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Darklands

Delterius

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Entre a serra e o mar.
as an autrian supremacist sawyer is also a foremost servant of God and the Vicar of Christ, the pope/duke/bishop of Rome
 

Latro

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dunno, on the flip-side you have Sawyer who loves the game but is a complete douchebag when it comes to religion and quite obviously dislikes anything even vaguely Catholic. I can respect Sawyer's love for the game but I won't pretend to respect the guy himself.

Where do you get this idea that Sawyer dislikes anything even vaguely catholic? Is that your meme intuition because he is supposed to be a "leftie"? Stop inventing your own reality based on your preconceptions, don't be dumb.
that's called "cultural catholicism", I respect actual practitioners and believers in Jesus Christ.
 
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Crane

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Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath
dunno, on the flip-side you have Sawyer who loves the game but is a complete douchebag when it comes to religion and quite obviously dislikes anything even vaguely Catholic. I can respect Sawyer's love for the game but I won't pretend to respect the guy himself.

Where do you get this idea that Sawyer dislikes anything even vaguely catholic? Is that your meme intuition because he is supposed to be a "leftie"? Stop inventing your own reality based on your preconceptions, don't be dumb.
that's called "cultural catholicism", I respect actual practitioners and believers in Jesus Christ.
actually it's called "idolatry" you dirty sinner.
 

Deuce Traveler

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And the Darklands review is finished. Some highlights:

"Well, what a ride. Darklands offers perhaps the most original approach to role-playing that we've seen since the inception of the genre, and in several dimensions. The experience wasn't always a joy, but I never stopped admiring what the developers were trying to accomplish. In this case, the primary developer ("original concept" and "project leader" in the credits) is Arnold Hendrick. It was his only RPG. Hendrick wrote responses to 13 pages of questions on Steam between 2016 and 2018, participated in a three-part interview with Matt Barton in 2010, and submitted to a long interview on RPG Codex in 2012. Thus, I was able to pepper my summary below with many of his recollections."

"Game World. It's a great idea: set the game in the real Middle Ages, but act as if the superstitions and rumors of the time were all true. In this, Hendrick said that he was influenced by the Warhammer tabletop RPG, which took its inspiration from the Holy Roman Empire."

"Economy. Darklands has perhaps the first truly good economy in RPG history. (Previous games that tie this score were rated too high, for the most part.) It hits all my points: you make money from successful encounters and quest-solving; there are multiple ways to make money (including working odd jobs); there are multiple ways to spend money; and you never reach a point in which you are "too rich." In a very real-world way, money is power in Darklands, and you can use it to compensate for party weaknesses--by, for instance, purchasing potions instead of making them, increasing virtue through copious donations to churches, and fronting tuition to increase your skills at the university. You can even bribe your way out of some encounters. I never reached a point where I stopped collecting equipment to sell, and I never reached a point in which I had too much money. I did think some of the quest rewards were unbalanced, however, with robber knights netting you dozens of florins while a more lengthy, complicated artifact quest might only get you half a dozen."

"That gives us a final score of 56. That doesn't quite put it in the top 10 list, but it's very close, and the game clearly will contend for "Game of the Year" for 1992. You could easily envision a near-perfect RPG that would, for instance, merge the Gold Box style of combat, Ultima NPC interaction, and the variety of equipment found in Might and Magic with Darklands' basic approach."

Read the rest here:
http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2019/07/darklands-summary-and-rating.html
 

Humbaba

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:necro::hailcthulhu:

Idgaf whether or not this is the official Darklands thread, it is now, I need a place to document my autistic thoughts.

This game is highly christian. Jews are notably absent. Make of that what you will.

HP is agonisingly slow to recover and good armor is expensive for the early game. Doesn't help that walking in the wilderness is a bit of a crapshoot encounter wise. I guess you're not supposed to get attached to your guys too much?

I see little point in not maxxing STR for all characters considering it doubles as HP. Though I'm starting to think dumping AG was a bit of a mistake, my doods get hit too much.

Basically DOS M&B Warband in Germany. Even uses the same song!
 
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Nutria

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Strap Yourselves In
This game is highly christian.

And highly medieval. If you do what a person in medieval Germany would have believed was heroic, you're making the right choices.

Jews are notably absent. Make of that what you will.

There's an enormous amount of content they wanted to put in the game but had to be cut. One thing that didn't make it but you can still find a lot of traces of in the data files is encounters with the Hussites in Bohemia.

I guess you're not supposed to get attached to your guys too much?

It's a dangerous and hostile world where you're frequently going to be defeated, but it's usually not lethal. If you lose in combat, most enemies will just kick the crap out of you and take most of your possessions but let you go. So if one of your party is about to be killed in combat, it's often best to surrender. You'll have to work your way back up to getting reequipped, but at least you've still got your skills. Just don't try surrendering to wolves (they'll eat you) or Satanic forces (they'll do stuff to your soul).

I see little point in not maxxing STR for all characters considering it doubles as HP.

Everyone should have STR of 30 at least, probably closer to 40. As long as their endurance gets knocked out before strength, they'll just collapse and live to fight another day.
 

Humbaba

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If you lose in combat, most enemies will just kick the crap out of you and take most of your possessions but let you go. So if one of your party is about to be killed in combat, it's often best to surrender. You'll have to work your way back up to getting reequipped, but at least you've still got your skills.
Getting healed up is just a big hassle it seems to me. I assume the play is to have a guy rest at the inn while the others go out to pay rent but I can't seem to break even with the cost. Do I get paid more the more famous I get or how does that work? The manual doesn't say.

Everyone should have STR of 30 at least, probably closer to 40. As long as their endurance gets knocked out before strength, they'll just collapse and live to fight another day.
What about Agility? The manual says it mostly serves to dodge missile attacks, not melee attacks though. But it also says it affects a character's speed but idk by how much and if high AG makes a noticeable difference. Will probably have to experiment with that.
 

Nutria

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I assume the play is to have a guy rest at the inn while the others go out to pay rent

Yeah, it's tough in the beginning so you'll have to do this a lot.

Do I get paid more the more famous I get or how does that work?

Characters get paid more depending on their skills. The trouble is, the really lucrative ones you have to pay to train up. With some artifice skill, your guys will be making a lot more than is needed for rent. But it takes time and money to train up artifice.

Some other advice for healing during this part of the game:

  • Monasteries will usually help out poor, struggling adventurers who are wounded. You'll heal faster than at the inn and only have to pay a few pennies per night.
  • Some saints can heal or temporarily boost your healing skill. If you're lucky you might find one who will answer the call of your most virtuous party member. Make sure to check out the library for new saints every time you visit a new city.
  • When one of your party members has healing skill high enough (35 or 30, I can't remember) then everyone will heal 2pts/day which makes a huge difference.
  • If you can find the Essence of Grace formula for your alchemist, that will help immensely. It can heal strength even in combat.
  • Once you've got a few florins saved up, consider getting a letter of credit from the Fuggers. It basically means putting your money in the bank so that if you lose a battle and all your equipment, you've got something saved up.

What about Agility?

I haven't noticed a huge difference. IIRC all of the combat math is shown in the hintbook (PDF link). It's a huge tome that explains just about everything you'd ever want to know about the game.
 
Self-Ejected

Lim-Dûl

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HP is agonisingly slow to recover and good armor is expensive for the early game. Doesn't help that walking in the wilderness is a bit of a crapshoot encounter wise. I guess you're not supposed to get attached to your guys too much?
You're supposed to make a 70 year old alchemist during character creation, take his potions, ditch him, then max strength for all your characters.
 

Nutria

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That's one way to do it. Just remember that all characters made after your initial party won't start out with equipment. (I don't think? I can't remember, I rarely use that feature.)
 

Tweed

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They don't. Only the first four get gear and what they get depends on their occupations. The hintbook really is a wealth of information and can reveal interesting stats about each weapon including penetration.
I see little point in not maxxing STR for all characters considering it doubles as HP. Though I'm starting to think dumping AG was a bit of a mistake, my doods get hit too much.

Agility is reasonably valuable, don't overload your guys in heavy gear if they can't support it. Certain occupations provide a lot more str than others to the point where you can get away with making old fogies who are still buff and tough if you play your cards right.

Invest in throwing weapons for range.
 
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Lim-Dûl

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That's one way to do it. Just remember that all characters made after your initial party won't start out with equipment. (I don't think? I can't remember, I rarely use that feature.)
You can transfer the starting party's equipment to a new character. I think their equipment can be copied repeatedly.
 

Serus

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Are there any other historical RPGs like Darklands?

If not, why?
While not a perfect match there is a lot of Darklands in Battle Brothers.
It's not historical at all. It's just "lower" fantasy than usual which gives a different feel from most crpg or crpg-ish games that are set in pseudo-medieval fantasy settings. However this is not a historical feel.
But i'm a big fan so to everyone who likes tactical combat and by some miracle didn't play it - do it now.
 

Grampy_Bone

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Character creation exploits aren't really needed, though I agree Str should start high since it's hard to increase and it really makes a difference.

-In the beginning give everyone a shield. Shields provide about a 10-15% reduction in hit chance (depending on size and quality), but there's also a 10% bonus to hit unshielded characters. So having a shield gives you about 25% less chance of being hit.
-Roam around towns at night and fight bandits. They're weak but provide steady weapon skill increases and their loot provides decent income. Once your weapon skill is high enough your characters will mostly stop taking damage.

-Weapon skill is attack and defense. Your chance to hit is inverse of your chance to be hit. It's kinda like Pillars of Eternity (in fact didn't Sawyer admit he pilfered some of the mechanics?)
- 'your skill' - 'enemy skill' + 50 = percent hit chance. There's some more modifiers but that's the basic mechanic. Wearing a shield boosts your weapon skill for defensive purposes, and not having one gives the attacker a bonus.
-Weapon quality adds +5 per 10 points over 25 and -5 for 10 points below 25. Sound confusing? Basically a 35 quality sword is +1 and 45 quality is +2. For armor the bonus adds to penetration resistance.
-Penetration determines whether a hit deals full damage or not. Swords have low Pen and high damage, hammers have higher Pen but lower damage. Flails have fixed damage so they are good for low Str characters.
-Swords do fine for leather and chain but will have problems with plate.

Combat modes!

-Berserk increases your attack speed (NOT damage) but lowers your defense.
-Parry increases defense at the cost of speed
-Vulnerable strike increases penetration at a severe speed cost

Berserk is only good for clearing out weaker enemies with low armor. If you're hitting but only doing a couple points of damage, use vuln strike instead to boost penetration (which will dramatically improve damage). Tanking also works pretty well--one character with max weapon skill, plate armor, and a large shield can engage several enemies in parry mode while your other members hit them freely.
 

Serus

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Nobody is ever gonna make the same effort you can see in Darklands manual, let alone the game. Even the fucking music is from the right time & area (main theme by Konrad Paumann, actually the oldest keyboard music known). Alchemy, the saints, the medieval hours, weapons... it is astounding. It is the only game I know whose manual has a fucking bibliography section, heh.
It is amazing when it comes to historical work that went into it. It's an effort that belongs to another gaming era.

I can see one chance though. An indie developer as autistic the Dwarf Fortress creator who has as much time. Except one who is a history buff autist not... dwarf lore autist.
 

Berengar

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Are there any other historical RPGs like Darklands?

If not, why?
While not a perfect match there is a lot of Darklands in Battle Brothers.
It's not historical at all. It's just "lower" fantasy than usual which gives a different feel from most crpg or crpg-ish games that are set in pseudo-medieval fantasy settings. However this is not a historical feel.
But i'm a big fan so to everyone who likes tactical combat and by some miracle didn't play it - do it now.
I don't disagree with that.
I guess I view the fantastical stuff in BB like it is in Darklands. Where its meant to be what people in the 15th century thought was real. "Historical" and "low magic" I kinda use interchangeably. My bad!
 

buffalo bill

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I feel like King of Dragon Pass is similar in some ways to Darklands, in that it tries to semi-realistically depict the institutions and culture of Iron Age Nordic people (though the cultural and historical boundaries are a little fuzzy), along with a world in which their myths are more-or-less true. Though obviously Darklands has far more historical fidelity.
 

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