Don't Go Alone...or Even Necessarily at All

Ho, ho. I bet whoever wrote this grew up to be an actuary!

         

"Because it's there" is the only phrase that adequately describes why I'm still playing Don't Go Alone. Also, I'm on a business trip--on which, incidentally, I went alone--and I didn't feel like I had time to learn a complex new game. Whatever Don't Go Alone is, it isn't complex.

The gameplay has not advanced significantly since the two levels I explored in the first posting. There have been a few navigation puzzles but nothing overly taxing. In summary:

• Level 3 was composed almost entirely of hidden doors. Every other "wall," it seemed, allowed me to walk through. It meant I had to keep running into the walls to ensure I explored all of the level. There was a door that I needed a gem called a "cat's eye" to pass, but these were dropped by random monsters, and I had several by the time I came across the door.

• Level 4 had a bunch of teleporters plus an area of equipment rooms that I needed "boron keys" to unlock. These keys were few and far between, so I only unlocked a couple of the doors, getting formula and weapon upgrades, before continuing to the next level. There was one message stating that I need 5 gold keys to defeat the Ancient One, and I found one of the keys.

• Level 5 didn't have any special puzzles. There was another gold key and one enemy--a "blood demon"--that I was unable to defeat. I hope he wasn't holding anything important. 

Six attempts, and he defeated me every time.

• Level 6 had an annoying puzzle. In various rooms, you get the formula for a spell called "auric acid," which dissolves walls and allows you to move through them as if they have hidden doors. It turned out that I was locked into the area and needed the "auric acid" spell to get out. Unfortunately, I'd missed a piece of the formula--all the messages in this game only appear once, and if you miss them the first time, you're screwed--so I had to use a walkthrough to fill in the missing piece.

Crafting a new spell based on known elements. Hey, Canageek: What do you think of their approach to the periodic table?

• On Level 7, where I am as I write this, "auric acid" has so far proven indispensable, as the game keeps dumping me into rooms with no exit otherwise. If there was a gold key on Level 6, I missed it, so I hope I find the others on this level, Level 8, and Level 9, or I'm going to be one short when I meet the Ancient One on Level 10.

And I apparently have to do this.

All the levels continue to be extremely large. I've been relying on the automap instead of mapping them myself, but I think a couple of them have around 2,000 squares. If they weren't mostly empty and easy to zip through, the game would take forever.

A small part of one of the vast levels.

 
All of the levels have served up increasingly difficult monsters, but of course my character levels and equipment have also been increasing, so the overall difficulty has remained about the same throughout. Combat really couldn't be more boring. There is no variance in the damage types done by the different monsters (there could have just been one), nor the tactics they employ, and the whole system feels like the game is selecting things randomly from [MONSTER] [ATTACK] and [CHARACTER] [EFFECT]!

MONSTER	ATTACK	CHARACTER	EFFECT
Air Elemental Banshee Beast Man Coatl Cockroach Earth Elemental Executioner Flesh Hound Ghost Ghoul Howler Hydra Jinn Lion Lizard Mummy Pit Fiend Rock Creature Tarantula Unseen Evil Water Elemental	Advances Attacks Casts a curtain of dread Casts a pall of evil Casts a spell of magic Casts a wave of terror Growls Hisses Howls Roars Snarls Spits Yowls Wails	Joplin Basie Billie Bolden	Freezes! Is frightened! Is scared! Is shocked! Is staggered! Quakes! Shakes! Shrinks back! Trembles! Is undaunted! (the only good one)

Menaced by a howling, wailing ghost.

The idea that the creatures aren't actually doing any real, physical damage to the characters--just increasing their "fear"--is unusual and a little pointless. At first I thought it  might be to protect young players against the idea of violence, but the characters are clearly doing physical damage to the creatures--including shooting at them, hacking at them with swords, ravaging them with chainsaws, searing them with blowtorches, and throwing acid on them--and the game often tells you that your foes "die in horrible agony!" so that theory is shot.

My equipment has gone through steady upgrades, with items found in both fixed locations and random ones. Each weapon and armor has a "level" associated with it. I believe the weapon levels have been something like: Pocket Knife < Swiss Army Knife < Dagger < Meat Saw < Machete < Sword < Blowtorch < Tomahawk < < Colt < Nunchuka < Long Sword < .38 Police Special < .45 Magnum < Chainsaw. With all due respect to the martial advantages of a chainsaw, why don't we give one to you and a .38 police special to me and see who makes it out of the room.

The game never says "You found a whatever!" It always "appears!"

Armor, of which you can have only one piece, includes boots, motorcycle helmets, bomber jackets, shields, body armor, diving suits (!), radiation suits, and "blood armor." Other equipment includes both those useful for specific purposes (flashlights, mirrors, keys, compasses) and those that are supposed to protect you in some way from various creatures (strings of garlic, gems). The effects, if actually present, are extremely subtle.

Can't wear a bomber jacket AND a motorcycle helmet. That would be too cool. Has to be one or the other.

I've received better spells from higher levels of "chemistry books." Each time I get a new book, some of the spells are only partly available, with perhaps three of the four necessary elements listed, and I have to find scraps of paper to manually fill in the rest. To be honest, I've barely bothered. Combats are easy enough with weapons alone to make spells unnecessary, and if my fear gets too high, I can just wait it out. Most of the spells I'm using are navigation ones, such as the aforementioned "auric acid" and the one that lets me see a map.

To me, the fact that some of my characters are wearing armor and fighting gargoyles with swords while others are wearing bomber jackets and shooting cockroaches with pistols, all while exploring a "mansion" that's 10 floors and probably 10 million square feet, creates a weird blend of fantasy and non-fantasy that would be jarring if the game were otherwise interesting or immersive. Alas, it is neither. There has still been no NPCs, no encounters, no role-playing opportunities, and no information about the back story or environment other than the occasional taunts from the Ancient One and words of encouragement (delivered psychically, I guess) from my grandfather.

Gramps, we knew that ages ago.

Is there anything I like about the game? Well, there's definitely a steady sense of progression. Lots of grinding opportunities. Leveling brings immediate benefits in terms of statistic upgrades. The animated graphics aren't bad. In my "difficulty" posting a few months ago, I talked about wanting death to have consequences, and it definitely does here (although the easy difficulty level makes it rare). A couple of times, I've been "killed" (all my characters' fear gets too high) on, say, Level 6, and I end up in a random part of Level 2, where I have to re-navigate my way through four huge levels and find the stairs again.

My "technician" character. He started with most statistics in the single digits.

 
Don't Go Alone isn't exactly a "bad" game; it's just a pointless one. It feels like something someone might have created to say, "See! I can create a CRPG. Please give me some funding for a real game." And here I am with 7 hours into it. Might as well see how it ends.