Fate

Overview

Fate is a 2005 action-role playing game developed by Wild Tangent, Inc. Developed by many ex- Diablo, Diablo II and current Torchlight developers, it is no surprise that Fate is much along the same vein as Blizzard's classic franchise. A popular game in its time, Fate spawned three sequels ( Fate: Undiscovered Realms, Fate: The Traitor Soul and the latest entry Fate: The Cursed King), and introduced some features that influenced later dungeon crawlers.

Gameplay

As with most dungeon crawling action-RPGS, in Fate the player must progress through an ever-changing, randomizing dungeon to complete quests for NPCs, fight monsters, collect loot to buy better equipment, and distribute skill points. Many aspects of the dungeon floors in Fate are random - not only the floor plan, enemies, and items, but the visual style as well.

The Player Character

One of Fate's more unusual features is the lack of preset character classes. The game instead gives the player a high degree of customization from the onset. At every level up, the player gets five attribute points (which enable the equipping of better items and the use of more powerful magic spells), and two skill points to distribute in any of 15 skills. Skills govern weapon proficiency, critical hit chance, dual-wielding, and shield use.

Along with the standard experience points, there are also "Fame Points" for completing quests and killing harder enemies, which go toward increasing a Fame level stat. With each Fame level gained, the player is given four extra skill points to spend.

The Pet

While creating a character, players are also allowed to chose a cat or dog as a pet and give it a name. This pet accompanies the player throughout the entire game, attacks enemies, and has its own inventory.

The player's pet can equip items that boost its stats, and can also be sent to town to sell unwanted items.

The player can also catch fish through a fishing mini-game, and feed them to the pet to transform it into a powerful creature of some sort. More powerful fish can transform the pet permanently.