| Plot
This is the biggest DMOD made yet. Two giant maps. You play an ancestor of Dink who gets exiled from his home town because he touched a cursed sword. He goes in search of his father, but eventually finds an old nemesis and must save the world. This is the 3rd instalment of the Friends Beyond trilogy. Sound
New midis to hear and new sound FX to. All nice, although the music gets somewhat repetitive. The new Sound FX are the better of the two. Difficulty
This DMOD is quite difficult at times, and if you want to take part in the competition make sure you download the patch, or you will probably experience the disappearing well bug. The monsters inflict a lot of damage, the puzzles only have a few clues. And the mixing potions have very few clues. I had to think and remember what I’d done. It took me a couple of days to get through the DMOD. Part II takes a lot of running around. Very little conversation here, just figure out who needs what and in what order. You need to do this to prepare yourself to battle the boss at the end. Weapons
New weapons (swords), new items - I like the magic sword idea, increases strength and magic, but what I found missing where graphics for all the items I picked up. Especially the fruit. But there are graphics for the essential ones. The ribbon replaces the herb boots in this DMOD. But you have to win the competition to get this. (Make sure you get the patch from the Dink Network - just search for stuff by Wesley [There's a link at the bottom of this review -Ed]). Magic
New stuff here too, with both spells and items. Interesting stuff, but not always that powerful, until the end - if you get all the secrets. Although the heal spell is handy. And I did like the Pain spell. Meteor is good only on certain screens, which I found annoying (Basically it’s a hardness thing - I guess the logic is you can’t use it underground - in which case the thing should have said so rather than the meteor’s happening but getting stopped at the yellow hardness sprites/areas. There is also White/Holy magic - a pure form of the old hellfire. Useful if you’re in Ending 3. Map
the map is huge but there is very little detail and it gets quite repetitive. Down beneath Veil Castle can get very confusing, as can the caves in Part II. A few new graphics which are nice. A few new tiles would have been great here. Different coloured caves. I kept getting lost and forgetting which cave from which island I had seen various force fields. Graphics
new items, some new tiles (the brown grass set), new animated force field graphics (very cool). Bugs
I can across a number of bugs of varying degrees (even with the patch). A couple forcing me to restart with the game being locked. - Hardness gaps that allow you to walk off screen - on the plateau (major) and near Veil (major), and inside Dungeon (minor). - Game freezes in Mountain village if you try to sell weapon you don't have. - "Don't want to go back to prison" in dungeon at wrong point, forces Dink to other side and you have to restart. - Citra Inn - doesn't always work - just stays black. - Game froze when talking to the shiny helpers for the power object puzzle in Part I. - I got trapped behind the fireplace on the Island of Hope in Part II. Don’t stand to the right of the fireplace when you get the treasure. - Game also freezes in Delta V if you try to sell a weapon you don’t have. This is a restart from windows job again. Story/Scripts
The dialogue between Dink and other characters is very sparse. None of the characters react to being hit, which I found lessened the whole experience. You get told the bare essentials, no chit chat. But there is a small amount of humour here, just a shame there’s not more. I especially liked the rock in the prison cell stuff. I didn’t like the fact that if Dink gets upset at the Resistance they throw him out - I thought that him getting upset is exactly what his character would do. The thing it took me a while to get used to was the new character of Dink. He is not the old Dink, girl in every port, jokes, and loves to prove he’s a warrior. I didn’t warm to this descendant of Dink. Specials
There has been a lot of attention to detail on changing the way you play. All of which is excellent. New Status Bar. New Level Up. Monsters seem to be stronger if you don’t kill them with you first hit. Variations on attacks with the head goblin in Story 2, all nice. Little hearts fade away if you don’t pick them up soon enough. And of course the mixing potions - although not getting enough clues about ‘what fruit does what’ I found a tad annoying. (You are supposed to get a fruit guide, but somehow I missed that the first couple of times I played), you need to talk to the right people at the right time to get given the guides. I liked the animated force fields. Part II is far better than Part I. There are also multiple endings, depending upon how many things you solve/get in Part II. A lot of thought has gone into this DMOD. Pros: Size (2 maps); New Game Play; Multiple endings (try and see all three, the bad one made me laugh); New sounds; New animated sprite graphics, Extensive New Magic.
Cons: The characters don’t talk much; Map design is repetitive; A number of bugs which force you to restart; Game objectives are not always clear; Not enough humour.
Summary: I’d originally put this DMOD somewhere between 9 Gems 1 and QFD 1. QFD had the edge because of the humour, and it was far less buggy. But on reflection, with all the new magic (I’d missed a lot of these, before) it’s better than QFD1, bugs included. So ½ point off for all the walking around with very little conversation, and ½ point off for repetitive map design (And 0.3 off for the bugs). But LOT is still a DMOD you should play, especially if you enjoy puzzles - just use the walkthrough that the author has done if you get stuck and/or frustrated. - Hell, I did. Overall Score: 8.7/10 (9 if bugs get fixed) Download: Local, The Dink Network
Related websites: author's website (with walkthrough) [dead?], walkthrough (download) |