Let's continue with the cool roguelikes ! Anyone else here is a fan of IVAN ( Iter vehemens ad necem... A violent road to death ) ? This is one of my favorite Rogues, a lot of humour, awesome limb severing system, monty python references, nice boss battles, communists and deadly kamikaze dwarves... It got it all ! The game is not developped anymore but there's already a lot to do and I never could get the ending. Share what you think of the game ! http://ivan.sourceforge.net/download.html The original forum is dead but fans made a new one which is still active: http://www.attnam.com/forum/
I put so many hours into this game, but I have the hardest time trying to get through the second level. Even when I managed to get FULL PHOENIX FEATHER ARMOR and the artifact short sword, that sonic damage is just so strong. I really like the way stats are set up. How they get better the more you use them. I also like all the enchanting with scrolls, and all the different weapon types.
Glad you like it too : ) Were you on the forum ? I used to be very active there, though under my true nickname "Blob". By second level do you mean the second cave ? This one is the final cave, and it gets really tough by the end. Actually it might be weird for a while but I think im gonna ask Daynab to change my name to blob here as well if its possible... >_>
The problem with "learn by doing" systems, IMO, is when you wind up having to repeatedly do something just to level up the skill. Thinking back to Ultima Online and the days of crafting 100 or more chairs just to level up lumberjacking, or repeatedly stabbing deer to death so I could get enough skill to handle the wolves...
@blob (if you don't mind me calling you that) I never went on the forums, this is actually the only community where I've cared enough to get involved with the forums. But yeah, I do mean the second cave. The Ermine monster is just such a pain, and taking potions down with you is a bad idea. I've only killed him once when I managed to get down there with a wand of striking. @Meat one of the reasons why I like it so much is because there aren't many games (that I've seen) that use that kind of system, so it's actually a very nice change from the usual "k here's your level up, pick a stat" deal. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Sometimes I also like the grinding aspect of it too.
I agree with you meat, that the gameplay is borked if you start farming / grinding to succeed. But I just never do so, and therefore enjoy the mechanic more this way. But games were it is designed to need boring and dumb repetitive tasks like you mentions are doing it wrong. Skyrim's blacksmithing skill could also be mentionned. Bunny, you re more than welcome to call me blob. Glad you immediatly caught the habit ! By Ermine I guess you meant the enner beast ? Hehe, This boss is beautiful design IMO ! Because you actually have to plan a method to kill this guy ( drop your potions obviously ) and rely on the screams to find the bastard and hope he dies fast. Zapping a few holy bananas at his face is a good idea too. To me the main issue of the game was the way monster spawned. The stronger you are the stronger they get, so there's no real point in leveling up against spawnable monsters ( it is, obviously, necessary in order to beat the story bosses ).
That is one thing I really didn't like about the game. Level scaling usually sucks in any game that has it (looking at you once again Skyrim). I agree with you about the enner beast though (I kept forgetting what his exact name was) getting close to him is scary though. Everything you have can just break on top of the amount of damage you're taking. I haven't been playing it as much lately (been mostly playing DoD for my roguelike fix) but I think I could finally get past him if I tried now. The game is a lot of just getting lucky, but there are still those instances like the Enner Beast that are very focused on tactics. It's a nice balance.
I think the game is pretty well balanced in terms of loot, the balance issue comes from what monster spawns. I mean an unlucky step getting you in front of a kamikaze dwarf and it can be over instantly... Having Sherarax or Ischaldirh to spawn and you can probably say farewell to your character. For the Enner there is actually tricks to replace potions and light, but I dont wanna spoil ! Man I just remembered I actually finished this game, but not with the best ending. Just got the easy one.
I can't even count how many times I've died because of kamikaze dwarfs. My only hope against that so far is to get lucky enough to find armor of great health and enchant the hell out of it.
I actually never tried very hard to get a pet. That could have been somewhere were I went very wrong.
I cant remember too well but its possible the only way is to read a scroll of taming or something of the sort and they are rather rare. you can get some really powerful companions in this game. One of them being the very title of the game.
I scroll of golem creation will give you a golem yeah? Those can be super powerful depending on what they're made of. I've come across many scrolls of taming. I'd love to see what some of the more powerful companions are.
Ivan is freaking kick ass, the game totally deservers to wear his name. Yup, make some octiron golems if you can ! Those are quite durable...
Right, forgot about those guys. Ah, now I remember how to get good pets: through worship ! Ahhh the sweet memories of watching my angels or black mistresses removing random limbs in a bloody mess.
Worship always seems like the best way to get good companions. Like in Elona. I've gotten mistressed before though, they were pretty awesome. One time I even got two.
Ohhh one last major tip... Do you know you can change your limb's material ? A phoenix feather armor is... nice. A phoenix feather entire body, is AWESOME.
I knew you could do that, but the materials I ended up with usually were never very good. I'll have to see if I can get lucky again sometime.
