The Dink Network

Karel ende Elegast

The cast of characters. From the COTPATD project.
Description
Dink gets banished from the kingdom and turns to stealing (only from the rich, of course). One night he meets a strange person...

This is an interactive film. You don't really have much influence over the story, you just get to play a few scenes. The story is one of the oldest written stories in the world: Charlemagne and Elbegast (original Dutch name: Karel ende Elegast). If you don't know the story (well), I won't spoil it for you here.
Released:January 8th, 2012
File Size:622.62 KB
Downloads:312
Release Notes:Initial version.
Play:Play this D-Mod right now in your web browser! (More Info)
 
September 9th, 2012
v1.00
Score : 4.0 tolerable
anon.gif
Absolution
Peasant They/Them
The Dark Lord of the DN. 
Preface
Elegast, or elf spirit, is the hero of a Medieval Dutch Poem. The epic poem written at the end of the 12th century described Elegast as a banished noble by Charlemagne. It also describes the hero as a knight on a black steed, but we all know Dink is none of these things. So why do we have the basic plot of the epic poem with Dink Smallwood as the replacement for our hero?
Story
The story of Karel ende Elegast centers around Elegast, or in this case, Dink Smallwood, who has been banished by his lord Charlemagne, or in this case, King Daniel of Goodheart. Just like in the original epic, Dink now lives as an outcast in a forest. He's taken to being a thief, but in the midst of his thievery he comes across a plot to assassinate the king. The plot is very good, but that's probably because it was originally the plot to a medieval poem from hundreds of years ago.
8.5/9.9
Mapping and Scripting
The maps were incredibly lackluster apart from the forest after hearing about the plot to assassinate King Daniel. The maps prior to that, however, had little to no detail whatsoever. I found myself pitted instantly in an unfamiliar location with no back story as to why I was here. After obtaining a flower for some strange reason (probably explained in the poem, or I just didn't pay any attention), I am allowed to enter the large but very empty home of Eggeric. After wandering around for some time, I obtained a nice sum of money and some pointless information about the scrolls, papers, and food just lying around on tables. Afterwards, I tried to go north but couldn't due to voices. For some reason, which might have been that I presented the gold pieces to my nameless friend outside, I was allowed to go back and enter Eggeric's room. There didn't seem to be any errors in the game I played, but rather just error on my part as a player. What I played did play smooth, but it felt incredibly bland without any kind of classical music to match the setting. The battle against Eggeric was strange in that, most of my attacks went through him. It turns out I had to be right in his face, quite literally, to be able to deal any damage to him. The story of Dink's love with Daniel's sister is lightly touched upon and very quickly resolved.
3.5/9.9
Replay Value
There's not much here to warrant another playthrough, though it did come off as a slightly decent DMOD. If you liked the story, it might be worth another playthrough, but I'm afraid the gameplay is barely there.
2.0/9.9
Overall and final Comments
The story was very good, but told rather poorly. If the gameplay were worked on a bit, the music added, and the plot worked on to make it more in depth, this could be a very good Dink adaptation of the original poem.

Final Score
4.0

Late Edit
Strangely enough, just now on my second playthrough, I noticed that if you press start on the main menu, you must wait for about a minute before the game actually starts. Originally, I thought that the start button was nonfunctional, so I tried continue which instantly transported me to where I was on my last playthrough. On my current playthrough, I noticed that after waiting a good sum of time after pressing start, you do get a backstory. Well, big mistake on my part. Whatever. Final score bumped up .5 points.
TopicPostsPosterLast Post
Absolution's review6shevekOctober 31st 2012, 11:56 PM