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 Introduction Die By The Sword is a classic PC hack and slash game in the purest sense. It's all about brutal sword fights where you can dismember your foes while shouting them down with boisterous taunts. The other big draw of the game is the innovative method of controlling your sword arm, which can be done via keyboard, mouse, or joystick. The game was developed by Treyarch and published in 1998 by Tantrum Entertainment, a now defunct (to the best of my knowledge) subsidiary of Interplay. You may know Treyarch from their more recent work on the Call of Duty franchise. They also made a game called Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm for the Dreamcast, which is considered by many to be a spiritual successor to this one. I have a thread going for that game over here if you want to check it out. We play as Enric, who grew up as a farmer, but became a soldier in the King's army after his family was slaughtered by dwarves. Eventually Enric was sent into dwarven lands during the ensuing war between dwarves and humans, but when his unit killed an unarmed dwarven family, he realized that he had become what he hated and deserted. From there he lived as a mercenary and eventually found his way to a human caravan being attacked by orcs and ogres. He joined the fight, which is where he met Maya, his implied lover. Maya was a street rat and thief for much of her life. She fell in with a group of thieves, but eventually a job went south and some were caught or killed. Maya escaped custody and continued to ply her trade as a thief or even assassin. A capable fighter, she is eventually hired to guard a caravan, the same one that Enric happens upon. About the Playthrough I played the demo of this game a bunch as a kid, but never owned the full version. I've always wanted to go back and play it, and there's not time like the present. This game was a bitch to get set up and running the way I wanted, but I finally did it. I'm using a cocktail of applications to play the game with an XBox 360 controller (vJoy, UJR, Xpadder), but in the end it was worth it. In my opinion, the joystick is the best way to control your sword arm, though the keyboard is possibly easier and the mouse can produce some amusing results as well. I'm also using a mod called Die By The Sword Xtender, made by someone named Hazard. Xtender fixes some graphical annoyances and helps improve the visual quality / FPS of the game a bit. I've also installed the optional "Cuss Pack" for a bit of extra fun, though I'll probably be talking over Enric half the time. We may or may not do the Limb from Limb expansion. We'll see how we fare in the main quest first. If you want to check out the game for yourself, I got my copy over at GoG, though you may be able to buy it elsewhere. I usually record in small batches, so I may not be able to act on your feedback immediately. Update Schedule The main quest is complete! See the post below for the Limb From Limb expansion. Thread Rules I'd prefer to keep any discussion related to the videos / sections of the game that have been listed in the thread so far. Vids Series Playlist
It's video games. Every day...ish. rojovision fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Jul 26, 2015 |
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Jun 10, 2015 02:10
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 14:34 |
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 Introduction This is a playthrough of the Limb From Limb expansion to Die By The Sword. I decided to keep it in the same thread. It seems that this quest takes place a little while after the first one. Maya has been having some nightmares and there's talk of an "Evil Queen Maya" spreading around. Of course she has to investigate to sort it all out. That means canonically speaking this is Maya's quest, but we'll be going through it as Enric because Cuss Pack. Enric does seem to have his own stuff to say about the adventure, though. Update Schedule This series is complete! Thread Rules I'd prefer to keep any discussion related to the videos / sections of the game that have been listed in the thread so far. Vids Series Playlist
rojovision fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Sep 16, 2015 |
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Jun 10, 2015 02:10
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Also Reserved.
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Jun 10, 2015 02:10
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Episode 1 - Dismemberment 101 is now up. This episode is a bit of an introduction to the game while we dick around in a few rounds of arena mode. 
rojovision fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Jun 19, 2015 |
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Jun 10, 2015 02:11
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Leximancer posted:I look forward to seeing it done right. Indeed, I'll be using the joystick...beyond that I'm afraid I may disappoint you with my lack of skill, haha. We'll find out soon enough.
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Jun 11, 2015 02:59
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nine-gear crow posted:Oh boy. This looks amazing. Yeah it matters. Since I'm using a 360 controller I've got the right joystick set up to control the direction of my sword swings. As an example, if my sword is in the neutral position and I move the joystick left and hold it I'll prepare a chest level swing. If I then move the joystick right from that position I'll execute the attack from left to right. It's similar for other directions. Some of the sword movement is involuntary though due to weapons getting hung up on each other and stuff like that. Anecdotally, I think the velocity of your strike may even have an effect on your damage. I don't think I did too much of it in the intro video, but you can also go into parry mode, and your shield can block attacks as well, though I don't know that you can control it in the same way you do your sword. rojovision fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 03:45
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90's Game Animation"?
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tiistai posted:You'll have a hard time chopping off legs with vertical swings, for instance. I believe all the body parts have their own "hp", so to speak. You're probably correct about the individual HP thing. There's damage shown on individual body parts which would seem to support that. Thankfully it doesn't appear that you can lose your own limbs in quest mode even though it'd be hilarious to try to complete the game without any legs.
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Jun 11, 2015 03:58
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Episode 2 - If You Pissed in That Potion I'm Going to Be Really Mad is now available. We start our adventure in the main quest. It seems Maya, our implied lover, has been taken captive for reasons unknown, and we cannot let this insult stand! 
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Jun 12, 2015 03:38
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Episode 3 - The Magic Cock Ring is now available. We emerge from our raft ride in trog territory as Maya is dragged deeper into the mountain! I know I said in the last episode that this would be mostly blind, but I think I'm going to have to 180 on that. Game's too hard, yo. 
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Jun 14, 2015 03:36
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Doc Morbid posted:Gotta love that 90s animation. Just wait until you see the next gen swimming.
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Jun 14, 2015 03:39
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Dinictus posted:Kobold sized hole? Kinda. Try leading the baby Trog to the hole. Aw, wish I'd thought of that. Maybe I'll start the beginning of the next episode at that last quicksave and try to go back for him if he's still around. As for the controller, I mentioned it in passing in the OP, but I'll try to explain in more detail here. I'm using Xpadder, vJoy, and Universal Joystick Remapper (UJR). Xpadder basically allows you to map joystick input to keyboard / mouse input. There's an old free version of Xpadder that some people use, but it didn't work for me on Windows 8 64 bit, so I just ponied up the 10 bucks and bought it. vJoy and UJR are both free. If you don't mind using the left analog stick for your sword while moving around with the right I think you could get away with just Xpadder. vJoy is just a virtual joystick driver. The installer didn't entirely work for me and would hang near completion so I had to go in and add a couple registry entries pointing to certain files to get UJR to work. UJR allows you to map a physical joystick's buttons to a vJoy virtual joystick thus giving me the means to switch the mappings of the left and right analog sticks. In theory Xpadder could do this as well, but it wasn't working for me. Finally I had to go into the Windows "Set Up USB Game Controllers" tool to allow me to select a default controller because DBTS doesn't let you choose a controller. rojovision fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Jun 14, 2015 |
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Jun 14, 2015 18:07
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Episode 4 - Orc S&M Party is now available. At the top of the elevator we encounter a barrage of tough fights and some creepy bug critters. We also make a few new friends! Dinictus posted:Kobold sized hole? Kinda. Try leading the baby Trog to the hole. I tried this and sadly it didn't seem to want to work for me. Maybe someone else will have better luck. 
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Jun 17, 2015 07:18
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Dinictus posted:Yeah, guess I misremembered since it's been over ten years since I played the game. Cool, mystery mostly solved then I guess. Illegal Username posted:You should try jumping in combat to score headshots. I also remember using the numpad to swing the sword from the upper diagonals to the opposite horizontal for great effect Yeah I may give that a shot now that I'm getting a little bit better at the game. Usually I just end up getting hit in the legs when I do jump attacks, but practice should help mitigate that. I do sometimes try to do high and low horizontal slashes, but for me at least they're a bit tough to execute with a joystick, so I often fail.
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Jun 17, 2015 17:56
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Episode 5 - It's a Nutsack with Legs is now up. The difficulty ramps up as we fight through the orc stronghold and have a little fun with potions and disguises. 
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Jun 19, 2015 02:39
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Pyrogenesis posted:To call this game's plot "rudimentary" would make a disservice to *facepalm*. Yeah pretty much. Which reminds me that I forgot to update the intro section with a little character back story (it's done now). There's actually a fair bit in the game's manual, but it seems like most of it doesn't really come through in the game itself.
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Jun 19, 2015 21:15
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RoboChrist 9000 posted:I'm enjoying this LP a lot so far, so kudos! Shame I missed this game growing up, because it's so my jam. Glad you're enjoying it! I'll have to double check, but I don't think the game has subtitles, which is a shame. Volume is a bit of a tough thing to balance because if the taunts are too loud you won't be able to understand either of us, and it's tough to do any sort of commentary when you're constantly interrupted. That said, I've already recorded the next episode, but I'll see if I can improve the voice volume for what's left since I definitely do want people to be able to hear some of the silliness. In the meantime if you haven't tried it yet, you could give wearing headphones a shot - it might help bring out some of the lower sounds a bit without having to put your speakers on blast. Dinictus posted:Oh gosh, I forgot Tony Jay was in this game. Then hearing the guy's delivery of the sorceror brings back so many fond memories. Yeah, Tony Jay was a great voice actor. One of my favorites, in fact!
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Jun 19, 2015 22:32
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Episode 6 - The Wizard's Foul Methane Swings a Sword is now up. We emerge from a tunnel into a temple of sorts, and enjoy a bit of relief from the difficulty of the last episode as we spend much of our time platforming. 
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Jun 20, 2015 20:49
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I made a bit of an error when rendering out episode 7, so it's going to be up late. Sorry about that. Should be ready sometime today, though (6/24).
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Jun 24, 2015 07:05
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Episode 7 - Knock, Knock...Candygram is now up. We find a great item and have some fun breaking stuff and cracking skulls in the dwarven mines! I upped the game volume in the mix for this one so hopefully you guys can hear some of the voices a bit more easily. 
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Jun 24, 2015 23:45
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YouTube is having a really bad day as far as uploads go, which is really annoying. Next episode won't be out until tomorrow (6/26).
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Jun 26, 2015 03:22
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Episode 8 - You Ain't Got the Balls Ya Bony rear end is now up. We near the end of our journey as we enter the castle of the Master himself. 
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Jun 26, 2015 09:34
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Episode 9 - Live by the Sword. Die by the Sword. is now up. It's time for the final showdown with the Master! Stay for the credits to hear Enric tell Maya the story of her rescue. As a side note, I also renamed the first episode to fit with the naming scheme better. I had a bunch of fun with this one! I may do the Limb from Limb xpac as well, haven't decided yet. If I do, I'll just run the series in this thread. 
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Jun 28, 2015 00:37
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PurpleXVI posted:Does the amulet of protection against ranged attacks have any use aside from trivializing the fight against the orc shaman? It doesn't even seem to do anything in the final fight against the wizard's zapping. It's possible that the wizard might one shot you from full HP if you didn't pick it up, but I haven't tested it. I guess it's theoretically possible that it would help against the spear traps in the walls as well. My hunch is that it's only or at least mainly for the encounter with the orc shaman, though. Dinictus posted:Huh. They didn't even give Sir Tony loving Jay a VA mention? There seem to be two sets of credits. I think the first set is for the Limb from Limb xpac, and then the ones that follow are for the original game. Tony Jay is credited around 11:55 in. rojovision fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Jun 30, 2015 |
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Jun 30, 2015 03:12
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Now that I've had a bit of a break I wanted to let you guys know that I'm planning on doing the Limb From Limb xpac on Sundays starting this weekend on July 26. Updates will go in this thread.
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Jul 21, 2015 22:38
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Episode 1 - Ya Bony Bastards is now up for the Limb From Limb xpac. Not sure what we're doing in this temple, but it's filled with rear end in a top hat skeletons! 
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Jul 26, 2015 18:34
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Dinictus posted:And that brings me to material I never have seen before. Limb From Limb never saw much release where I live at the time, and I never Depends on the character. For example Enric only has the 3 - sword, axe, morning star. Some characters like Maya can dual wield which I believe has a slightly special control scheme to allow use of the offhand weapon. I'm not sure if all characters have different weapons. For Enric I think the sword is the easiest just due to the reach and the damaging portion of the hit box, but honestly I haven't messed around too much with the additional weapons or other characters.
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Jul 26, 2015 19:46
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'd it either.
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Episode 2 - Should Have Brought a Pair of Boots is now up for the Limb From Limb xpac. We briefly go over the story behind the adventure as we enter the domain of a familiar face from the original quest. From what I read after a bit of searching it seems that this quest takes place a little while after the first one. Maya has been having some nightmares and there's talk of an "Evil Queen Maya" spreading around. Of course she has to investigate to sort it all out. That means canonically speaking this is Maya's quest, but it seems like Enric has his own stuff to say about it too. 
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Aug 3, 2015 04:58
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Dinictus posted:Jeez, those weevils sound unfun and unfair. It seems not, sadly. He'll let you fight the bug by yourself unless you get too close, but after that he came after me when I was going through the level the first time. As for the bugs themselves, the amount they throw at you is a little obnoxious. I guess a better player wouldn't have quite as much trouble since they have low HP, but they're pretty punishing if you get surrounded or make a mistake.
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Aug 3, 2015 14:40
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Episode 3 - I'll Have to Rinse Off After This One is now up for the Limb From Limb xpac. If you didn't think there were enough critters in the last level, you're in for a treat. Also, we get to call in a little help for once. 
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Aug 10, 2015 06:19
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Just a heads up - episode 4 will probly be late this week. Ran into a bit of a snag that I'm trying to get sorted out. Sorry about that.
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Aug 16, 2015 21:13
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Episode 4 - There Ain't poo poo Here is now up for the Limb From Limb xpac. We trade bugs for dwarves and, well...more bugs! Apologies for the delay. I missed an objective somewhere and was trying to figure it out, but didn't get a chance to record until later in the week. If anybody knows what I missed let me know and I'll try to make a video for it at some point! 
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Aug 24, 2015 05:25
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Episode 5 - Time for Some Nut Boxin' is now up for the Limb From Limb xpac. Things heat up as we navigate a river of lava and do battle with some familiar enemies! Once again, sorry about the delay. I've been super under the weather recently. 
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Sep 7, 2015 07:51
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The next episode should be out on Tuesday this week.
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Sep 14, 2015 01:30
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Episode 6 - Playtime's Over is now up for the Limb From Limb xpac. At long last we reach the Evil Queen's castle! We must exercise all of our skill and cunning to survive. That or just sweep the leg. This is the final episode of the Limb From Limb xpac. I definitely think the original quest was better, but I enjoyed this none the less. Hope you guys did as well! 
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Sep 16, 2015 04:44
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 14:34 |
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HardDisk posted:It seems like cutting off limbs were a major selling point/gimmick of the game, but it also feels like that the characters' limbs have way too much HP for cutting off limbs to be a proper strategy most of the time. Yeah, though to be fair it may just be that I'm not super great at the game and / or the fact that we're playing on the hardest difficulty. Still, the final episode has plenty of limb chopping action so hopefully that makes up for some shortcomings elsewhere!
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Sep 16, 2015 04:46
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