zifnab
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 12
Registered: 04-11-2007
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I'm not sure where this should go, so I guess I'll put it here.

Recently I've found myself in college and in need of something to play while putting off homework. I'd played the Journey to Rooted Hold Demo a year or so ago and was a big fan, however I was stingy and didn't buy it. Just last night I was checking http://mathpuzzle.com and saw that you all had come out with yet another great game. I quickly fired up the demo and finished it all (cept for one secret that I sadly had to put off finding to do physics homework). The question I'm putting to you all is not: where's the second secret in the demo, but rather I would like your opinion. I would like you, the fans of DROD to advise me on which fine DROD product I should purchase first. Should I get King Dungan's and start from the very beginning or should I jump right into Rooted Hold or even *gasp skip all the back-plot and get The City Beneath?

Thanks for the advice.

EDIT: I don't think it matters, but I'll be mostly running the game on a mac.

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DROD # 3838

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[Last edited by zifnab at 04-11-2007 05:21 AM]

Maurog
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1501
Registered: 09-16-2004
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That depends on how stingy you are now.

Seriously, if you buy one game this year, choose The City Beneath. However, I'd recommend playing Journey to Rooted Hold first, because TCB can be a bit overwhelming even to an experienced player. If you want to enjoy DROD the way it meant to be (the really recommended way), buy The City Beneath and King Dugan's Dungeon, and start with KDD. By the time you're finished with King Dugan's, Journey to Rooted Hold should be available for the 3.0 engine so you can pick up there and save the actual TCB for last.

PS: And just so that you have all the options, you can play KDD for free in Architects' Edition, albeit with dated graphics and no speech nor scripting.

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NiroZ
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1302
Registered: 02-12-2006
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My recommended purchase order:

JtRH, then
KDD or play the free version,
Then purchase TCB & Caravelnet, preferably at the same time. They really do complement each other.

Alneyan
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 622
Registered: 07-06-2004
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Note that both demo versions (JTRH and TCB) are fully functional, so you can also play third-party holds on either of the two. As far as demo versions go, I see little reason not to go with TCB, though. I know I've switched from full JTRH to demo TCB right after it came out.

So, the biggest difference would be 'which official hold should you pick up first?'. JTRH has a much nicer learning curve than KDD in my opinion, so I'd recommend JTRH over KDD. I haven't played TCB yet, so I cannot compare that one to JTRH.

Fifth wheel of the carriage, here I come.

BeefontheBone
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 184
Registered: 05-11-2006
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If you're intending on getting all 3, then getting KDD standalone is a bit daft - I'd recommend getting JtRH and buying the KDD2/The Choice Smitemaster's Selection. Plot-wise, KDD comes first, but you won't miss much playing JtRH before it. Probably best to do JtRH before TCB, but entirely nonessential.

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Yellow_Mage
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 267
Registered: 05-19-2004
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I agree with what everyone has said, but mostly BeefontheBone.

You can get JtRH and get KDD2 through Smitemaster Selection.

I myself has a thing about continuity, so I myself would play them in the order of KDD, JtRH, and TCB.

TCB is highly recommended, but it would be too daunting for a inexperienced player. Depending how you are feeling, you can get JrTH and TCB and leaving KDD which you can pick up later when you feel like. </broken record>

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zifnab
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 12
Registered: 04-11-2007
IP: Logged

So it seems to me that most of you are recommending I grab JTRH and/or KDD first. Sounds good to me. A few more questions though.

Would it be worthwhile to get Caravelnet for JTRH?
and
Maurog, I'm a bit confused by what you mean about JTRH coming out for the 3.0 engine. What is this engine and how worthwhile would it be for me to wait?

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DROD # 3838

eytanz
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2708
Registered: 02-05-2003
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The 3.0 engine is the Engine that TCB runs on. It's fully backwards compatible, so in theory it should run JtRH perfectly, except that since JtRH is not available except as part of a bundle with the 2.0 engine, that's not possible.

There will eventually be a way to run JtRH and TCB from the same executable. The only implication of this is that you will need less copies of DROD installed and that you won't need to keep requesting new keys if you want to play both holds in Caravelnet. It won't change your gameplay experience, and will apply to people who already have JtRH, so there's no reason whatsoever to wait.

If you plan to get Caravelnet, there's no reason not to get it with JtRH - it offers the same enhancement to the JtRH experience (or the KDD experience if you have KDD 2.0) that it does to TCB.

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Insane
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 154
Registered: 08-06-2005
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eytanz wrote:
If you plan to get Caravelnet, there's no reason not to get it with JtRH - it offers the same enhancement to the JtRH experience (or the KDD experience if you have KDD 2.0) that it does to TCB.

With the exception that TCB has a Chat and JtRH doesn't .

-Insane

eytanz
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2708
Registered: 02-05-2003
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Yeah, true.

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