Legend Of Grimrock

Jumping into the thread. The first part of level 4 is already kicking my butt. I feel like I'm doing something wrong, but maybe "normal" is just that way.

Montalban wrote:

Jumping into the thread. The first part of level 4 is already kicking my butt. I feel like I'm doing something wrong, but maybe "normal" is just that way.

Spoiler:

The mushrooms? Run to the other end of the room, use ranged weapons, bombs if you have them. Spells are great to get rid of the guys, the ice shard spell hits them both if they are in one line. Once the first one is down, the second one is easy pickings.

wanderingtaoist wrote:
Montalban wrote:

Jumping into the thread. The first part of level 4 is already kicking my butt. I feel like I'm doing something wrong, but maybe "normal" is just that way.

Spoiler:

The mushrooms? Run to the other end of the room, use ranged weapons, bombs if you have them. Spells are great to get rid of the guys, the ice shard spell hits them both if they are in one line. Once the first one is down, the second one is easy pickings.

What worked for me was concentrating carefully on just one until it was dead. So keep track of where they are. I did die multiple times, though, it was the first truly hard fight for me.

jlaakso wrote:
wanderingtaoist wrote:
Montalban wrote:

Jumping into the thread. The first part of level 4 is already kicking my butt. I feel like I'm doing something wrong, but maybe "normal" is just that way.

Spoiler:

The mushrooms? Run to the other end of the room, use ranged weapons, bombs if you have them. Spells are great to get rid of the guys, the ice shard spell hits them both if they are in one line. Once the first one is down, the second one is easy pickings.

What worked for me was concentrating carefully on just one until it was dead. So keep track of where they are. I did die multiple times, though, it was the first truly hard fight for me.

Thanks! I finally beat it. It seems the trick for most fights is "don't spaz out." The tough ones really hold you to that until you get it.

I'm only on level 3, but I've been really digging the puzzles in this game so far.... they make me think and experiment, and I usually end up feeling like a genius when I finally solve them.

Also: I love any area where I can drop an enemy into a pit trap..... that's never going to get old, I don't think.

Puce Moose wrote:
Spoiler:

I spent a couple of hours wandering around level 9 until I discovered you can destroy the cloth drapes that are hanging up! Shooting an arrow at them doesn't do anything, but swiping at them with a melee weapon will destroy them. They may hide hidden things. So make sure to keep at least one with you for such a situation!

Spoiler:

Bare hands will tear down the tapestries, you don't need a melee weapon. My Unarmed Combat 'monk' rips them down without a weapon.

Just want to say that I love the level design of the lowest floors:

Spoiler:

Prison

Super creepy.

AndrewA wrote:

I'm only on level 3, but I've been really digging the puzzles in this game so far.... they make me think and experiment, and I usually end up feeling like a genius when I finally solve them.

Also: I love any area where I can drop an enemy into a pit trap..... that's never going to get old, I don't think.

What's even more fun is to drop the enemy into a pit trap... then jump in after them. Boy was I surprised at the result the first time I did that!

Finished it tonight. All in all, what a fantastic game. I think I'm going to start up a new game with those DM portraits, try a different build setup and see if I can find the secrets I missed.

Just some thoughts on general tactics, in retrospect post-game:

Spoiler:

* I was much too conservative with bombs; I had a ton by the end that just weighed me down, and I should have more liberally used them throughout the game.
* It was good to give everyone a ranged weapon, even if they didn't have proficiencies. With mage arrow enchantments, it was easy to do some 'safe' damage from a distance when needed.
* I spent points of heavy armor for both my warriors, but I think I would do light armor for one next time. The unique light armor set was almost as good as the plate heavy, but weighed much less and burden became a big factor late game
* I would focus my mage more; once you get 'improved' ranged attack it's substantially better, and the Circle of Protection is fantastically useful. I would prefer these on the mid levels rather then the late levels.
* Rocks are always useful to have on hand.

Teneman wrote:
AndrewA wrote:

I'm only on level 3, but I've been really digging the puzzles in this game so far.... they make me think and experiment, and I usually end up feeling like a genius when I finally solve them.

Also: I love any area where I can drop an enemy into a pit trap..... that's never going to get old, I don't think.

What's even more fun is to drop the enemy into a pit trap... then jump in after them. Boy was I surprised at the result the first time I did that!

There's an achievement for killing the enemy by dropping on it, makes it all the more enjoyable

DrunkenSleipnir wrote:

Finished it tonight. All in all, what a fantastic game. I think I'm going to start up a new game with those DM portraits, try a different build setup and see if I can find the secrets I missed.

Did you...

Spoiler:

Lay Toorum to rest?

If so...

Spoiler:

Try entering his name when creating a new character. Haven't tried it myself to confirm (I missed finding Toorum's remains first time through) but it's supposed to unlock him as his own unique character with a different set of skills and traits

Been playing this in very small sessions and really enjoying it. Running a party of 4 human mages, which may seem boring, but each one is mastering an element(they're benders ;)). They've all got maxed out vitality, and the rest poured into Willpower. Between mana, cooldowns, and punching runes in real-time it's a really fun party to play. I'm always busy remembering who uses what rune combos for what spells and trying to punch them in quickly, having secondary attacks ready for when I'm out of mana, and making sure to move tactically while firing ranged spells. It's an amazing party. Extremely high damage, plenty of ranged attacks, AoE attacks, and actually tanks well.

For some reason I got a really big kick out of trying all the rune combinations to discover spells. I've found out the combinations for all the spells that contain 3 or less runes, which is pretty much necessary for my party to function.

stevenmack wrote:

Did you...

Spoiler:

Lay Toorum to rest?

If so...

Spoiler:

Try entering his name when creating a new character. Haven't tried it myself to confirm (I missed finding Toorum's remains first time through) but it's supposed to unlock him as his own unique character with a different set of skills and traits

Spoiler:

Ooh, I'll have to try that. Poor Toorum!

Delerat wrote:

Been playing this in very small sessions and really enjoying it. Running a party of 4 human mages, which may seem boring, but each one is mastering an element(they're benders ;)). They've all got maxed out vitality, and the rest poured into Willpower. Between mana, cooldowns, and punching runes in real-time it's a really fun party to play. I'm always busy remembering who uses what rune combos for what spells and trying to punch them in quickly, having secondary attacks ready for when I'm out of mana, and making sure to move tactically while firing ranged spells. It's an amazing party. Extremely high damage, plenty of ranged attacks, AoE attacks, and actually tanks well.

For some reason I got a really big kick out of trying all the rune combinations to discover spells. I've found out the combinations for all the spells that contain 3 or less runes, which is pretty much necessary for my party to function.

Tell me how you get on with The Fighter's Challenge.

Finished! I polished this one off today. My two rogues and two mages managed to unravel the secrets of Grimrock!
I had to look up help for two things; one puzzle on level nine (I failed to see an important pressure plate), and one "how the heck do I get out of here?" in a certain area.
I loved the monster design and general feel of the game, but it started dragging for me a bit around level nine; I thought a certain enemy could only be killed by traps (which initially struck me as clever, but quickly turned annoying), and so I spent a tremendous amount of time in avoidance mode. It was only near the very end that I discovered that they just had a shield/damage buffer that could be exhausted. Argh!

I really liked the design of the final boss. Inexorable!

I missed quite a few secrets based on the statistics screen, but I'm not sure if I'm up for a second round. I don't think there's any randomization to the item locations, so I may just wait until the first expansion pack/DLC dungeon/etc. to dive back into the game.

Just finished my hard run. Steam says I've put 35hrs in in total and I know that my hard run was on about 9hrs.

Spoiler:

Wonder if I should do a Toorum run now?

Impressive, but did you ever beat this challenge?

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9b/Werdna.jpg/256px-Werdna.jpg)

I beat the first 3 Wizardry's but Return of Werdna kicked my ass

Still have yet to finish Grimrock, I keep getting distracted, but you guys are inspiring me to start up again.

Running Man wrote:

Impressive,

To be honest my play through on normal was a lot harder. Having foreknowledge of the levels and monsters makes the whole game markedly easier and you can better manage food, light and your inventory when you know what's to come. I couldn't actually tell you what was harder about the game on the hard run through, I assume the mobs take more damage but as I better spent my skill points that more than made up for that kind of change, I didn't feel like I died any more either.

but did you ever beat this challenge?

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9b/Werdna.jpg/256px-Werdna.jpg)

I beat the first 3 Wizardry's but Return of Werdna kicked my ass

Still have yet to finish Grimrock, I keep getting distracted, but you guys are inspiring me to start up again.

I didn't have ready access to a PC or Macback then so I'd never played any of the Wizardry games. Dungeon Master was the first I'd play in this genre.

Teneman wrote:
AndrewA wrote:

I'm only on level 3, but I've been really digging the puzzles in this game so far.... they make me think and experiment, and I usually end up feeling like a genius when I finally solve them.

Also: I love any area where I can drop an enemy into a pit trap..... that's never going to get old, I don't think.

What's even more fun is to drop the enemy into a pit trap... then jump in after them. Boy was I surprised at the result the first time I did that!

Early on in the game (when I still distrusted pit-falling) I fell on an undead knight in a rather serendipitous moment.

I'm kind of surprised that a game about the leader of the Dinobots is so popular.

Geeze, Baron, you should spoiler tag that.

I love this game. I'd just previously finished Starcraft 2, which was fun, but with Grimrock, the game delights me. I'd say it's in no small part due to Dungeon Master nostalgia.

I do appreciate the different approach to magic in LoG compared to DM, however it does end up being more clumsy to use. The streamlined melee combat by removing the different attack types and just making it be a single right-click, and you see all characters' attacks simultaneously. But with magic, you have to first bring up the magic grid, then click your runes, then fire it. DM left the rune grid up, but spells used a min of 2 runes, so I feel like it's a wash. I kinda wish they left the runes of the previous spell and had a clear button.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I kinda wish they left the runes of the previous spell and had a clear button.

I know what you mean but that would also make the spells way too easy to fire off in combat (although I suppose you could rebalance the monster's HP)

My melee fighters do more damage anyway though. And fight well past the point where my mage runs out of energy. Maybe I built him wrong.

On level 4 toadstools:

Spoiler:

I was ambushed by 2 mushroom guys who trapped me in a corner, killing off 3 of my characters very quickly. The only one to survive was the one with the snake bracelet because the poison gas attacks did very very little damage to him. He proceeded to kill the mushroom guys single-handedly. It was actually pretty amusing once I got past the shock of the 3 others dying so soon.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

My melee fighters do more damage anyway though. And fight well past the point where my mage runs out of energy. Maybe I built him wrong.

If you just sink all your skill points into a single magic type then a magic user will do more per hit I think. Greater Lightening Bolt was doing 130-250 per strike by the end of my hard run with the magic user at 50 in Air Magic (with the caster specific cloak and the blue orb). Whereas my fighter would hit between 30 and 100 IIRC. And immediate DPS is mostly more important as you're usually looking to thin out the hoard as quickly as possible rather than weather a protracted battle.

Yeah, unlike my fighters, I've been spreading points out on my mage and I should probably stop doing that so much. But I find all these nifty spells I want to try out!

So I'm deciding to start my party over so I can use the automap feature. Mapping everything out by hand is taking too long and there's no way I'll finish this before Diablo III & stuff comes out soon. Darn.

I just started over too. Now that I think I have magic figured out better (DanB is right: specialization is the key), a different rogue build now that I know about how those skills work better, and understanding better how evasion vs. protection works, I am having a lot more fun.

I gave thought to turning off automap, but decided I don't have the will/stamina anymore.

I like that I can finally stand toe-to-toe with legionnaires.