Darkstone essentially takes Diablo a few steps further, which can only be a good thing, right? By Michael E. Every once in a while, a game comes along that reminds us of a great game that came before it. In many cases, the new game is branded a clone and may even be condemned for its unoriginal design or gameplay. On the other hand, sometimes the new game is great in its own right, with new features and unique twists that make it different.
Such is the case with Darkstone, an action-oriented role-playing game heavily influenced by Diablo, but with enough original content and gameplay to stand apart from the Blizzard classic. It would be easy to label Darkstone a Diablo rip-off. After all, the basic gameplay is virtually identical, and numerous subtleties, from the background music and sound effects to the color of the health and mana potions, appear to be lifted directly from Blizzard's game.
Still, Darkstone shakes things up quite a bit with a number of key features. For starters, you get to control two characters at once. This takes some getting used to and can be awkward at times, but it also adds some depth to the gameplay. And although you can opt for only one character in the game, controlling two is actually crucial for success against the game's antagonist, Draak. But the most obvious difference between Diablo and Darkstone is that the newer game uses an all-3D graphics engine with user-controlled camera angles.
Though the graphics aren't the greatest you'll ever see on a 3D-accelerated PC, they are very impressive. Apart from the occasional sharp, dangling polygons and the unusually pervasive blocky textures, Darkstone has very slick graphics.
The characters are nicely detailed, with a graphic novel sort of look to them that translates well from the illustrations in the game's manual. Also, the lighting and other special effects in the game are excellent. Darkstone's monster types are well animated and most of them die dramatic and memorable deaths. Gameplay is similar to Diablo, except that you will have to fight through more dungeon levels, complete more quests, and traverse hostile outdoor regions to succeed.
Your goal is to defeat the aforementioned Draak, an evil monk with the ability to turn into a dragon. In order to smite this nasty villain, you must first acquire seven crystals that can then be combined into a powerful artifact called the Time Orb.
With this orb in hand it looks more like a pointy rock, actually , you can defeat Draak in the game's final showdown. I mean, yes, It makes me uncomfortable, but only in the sense that someone specifically targeting me could, with time, bypass medicine and firewalling to cause me trouble.
The reason you're generally safe from random attacks if you're dmzd is because there is always lower hanging fruit for people to mess about with that takes less time and effort and has a bigger payout.
On balance, it still makes me nervous. There are huge numbers of machines engaged in automated vulnerability exploitation 24x7 against every IP address on the planet.
I am definitely not being paranoid. I worked for a group at Microsoft where we analyzed telemetry from botnet nodes and there was no kind of badness these infected machines didn't get up to. But you don't have to believe me. Put yourself in DMZ mode, turn off your local firewall, and fire up a packet sniffer like Wireshark or Netmon and watch exactly what is incoming.
Or stick an unpatched machine into the DMZ and watch it get poppped within 20 minutes or less. These threats are real, man. No, I totally believe you, and I unfortunately did node telemetry for a couple botnets back when I needed money, I can only imagine they've gotten more complex and ubiquitous in the last 7 years. The turning off the firewall and not being medicated is some stuff I would never advise anyone do under any circumstances.
Even a completely isolated node with no outside netwroking, I'd immunize in case of physical access violation. I just think that what I have keeps me safe enough to DMZ up and down for a few hours at a time. All I have on my side is that it takes time and effort, and I try to make it cost any potential trespassers as much as possible so they go after easier targets. I appreciate you putting your perspective out there too, for people who don't know jack about it.
Being laid back and assured of my setup in case of passive attack is all well and good for me, but someone else might turn on DMZ, completely forget it, and be compromised because of it. So good on you, even if I personally feel your perspective is overstated. Better they know it's possible than live in blissful ignorance.
Dark View Profile View Posts. Last edited by Dark ; 28 Sep, pm. Install Steam. Your Store Your Store. Categories Categories. Special Sections. Player Support. Community Hub. Delphine Software. Lord Draak's henchmen are spreading chaos in Uma. Are you going to let them get away with it? All Reviews:. Popular user-defined tags for this product:. Is this game relevant to you? Sign In or Open in Steam. Languages :. English and 4 more. Publisher: Microids. Share Embed.
Add to Cart. View Community Hub. Explore huge keeps to find the 7 Legendary Crystals to put an end to his vile acts. It is highly unlikely that you'll be able to survive in the hostile regions of this desolate land. Be warned, the fighting will be fierce, but the adventure will be epic!
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