The Dink Network

Isle of Croth (The)

At the bottom of a well. From the COTPATD project.
August 4th, 2009
v1.3
Score : 7.0 good
death.gif
Dink is sent to the Isle of Croth to find out why they have not been sending gold to the King, and why previous envoys have failed to return. Upon arriving at the isle, Dink finds the townsfolk all dead, and the dead ... alive.

The Good:

This DMOD is a fun romp. There are many interesting things to do and to discover. The implementation is relatively solid, with no glaring bugs. Discovering the underground city is quite fun, in more ways than one.

The use of a limited range-of-sight in the underground caves is also very well done, and greatly helps to enhance the atmosphere of discovery.

The Bad:

The game isn't very well balanced. The beginning is extremely tough, but once you get to the underground city, the balance completely tips the other way. The potion shop, the ladies, and the casino (next to a savebot, no less, which is a bad idea since that is equivalent to free cash), pretty much makes an endless supply of stats. Once you get to this point, the game is pretty much trivial. The end boss is also orders of magnitude tougher than any other enemy, rather than a gradual buildup as you progress through the game.

It is possible, if you know exactly what to do, to get to the underground city with $5000 cash within 10 minutes or so of playing time. Once there, a visit to the right person (ahem) gets you an incredible stat boost of +10 to every attribute, which makes it very easy to earn another $5000, which gets you another stat boost, and ... you get the idea. The game is pretty much trivial from that point on. With a little patience, you can boost Dink's stats to ridiculous levels. (For example, on one play through, I managed to get 300+ in all 3 stats. I could kill dragons with a single punch from the fists, and the final boss's spells cost ZERO damage---only his touch attack still cause damage. I could pretty much have a picnic party in a room with 6 dragons, and take a nice nap before waking up to kill them with a poke from my finger.)

The game is also adult-rated, which limits its audience.

Overall, the game is fun as a romp, and Dink gets to take it out on the monsters once he gets the perks from the underground city. In terms of balance, though, it's not very well designed. Even without using the casino/savebot, it's possible to get your stats up to ridiculous levels very quickly. It seems that sex is the answer to everything in this game, which is rather pathetic if you think about it. I guess that is what makes many players love this DMOD, but objectively speaking, it isn't very well-balanced in terms of difficulty between the start and the end. In a nutshell, it's a fun, short romp, but the game balance leaves much to be desired.
November 9th, 2003
v1.3
Score : 9.5 exceptional
wizard.gif
matrice
Peasant They/Them
 
One of my all-time favourite dmods.

The map is relatively small, but there's more than enough to explore and do. The map is well worked out with just the right detail in every screen.
I much prefer a well-worked out small map like this over a bigger one where you have to keep tramping up and back again with little or nothing to do in most of the screens.

At the beginning the monsters are horrendously difficult, however, once you've visited the potions store and the lovely ladies, they become ridiculously easy. Great for the puzzlers amongst us as you just breeze through the fighting.

Gameplay IMHO is really balanced. Enough fighting to keep the fighters happy and enough puzzles to keep the puzzlers happy.

Lots of things are scripted and give clues, so talk to most everything.
Excellent scripting.

The only negative thing I could say about it, is that there are a few inny minny tiny hardness errors, but that really would be nitty picking to mention really.
Oh ... and once the game frooze up, but that was because two dialogues were active at the same time (I'm impatient, don't wait for the experience upgrade to finish before going back to the madam for more...)

Overall: bloody brilliant dmod.
January 30th, 2003
v1.3
Score : 9.5 exceptional
duckdie.gif
Isle of Croth is one of the best D-Mods. Island may look small, but it's double bigger in dungeons & towns counted! You should play this D-Mod if you're interested in Dink.
*****
Plot:
*****
Dink goes to vacation into Isle of Croth, but something strange is happening there. King hasn't received his gold supplies from island some time. Who's behind this? Plot is good, although I've seen better. *Average: 9.1*
*********
Graphics:
*********
Some new graphics: dice, lucky wheel, wh***s. No new magic. That's bad. *Average: 9.0*
******
Sound:
******
Nothing new, just plain old Dink midis. (Besides James Bond theme.)They fit the game good. I don't recognize new sounds usually, this time too. Nothing new I guess. *Average: 9.3*
*********
Gameplay:
*********
It was great. There was lots of doing and world was beatyfully decorated. Dungeons below town where great. I discovered bug where you won't broke the spinning platform with Lightsword. *Average: 9.8*
******
Other:
******
Well, whorehouse was new addition. Lantern is good looking at all. Difficulty level setting is great addition to game. You can buy megapotions to increase your stats ridicolous levels. That's why end boss can be easy if you can collect money for potions.
**********************
Final Decision... 9.5!
**********************
February 28th, 2002
v1.3
Score : 9.5 exceptional
duckdie.gif
Matthew
Peasant They/Them
 
This was my first quest. I have played SOB and POA plus the original Dink (twice).
Music--C. Nothing new (except for the james Bond music, which is also in SOB), but it wasn't too repetitive or annoying, either.
Sound effects--I didn't notice them. I usually don't.
Graphics--B. You've gotta love the naked women and the background in the last fight. I would have liked to see more innovation, though.
Coding--A-plus. There were very few bugs and they were minor.
World design--A-plus. You could interact with a lot of objects--like rocks, shelves, trees, people, holes, and much, much more. Excellent!
Combat--D. There were no new weapons, spells, or enemies; the zombies that dominated the board were slow and ridiculously easy to kill with the throwing axe; enemies only did one damage and died in one hit once you bought a few 6000-gp potions.
Difficulty--B-plus. I died about once a minute for the first 10-20 minutes, and it wasn't on purpose! This was very cool. However, there were huge numbers of potions--mainly superpotions--and you could buy potions for 6000 gold that inflated your stats to ridiculous levels. I finished with 200+ attack, 200+ defense, and 100+ magic, which made all enemies including the final boss do 1 damage. There were lots of puzzles and challenges, which were really interesting and innovative in many places, but the game became repetitive and easy near the end.
November 27th, 2005
v1.3
Score : 9.1 exceptional
sob_scorpy.gif
The Isle of Croth by Simon K. is spectacular.

I have to be honest and say that I wasn't expecting too much from this D-mod since the description sounded pretty generic and there was nothing new in the screenshots. I ended up being pleasantly surprised. Although there isn't much new graphically and musically speaking and the map is not very big, Simon makes use of the old textures brilliantly and the world is beautifully horrible, everywhere you look there is death and destruction. The plot is tried and true, not very original but it works and it plays out nicely. There are a lot of cool features, such as the ability to select the difficulty level you want to play on in the beginning and I must say there is a noticeable difference, though after you stock up on a few of the potions you can buy with the copious amounts of gold you amass, the end ends up being fairly easy no matter what.

Although I would have liked to see more variety with the monsters, this is a nice addition to the Dink universe.
August 10th, 2005
v1.3
Score : 9.6 exceptional
knightgl.gif
The Isle of Croth was one of the only dmods i have played that have added more to game without going to tomuch trouble making new graphics and more monsters

Game Play:
Good with more than enought monsters and skills to make the game more inseresting and playable with 3 skill settings

Music:
good and suited the situations

Graphics:
some new graphics are always nice to see and add somthin more to the game

Over All:
A good game that is worth playing 9.6
December 6th, 2004
v1.3
Score : 9.9 exceptional
duckdie.gif
Kusco
Peasant They/Them
 
I don't normally write reviews but I had such a good time with this DMod that I had to contribute. Great game play. I played in 'hero' mode and it was fine. I ran into one 'bug' where I got stuck in a wall in the mine. I just stayed father from the walls after that. Lots of goodies to get and I was able to level up to incredible heights which was quite fun. I enjoyed killing the zombies with ease at the end. Ha! This one was a blast.
July 6th, 2002
v1.3
Score : 9.8 exceptional
fish.gif
Binirit
Peasant She/Her
 
Dink has to find out what happened on the Isle of Croth.

I was truly amazed when I washed ashore on the island. I never saw such perfectly surroundings in which so many sprites were used in such a nice and innovative way. Exploring was a real treat and there was much to explore on only a couple of screens.
The difficulty levels are real cool, but the toughest one is really tough! The gameplay is good, as well as the storyline, the music and the humour. I liked the lantern in the caves too. And of course the gambling part, the bartender, and the brothel: you want to go back as many times as you can because you leave it more experienced every time!
This D-mod is one of my favourites and I recommend it wholeheartedly.
April 17th, 2002
v1.3
Score : 9.0 exceptional
fairy.gif
I really liked this dmod. Despite the *ahem* racy bits, it was really good. Good gameplay and a nice option that allows you to pick how easy or hard the game is. Good quests and weapons.
One part I didnt like was the lantern. I know that this is actually pretty cool as far as graphics go, but I like being able to see. Then again, it did add to the challenge of the game.
Perhaps the only other thing I can think of that would hurt this dmod's score would be the abundance of stone giants. There's really quite a lot of them. Then again, I suppose it depends which level you play at.
Overall, this is definitely one of my favorites.
December 23rd, 2001
v1.3
Score : 9.5 exceptional
peasantf.gif
grrl
Peasant They/Them
 
This is a cool DMOD. Just my kinda length. Great midis, great graphics, nice game play. And cool difficulty levels. And funny. Nice RPG stuff with brothel and gambling den. Shame it doesn’t have new magic, but all the other stuff was cool. I’ve played this DMOD many times. Play it now if you haven’t. 9.5
December 6th, 2001
v1.3
Score : 9.0 exceptional
sob_scorpb.gif
One of my favorites. This game can keep you occupied for a long time. From the graphics, to the midis', to the original ideas (ie..the brothel), this game was obviously one that the author worked hard on making original and challanging. If you just finished the original Dink, and are looking for one with the same quality, this is one of them.
December 5th, 2001
v1.3
Score : 8.5 good
bonca.gif
Christiaan
Bard They/Them Netherlands
Lazy bum 
This is one of the best D-Mods. No kidding. Solid gameplay, good graphics and a good plot.
GRAPHICS 8,4: Very cool. details details details. New graphics look good (the girls hehehe
SOUND 8,3: Nifty midis. Average sound effects. The music suits the game.
GAMEPLAY 8,7: VERY solid. Collect many potions. Fight tough enemies. Examine strange bookcases. I like it!
LASTING APPEAL 8,6: Not too long, not too short. Just good.
TOTAL: 8.5
December 4th, 2001
v1.3
Score : 9.2 exceptional
fish.gif
This is one of the best dmods. The overall is that original, but very classical rpg. It is quite difficult at the beginning of the game if you did choose the difficult one. But as game went on, if you did not die, the game became easier. The options to purchase some upgrade potions or sleep with girls (Is Dink old enought?!) are great, however it might completely throw out the balance of the game difficulty if you go back to kill more baddies with lots of gold. (This is Simon's trend, I guess.)
Nicely done plot and no bugs (or no important bugs I can remember).
In short, if you like RPG's or if you just like good dmod's, this is one of the dmods you must play.

Some adult graphics, though. So those who are less than 18 years old should ask their parents' permission or guidence to play this one. Am I kidding.