Legend Of Grimrock

LiquidMantis wrote:

I paid $12 and ordered direct from the dev so there's no middle man. Obviously I'm a better human being.

[size=2]Oh and I got a Steam key.[/size]

Here here!

It's live on GoG, downloading now

Ok, It's now available to buy on the steam store but the activation key I have for Steam is apparently for "Legend of Grimrock Pre-order" which isn't a product on the store so won't activate

e2a: Available from the humblebundle direct download link though. So downloading now also. 6minutes until excitment

My problem with GOG vs Steam is that GOG doesn't have much of a track record for updating games.

One of the best parts about Steam is that you know any all patches have been applied to a game before you start playing. But for GOG, even for older games you still have to download and apply patches.

PS. I also do like that it tracks my playing time on games.

DanB wrote:

Ok, It's now available to buy on the steam store but the activation key I have for Steam is apparently for "Legend of Grimrock Pre-order" which isn't a product on the store so won't activate.

Same problem here. I know I can download directly but I want all stuff neatly placed in Steam

Has anyone heard if you can clear the dungeon levels? I wonder if you can kill everything hostile on a level, and then explore without getting into additional combat on that level to complete your map.

Puce Moose wrote:

Has anyone heard if you can clear the dungeon levels? I wonder if you can kill everything hostile on a level, and then explore without getting into additional combat on that level to complete your map.

One of the previews/reviews said that the monsters don't respawn (mostly), giving you opportunity to both rest and stash heavy loot.

Can't wait to get home. I wonder if a party without Rouges can survive. Pretty Sure a party of 4 mages is just asking for a quick death but it would be fun to see how far you can get.

wanderingtaoist wrote:
Puce Moose wrote:

Has anyone heard if you can clear the dungeon levels? I wonder if you can kill everything hostile on a level, and then explore without getting into additional combat on that level to complete your map.

One of the previews/reviews said that the monsters don't respawn (mostly), giving you opportunity to both rest and stash heavy loot.

Excellent! I think I'm going to pick this up. I don't think I've bought a game since Skyrim, so it seems time to dive into something new.

Can't wait to get home. I wonder if a party without Rouges can survive. Pretty Sure a party of 4 mages is just asking for a quick death but it would be fun to see how far you can get.

I'm planning on trying two rogues and two mages and see if I can make it. I wonder if you have to keep track of arrows or if it's unlimited ammunition for ranged weapons?

Almost Human Games wrote:

Seems like the Steam pre-order issues are now sorted. Enjoy playing Legend of Grimrock!

Yup. I am finally downloading my version.

Character creation is really cool. It's got a wonderful old-school feel to it. Races are Minotaur, human, lizard, insectoid. There are 3 classes (a la Dragon Age): fighter, rogue, mage.

At first, I was puzzled as to why you'd even have a human in the party. Attributes for humans start as such:

10 strength
10 dex
10 vitality
10 willpower

with 10 pts to spend. But for the other 3 races, they all get 41 points total to start, each with a bonus point in their 'specialty' -- minotaur +1 str, lizard +1 dex, insect +1 will.

Then I saw that humans get a bonus point in Skills.

The traits are really cool. Tons of stuff to choose from.

Puce Moose wrote:

I'm planning on trying two rogues and two mages and see if I can make it.

You're quite mad you know

If you can make it with that mix, more power to you. For my first attempt I'm going with 2 Minotaur fighters, a lizard rogue, and an insect Mage.

Running Man wrote:
Puce Moose wrote:

I'm planning on trying two rogues and two mages and see if I can make it.

You're quite mad you know

If you can make it with that mix, more power to you. For my first attempt I'm going with 2 Minotaur fighters, a lizard rogue, and an insect Mage.

Mine is

Bull, minotaur fighter
Slade, lizard rogue
Sara, human fire mage
Zark, insect earth mage

One thing I hope we can adjust at some point is the suddenness of movement. Q & E rotate you 90 degrees, but the 'snap' is very quick, and thus far the jerky movement speed is making me a tad queasy.

This game is going to have all manner of potential with mods, DLC, expansions and what not.

Here's what the map looks like:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/wxi88.jpg)

You can left click anywhere on the map and add your own notes. Btw, "old school" mode turns off the auto-map completely, and you have to use your own graph paper

Jeff-66 wrote:

You can left click anywhere on the map and add your own notes. Btw, "old school" mode turns off the auto-map completely, and you have to use your own graph paper :)

That's what I'm doing myself. Just printed off my paper from the pre-order bonus pack!

My party thus far

DatHuman - Human Fighter
DatMinotaur - Minotaur Fighter
DatLizardman - Lizardman Rogue
DatInsectoid - Insectoid Mage

I can't wait to get some serious time in this tonight!

Toddland wrote:
Almost Human Games wrote:

Seems like the Steam pre-order issues are now sorted. Enjoy playing Legend of Grimrock!

Nope still isn't working for me.

e2a: worked second time

For me...
Human Fighter
Minotaur Fighter
Human Rogue
Insect Mage

I only wish I could drop doors on monsters heads, Dungeon Master style

I'd agree with DanB though, movement is just a little slow for me. Personally, I'd like the option to do away with the smooth movement animation and just jump from square to square.

stevenmack wrote:

I'd agree with DanB though, movement is just a little slow for me. Personally, I'd like the option to do away with the smooth movement animation and just jump from square to square.

I'm not sure this pertains to that or not, but I found the .cfg file in the Documents folder:

C:\documents\Almost Human\Legend of Grimrock\grimrock.cfg

In that, there's a section for movement:

move_forward = 87
move_backward = 83
strafe_left = 65
strafe_right = 68
turn_left = 81
turn_right = 69

Those are the default numbers, and I don't know what changing them will do yet, haven't tried it.

I'm loving the game so far, but spellcasting seems a bit cumbersome in combat, unless I'm missing something.

Those are keybindings.

I am enjoying this.

I went with classic style without that automapping. Partly because I have an uncannily good sense of direction but mostly because of nostalgia's sake. Also nice to see a story/campaign select widget when you start a new game so obviously plenty of DLC or user created content opportunities coming.

Jeff-66 wrote:

One thing I hope we can adjust at some point is the suddenness of movement. Q & E rotate you 90 degrees, but the 'snap' is very quick, and thus far the jerky movement speed is making me a tad queasy.

Funnily enough I've been finding the rotation too slow, dungeon master and EotB games the rotation was near instantaneous, which meant you could navigate levels superbly quickly once you knew the lay of the land. It would be nice if there was a turn speed control in the options although I can see how that might unbalance the combat. Also it would be nice if you could queue any arbitrarily large number of movements. when typing fast it seems to max out somewhere around 8 steps.

e2a: Actually I think the movement buffer is about 5 or 6 steps

Currently running (floor 2):

Human Fighter
Minotaur Fighter
Lizard Rogue
Insect Mage

Having a blast so far, really happy with the purchase. Currently my biggest beef is trying to decide who has to hold the torch

LiquidMantis wrote:

Those are keybindings.

Ah, ok, thanks.

Jeff-66 wrote:

I'm loving the game so far, but spellcasting seems a bit cumbersome in combat, unless I'm missing something.

DanB wrote:

I suspect that because that's how it was in Dungeon Master that's how it is here. You do get used to it and you do get used to setting up your most powerful spell before you open any doors or enter any new areas.

It hadn't occurred to me to pre-set spells

DanB wrote:

One thing that would be nice would be toggling the health/energy bars for a numeric rather than bar chart display.

It's stuff like that that makes me think this game will be a real gem eventually when the mods start rolling in.

One of the best parts about Steam is that you know any all patches have been applied to a game before you start playing. But for GOG, even for older games you still have to download and apply patches.

This is true, but it's not all sunshine and roses. Sometimes you want to run the older version of a game... I've had that happen a few times, where I didn't agree with patch changes that were made. If you have it on Steam, even if you set it not to update, you have it only for that install, and then, like it or not, that version will be gone forever.

With GOG, any version you download, you have permanently. You have to back it up yourself, but it can't be retroactively taken away from you. I suppose, if you lose your install file, you might not be able to download old versions from GOG anymore, but you're still better protected than you are with Steam.

Jeff-66 wrote:

I'm loving the game so far, but spellcasting seems a bit cumbersome in combat, unless I'm missing something.

DanB wrote:

I suspect that because that's how it was in Dungeon Master that's how it is here. You do get used to it and you do get used to setting up your most powerful spell before you open any doors or enter any new areas.

It hadn't occurred to me to pre-set spells :)

You'll also find that there's usually enough time to set up a spell while you wait for the other 3 cooldowns. The real skill is maneuvering out of the way of the mobs while you click on the right runes.

Jeff-66 wrote:
DanB wrote:

One thing that would be nice would be toggling the health/energy bars for a numeric rather than bar chart display.

It's stuff like that that makes me think this game will be a real gem eventually when the mods start rolling in.

I'll give you another; Before you sleep take the torch you're currently using out of the character's hand and then press the sleep button, that way you don't waster the torch while you're sleeping (assuming this works like DM and EotB)

stevenmack wrote:

I only wish I could drop doors on monsters heads, Dungeon Master style

Yeah, I only just discovered that you can't do that, it made me a little wistful.

stevenmack wrote:

I'd agree with DanB though, movement is just a little slow for me. Personally, I'd like the option to do away with the smooth movement animation and just jump from square to square.

While I would like slightly faster movement as well, looking at how some of the mobs move so far it's clear that you'd change the balance of combat if you didn't also go in and change how all the monsters moved too. For instance, you can see how the pathing occasionally attempts not to walk across your front leaving the monster side on, and you could completely game that if you could turn instantaneously.

e2a: a significant number of the trap puzzle also rely on the set movement speeds.

Jeff-66 wrote:

I'm loving the game so far, but spellcasting seems a bit cumbersome in combat, unless I'm missing something.

I suspect that because that's how it was in Dungeon Master that's how it is here. You do get used to it and you do get used to setting up your most powerful spell before you open any doors or enter any new areas.

One thing that would be nice would be toggling the health/energy bars for a numeric rather than bar chart display.

I need convincing. I've never really played an RPG like this (I was a console kid until high school), but I'm really interested in this game from what I've seen. But at the same time, I know pretty much nothing about this particular sub-genre. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Also: If your torch burns out, take one from the wall and replace it with the burnt out torch. It magically relights while in the wall sconce, or whatever that's called. You can't retake it, however, as it will still be burnt out when you grab it.

Omaha wrote:

I need convincing. I've never really played an RPG like this (I was a console kid until high school), but I'm really interested in this game from what I've seen. But at the same time, I know pretty much nothing about this particular sub-genre. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Having got down to the 4th level now, I can tell you that the game design is unashamedly 16-bit. The spell casting will feel clunky and the navigation will seem like it's from another planet when compared to any current FPS. Personally I'm enjoying it but it does tickle my nostalgia bone a lot. Even taking my obvious bias in to account I still think this semi-dead RPG genre does allow for some smart puzzles, interesting/active/hectic combat and nicely done RPGing, and this seems to be a really well done example of the genre. And a thing I'd forgotten about until a moment ago; the nature of the movement and the perspective can lead to the gameplay being really absorbing to the point of being hypnotic; which in turn can also lead to some real frights/starts when monsters catch you off guard. So far I'd say that this game is fairly approachable as the genre goes and at the price I can't see why you wouldn't jump in if your were even slightly curious.

And that is all the enabling I'll be doing for the day.

Toddland wrote:

Also: If your torch burns out, take one from the wall and replace it with the burnt out torch. It magically relights while in the wall sconce, or whatever that's called. You can't retake it, however, as it will still be burnt out when you grab it.

If your torch has completely, utterly burnt out then it won't be lit on the sconce.

I spent a couple of hours on this today and I've had fun with it. I was initially wary of the real-time battle implementation. I think I still would have preferred a turn-based environment, but it's not hampered my enjoyment of the game.

So far my two rogues + two mages are trundling along reasonably well; I've had a bit of trouble with those annoying armored shield+spears dudes (I wish this game had a bestiary - the monsters are so lovingly rendered/animated that I'd love to see more detail on them), but the accidental discovery of fireburst helped me put some hurt on them when necessary. My insectoid mage Chunkblower saved the day with the aforementioned, which was quite a boost for his morale as he'd been doing nothing but carrying around a torch and slurping on snail sausages up until that point.