Stumbling through Drakkhen

[davidn]

Today, I want to present an experimental short film in which nothing at all happens for 40 minutes. Not really, it's...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al7-W9gd1h8&hd=1

A boring video about a boring RPG, and if you enjoy it then you are a boring person! Actually I could sort of see that this game had some decent ideas, with the dungeons versus the free-roaming overworld and the potential of having to swap between characters to solve puzzles, but the whole thing feels so clunky as to undermine it.

Comments

[davidn]

In Knightmare, having to deal with the world's most depressed drawbridge was at least something it was obvious you had to do! Having to UNLOCK a drawbridge that doesn't actually lock... you might as well give me free reign of every verb possible and make the solution to QUANTIFY it.

The whole game just feels... nonsensical, with nothing really tying any plot point or line of dialogue to the next. I've since been told that the dragons falling out of the sky on the unexplained disco lights like anvils are meant to kill you, but due to a bug they give you directions instead and nobody noticed.

And the absurdly guttural place names remind me of the Gelf language from Red Dwarf (Ek-ekhh-ekh-egkh-ek-ek-ek) - or perhaps they're just in Wales.

[kjorteo]

Looking at some guides now, I'm beginning to wonder if Sierra had a hand in making this.

When you're done in the castle, leave and turn west until you see a pathway. Although you were told Hordkha's castle is to the east, you'll actually want to go west to reach it because a glowing road patrolled by the Dragon Gods divides the middle of the Earth Area, and while it can be passed with some trickery, it's much easier to do this the "correct" way.

Anyway, start walking along the western path and follow it all the way to the end, fighting enemies and talking to wandering travelers along the way. When you reach the end where you can see the edge of the ocean, turn north and keep going until you see four arrows on the ground. Step in the middle of the arrows and your party will be magically transported to the opposite end of the map.

When you arrive at the other transporter, turn around and head south until you reach an intersection. Turn west and follow the path all the way to the end. You'll find another castle that looks identical to Hordkhen's.

(Bolding emphasis mine)

Honestly, that is ... that's even worse than the UNLOCK thing.

Also, I'm just going to leave the Drakkhen Oddities page here. Note how this page is at least 50% "this appears to be a clue to something but I have no idea what it could mean" trivia from someone who mastered the game thoroughly enough to have bothered running a partially-complete shrine page for it.

(Oh, but the Monsters subsection is worth a read, too, partly because of the befuddled commentary from someone who obviously doesn't understand half of what he's fighting any better than you do, and partly because it has a naked version of the lizardman we all agree is cute.)

[davidn]

What?! And that's for the first obstacle - the line of glowing arrows placed randomly across the map - which I somehow just passed through twice without being interrupted and then at no other times? The game just makes no sense at any point. I hadn't realized that that key had just appeared on the table after I'd defeated the lizard, either.

This is going to make some good reading material, especially with the Oddities section - I can already tell that's going to go on for pages.