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It's Throwback Thursday time! This week, we continue our focus on games that received exclusive free goodies, including concept arts, badass screenshots, and renders, all thanks to the The Video Game History Foundation. No time to waste, as we're talking about quite the infamous title: Daikatana!

"John Romero’s about to make you his b-" the game’s… unique advertising strategy, is one of the many reasons Daikatana is remembered to this day. The game is a classic FPS with interesting elements and a unique setting, as it takes place across four different time periods: 2455 Japan, ancient Greece, Norway during the Dark Ages, and San Francisco in 2030. It features approximately two dozen weapons to use, each with its own unique identity, themed to the time period you are playing in, and was a pioneer in featuring friendly NPCs meant to help you in your missions. Meant is a keyword here, as the game was met with mixed results for its numerous AI problems, amongst others. But it's a fun, rather crazy ride, in pure Romero fashion, and still very enjoyable.



Recommended by Kilg0re_Tr0ut, Stream Team


Daikatana is an underrated game, in my opinion, that has an undeserved reputation for being a "bad" game. Though it certainly has its janky issues, and there were many issues on release, there is a lot of fun to be had here. IMO, once you get past the drab, grindy opening episode (which is the one most people played in the shareware demo), the game really opens up in terms of graphics and level design. The John Romero approved community patch makes it much more playable on modern PCs, and I think even if it's not a bona fide masterpiece when all is said and done, it's an ambitious and fun experience.

To discover the game with us, check out stream, Friday 9pm CST, on the GOG Twitch channel. The Throwback Thursday series is done in cooperation with The Video Games History Foundation – a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and teaching the history of video games. If you want to support them, we encourage you to check their [url=https://gamehistory.org/donate/]donation page. And if you'd like to see all the games in this ongoing series, go to its dedicated page.
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An article looking on the bright side of Daikatana? :P Never thought I'd see the day... I've actually completed it and enjoyed some parts of it (the dark age was particularly nice IMHO). It's not as bad of a shooter as it's rumored to be, but it became a victim of its own hype and overselling.
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Is the community patch (Romero approved) included in the GOG version? Do t think I ever got past the first few missions.
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nightcraw1er.488: Is the community patch (Romero approved) included in the GOG version? Do t think I ever got past the first few missions.
I remember stopping playing the game because the patch made the companions immortal, so that I could always just stand behind the corner and wait for them to kill everything. Superfly Johnson being this immortal god that mowed down everything in his path, no matter what was thrown at him. Keeping the companions alive was apparently a pain in the original version but making them immortal is even worse.

I later found out that you can disable the immortality through console even with the community patch, but never got back around to playing it again.
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idbeholdME: [...] Superfly Johnson being this immortal god that mowed down everything in his path, no matter what was thrown at him. Keeping the companions alive was apparently a pain in the original version but making them immortal is even worse.

I later found out that you can disable the immortality through console even with the community patch, but never got back around to playing it again.
Superfly Johnson.. LOL If you ask me, somebody with that name would be in permanent godmode anyway, patch or no patch :D
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nightcraw1er.488: Is the community patch (Romero approved) included in the GOG version? Do t think I ever got past the first few missions.
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idbeholdME: I remember stopping playing the game because the patch made the companions immortal, so that I could always just stand behind the corner and wait for them to kill everything. Superfly Johnson being this immortal god that mowed down everything in his path, no matter what was thrown at him. Keeping the companions alive was apparently a pain in the original version but making them immortal is even worse.

I later found out that you can disable the immortality through console even with the community patch, but never got back around to playing it again.
or disable him completely and play alone (to enable no sidekicks option).
Post edited February 03, 2022 by MagicBoy
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MagicBoy: or disable him completely and play alone (to enable no sidekicks option).
I'm always curious why people constantly complain about exploits in the game while continuing to play the game with exploits...

If you find an exploit in a game that will get in the way of your super-elite-hard-core status as a gamer, then don't use it, sure you can first test-play it so that you can report it and all, but to continue playing the game using exploits and then complain about it just shows that you don't use self-control, so that's entirely on you!

Not singling out anyone here, just speaking in general, as this is all too common with some gamers!
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Honestly, this is an interesting and disappointing video game at the same time. The best thing to do is to patch it with an unofficial patch circulating on the Internet. That makes it more interesting and less frustrating for the player. And, it's not the difficulty level itself that is frustrating, but the lousy artificial intelligence that Daikatana has, as well as the bad design of some scenarios (which could cause confusion for some novice players). The companions are a burden and thanks to that, dying becomes more recurrent. Some bosses leave a lot to be desired. And there are problems in the programming that are still not completely solved. It was a videogame that took advantage of marketing and John Romero's image to sell. And, I have to say, the game is not all bad. On the contrary, it is very entertaining at times. And I think it deserves a remake up to today's standards that corrects all the problems of the original. Despite all that said, it's a title I'm immensely fond of.
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WinterSnowfall: An article looking on the bright side of Daikatana? :P Never thought I'd see the day... I've actually completed it and enjoyed some parts of it (the dark age was particularly nice IMHO). It's not as bad of a shooter as it's rumored to be, but it became a victim of its own hype and overselling.
Reminds me of the story of another shooter - can't remember it's name... "Cyberpang 2077“ or something like that. Game got more flak than a B17 flying over Berlin in 1944 :/
I hope some folks in the industry learned some valuable lessons at least.
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I remember constantly being killed by doors.
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Video game (if the term video isn't outdated in itself) historians, would never of thought of such things back when I was a young boy playing games back in the olden times of Mega Drive and Super Nintendo.

As for Daikatana I remember the big advertisement campaign for it before it came out.
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I agree that the game is underrated. It's a solid FPS once you get used to clunky companion AI. One of the biggest advantages is the diversity of levels. There are four chapters with completely different atmosphere and settings. It feels almost like four different games. I enjoyed even the first episode which many people hate. Daikatana was simply overhyped and that's the main reason why it received such a cold reception at the time of release. In short, give the game a chance and don't be discouraged by the first chapter. It'll repay that for sure.
Post edited February 03, 2022 by Sarafan
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I should watch more Kilg0re, hes hands down the best GOG streamer amongst other great streamers. Hes one of the very few streamers that never seem to have a very wrong opinion about anything, and is filling the niece of serious-yet-not-dry streamers unlike me, for I am the dryest motherfucker alive.

I remember that he was part of a bigband of sorts and since we live in you-know-what times I hope hes doing well. It has been years since I've watched GOG people play games.

I do agree with his opinions about Daikatana as well, the game got memed a little bit too hard on back in the day and while it was a broken mess, nowadays it plays well and has grown to become a decent oldschool shooter.

Never judge a book by its cover is one thing but this also implies that first impressions never last, which means if you think a game is bad, perhaps going back to it after a decade or two may proof your previously held opinion very wrong. People are stupid if they honestly believe that things never change.
Post edited February 03, 2022 by Dray2k
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No fps games collection is complete without your buddy Superfly and everyone needs a Hiro in his life once in a while. Underrated game from the very early 2000's that has become a whole lot better over the years also due to the 1.3 community patch (latest update: December 19, 2021).
Post edited February 03, 2022 by Berzerk2k2
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I will give John one more chance to make me his bitch, but this is it, man!