Adventurer's Guild — July: Dark Sun: Shattered Lands

[rusty_shackleford]

The retail copy comes packaged with the sequel. It's currently on sale(40% off) on Steam.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/dungeons_dr ... sun_series

Or, you know, the typical places.

This was an MS-DOS only release and the retail versions come with dosbox so there's no setup guide required.

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I've never finished this one, but I'm pretty sure I got close before. It still holds up very well and is one of the best D&D CRPGs.

[Xenich]

The retail copy comes packaged with the sequel. It's currently on sale(40% off) on Steam.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/dungeons_dr ... sun_series

Or, you know, the typical places.

This was an MS-DOS only release and the retail versions come with dosbox so there's no setup guide required.

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I've never finished this one, but I'm pretty sure I got close before. It still holds up very well and is one of the best D&D CRPGs.

Yep.

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[Dorateen]

This ought to be good. I remember coming into Dark Sun straight from the Gold Box games. The loss of first person exploration, and the smaller party size was a little disappointing. However the game holds up so well, the structure of the adventure is so good, that it remains a worthy AD&D computer role-playing game. One of the best. It does a lot of things that later 90's games would replicate (multiple choice dialogues, branching quest lines).

[Finarfin]

Is this month explicitly Dark Sun: shattered lands or also wake of the ravager? seems like WotR is pretty buggy.

[Element]

Seems that the full game is on internet archive. No word of it being a demo. One comment says the game can lag when the sounds play, haven't tried it yet so can't comment.

[rusty_shackleford]

Presumably the version on GOG/Steam has a sane dosbox config already, so, ymmv.

[Watser]

Was planning to play this around November-December but only rolled my party and explored parts of the start gladiator pens.

[1998]

I had this on my to-play list years ago, maybe I'll actually try it later. Also would be my first gold box game, too young for them

[rusty_shackleford]

Also would be my first gold box game,

It's definitely inspired by them, but it's not a Goldbox game. IMO it's better than the Goldbox games, but it's probably down to personal preference. It's definitely underappreciated for doing a lot of stuff that became commonplace in RPGs years later. And things that should have been copied, like the dedicated rest spots rather than being able to rest spam. A couple RPGs do it this way, but not many.

[SpellSword]

This won't have any effect on Dark Sun: Shattered Lands. However if you are playing the sequel Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager be aware that if you're using GOG's manual the word placement appears to be different than the original release which interferes with the copyright protection questions

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[Zothique]

I've heard so much about this setting, but have never considering trying it out. I might rectify that today.

[rusty_shackleford]

Party made. Went wild with the multiclassing because I like how AD&D does multiclassing, covered all 4 spheres with either cleric/druid/ranger.

[Watser]

I ended up starting Spellforce 2 instead...

[Finarfin]

Couldn't make it. Made a party but didn't actually start yet. Sorry Rusty.

[rusty_shackleford]

FYI to save without exiting, you use the save from the character menu, not the one when you hit escape.

[rusty_shackleford]

@Dorateen I'm curious what your opinion on the Dark Sun games are since you're a big Goldbox fan. It seems like a link directly between the IE games and the Goldbox games, surely does not get enough attention either way.

[Dorateen]

@Dorateen I'm curious what your opinion on the Dark Sun games are since you're a big Goldbox fan. It seems like a link directly between the IE games and the Goldbox games, surely does not get enough attention either way.

There is indeed a link between the original Gold Box and infinity Engine games. I’ve always maintained that the IE titles stood on the shoulders of SSI’s work. That is, many ideas present in the infinity engine games were first done in the Gold Box adventures. Notably, the idea of NPCs who join the party with story related background were already present in the older games. And romances? Treasures of the Savage Frontier did it first, and at least it wasn’t cringe.

The dark sun games serve as a bridge between the two, as it changed the perspective to exclusively top down view, and also introduced branching dialogues before the IE games.

[rusty_shackleford]

Something else it also does is contextual skill-checks despite 'skill checks' not even really being a thing in D&D yet. e.g., getting close to a wall that can scale while your party leader is a thief will ask if you want to try to scale it.

[rusty_shackleford]

Bug, I think.



It seems I can interact with it, but I can't get line of sight to it.

[SpellSword]

Bug, I think.



It seems I can interact with it, but I can't get line of sight to it.

Is being unable to gain line of sight on the blue banner dead locking you from proceeding in the main quest?

[rusty_shackleford]

Bug, I think.



It seems I can interact with it, but I can't get line of sight to it.

Is being unable to gain line of sight on the blue banner dead locking you from proceeding in the main quest?

Nope, might have just been a minor interaction.

[maidenhaver]

Insteadd of retiring this, why not pick good games?

[Finarfin]

Insteadd of retiring this, why not pick good games?

What would you suggest?

[maidenhaver]

Insteadd of retiring this, why not pick good games?

What would you suggest?

I can't help with suggesting obscure rpgs, because I'm not a prestigious gentleman.

[Finarfin]

Insteadd of retiring this, why not pick good games?

What would you suggest?

I can't help with suggesting obscure rpgs, because I'm not a prestigious gentleman.

Neither am I, fren. I'm just a junior gentleman.

[J1M]

Is there no badge for this because nobody completed it?

[rusty_shackleford]

Is there no badge for this because nobody completed it?

I assume I got the closest before I got sidetracked. Which is a shame, because it's very good.

[Tangerine]

This was a pretty fun game and the unconventional fantasy is a nice change of pace. It's certainly rough around the edges, but it's worth a play if you can tolerate older games. Time was about 20 hours. Steam time is a bit longer due to idling on the launcher.

► Show Spoiler

Proof of victory.





The team. First up was the MVP for most of the game, Tangerine the Half-Giant gladiator. He was so powerful it felt like cheating to use him.


Next was his adequate elven ranger companion, Orange.


Clementine was a human cleric of questionable utility. She was supposed to be my healer. It turns out, Dark Sun clerics aren't quite like D&D clerics.


Last of the team that won the final battle is the half-elf preserver, Cara Cara. She was a last minute substitution for my human psionic, Mandarin, whose Dominate Minds ability was useful for most of the game... except for the final battle. Then he was dead weight. I tried for several hours with the original team, but I couldn't do it with him, so I subbed Cara Cara in for her fire walls and cheesed it. That last fight is brutal and I have no idea how you're supposed to win without massive cheesing.


Gorgonzola.


Munster.

Also, where's my DAO badge?

[Oyster Sauce]

Stop beating games...

[J1M]

@Tangerine want to pick an icon for the badge? Was there an iconic item? Or should we use that stone sun from the log window?