Helpin' the Ol' Duck Farmer
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- Author(s): DaVince
- Categories: D-Mod, Romp
- Downloads: 132
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When I first tried Helpin' the Ol' Duck Farmer a few weeks ago, when its most recent version was 2.0, I was not satisfied with it at all. The pillbugs in the D-Mod were far too numerous for my liking, and in addition, their difficulty rose a bit too quickly. (Or at least, this is how I seem to remember it.) Aggravated, I gave up on the D-Mod about halfway through it. Upon the third release of the D-Mod, though, I decided to give it another chance. While I was able to play through it completely this time around, as the difficulty seems to have been balanced out more this time, I was still incredibly displeased.
As you go through the beginning of the D-Mod, it seems as though it could be designed reasonably well. The trees on the first screen are slightly humorous, speaking to you if you hit them or interact with them otherwise. You then encounter the duck farmer a few screens away, who asks that you defeat the mother pillbug in exchange for a reasonable amount of gold. It sounds fair enough, you may think; perhaps there will be some interesting encounters along the way...
Well, friends, I've got news for you: there aren't any. There's a woman who'll give you fireball magic if you possess enough Magic points, but achieving the number she wants is incredibly time-consuming and dull if you don't find the megapotions and such hiding around; there's a lumberjack who serves no purpose whatsoever; and there's a fellow near the end of the game that's only slightly more interesting and worthwhile than the lumberjack. All the other screens between, of which there are around 40, are filled with pillbugs. Lots and lots of pillbugs. You may not initially find this bothersome, but after about 30 minutes - if not sooner - you will grow exceedingly tired of the same old thing. By the time I got into the caves, even, I just stopped fighting pillbugs altogether; the experience the most difficult ones give you is not worth the length of time it takes to defeat them. As for the boss battle - oh, the boss battle! It's somewhat creative, I'll give it that much credit, but out of the 45 minutes or so I played the game, I'd swear at least a quarter of that time was spent on the boss! It was far too time consuming and aggravating to be hailed as a good battle at all.
There isn't much else to say about the D-Mod, really. There's nothing new to the sounds or graphics, but for the most part the implementations are done well. There are also very few bugs in the game (outside of the pillbug variety): I only noticed maybe an object or two lacking hardness, a line appearing over the wrong character, and maybe other miniscule mistakes.
As much as it pains me to say this, I can't recommend this D-Mod to anyone, except maybe those of you who actually enjoy fighting gobs of the same enemy over and over again. I'd also like to add that I usually try not to read any other user reviews prior to reviewing a D-Mod, but I did notice some of the scores this is receiving - I hate to sound too harsh, but I don't see how people can praise this so much. Regardless, from playing this, I can tell that DaVince has the capability to make a polished, enjoyable D-Mod. If he could bring some variety to the table too, then perhaps we'd have something worthwhile.
As you go through the beginning of the D-Mod, it seems as though it could be designed reasonably well. The trees on the first screen are slightly humorous, speaking to you if you hit them or interact with them otherwise. You then encounter the duck farmer a few screens away, who asks that you defeat the mother pillbug in exchange for a reasonable amount of gold. It sounds fair enough, you may think; perhaps there will be some interesting encounters along the way...
Well, friends, I've got news for you: there aren't any. There's a woman who'll give you fireball magic if you possess enough Magic points, but achieving the number she wants is incredibly time-consuming and dull if you don't find the megapotions and such hiding around; there's a lumberjack who serves no purpose whatsoever; and there's a fellow near the end of the game that's only slightly more interesting and worthwhile than the lumberjack. All the other screens between, of which there are around 40, are filled with pillbugs. Lots and lots of pillbugs. You may not initially find this bothersome, but after about 30 minutes - if not sooner - you will grow exceedingly tired of the same old thing. By the time I got into the caves, even, I just stopped fighting pillbugs altogether; the experience the most difficult ones give you is not worth the length of time it takes to defeat them. As for the boss battle - oh, the boss battle! It's somewhat creative, I'll give it that much credit, but out of the 45 minutes or so I played the game, I'd swear at least a quarter of that time was spent on the boss! It was far too time consuming and aggravating to be hailed as a good battle at all.
There isn't much else to say about the D-Mod, really. There's nothing new to the sounds or graphics, but for the most part the implementations are done well. There are also very few bugs in the game (outside of the pillbug variety): I only noticed maybe an object or two lacking hardness, a line appearing over the wrong character, and maybe other miniscule mistakes.
As much as it pains me to say this, I can't recommend this D-Mod to anyone, except maybe those of you who actually enjoy fighting gobs of the same enemy over and over again. I'd also like to add that I usually try not to read any other user reviews prior to reviewing a D-Mod, but I did notice some of the scores this is receiving - I hate to sound too harsh, but I don't see how people can praise this so much. Regardless, from playing this, I can tell that DaVince has the capability to make a polished, enjoyable D-Mod. If he could bring some variety to the table too, then perhaps we'd have something worthwhile.
Helpin' the Ol' Duck Farmer is quite well done, but it has little new to offer to make it interesting to play.
The music, though changes a little too often for my liking, fits the dmod very well. Dialogue is well done, and pretty funny. Aside that the dmod is ordinary and linear. There are no new graphics, sounds, nothing. Lots of goodies are hidden behind bigger objects like trees, and while this alone isn't a bad thing, these are the only type of secrets there are (either that, or then I suck). There are only one type of enemies to fight, too.
Helpin' the Ol' Duck Farmer would do for a subquest in a longer dmod, but on it's own it's too boring.
The music, though changes a little too often for my liking, fits the dmod very well. Dialogue is well done, and pretty funny. Aside that the dmod is ordinary and linear. There are no new graphics, sounds, nothing. Lots of goodies are hidden behind bigger objects like trees, and while this alone isn't a bad thing, these are the only type of secrets there are (either that, or then I suck). There are only one type of enemies to fight, too.
Helpin' the Ol' Duck Farmer would do for a subquest in a longer dmod, but on it's own it's too boring.
This is quite a good D-Mod. It has some good music and humor. The pillbugs are well enough (if you find the potions and stuff). The endboss was very good creating pillbugs and all. The story was quite good too. I guess that deserves a 7,5 for a first D-Mod. Keep on going Davince!
I didn't like the DMod at all.
Good: Some good humor and the idea of the Hero unemployment board was good.
Bad: No new graphics. the forest looks odd and is badly done. The fignting was a biti too easy.
Overall: It was a fair DMod, not having great challenge but will be looking forward for more DMods from Da Vinci
Score: 6
Good: Some good humor and the idea of the Hero unemployment board was good.
Bad: No new graphics. the forest looks odd and is badly done. The fignting was a biti too easy.
Overall: It was a fair DMod, not having great challenge but will be looking forward for more DMods from Da Vinci
Score: 6
I would not recommend downloading this dmod. It is quite well made, with no bugs, but too short, easy, and uninnovative.
Style: 7
Some stuff is scripted, and the end is funny. The map is reasonably well-decorated, but exceedingly small (compare to Matoya). Similarly, a large percentage of objects are scripted, but there aren't a lot of objects. Likewise, the characters are good, but there are only two of them, and they don't have to react to many events because almost no events occur. It is much easier to respect this sort of attention to detail in a bigger game.
Really, there just isn't a lot here: simply a short dmod on a small map. More importantly, except for the story, there's nothing really innovative about it. A lot of first dmods ooze creativity. This one, while bugless and well-crafted, seemed pretty old-fashioned. No new graphics, no new spells, etc.
The humor is good.
Gameplay: 4
Too easy and too short. There are very few tasks, and these are neither interesting, hard to find, or challenging to accomplish. The fighting is (IMO) way too easy as well.
Story: 8
I liked the story. The "hero unemployment" thing is gold...
Overall: 6.3 I agree with Carrie in that I'd like to see Vince put out more games, but I wouldn't bother playing this one unless you really don't want a challenge.
Style: 7
Some stuff is scripted, and the end is funny. The map is reasonably well-decorated, but exceedingly small (compare to Matoya). Similarly, a large percentage of objects are scripted, but there aren't a lot of objects. Likewise, the characters are good, but there are only two of them, and they don't have to react to many events because almost no events occur. It is much easier to respect this sort of attention to detail in a bigger game.
Really, there just isn't a lot here: simply a short dmod on a small map. More importantly, except for the story, there's nothing really innovative about it. A lot of first dmods ooze creativity. This one, while bugless and well-crafted, seemed pretty old-fashioned. No new graphics, no new spells, etc.
The humor is good.
Gameplay: 4
Too easy and too short. There are very few tasks, and these are neither interesting, hard to find, or challenging to accomplish. The fighting is (IMO) way too easy as well.
Story: 8
I liked the story. The "hero unemployment" thing is gold...
Overall: 6.3 I agree with Carrie in that I'd like to see Vince put out more games, but I wouldn't bother playing this one unless you really don't want a challenge.
DaVince's first dmod is awesome.The music is refreshingly new and
there are no bugs I could see.Except the pillbugs.*bwahaha*
I liked the 'chick' who hits back and had no trouble finding
secret things that were slightly hidden.The end-boss was not too
hard and not too easy,just right.I liked the idea of the Hero
Unemployment Board.Very funny.It didn't take very long to finish the
game but it was well worth playing.Nicely made.I can't wait to see
more games from this dmod author.
there are no bugs I could see.Except the pillbugs.*bwahaha*
I liked the 'chick' who hits back and had no trouble finding
secret things that were slightly hidden.The end-boss was not too
hard and not too easy,just right.I liked the idea of the Hero
Unemployment Board.Very funny.It didn't take very long to finish the
game but it was well worth playing.Nicely made.I can't wait to see
more games from this dmod author.
Very nice little game with lots of coding for your hitting pleasure. The game is quick and easy to figure out, though I would have liked to find an axe so i could chop those pesky trees down. There were plenty of potions lying about so the end boss was beatable. I saw no hardness errors, no new graphics, and heard no new sounds, but I do look forward to more from this author.
