Dark Sun: Shattered Lands is fucking great

[PorkyThePaladin]

I don't know why certain people hate BG1 so much here. Is it the perfect game? No, but as a total package, it's a pretty damn good RPG. Dark Sun has some great parts, as I readily admitted when I played it, but it also has really shitty parts. The combat is atrocious, which also makes character development marginal. The graphics and UI are hideous and painful by now. The story and writing quickly go from original to bleh.

BG1, on the other hand, has excellent combat, beautiful and charming graphics, UI and atmosphere, decent writing and fun exploration.

 

[JarlFrank]

The combat system is better than BG1's. It even has size indicators for AoE spells, and enemies won't move out of the effect area before you've finished casting, making it much less of a game of chance whether your fireball hits anything or not!

Also, I dislike BG1 mostly because I played BG2 first, loved its top notch dungeon design and how it took some of the weirder parts of the Forgotten Realms setting (planes, underdark, underwater sahuagin city, etc), and then I played BG1 later with people saying "It's even better than its sequel" only to discover it's got one of the blandest, most generic fantasy settings of all time, and most of the areas you explore are 90% empty space populated by a handful of generic goblins.

Dark Sun wins by sheer quality of its setting alone.

Holy shit BG1 is so utterly boring.

 

[Butter]

I struggle to remember even one interesting encounter from BG1. 90% of the game's combat is auto-attacking xvarts and wolves. I'd argue its combat isn't even as good as Torment's.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

The first wolves you run across near Candlekeep? The first assassin at the Friendly Arms Inn? The orc cleric in the Nashkel Mines? The mage in Beregost? The tons of enemy adventuring and bounty hunter parties you come across? The Sarevok fight? Stop being retarded.

And BG1 >>>>>>> BG2.

 

[Sinatar]

and then I played BG1 later with people saying "It's even better than its sequel"

What people said this? Nobody ever.

EDIT: Oh wait, the moron above me.

 

[Impressive Organ]

Big fan of shithole desert planets where people live in total barbarism. Knew it would be a great game when it started with my party being slaves in a colosseum.

 

[JarlFrank]

and then I played BG1 later with people saying "It's even better than its sequel"

What people said this? Nobody ever.

People who like "exploring" empty wilderness filled with nothing but generic goblins.

 

[MRY]

Also, it never ceases to amuse me what a munchkin game Darksun is -- higher stats, super-duper races with super-duper abilities; I swear that was part of what made it so immediately appealing as a kid.

I'll reiterate this post of mine. The character/party creation is incredibly fun (in a childish way) compared to other cRPGs, and certainly compared to Baldur's Gate. How many attacks do I get as a Thri-Kreen? Wait, I have 20 strength?? Etc.

 

[Trithne]

Also, it never ceases to amuse me what a munchkin game Darksun is -- higher stats, super-duper races with super-duper abilities; I swear that was part of what made it so immediately appealing as a kid.

I'll reiterate this post of mine. The character/party creation is incredibly fun (in a childish way) compared to other cRPGs, and certainly compared to Baldur's Gate. How many attacks do I get as a Thri-Kreen? Wait, I have 20 strength?? Etc.

Not to mention that if you feel like it, you can just max out every stat and HP pool. Which is what young me did to complete the game all those years ago.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

...one of the blandest, most generic fantasy settings of all time...

Welcome to the Forgotten Realms!

 

[PrettyDeadman]

and then I played BG1 later with people saying "It's even better than its sequel"

What people said this? Nobody ever.

EDIT: Oh wait, the moron above me.

People that matter say that BG1 is better than BG2.

 

[Lord_Potato]

and then I played BG1 later with people saying "It's even better than its sequel"

What people said this? Nobody ever.

EDIT: Oh wait, the moron above me.

People that matter say that BG1 is better than BG2.

Stop sucking Lilura's cock. Obviously it's not healthy for you

 

[PrettyDeadman]

and then I played BG1 later with people saying "It's even better than its sequel"

What people said this? Nobody ever.

EDIT: Oh wait, the moron above me.

People that matter say that BG1 is better than BG2.

Stop sucking Lilura's cock. Obviously it's not healthy for you

I wasnt even talking about l*lura.

 

[Brancaleone]

While I really liked the art style, it probably didn't look very good compared to games like Lands of Lore, Betrayal at Krondor, Ultima Underworld 2, etc. This was right when CD-Rom games like Myst, etc. were taking off

I guess it didn't help that they chose a perspective that is not that easy to pull off on low resolution (and to that regard, we had Ultima VII published a year earlier than DS:SL): character sprites look deformed, and depending on the direction they are facing they look like they were drawn according to a completely different perspective. Not to talk about dead bodies and so on, there's too much jarring between sprites and backgrounds, with the former looking like they were copied and pasted onto the latter.

I think it would helped a lot more had they gone isometric, I'm thinking Heimdall 2 (which I understand has bigger sprites and closer camera, but still).

 

[Cryomancer]

loved its top notch dungeon design and how it took some of the weirder parts of the Forgotten Realms setting (planes, underdark, underwater sahuagin city, etc), and then I played BG1 later with people saying "It's even better than its sequel" only to discover it's got one of the blandest, most generic fantasy settings of all time, and most of the areas you explore are 90% empty space populated by a handful of generic goblins.

Well said. Is IMO the difference between high level to low level D&D. Low level D&D doesn't allow you to explore the rightful FR places.

Welcome to the Forgotten Realms!

This doesn't seem generic. Nor underdark, nor Thay.

Sadly people think that forgotten realms = sword coast in low level killing goblins. There are a lot of cool places on FR to explore. FR is not the best D&D setting, IMO Mystara and Eberron is much better, but FR is not only sword coast.

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

Only I prefered Dark Sun : Wake of The Ravager over Dark Sun : Shattered Sands?

 

[Ladonna]

Only I prefered Dark Sun : Wake of The Ravager over Dark Sun : Shattered Sands?

Definately. You only prefer it because of your high level dnd fetish.

 

[Cryomancer]

Definately. You only prefer it because of your high level dnd fetish.

Wake of The Ravager is mostly mid level.

 

[Trithne]

Definately. You only prefer it because of your high level dnd fetish.

Wake of The Ravager is mostly mid level.

Mid level Dark Sun is High level by the standards of the rest of D&D.

 

[Cryomancer]

Mid level Dark Sun is High level by the standards of the rest of D&D.

Which rest of D&D? Netherese setting where even apprentices of Karsus are far above epic level? Mystara with Alphatian empire and Glantri? Where a lot of mortals reached lv 36 and succeeded into ascending into immortals? The layer of Abyss, where Abyssal foot soldiers in the war against the hell are CR 11? The elemental plane of fire in the city of embers? Lv 15 is impressive only on sword coast, in most of the D&D multiverse, is not.

 

[Trithne]

Mid level Dark Sun is High level by the standards of the rest of D&D.

Which rest of D&D? Netherese setting where even apprentices of Karsus are far above epic level? Mystara with Alphatian empire and Glantri? Where a lot of mortals reached lv 36 and succeeded into ascending into immortals? The layer of Abyss, where Abyssal foot soldiers in the war against the hell are CR 11? The elemental plane of fire in the city of embers? Lv 15 is impressive only on sword coast, in most of the D&D multiverse, is not.

No-one, except apparently you, gives a shit about epic level D&D, which is the rules-lawyered equivalent of children in a sandbox one-upping each other with new and cool special powers so they can say "Nu-uh you didn't defeat me I'm behind seven phylacteries!"

 

[Cryomancer]

No-one, except apparently you, gives a shit about epic level D&D,

The tons of people who purchase books and write books with this rules disagrees with you.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

No-one, except apparently you, gives a shit about epic level D&D,

The tens of people who purchase books and write books with this rules disagrees with you.

Fixed that for ya.

 

[Nikanuur]

I think that Baldur's gate became a legend just because it came as a surprise. At that time games weren't supposed to be this big, this awsomely looking, this full of encounters and adventuring. So nobody really minded its caveats being totally ablasted be the sheer volume of everything.

But tbh, even though I liked it very much, I totally agree with you that Dark Sun is actually quite better gameplay-wise and on par in quests being interesting.

 

[Nikanuur]

I don't know why certain people hate BG1 so much here. Is it the perfect game? No, but as a total package, it's a pretty damn good RPG. Dark Sun has some great parts, as I readily admitted when I played it, but it also has really shitty parts. The combat is atrocious, which also makes character development marginal. The graphics and UI are hideous and painful by now. The story and writing quickly go from original to bleh.

BG1, on the other hand, has excellent combat, beautiful and charming graphics, UI and atmosphere, decent writing and fun exploration.

It's a matter of perspective I think. By today's standards Dark Sun is pretty clunky. Back in those days it was a revelation of a game. Beating the interface / non existing grid was part of the awsome experience :3 Something that has usually no place in games nowadays.

 

[AdolfSatan]

I don't recall ever writing any of this, but I agree.