Review of Daimonin

Hekama

  This is where I put my two cents about Daimonin.

  In short, it was absolutely awful. I'm sorry but there is no light to shed on the dingy graphics, the bad status, inventory, etc. layout and the unorthadox controls.  When I first started the game, there was annoyingly primitive music playing. When I entered, I thoughtI was lucky for the music had stopped, but oh was I in for it. I got in the game and my eyes started to sting, as I strained to see my character behind the control panels and the little streak in the middle of the screen that blured part of the picture.  Of course there was no purpous because the graphics were grainy and the characters looked like smudges of fecies on the monitor. I tried to control the wedge of excrete but the controls were messed up and after a while of playing would be very hard to keep up with.  

 And the tutorial wouldnt have been bad with all the signs everywhere telling you most of the basic instructions if the controls didn't mess it up. To read the sign you had to go over it which could be time consuming with the bad controls and the fact that one click would sometimes make you move two spaces for no appearent reason.

  By time I had reached the monsters, I had yet to find a proper way to engage in combat and had yet to find a reason to keep playing. I simply dragged any icons into the trash and deleted the whole thing from my system. Honestly, all it is, is an extra load on your memory and a good way to become blind. Don't even bother seeing what all this fuss is about because I have told you what you will be thinking if you try the game.

  -Hekama

CoarseSand

{ Mod Edit }

I recently switched to Ubuntu, so Ive been searching for Linux compatible games, and that's when I found Daimonin. Before you start it, definitely read the "About" page at their main site, so that you understand what Daimonin actually is, and its history as a game. It is not a professionally made mmorpg, but that doesn't make it any less fun,

 

The controls are... primitive. That doesn't mean they aren't exceptionally functiional, but you'd be sorely mistaken to think you should play this game with a mouse. You're really expected to use a full size keyboard, with a number pad to your right for movement. It's an isometric tile-based game, so movement is almost exactly the same as units in Civ 2, with the additional option to move continuously in a run in one direction by pressing alt + a direction.

 

Commands are issued with the keyboard as well, the most common one being the A-key which performs the command "apply". Apply has a lot of options, some of which are opening containers, walking up and down stairs, equipping items, etc. It's a simple system, but you'll be surprised how well it works. There are also keys to target enemies or friends, set yourself into an "attack target" mode, a talk button, etc. It's pretty much identical to every mmorpg around, you're just using the keyboard instead of the mouse to perform actions.

 

Graphics wise, what would you expect from a free game? No, it bloody well is not LOTRO. It's a sprite based game, and looks a lot like old DOS games (thankfully it isn't ASCII like NetHack). My only real complaint with the graphics is that my SDL client from getdeb.net is limited to 800x600 resolution. I run it windowed to have access to music and browser functions, but on my 1280x800 notebook screen it can be a bit hard to look at. If you don't have sharp eyes, you may find yourself straining to see everything. That said, I really have to applaud whoever made the Male Human sprite, as it looks quite nice, but the rest of the world's NPCs could use a bit of work. Dungeons and enemies are fine though. A big rat is a big rat, and you can tell it's a big rat.

{ Mod Edit }

CoarseSand

My previous post was deleted because I was flaming Hekama, and since I don't really post much on forums I tend to just forget the rules. That said, I still think I had valid points about Daimonin, so here's an edited text of my original post.

I recently switched to Ubuntu, so Ive been searching for Linux compatible games, and that's when I found Daimonin. Before you start it, definitely read the "About" page at their main site, so that you understand what Daimonin actually is, and its history as a game. It is not a professionally made mmorpg, but that doesn't make it any less fun.

The controls are... primitive. That doesn't mean they aren't exceptionally functional, but you'd be sorely mistaken to think you should play this game with a mouse. You're really expected to use a full size keyboard, with a number pad to your right for movement. It's an isometric tile-based game, so movement is almost exactly the same as units in Civ 2, with the additional option to move continuously in a run in one direction by pressing alt + a direction.

Commands are issued with the keyboard as well, the most common one being the A-key which performs the command "apply". Apply has a lot of options, some of which are opening containers, walking up and down stairs, equipping items, etc. It's a simple system, but you'll be surprised how well it works. There are also keys to target enemies or friends, set yourself into an "attack target" mode, a talk button, etc. It's pretty much identical to every mmorpg around, you're just using the keyboard instead of the mouse to perform actions.

Graphics wise, what would you expect from a free game? No, it is not LOTRO. It's a sprite based game, and looks a lot like old DOS games (thankfully it isn't ASCII like NetHack). My only real complaint with the graphics is that my SDL client from getdeb.net is limited to 800x600 resolution. I run it windowed to have access to music and browser functions, but on my 1280x800 notebook screen it can be a bit hard to look at. If you don't have sharp eyes, you may find yourself straining to see everything. That said, I really have to applaud whoever made the Male Human sprites, as they look quite nice, but the rest of the world's NPCs could use a bit of work. Dungeons and enemies are fine though. A big rat is a big rat, and you can tell it's a big rat.

My final word on Daimonin right now is that it's a throwback. You need to take 15 minutes out and read the manual so you know which commands to issue and which keys issue them (re: don't pick up and play), and it definitely has the appearance of the old DOS games. Even with a less than appealing look and the need to think about the controls for a few minutes before knowing them as instinctively as a mouse, Daimonin is as much an mmorpg as any other game on the market. It feels the same as an mmo, it plays the same, and you can enjoy it as much as anything else on the market right now.

Hekama

  Wow, I just skimmed through that and I already get the point. Well if you want a better free, may as well be non-profit mmorpg try Endless-Online. It's very similar actually, and it's not that good, but man it ain't **** like Damionin.  Dude, I'm not kidding, don't waste your time defending that pathetic little smudge on the intrnet.

CoarseSand

Well the game is getting trashed pretty heavily on these forums. It really isn't that bad if you like seeing the roots of modern MMORPGs, but I'd guess you prefer a bit more gloss quickly looking at Endless Online. There needs to be at least one good review of it on here, especially for Linux gamers who are limited in their choice of MMOs, and given my time with it I enjoyed it just as much as 9dragons. That said, I eventually stopped because I hit some weird levelling roof at level 4 where I would either die if I left town, or gain no experience from fighting the enemies inside the town's dungeons. I have a short attention span for MMOs though, since I haven't really stuck with one since Seed closed down last year.

Hekama

  I'm glad you didn't get all offended and rude after I said that. I'm not saying I take it back.

buschmanmat

being a mod of dai i can shed a iittle light on the game and answer a few questions. first off as noted you need to read the instruction before playing.. secondly everyone bashing the graphics etc need to realize that this game is a beta. a 3d client is being dev'ed for it now but were using the 2d to get the servers in order and code everything at which point we can switch to the 3d client with little effort. this is an opensource game and all content is user generated. its non profit and was designed as a college project which has sprouted from there. the community is one of the best out there. and the game has never been hacked. it does take some getting used to but the controls are VERY simple once you get used to them. moving with a mouse is NOT reccommended rather the num pad is used (or whatever set of buttons you wish to use on your laptop. you can change the controls in the main menu)  the layout of the maps leaves something to be desired at this point but that will be fixed in the next release. the game is only as limited as the imagination of the players. anyone with the proper skill is free to join the dev team. this can be a great game if you give it the chance. features are being added all the time. its similar to a lot of mmos as you have to generalize your skills towards your class and type of fighting. there are "jobs" such as mining fletching etc much like many mmos out there. there are 11 diff skill classes at the moment. with skill lvls maxing out at 110 for a total of 990 lvls to reach. and if your thinking about doing that you better plan on investing some serious time into the game. theres ppl that have played for years and are still not there. so this game has some serious replayability. armours and weapons are specialized for each class and are levelskill based. perhaps you like firing a wall of fire at multipl enemies for med damage.... or maybe you want to put an arrow between the mobs eyes for a quick kill.... its all up to you. just remember this game is constantly being updated and what you see now is nowhere NEAR the end result. (it should also be noted that the system req for this game are extremely low. so if you dont have a decent pc but are looking for an adictive low req game this is one to look at) and you can also download the dev client (which is seperate from the main) and from there you can make your own maps mobs etc. or explore a plethera of other user made mapscontent that havent found their way onto the main server yet. this is definetly a game to keep an eye on it has potential to become very good.