Review: Dark Legacy Text-Based Free To Play MMO
Text Based (4 out of 5)
Dark Legacy is a free text based MMORPG. If you want to get really technical it can also be referred to as an MUD (multi-user dimension).
Text based games have a lot of the same features as the more common graphics-based games nowadays. They offer you the option of killing monsters to gain experience and gold.
The distinctive feature of text-based games is the turn option. Turns basically take the place of grinding in visual games. Each player is allocated a certain amount of turns on a regular basis, usually each hour. When you have used up all of your turns you must wait until you are given more. In my opinion this takes the place of grinding as it makes the game a lot longer and boring. In a text-based game you can kill a monster in one click of your mouse, without the turn regulations it would be ridiculously easy to level up quickly. I did not care that the game had no visual graphic, but having to wait for up to an hour was painful.
Levelling (4 out of 5)
If you want to focus all of your energy on levelling, you will find yourself at a high level in a considerably short amount of time. This is because of the unique battling system that Dark Legacy Offers. Most text-based games only offer the option of manually fighting monsters on a turn-by-turn basis, Dark Legacy offers the option of choosing to battle numerous monsters at the loss of numerous turns. This makes levelling a lot quicker, but it also ensures that your turns disappear faster.
Dark Legacy also offers the option of training your character outside of battle. Each bout of training costs turn, but so does everything else.
Races (3 out of 5)
The game offers a choice of eight different races; humans, high elves, dark elves, dwarves , orcs, vampires, werewolves, and the undead. Each race has their own advantages and disadvantages, and should be chosen carefully and with though to how you are going to play the game. Fortunately for new players Dark Legacy will allow you to change your race one during the first fourteen days.
Since the game offers no magic, the Dark Elves and High Elves can not be chosen based on magical ability, which a large amount of players would take into consideration in a regular RPG.
Marketplace (1 out of 5)
Dark Legacy dose not offer player the option of in-game trading. The easiest way for players to earn gold is to either farm or fish and trade the fruits of your labour for some gold. Gold is used to but weapons and armour, as well as to upgrade your farming and fishing equipment. The armour and weapons in the game are very typical fantasy items, with names that will make any experienced gamer think of the Oblivion Elder Scrolls IV game, and of course of the famous Lord Of The Rings.
Online Community (1 out of 5)
Since text-based games gained popularity during the late 80’s and early 90’s they have steadily declined. Nowadays they seem very primitive in comparison to super-realistic graphics of today’s games. There is very few people who regularly play Dark Legacy, and it is common to see ten or less players online at any time. Nevertheless Dark Legacy does have a small, but dedicated following of gamers, who use text to increase their role-playing.
Unfortunately there is an air of elitism within the Dark Legacy Community, which can be a big deterrent for new players. The elitism is not in the form of bullying but in the unwillingness to help of vetern players.
Conclusion
Dark Legacy will more than likely not meet the high standards of the modern gamer. But for those of you who wish to experience the nostalgia of text-based gaming, or have an interesting is trying it, Dark Legacy is a definite must. As a text-based RPG it is great, and offers its players a wide variety of in-game options. I think text-based games would be a huge hit with players who love to role-play as the majority of the game is based on imagination.
If you are looking for a free top-of-the range MMORPG with amazing graphics this is proabaly not the game for you.
