It's worth the plunge at the $10 retail, especially enjoy the writing....very bleak. And the map thing was kinda annoying.
Just picked this up, I'd been eyeing it for a while.
It's basically a super-tuned old school Wizardry game for DS. Japanese made, but with its dungeon master narrations and negative armour class rules, the whole look and feel is straight out of 80s western fantasy; it's giving me flashbacks to Fighting Fantasy books and D&D. The audio and visuals are actually kind of reminiscent of Beyond Shadowgate.
The Dark Spire is really simple - you manage your characters, fight stuff and explore the tower, run back to town and that's about it. It's also damn hard - be warned, this game WILL kick your ass. It has a mapping feature but doesn't even tell you where you are on it. This game is so unapologetically old-school that it even features a separate mode (which you can switch back and forth from at any time) that changes all the graphics to wireframes straight off an Apple IIe, the music to 8-bit tunes, and the visuals for every character and monster to 64-colour 1980s style sprites:
(Before & after: )
But there's a lot under the hood to keep it interesting - different religions to join, skills and a unique experience system, and it's been fairly addictive so far. I spent three hours not just on the first level of the tower but in the first hall, grinding and trying to revive dead wimpy characters and buy equipment (that dagger + robe combo they start all your guys off with is about as effective as it sounds) and I still had a hard time putting it down. It's one of those games where you look up and oh shit it's 5am.
I haven't had it for that long yet, so I guess I'll see if it can maintain my interest, but it's cool to see something like this come on the market in 2009. But be warned: this game is basically for who it's for and nobody else.
-Kyo
It's worth the plunge at the $10 retail, especially enjoy the writing....very bleak. And the map thing was kinda annoying.
I bought this game last month, have not had a chance to play it yet as I am finishing up Super Robot Taisen OG Big Boobs Battle.
This game is great. Just be warned that it does not fuck around. Be prepared to scream "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!?!" a lot. One tip I can give you is to get any and all AC-lowering (yes, lowering, it uses the old AD&D convention of lower AC = better) spells. The effects of identical spells stack.
I completely agree! I'm kind of pissed off at the people going "Oh, it's no Etrian." because it's not meant to be Etrian.But be warned: this game is basically for who it's for and nobody else.
I'm still chipping away at the ???? floor. Oh! The second ending is worth getting, though you'll probably need some Gamefaqs or extreme patience to figure it out.
Donk
It is $10 here at gamestop (new). Not sure if Canada has the same pricing (probably not).
I've pretty much sworn off ever buying anything from that vile corporation ever again, so it wouldn't really matter either way. Sad to see it drop to bargain bin status so fast though, I would have liked to see it succeed.
Man, I wish they made priests more powerful in this. Mine keeps getting his ass kicked. Using a quarterstaff and putting him in the back row just makes him too weak to be effective, but he can't wear tough enough armour to survive long up from against tougher enemies.
-Kyo
That's how it is for a looong time!
Donk
i was thinking about getting this back when it came out. i kind of wanted to play etrian2 first but maybe that'll never happen. i'll probably pick this up once winter rolls aorund.
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