Dark Sun: Shattered Lands is fucking great

[marek]

LoL i laughed my ass off when i saw that you can't be a cleric with an elf buahahaha ok nigga.

You probably mean Druid. You can be a Cleric with an elf.

 

[fantadomat]

LoL i laughed my ass off when i saw that you can't be a cleric with an elf buahahaha ok nigga.

You probably mean Druid. You can be a Cleric with an elf.

Yeah that is what i meant,got confused reading another thread .

 

[marek]

LoL i laughed my ass off when i saw that you can't be a cleric with an elf buahahaha ok nigga.

You probably mean Druid. You can be a Cleric with an elf.

Yeah that is what i meant,got confused reading another thread .

Elven druids being not an option is directly from the Dark Sun AD&D source books. IIrc the lore reason was that elven tribes in Dark Sun are nomadic, always on the run (literally, they don't move, they run from place to place), and a Dark Sun druid was the protector of a specific area (e.g. a spring, grove etc). There are no gods in Dark Sun, clerics actually worship an elemental sphere, and the elements are everywhere... (That said, i don't think the reason is very convincing, just that its not the games fault)

 

[fantadomat]

LoL i laughed my ass off when i saw that you can't be a cleric with an elf buahahaha ok nigga.

You probably mean Druid. You can be a Cleric with an elf.

Yeah that is what i meant,got confused reading another thread .

Elven druids being not an option is directly from the Dark Sun AD&D source books. IIrc the lore reason was that elven tribes in Dark Sun are nomadic, always on the run (literally, they don't move, they run from place to place), and a Dark Sun druid was the protector of a specific area (e.g. a spring, grove etc). There are no gods in Dark Sun, clerics actually worship an elemental sphere, and the elements are everywhere... (That said, i don't think the reason is very convincing, just that its not the games fault)

What is the difference between the different psychic schools? They do lack any description.

 

[marek]

What is the difference between the different psychic schools? They do lack any description.

Basically spell selection ( lore wise, its mind-magic vs. body-magic vs. telekinesis). If you are a psion, you have access to all 3 schoools. But if you are a regular character, the school you pick means you get a few spells from it despite not being a psion.

Kineticist gets: Detonate, Ballisitc Attack, Control Body and Inertial Barrier
Metabolic gets: Life Draining, Biofeedback, Flesh Armor and Graft Weapon
Telepath gets: Superior Invisibility, Ego Whip, Intellect Fortress, Psionic Blast
Everyone gets: Mind Blank

Personally i like Metaboilc best for my non-psions, since biofeedbacks +1 AC and -2 damage from all sources, and +1 to hit from graft weapon are nice buffs.
Telepathy and Kineticists have also great spells for full psions, like Disintegrate or Mass Mind Control - but those you won't get if you are not a real psion...

 

[Darth Canoli]

fantadomat Don't tri-class your characters though, even if it's tempting or you'll soon find the game too easy.

I advise for a half-giant gladiator (double HP tank) and whatever else floats your boat including a tri-kreen.

 

[fantadomat]

fantadomat Don't tri-class your characters though, even if it's tempting or you'll soon find the game too easy.

I advise for a half-giant gladiator (double HP tank) and whatever else floats your boat including a tri-kreen.

Hmm i am thinking of doing a pure human rogue for shit and giggles. It is shame that it is only 4 people party tho.

 

[Incendax]

I remember running a Dark Sun game where I allowed elves to be druids. I let them have pilgrimage paths - basically big race tracks. I also let them use their druid magic on someone else's pilgrimage path if they met with that druid and got permission.

Basically a long-winded way to let druids go wherever they want, with a bit of bonus role play.

 

[thesheeep]

the settings would be unparalleled if not for Planescape

This really perplexes me: Dark Sun setting has just three games and Planescape only one, despite both being very interesting and quite non-standard.

Very interesting and non-standard = investors go

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS REPLAYING NOW AT WORK

RESTARTED TWICE CAUSE POOR PARTY CHOICES AND BREAKING QUESTS LOLOLOL THE QUESTS DONT LIKE BEING BROKED

AFTER A LITTKLE BIT OF FRUSTRATION IM ENJOYING IT AGAIN

ITS LIKE A KOTC WITH WORSE COMBAT MECHANICS BUT BETTER WORLD EXPLORATION AND CHOICES AND EXOTIC CHARACTER OPTIONS

ALSO JUST A COOL SETTING

ANOTHER SAD REMINDER OF THE REPEATED RISE AND FALL OF THE CRPG

WHEN I WAS YOUNG I THOUGHT THAT EVENTUALLY WED GET A GAIME THAT HAD THE WORLD AND INTERACTIVITY OF ULTIMA 5 WITH THE SKILLS THAT INTERACT WITH THE WORLD LIKE WASTELAND

THAT WAS MY DREAM RPG A WASTELAND AND ULTIMA 5 COMBO

AT LEAST CLEVE (PBUH) GIVED US GRIMOIRE LOLLOLLOL

 

[Ol' Willy]

BROS REPLAYING NOW AT WORK

I decided to do the same. And damn, the game is so good. Rolled a party:

Mikey Palmice - Half-Giant, Fighter-Psionicist
Ralph Cifaretto - Half-Giant, Fighter-Cleric
Janice Soprano - Half-Giant, Fighter-Cleric
Richie Aprile - Half-Giant, Fighter-Cleric

Right from the start, game gives you a several ways to escape, yeah. I went with the most fun one - just kill all the guards! Grinded arena a bit, whacked Scar gang, convinced another gang to assist me - and well, you guys don't know that you just signed up for a suicide mission! I used them as a decoy, and while guards were giving them high colonic treatment I just retreated to the zombie room, where I was comfortably picking guards one by one.

Sewers. Killing rats in the sewers, AGAIN?! Nope, because rats are sentient, divided in three factions and have two different cults around, and you can side with any of them. Damn, this shit is too good and the game was released in 1993, right? Well, I played the good guys there, helping "right" rat-guys but didn't miss the opportunity to sell all the powder to the gang in the slums.

While melee is really primitive, the magic and PSI... so many spells. I don't know how to use most of them.
And the setting is just incredible.

One thing that really annoys me that game doesn't highlight or mark currently active character. With more diverse party this wouldn't be a problem, but in my case...

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Is there any mod for this that introduces quick-saving functionality? This is what killed me on the last try, having to click 10 times to save is so annoying.

 

[zapotec]

F1 shows up the save menu

 

[Ol' Willy]

Finished today. Man, what a game. As I said, the setting is incredible and most of the quests are really nice. The Defiler in Sewers and Magera temple particularly, this is some quality stuff, and truly amazed me in some ways. Combat wise, I curbstomped through the most of the game, but it's because:

1) balanced difficulty
2) kek-party of four double-classed double-wielding half-giants

I look at my party, stuffed with the finest magical equipment, rejoice. And then comes the final battle. Despite the many warnings, I haven't encountered any major bugs and final battle triggered without any problems.

Or did it? I read a guide and it does say that the final battle happens in three waves. In my case, first wave triggers as it should, couple of people comes to my aid and a weak group of soldiers gets killed really quick. Then, second wave doesn't appear at all - no enemy soldiers and no help from any of the villages, nor ghosts. Instead, the third wave with the scorpos, elite soldiers, bunch of defilers and Draj commander spawns right beside me. So I left fighting this horde all alone. Without fucking up their spawn area with quicksands, dust clouds and insect swarms beforehand (to the point that Dosbox starts to really lag) I had no chance of survival whatsoever. And so I fight. Most of the elite soldiers are down, commander as well, but so are the two of my chars. And then - I don't know if the game glitched out or enemies lost me because of dust clouds, but combat ends, I get a chance to retreat and heal fully with the help of the Genie. And then - victory! Fighting them alone was really brutal.

Anyone had this occurrence in the final battle?

 

[Cleric of Asmodeus]

I played this a long ass time ago and my game got bugged, don’t remember how, but I was really bummed. I might give this another shot offer Kingmaker.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Also:

One thing that really annoys me that game doesn't highlight or mark currently active character.

1) RTFM!
2) Press H to highlight the active char

 

[Ol' Willy]

Started the party of four female halflings, kek. It's actually playable. HP is average, damage is shit, but they have decent AC, although I don't get a preserver once again due to racial restrictions. This is already more interesting because I can't just roflstomp anything I encounter, I need to be more creative. XP pilling is ridiculous, I only reached the first village and my party is already 6/7 level.

Fight with Dagolar was really hard. I buffed my party up to the eyeballs and charmed a couple of slimes and only this way I was able to prevail. Game showed its glitchy nature here: I had Goburnix with me - but I rushed forward and script didn't trigger, so Keldar joined the fight. Along the way, Goburnix just disappeared; then, every time someone hits Keldar, Dagolar interrupts the fight and yells at me that I killed his Goburnix. Weird scripting, alright.

 

[Cael]

Started the party of four female halflings, kek. It's actually playable. HP is average, damage is shit, but they have decent AC, although I don't get a preserver once again due to racial restrictions. This is already more interesting because I can't just roflstomp anything I encounter, I need to be more creative. XP pilling is ridiculous, I only reached the first village and my party is already 6/7 level.

Fight with Dagolar was really hard. I buffed my party up to the eyeballs and charmed a couple of slimes and only this way I was able to prevail. Game showed its glitchy nature here: I had Goburnix with me - but I rushed forward and script didn't trigger, so Keldar joined the fight. Along the way, Goburnix just disappeared; then, every time someone hits Keldar, Dagolar interrupts the fight and yells at me that I killed his Goburnix. Weird scripting, alright.

Fighter/Druid is a decent combination.

 

[Butter]

Playing through Shattered Lands again and it's still badass. If this game had come out 6 years later on the Infinity Engine, it would be in the Codex top 10, and it's baffling that we haven't seen more games of its ilk. We got turn-based D&D with full party creation and C&C in 1993, and almost never again.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I don't know about the RtwP infinity engine but port it to ToEE's engine with Temple+ and Co8 fixes and you've got yourself a masterpiece*.

A Dark Sun 3 doing exactly what Shattered Lands does minus the few scripting bugs and in the KotC 2 engine, for example, would be absolutely amazing.

*Arguably, it's already one, it was definitely one on release, minus some game breaking bugs and it aged very well compared to most games of that era.
Another gem released by SSI, may we see their like again...

 

[Aemar]

Returning to the Shattered Lands after many, many years. Incredible setting. Janky interface aside, this has to be one of the best games ever.

Starting party: half-giant fighter, mul gladiator, thri-kreen fighter, human preserver. Most likely I'll restart using a different set of characters.

 

[Cael]

Returning to the Shattered Lands after many, many years. Incredible setting. Janky interface aside, this has to be one of the best games ever.

Starting party: half-giant fighter, mul gladiator, thri-kreen fighter, human preserver. Most likely I'll restart using a different set of characters.

Make the preserver a fighter/preserver. It really helps survivability, plus you will have XP coming out your ass.

 

[zapotec]

If i remember well it's better to do multi class character in the first darksun (don't know the second) because the cap is level based and not experience based.

 

[Cael]

If i remember well it's better to do multi class character in the first darksun (don't know the second) because the cap is level based and not experience based.

Both Dark Suns are level based, just like the Gold Box games.

In Ravager, I had four 14/14/15 Gladiator/Druid/Preserver. Human dual classing was pretty funny.

 

[Darth Canoli]

The same people telling you to multi-class and tell you about the best combos will also tell you the game is piss-easy.

Multi-classing in Dark Sun: shattered Lands and the party creation options are the difficulty settings, the less multi-classing the better your experience, depending on your skills and investment in the game system and spells.

Don't tri-class anything except if you hate the combat and want a god mode, only dual class one or two spell-casters, or even none for a hardcore session (while not abusing the other character creation settings).

I'll advise for one half-giant gladiator or fighter though, you'll need a tank.