History VideoGame / Darkstone

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Draak was a man who became a dragon; however, in one of the quests, he does put in an appearance in his human form.

* GameBreakingBug: Normally items and equipment left in the overworld will remain where they're left until you pick them back up, however a glitch in the Playstation version can result in an overworld item disappearing permanently. Usually it's not a big deal, but it can affect a plot-important item, including the crystals, in which case unless you were an Assassin/Thief that managed to nab a duplicate, the game is rendered unwinnable and requires a restart.

** Ditto for the Sorceress, who can learn the Lycanthropy skill, allowing he to turn into a powerful Werewolf. While in Werewolf form, the Sorceress gains strength based on her magic skill.

In the land of Uma, a corrupt monk named Draak turned against Kaliba, the goddess of light, and cast his shadow over the land. The goddess shed seven crystal tears, which were joined together to form a relic called the Time Orb. With this, the other monks of Kaliba were able to stop Draak from destroying the world. To protect it from Draak's followers, the Time Orb was then split up into the seven tears, known as the crystals of virtue, and these were hidden throughout the four lands of Uma. They can only be collected and reassembled by one of the Pure of Heart.

* DismantledMacguffin: The Time Orb, which was split into the Seven Crystals.

* TheFairFolk: One of the quests is performed at the behest of a fairy, who travels with you in your pocket to rescue her friend the unicorn. Another fairy can be seen performing "the song of the snakes" so your character can learn it.

** For a hefty price she also removes Cursed Objects from your character. Note that she does not remove the curse from the object, so don't be dumb and equip it again. Sell it to Gunther.

* GridInventory: And a small one at that, forcing you into an InventoryManagementPuzzle. The best way to get around your limited carrying space is to leave items (particularly the seven crystals) inside one of the uninhabited houses in town, where they won't be disturbed.

* LevelEditor: Although not included, PC players can (or could at one time) download an official one which allows you to invent your own quests.

* MeaningfulName: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Draak means dragon in Dutch.]]
* MineralMacGuffin: The Crystals of Virtue

* PlotCoupon: The Crystals of Virtue

* SantaClaus: A special bonus in one of the highest-level dungeons has you rescue Santa, who presents you with a miniature copy of ''Darkstone II'' (which was never made). Yes, really.

* SaveYourDeity: What Kaliba's monks had to do in the backstory. In the present day, the player must help the deity suffering from GodsNeedPrayerBadly (see above) before he experiences CessationOfExistence.

* UnknownItemIdentification: Some of the weapons and items found in the dungeons are unidentified; you should never wield or wear anything without having it first identified by Madame Irma, because it can poison you or lower your stats.
** Learn the Identification skill, DIY and save money. The really good stuff makes your character say "Whoa!"

** In addition, any money your character stores in the bank can be accessed from other games if you play as that character, making it work as a sort of off-shore bank account.

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: One of the quests involves collecting a series of pipes to play "the song of the snakes" in order to lull a huge horde of them into a trance so you can collect the crystal. Once you have it, however, get ready to run.

* WizardNeedsFoodBadly: Your character will inform you. "I'm getting hungry." More unsettling is the "Help! Please, help!" they shout when they're running out of HP.

* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: No matter which character you choose to play, a conversation with the guards at the town gate will include a mention of them not having seen you since before your parents were killed.

** This can be averted in a two-character game by having one character plant a Magic Door above ground outside the dungeon entrance; have the characters then then always use the ''other'' character's Magic Door to return to the village. The trick here is to always enter the door generated by the other character. For instance, if you're playing a Warrior and a Thief, drop the Thief's door outside the entrance, then always have the Warrior generate Doors underground but take control of the Thief to enter the door at either end. Entering a Door with the character that created it results in the destruction of the Door. Not good when you're relying on Magic Door scrolls before you've found or bought the spellbook.

** Some classes can learn Perception, which permanently highlights all traps in red, but only when you're controlling that character. There are also time limited spells and skills which will identify traps. The Thief and the Assassin can even learn to defuse the traps. It's easier to just identify them then stand back and pop them with Telekinesis.

** Elixirs of Youth reverse your age by five years, which is the only way to remedy stat atrophy because of old age.
** As you progress through the game, Master Elmeric eventually has Elixirs of Youth to purchase. Without Trade the price is 100,000 gold. The higher the difficulty level, the sooner he has the Elixirs.

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: Part of one of the longest and most convoluted quests involves finding a new worshipper for a fading deity.

* IrrelevantImportance: You can never throw anything away, even if it's no longer needed; if you drop it on the ground, it will stay there forever.

* [[MissionFromGod Mission From Goddess]]: The basic plot.

* NoStatAtrophy: Inverted -- your character can and ''will'' age, and once you hit a certain age your stats begin to decrease. If you're lucky enough to find a Potion of Youth, it will help, but these are rare.

* PrecisionFStrike: The Village of the Damned
* RandomEvent: The game runs on this trope, given that you don't know at the beginning which quests or miniquests will be presented to you.

* SwordOfPlotAdvancement: One quest requires you to find the Celestial Sword, the only weapon capable of performing the necessary deed. It's not a very good weapon otherwise. There are plenty of other quests that also have special pieces of gear that are essential to finishing it, but are otherwise useless afterwards.

** In one quest, there is a witch who was so obsessed with her looks that she swore to turn any woman to stone if they dared to be more beautiful than her.

* VendorTrash: The only thing you can do with most of that armor, weaponry, and various other dungeon loot is to sell it to Gunther the blacksmith (armor and weapons) or Master Elmeric the wizard (rings, amulets, spellbooks).

* WhenItRainsItPours: Once the Darkstone shows up, the country is covered by a never-ending rainstorm.

* WizardNeedsFoodBadly: Your character will inform you. "I'm getting hungry."

* HealingShiv: Some of the weapons and items found in the dungeons are unidentified; you should never wield or wear anything without having it first identified by Madame Irma, because it can poison you or lower your stats.
** Learn the Identification skill, DIY and save money. The really good stuff makes your character say "Whoa!"
* HolyHandGrenade: The Time Orb.

* PlotCoupon: The Crystals of Virtue.

* RedHeadedHero: The Priestess has red hair.

''Darkstone'' is a role-playing game for the PC and PlayStation, created by Creator/DelphineSoftwareInternational. It was one of the earlier ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' clone action [=RPGs=] to use fully polygonal graphics - technology that would eventually be adopted by many developers including the creator(s) of the genre codifier themselves.

''Darkstone'' offers standard [=RPG=] classes, four male and four female. The males are Warriors, Wizards, Assassins and Monks; the corresponding females are Amazons, Sorceresses, Thieves and Priestesses. The PC version of the game has an optional online multiplayer mode and gives the player the option of controlling two characters at one time, with the ability to switch between them at will. The PlayStation version, however, limits control to one player character at a time. The multiple possible quests and player characters give the game a high replay value.

** This is true only of the PC version of the game. In the PlayStation version, the random above ground monsters will respawn. The event-driven ones that are part of quests do not. A small number of random monsters in the dungeons will respawn when you re-visit a level. Same as with above ground, the monsters in special rooms like the ones with four jail cells do not respawn.

* LevelEditor: Although not included, players can download an official one which allows you to invent your own quests. [[http://www.it-taucher.at/forum/index.php The unofficial forums]] have many members with experience in the use of the editor.

* LoadingScreen: Seen whenever you ascend or descend to the next level of a dungeon.

* PlotTailoredToTheParty: The game has several quest-specific items, such as the magnifying glass, which are useless once that quest is completed.

* SwordOfPlotAdvancement: One quest requires you to find the Celestial Sword, the only weapon capable of performing the necessary deed. It's not a very good weapon otherwise.
** There are plenty of quests that have special pieces of gear that are essential to finishing it, but are otherwise useless afterwards.

* ICantUseTheseThingsTogether: Each character has a distinct voice, in which they will inform you that they are getting hungry, identify what they are examining, or - when close to death - cry out, "Help! Please help!"

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/darkstone.jpg

* SchrodingersPlayerCharacter: You can pick one or two of the six potential characters to be your avatar(s) in the game. Where do the other four go? No one knows.

* AwesomeYetPractical: The Trade ability. When you're playing a character that can learn the Trade skill, Gunther the blacksmith will reduce his prices on repairs and increase what he pays you for items you don't need - even at level one of the skill. The deal gets better as you increase the skill level. Trade makes it pointless to learn Repair. Master Elmeric and Perry the Publican also drop their prices when you know Trade. It has no effect on Master Dalsin's skill class prices, however.

* DuelingGames: Amusingly, one of the advertising campaigns for this game said that the real sequel to ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}}'' was not ''Diablo 2'', but this game instead. (Both ''Diablo 2'' and ''Darkstone'' came out around the same time.)

* ShoutOut: The guards at the gate of the town where the game begins are named [[BillMurray Bill and Murray]].

* AwesomeYetPractical: The Trade ability. When you're playing a character that can learn the Trade skill, Gunther the blacksmith will reduce his prices on repairs and increase what he pays you for items you don't need - even at level one of the skill. The deal gets better as you increase the skill level. Trade makes it pointless to learn Repair. Master Elmeric and Perry the Publican also drop their prices when you know Trade. It has no effect on Master Dalsin's skill class prices, however.* BaldOfAwesome: The Monk class has no hair.

* GoodBadBugs: There are a few, at least for the PC version, but only if you never install any patches. One enables you to use the GridInventory in such a way that you can manufacture unlimited gold. Another allows you to kill enemies on the other side of certain walls (such as those with barred windows) using ranged weapons, and they can't retaliate in any way.

* BaldOfAwesome: The Monk class has no hair.

** Gunther is a gullible mark. When you're playing a character that can learn the Trade skill, he'll reduce his prices on repairs and increase what he pays you for items you don't need - even at level one of the skill. The deal gets better as you increase the skill level. Trade makes it pointless to learn Repair. Master Elmeric and Perry the Publican also drop their prices when you know Trade. It has no effect on Master Dalsin's skill class prices.

* BonusBoss: Three of them, including The Evil Garth (a Skeleton Captain), Buzbal the Furious (a Ratman Chief), and Nosferatu the Vampire. If you kill them for a sidequest, you can get a tidy sum of cash.
* BrokenBridge: One of the more complicated quests involves a literal one.
* ButThouMust: Averted -- although the residents of the starting village do present you with additional side quests, you are not required to fulfill any of them. However, as they all entail either recovering a lost artifact or destroying a monster who happens to hang out in one of the local dungeons, fulfilling the extra quests tends to be incidental to the plot anyway.

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: As long as you've been saving fairly regularly, that is. It's even less than a slap if you play with two characters and the survivor carries a Scroll of Life (or is a Priestess).
** Or your characters have learned the Resurrection spell.

** Some classes can learn Perception, which permanently highlights all traps in red, but only when you're controlling that character. There are also time limited spells and skills which will identify traps. The Theif (and IIRC one or two others) can even learn to defuse the traps. It's easier to just identify them then stand back and pop them with Telekinesis.

* FountainOfYouth: ''The'' Fountain of Youth appears as part of a quest, but it had dried out long ago.

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: Part of one of the longest and most convaluted quests involves finding a new worshipper for a fading deity.

* ICantUseTheseThingsTogether: Each character has a distinct voice, in which they will inform you that they are getting hungry, identify what they are examining, or -- when close to death -- cry out, "Help! Please help!"

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Somehow, one of the Pure of Heart became an ''Assassin''. Make of it what you will.

** Santa also appears as a monster in some dungeons. Instead of gifts the Santas give you fireballs, at great speed, with deadly intent.

* VendorTrash: The only thing you can do with most of that armor, weaponry, and various other dungeon loot is to sell it to the blacksmith (armor and weapons) or Master Elmeric the wizard (rings, amulets, spellbooks).
* WalletOfHolding: A living one in the form of Larsac the Usurer. Instead of wasting valuable space in the limited inventory, you can hand all your money over to Larsac, who will take care of your debts with the blacksmith and other merchants in town.

''Darkstone'' is a video game that you've probably never heard of. A role-playing game for the PC and PlayStation, it was created by the French software developer Delphine and bears passing resemblance to ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}}''. It is notable as one of the earlier ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' clone action [=RPGs=] to use fully polygonal graphics - technology that would eventually be adopted by many developers including the creator(s) of the genre codifier themselves.

* EverythingsBetterWithChickens: There are chickens in the starting village, from which (as noted below) the Thief can steal eggs.
** The dungeon in the quest involving the Mirror of Lies has a room full of surprisingly hostile chickens. One has to wonder if this isn't a ShoutOut to ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series.

''Darkstone'' is a video game that you've probably never heard of. A role-playing game for the PC and PlayStation, it was created by the French software developer Delphine and bears passing resemblance to ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}}''. It is notable as one of the earlier ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' clone action RPGs to use fully polygonal graphics - technology that would eventually be adopted by many developers including the creator(s) of the genre codifier themselves.

''Darkstone'' offers standard [=RPG=] classes, four male and four female. The males are Warriors, Wizards, Assassins and Monks; the corresponding females are Amazons, Sorceresses, Thieves and Priestesses. The PC version of the game has an optional online multiplayer mode and gives the player the option of controlling two characters at one time, with the ability to switch between them at will. The Playstation version, however, limits control to one player character at a time. The multiple possible quests and player characters give the game a high replay value.

** The random above ground monsters will respawn. The event-driven ones that are part of quests do not. A small number of random monsters in the dungeons will respawn when you re-visit a level. Same as with above ground, the monsters in special rooms like the ones with four jail cells do not respawn.

* FairestOfThemAll: In one of the quests, a witch's desire to be this leads her to curse a nearby village. The player character must perform a reverse GlamourFailure to trick her into undoing it.

** Learn the Identification skill, DIY and save money. The really good stuff makes your character say "Woah!".

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The PC game's files, if carefully viewed outside of the game, indicate that there was originally a plan to include an elf ranger among the playable characters.
* WhenItRainsItPours: Once the Darkstone shows up, the country is covered by a neverending rainstorm.

** There is one dungeon where you rescue someone's wife from a nest of spiders, which he is terribly afraid of.

''Darkstone'' is a video game that you've probably never heard of. A role-playing game for the PC and PlayStation, it was created by the French software developer Delphine and bears passing resemblance to ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}}''. It is notable as one of the earlier ''{{Diablo}}'' clone action RPGs to use fully polygonal graphics - technology that would eventually be adopted by many developers including the creator(s) of the genre codifier themselves.

''Darkstone'' is a video game that you've probably never heard of. A role-playing game for the PC and PlayStation, it was created by the French software developer Delphine and bears passing resemblance to ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}}''.

''Darkstone'' is a video game that you've probably never heard of. A role-playing game for the PC and PlayStation, it was created by the French software developer Delphine and bears passing resemblance to ''{{Diablo}}''.

* DuelingGames: Amusingly, one of the advertising campaigns for this game said that the real sequel to ''{{Diablo}}'' was not ''Diablo 2'', but this game instead. (Both ''Diablo 2'' and ''Darkstone'' came out around the same time.)

** Avert this by having one character plant a Magic Door above ground outside the dungeon entrance then always use the other character's Magic Door to return to the village. The trick here is to always enter the door generated by the other character. Ie, you're playing a Warrior and a Theif. Drop the Theives door outside the entrance then always have the Warrior generate Doors underground but take control of the Theif to enter the door at either end. Entering a Door with the character that created it results in the destruction of the Door. Not good when you're relying on Magic Door scrolls before you've found or bought the spellbook.

* [[EverythingsBetterWithChickens Everything's Better With Chickens]]: There are chickens in the starting village, from which (as noted below) the Thief can steal eggs.
** The dungeon in the quest involving the Mirror of Lies has a room full of surprisingly hostile chickens. One has to wonder if this isn't a ShoutOut to the ''LegendOfZelda'' series.