Dungeon Lords

[Myrthos]

Dungeon Lords is a real-time 3D full freedom 3rd person perspective fantasy role-playing and action game. It comprises a unique offering of Personal Character (PC) development in a world filled with NPC interactive characters and game quests, as the player journeys through an enchanted land of ancient castles and dungeon lairs to engage in real-time tactical combat action against a variety of deadly foes, from monstrous creatures to powerful wizards, from undead lords to greater demons. Dungeon Lords can be played either single-player stand alone, or in multi-player group sessions.
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/reference?ref=0&id=228)

[Zephyr]

Worst. Effing. Game. Ever.

[Corwin]

Perhaps not quite, but it certainly comes VERY close.

[GothicGothicness]

Isn't it a bit late to be posting about this game ?

[JDR13]

I agree DL sucked for the most part, but the "epic badness" tends to be exaggerated imo. If you approach it as a simplistic action-RPG, it's really not that terrible.

I also think a lot of people had overly high expectations because it was a D.W. Bradley game.

[Zaleukos]

What JDR said. I kinda enjoyed it as a coop game, but it sure was far from perfect...

[coaster]

I tried playing it recently (with an open mind) but I couldn't stand the combat. Oh and it crashed with a corrupted savegame so I lost most of my progress (admittedly I hadn't got very far).

[DArtagnan]

I thought it was ok, with a lot of neat features - actually.

[zakhal]

Installed the delaxe edition and played it recently. Very nice. Its challenging, suprising and interesting something that many modern games fail to deliver.

Of course I had no expections because everyone bad mouthed it.

[Igor]

Played it before and liked, didn't find major game breaking bugs and was quite fun, especially in lan game, ofc be that time I was not spoiled with better rpg games, liked the system of pick lock of treasure chest, anyway I think it is not that bad and deserves a try, especially playing in lan.

[Turjan]

I tried to play it, but did not like it at all. Those ridiculous respawns that slide down from the mountain slopes made me lose all interest in the game.

However, I had an acquaintance who is an avid cRPG player and who was weirdly fascinated by this game and loved it to bits. I could understand some of it when I watched a "Let's Play" once and saw that the story wasn't quite as inane as the presentation. It's just that the respawning and the lifeless city destroy the immersion that I like in RPGs.

[xSamhainx]

i can tolerate some flaws, but this one had me uninstalling a day later.

Lifes too short for bad games!

[ToddMcF2002]

Mike... ohhhh Miiiike...

[txa1265]

mike… ohhhh miiiike…

shaddup! :d

[skavenhorde]

I liked it. I bought the collectors edition as well even though I knew I was getting screwed. I had to because I was playing the original with my mom back home and we both wanted the latest version. It wasn't perfect, but we had fun and got my money's worth out of it.

Wish they fixed Nether magic. There were a few upper level spells you could make, but would do nothing at all.

[txa1265]

I liked it. I bought the collectors edition as well even though I knew I was getting screwed. I had to because I was playing the original with my mom back home and we both wanted the latest version. It wasn't perfect, but we had fun and got my money's worth out of it.

As I likely mentioned in one of my too many articles on DL I also bought it on Impulse during the very short time it was available (and paid all of $5 or so!), so now I can simply install it anywhere ... :) Crap ... looks like I'll have to install it again!

[SirJames]

Yeah, it was a shit game for sure... But it was a potentially good 2.5D game if they didnt go for very average 3D graphics (even for its launch dates standards).

It did have co-op and the campaign was pretty decently set up for it.

The level design was actually pretty great?

Was just very unpolished. Just a few changes like a quest direction thing on your compass like in skyrim would make it play so much smoother. Far less "ok, wtf do i do now... ahh, quit out. uninstall? maybe ill give it another chance" then you do a year later and start playing and think "well, its not THAT bad" then get about as far as the time before and go "nah, fuck this". :)

you know what i mean, right? :D

[ToddMcF2002]

As I likely mentioned in one of my too many articles on DL I also bought it on Impulse during the very short time it was available (and paid all of $5 or so!), so now I can simply install it anywhere … :) Crap … looks like I'll have to install it again!

Yes but Mike you could of had a cheeseburger with that $5 dollars. Life is full of these little regrets...

[Sir Markus]

Christ almighty stop playing this game if you know what's good for you. It has bells and whistles that might make you have hope, but it's just a smokescreen. It's one of the worst games ever, so do yourself a favor and uninstall immediately.

[Dhruin]

It's a steaming pile of shit. My time is too important to play this.

[xSamhainx]

LOL wow. I always love reading DL commentary, it always brings out the comedy!

[chamr]

It's a steaming pile of shit.

Wow. Hyperbole much? Jeez.

DL certainly earned some of the vitriol received, mostly for over promising and under delivering. But to put it on par with the worst of the worst is just plain silly exaggeration. Sorry, but it is.

[Moriendor]

Wow. Hyperbole much? Jeez.

DL certainly earned some of the vitriol received, mostly for over promising and under delivering. But to put it on par with the worst of the worst is just plain silly exaggeration. Sorry, but it is.

Judging by the demo I'd say that Dhruin was very polite and understating what a massively stinking pile of diarrhea shit this abortion of a game actually was ;) .
After my experience with the demo I have no idea how anyone in this world would have gotten the idea to voluntarily buy this game but, well, people buy Pokemon, Teletubbies and crap like that, too, so might as well buy some Dungeon Lords shit as well, eh?
Heck, some people go to a whorehouse and pay real money to get shat or pissed on because it makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside (and out!).
There's all sorts of weird stuff I luckily don't have to (or don't want to) understand but as long as it's legal and no one gets hurt in the process... more power to you. Have fun with DL!

[CrazyIrish]

Its been years and I'm still mad at D.W. Bradley for this one.

[Corwin]

Having played RPG's for over 20 years, DL was one of the worst I ever bought and it's creator and publisher will never see another cent from me EVA!!

[ToddMcF2002]

What the game really needed was more rats in Fargrove. More respawns = more fun.

[txa1265]

What the game really needed was more rats in Fargrove. More respawns = more fun.

And don't forget that the respawns were so epic that the entire universe stuttered at their arrival ...

... all this nostalgia makes me want to go to the Inn at Fargrove and take a rest in front of the fire in my room and totally forego the bed ... ;)

[ToddMcF2002]

Didn't they add a couple chairs in Fargrove in the Collectors Edition aka pay fer patch? Uber realism right there!

[CrazyIrish]

My favorite was the hilly water. I remember getting to a lake of some sort for the first time. I swam around for a minute and then ragequit.

[chamr]

Oh, the drama! Hilly water! Missing furniture! Re-spawns you could turn down in the options! Stuttering! How could I have ever thought this game was fun?!?! *rollseyes*

And thanks, Moriendor, for your post that contributed... um... absolutely nothing constructive. Hope you got your day's quota of jollies from typing naughty things on teh interwebs!

Look, you can hate the game because you didn't like it or were pissed off at D.W. for lying or saw the CE as a crass and dishonest money-grab. But to dissuade people from looking into a cheap copy of the CE today by implying that the game is completely unplayable and/or unenjoyable is wrong, imho. I enjoyed it, my friends enjoyed it (multi can be really fun) and lots of people whose opinions I respect enjoyed it, and we're not all morons. Voicing your opinion is fine, but going overboard is, well, going overboard.

[ToddMcF2002]

Point taken. For the right price why not, but that would mean free. It would be about as much fun as watching stupid people getting hurt on YouTube. Then again you can do that for free and without an install so on second thought no, sorry.

[txa1265]

Look, you can hate the game because you didn't like it or were pissed off at D.W. for lying or saw the CE as a crass and dishonest money-grab. But to dissuade people from looking into a cheap copy of the CE today by implying that the game is completely unplayable and/or unenjoyable is wrong, imho. I enjoyed it, my friends enjoyed it (multi can be really fun) and lots of people whose opinions I respect enjoyed it, and we're not all morons. Voicing your opinion is fine, but going overboard is, well, going overboard.

I have always said that I enjoyed it more than I should. Played it a few hours last year and it is still a blast.

[Sir Markus]

My take is the game had plenty going for it, but just wasn't done right. Bradley should have had somebody that he trusted (that wasn't as computer savvy) telling him when he was making design mistakes. The guy obviously has acumen for making good games, but clunky garbage is never is never going to sell unless it's hardcore CRPG fans.

[ToddMcF2002]

Years from now, on my deathbed, I'm still going to be pissed.

[Dhruin]

Wow. Hyperbole much? Jeez.

DL certainly earned some of the vitriol received, mostly for over promising and under delivering. But to put it on par with the worst of the worst is just plain silly exaggeration. Sorry, but it is.

I'm sorry, but it isn't.

It is absolutely among the worst - if not possibly the worst - game I have ever played. You can dismiss the hilly water and missing furniture if you want -I firmly believe the game has the depth of a small paper bag and, regrettably, Bradley had no idea what he was doing when he "designed" the core mechanics. Yes, the multi-class combinations sound interesting (if silly when you think about the logic) but, in practice, they have no depth at all.

I can't help that a whole bunch of skills and Guild bonuses didn't work when I played it. Perhaps they are fixed - I'm not going to pay (or waste my time to find out).

MP is fun? Good for you. I don't play multi (ever) - glad you enjoyed it.

You have a bunch of friends who liked it? I'm not sure what your point is. I have a bunch of friends who hated it - do we duke it out or something? You can give me their names, though - I know not to trust their recommendations. Feel free to tell them to ignore my recommendations as well, 'cause clearly we don't see eye to eye.

If people want to waste their money on this, that's their call. However, I find it awfully hard to imagine that all but a minute fraction of gamers don't have something better in their backlog they could be playing instead. It's not like I'm alone in thinking this.

[chamr]

Saying that, in your opinion, there's lots better games people could be playing and that it's the worst game you've personally played (you've really not played any games with significantly less depth than DL? I find that very hard to believe. I've played quite a few, and I'm sure you've played many, many more games than I have. The dungeon level designs themselves are head and shoulders above most crawlers I've played. And the multi-classing is silly? You're really going to argue logic about RPG multi-classing? Seriously? If you are, add many, many games to that list, some of which I'd hazard a guess are on your “liked” list. But I digress…) while specifying that you never tried the CE/mostly-fixed version is neither silly nor overboard. Those are the kinds of statements I wouldn't object to, as opposed to your first in this thread. I think those are fair statements for someone that hasn't tried DL to consider before taking the leap.

[sakichop]

Come on Dhruin, stop beating around the bush. Did you like it or not?:lol:

I never purchased it. Every time I thought about getting I had flash backs to Wizards and Warriors and decided not to.

[Shagnak]

But... but... Wizards and Warriors is awesome! :devilish:

[JDR13]

It is absolutely among the worst - if not possibly the worst - game I have ever played.

You mean worst crpg, or worst game regardless of genre? Dungeon Lords was terrible for a crpg, but I've played a lot of worse games in my lifetime.. especially back in the NES days.

[bjon045]

Once of the worst games ever. I uninstalled before even finishing the first dungeon.

[Korplem]

I literally had a barracks full of sailors laughing at this game because it was so terrible. And that was when I was honestly trying to give it a fair shot.

Definitely one of the most unpolished turds ever put into a box. If it had been labeled modern art and found only in a pretentious art gallery maybe it would be more acceptable. But it was sold in game stores as a... game. GAME IT IS NOT!

[Dhruin]

…you've really not played any games with significantly less depth than DL? I find that very hard to believe. I've played quite a few, and I'm sure you've played many, many more games than I have.

I don't believe I said I said I've never played a game with less depth. I may have but they had other redeeming features of some sort. A decent story or characters or…you know, furniture. DL doesn't (both redeeming features and furniture).

I'm not a prolific gamer, so you may be wrong about having played more games than yourself - I wouldn't know how to compare. I'm slow and have little time (I see people posting about finishing ME3 the day after release - I'd be surprised if I'm finished in 6 months).

The dungeon level designs themselves are head and shoulders above most crawlers I've played.

Yeah, they're OK, taken as a separate element.

And the multi-classing is silly? You're really going to argue logic about RPG multi-classing? Seriously? If you are, add many, many games to that list, some of which I'd hazard a guess are on your “liked” list. But I digress…)

Most games don't try to combine western, asian and arabic influences in a strange 5-way multiclassing melange - but, yes, logic isn't a strength of multiclassing. Let me re-phrase: Bradley tried to hide the lack of design coherence behind what appears to be a unique 5-way multiclass system, which sounds impressive. In practice, each "class" added one active extra skill (did I say impressive?) and some learning bonuses that might or might not work. Half the House bonuses didn't work and none of the Heraldry worked. None. Repair, scout, identify, alchemy, and steal didn't work. Class pre-requisite checks didn't work.

So, yes, you could create an Adept/Stargazer/Kenjasai/Cabalist/War Witch (<— made that up - couldn't be bothered to remember the exact details) and enjoy the half-dozen skills you would get throughout the entire game, although only three or four would work properly.

Other games offer a half-dozen skills for one weapon type, let alone across so many "classes". In fact, let's be honest - can you really call them "classes"?

You mean worst crpg, or worst game regardless of genre? Dungeon Lords was terrible for a crpg, but I've played a lot of worse games in my lifetime.. especially back in the NES days.

Never had an NES. Only ever been a "PC" gamer (including Apple 2, Sinclair ZX81, Spectrum, C64, Amiga). Apart from some classics (Ultimas, Elite etc) I remember none of the amateur one-man games I may have played. If you consider it a weakness in my comment that I haven't included games I can't even remember, then perhaps it isn't the worst I've played.

But this came out in 2005, which makes it a modern era game. I think it's fair to say professional, modern development is a different animal to some Loderunner rip-off back in 1981. That said, I mostly only play RPGs and I do my research - I don't buy many truly bad games. So, no, it's not the worst game ever made but it is categorically the most incompetent professional development I can recall.

[chamr]

I don't believe I said I said I've never played a game with less depth. I may have but they had other redeeming features of some sort. A decent story or characters or…you know, furniture. DL doesn't (both redeeming features and furniture).
Arguable on the redeeming features front, but I'll give you the furniture point. :-)

I'm not a prolific gamer, so you may be wrong about having played more games than yourself - I wouldn't know how to compare. I'm slow and have little time (I see people posting about finishing ME3 the day after release - I'd be surprised if I'm finished in 6 months).
If you've even started ME3, you've probably played more games than I have. :-)


Most games don't try to combine western, asian and arabic influences in a strange 5-way multiclassing melange
That's enough awesomeness right there to make me want to reinstall! ;-)

and some learning bonuses that might or might not work. Half the House bonuses didn't work and none of the Heraldry worked. None. Repair, scout, identify, alchemy, and steal didn't work. Class pre-requisite checks didn't work. [snip] and enjoy the half-dozen skills you would get throughout the entire game, although only three or four would work properly.
Point of clarification for those that haven't decided whether to try the game: they fixed most (all? been a while, can't remember…) of these bugs by the time the CE rolled out.


That said, I mostly only play RPGs and I do my research - I don't buy many truly bad games.
Ah. K. I can see why DL would be one of your worst ever.

So, no, it's not the worst game ever made but it is categorically the most incompetent professional development I can recall.
Won't argue that. :-)

[Corwin]

From Chamr: Point of clarification for those that haven't decided whether to try the game: they fixed most (all? been a while, can't remember…) of these bugs by the time the CE rolled out.

What MANY of us really resented more than anything, was that the game was never Patched. Instead, after buying the original turd we were expected to BUY the CE so we could get what we thought we had originally bought!! That should NEVER be forgiven or forgotten!!!!

[txa1265]

What an amazingly important game ... there are few games that could inspire such heated debate 7 years after release!

[chamr]

[/I]What MANY of us really resented more than anything, was that the game was never Patched. Instead, after buying the original turd we were expected to BUY the CE so we could get what we thought we had originally bought!! That should NEVER be forgiven or forgotten!!!!

I get that. I'm just trying to separate the old bitterness many understandably feel from whether the game, in its current state and at its current price, is worth a try for someone who has never played it but is interested. Of course, some may choose to stand in solidarity with those that think buying or not buying is an ethical decision based on what went down when the game came out, and that's fine too. But it's an independent consideration from whether the game is fun or not, again in its current form and at its current price point.

[Igor]

For some one that has not played many crpgs such as myself and have no ideal and perfect games to compare with I found this game enjoyable, similar how ppl bash lionheart legacy of the crusader happens here, no matter what ppl say you should try it and see for yourself as you could actualy enjoy it or even both games:)

[ToddMcF2002]

Cleaning up my basement the other day I ran across the box - Best Buy $43, release day. How many cheeseburgers is that? 9? I could have had 9 cheeseburgers.

[coaster]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demerit_good

[chamr]

Holy crap

http://www.nordicgames.at/index.php/product/dungeon_lords_mmxii

*runs for shelter*

[txa1265]

Holy crap

http://www.nordicgames.at/index.php/product/dungeon_lords_mmxii

*runs for shelter*

Sad thing ... there is a strong chance I would buy it a 3rd time ... and enjoy it! :D

[coaster]

Haha! Of all the games crying out for a nice update via an enhanced edition, they pick this crapfest.

I bet they still have your character sliding around on roller skates swinging and missing endless respawning enemies...but now in glorious HD!

[chamr]

Sad thing … there is a strong chance I would buy it a 3rd time … and enjoy it! :D

Me too. :-)

[skavenhorde]

Wish D.W. would do another Wizards and Warriors. I would buy that one without a second thought, but paying a third time for Dungeon Lords? Maybe, but I don't think so.

I did like DL just not as much as W&W. I loved that game and still play it to this day even though I have to jump through a ton of hoops to get it running on my computer.

Bad choice choosing to sell DL again. Especially since CD Projeckt goes out of their way to offer new content for free.

[CrazyIrish]

I have some land I wonder if you guys would be interested in....

[txa1265]

Wish D.W. would do another Wizards and Warriors. I would buy that one without a second thought, but paying a third time for Dungeon Lords? Maybe, but I don't think so.

I did like DL just not as much as W&W. I loved that game and still play it to this day even though I have to jump through a ton of hoops to get it running on my computer.

Bad choice choosing to sell DL again. Especially since CD Projeckt goes out of their way to offer new content for free.

Totally agree on all counts - I just did a retrospective on DL last year and was able to play on a Win7 PC without issue. Wizards & Warriors, however, I have failed to ever complete - and now more recently fail to get running. Would love to see a HD version of that - or just a GoG treatment that gets it running on every platform.

And yes, the Witcher contrast is striking! :)

[skavenhorde]

Next time I get an itch to get W&W running again I'll post a step by step instruction on how I did it. There are one or two third party programs involved and some hex editing and I believe a fan patch or two :D

It really is a process, but worth it once it's all done.