The Dink Network

Dream Weaver: Silent Knight

February 28th, 2004
v0.99
Score : 7.8 good
duck.gif
Tal
Noble He/Him United States
Super Sexy Tal Pal 
Illusivefing makes his D-Modding debut with Dream Weaver: Silent Knight, an entry into the Dink Network's Weird D-Mod contest. While the "weirdness" of the D-Mod is questionable, it does have its own very slight differences from others, and it's an indication that illusivefing could become a prominent D-Mod developer.

Dink is spending time in a town named Dreamweaver when he awakes from a peculiar dream. He embarks on a head trip full of fond memories, teleportation devices, and progress-saving bodies of flame. The memories are skewed, however, when some of Dink's fondest acquaintances lash out at him and become homicidal freaks, and other generally peculiar events occur. Naturally, Dink has to get to the bottom of his funky thoughts. (At least, this is how I interpreted it - having taken a week-long break between the first half and the latter half of the D-Mod, I may have missed something.) The story is not going to have your jaw dropping in amazement, but it suffices for a D-Mod of this size, and it easily beats most D-Mod plots.

The gameplay in this D-Mod works out well. You have the typical combat and leveling, though power-leveling is not required and the overall combat experience is smooth. There is also a well-executed puzzle that is neither too simple nor mind-boggling. Also, there are the obligatory item-fetching quests, though none (as far as I recall) are direct requests from villagers, which brings me to my next point: The one thing that I like the most about this D-Mod is that, while nothing is ever too obvious, the objectives are easy to follow and spare you a lot of frustration. The overall execution of the adventure is impressively smooth.

The D-Mod features an extremely minimal amount of new graphics, and the land seemed somewhat bland in places, but the original Dink graphics were used well enough for the most part. On the contrary, the music in the game is very good, and I don't recall any moment where the music did not seem to fit. I was particularly fond of the end battle's music, as well as the use of Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy."

The only major problem I had with this D-Mod is the overall lack of what is defined as "weird" in a D-Mod. Dream Weaver was submitted for the Weird D-Mod contest, in which D-Mods with radically different gameplay (i.e. a backgammon mod or a unique arcade shooter of some sort) were meant to be showcased; however, the game plays out like most other D-Mods. The author did mention at one point that the game would've been "weirder" if not for time constraints, yet I still feel somewhat disappointed. Nevertheless, this does not detract from the gameplay experience itself, so any negative impact this may have on the overall review is minimal.

Dream Weaver is a very good start for illusivefing in the development sector of the community, and it serves as a fitting prelude to the upcoming Wizards of the Coastal Piracy series, which I hope sees the light of day eventually. Dink lovers should be on the lookout; with a little work, illusivefing may very well make a significant mark in the community soon enough.