9 Gems of Life 2
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- Author(s): Jveenhof, Wolfblitz
- Categories: D-Mod, Romp
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9 Gems of Life - By Jveenhof
Grade D Standard
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Introduction: The second of the '9 Gems of Life' series by Jveenhof. Now although I still think that this is an improvement on the first of the series, there are still many things that needed to have been changed or improved to really improve the series.
Storyline: As the 9 Gems of life story continues, another 3 gems are to be found in this second adventure. The story is this time, however, being told by a girls Grandfather, which is a completely new aspect which has no relevance to the first episode. There isn't much variety or change within the two storylines, as the second has pretty much similar layout to the first. The repetition and incoherency in the storyline has to lower the mark given. (6)
Gameplay: Now although the first was easy, it was absolutely packed to the brim with many bugs and glitches. You didn't have to be searching hard to find any, as it was littered with thim. It seems this time however, although there are still bugs and glitches which annoyed me during reviewing, the game is insanely hard to beat. You begin without a saved game file, thrown into the middle of a fight against a Goblin which is far too hard to beat with the primitive levels Dink begins with. There isnt much room to level up before you are thrown into the bonca sequence, in which I must have been slashing and moving away repetitively for hours. I was absolutely relieved when I killed the first bonca after so long, only to find that another was lined up immediately afterwards. The gameplay has been wrecked by the author making this such a hard game to beat, even in the early stages, and there are as always douzens of glitches and bugs to be found. (5)
Graphics: The graphics however HAVE been improved, and you can find some interesting new visual content in the MOD. Although nothing of outstanding excellence, the graphics are definately an improvement on the game's predecessor. However, some bugs can be found with utilizing the new graphics, as fellow reviewer 'matrice' states "When you arm the fist, you change back to the undisguised dink" quite rightly. This is not the only graphical mistake to be found, a bit more hard beta testing would have been a good idea. (8)
Audio: The music found within the MOD was, at most average. Many songs were repetitive and some just didn't fit the mood necessary, some known songs had also been wrecked by awful MIDI playback, lowering my mark once again. (6)
Conclusion: An average DMOD, and a shameful second episode of a never released three-part series. The author needs to remember how important thorough beta testing is, if he wants to bathe in the praise of fellow Dinkers. My final score by process of mean average is 6.3, a D-grading attempt!
Grade D Standard
-----
Introduction: The second of the '9 Gems of Life' series by Jveenhof. Now although I still think that this is an improvement on the first of the series, there are still many things that needed to have been changed or improved to really improve the series.
Storyline: As the 9 Gems of life story continues, another 3 gems are to be found in this second adventure. The story is this time, however, being told by a girls Grandfather, which is a completely new aspect which has no relevance to the first episode. There isn't much variety or change within the two storylines, as the second has pretty much similar layout to the first. The repetition and incoherency in the storyline has to lower the mark given. (6)
Gameplay: Now although the first was easy, it was absolutely packed to the brim with many bugs and glitches. You didn't have to be searching hard to find any, as it was littered with thim. It seems this time however, although there are still bugs and glitches which annoyed me during reviewing, the game is insanely hard to beat. You begin without a saved game file, thrown into the middle of a fight against a Goblin which is far too hard to beat with the primitive levels Dink begins with. There isnt much room to level up before you are thrown into the bonca sequence, in which I must have been slashing and moving away repetitively for hours. I was absolutely relieved when I killed the first bonca after so long, only to find that another was lined up immediately afterwards. The gameplay has been wrecked by the author making this such a hard game to beat, even in the early stages, and there are as always douzens of glitches and bugs to be found. (5)
Graphics: The graphics however HAVE been improved, and you can find some interesting new visual content in the MOD. Although nothing of outstanding excellence, the graphics are definately an improvement on the game's predecessor. However, some bugs can be found with utilizing the new graphics, as fellow reviewer 'matrice' states "When you arm the fist, you change back to the undisguised dink" quite rightly. This is not the only graphical mistake to be found, a bit more hard beta testing would have been a good idea. (8)
Audio: The music found within the MOD was, at most average. Many songs were repetitive and some just didn't fit the mood necessary, some known songs had also been wrecked by awful MIDI playback, lowering my mark once again. (6)
Conclusion: An average DMOD, and a shameful second episode of a never released three-part series. The author needs to remember how important thorough beta testing is, if he wants to bathe in the praise of fellow Dinkers. My final score by process of mean average is 6.3, a D-grading attempt!
50 Years after the defeat of Jaitz, Dink and his friend Link set out to find the other gems.
Storyline: Real good, since there are several levels in this story. Laura’s grandfather tells Laura a story, about Dink and Link. You play Dink, but you also play Link. And at the end of the adventure it is back to Laura and her grandfather.
Map and graphics: The map is decorated nicely. The title screen is nicely done, with the buttons not on the bottom of the screen, but on the left. There are several new or modified graphics. There are new enemies, lions, from the same game the graphics of Dink are. The end boss Blaze is new too. There are new warps, and some magic circles. The slayers are modified and when they are dead, they have some green slime for blood.
Music: Mediocre.
Good: When someone talks to Dink, a popup appears, showing this persons face. There is humour in this game. The way Dink is transported into the cave is done nicely. You play partly Dink and partly Link, which is very good. The way Link escapes the pirate ship of Zilver (sometimes named Silver) is very enjoyable – not only how he gets passed the guard, but also how he escapes the ship. The story how Zilver got his eye patch is a funny, albeit old, joke.
Not so good: As said in one of the enclosed .txt files, the monsters are real hard. Right after the intro you already have to fight a very tough monster. And the monsters only get tougher, so cheat is the only option. The caves tend to get boring real quickly. When talking to the guy in the cave, I only saw Dink’s text, and not the lines the guy was supposed to say. There is a path in the cave that is blocked by a rock, but you can not go there.
Overall: A good D-mod, with some flaws. And you have to cheat to defeat the monsters.
Fit for: If you have played the first part of 9 Gems of Life, you should play this one too.
Storyline: Real good, since there are several levels in this story. Laura’s grandfather tells Laura a story, about Dink and Link. You play Dink, but you also play Link. And at the end of the adventure it is back to Laura and her grandfather.
Map and graphics: The map is decorated nicely. The title screen is nicely done, with the buttons not on the bottom of the screen, but on the left. There are several new or modified graphics. There are new enemies, lions, from the same game the graphics of Dink are. The end boss Blaze is new too. There are new warps, and some magic circles. The slayers are modified and when they are dead, they have some green slime for blood.
Music: Mediocre.
Good: When someone talks to Dink, a popup appears, showing this persons face. There is humour in this game. The way Dink is transported into the cave is done nicely. You play partly Dink and partly Link, which is very good. The way Link escapes the pirate ship of Zilver (sometimes named Silver) is very enjoyable – not only how he gets passed the guard, but also how he escapes the ship. The story how Zilver got his eye patch is a funny, albeit old, joke.
Not so good: As said in one of the enclosed .txt files, the monsters are real hard. Right after the intro you already have to fight a very tough monster. And the monsters only get tougher, so cheat is the only option. The caves tend to get boring real quickly. When talking to the guy in the cave, I only saw Dink’s text, and not the lines the guy was supposed to say. There is a path in the cave that is blocked by a rock, but you can not go there.
Overall: A good D-mod, with some flaws. And you have to cheat to defeat the monsters.
Fit for: If you have played the first part of 9 Gems of Life, you should play this one too.
Another nice but Jveenhof's typical dmod. Basically you continue the journey in seeking the 9 gems of life.
This was the first dmod that I learned how to change Dink's stat by my own. I was not a huge fan of cheating in a game, so usually I would trust the game balance set up by the game designer. However, I can't even pass the first theme of this game. I know I was not a good fighter, but I was not that bad, either. (I can basically kill a slow bonca without getting hit at all.) I did need to add strength or hitpoint or defense to beat the mog! To throw a boss-like enemy in the very beginning is not the way to welcome a new player.
A new in-game big-head picture was shown on the screen when a conversation was brought up. It's kind of cool although some of the faces are... well I don't know how to put it in words.
There is also a new thing here. You played 2 parallel stories about Dink and Link. There are a lot of potentials of storytelling in this dmod, but again it ends quite quickly before anything could take place.
Overall it's less buggy than the first part, but somehow I still liked the first one better. (A fatel bug about the cannon was fixed or avoided in the patch.) The game is much more difficult than the first one. Without cheating, you need to be a pretty good fighter to play this one.
If you want to have more fun and do not care you still cannot finish the 9-gem quest, it is worth to download it and play it.
This was the first dmod that I learned how to change Dink's stat by my own. I was not a huge fan of cheating in a game, so usually I would trust the game balance set up by the game designer. However, I can't even pass the first theme of this game. I know I was not a good fighter, but I was not that bad, either. (I can basically kill a slow bonca without getting hit at all.) I did need to add strength or hitpoint or defense to beat the mog! To throw a boss-like enemy in the very beginning is not the way to welcome a new player.
A new in-game big-head picture was shown on the screen when a conversation was brought up. It's kind of cool although some of the faces are... well I don't know how to put it in words.
There is also a new thing here. You played 2 parallel stories about Dink and Link. There are a lot of potentials of storytelling in this dmod, but again it ends quite quickly before anything could take place.
Overall it's less buggy than the first part, but somehow I still liked the first one better. (A fatel bug about the cannon was fixed or avoided in the patch.) The game is much more difficult than the first one. Without cheating, you need to be a pretty good fighter to play this one.
If you want to have more fun and do not care you still cannot finish the 9-gem quest, it is worth to download it and play it.
yah try again because i cant get by the FIRST monster without CHEATING!
that appears right after the intro and i didnt even cheat or even know the cheats.
pros:
ummmmm NON!
cant get by the first monster!
cons:YOU CANT PROCEED AFTER THE INTRO!
music:3 only heard intro and fight songs
gameplay:0 you cant win first monster fight
overall:0
cant get by first monster without cheats and i will NOT cheat at dink smallwood.its the one of the small number of games i havent defiled with cheating yet and i intend to keep it that way might modify code so YOU CAN beat first monster but only with my copy of download do your own modding modders.
sorry but this ones a dud when i actualy PROCEED past first monster and get to WINNING ill tell you how i give overall score is then!
that appears right after the intro and i didnt even cheat or even know the cheats.
pros:
ummmmm NON!
cant get by the first monster!
cons:YOU CANT PROCEED AFTER THE INTRO!
music:3 only heard intro and fight songs
gameplay:0 you cant win first monster fight
overall:0
cant get by first monster without cheats and i will NOT cheat at dink smallwood.its the one of the small number of games i havent defiled with cheating yet and i intend to keep it that way might modify code so YOU CAN beat first monster but only with my copy of download do your own modding modders.
sorry but this ones a dud when i actualy PROCEED past first monster and get to WINNING ill tell you how i give overall score is then!
The storyline has got great potential, it would be great it the complete "9 gems" tale would be released as an epic (one file) at some point in the future.
To be fair though: it would still need a bit of work before it would be worthy of epic status.
Below are just some random thoughts and notes from when I was (re-)playing the game:
Storyline:
* Inconsistent with the first part : this part is being *told* by "grandpa" Dink while the first part is "real time".
Graphics:
* Nice side-graphics of the person you're talking too.
* Funny new monster (the furry bone-carrying monster), though animation of it is lacking a bit.
* Good end-boss graphic, however it's a bit one-dimensional (as are the furry creatures).
Inventory:
* What happened to the knife in the inventory ? Now it just shows a sword even though it functions like the knife.
* When you arm the fist, you change back to the undisguised dink.
* Why have the "M" key for magic instead of the inventory ? I don't understand the need. It's not as if you can get more than 8 spells.
Fighting:
* The first fight was way too hard.
* The bonca's at the end of the cave system are really pretty strong. The thing I found strange was that you only get 40 experience for beating them, the same as for the far weaker bonca's in the caves themselves. Another thing: is it just my amazing fighting skills or don't these bonca's hurt you when they swich their tail ?
* Similarly the black slayers in the quest for the fifth gem are very very hard.
* For me there was no chance to beat this game but by using the all time favourite ultimate cheat.
* The game freezes the moment you beat the end boss, which you can basically only beat if you got microwave blast magic (happened twice in a row to me).
* I liked the translocation circles in the cave system, thought I never was sure whether I'd managed to explore all there was to explore.
* The puzzles were fairly easy, but I liked them anyway.
* I liked the little side adventure of how Link escapes
Funny.
Shame Link doesn't appear again later on.
Overall: Fair. Looking forward to the full adventure.
To be fair though: it would still need a bit of work before it would be worthy of epic status.
Below are just some random thoughts and notes from when I was (re-)playing the game:
Storyline:
* Inconsistent with the first part : this part is being *told* by "grandpa" Dink while the first part is "real time".
Graphics:
* Nice side-graphics of the person you're talking too.
* Funny new monster (the furry bone-carrying monster), though animation of it is lacking a bit.
* Good end-boss graphic, however it's a bit one-dimensional (as are the furry creatures).
Inventory:
* What happened to the knife in the inventory ? Now it just shows a sword even though it functions like the knife.
* When you arm the fist, you change back to the undisguised dink.
* Why have the "M" key for magic instead of the inventory ? I don't understand the need. It's not as if you can get more than 8 spells.
Fighting:
* The first fight was way too hard.
* The bonca's at the end of the cave system are really pretty strong. The thing I found strange was that you only get 40 experience for beating them, the same as for the far weaker bonca's in the caves themselves. Another thing: is it just my amazing fighting skills or don't these bonca's hurt you when they swich their tail ?
* Similarly the black slayers in the quest for the fifth gem are very very hard.
* For me there was no chance to beat this game but by using the all time favourite ultimate cheat.
* The game freezes the moment you beat the end boss, which you can basically only beat if you got microwave blast magic (happened twice in a row to me).
* I liked the translocation circles in the cave system, thought I never was sure whether I'd managed to explore all there was to explore.
* The puzzles were fairly easy, but I liked them anyway.
* I liked the little side adventure of how Link escapes
Funny.Shame Link doesn't appear again later on.
Overall: Fair. Looking forward to the full adventure.
The Second part of Jveenhof and Wolfblitz’s trilogy. Dink and Link are off to find more jewels – the next 3 gems of life.
Graphics: new stuff here. There’s the disguised Dink, some new enemies, and some modified people sprites. Some new items, such as the canon – but that’s as far as I got. Canon just froze – even with Ted’s fix installed. Considering the other factors of the game I couldn’t be bothered continuing.
Map: Average, with depth problems yet again.
Sounds: if there were new ones, I didn’t notice them.
Bugs: Yep these were there. Froze while solving the first puzzle. Then the canon bug which still was there. Two times got this, so gave up.
Specials: The face appearing stuff was good. New magic wasn’t that good. Had a nice bug you could exploit in battling the tough boncas. I got my strength up to 200 odd by pressing SHIFT very quickly.
The puzzles weren’t really puzzles. Too obvious.
Overall 6 out 10.
Graphics: new stuff here. There’s the disguised Dink, some new enemies, and some modified people sprites. Some new items, such as the canon – but that’s as far as I got. Canon just froze – even with Ted’s fix installed. Considering the other factors of the game I couldn’t be bothered continuing.
Map: Average, with depth problems yet again.
Sounds: if there were new ones, I didn’t notice them.
Bugs: Yep these were there. Froze while solving the first puzzle. Then the canon bug which still was there. Two times got this, so gave up.
Specials: The face appearing stuff was good. New magic wasn’t that good. Had a nice bug you could exploit in battling the tough boncas. I got my strength up to 200 odd by pressing SHIFT very quickly.
The puzzles weren’t really puzzles. Too obvious.
Overall 6 out 10.
Well Im adding a little bit more info myself...9 gems 2 is about to be re'released. Me and Beuc are adding a lot of stuff(he's fixing a lot of bugs adding new effects) and I've added a new enemie, and created 2 new isles. If the new version is liked me and Beuc will proparly create the rest of the 9gems series together. Ill add the same grade als Mimifish 