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1. How "Choose Your Own Adventure"-like is this game? Half the screens of more remind me of those kinds of books.

2. Also is the game linear, completely open, or in-between?

3. Are the pre-made characters good or is it best to make my own? Also are stats randomized like some other RPGs such as Wizardry(I've only played the PS3 one but in that you can get anywhere from 6-20+ points to apply to your character's stats).
1. Choose your own adventure books, from what I've seen, give you options with one (1) that is legitimate. In Darklands they are true choices. Sometimes it is possible for an event to kill a party member, but usually not.

For example:
If enemies want to attack you and you try talking them out of it, the game won't say "Talking was the wrong answer because their mouths were full of deadly snakes, you die." If talking fails you might end up in a battle or you might be able to try something else. If talking succeeds they might flee or they might want to negotiate.

What choice is best depends on not just the event, but your abilities, goals, context, and what risks you are willing to take.

2. It is less linear than Fallout and Oblivion. What city you start in is random. You are not even given a main quest at first except "become famous heroes", nor are you pointed in the direction of one. If you hate how direction-less other non-linear RPGs are, you will hate Darklands even more. If you wish they could start you in different cities and not immediately hit you with "Most important quest step 1, that way-->", you will love this.

3. The only notable random thing about character generation is what exact saints or alchemy formulas they know. Everything else worth mentioning, including how many saints/formulas a character starts with, is not random.
Making an effective new party in Darklands is a lot more complex than in most games, so I recommend you at least get your feet wet with the "quickstart" option first. The default party is older than most players prefer, but have solid skills and good starting equipment.
Post edited December 05, 2011 by Sfon
I was trying to work out how to get starting equipement like the 'quickstart' pre-rolled party. Maybe i'm just bad at Char creation, but i can't seem to copy it so i'm wondering if they are 'buffed' up a little?

I think i'm finding a preference for a young team overall(start at 25 or younger) with the alchemist/healer type as 30-35 years. It means you have to do more low level combat early on, but you build stronger characters than if you start at +30 for the main party.

@ Ric1987,

It's not really like the choose your own adventure books(i was a big fan of those and the more comlex types like Fighting Fantasy etc).

And it is completely open, there is no quest line as such, just your chars and a sandbox world that you interact with as you choose or as the 'fates' choose for you.

The premade chars are good to start with, but at some point you'll love creating your own and trying to understand the complexities of the Char creation process.
Hey ThorChild,
A nice little tip at the start of a game is to begin with the pre-rolled characters and then strip the equipment from one and then retire him/her. Now roll up a noob character and give this character the equipment.
Then be a good buddy and take him/her out for a decent training session to the local Kloster, University or Physician. Your existing characters have the necessary Speak Latin skill to get you there but you will need this skill at a moderate level if you are going to ever be let in to these places later.
When you are satisfied with your noob's Speak Latin then retire the other three pre-made characters and replace them with your own.
Now, sure you could have just modded all of that but at least this way it all follows an in-game narrative.
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ThorChild: I was trying to work out how to get starting equipement like the 'quickstart' pre-rolled party. Maybe i'm just bad at Char creation, but i can't seem to copy it so i'm wondering if they are 'buffed' up a little?

I think i'm finding a preference for a young team overall(start at 25 or younger) with the alchemist/healer type as 30-35 years. It means you have to do more low level combat early on, but you build stronger characters than if you start at +30 for the main party.

@ Ric1987,

It's not really like the choose your own adventure books(i was a big fan of those and the more comlex types like Fighting Fantasy etc).

And it is completely open, there is no quest line as such, just your chars and a sandbox world that you interact with as you choose or as the 'fates' choose for you.

The premade chars are good to start with, but at some point you'll love creating your own and trying to understand the complexities of the Char creation process.
Th only way to get the quick start equipment is to exploit it. Otherwise not even the knight career choice gives you platemail.

Warning rest may be sort of spoilerish.. but not completely as it sdays nothign youo can't find outby the guide.

If you want the highest stats start the game with your characters at level 30. This is more than efficient. If you do things right, The Holy path with a healer will net you 30 skills in healing wich does 2 health healed perday instead of 1. It is a bigger difference than it looks. For the merchant path by 30 you can have a traveling merchant who starts with some chain and leather and serves as a speak common leader. ( very important skill ) You can get a veteran by level 30 with solid weapon skills and starts with decent early armor. And finaly you can get an alchemist type character who by 30 can double as your lock picker. This is more than efficient and the quik start gear is overkill for early game if your looking for a challenge.
@ TLCBrandon+Incubuspawn, those sound like good alternatives to try out - cheers :)
Thanks for the replies, they helped. I have the game now so will try it out sometime soon.
This is the only game where I got a quest to kill a Dragon that was going to attack a village. Got their a bit late and the village was burnt down! So with just that alone, this make Darklands one of the most sandbox games out there.

Let's not forget, just like Elite and Starflight and Star Control, the game was written procedurally so anything can happen any time!
avatar
Sfon: 1. Choose your own adventure books, from what I've seen, give you options with one (1) that is legitimate. In Darklands they are true choices. Sometimes it is possible for an event to kill a party member, but usually not.

For example:
If enemies want to attack you and you try talking them out of it, the game won't say "Talking was the wrong answer because their mouths were full of deadly snakes, you die." If talking fails you might end up in a battle or you might be able to try something else. If talking succeeds they might flee or they might want to negotiate.

What choice is best depends on not just the event, but your abilities, goals, context, and what risks you are willing to take.

2. It is less linear than Fallout and Oblivion. What city you start in is random. You are not even given a main quest at first except "become famous heroes", nor are you pointed in the direction of one. If you hate how direction-less other non-linear RPGs are, you will hate Darklands even more. If you wish they could start you in different cities and not immediately hit you with "Most important quest step 1, that way-->", you will love this.

3. The only notable random thing about character generation is what exact saints or alchemy formulas they know. Everything else worth mentioning, including how many saints/formulas a character starts with, is not random.
Making an effective new party in Darklands is a lot more complex than in most games, so I recommend you at least get your feet wet with the "quickstart" option first. The default party is older than most players prefer, but have solid skills and good starting equipment.
Talking was wrong, snakes come out of their mouth. That totally killed me! I so remember those! "Do you walk down the left or right path?" Left. "Oops there was a cliff and you fell to your death."
Ever hear of the Lone Wolf series of books? They're like FAIR choose your own adventure. You also have skills and stats, like. "If you have 6th Sense, turn to page 102."
Anyhow, Darklands is similar in that it's mostly fair.
Personally I like the pre-made characters. They do fine!
I love how sandbox-y Darklands is. Go wherever you feel like. Waltz into Raubritters' (sp) castles and ask if you can spend the night. Gutsy!
Don't be worried about using the default party by he way, they're a very respectable party, and you can learn a bit about the game before having a go at creating your own!