Darghul suggestions

[Anonymous]

I didn't see another thread like this (Darghul, not Teudogar) so here's a new one.

It would be nice to have more exotic armor. We have cloth, leather, chain mail, scale and lorcium segmentium, how about plate? Or a simple breastplate? I noticed a trippy goth-ish helm(et? it?) in the screenshots, that's the way to go man. Maybe more polearms, like halberds. Whatever. Don't rule out expansion packs though, if the idea never crossed your mind.

As to an earlier "how to shag a slave" post, in regars to your question as to whether or not Americans would be offended by nudity, probably not. The kind of people who would be playing a German video game wouldn't care, it's really just the Midwestern crazies. But do we really need it? We all have the internet here, there's lots of porn out there.

Let's see what other people have come up with. Peace.

 

[Wolf Mittag]

All right; there'll be some exotic armor. Breastplate (here called 'muscled cuirass') already exists (even in Teudogar, although there only the highest ranking Roman general wears it). Since there are both Elves and Dwarves in DARGHUL's game world, I've added some specific Elvian (light and protective) and Dwarvic (flexible metal, superior quality) armor. (This also fits nicely into the player's gradual accumulation of better and better equipment, since you won't get to these peoples before you are about midway through the plot.) More polearms maybe (though halberts, as far as I understand, are only good against cavalry?, which doesn't exist in DARGHUL for technical reasons). There are now throwing axes available, and you can now carry (and throw, one by one) up to 8 of these. There also are several unique magical weapons (specific swords, magical sceptres, and so on) that can be found in certain dungeons. I definitely agree with your point. There ought to be as much variation in arms and armor as possible, especially since - different from Teudogar - there are no historical restrictions.

As to nudity, this was sort of culturally important in Teudogar (Teutons going naked into battle for religious and magical reasons and so on), but isn't too relevant for DARGHUL. Though I've now added the option of playing the game as a female player, which is fun because it's really a totally different gaming perspective. There's consequently also a female inventory paperdoll now (which is quite nice to look at). However this undressing-the-inventory-paperdoll thing really isn't exciting, let alone porn; it's more like the kind of everyday nudity nobody thinks anything about, like girls sunbathing topless in public parks or on beaches in summer. Still, maybe I'll add some sort of bikini. Anyway, I'll set 'no censorship' as a default for all countries. Thanks for your thoughts on this.

And thank you for both your suggestions and for starting this thread! This sort of feedback is really helpful for me.

 

[Wolf Mittag]

More info on my latest, still under development, fantasy RPG DARGHUL can be found here: http://www.darghul.com/newe.htm. This also includes a list of features and implemented/planned improvements over Teudogar. Main improvement is that there's now a huge continuous game world; a lot more subplots and activities; improvements to the user interface, inventory, and combat mode; more convenient bartering/trade; much more magic; and so on.

Anyone wishing any particular feature implemented? Or things you dislike about Teudogar and would like to see done differently in DARGHUL? I'll be happy to do what I can, especially if it's a minor thing or smaller detail that I can implement without major overhauls of the engine. But really, any sort of feedback, suggestion or criticism is welcome, even if I can't implement it right away.

 

[k_bits]

I can't remember if these are in or not -

Weather - rain & fog
Day & night cycles, ala Ultima 6

BTW, any idea of the relaease date? Before or after April 2006?

 

[Anonymous]

More polearms maybe (though halberts, as far as I understand, are only good against cavalry?, which doesn't exist in DARGHUL for technical reasons).

Halberds are actually very useful against infantry (see the Swiss Guard of the Vatican...) But they are not very handy indoors...

Anyone wishing any particular feature implemented? Or things you dislike about Teudogar and would like to see done differently in DARGHUL? I'll be happy to do what I can, especially if it's a minor thing or smaller detail that I can implement without major overhauls of the engine. But really, any sort of feedback, suggestion or criticism is welcome, even if I can't implement it right away.

I'd really, really, like a better, more exciting combat engine, so one can actually fight. With different attacks and parries. Hard to realise in a turn based game though...

 

[Anonymous]

More jewelery styles would be cool. Myabe more clothes, like different shoes or gloves.

Lol, public nudity. There's a culture difference. Anything beyond cleavage will get you arrested over here.

 

[Wolf Mittag]

Thanks to all of you!

already implemented:
- day&night: this exists (even in Teudogar), including Npcs having different schedules, being at different places and doing different activities, depending on the time of day.
- combat system: Apart from more spells and long-distance weapons, I've added a Combat Menu that pops up when you move your mouse to the right side of the screen (analogous to the Actions/Spell Menu on the left side). Over this menu, you can access and use all of the things you're wearing on your belt/carrying in your pockets, like different weapons, magical objects, extra magical weapons and so on. This gives you a at least some more options than you had in Teudogar.

combat mode:
- I'm currently experimenting with adding 2 switches to this menu, the first for selecting attack mode (auto / always stab / always slash, depending on your weapon of cours), and the second for selecting target range (auto / always hit head / torso / legs), and possible a third for defense settings (auto / always shield / always parry / always dodge). This can be used to fine-tune your attacks depending on your enemies - e.g., in case of Skeletons, stabbing is quite useless, so chosing 'always slash' would make sense, or if you notice your enemy wearing a chain mail but no helmet, 'always attack head' may be a good choice.
- making these settings over the menu is a bit bothersome, and the permanence of these menu settings is sometimes disadvantageous: after making choices for a specific enemy, you'd have to remember to return attack settings to normal again later on; or they'd automatically be returned to normal, but this might be somewhat irritating. So maybe it'll be best to influence attack settings just for one hit at a time. I'm therefore also testing keyboard shortcuts, i.e., 'Z' slash at Npc under mouse cursor, 'X' stab, or something like that.
- a 3rd alternative might be popping up an 'enemy window' at clicking (or already at mouse-over), where you could then choose how to attack. However, since finishing an enemy usually takes a number of hits, making this mandatory would double the number of mouse clicks and thus significantly slow down a combat. So if at all, I'd make this an optional feature, perhaps by displaying such a window in a corner of the screen. You could then either click immediately on the Npc you wish to attack (as in Teudogar), or, in case you wish to do a specific kind of attack, go to this 'enemy window' in the screen corner and there indicate where/how exactly you want to attack.

will implement this medium-term:
- fog
- yet more additional things to wear (different types): clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc. (Adding more is some work because each piece of equipment needs several object tiles (original placement, variation, broken, hanging on wall, hanging on 2nd wall); these are presently organized by object tile numbers, but I've already filled all slots intended for equipment, and thus lack room for extensions; so first of all I'd have to move numerous other things elsewhere to make some extra room.)

will implement this immediately:
- rain

Ok. Release date depends on how fast I get things done, which is a bit hard to predict because I'm working only part-time on this project. Sorry for all these delays. The game itself, however, already looks pretty good, and offers a great deal more than Teudogar regarding roleplaying and actual gameplay.

Please keep posting. Any ideas for improving combat? Any other features you'd like to see? Thank you for any suggestions.

 

[Anonymous]

Re. combat, in Jagged Alliance 2 (one of the best turn-based tactical games IMHO), you can click on the body of an opponent, and then select what to attack, and attack a number of action points to that attack which influences accuracy.

So, say you have 20 action points in one turn, you can use 4 to walk, 6 to attack the head with much precision, 3+3 = 6 to attack the legs two times with minimal precision and leave 4 to be able to interrupt a new enemy if he walks into your line of sight (depends on skill).

In Teudogar-like combat, the left over action points could be used to defend better rather than to interrupt.

From a historical European martial art perspective, the use of the sword to parry if you have a shield is pretty uncommon, as the shield is cheaper and easier to replace (especially in a Teudogar context). Of course, if you don't use a shield, because you have a longsword or don't want to bother with one (unlikely in a combat situation), you have little choice.

 

[Adam P]

that's a really neat feature, perhaps you could add an option in the menu to retain fighting style, so that if you activate this option then after attacking the head of your enemy you would always attack the head, at least, until you decide this is no longer advantageous, and select auto or whatever you deem appropriate.
And, in this manner, when learning the combat system you will not unknowingly select stab, only later to discover an invincible skeleton.

Weather would be a really cool feature.

And, I have a question about your day/night system. (I only ask this because of the realism already implemented in your game.)
Is your game world round?
If so, will teleporting to the opposite side of the world advance the time schedule by 12 hours?
One further question, currently how many object tiles are you using?
I am pretty sure you use a "Word" for your numbering allowing 65,536 different tiles, but how many are in use?

 

[Wolf Mittag]

Hi Paul and Adam P, thank you for your feedback and ideas!

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COMBAT, ATTACK

I'm currently testing a small target window (the size of a tile or NPC figure) that pops up automatically right over your enemy as soon as you move your mouse cursor over him, and remains in place as long as you leave your mouse cursor there:

1--h--2 A
3--T--4 B
5--l--6 C
hTl is meant to represent a human silhouette (head, torso, legs) (displaying your enemy's armor as well, and maybe his vitality/wounds). By clicking there you will attack the respective part of your enemy's body.

This silhouette is vertically divided into 2 colums: left side, attack by stabbing, right, attack by slashing (provided your weapon allows both). So clicking on the (2) segment of the diagram would cause you to hit your opponent's head in a slashing movement, or (3) to stab towards his torso. Each of these options will be explained by a small text below your mouse cursor as you move your mouse over this window (e.g., "stab/torso", "slash/head" etc).

These choices can make a major difference, depending on your enemy's armor and weaponry; e.g., someone wearing no helmet ought to be attacked by slash/head; someone wearing helmet and chainmail by stab/torso(not slash) or slash/legs; and so on. Head is more difficult than torso but causes maximimum damage if successful; legs are usually unprotected, making them a good target even though damage there will be less than torso/head, however, attacking legs will diminish your own chance of defending against your opponent's counterattack; and so on - lots of considerations/choices.

Additionally, on the right side of this window, ABC is a scrollbar that lets you chose how much effort to put into the attack, and how much to leave for defense. A would be maximum reckless attack with no regard for defense, C a very cautious attack with maximum defense, B midway. C (cautious attack, good defense) would make sense when you're surrounded by multiple enemies; A (reckless attack) when you're facing one wounded enemy you want to finish with a single strike. This scollbar setting would remain in place until changed (which can be done conveniently since the scrollbar is only a few pixels away from where your cursor is anyway).

(BTW, this new target selector window would make the permanent attack mode selectors (discussed in previous postings) obsolete - you'd retain a preferred attack mode and target range by simply leaving your mouse cursor in the same spot of the target window and clicking repeatedly.)

The great advantage of this new system is that it gives you a lot more choices without adding a single additional mouse click or mouse movement to what you'd be doing anyway. It basically feels like Teudogar (click,click,click - killed!), with no slowdowns or complicated settings, but still gives you full control over how and where to attack, and turns combat from a boring mechanical event into something where you can really influence the outcome by thinking/acting tactically.

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PARRY

right; I agree. In Teudogar, the automatic setting is that you will parry only about 15% of the time (60% shield, 25% dodge) (values depending on your skills and equipment). I think at this ratio, it makes some kind of sense - nothing you do as your main default defense; but since your opponent is likely to attack the side of your body not protected by your shield, his weapon should get quite close to your own; so if you're using a short sword, quickly deflecting his thrust by just turning your wrist a bit should be more natural and easier than moving your left arm and possibly turning your body in order to move your shield into the right position.

Don't know yet what to do about selecting your defensive actions, though; guess I'll leave these automated. Probably makes sense since this is nothing you can plan anyway, but rather something reactive, almost instinctive, to your enemy's movements. Besides, letting you manually chose "I want to defend by shield/dodge/parry" after you've already made all those attack choices discussed above would probably overly complicate the system. Anyone any thoughts on this?

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WEATHER

I've implemented rain. Looks&feels really neat; great for the game's atmosphere. Took me about 2 hours, including all details (such as no rain within houses, gradual start/stop, frequency, sound, different inventory background and so on).

Thanks for requesting this! (If you hadn't, I'd have shied away from the effort, which would have been a pity, since it was really quite easy.)

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GAME WORLD ROUND?

> Is your game world round? (If so, will teleporting to the opposite side of the world advance the time schedule by 12 hours?)

No, it's no round planet, but rather a single large continent surrounded (and limited) by mountains and rivers.

(In case I ever create a 2nd part, I'll let you swim/boat these rivers / climb these mountains, thereby expanding territory even further over what DARGHUL 1 offers, and use sea as a final border.) (Part 3 might then include navigation, and a full navigate-around-the-world type of game world, and then there ought to be time zones. But with my kind of development speed, that probably won't be before 2025.)

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NUMBER OF GRAPHICS TILES

> One further question, currently how many object tiles are you using?
> I am pretty sure you use a "Word" for your numbering allowing 65,536 different tiles, but how many are in use?

Right; I'm currently using DWORDs (32 bits) for objects: The upper word (16 bits) is used to store data (either referring to data tables such as container number x, or text y, or numerical data like number of gold pieces, or flags like poisoned, or new/used/damaged, blessed/cursed, and so on, depending on type of object). The lower word contains a couple of info flag bits (this object is someone's property, other objects lie on top of it, it ought to be displayed on top of everything else, and so on), and, finally, the tile number, thus leaving less than the entire 16 bits for the tile number: Currently, there's room for up to 0xFFF = 4,096 tiles (though I could easily double or quadruple this by removing some of the non-essential info flag bits).

Actually in use are 3,600 object tiles, plus 2,050 ground tiles, plus 110 sets of animated NPCs with on average about 40 tiles each = about 4,000 animated NPC tiles, plus about 300 tiles for icons and cursors. (However 3,600 object tiles don't mean 3,600 different types of objects; some tiles are part of multi-tile structures such as trees or roofs; others are variations of the same object such as shirt/shirt positioned differently/hanging on wall/other wall/destroyed shirt; or animation sequences like fire 1-3 or 1-6; and so on.)

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Please keep posting. Any comments/suggestions regarding the improved combat system outlined above? Anything else you dislike about Teudogar and would like to see done differently in DARGHUL? Any specific features you'd like to see implemented? Thank you for your continued support.

 

[Jora]

One thing I didn't like about Teudogar was all the treasure hunting. The maze was especially irritating. Things like that should have no place in RPGs.

I would like to see more ways of completing quests.
It would also be good to have more moral choices to make.
The player character's skills and stats should affect dialogues.

It was wonderful to see that my actions had consequences in Teudogar. If I humiliated a bard, he would kill me in my sleep. The game also acknowledged that I killed women and was a thief. Those kinds of things made the world feel very real and hopefully there'll be more of that in Darghul.

 

[Anonymous]

Actually, classic RPGs were nothing BUT dungeon crawls, so really nothing belongs in an RPG BUT mazes. There wasn't enough treasure to find, though, and little to no way of finding it. Maybe actual visual clues to randomly generated treasure in the game world? Like, if you see a rock like this, search and you may find a moderate brigande stash?

 

[Jora]

In my opinion, Wolf should take what was actually good about "classic" RPGs and forget silly things like mazes.

 

[Adam P]

At least early on in the game development he mentioned he would have many dungeons in DARGHUL as to whether or not very big or randomly generated i dont know if he said or if it has changed.

I enjoy Diablo like dungeon crawls, however the game shouldnt be restricted to it.
And from what I understand, Wolf did make a good balance.

The dungeons are optional playing little role in the story, but yield booty and creatures?
While on the topic are they multi-level dungeons or more over small caverns, like the wolf and bear caves of Teudogar?

 

[Jora]

The dungeons are optional playing little role in the story, but yield booty and creatures?

This is how I think it should be done. I generally prefer adventuring outdoors and don't enjoy spending hours in Dungeons of Forgotten Doom with 365 Underground Levels and Deadly Traps and Puzzles. I like walking in forests, being ambushed by bandits and visiting human settlements. Dungeons are boring unless their inhabitants have some other purpose than being enemies for the player to fight against.

 

[Adam P]

Thank you, for your time and energy in replying

Terrific Idea with the target window.
As for way of defending, I would suggest the game should find the odds of defending by dodging, blocking, or parrying. And whichever yields the greatest chance, try that.

So that if both men hold the weapon in the right hand and shield in the left, each would block with shield.
If however one holds the weapon in the right and the other in the left, parrying would be optimal.
But if one man has a giant warhammer, and the other is wearing light armor a small sword and wooden shield, parrying or blocking wouldnt be very clever, but dodging would be.

I dont know how many of these aspects are currently implemented, but i do know wearing heavy armor lowers dodging. Skill would also be a big factor in percentage chance.

And I'm not exactly an expert on sword fighting, therefore i may have made some poor assumptions, but I think this would be a good way to go.

Do you plan on implementing any other weather?

I believe you said something before (in Teudogar) where if you have freedslaves, they will help you in battle. Is this in DARGHUL as well, maybe not slaves but perhaps charmed or summoned wolves?

 

[Jora]

I hope the slavery system is in Darghul too because it worked well in Teudogar and there's a lot of potential in it. The system should definitely be expanded, not removed.

 

[Anonymous]

How do I sleep with the slaves in Darghul? Tell me how I do!!!!!

 

[Jora]

How do I sleep with the slaves in Darghul? Tell me how I do!!!!!

You have to equip the ring to do it.

 

[Wolf Mittag]

Thank you for your feedback and suggestions!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DUNGEONS

There are about 360 caves and dungeons in DARGHUL: >200 smaller, random generated caves, a couple of which can be found almost everywhere in the forests; a good number of medium to large sized dungeones; and a couple of huge, multilevel ones.

About 4 or 5 of these larger ones are relevant for the game's plot (for passage, or things to procure, or a specific enemy to kill). (The overwhelming majority of the plot takes place aboveground, and btw it's a good deal longer than Teudogar's, too.) A number of other dungeons hold singular magical objects worth acquiring but not necessary for finishing the plot. So most dungeoneering is optional, although definitely a very useful way to train fighting and improve equipment.

(Dungeons and treasures weren't particularly exciting in Teudogar due to this game's historical realism (in reality, caves are usually mostly empty, i.e. not much action, and treasures are quite rare). Fortunatly, a fantasy RPG like DARGHUL isn't bound by such restrictions. Of course I'm still using my sense of reason when creating and populating fantasy dungeons; but these needn't be realistic in term of actual reality, but rather in terms of the game's fantasy world - and this world is such that it happens to offer more action/gameplay than our actual reality would. I.e., once we agree to the basic assumption that in this world certain monsters tend to live in tribes in subterrean caves, I think it makes perfect sense for me fill a large cave system/dungeon with such monsters, provided I'm arranging everything in a way consistant with these monsters' way of life; i.e., not just randomly place random monsters, but rather first think of a background and then create an environment that would make sense for the specific monsters I'm going to place there to inhabit.)

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> different ways of solving quests, more moral choices

I'll take another look at the subplots and see what I can do there. Thank you for reminding me of this aspect.

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> The player character's skills and stats should affect dialogues.

They do now. Depending on your charisma, and your interlocutor's sympathy for you, many dialogs will run differently (though this mainly regards subplots; you'll still be able to complete the game even if your charisma is abysmal).

-----------------

> randomly generated treasure in the game world?

Good idea, thanks! I'll randomly place a couple of buried chests etc in some pre-selected spots like forest clearings, near to huge trees, and so on - places that would be easy to remember for the person who hid the treasure, and that you could identify by this criterium. To look for treasure in such places, you could use the action "Find Hidden Things" (Actions Menu, left side of screen).

BTW, this is additional to the many ruins, road junctions, altars etc where there already often are manually placed treasures. And there are often random treasures in the randomly generated caves. However, randomly placing some treasures aboveground as well should make exploring all those forests a bit more interesting.

-----------------

DEFENSE

Currently, the game computes the odds for success for each different way of defense (depending on skill and stats, equipment, enemy), and then automatically selects one way at random, with the likelihood weighted according to the odds of success, i.e., most often the one most likely to succeed etc, but from time to time the 2nd best, and sometimes the worst option, since when you're faced with a surprising attack maneuvre, you won't always be able to execute the best option. (Unless anyone has a suggestion for this, I'll leave this automated the way it is now.)

-----------------

> any other weather?

not for the time being, because except for rain, I don't see anything I can do easily. Snow would require huge amounts of additional graphics. Fog would be nice but is much more difficult to program in such a way that it'd look realistic; clouds of fog would have to scroll with the terrain, and would therefore need to be greater than the size of the screen, yet at the same time mustn't slow down graphics output/scrolling/walking. Don't know yet how to do this, so I'll postpone this.

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> freedslaves, will they help you in battle

You can summon demons. In general, these will not just aid you in combat, but also fill many of the roles slaves had in Teudogar. The programming for this isn't totally finished yet, but I thought that once you'd learned their language, I'd enable you to give commands to them via a dialog, such as do certain kinds of work for you, produce certain items, take on a different shape (man, woman, orc etc), and so on, depending on your magic skill level. Keeping them obedient will cost you a certain amount of magical energy for every turn, and when your magical energy runs out, they'll try to kill you (unless you drive them away soon enough with another spell).

So in order to be able to employ demons for longer periods of time, you'd first have to acquire a means of restoring a certain amount of your magical energy every turn (it normally doesn't regenerate as fast as controlling a demon drains it) (and this leads to yet another subplot).

Anyway, this demon feature will make developing your character's magic skills a bit more worthwhile, and your ascent in society a bit more spectacular (I got lots of requests from people wanting to live like kings in Teudogar): So now, in DARGHUL, if you acquire the necessary skills and means, you could, near the end of the game, fill your ducal palace with an army of demons, some of them taking the shape of fierce warriors, others that of voluptuous women, and all of them would be at your command or working for you, at least as long as your magical energy suffices to keep them in control...

-----------------

Thanks to all of you so far. Anyone any other specific features you'd like to see added? Things you'd like to see done differently from Teudogar? Additional ideas/comments/suggestions? If so, please keep posting. Thank you!

 

[Jora]

If I beat someone in a fair duel, do I get their property (equipment, house...)? That was one of the really cool features of Teudogar, though it should be balanced carefully.

What you said about demons and learning their language sounds great. What about other languages? If dialogues are still largely subject-based, it might not be so time-consuming to include one or two regional or race-specific languages/dialects. For instance, if your skill level in elvish is low, all you could ask elves is directions and simple things, not opinions, rumours, stories or more complicated concepts.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to Darghul. Along with Vault Dweller's Age of Decadence, it's on top of my shopping list.

 

[Jora]

I downloaded the original Darghul demo. The "You promise yourself to avenge your dead family" opening isn't the most inspiring in the world.

 

[Erik]

Hi!

I have just taken up Teudogar again and it keeps making you want more, fantastic game in spite of all its limitations.

I also look forward to Dhargul, I will definitely buy it!

I do however worry about the heavy fantasy/magic path Dhargul seems to be going down. Don't miss-understand me, I realise that Dhargul is a fantasy game, but I am so tired of heavy fantasy RPG:s and I thinks others might agree with me. The best thing about Teudogar was that it was not a fantasy game (though even the small 'magic' in it is way to powerful for my taste).

My question is if it will be possible to choose a path where magic/demons etc play a minor part of the game. I have nothing at all against slaying Orcs or Goblins and experiencing and exciting fantasy world but I despise games where everything boils down to how great a magician you are and how many spells you must learn just to be able to hold your own against the ultra powerful wizards you always end up encountering.

Please make it possible to have human slaves, servants, companions, hirdmen etc., and keep the magic at a low level.

Or even better, make it a magic-free fantasy world (though I realise this will not happen).

But as I said, I will buy it either way, If only to improve the possibility of a Teudogar 2!!!

Regards

/Erik

 

[Wolf Mittag]

Hello Jora, thank you for your feedback!

> If I beat someone in a fair duel, do I get their property (equipment, house...)?
Yes, just like in Teudogar. Only exception are a number of cities and castles where you'd get arrested if you attack people.

> regional or race-specific languages/dialects
There actually are, Dwarvian and Elvish. (Good idea to determine available answers by language skill level in these cases as well - thanks for this.)

> opening isn't the most inspiring
Indeed. In the new remake there's no intro; instead you start right there in the burnt-down house, with just a brief note mentioning what has happened, and get to start with the action immediately. (BTW, the entire plot is pretty much a cliché, sometimes bordering on parody; however in spite of this many people find it quite captivating once they've started playing.)

Hi Erik, thanks for these considerations!

> best thing about Teudogar was that it was not a fantasy game
I heartily agree with that! In fact, my being totally sick and tired of fantasy after creating the original MSDOS version of DARGHUL was a major cause for my choosing a strictly non-fantasy, realistic, authentic, historical setting for Teudogar.
However, there seem to be different audiences: Most people who loved the original DARGHUL (and DARGHUL had been quite successful) hated Teudogar. I got lots of feedback complaining about "no atmosphere; boring; no action, just talk-talk-talk; where's the magic; don't care if it's Orcs or Romans - in fact, Orcs are more exciting & offer more atmosphere & action; I'd on principle never play a rpg that's restricted to humans - if there are no Elves or Dwarfs, it simply has to be boring; I don't care about history - a good fantasy setting is much more interesting!" etc.
This isn't necessarily about intellect or education. Most of these people were quite articulate and well-reasoned in their comments. They simply felt quite strongly that a non-fantasy RPG just wasn't for them. Not their taste, not in their interests. They wanted _fantasy_.
And judging from all the other feedback I've since received regarding Teudogar, I assume this is indeed the mainstream view. E.g., lots of people commented on gameplay, praised game depth and other rpg aspects - but of the hundreds of mails I got over time, only a handful ever mentioned Teudogar's historical, non-fantasy background and plot (and not all of these comments were positive).
So my conclusion is that the majority of people do not care if they get a fantasy world or a realistic and authentic one - just the opposite, the fantasy one will be more likely to please. Maybe most people just want to relax and dream after a long day's hard work. Besides, many people find it difficult to relate to a historical setting. And many seem to feel that realism restricts gameplay possibilities.
Basically, that's fine with me (realism and historical authenticity are hard work, fantasy is easy); besides, after all this strict and earnest historical matter, I actually enjoy dealing with a fantasy setting for a change, and it's true I can offer more gameplay possibilities this way. However, although I try to make it acceptable for both groups, I still won't be surprised if people who loved Teudogar were to hate DARGHUL...

> choose a path where magic/demons etc play a minor part of the game
Absolutely. You can finish the game without ever casting a single spell. (In the beginning of the game you can't cast any spells anyway.)
So basically, all this magic is optional; however, it'll simplify your life (e.g. teleport yourself instead of walk, cast explosion instead of carry a pick-axe all the time, etc); and it offers you an additional venue for developing your character (i.e., learn some spells and acquire some magical stuff, in addition to (Teudogar-style) improving your combat skills and acquiring better armor).
One of the weaknesses of Teudogar was that once you had got a decent set of armor, there wasn't that much left to do from a purely gameplay perspective: Of course you could continue to follow the plot, but there wasn't much to buy with all that gold you accumulated, nor that many new foes to defeat. Regarding character development, you got kind of stuck near midway through the game - sure, you got better and better at fighting and charisma, and perhaps learned to poison food or find hidden things, but there were almost no fundamentally new things you could do which you couldn't have done at the start of the game.
In contrast, all these optional magical features that only become available bit by bit over the course of the game (as well as all those magical objects) will make sure this sort of stagnation doesn't have to happen to you in DARGHUL, thus giving the game a significantly greater gameplay depth (as well as much longer playing time).

Thanks to all of you for helping me with your feedback!
(If you'd like to suggest any other specific features, especially minor ones, please post.)

 

[Anonymous]

It's odd that there are people who didn't enjoy Teudogar and its historically accurate setting. For me it was the world and the believable way in which the characters acted that made Teudogar the most immersive game I've played.

It was fascinating to discover a gameworld with an utterly alien culture that is unlike anything presented in other RPGs. You would think that games set in completely fictional fantasy worlds would have the weirdest cultures and peoples, but instead they try to emulate modern values and ways of thinking way too much greatly lessening the potential for escapism which to many is the main purpose of fantasy.

That said, I don't hate fantasy and have nothing against fireballing trolls and goblins. I think an optimal solution for you is to please all your customers by making an otherwise generic fantasy world with an original, well thought-out culture like in Teudogar.