ڰ֮УBlade Of DarknessӢܼ


Characters

Knight - The Knight has a decent amount of hit points, and can wear armor (in 
fact, he gets some armor during his first mission/quest/area). The Knight also 
has access to some pretty powerful weapons, and can use shields with most of 
them. The ability to use a shield is very handy, and unlike the Dwarf, the Knight 
has weapons that are large enough to hit the enemy without needing to "bump up 
against them".

As for combos, well the Knight has some powerful combo moves early in his 
fighting career (matched only by the Amazon). The largest problem with the Knight 
is in his Energy. Although he has a decent amount of Energy, his weapons seam to 
drain more for each attack then the Barbarian or Amazon. After level 6 or so, 
this is no longer as large of a problem as it is during his first mission.

All in all, the Knight is a solid powerhouse, capable of cleaving through the 
enemies who stand before him.

Barbarian - The Barbarian is a walking "slaughter house". Although he does not 
have a lot of hit points (early), he can slice his foes in two with little 
effort. Most of his weapons are two-handed, so he does not use a shield for 
protection. He can deflect incoming blows with his weapon, but not as effectively 
as the Knight or Dwarf can do with their shields.

The Barbarian will not have access to any worthie combo moves until he is level 5 
or better. Adding to that, the two-handed weapons are slow, and can be difficult 
to get the first attack in (enemies are often faster to swing then you are). 
Expect to take a lot of damage during your first few levels. Once you reach level 
5 or so, and after you have found a better weapon then the Chaos Sword, you will 
be slicing through the hordes with the fury of a madman.

The Barbarian is difficult to start playing. His starting area contains monsters 
that defend strongly against slashing damage, and there are not too many "new" 
weapons for him to find. If you can make it through the Barbarians starting area 
though, you will begin to paint like Picasso with the blood of your enemies.

Amazon - Much to my surprise, the Amazon is quite powerful. Her starting area is 
one of the easiest of the 4 characters, and is rewarding in weapons, items, and 
exp. Beyond the ease of her starting area, the Amazon is also very powerful. She 
may have the lowest hit points and energy and power out of all the characters, 
but you will not notice. The Amazon uses pole arms (spears, etc) as her primary 
weapon. She is capable of killing a target with very quick attacks, and from 
outside of the enemies attack range (the pole arms have an extended reach). When 
she attacks, the Amazon uses very little Energy. In fact, even at level 1, 
attacking full on (without breathing), I never used up all of her energy to the 
point of exhaustion.

The Amazon has a few early combos, but nothing of extreme power. Finding a 
Boathook will help you more then the combos. This of course, is speaking of her 
early levels (1-4). 

The ease of her starting area, the speed of her attacks, the low energy that she 
uses when attacking, and the long reach of her pole arm weapons, all make up for 
the Amazons low Hit Points and low Power. It is my opinion that the Amazon is the 
easiest character to begin playing the game with.

Dwarf - The Dwarf (in my opinion, based off the first couple areas with each 
class) is the hardest of all the characters. True, he has a shield to block 
incoming attacks, and more hit points then the others, but his weapons are too 
short. In order to attack something, you need to get right next to it (almost 
bumping into it). By the time that you get close enough to attack, the enemy has 
already begun to swing, or has already hit you. A lot of the enemies in the 
Dwarves starting area knock you back a couple feet when they hit you. This 
amplifies the problem. As soon as you are close enough to attack the enemy, they 
are already hitting you, and tossing you back far enough so that you need to get 
close again. It can be quite frustrating. The Shield helps, but there are only so 
many shields to go around, and with the Dwarf, you will go through them quickly.

To make a bad situation seam even worse, the Dwarf has little to no early combo 
moves. Those that he does have  are very difficult to execute (even more so for 
someone who started off playing as the dwarf).

The good part about the Dwarf is his story line. It is a lot more involving then 
any of the other characters (the Barbarian being the least involving). The first 
quarter of the Dwarfs starting area will have no enemies to fight. Instead, you 
will struggle to locate the Dwarven city (as stated in the plot). From there, you 
will find the city under siege. You will see other Dwarves clash with the enemy, 
and you will see them fall in battle. The Story, and plot for the Dwarf is where 
this character really shines.
