Weird how someone can praise Deadfire for its graphics and quality of life improvements and then go on to preach the virtues of Dark Sun: Shattered Lands, an incredibly clunky game that looks like it was made for the Super Nintendo, over the beautiful Baldur's Gate.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of great stuff in DS:SL. In many ways, it’s the missing link between the gold box games and Fallout/Baldur’s Gate (like the missing link between homo erectus and Homo sapiens). When I recommended Fallout to my middle school dungeon master, he told me to play Dark Sun. In the early ‘90s, it was revolutionary: introducing adventure game style environmental interaction, adventure game style dialogue trees, choices that matter(tm), the ability to incite violence or talk your potential enemies down. Best of all, it laid the groundwork for Fallout style quests with a boatload of different solutions (although IIRC the best example of this is the arena and there’s less as the game goes on).
But, for the love of Ahura Mazda, DS:SL is a pain in the ass to actually play (it was a pain in the ass even when I first played it in the late ‘90s). And some of the positives sound better in theory than they actually are in practice. Turn based 2nd edition combat sounds awesome, but the combat is not at all challenging with your super-powered party of munchkins (I know this is part of the setting and I love the setting, but still it’s way too easy). Environmental interactions are great, but clicking to inspect the same haystack a dozen times to milk out all the loot is terrible.
I really appreciate how DS:SL lets you role play in conversation and even has a few race, class, charisma, and even item checks. It was very ahead of its time. But, like Lilura says:
It's an historical curiousity, nothing more. Barely anyone plays it because it hasn't aged well and wasn't all that good to begin with. Like most of the so-called "Golden Age" RPGs.
As for reactivity, I remember one guy saying you can bribe the guards, sneak out or pile in with the brutes and smash your way out. How primitive is that? Again, its concepts are nothing but an historical curiousity for people who prefer to read about and watch other people play games:
"Oh, this looks cool! (But I'll never play it. Look at those godawful graphics, that shitty dialogue, and that clunky af UI and how primitive everything is. I think I'll go and play any number of Renaissance RPGs instead. They do everything better.")
I generally agree with this sentiment. It strains credulity when so many people under the age of, say, 32 claim to love, love, love DS:SL. It’s like an influential proto-punk band that every punk claims to adore, even as they never listen to it.
However, it was pretty damn good to begin with. Dark Sun captured a whole new dimension of the pen and paper experience. It’s just that within a few years, Fallout and the Infinity Engine games started doing all of this stuff (and more!) a whole lot better.
I’m not the world’s biggest Baldur’s Gate fan, but even using RTwP it has better combat, a better story, and more interesting characters. Anyway, others are more suited to defending BG’s honor. Long story short, it’s the superior CRPG.
Now, a remake of Shattered Lands in a more modern engine—maybe Realms Beyond’s urwelt engine—with more spells (and actual Vancian casting... ahem), more challenging encounters and/or some rebalancing, and a writer who’s willing to improve the dialogue... that could potentially be one of the greats. It’s a pity MRY has such a lucrative day job because I’d love to see him take a crack at this.
