Re: Things the devs didn't think through
Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 11:26 am
Levelling up has always been flawed in every game of this ilk. I am a veteran of DM, CSB (sequal), EOB 1 & 2 and the much maligned Knighmare.
In DM and CSB I loved the concept of resurrection (to keep skills) or reincarnation (no skills but fast learner). I always chose to reincarnate 4 wizards (as manna was the life blood) and practice all the spells, punching air, jabbing swords, making potions until I was master (and beyond) at each. How my fingers took it, I don't know. The main thing I would have kept from DM would be the power of the spell 1 through to 6, that way wizards in LOG would be better in Grimrock (IMHO). I loved the water fountains and was sometimes very glad to see one as the team were near death from being parched.
D&D games like EOB always suffered from party experience and sharing of experience. Everybody was on a exp chart and gained equal experience if they are alive, generally thieves were rubbish (garbage in the USA) and I hated dual classes. I used to walk around killing the regenerating bird men until I gained the levels to cast the next big spell. Also I hated the AC system in that the harder the armour the harder you are to hit...WRONG. The good bits I would have kept is that spells are aquired somehow on a spell book and cannot be cast until discovered and the priest idea that gains spells by leveling up. A mix of the two would be ideal in Grimrock ie. Your mage gets to level 3 Poison and get a poison bolt but behind some secret wall is the improved version or a new spell....
Knightmare was the first game I know of to have the Insectole Race. Other than that it was fairly run of the mill but played well and contributed to the genre. The other game I want to mention is Diablo 2. I loved the skills tree in that game where you sculpted the character and lots was unattainable as you chose your skills path.
SO Grimrock. I agree with the OP that the skills on the chart are unattainable. I thouht near the end of the game there must be more levels to come as I was nowhere near the top in any character. But bear in mind evey old game was flawed, here's the bits I thought they got right.
Protection / Evasion: Love it. Much better than the DM and D&D systems.
Experience System. I liked this also how all players gained experience but the ones that did more, got more.
Traits: I really loved this idea. It would be nice to see a new trait added every 5 or 10 levels or something??
Minotaur: Great class and fun to collect skulls.
Skills Tree: I really loved how you could allocate a point here and a point there to gain different things from different skills in one go.
The team: I was really lucky. I had a minotaur mace man who ended up with that cold hammer and a bunch of skulls, a human rogue who specialized in dagger and backstab ended up with the 'vorpal' dagger. The back row was a rogue archer with every point from the start put to archery. She was rubbish to begin with but when she was firing dual Xbow bolts juiced up with poison she became the first to level up by the end... and then there was my wizard... I started evenly levelling up all the disciplines and he was rubbish all the way.
The creators of Grirock should not feel 'insulted' by a person (the OP) who has paid for the game, played through it and then come up with a very valid point. The skills DO need tweaked - perhaps it is as simple as giving wizards 6 pints per level and or slightly less -25% perhaps to level up for all classes.
XXX K
In DM and CSB I loved the concept of resurrection (to keep skills) or reincarnation (no skills but fast learner). I always chose to reincarnate 4 wizards (as manna was the life blood) and practice all the spells, punching air, jabbing swords, making potions until I was master (and beyond) at each. How my fingers took it, I don't know. The main thing I would have kept from DM would be the power of the spell 1 through to 6, that way wizards in LOG would be better in Grimrock (IMHO). I loved the water fountains and was sometimes very glad to see one as the team were near death from being parched.
D&D games like EOB always suffered from party experience and sharing of experience. Everybody was on a exp chart and gained equal experience if they are alive, generally thieves were rubbish (garbage in the USA) and I hated dual classes. I used to walk around killing the regenerating bird men until I gained the levels to cast the next big spell. Also I hated the AC system in that the harder the armour the harder you are to hit...WRONG. The good bits I would have kept is that spells are aquired somehow on a spell book and cannot be cast until discovered and the priest idea that gains spells by leveling up. A mix of the two would be ideal in Grimrock ie. Your mage gets to level 3 Poison and get a poison bolt but behind some secret wall is the improved version or a new spell....
Knightmare was the first game I know of to have the Insectole Race. Other than that it was fairly run of the mill but played well and contributed to the genre. The other game I want to mention is Diablo 2. I loved the skills tree in that game where you sculpted the character and lots was unattainable as you chose your skills path.
SO Grimrock. I agree with the OP that the skills on the chart are unattainable. I thouht near the end of the game there must be more levels to come as I was nowhere near the top in any character. But bear in mind evey old game was flawed, here's the bits I thought they got right.
Protection / Evasion: Love it. Much better than the DM and D&D systems.
Experience System. I liked this also how all players gained experience but the ones that did more, got more.
Traits: I really loved this idea. It would be nice to see a new trait added every 5 or 10 levels or something??
Minotaur: Great class and fun to collect skulls.
Skills Tree: I really loved how you could allocate a point here and a point there to gain different things from different skills in one go.
The team: I was really lucky. I had a minotaur mace man who ended up with that cold hammer and a bunch of skulls, a human rogue who specialized in dagger and backstab ended up with the 'vorpal' dagger. The back row was a rogue archer with every point from the start put to archery. She was rubbish to begin with but when she was firing dual Xbow bolts juiced up with poison she became the first to level up by the end... and then there was my wizard... I started evenly levelling up all the disciplines and he was rubbish all the way.
The creators of Grirock should not feel 'insulted' by a person (the OP) who has paid for the game, played through it and then come up with a very valid point. The skills DO need tweaked - perhaps it is as simple as giving wizards 6 pints per level and or slightly less -25% perhaps to level up for all classes.
XXX K