Reply to Re: Crazy Old Tim plays all the DMODs of 2000
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076: Forest of Dangers Author: Sharp Release Date: November 11, 2000
As far as I know, this is the first DMOD by a female author. That doesn't really have anything to do with anything, of course, but I thought I'd note it for historical reference. She was just 13 when she released this one, which, um... has not been a good predictor for quality among DMODs thus far, let's say, especially among first efforts.
This DMOD doesn't really buck that trend, but you know, it's not completely terrible either. My expectations were pretty low, so it was more enjoyable than I thought it'd be. That's entirely on the strength of being oddly amusing, since the gameplay here is totally null. "Forest of Dangers" is amazingly short - I'm talking two minutes here. You start out with a huge max life that you've got no opportunity to fill, and your actual life is pretty low. There are some pillbugs at the start; if you want to win, you've got to beat them up and hope they drop some hearts. You should also make sure you don't get hit even once before the boss; otherwise, you will lose for sure. This isn't particularly hard to accomplish, though.
The tiny map looks okay, although with just three trees toward the start, I don't think it's much of a forest. Everything seems to work as intended except that some duck enemies aren't implemented properly and turn into arrows when they die. Great work putting the arrows in the duck's base death slot instead of using one of the many empty spots, RTSoft.
Although there's almost nothing to do, I got a bit of enjoyment out of how surreal the DMOD was - I'm reminded of "Scar of David" in that regard. Everything from the title to the author's bizarre insistence throughout that she is Santa Claus was quite weird in a way that amused me. It also featured this enjoyable exchange with an NPC who gives you a longsword:
"How much?"
"Oh, it's yours for free."
"..if I do something for you, right?
"No, it's just free."
"This is something quite new to me."
I dunno, I laughed. I guess it's because I've been playing my own DMOD, where EVERYBODY wants something from you.
After talking briefly with the odd NPCs, you proceed through some screens of ducks and pigs. There's no warning, but they will hurt you if you touch them, though there's no point to fighting them. When you get to the end of the line, there's an "old person" sprite who REALLY surprises you by having a dragon brain. If you manage to beat them on your small health, all you've got to do is return to the NPC hut and you're done.
I certainly wouldn't call it "good," but I had a better time with this trifle than with something frustrating like "9 Gems 2."
---
"Friends Beyond 3" is next. Holy crap, 2 map files? I didn't even know a DMOD had ever done such a thing.
As far as I know, this is the first DMOD by a female author. That doesn't really have anything to do with anything, of course, but I thought I'd note it for historical reference. She was just 13 when she released this one, which, um... has not been a good predictor for quality among DMODs thus far, let's say, especially among first efforts.
This DMOD doesn't really buck that trend, but you know, it's not completely terrible either. My expectations were pretty low, so it was more enjoyable than I thought it'd be. That's entirely on the strength of being oddly amusing, since the gameplay here is totally null. "Forest of Dangers" is amazingly short - I'm talking two minutes here. You start out with a huge max life that you've got no opportunity to fill, and your actual life is pretty low. There are some pillbugs at the start; if you want to win, you've got to beat them up and hope they drop some hearts. You should also make sure you don't get hit even once before the boss; otherwise, you will lose for sure. This isn't particularly hard to accomplish, though.
The tiny map looks okay, although with just three trees toward the start, I don't think it's much of a forest. Everything seems to work as intended except that some duck enemies aren't implemented properly and turn into arrows when they die. Great work putting the arrows in the duck's base death slot instead of using one of the many empty spots, RTSoft.
Although there's almost nothing to do, I got a bit of enjoyment out of how surreal the DMOD was - I'm reminded of "Scar of David" in that regard. Everything from the title to the author's bizarre insistence throughout that she is Santa Claus was quite weird in a way that amused me. It also featured this enjoyable exchange with an NPC who gives you a longsword:
"How much?"
"Oh, it's yours for free."
"..if I do something for you, right?
"No, it's just free."
"This is something quite new to me."
I dunno, I laughed. I guess it's because I've been playing my own DMOD, where EVERYBODY wants something from you.
After talking briefly with the odd NPCs, you proceed through some screens of ducks and pigs. There's no warning, but they will hurt you if you touch them, though there's no point to fighting them. When you get to the end of the line, there's an "old person" sprite who REALLY surprises you by having a dragon brain. If you manage to beat them on your small health, all you've got to do is return to the NPC hut and you're done.
I certainly wouldn't call it "good," but I had a better time with this trifle than with something frustrating like "9 Gems 2."
---
"Friends Beyond 3" is next. Holy crap, 2 map files? I didn't even know a DMOD had ever done such a thing.
