Din's Curse - Q Diabl meets Space Rangers

[Stark]

For the last few days Los, Zab and others have been playing Din's Curse, a Diablo-em-up made by the guy that made Depths of Peril, a fantastically innovative game that placed the player in direct competition for quests, loot and recruits with teams of NPC heroes.

Din's Curse is cooperative multi; the fluff tells me that your character is a horrible bastard that the god Din has decided to enroll in his service to save towns. Towns are the core of the game; when you create a town and its associated dungeon you are expected to save it, and running away or failing will give you a sizable death penalty ('xp debt', which takes half your earned xp to 'pay off' until its gone).

The gimmick, similar to Depths of Peril, is that the dungeon under the town is full of actual badguys. None of the quests are static and all of them relate to dynamic events that are actually occurring in the dungeon. If you hear about a meeting of the monster UN on level 5, and can't, don't or fail to interfere, it's likely that some large-scale badness will be afoot. If you find plans outlining some guy's plot to build an earthquake machine, he is actually going to build it, and it will ruin your shit.

When a town is created the game allows you to choose the 'pace' of events, and 'fast pace' (which is what Los and Zab and I have been playing) is very difficult in single player due to the number of events you need to resolve. The town is considered 'won' once all the non-optional quests are complete - given the dynamic nature of the quests, this is largely dependent on how long it takes you to get the situation under control and kill all the overlords/masterminds/bosses. The combination of pressure, consequences and satisfaction make it a great multiplayer game; being able to port down to level 6, clear out a few monster uprisings, shut down their dimensional gate, smash their fog machine and kill their overlord is rewarding not just due to difficulty or cooperation, but because it's a major step forward and a major pressure off the players and town.

Currently in beta is the Demon War expansion, which adds much more dynamism to the town itself. The town NPCs (which have always been vulnerable to death, invasion, etc) now have happiness and money. They will get in debt, get pissed off and start fights, work secretly against you, try to complete quests to earn money, and all kinds of stuff. To highlight how well this works, I'll quote the game log from a game zab and I played the other day.

01:26:16 - Dagnet (Townsperson) was caught cursing the town!
01:26:16 - Dagnet (Townsperson) was fined 44CP
01:28:21 - Dagnet (Townsperson) started a fight with Edmond (Townsperson).
~~~
01:26:19 - Dagnet (Townsperson) started a fight with Edmond (Townsperson).
~~~
01:28:43 - The fight between Dagnet (Townsperson) and Edmond (Townsperson) has stopped.
~~~
01:30:33 - Dagnet (Townsperson) started a fight with Edmond (Townsperson).
01:32:28 - Dagnet (Townsperson) started a fight with Edmond (Townsperson).
01:32:55 - Edmond (Townsperson) started a fight with Dagnet (Townsperson).
01:33:42 - Edmond (Townsperson) has been cursed.
01:36:13 - Dagnet (Townsperson) started a fight with Astashlee (Apothecary).
~~~
01:39:44 - Someone from town is worshipping the evil god Mortus!
01:39:47 - Lane (Townsperson) has been cursed.
~~~
01:43:19 - Rory (Townsperson) was caught stealing!
01:43:19 - Rory (Townsperson) was fined 22CP
01:43:19 - Solved Solve theft from Astashlee quest
~~~
01:43:37 - Dagnet (Townsperson) started a fight with Edmond (Townsperson).
~~~
01:43:53 - Zerblag started a fight with Dagnet (Townsperson).
01:43:57 - Failed Deliver package to Keenan quest
01:43:57 - Dagnet (Townsperson) was killed by Zerblag!
~~~
01:45:31 - Astashlee (Apothecary) was caught Worshipping evil gods!
01:45:31 - Astashlee (Apothecary) was fined 1SP 11CP
01:45:31 - Solved Find who is worshipping the evil god Mortus quest
01:45:31 - The citizens of Zela have banished Astashlee (Apothecary) from town
01:45:31 - Astashlee has gone renegade.

In short, the town was full of strife and poverty, and Dagnet especially (a known criminal) was causing semi-constant fights with other townspeople. It was a very difficult town (especially since many of the vendors had been killed, driven off, or were lost) and Zab eventually got sick of Dagnet's shit (particularly his strife with the apothecary, one of the 3 critical NPCs) and went back and murdered him.

However, it turned out that the apothecary was evil the whole time, had been working with the monsters, built a demon gate and had trapped the town. Bear in mind, this is peripheral stuff to the actual q Diabl going on; this isn't a RPG.

In Diablo terms, the game has 6 classes with 3 skill trees each, and you can make hybrid classes of any 2 skill trees. The trees provide bonuses to stats, special effects and weapon/armour proficiencies as well as skills, so I was able to combine 'defender' with 'necromancer' to make a plate-mailed pet class that gets mana for being hit. Most of the basic skills and types are available, however as with other q Diabl the trees are not as designed for multi as those in an MMO.

In short, while it's pretty ugly, its the single most interesting Diablo-em-up in a long time. Simply by being non-static and reporting the consequences of your actions, the game build satisfaction along with challenge. Every time you see 'Darkblight has sent an undead assassin to town' or 'Darkblight has built a temporal flux machine' or 'Darkblight has defeated Skull and taken control of the dungeon' you'll really want to kill that son of a bitch. The availability of coop turns a good idea into a great game. I'd recommend anyone that like ARPGs to give it a go, especially considering it's $20.

[Chardok]

A....RPG?

Explain. make it....American-proof. Because if you (YOU) Say a game is good - you know I'll bite - But I would like to know more.

[Stark]

It's -not- an RPG. It's a Diablo-em-up. The NPCs just have their own shit going on. It can be turned down or off if you don't want it - or CAN'T HANDLE THE PRESSURE. It's a Diablo-view, Diablo-clicky, skillbar-and-potting game. Don't worry, there's no questlines of thrilling storyline about how you personally rule or anything; it's not Bioware.

[Chardok]

Wait - so you're playing a game in a dynamic world where the shit you do actually matters in a meaningful way, adding actual depth to the game, one you can play with friends with a seemingly endless variety of worlds to conquer and explore? This sounds like the worst shit ever and you can fuck a sackful of nails for suggesting it.


Just kidding. I'll probably buy it tonight.

[Stark]

Well if you said you can't have a fulfilling or interesting experience without a fixed plotline that ramrods all the dynamism out of a game I couldn't argue - after all, millions of players can't be wrong!

If you get it, get on MSN so you can get in on the multis.

[Aaron]

Does it require much in the way of a decent PC? Mines a good two years old at least, 20$ isn't much to spend (chump change really) but I don't want to have to start upgrading.

[Stark]

God no. It's an indy game and it looks a bit balls. It runs on a netbook.

[Chardok]

So it's basically what Torchlight should've been? Is it a good loot em up? Cause....you know...collecting shit....

[Stark]

It is of course, loot based :V. And yeah, way less boring than Torchlight with coops. There's a demo; get it and we'll see if you can join our sessions.

Much uglier than Torchlight, though.

[Chardok]

It is of course, loot based :V. And yeah, way less boring than Torchlight with coops. There's a demo; get it and we'll see if you can join our sessions.

Much uglier than Torchlight, though.

Ugly doesn't concern me when it comes to great gameplay, Commander. I should be on around 9PM CST(US) is that...I dunno...good? Also, you mentioned Silly old MSN - Is there no in-game chat function?

We should make it really contrived and all use our XBL headsets/connections to talk in a party on XBL while playing a PC game. For lols.

[Stark]

Dude in game chat lol. It's PC; if there was in-game chat it wouldn't work.

Los is in fucking LINCOLN NEBRASKA so we can fit you in.

[Zablorg]

But wait, there's more! It's not just cranky old stark who likes this game, I'm fairly sure it's left a positive impression on basically everyone who's played it around here. It certainly has with me. I'm finding the dynamic nature of the game enormous fun, and it adds an enormous amount of depth to the whole experience. I'd highly recommend trying the demo.

[Aaron]

Well I'm downloading the demo now, should be a good way to kill the evening if nothing else.

[Losonti Tokash]

So, in the game I'm playing, I was looking around for an earthquake machine when a civil war broke out between the undead faction, krall warriors, and lightning elementals. They've all claimed separate levels and raid the town constantly. I am actually spending so much time defending the town that the situation is growing completely out of control. Due to the tons of xp I am getting for repelling the attacks, though, I am quickly achieving godlike status and killing bosses in like 2 hits.

But there's still raids constantly and it's to the point where I've had 4 gates running at once and opposing monster factions fighting each other in the streets.

this town is dooooooomed

[Zaune]

If it had a Linux version I'd be sold. It sounds like a Dwarf Fortress MMO!

[PeZook]

Hmm...it doesn't say on the site, do they send you an actual CD or is it available in digital distribution?

[Bakustra]

Hmm...it doesn't say on the site, do they send you an actual CD or is it available in digital distribution?

It's available by default digitally. You can buy a physical copy and have it shipped for US$10 extra + shipping and handling.

If it had a Linux version I'd be sold. It sounds like a Dwarf Fortress MMO!

A Dwarf Fortress-style Action-RPG would be pretty horrific, unless you enjoy laggy, overcomplex systems for basic stuff like enemy behaviors.

[Artemas]

after having tried out the demo for depths of peril as well, i really hope he combines the two, they're practically two halves of the same game. And mannnnnn, so addicting. Just blew my evening on it.

It seriously boggles my fucking mind that there are so few games that actually have dynamic worlds with choices that have real consequences. Theres like, space rangers, these games, um, thats it? There has to be more.

[Stark]

I can't play DoP anymore because it's so ugly, but the NPC faction stuff was amazing. Some unholy amalgam with multiple gods in each town having heroes would be the shit (especially if one faction decides to trap up the town or whatever).

[Artemas]

whoa dude, don't they use the same engine? Like exactly?

It would aslo be great cause then you wouldn't be the only guy having to FUCKING FEED STARVING PEASANTS

but having an actual economy for the peasants would be too hard i guess? I mean, they have money, and they spend it on food, but they only get money from the players? Or what? I haven't looked too far into it, but it seems thats how it works.

[Stark]

They make and lose money, but in some towns everyone falls off the end. I just don't care about the regular peasants; they're only 100 repuation after all.

DoP still has the fixed camera angle of isometric horror (which makes dungeons really annoying) and the art has changed a bit.

[Artemas]

okay then, the problem with peasants is that if they die you also miss out on all of the other quests they give, or ever will give. It's a helluva thing to kill a peasant.

But seriously, they can give other much better quests, like rescue dudes, revenge dudes, courier shit to dudes, etc. On the other hand, searching bodies of all the townsfolk after an invasion can get you some pretty sweet shit.

[Stark]

Its been suggested that the NPC relationships should deal with the more trivial stuff; if some guy is starving his friends should resolve it if you're too busy. That said I don't like the 'go mine this' or 'deliver this package' quests anyway so I only protect vendors and the big three.

[Artemas]

I never remember the names of anyone, so when its like "lucy is starving" im like "oh shit, maybe she is important". And then it turns out no, not really. As an aside, i really like the progression of the levels in diablo, where you went into the church basement, then it gave way to the catacombs, then the forgotten ruins it was built on, and so on and so forth. Din's curse just reuses the same texture pallette for all of the levels.

[Stark]

The key is that is says Lucy (townsperson) (ie ignore the bitch) and Lucy (warmaster) (ie fukking gotta donate).