The Dink Network

Recondite Two: My FIAT Impressions

Because I've been at home for the past week (and with a slow dial-up connection), I haven't found any good links or anything cool to put in Recondite. So I decided to devote this week's to my impressions of FIAT. Be warned: these aren't in any good order, and they were wrote while I was tired. View the comments to read it:

I had worked on it for nearly two years, and yet FIAT did not turn out how I would have hoped. Or rather, I didn't actually have a plan on how I hoped it would turn out, so I couldn't really envision it as anything. I suppose that is part of the problem...

But before I detail the (many) pitfalls of FIAT, I'll briefly describe what I like the most about it:
  • Rain - I just like it. I'm trying to make a better rain technique for Hidthspace Revolution, but its quite hard.
  • Secret System - An almost perfect system for secrets (those 14 that are in the Cheat section of the main menu). It was made in response to Lost in Dink v2.0 comments, where finding a secret game forced the player to end the original quest prematurely.
  • Variable Damage - Having an air sword hurt earth enemies more is just plain good. This is the third revision of the technique, and a fourth will probably need to be made, in order to fix crashing problems some people experience.
  • Detail - I think I might've went a little overboard (with exceptions in regard to the Water dungeon, I just couldn't think of any details that would 'fit'). Most shelves are unique (carrying a mixture of books and potions), and so on. Most everything indoors has a script, except for the houses on Rife and Odvi.
  • Title screen - I like it.
My single biggest complaint with FIAT is the overall progress through the game. After the first island is completed, it is the same thing over and over (find way past obstacle to second half of island, reach dungeon, kill boss). Tada. I just feel it is too formulaic, but I doubt it if anybody else had problems with this.

The plot is... non-existant. Basically, King Daniel gets tricked into sending Dink to the Magik Isles, FIAT Awakens, Dink must get elemental spheres and kill FIAT. Tada. No twists at all. I suppose POTA is probably the most advanced plot in a D-Mod so far, where it actually attempts some plot events and such (witness the goblin attack on the castle, Shryke's double-crossing, and other points I can't remember). The overall plot for SOB was about as non-existant as in FIAT. Meet keeper's of the Stone of Balance. Collect Pieces of Stone. Kill bad guy (at least I think that was it).

However, the plot in FIAT wasn't supposed to be very involving or spectacular. FIAT and EOTv2.0 are sort of like an introduction to the plot, with many questions being asked. Hidthspace Revolution will answer most of them, others need to be thought out to get the answer (maybe). The plot will be much more dynamic in H.R.

On to the other problem: the quests. I didn't like most of them (but I really didn't want to change everything about the game so they stuck). Most of them are "do this for this person, get this item, give this item to this person" and so on. In that manner, I (perhaps foolishly) thought FIAT was way too easy. I mean, in just about every quest there is at least a hint or a person to tell you exactly what you need to do (exceptions are the first island, the fireplace and the dungeons). I hated SOB because of some of the quests gave no hints at all (like the pee in the pot one, even when I thought I knew what to do I found it near impossible). I thought I over-compensated with FIAT and gave too many blunt directions and hints, but everybody says how hard it is.

Of course, another major problem is the bugs. While none were too horrible (the mayor's daughter being the exception) they have caused quite a few problems. And with people reporting frequent crashes, I just wish FIAT would crash on me for once.

While the first two knight bosses were good (in my opinion), the last few were just... enemies. The Air Knight had a cool (and difficult, if you skipped past the hyper boots part on accident) effect, whereas the Earth knight had a nonsensicle weakness to him. But the Water, Fire, and Void bosses were just 'blah', no cool strategy to defeat them at all.

Most graphics were okay, though the elemental monsters were on their third revision (the first one where the monsters had elemental-colored shadows, the second where no shadows (and huge chunks missing from their bodies), and the current where they have shadows and black spots on their bodies). I like the skeletons on Odvi.

Thats all I can think of right now, though there are probably a lot more things I could write, I just can't think of any.