Throne of Darkness

"Diablo II clone? Not quite, but that's alright!"

After having played my self silly (and killed two mice) with the wonderful slashfest that is Diablo II, it slowly started to get a little stale. Even with the long-awaited 1.10 patch it's the same game, and it's out for about what? Four years now? So I looked around for games in the same vein and happened to stumble across Throne Of Darkness by Click/Sierra.
This game was supposedly made by some guys who were involved with Diablo/D2, so I thought I knew what to expect, sort of.

Story: 2/10
Setting: 10/10
Why a separate score for this? Simple. The story is nothing more like the same "good guys have to kill evil fiend who was made a demon bent on world domination/destruction". Lame. And the designers did away with the cinematics of D2 too. There is, however, a beautiful opening movie in cartoon/anime style that nicely shows off what to expect. Fierce bloodletting :-)

The setting, on the other hand, deserves note and praise. Instead of the "typical" fantasy setting inspired by medieval Europe, Throne Of Darkness (ToD hereafter) unleashes feudal Japan, complete with all their demons, nature spirits and some weird stuff the designers cooked up, which makes for a refreshing change of pace. They went as far as using the japanese names for weapon and armor, which causes a little irritation, since telling a koshi-mono (small curved short sword) from a yoshimichi (some kind of mask/helm) can get a little tricky if your Japanese skills consist only of "hai", "iie" and "domo arigato, CJayC-sama". But it adds TONS of style and flavor.

Controls: 8/10
The game is mainly mouse driven, like Diablo/D2. Shortcuts exist, but strangely two of the most useful features didn't receive any, which hurts sometimes, since the game can get pretty frantic at times. Overall, the interface is not overly complicated to use, and the wealth of options the player has are usually just one or two mouse clicks away.

Gameplay: 7/10
The game was often referred to as a Diablo clone, which may be true somewhat, if you compare the general mechanics (hack'n'slash style with a few crumbs of RPG thrown in). But ToD distinguishes itself from the first moment on. First and foremost, you have not one, but SEVEN characters available at all times (after finding them in the first ten minutes of gameplay), with a party of four out monster hunting and three in reserve. Since no one, not even some crazy mutants from mars with multiple appendages, could possibly control four characters at once (at least not in real time), the designers made a couple of good choices. They implemented a tactics editor, where you can assign each of your four heroes a specific position and duty to perform. For example, if you happen to have a mage, two warriors and an archer in your party, you ideally want to keep the mage and archer out of the fray, since they are a LOT more susceptible to harm than the sword-swingers up front. So you can bring up the tactics editor, pick a "slot" of choice (you can create and save up to fifteen tactics, keyed to specific animals like turtle, dragon or serpent) and then you see a box with four colored and marked dots inside. Each dot represents a character, the top of the box is the "front line" and you can move the characters around. But not only that, you can assign spells, weapon usage and aggression level for each character separately. That makes the aforementioned example (melee guys up front, casters/archers back row) one of the most easy things to create. I haven't tried all variants, but the possibilities are endless in this field alone.
In the end you control one of your guys, while the AI handles the rest, and does perform pretty well, although your AI companions have the tendency to be lured away and get slaughtered. Good that the designers allowed character change with a simple button press.

Another brilliant thing is the weapon maker. As soon as you find the missing blacksmith, you can access his smithy from everywhere in the game and have him build stuff for you. To do that, he needs raw materials and gold. The first can be salvaged from defeated enemies, the second drops in pretty generous quantities. Instead of selling unused stuff, it is converted into "parts" from which to construct new (and better) gear. A simple Katana costs a handful of gold and perhaps 10 part units, whereas a mighty Zanba-To can cost about 50-60 gold and a likewise amount of parts. So packratting pays off, at least in the early stages of the game.
Every weapon and armor comes with slots, not unlike those in D2, where you can insert magic components, which can be earned from killed foes as well. They perform much the same way the gems work in D2, only they vary in size, from one socket for gems up to six or eight sockets for demon carapaces. High-End gear can have 20+ sockets, so you can heavily customize your stuff.

The priest is handy too. He can be called from everywhere as well and offers such nifty services as identifying and uncursing (although it all costs hefty sums of money), sells potions and lets you offer unwanted magic items to the gods for a quick gain in spell points. No, not magic energy, but points to buy spells (and spell-like abilities) with. In contrast to D2, where you get your skill point every level, you are awarded with spell points at seemingly random intervals or when you make enough sacrifices. Since magic items are rather quick to come by and selling is not an option, it's a pretty good way to keep your inventories sorted.

Speaking of inventories. Here it gets a little annoying. First, you can not store stuff outside your characters. No chest like in D2. Furthermore, you have SEVEN inventories, each about the size of Diablo II's, to deal with. This causes a WHOLE LOT of micromanagement, juggling items to and fro, switching gear around etc. It can become a logistical nightmare. I found myself stuck about 60% of my playing time rummaging in inventories.

The fact that only four of your guys are active at any one time can cause some trouble too. Imagine the following: You have your party and level them all to about level 6 in one go, without switching any character in or out. Since experience is not shared in the party, only the active characters get their share of experience points, the guys at home are still level 1. If your first party should get their butt handed back to them, you either have to go back to your last save or try to scrape on with your green level 1 guys. So, regular switching of characters is in order, which keeps the game pretty challenging at low levels.

Oh yeah, and adding to this micro-management issue is the fact that all characters, even the hefty melee guys, have four spell trees each, relating to the four elements (fire, water, earth, lightning) and gain spell points for each skill tree seperately. On the one hand that allows more freedom in choosing what to boost, but adds to the bookkeeping. Oh well.

Graphics: 7/10
Nicely drawn 2D backgrounds and sprites in an isometric perspective. The levels are finely detailled, with lots of furniture and decoration objects littered around. It's a lot more cramped than in D2, execpt in the outdoor areas, where they both are on par. The lighting and spell effects are done nicely too. The only major gripe I have is that either the resolution is too low or the camera is too close in. That makes the characters and monsters nice to behold, but it impedes strategic planning, especially when the (zoomable) automap window is open. That alone was the reason for some humiliating defeats.

Music: 5/10
SFX : 9/10
The music consists of low ambient songs played on japanese instruments like the koto or reed flute, but it doesn't reach the quality level of say, Battle Realms. But it doesen't annoy either.

The SFX are well done, sound pretty authentic (at least as far as weapon sounds are concerned) and come crystal clear. I had the mixed blessings of playing the german version, which boasts voiceovers for the conversations that are awfully amateurish. They aren't as bad as the ones in the german version of Neverwinter Nights (which is a nightmare to listen to), but the voice talents are pretty lame. The japanese war cries and orders at tactics change make up for that easily, though.

Lasting appeal/Buy or Rent: 8/10
With four clans (translates into four starting points and three specific quests per clan), random maps and endless customisation options, not to mention the ability to play with up to eight guys in LAN or over the 'Net, ToD certainly delivers - as long as you can stomach the micro-management. For those who want a change from D2, it's a must-buy (should be in bargain bins everywhere by now). For those who don't like D2 or have little patience: Best stay away.

Hai!
- Huge game with many optional areas
- Endless customization options
- Seven distinct characters available, choose a party of four and hunt some Tengu!
- Nice tactics system
- fresh setting for an action-RPG

Iie!
- The visible area onscreen is too small
- Micro-management nightmare
- Items break way too fast
- no custom keymap (shame, you!)

Final Verdict: 7/10 (not averaged)
With a little more finetuning (or another patch or two) and a zoomable main playing field (like in SACRED, perhaps?) this game could have rivaled Diablo 2 for the Throne Of Hack'n'Slash goodness. But as is, its just a runner-up behind the almighty horned shadow. But damn close.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/07/04