Legend of Grimrock

A new first person Rogue-like dungeon crawl.

Slightly disappointed at finding out this isn't about a robot which transforms into a T-Rex.

It's basically a Spiritual Successor to Dungeon Master.

That's no Roguelike that is a Wizardry-like

... No.

They're making another game starring Grimlock from the Transformers as the main character?! AWESO-

....Waaaaaaaaaaaait a minute... This is a dungeon crawler?

• Sgt Ricko moves on*

Gone gold.

Why won't you unlock!? Why!? I want to play

Where are the roguelike elements, then? Looks like a textbook FPP dungeon crawler to me.

My best guess is that JAF doesn't really know what rogue-like means and just associates it with "dungeon crawling". Just a random guess.

I'll probably get it from GOG some time. Maybe next month. The user reviews are pretty good so far.

edited 11th Apr '12 11:13:21 AM by Nyarly

By the way, if you have it on Steam as a preorder, they finally realized that 1:00 was a full hour ago and you can download it now.

I understand things happen, though. At least now I can play

...and I could have earlier if I wasn't stubborn because I got a standalone version too <_<

oh wow, the music is wonderful <3

just got the game. a little worried about the giant killer spiders i saw in the trailer.

Ahaha, what a wonderful romp. Currently shuffling around in Level 5, but pondering how to get some secrets I just KNOW are in level 4 (there's a book around the timing trial, but I have no idea how to get to it, and I still hear things behind the walls pretty much everywhere).

Out of curiosity, what sort of party is everyone using? I have a human warrior (focusing on swords, but I've barely put any points in there in favor of athletics and armor), minotaur warrior (same as human, but with axes instead of swords), lizardman rogue (assassination for dagger attacks from back row), and insectoid mage (dabbling in everything because I'm still not sure which school of magic to specialize in)

So far, I have to say I'm kinda disappointed in the minotaur race. The strength and vitality are nice, but they've got terrible accuracy and evasion unless you pump up their dex a ton. They also get shafted in terms of skill points at the start. It seems their major saving grace is the Headhunter trait, provided you can find skulls to collect (I've only found one).

I can also see good reason to go two warriors and two mages and not bother with rogues. The two mages would let each specialize in different schools of magic so you have a broader selection of spells, while the warriors just do the choppy choppy and tanky business per the norm. Since there don't appear to be any utility skills like picking locks or stealth, Rogue seems to be there mostly for backstabbing antics and ranged combat rather than serving a useful utility role.

I also have a crazy urge to make a monk style party. Two warriors, two rogues, all specializing in unarmed (and the rogues specializing in assassination at least enough to attack from the back row). I somehow doubt they'd get very far without being min/maxed, though.

edited 12th Apr '12 2:18:41 AM by IthilionTheBrave

I got that book, Brave. It's a good one

If a character dies, are they Lost Forever?

Nevermind, a shiny crystal.

edited 12th Apr '12 1:48:37 PM by Anfauglith

I found the book myself this morning. It is quite a nice book. Also, the combat difficulty really spiked for me in level 5. Doesn't help when I get cornered, either.

Edit: I'm also strongly debating making a new party without a Rogue. This is my eternal problem, really, I keep making new parties and characters rather than just playing through the game because there's something I don't like about the current one or want to try something different.

edited 12th Apr '12 2:47:49 PM by IthilionTheBrave

I just remade my party because one of my mages didn't know how to cast any spell. I must have allocated the Skill Points wrongly.

edited 12th Apr '12 5:54:21 PM by Anfauglith

I decided to try a brief experiment in remaking my party. Basically the same, except the minotaur specializing in maces rather than axes (maces are a bit weaker, but I find them sooner than axes and they tend to be faster too), and the rogue specializing in missile weapons rather than daggers. And the mage focusing on Fire and Ice magic rather than a hodgepodge of everything. I chose those 2 because you can rarely go wrong with fire (you probably can deeper down, fire does tend to be the most common element for monsters to resist in a lot of fantasy games) and ice partly because of the Willpower bonuses. Earth does seem to be quite nice, but the basic spell requires you to stand still for full effectiveness (suicide against certain enemies) and there's a fair number of enemies immune to poison early on.

So far, I find missile weapons to perform pretty well. Far more effective than thrown, although it's a pain switching out to other weapons when you run out of ammo. I've been stockpiling rocks to use with the sling and have been using torches and thrown weapons as weights instead (especially since I know how to cast Light now and thus don't really need torches that much except for puzzles.) But I fire off my arrows, and then scramble through my inventory while trying to maneuver and attack to swap out the bow with a sling and rocks. Kinda hectic. If I'm panicky enough I just toss a spear on him, but he'd probably perform better with the sling anyway since he's got so many points in missile weapons already (I've basically been ignoring everything else, except for a few points in Dodge in case I get flanked or fight something with full party attacks). Another pro to using the sling is that unlike arrows and sharp thrown weapons, the rocks just drop to the ground rather than getting lodged in the enemy, so if you maneuver around properly you can constantly pick up the ammo you've already used and thus never run out. On the other hand, the rock and sling are the weakest missile weapons.

Does anyone else focus on tanking for their warriors more than hacking stuff apart? I find myself leaving the weapons skills behind early on while I rush for at least light armor proficiency so they can have better defense without rendering them unable to dodge (and I usually rush to heavy armor proficiency, too). While it's nice to have tanky warriors, I wonder if the drop in offense is making things worse. I know careful maneuvering can largely negate the need for defense, but I still like having the assurance that they can sorta take a beating if I get myself cornered or if there's not much room to move.

In other news regarding my new party, I found a book in level 3 that boosts Health when read. A very nice find indeed.

GAH!

the spiders are worse than i thoughtthespidersareworsethanithoughtaaaaaaa ;_;

im focusing on armour for my weapon warrior, but the other warrior specializes in fists so she can actually do some damage. as it stands, the weapon warrior suffers a lot more. just 1 more level up till heavy armour proficiency

edited 12th Apr '12 10:41:44 PM by Tarsen

I bought this game just because I learned from cover we have lizardmen And to my pleasant surprise, game has four races: humans, minotaurs, lizardmen and insectoids. Thats right, no stupid human like races like elves and dwarfs :D Really was surprised at insect people :3

This game is hard and nobody even tells you how the magic system works, so my insectoid mage (named Thrak'Torr) is useless. However, the Party Tank, Alistar fills the Unskilled, but Strong trope to a T - so what he can't hit shit if he's got one hundred HP? I got my other fighter, Bjorn (human), to hit things, and Kiara (human) the rogue to stab shit with a spear while hiding behind the tank.

^You didn't read manual?

Copy paste from manual

Magic and Runes

Legend of Grimrock has a rune-based spellcasting system where all the spells are described as a combination of runes. Each of the magical runes represents a different concept, like an element or a force of the physical or immaterial world, and different combinations of these concepts are used to form spells. In addition to knowing the combination of the runes, the spellcaster needs to be skilled enough in the school of magic a spell requires to cast it. Scrolls describing different rune combinations can be found in the dungeons but a resourceful wizard may discover some by experimenting.

FIRE. The first rune is fire, one of the elements. Elements are a major group in the runes. There are four elements and all of them reside in the corners of the pattern. Fire magic is very suitable for destructive powers and fire is the rune of strength.

LIFE. This rune represents health, bravery, creation and light. It is a common rune in spells that aid and assist but it can also be used in creating or modifying matter. Life is the opposing force of death.

AIR. The element of air not only covers the air that we breathe but also the sky, storms and gases. It is also often used in conjunction with other less buoyant elements to help them float or fly and air is the rune of dexterity.

SPIRITUALITY. This rune represents the immaterial world: the things that have no matter but which still exist. It is used for invoking the forces of the mind, thought and spirituality. It is useful in spells that either enhance or disrupt the psyche 13 of beings or to surpass the barriers of mundane senses.

BALANCE. This is the central rune that all the other runes are bound to and it has no opposite. It represents everything, wholeness and unity. The invisible force that binds everything together while keeping them apart. Mortal spellcasters can only exploit a tiny sliver of the vast potential of this force and they usually use it to amplify their spells to affect larger wholes.

PHYSICALITY. This represents the material world and strong physical forces. It helps otherwise immaterial things attain a more stable physical form or adds to the strength of otherwise weak phenomena. Physicality is the opposing force of spirituality.

EARTH. A strong and stable element, earth can be useful in bolstering defenses or for tapping power from the surrounding masses of rock, moss and plants. Earth is the rune of vitality and the opposing element of air.

DEATH. This rune is the force of vile deeds, cowardice, destruction and darkness and it is a very potent power for deception or causing harm to others.

ICE. Ice is the source element of powerful freezing spells that can harm or slow others. Ice is the rune of willpower and the opposing element of fire.

Note: Rune symbols goes... Well, I'll just demonstrate it(pic of rune thing)◊

Fire Life Air

Spirituality Balance Physicality

Earth Death Ice

So yeah, when you right click glowing hand button, you have to know in which order you have to press them(and then press casting button) to do spells :P I guess you could try trial and error xD

BTW, this game is made by Finnish people? O_o*read manual credits*

edited 13th Apr '12 12:35:05 PM by SpookyMask

The best is to put 2 points in Fire Magic so they get the basic spell (I think it's called Fireburst) and if you can some in Earth so they get Poison Cloud (causes damage over time). When they level up you can put some points in Ice so they learn a spell that causes some Ice Spikes to grow from the ground (direct damage but it has a longer range than Fireburst and it can damage multiple enemies if they are in line)

I'd kinda lean against Earth magic, personally. The Poison cloud is kinda handy, but getting the full effect out of it requires that your target stay in the same spot, so you're either standing there in a slugging match (ill-advised, especially deeper in the dungeon) or constantly trying to maneuver the enemy into the cloud while not stepping into it yourself. Plus, so far I've encountered far more monsters that are poison immune than I have that are immune to good ol' fire or anything else. On the other hand, leveling Earth magic enough to learn Poison shield could be very handy since so far that's the most common element enemies use (particularly herders and their ilk), and one could always drop points in another school for poison immune foes. Plus the game seems to favor throwing scrolls for earth spells at you more often than they do for any other element, and the vitality boosts from Earth Magic can help with your mages pathetic HP pool.

Another thing to note is that mages have good synergy with missile weapon rogues, since mages eventually learns spells to enchant ammunition with elemental damage (only good for one shot, and it makes recovering ammo a pain since you won't automatically pick up the standard ammo anymore). Not sure if it works for thrown weapons, yet. I haven't encountered a scroll for it yet, but if you're willing to metagame a bit the combination is easy to find.

I love the atmosphere of the game :3 And the puzzles. In old dungeon crawlers, it just felt like you were walking in maze with identical walls and random monsters annoying you to death, now, even though walls are still mostly identical, it feels like I'm actually in dungeon :D