At the turn of the millennium, many truly great games appeared. They are forever etched into the tablets of the gaming industry. It is especially pleasing that one such project was a domestic game released in 2000.
Cursed Lands(abroad, the game is known as
Evil Islands).
…a young man named Zak wakes up on the shore of an endless sea in an unfamiliar land, which is destined to become his new home. The residents of a local village, the only human settlement on the entire allod called Hypat, mistake him for the Chosen One and place various hopes on Zak – from protecting the settlement from goblins and orcs to finding lost treasures. Zak remembers nothing, recognizes no one, and resolutely does not understand how he got here. The only thing he knows for sure: he shouldn't linger here. He must somehow get off the unfriendly Hypat…
In short, we have a green Новичок with a bronze dagger (by the way, nearly the best weapon for the first quarter, or even third of the game), zero stats, and armor made of thin cloth. It must be said that the thoroughness of the approach captivates the player from the very beginning of the action. Armor is not an abstract spacesuit that you put on to be protected, but a set of wardrobe pieces (7 in total) that the hero tries on. For example, a helmet can not only be bought but also assembled yourself – here it is, the know-how of domestic developers – a stunning item constructor that allows you to turn a green Новичок into a killing machine. We take the blueprints for the item, materials for it (the same helmet can be made from different metals; accordingly, the level of head protection will vary) and… spells. Powerful magic can be embedded into every item. For example, you can assemble a sword that paralyzes an opponent upon striking, a spear that strikes with lightning, or a mace that weakens the opponent. Hits of the season: a set of armor where one piece of clothing makes the player stronger, another faster, a third heals them, and a fourth regenerates lost health… In short, there is a sea of room for Creation. Just a sea. The situation with magic is the same – of course, a lightning strike is good, but it's even better if the lightning strikes over a greater distance, hits multiple targets, is twice as strong, and all while spending less of the caster's energy. In general, I hope you already understand what cool things item and spell constructors are.
These are all truly interesting things, but in any case, I must talk about the character progression system. Here, it should be noted, it is not so simple – there are places where you can rack your brain over the distribution of experience points and make a mistake in character development that will later be painfully own. So, the character has a number of characteristics – strength, intelligence, etc., skills – melee combat, magic, shooting, magical skills – proficiency level in same-sense magic, astral, and elemental, as well as a large number of… perks, let's call them that, in the style of Fallout. Each perk brings tangible dividends – increases proficiency with some type of weapon, increases some basic character characteristic, etc. How does it work? We receive experience for any action in the game. Although, "any" is an overstatement; there are only two such actions – killing someone or completing a mission. The concept of a "level" does not exist in CL in principle; all successes in character progression are determined "by eye." Entering the shop window or a special "camp," we distribute the received experience points among our skills and perks. Skill improvement is progressive – the higher the level, for example, of ranged weapon proficiency, the more experience is needed for its further increase. Furthermore, Zak is initially trained in the "backstab" perk (backstab, in other words). Leveling up this perk will lead to, first, the next level of this skill "costing" many times more and, second, all other perks also becoming significantly more expensive. In principle, this is correct, as CL does not force us into standard role-playing archetypes – mage, warrior, thief. Want to clear the whole map by weapon strength alone? Please. Wish to fry enemies while they are still approaching you? Nothing could be simpler. Prefer a stealthy playstyle and treacherous backstabs? That is also possible. You can even spit on experience, become a silent invisible man, and sneak unnoticed where required. But making the character a true generalist is very, very difficult. Rather – impossible. Remember how we (perhaps not "we," but "some of us" certainly) tried to bypass the strict rules of D&D in Baldur’s Gate, starting as a warrior and then dual-classing into a mage at level 6? (Alternatively – making a multiclass character). Such tricks won't work in CL – we will spend a good half (or even most) of the game on one allod, while the trickle of experience flowing to the stat increase page will be so thin that periodically it will actually not be enough. And yet, the authors clearly failed to maintain perfect balance: please explain to me how it's possible for a player, having completed 65% of the game, to suddenly feel complete, unreal, and all-encompassing helplessness during a mission, because of which they simply cannot pass a key gaming moment? Moreover, in the penultimate quest, practically at the very end of the game, I – a gamer who passed all trials with only one character honing his combat skills – am told that for further completion of the mission I will need two spells? Naturally, I didn't have these spells; I was too lazy to replay everything from scratch, so I just turned around and went to the magic shop: thank god I had a hundred thousand experience points saved in my coffers – thanks to this, after a few clicks on the corresponding skill, Zak became a surprisingly skilled astral mage. The thin trickle of experience flowing through Hypat becomes a full-flowing river in Kania, which turns into a bottomless ocean in the Hadagan Empire. The authors patch logical holes they made while developing the game's storyline: anticipating Zak's imminent death at the hands of the final boss, they throw us 200,000 experience points to bring the hero "up to speed." One death, a second, and finally, you will understand what is required of you. Yes, this is the paradox of CL: despite the non-linearity of the Gameplay, the game is surprisingly linear at key moments of the story.
The combat system in "Cursed Lands" stood out favorably from everything we had been offered until now. Instead of monotonous "click-spamming" — targeted strikes to the arms, legs, and the aforementioned back of the head. Depending on the part of the body chosen for attack, the opponent would start attacking less frequently or move slower: huge opportunities for tactics opened up. Everyone could develop their character based on their own fighting style, especially since the role-playing system, based on skill development depending on accumulated experience, encouraged this in every way. No levels and statistics; all received experience could be freely distributed among the list of skills and three characteristics: strength, agility, and intelligence. From a fragile youth, by the middle of the game, one could grow either a powerful mage striking with lightning and fire arrows, or a quiet, unnoticed assassin with a dagger, killing enemies before they even noticed him.
Result: the best thing that happened to domestic role-playing games until "The Legend". "Cursed Lands" not only survived in the stormy sea of the market but also gave life to a quite interesting descendant. And this, dear friends, is wonderful!
Tips for Новичок:1). Play on the hard difficulty level. Even if you are the biggest lamer and the ultimate Новичок. Experience comes with time, but the interest in playing on easy is so meager that all the effectiveness of this game will pass you by. I know that plot is very important, but Gameplay is always interesting. And if the Gameplay isn't interesting, then why play? Read a Walkthrough. It will take less time, and you'll find out everything in detail...
2). Don't be lazy about using the "backstab" ability (backstab). Strike accurately in the head. To perform such a strike, you need to approach the opponent from behind so that they don't notice you. Remember - opponents can hear. Once you've approached, hold down the targeted head-strike button (Num8 by default) and click on the enemy. If all goes well, the flying damage will be labeled "backstab to head". This way, the opponent takes 3x damage from a head hit + surprise attack damage + backstab skill bonus (first level 500%).
3). Don't spend money. Only on repairs and assembling new spells if necessary. Do not buy anything in the shop. All normal armor, weapons, and materials are given through the plot for killed enemies + quests.
4). Where to find the best materials? On Hypat, the best materials are obsidian and thick leather. Obsidian can be obtained by going to the "Sands" game zone and killing 3-4 orcs standing near the entrance (not hard to kill from behind with enhancement). Thick leather is given for cannibals, lizards, and adult black boars. Most of them are on the middle mountains maps (lizards) and far mountains. On Ingos, the most valuable material is steel for armor and weapons. It's given for forest dwellers. The most profitable way is to destroy the Black Clan camp at the "Mine Zone" location north of Karansul's domains. The camp is located immediately north of the western entrance ;) Also, you can search caches in the north in Karansul's domains. And on Suslanger, the most valuable metal is meteorite. While completing the mission in the worm-women's cave, kill all worm-women and harpies (except the matriarch; she is VERY hard to kill, so you might not even try), then you'll get a decent amount of meteorite. It's also given for cannibals and harpies.
5). Batteries are the most strictly guarded secret of CL players until a certain time. Now almost everyone knows it, so I'll tell you too. A battery is a wand with a healing spell (any runes in healing and MANDATORY PP). When you are hit, you will automatically heal. 4 batteries plus similarly assembled armor will provide excellent healing. I also recommend putting enhancement into the cuirass or greaves as in Brissen's cuirass, and weakening into the weapon as in the Ancient Sword.
6). Save. Save constantly. This isn't Diablo 2. Here, even an equal enemy can resolve the outcome of a clash in their favor with a successful strike to the head. It is best to save between fights when no enemies see you or before a dangerous attack, say, from behind on a strong monster. Don't forget that if necessary, there is autosave upon entering and exiting a game zone. So don't be upset if you messed up a quick save. You'll have to redo some part, but not the whole game from the start.
7). Why doesn't the cyclops leave? This is the most frequently asked question by Новичок, and even some veteran CL players encountering this for the first time. On Hypat there is a mission – drive away the cyclops who herds his pigs near Babur's quarry. It happens that after losing all its pigs, the cyclops doesn't leave but stands and waits for something or runs after the player. Patch the game to version 1.06. If you can't, I'll describe this mission so no problems arise. (I am writing a version that is slightly more tedious but almost never causes problems)
A). Before approaching the quarry, make a save, for example "Far Mountains" just in case.
B). Take a bow in your hand. You're walking without a bow? Bad, you'll have to.
C). Optional. You can crawl up the hill on the right with one of the characters to see the whole battlefield. Don't crawl to the very edge, and actually don't even bother, because the cyclops might notice; so this step is purely optional.
D). Make a Quick Save. Run into the canyon, shoot ONE pig in the head. It dies. It's important that other pigs don't see you and under no circumstances run to the eastern exit of the gorge toward the cyclops – you'll be exhausted trying to catch them there. Run back sharply and far away so that the cyclops does not notice under any circumstances. Watch for the pink glow – that's the cyclops. He returns, might stomp on the pig's corpse, then go back. If everything goes smoothly, repeat from step D (don't forget to save); if the cyclops notices you, load and repeat step D. And so until victory. When you kill all the pigs, a sub-quest to wait will appear. Set the game to fast speed, wait.
The cyclops has left – mission accomplished; if he doesn't leave, wait more. Try going south; if he suddenly runs up to us halfway, it means he noticed during the pig killing – load save "Far Mountains". If he didn't run up, wait more. You can try to collect the corpses. If you've already drunk 6 cups of tea, had lunch, had dinner and are about to go to sleep, but the mission is still not completed, take the game off pause :) Joke. It means a glitch. Load save "Far Mountains" and do it all again. WHEW. This is the most detailed description of the cyclops mission. After this, he will definitely leave. P.S. It's preferable to play the licensed version of the game 1.06.
8). How to kill the curse? Seems like a nonsense question, but no, they ask it. But I won't tell you. Think for yourself. The Curse is the easiest boss of all those I've seen in games.
Added after 2 minutes
List of all quests (missions) encountered in CL:Main and bonus missions:http://evilislands.narod.ru/missions.htmWalkthrough of the game Cursed Landshttps://stopgame.ru/print/prokljatye_zemli/solution.html
