Legend Of Grimrock

Running Man wrote:
Jeff-66 wrote:

As for the fighting of the 3 skeletons, I know the fight you mean, and it's difficult. What I did was position myself in the cove that the 1st one comes out of, then turn back to face the main room. That way you're only fighting one at a time. Even then I lost the fight several times, and it prompted to rebuild my party (from F, R, M, M, to F, F, R, M), and have done much better with the new party build.

I played down through alot of the second level with FFRM then restarted with FRMM (earth & fire/spellcraft). Maybe it's because I'm more accustomed to the game this time out, but it seems much easier now, especially since each mage can have a spell in the chamber before the fightin' starts. We haven't fought the 3 skeletons yet, but I could see how that would be a disaster if they flanked us.
Overall, Grimrock has equaled the hype so far. I like it so much that I'm intentionally going very slowly so it'll last longer.
Also, can we start using spoiler tags for item locations and other surprises please.

Those skeletons pasted me twice until I started to bob and weave, duck and fade, twist and wiggle, etc. My R,R,M,M party had good luck with fireburst and daggers against them.
I wonder if bows are going to be quite limited? As tboon mentioned, poison arrows can be found fairly early on. However, I only found three of them; if arrows are found in tiny stacks it might make sticking largely with ranged weapons difficult. Then again, I suppose they may act like the rocks and throwing knives and have a high probability of not being destroyed when tossed. I guess I'll found out when I find a bow!

Oh, and if you're having trouble casting those low level spells; here's a couple that I've discovered simply by playing around with the casting box:

Spoiler:

fireburst: upper left rune only (fire level 2)
poison cloud: lower left rune only (earth level 3)

I'm not sure if the required runes are randomized each game or not, but those worked for me.

D-Man777 wrote:

And yes, I figured out the alcove thing too. One certainly benefits from limiting the beasties to attacking one at a time. I lost one character, but there's a res. crystal in a nearby room. I do like that dead characters seem to retain their inventory. No overloading remaining dudes or going back to get your goodies.

You know, it's just taken me quite some time to realise that the "res, crystal" you were referring to are those big blue crystals, which in turn also led me to realise that that those crystals ressurect characters. Doh.

DanB wrote:
I'm not sure if the required runes are randomized each game or not, but those worked for me.

They don't appear to be. Cross-referencing with some items later in the game I'd worked out that the tunes in the corners of the spellcasting panel are fire (top left), air (top right), earth (bottom left) and ice (bottom right). I think the central rune represents spellcraft but I'm not positive and I'd guess that the top middle is light and the bottom middle is dark. I don't know what the 2 side runes are.

The manual (it's a PDF in the install folder for me; I have the Steam version) has all of the runes and what they are. And it looks like my problem is that I didn't specialize my mage and all her skills are level 1. Apparently you need level 2 to cast anything.

Running Man wrote:
Jeff-66 wrote:

As for the fighting of the 3 skeletons, I know the fight you mean, and it's difficult. What I did was position myself in the cove that the 1st one comes out of, then turn back to face the main room. That way you're only fighting one at a time. Even then I lost the fight several times, and it prompted to rebuild my party (from F, R, M, M, to F, F, R, M), and have done much better with the new party build.

I played down through alot of the second level with FFRM then restarted with FRMM (earth & fire/spellcraft). Maybe it's because I'm more accustomed to the game this time out, but it seems much easier now, especially since each mage can have a spell in the chamber before the fightin' starts. We haven't fought the 3 skeletons yet, but I could see how that would be a disaster if they flanked us.

Are we talking about the 3 skeletons in the room with the pit in the middle? If so then you should use the pit and switch to drop 1 or 2 or them in the pit then you can kills the ones up top before jumping down the pit and finishing off the others.

Puce Moose wrote:

I wonder if bows are going to be quite limited? As tboon mentioned, poison arrows can be found fairly early on. However, I only found three of them; if arrows are found in tiny stacks it might make sticking largely with ranged weapons difficult. Then again, I suppose they may act like the rocks and throwing knives and have a high probability of not being destroyed when tossed. I guess I'll found out when I find a bow!

The bow is really useful. Any special arrows (poison, fire etc...) revert to regular arrows when they hit a mob so eventually you have loads of arrows and the bow remains useful during long combats. The crossbow on the otherhand never seems to have enough ammo.

I'm not sure if the required runes are randomized each game or not, but those worked for me.

They don't appear to be. Cross-referencing with some items later in the game I've worked out that the Runes in the corners of the spellcasting panel are fire (top left), air (top right), earth (bottom left) and ice (bottom right). I think the central rune represents spellcraft but I'm not positive and I'd guess that the top middle is light and the bottom middle is dark. I don't know what the 2 side runes are.

Additionally there's a logic to the spells so a fire spell always includes the fire rune, lightening spells always have the air rune and poison spells always use the earth rune and so on. You can then use that to really shrink the search space when fishing for spells especially if you have levelled the stats for but your missing the scroll. I managed to work out darkness and lightening bolt that way.

e2a:

Ok, The skulls and treasures the number of both is recorded in the Statistics page in the menu. Do you think you have to keep hold of them until the end?

This game grimrocks.

You know...I'm not a fan of 3D in games but this would be absolutely a perfect fit for this game, the way skeleton spears and those skinless bird things jab out at you from the screen

DanB wrote:

Ok, The skulls and treasures the number of both is recorded in the Statistics page in the menu. Do you think you have to keep hold of them until the end?

Well the skulls are used for the Minotaur specific trait (extra +attack for each skull carried). Note that this seems to mean in your actual inventory and NOT in bags/crates.

DanB wrote:
Running Man wrote:
Jeff-66 wrote:

As for the fighting of the 3 skeletons, I know the fight you mean, and it's difficult. What I did was position myself in the cove that the 1st one comes out of, then turn back to face the main room. That way you're only fighting one at a time. Even then I lost the fight several times, and it prompted to rebuild my party (from F, R, M, M, to F, F, R, M), and have done much better with the new party build.

I played down through alot of the second level with FFRM then restarted with FRMM (earth & fire/spellcraft). Maybe it's because I'm more accustomed to the game this time out, but it seems much easier now, especially since each mage can have a spell in the chamber before the fightin' starts. We haven't fought the 3 skeletons yet, but I could see how that would be a disaster if they flanked us.

Are we talking about the 3 skeletons in the room with the pit in the middle? If so then you should use the pit and switch to drop 1 or 2 or them in the pit then you can kills the ones up top before jumping down the pit and finishing off the others.

It was the 3x3 room with pressure plate in the middle that spawns the 3 skeletons from alcoves. My mages got shredded a few times, til I was able to back myself into an alcove and take them on one at a time.

The bow is really useful. Any special arrows (poison, fire etc...) revert to regular arrows when they hit a mob so eventually you have loads of arrows and the bow remains useful during long combats.

Bloody good idea on the developer's part. This game rocks, and now it's made me late for work.

Running Man wrote:

This game rocks, and now it's made me late for work.

It really does. Just made it to dungeon level 3, and so far I'm loving it. Now that I've learned to strategically move around in combat, I am really digging the real time action, and now feel a lot less dumb! I just manhandled 4 shielded skeletons at once, with no problem.

Queue up spell, wait ... fire off spell, swing, swing, swing ... relocate, queuing up next spell as I move, repeat.

So far, the pacing of monsters faced, loot drops, spells gained, etc, seems perfect.

I've almost cleared level 4 and all the puzzles are starting to bring my love for this game down a notch. For the first time, I referred to the Grimrock forums for help in solving two of the puzzles. The game needs more pew pew.

Also, this is nice to see:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/ccgFE.jpg)

wanderingtaoist wrote:

This game grimrocks.

Grim game gold game rock gold game

Jeff-66 wrote:

So far, the pacing of monsters faced, loot drops, spells gained, etc, seems perfect.

Yeah, you never vastly outclass the monsters. If you're thorough you can get enough good items to have the edge but it still comes down to a fair bit of skill/execution.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/QruVV.jpg)

Only on level 3 at the moment, but I am still digging this game. Might upload my maps somewhere and see what people's take on them are. Probably can tell a lot about a person by how they do their maps.

Datyedyeguy wrote:

Only on level 3 at the moment, but I am still digging this game. Might upload my maps somewhere and see what people's take on them are. Probably can tell a lot about a person by how they do their maps. :)

I didn't draw a map, just did it all in my head.

First patch is in the works:

current list of fixes:

- vsync is enabled by default
- borderless windows are no longer topmost
- pressing ESC closes character sheet
- fixed unlimited frost arrow exploit
- bug fix: topmost menu item don’t work reliably in 2560×1440 resolution
- bug fix: wall text translations are not dismissed when right-clicking
- bug fix: inanimate objects can be backstabbed
- bug fix: projectiles go through doors in some very rare cases
- improved display resolution auto-detection at first launch
- fixed a couple of typos
- removed check that disables high texture resolution setting when running low on video memory (some graphics drivers seem to report available video memory incorrectly)

How did this fly under my radar? I only just now watched the trailer in the OP and my mouth was hanging open as I had Dungeon Master flashbacks.

Ok I bit on this. I kinda love it. Thank / Curse you to anyone who helped convince me to get it

Quintin_Stone wrote:

How did this fly under my radar? I only just now watched the trailer in the OP and my mouth was hanging open as I had Dungeon Master flashbacks.

It's digital crack. Just .... one ... more ... encounter.

Just finished it in Old School Mode on normal. 18hrs all in, going to jump back in on Hard mode but with the mapping switched on this time. Excellent game and really amazing considering it was only 4 guys. Having got to the end overall I'd say the game design takes most of it's cues from Dungeon Master yet the level design feels a lot more like the Eye of The Beholder Games; in that levels tend to be largely self-contained where as in Dungeon Master you needed to move freely between the levels to get some things done.

My discovery/puzzle solving stats were:
4/7 treasures
13/16 notes
10/10 iron doors
5 skulls (I assume there are only 5)
60/71 secrets

Spoiler:

Found the end boss a little anti-climactic, not a very spectacular or threatening monster. Also it would have been nice to have 1 or 2 more changes of tile/wall graphics and a couple more monsters, you see those flaming guys A LOT.

Also I found a bug at the end, if you save the moment you kill the boss you can reload and it won't be there but you can stay in the room and fight a never ending series of respawning monsters,

OK...you got me, game...

Spoiler:

I totally jumped out of my seat on level 4 when that tentacle beast attacks

Also, loving the earthquakes....they did a good job of convincing me that the roof's going to collapse in on me at any moment

Question about a puzzle...

Spoiler:

On level 3 you can drop down some of the pits to an enclosed area of level 4 (near the centre) with a blocked gate, a shelf in the distance behind it and a teleport block that you can switch on and off via a nearby wall switch...I'm at a complete loss how to get in there - any hints?

stevenmack wrote:

Also, loving the earthquakes....they did a good job of convincing me that the roof's going to collapse in on me at any moment :D

I'm fairly sure the earthquakes come at specific timed points, which makes me wonder if the first time you get to a caved in corridor whether or not it would still be caved in if you get there before the first earthquake (and the second caved in corridor and the second quake and so forth...).

stevenmack wrote:

Question about a puzzle...

Spoiler:

On level 3 you can drop down some of the pits to an enclosed area of level 4 (near the centre) with a blocked gate, a shelf in the distance behind it and a teleport block that you can switch on and off via a nearby wall switch...I'm at a complete loss how to get in there - any hints?

Spoiler:

I have no idea as I didn't realise there was so much stuff down the pits until I was in level 4.

DanB wrote:
Spoiler:

I have no idea as I didn't realise there was so much stuff down the pits until I was in level 4.

Datyedyeguy posted a comprehensive guide for dealing with pits a few posts up

Omaha wrote:

Ok I bit on this. I kinda love it. Thank / Curse you to anyone who helped convince me to get it :)

Just started playing it last night too, and really enjoying it. First game in a while where I've had that "why is it two hours later than I thought it was?" moment.

DanB wrote:
Datyedyeguy wrote:

Only on level 3 at the moment, but I am still digging this game. Might upload my maps somewhere and see what people's take on them are. Probably can tell a lot about a person by how they do their maps. :)

I didn't draw a map, just did it all in my head.

That shows some impressive old school rpg chops. Now, can you still graph the first level of Wizardry: Proving Grounds from memory? I think I could get it pretty close, if there was a gun to my head.

So uh, Running Man, where do you live again?

Picked this up. (preordered, actually). Yay Dungeon Master! Loving it so far.

Oh, and if it had turn based combat, then it wouldn't be dungeon mastery enough! Dungeon master is the game that taught me how to circle strafe before it was called circle strafing.

Ha I got through the 3 skeletons room with the pressure plate easily but no one is talking about the room around the corner that says "no weapons allowed". I can't get in there but it must be easy. I can't find any secret buttons along any walls etc!

EDIT:nvm

Spoiler:

Put a weapon in the alcove vice the floor and the door opened hehe

karmajay wrote:

Ha I got through the 3 skeletons room with the pressure plate easily but no one is talking about the room around the corner that says "no weapons allowed". I can't get in there but it must be easy. I can't find any secret buttons along any walls etc!

EDIT:nvm

Spoiler:

Put a weapon in the alcove vice the floor and the door opened hehe

Yeah I barely took any damage at the 3 skeletons part. I'm stuck a little ways after there though...

Spoiler:

What's the deal with the teleport to the holding cells and the buttons on the walls?

Omaha wrote:
Spoiler:

What's the deal with the teleport to the holding cells and the buttons on the walls?

Spoiler:

One of the cells has a bag. Push the buttons and it gets moved around.

Ohhhhh.

<3