The Dink Network

Dink Smallwood

January 23rd, 2002
v1.06
Score : 9.0 exceptional
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I guess everyone in Dink community just loves Dink, or otherwise they won't be in Dink community. Well, I like to say something AGAINST Dink, and hopefully I won't be banned from this community.

Dink Smallwood has many classical RPG characters with some unique Seth humor. However, compared with those classical adventure/rpg games like Wizardry series, Ultima series, and King Quest Series, Dink Smallwood somehow fells behind.

The weakest part of the game is the magic system. The only useful spell is fireball/hellfire (they are basically the same type of fireball-throw spell). POA and SOB have more and better magic spells.

The real-time battle system is just a OK. Attack-and-retreat trick works fine, but that's it. If you are not good at bow like me, you would have some difficulties in several occassions. But if you are good at bow, most of the monsters are just plain stupid.

The graphics and sounds are also an OK, too. Even in 1998, 256-color bmp graphics and only midi and wav sounds are still subpar for a 2D/3D rpg game. For example, U7 is much smaller and released much earlier, but it has similar quality or even better in some aspects.

Judging from the map, at least 10 percent of the plot was abandoned due to commericial and schedule reasons, I guess. It's a shame.

Gameplay is quite simple and great. Screen by screen design makes it easier for DMODers to do the job, but sometimes it is annoying if you accidentally leave the screen while fighting a tough battle.

The biggest plus of this game is the ability for anybody to develop a rpg game without doing the hardest coding. That's the reason I started Dinking in the first place.