After one of my fights, I talked to that guy, but he asked for water. That's it. Nobody tells you where the water is. So I explored the pens between fights, and found a locked room with what looked like a water container inside. Somewhere else, I found an empty jar. Not rocket science or anything, but with a little bit of thinking, I bashed open the door with my weapons, dropped the jar on the floor in that room, and then was able to pick it up over the water container to fill it. Felt really good. Giving the water to the prisoner, he told me the gem was hidden in one of the grain jars. When i interacted with those jars, finding them in one of the pen rooms, I was told that it would take forever to find anything in them. Again, using a little bit of brain power, I bashed the jar with a sword, and the gem fell out on the floor. After I gave the gem to the other guy, he told me how to escape. I don't know if I messed up his instructions, or he lied to me, but there was no door that I could find based on them. However, I saw a grate leading into the sewers, and used that to escape instead.

All of these are not anything super hard, but they require you to use your eyes and brains, and actively participate in the game. This makes the gameplay interesting, and makes you feel like someone important, as opposed to some mindless errand-boy in modern games.

Freedom: So far it seems like there are a lot of different ways to tackle the game. You can bash down doors, and try to escape through all the guards, if you have a really powerful party. You can pay the ratmen or fight them. You can do optional side-quests or not. I fought 2 fights in the arena, and then tried the third, which had an 8th level Stalker. That guy was hard to take out before he went through my party, so I just decided to escape before the third fight instead. But again, this feels really cool, having all these options and different outcomes.
 
Unwanted

Micormic

Unwanted
Joined
Mar 25, 2009
Messages
939
Was my favorite game before I played Fallout, still probably in my top 10 although I haven't played it in around 20 years probably.

Never played the sequel, never saw it in stores and heard it was buggy so I never bothered.

Went looking for my copy/box a couple years ago and didn't find it, probably lost when moving sadly.
 

Cael

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,282
Started a play-through of Dark Sun: Shattered Lands. If it goes well, I want to play though Wake of Ravager as well. I actually tried this before, but it didn't take, but these days, with so many great RPGs being released every day, ... yeah....

So anyways, just escaped out of the Arena. Pretty early in the game, but here are my initial impressions:

- Graphics haved aged pretty badly, especially for a 2D game. I mean, you can tell what everything is, but it just looks bad aesthetically. Perhaps it's not that they have aged, but were bad to begin with.

- Gameplay-wise, I am really digging it so far, for two reasons: player agency and freedom.

Player agency: Unlike most modern games, the gameplay here is very active, you are told only the basics, and have to figure out everything else, which is exactly how it should be. Some spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution. So one of the guys in the slave pens told me he will help me escape if I get him a valuable gem. The gem belongs to another guy who was chained in the Arena itself. After one of my fights, I talked to that guy, but he asked for water. That's it. Nobody tells you where the water is. So I explored the pens between fights, and found a locked room with what looked like a water container inside. Somewhere else, I found an empty jar. Not rocket science or anything, but with a little bit of thinking, I bashed open the door with my weapons, dropped the jar on the floor in that room, and then was able to pick it up over the water container to fill it. Felt really good. Giving the water to the prisoner, he told me the gem was hidden in one of the grain jars. When i interacted with those jars, finding them in one of the pen rooms, I was told that it would take forever to find anything in them. Again, using a little bit of brain power, I bashed the jar with a sword, and the gem fell out on the floor. After I gave the gem to the other guy, he told me how to escape. I don't know if I messed up his instructions, or he lied to me, but there was no door that I could find based on them. However, I saw a grate leading into the sewers, and used that to escape instead.

All of these are not anything super hard, but they require you to use your eyes and brains, and actively participate in the game. This makes the gameplay interesting, and makes you feel like someone important, as opposed to some mindless errand-boy in modern games.

Freedom: So far it seems like there are a lot of different ways to tackle the game. You can bash down doors, and try to escape through all the guards, if you have a really powerful party. You can pay the ratmen or fight them. You can do optional side-quests or not. I fought 2 fights in the arena, and then tried the third, which had an 8th level Stalker. That guy was hard to take out before he went through my party, so I just decided to escape before the third fight instead. But again, this feels really cool, having all these options and different outcomes.
Wake of the Ravager is another level altogether. You also start with a different party, so don't worry about porting your current party over. If you like Shattered Lands, I think you will love Wake of the Ravager.
 

Sinatar

Arbiter
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Messages
569
Wake of the Ravager is another level altogether. You also start with a different party, so don't worry about porting your current party over. If you like Shattered Lands, I think you will love Wake of the Ravager.

Eh? You play the same party as the first game and you absolutely want to import your characters.

Wake of the Ravager is also buggy as fuck.
 

Cael

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,282
Wake of the Ravager is another level altogether. You also start with a different party, so don't worry about porting your current party over. If you like Shattered Lands, I think you will love Wake of the Ravager.

Eh? You play the same party as the first game and you absolutely want to import your characters.

Wake of the Ravager is also buggy as fuck.
I don't think you were supposed to. I seem to recall the lore saying it was different. It has been decades since I played the game, though, so it is likely I am wrong.
 

Citizen

Guest
- Graphics haved aged pretty badly, especially for a 2D game. I mean, you can tell what everything is, but it just looks bad aesthetically. Perhaps it's not that they have aged, but were bad to begin with.

Agree with you on most points, but don't understand what you don't like about the graphics. Looks very good for a 1992.

8oe11P.png
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
Patron
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
33,048
Location
KA.DINGIR.RA.KI
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands is one of the best RPGs ever made and was years ahead of its time when it was released, and it's a crime this game doesn't have a higher place on the Codex top games of all time list.
 

eric__s

ass hater
Developer
Joined
Jun 13, 2011
Messages
2,301
Importing your party from Shattered Lands to Wake of the Ravager doubles every enemy's hit points. I have no idea why, they probably wanted to take away the advantage you have in starting with super weapons, but it makes the game really stupid. Just make a new party.
 

PrettyDeadman

Guest
Definitely Top 1 isometric game.
Was there any other isometric game which implemented psionics or 4 handed creatuers?
 

The Avatar

Pseudodragon Studios
Developer
Joined
Jan 15, 2016
Messages
336
Location
The United States of America
Great game, great campaign setting. While most of the D&D are as generic fantasy as can be, Dark Sun had Half-Giants, Muls, Thri-kreen, Psionics, Defilers, ect.

If I remember correctly, the Half-Giants were ridiculously OP as a melee fighting class. They would just go around 1-shotting monsters all the time.
 

Citizen

Guest

Yes, here's a room of similar proportions (to a screen from previous post) in isometric view:
8oniUb.png

But in a game it's drawn as if the camera is way higher, similar to this:
8onWOT.png
 

Cael

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,282
Great game, great campaign setting. While most of the D&D are as generic fantasy as can be, Dark Sun had Half-Giants, Muls, Thri-kreen, Psionics, Defilers, ect.

If I remember correctly, the Half-Giants were ridiculously OP as a melee fighting class. They would just go around 1-shotting monsters all the time.
Only at the lower levels. The +4 Str does give them a massive advantage in the beginning, but later, that advantage drops off as monsters became tougher. And, as usual with DnD whatever the edition, things become a caster fest in the latter parts of Wake of the Ravager.
 

Stormcrowfleet

Aeon & Star Interactive
Developer
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
1,020
I just started a game of that this week. Happy to see people saying it's good, I'll play more of it.
 

Fowyr

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
7,671
- Graphics haved aged pretty badly, especially for a 2D game. I mean, you can tell what everything is, but it just looks bad aesthetically. Perhaps it's not that they have aged, but were bad to begin with.
Shattered Lands was beautiful. Use a proper 15" or 17" CRT display.

Holy shit I learned about a new game from codex. Incline.
Check
http://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/really-obscure-rpgs.119370/
http://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.ph...serve-more-attention-updated-feb-2017.106945/
http://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/list-of-the-must-play-games.55367/
 
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
5,103
Working my way through the Sewers. Some of the stuff is pretty novel from a modern perspective. I tried to pay the Tari (Ratmen) off to go through, figuring it's the more "monocled" approach, but they all took that for a sign of weakness and started insulting me, and their boss called the city guards. Afterwards, I told them I ain't paying nuffin, and we can fight over it, and they've been cowering from me since.

The fight against Miezkuetl or whatever (Sorcerer King's priest) is pretty tough at my level. But apparently, the cleric summong the water elemental is just the thing. That thing hits harder than my entire party combined.
 

MrBuzzKill

Arcane
Joined
Aug 31, 2013
Messages
650
And there was silence...
If the poster is not gonna update the thread, I'm taking it over, since I'm also playing through this for the first time.
Spoiler alert:
Just defeated Wyrmias in statue form. Is game supposed to be this easy? Haste and Mass Domination seem broken: the first makes my half-giant Gladiator wipe out the entire enemy party on his turn, while the latter sometimes just bypasses the fight altogether. So far the only enemies to give me real trouble were Dagolar slimes (due to immunity to Psionics) and Air Elementals (almost impossible to hit)

Also, a tip for anyone playing: turn off animations by pressing A. The game runs much quicker and you don't need to see your character horribly stuttering through their 2 frames of animation while sprinting through the desert.
 
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
5,103
And there was silence...
If the poster is not gonna update the thread, I'm taking it over, since I'm also playing through this for the first time.

Yeah, I kinda got away from it for now.

I escaped from the Arena, then from the sewers, and out of Draj, and enjoyed that part. But then, you are in the desert, and there is no real goal or direction given, and a bunch of relatively empty maps, so I kinda got bored roaming over them. Maybe I missed it, but they should've given you some high level goal on leaving Draj.

Anyways, I do plan on gettign back to this at some point, but playing other stuff for now.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom