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Links to demo here.
Just played it and it looks good.
Post edited May 27, 2010 by Namur
Never heard of this series before but from the pictures it looks awesome. I have a few questions though that maybe you can answer.
Was the first one good? My girlfriend loves H.P Lovecraft and I showed this to her and she got all excited to play it. (Or watch me play it :P). Also, are the stories and characters connected between the first game and it's sequel. Basically what I'm asking is if the first game is worth playing. :P
Post edited May 28, 2010 by Hammerfall
For anyone into Lovecraft it's certainly worth it, the Lovecraftian elements are all there as is the Lovecraftian feel. The ride in itself is rewarding but in terms of plot some of the 'promises' made by the trails you uncover along the way remain unfulfilled, so the story it's not bad but it could've used a little work.
It's a game with lots of potencial that didn't quite lived up to that potencial in all fronts but a very interesting game nontheless, even more so for those into Lovecraft. The visuals and audio are quite good, locations are eerie, interesting and unsettling.
The main character in both games is the same, Howard Loreid, and in The Dark Lineage he keeps looking into his past (and his madness) so yes, there's continuity in terms of story.
DW: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder is currently at 50% off at Gamers Gate btw.
If you do get it just keep in mind that it's not an easy game (at times it's actually quite unforgiving ) and one that does require a fair bit of thinking and thoroughness. Puzzles are not 'over the top hard' or illogical but some of the game concepts introduced mean that an extra bit of thinking is required in order to advance.
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Namur: For anyone into Lovecraft it's certainly worth it, the Lovecraftian elements are all there as is the Lovecraftian feel. The ride in itself is rewarding but in terms of plot some of the 'promises' made by the trails you uncover along the way remain unfulfilled, so the story it's not bad but it could've used a little work.
It's a game with lots of potencial that didn't quite lived up to that potencial in all fronts but a very interesting game nontheless, even more so for those into Lovecraft. The visuals and audio are quite good, locations are eerie, interesting and unsettling.
The main character in both games is the same, Howard Loreid, and in The Dark Lineage he keeps looking into his past (and his madness) so yes, there's continuity in terms of story.
DW: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder is currently at 50% off at Gamers Gate btw.
If you do get it just keep in mind that it's not an easy game (at times it's actually quite unforgiving ) and one that does require a fair bit of thinking and thoroughness. Puzzles are not 'over the top hard' or illogical but some of the game concepts introduced mean that an extra bit of thinking is required in order to advance.

Thanks a lot for the info, it's exactly what I needed. Also thanks for the heads up with the sale on gamersgate, For 5 bucks it's definetly worth trying. I'll buy it and see how it is. The sequel definetly looks like it improved on the game a lot so i look forward to playing that as well. Hopefully I don't mind the original game's shortcomings.
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Hammerfall: Thanks a lot for the info, it's exactly what I needed. Also thanks for the heads up with the sale on gamersgate, For 5 bucks it's definetly worth trying. I'll buy it and see how it is. The sequel definetly looks like it improved on the game a lot so i look forward to playing that as well. Hopefully I don't mind the original game's shortcomings.

After playing the demo it does look like the already competent CPAGE engine got a ton of improvements and i'm looking forward to the digital release of The Dark Lineage myself (on monday i guess) which i expect to be considerably more polished than the first one.
I hope you and your gf enjoy the DW games ;)
I got interested in this game because of a Namur's post in another thread, glad I discovered it then. But it won't be a trilogy anymore, just the first and this second upcoming game.
I'm really tempted to get Darkness Within from gamersgate, but I'll regret if it comes to GOG soon...
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taczillabr: I got interested in this game because of a Namur's post in another thread, glad I discovered it then. But it won't be a trilogy anymore, just the first and this second upcoming game.
I'm really tempted to get Darkness Within from gamersgate, but I'll regret if it comes to GOG soon...

If this is the conclusion to the series it's a bit unsettling in terms of story, but considering the first game's lenght and admitting the second one will be roughly the same, i'd say there's enough room to (nicely) wrap up the story depending on where they decided to go with it. The demo does not give much hints in regards to plot specifics, kinda more geared towards showing off the engine's current iteration and offering a tiny preview in terms of atmosphere, which unsurprisinlgy seems to be great as it was one of the first game's strongest points already.
As for the dilemma of picking up something that could eventually come to gog soon after that, i know exactly what you mean, i've been there many times ;)
I have Darkness Within. :)
Needless to say, I got stuck and never completed it thanks to my absolute refusal to use walkthroughs.
Is it possible you were playing in Senior Detective without any hints and manual documents research ?
Even in Standart the game is fairly hard but considerably less so than on Detective or Senior Detective.
Oh, and staying away from walkthroughs is definitely the way to go, on the first playthrough at least. Usually when i start getting frustrated due to being stuck i find that putting the game down for a couple of days to recharge batteries can do wonders ;)
Maybe give it another try ?
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Namur: As for the dilemma of picking up something that could eventually come to gog soon after that, i know exactly what you mean, i've been there many times ;)

Yeah... and Impulse added just one or two hours ago, the pre-order for this 2nd game plus the 1st game. Arghhh, an even bigger dilemma now.
And they said they'll sure finish the protagonist's story in just one game, and now they want to move on, to explore news ideas etc. I'd paste the interview here, but I don't remember the source.
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Namur: Is it possible you were playing in Senior Detective without any hints and manual documents research ?
Even in Standart the game is fairly hard but considerably less so than on Detective or Senior Detective.
Oh, and staying away from walkthroughs is definitely the way to go, on the first playthrough at least. Usually when i start getting frustrated due to being stuck i find that putting the game down for a couple of days to recharge batteries can do wonders ;)
Maybe give it another try ?

I don't remember the difficulty settings, but it was more than likely I was playing on the mid-level difficulty.
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taczillabr: Yeah... and Impulse added just one or two hours ago, the pre-order for this 2nd game plus the 1st game. Arghhh, an even bigger dilemma now.
And they said they'll sure finish the protagonist's story in just one game, and now they want to move on, to explore news ideas etc. I'd paste the interview here, but I don't remember the source.

You sure it's a pre order ? It kinda looks like it's available already. In any case, i'll wait to get in on GG on monday.
But the first one is still half the price on GG, so... ;)
Ah, so they're definitely making this the last in the series to move on to something else then ? Well, i guess i'l have to see which new ideas they're going to explore first before deciding if it's a good thing.
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Aatami: I don't remember the difficulty settings, but it was more than likely I was playing on the mid-level difficulty.

That's still a bit hard cause you have to be stuck for a while before getting hints and documents research is still manual, same as in Senior Detective.
Post edited May 28, 2010 by Namur
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Namur: You sure it's a pre order ? It kinda looks like it's available already. In any case, i'll wait to get in on GG on monday.
But the first one is still half the price on GG, so... ;)
Ah, so they're definitely making this the last in the series to move on to something else then ? Well, i guess i'l have to see which new ideas they're going to explore first before deciding if it's a good thing.

My bad, I thought it had a pre-order symbol or something, but it's available already. I just don't know which DRM it uses, on GG it has securom.
http://www.impulsedriven.com/news/1792/Defeat_the_Darkness_Within
And yes, they want to move on and create a new IP.
Here is the interview, Namur: http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,1159
Quote:
"AG: Darkness Within was first conceived as a trilogy, yet this is going to be the final installment in the series, correct? Why cut out a full game entirely?
Onur: Three games means a lot of development time. We wanted to focus on new projects and ideas to improve ourselves. We already took a step by converting the game into full 3D. Also we realized that two games would be enough to convey the story of Howard Loreid. But of course we didn't cut anything from the overall story. The Dark Lineage will tell everything we wanted to."
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taczillabr: Here is the interview, Namur: http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,1159

You rock man, thanks a bunch for hunting down that interview :)
I hope the decision to cut the series down to just 2 titles won't cripple the story much. And It looks like they lowered the difficulty of the think pad a bit which was the bit most were having problems with, so that's good.
I really admire these guys and wish them all the best. Such a small team and yet they managed to come up with a very good engine and some pretty interesting games. I'm replaying the first one to recap on Loreid's story before playing the second, and there's so many things they got right the first time around that it's a shame they didn't get more recognition back then. Let's hope this second game changes that.