Diver Down



""A blade can cut

A fire can incinerate

But only a mind can truly destroy.""

- Chapter Intro

Diver Down is an indie freeware RPG (Available for download here) in the style of traditional Eastern RPGs. However, where the game truly shines is its story, where it shows that even freeware games certainly can tell intricate and involving stories, and arguably puts many commercial RPGs to shame in storytelling.

This game provides examples of:

 * Anti Hero: Drek is a type III or type IV, willing to do anything to survive, but still sympathetic and occasionally heroic.
 * Badass Cape: Drek.
 * Blood Knight:
 * The Caligula: King Bester, who is paranoid and entirely unwilling to listen to reason (perhaps justified due to a recent assassination attempt).
 * Combat Pragmatist: Drek in the cutscenes. Setting fire to furniture, stabbing unarmed men, using his enemies as a human shield against explosions... Anything and everything he can do to stay alive.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder:
 * Dishing Out Dirt: Jea.
 * Fragile Speedster: Malcolm.
 * The Good Chancellor: King Bester's chancellor, who appears to support Drek's claims of innocence and tries to convince the King he is not a threat.
 * Hard Levels Easy Bosses: Some dungeons don't even have a boss at all.
 * Identity Amnesia: Drek has this in spades. The only clues to his identity are off-hand comments by dying allies and enemies, leading him on a chase across Continents and through countless cities, meeting men who all know him, but who he does not remember in the slightest, all trying to manipulate or kill him. And he still doesn't remember who's who or who to trust.
 * Luck Based Mission: Certain dungeons can feel like this, especially in the first act, and generally depends on how frequent the Random Encounters are. You can either get none for half the dungeon, or one every four steps. You are also unlikely to have the resources to survive more than two or three.
 * The random encounters themselves often vary wildly in difficulty, as well. You can either get one monster or five. Yes, really. You can breeze through a dungeon as long as you don't get any gigantic encounters, or have to glue yourself to the nearest healing point if you get groups of 4-5. This is on top of the wildly variable chances of getting encounters in the first place.
 * Magic Knight:
 * The Medic: Drek has this skillset, oddly enough.
 * Laurana is a straighter example.
 * Mighty Glacier: Gerret.
 * Our Elves Are Better
 * Poor Communication Kills: The end of, oh so much. Possible overlap with Idiot Ball --
 * Powered Armor: The Shift Guards.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy: The ythpin, to an extent. Rather odd, considering they're the frailest species in the world.
 * Random Encounters: Very frequent and difficult to survive in the beginning. You will hate 'em.
 * So Long and Thanks For All The Gear: Happens all the time. Save often, and strip everything off your party members if you think they're about to leave.
 * Squishy Wizard: Jea. Oh God, Jea.
 * Also Laurana, to a lesser extent.
 * Status Buff: Gerret specializes in these.
 * Weapon of Choice:
 * Drek: Carry a Big Stick
 * Jherga: Cool Sword
 * Gerret: Blade On a Stick
 * Malcolm: The Archer
 * Jea: Simple Staff
 * : Drop the Hammer
 * Laurana: Whip It Good