Deuce Traveler
2012 Newfag
The Codex only has four threads where Dark Heart of Uukrul is discussed, two of which are Let's Plays, one a discussion on the avatars in game, and the fourth a retrospective. We did not have a thread in the General RPG Discussion forum where we could talk about experiences with the game and banter about character generation as well as other aspects of the gameplay, so this post seeks to address that.
I've been playing Dark Heart of Uukrul off and on for about a month now, but have only gotten part of the way. This isn't due to any struggle with the interface. In fact, the game runs quite well in DOSBox and is intuitive enough to pick up and play. Instead it is because I'm taking detailed notes and making my own maps, so I can only play when I have some dedicated time and writing space. The game itself has an automap feature, and I use it, but I can write more extensive notes in my graph paper book and I find it easier to refer to my own work and compare it to the ingame map.
This game is pretty tough, and I recommend making a backup save you can restore from when you go into a sanctuary. I find this to be a necessity, actually. Although you can pick up NPCs in case a starting character dies, I want to complete the game with my own party that I created. So far I've had to reload from a backup twice due to near TPKs and bring a character back from the dead once. Bringing characters back from the dead can be quite costly in money, experience points, and attribute drops, so loading from the backup save is a good idea. The game punishes you for mistakes you make in combat, though I do find the enemy's AI to be lacking sometimes, as some of the enemy are slow to close into melee, allowing your sorcerer to pick at them from a distance.
Anyway, I'm enjoying myself with this game, but status effects have caused me the most grief. One of my reloads from a backup came after some plague rats diseased two of my characters. I was keeping them alive just fine on the way back to town to get healed, but the party was weakened. A pack of orcs we would normally trounce jumped us, and my weakened characters couldn't do decent damage or defend themselves, leading to a slaughter. Right now I'm in an area with respawning enemies in order to level up and get some better gear before pressing on, as I feel the game is getting a little too challenging for my 2nd level characters. I'll probably grind a couple more levels before pressing on.
I've been playing Dark Heart of Uukrul off and on for about a month now, but have only gotten part of the way. This isn't due to any struggle with the interface. In fact, the game runs quite well in DOSBox and is intuitive enough to pick up and play. Instead it is because I'm taking detailed notes and making my own maps, so I can only play when I have some dedicated time and writing space. The game itself has an automap feature, and I use it, but I can write more extensive notes in my graph paper book and I find it easier to refer to my own work and compare it to the ingame map.
This game is pretty tough, and I recommend making a backup save you can restore from when you go into a sanctuary. I find this to be a necessity, actually. Although you can pick up NPCs in case a starting character dies, I want to complete the game with my own party that I created. So far I've had to reload from a backup twice due to near TPKs and bring a character back from the dead once. Bringing characters back from the dead can be quite costly in money, experience points, and attribute drops, so loading from the backup save is a good idea. The game punishes you for mistakes you make in combat, though I do find the enemy's AI to be lacking sometimes, as some of the enemy are slow to close into melee, allowing your sorcerer to pick at them from a distance.
Anyway, I'm enjoying myself with this game, but status effects have caused me the most grief. One of my reloads from a backup came after some plague rats diseased two of my characters. I was keeping them alive just fine on the way back to town to get healed, but the party was weakened. A pack of orcs we would normally trounce jumped us, and my weakened characters couldn't do decent damage or defend themselves, leading to a slaughter. Right now I'm in an area with respawning enemies in order to level up and get some better gear before pressing on, as I feel the game is getting a little too challenging for my 2nd level characters. I'll probably grind a couple more levels before pressing on.