Legend of Grimrock

Discussion in 'Other Games' started by TheJadedMieu, Apr 11, 2012.

  1. TheJadedMieu

    TheJadedMieu Member

    How's everyone enjoying this amazing game? Figured we could use this thread to share our party builds and discuss the game.

    My party:
    Minotaur Fighter, points in armor, athletics, and either axes or maces
    Lizardman Rogue, points in daggers, dodge, and assassination
    Insectoid Mage, points in fire, air, and spellcraft
    Insectoid Mage, points in earth, ice, and spellcraft

    I'm currently on level 4. This party seems to be working fairly well, although I had some problems with the spiders. Scared the shizz out of me the first time I saw one!
     
    Kazeto likes this.
  2. Kazeto

    Kazeto Member

    I haven't really played it (and probably won't for quite a while, as most things that I could buy that are priced in dollars have a x4 price multiplier for me), so I've no party to talk about, but I want to thank you for giving me the name of another game that I'll buy someday and play a few years later.
     
  3. Haldurson

    Haldurson Member

    I've played it for about a half hour so far and I think it's a pretty cool game. And I still have no idea how to cast spells lol. I have a Minotaur and human fighter, a Lizardman Rogue, and an Insectoid Mage.
     
  4. TheJadedMieu

    TheJadedMieu Member

    To cast spells, right-click on your mage's hand or an equipped staff to open the rune menu. From there, you can punch in a combination of runes and cast spells.

    A few early spells *SPOILER-ISH*
    Fire rune (top-left) is fireblast
    Air rune (top-right) is shock
    Earth rune (bottom-left) is poison cloud
    Earth rune and water rune (bottom-right) is ice spikes
     
  5. Haldurson

    Haldurson Member

    Really? Because I've tried that with random runes and I just get spell fizzles.
     
  6. TheJadedMieu

    TheJadedMieu Member

    If it's fizzling, you're entering the wrong combo. The more likely explanation is that you're trying to cast a spell from a school that you don't have enough points in.
     
  7. Haldurson

    Haldurson Member

    I put 1 point in each school, and 2 in spellcraft
     
  8. TheJadedMieu

    TheJadedMieu Member

    The spells listed above require two points in the school, except for one (fire?), which requires three.
     
  9. Haldurson

    Haldurson Member

    Ah, that explains it. Good to know. I feel like I'm flailing along in the dark sometimes, as if I'm playing a rogue-like lol. But that's fun also lol.
     
  10. Haldurson

    Haldurson Member

    It's actually a good thing that even though I don't know what I'm doing, I'm not actually dying or getting 'stuck' so early. You can still kill stuff and live long enough to learn.
     
  11. TheJadedMieu

    TheJadedMieu Member

    I agree. I was worried for a little while by the fact that I had to use about half of both my mages' energy to take out a single enemy, but it's gotten better as I've leveled up.
     
  12. Godwin

    Godwin Member

    I got it and just played my first 45 mins, oldschool of course ;)

    It seems nice so far.
     
  13. OmniaNigrum

    OmniaNigrum Member

    I played this for about six hours yesterday. It is very nicely done so far. If they ever make an editor so people can remake CSB and all the other favorites we know and love, it will be solid gold like DoD.

    That said, it needs some polish. The spells are lacking in complexity, there are not enough monsters, and the puzzles have the feel of recycled DM/CSB levels.

    And the skill system needs to be entirely remade. You should actually be encouraged to grind. But the way they have it you are only encouraged to dive and drop stuff. They could add merchants like DM2 had and this would greatly improve that aspect of the game.

    I remember in DM2 I would fight those big cow like things for hours to level up all my skills and to farm meat for sale to get better gear. It was surprisingly rewarding though.
     
  14. Daynab

    Daynab Community Moderator Staff Member

    It's not really my genre so I doubt I'll play it, but I'm glad yet another indie group is getting some great success.
     
  15. OmniaNigrum

    OmniaNigrum Member

    One more good thing to point out: They have zero DRM of any sort. It never even tried to access the Internet. (90% or more commercial games do that by default. They will usually not even load the main menu without trying for a solid minute before they give up.)

    Independent developers make better products in any field. Games are no exception.

    To anyone wondering what the game is like, think of the Dungeon Master series and the Eye of the Beholder series. These just have better graphics.

    The standalone installer they sell on their own site is actually the GoG executable. That is in no way a complaint.
     
  16. Haldurson

    Haldurson Member

    I don't think that your definition of grinding matches mine then. Imho, grinding should never be 'encouraged' in any game. But I do agree with everything else you say.

    I don't think I ever played Dungeon Master or Eye of the Beholder, but I do recall Ultima Underworld 1 and 2, as well as the dungeon crawling parts of the really early TES games (Arena and Daggerfall). Also, lets not forget the early Might and Magic games. Oh, and of course the granddaddy of these, Wizardry.
     
  17. ScrObot_

    ScrObot_ Member

    I've got 3 hours into it and am really enjoying it. Last night I died on the third floor in that small room with 2 spiders a bunch of eggs that you have to run into before the gate closes. I need to refine my spider fighting. (=

    I'm playing with 2 mages, a fighter and a rogue, and it's been going well except for hectic situations when I can't cast fast enough. (=

    Definitely digging it though, I'll be interested to see what the community comes up with when the level editor/mod tools are released.
     
  18. OmniaNigrum

    OmniaNigrum Member

    Would you propose grinding be negated and every character starts with maximal skills? Grinding is a required element in most if not all real RPGs. We have to earn the skills we want to make powerful, otherwise they are devalued.

    I propose the idea that grinding be rewarded by more than just experience points to apply to skills. I think there should be a reason to seek conflict in games other than just strengthening those skills used.

    Monsters should be farmable for resources. Those resources should have some role in the game besides bragging rights.

    Wizardry was great up to the eighth, at which point they destroyed the entire series.

    M&M was great all the way through. (Excluding the BS where they tacked on the word Heroes to indicate they ruined the series.)

    The entire DM series and EotB series was great in all versions besides the console ports that simply used the name and abandoned the good parts of the game in favor of nothing I can deduce.

    I think LoG will be great if they ever get the editor and mod tools available. As it is, it is good, but it probably has zero replay value.

    Want to try DM and all the variants of the series in lovingly remade splendor for modern systems? Here is a link for you:
    http://www.ragingmole.com/RTC/

    And here are some nice dungeons:
    http://www.dungeon-master.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=23916
    (Hit CTRL+F and type "For RTC" to find the part with the dungeons made for it.)

    In particular, I strongly suggest this one as it is like a slightly harder version of DM2.
    Dungeon Master II - Legendary

    Lol. It has been years since I played any of these. As such I bothered to "Find" the DM2 version I thought I enjoyed. Nope. It *Comes* with a true to the original DM2.

    You need not bother with the download for any of these custom dungeons. They are all a part of that 12.6MB download for RTC. Note that the above DM2 Legendary is special and does not let you farm endlessly. That ruins it in my opinion. Stick with the one RTC comes with for best results.

    Nonetheless I leave the following links attached, as better graphics may be nice. But I have not tried them myself.

    And here is a remade original DM with improved graphics:
    Dungeon Master HD

    And as the above, here is CSB for RTC with improved graphics:
    Chaos Strikes Back HD

    These are a few of the games that LoG is clearly made to be.

    In the links above you can waste more gaming time than you will have in your entire life. Period. And they are all free for the taking. Enjoy!
     
  19. blob

    blob Member

    Legend of Grimrock is amazing. Always been a fan of Ultima underworld and Dungeon master ( even though i didnt get too far in this one, was getting massacred by those giant insects on floor 2).
    My party is:
    1- human fighter with swords, armor and athletics. Great evasion, she enjoys obliterating monsters with dismantlers.
    2- minotaur fighter with maces, armor and athl. rather poor Dex. I encourage to put more Dex in any melee fighters, otherwise miss a lot. Stupidly, throwing weapons NEVER misses and are only based on Strengh. So he kicks ass at that.
    3- Lizard rogue. Originaly throwing weapon then realized not using my ton of dex so turn to crossbow and now kicking ass. also has assassination but doesnt need it.
    4- Insect mage. Fire, earth, spellcraft and a tiny bit of ice. Had a lot of trouble finding spells by myself. Only found 1 spell by experimenting but it saved my life.

    Multiracial party ! Woo !

    Almost finished the game now, about to start floor 10 once I finish a godamn bonus puzzle where I'm stuck.

    Godwin: Good luck with oldschool mode. I thought about it a lot before choosing not to. There's some parts in the late game where I was really glad I didnt, this is gonna drive you crazy :D

    And for grinding ? Grinding is the most terrible invention in games. Turns people into dumb zombies no thanks. My ONLY big cons for Grimrock is that it ACTUALLY pushes to grind because you can farm infinitely respawing monsters in some places ! I wish there was no respawing monsters anywhere or that those wouldnt give XP, so that every game has a limit of XP ressource you have to find and use wisely. I find that a lot more rewarding.
    I love the skill system of that game. Only the wizards are annoying early on as you unlock spells you dont know how to cast.
     
  20. Haldurson

    Haldurson Member

    Just so we aren't discussing apples and oranges, I'll let you know what my definition of grinding is, and I thought it was everyone's definition, but I may be wrong. To me, grinding is when you delay advancing in a game to new content, just so that you can kill stuff simply to power yourself up, whether that's through loot, or experience. Games that force you to grind get boring quickly, imho, because you are stuck doing the same exact thing over and over again.

    MMOs are often notorious for grinding ---I say that as someone who actually has enjoyed MMOs, just to let you know that I'm not hating on them. They've gotten better overall, but the grind still exists in almost all of them. In the early game, grinding can consist of killing hundreds of rats just so that you can become strong enough to leave the starting zones. And it can happen later in the game, whereever there is either defacto or dejure equipment gating, so that you are forced to do the same dungeon or raid over and over again, simply so that you can prepare yourself to do the next tier of dungeon or raid.

    The reason why this happens so much more in MMOs is that MMO business is one where they never want you to quit playing because they stop getting money from you at that point. And its' really hard to come up with sufficient content that is not repetitive, so what you usually end up with is grinding. But that same thing is a lot less relevant from a business point of view, in pay-once games like LoG (at least until they actually have a DLC or expansion or sequel to sell) But it's so easy to just send the player to do the same darn thing over and over again, as compared with actually adding something new to do, that you still see it in single-pay games.
     
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