Grimrock

Ok, so I have dedicated about 15 hours or so to LoG and so far I am happy with the game. * im playing normal mode.

let me elaborate a little, I like how the gameplay, leveling system, and spells, abilities are reminiscent of what I would see in a D&D dungeon.

Right when I start to feel like I am walking in circles, I encounter something a bit more elaborate that keeps my interest in the game.

The monsters are not too difficult, but I did have to revisit some areas like the slime room when I was a bit stronger.

I probably did not choose the best skills for my characters and it took me a few levels to overcome that with skill points.
* I understand that it doesnt make sense to completely reroll a character midgame but it would be nice if I had a chance to redistribute my skill points, perhaps every few levels or at a specific point in the game...

Im not running the best system, but definitely not the worst, I am running most recent bios and video drivers etc. I sometimes have a bit of lag, specifically in rooms with a lot of torches. *XPS m1530 with best hardware they made at the time.

Switching weapons can be a bit difficult sometimes, specifically when I am battling and make a wrong click and end up unequipping my item instead of making an attack.

The spell system is really cool, I like how it is somewhat rudimentary once you get the hang of it, though I feel like I am wasting a lot of time making my attacks and am losing out on other attacks, often I will open the spellbook, click another characters weapon to attack and then go back to complete the spell.

overall I really like the game and will definitely be pressuring my D&D buddies to pick it up. Being able to get lost in a dungeon for hours is a real blast. Also, my wife enjoys helping me solve the puzzles.

This comes from someone who played through pretty much every game of this type that have been made, dungeon master, ishar, eye of the beholder, black crypt, captive, lands of lore etc.

I started over twice, first because I realized that I didn't rename my characters (all were called New Prisoner), second because I realized that a Mage that do not start with enough skill to throw at least one spell (once you find the scroll) would lag behind terribly when it comes to experience gain.

Overall my impression is very positive. This is exactly the game I want. It's unusual for me to have no complaints or ideas upon how to improve the game but if I want to stretch things I guess that Dungeon Masters range of different attacks added more techniques to combat since the time/accuracy/damage bonuses/penalties allowed for different attacks depending on the speed/strength of the monster you were fighting. But Eye of the Beholder had no attack variation whatsoever and did fine.

I wouldn't mind seeing strafing monsters, especially faster ones such as spiders.

I do miss the quiver that allow me to combine different forms of ranged weapons, but the auto-pickup system is very very nice.

Sometimes I wish I could click a button or pull a lever while using the freecam. Right-hand chains that needs to be pulled are often covered by my interface so I have to close it all the time.

My impressions so far, also from someone who's played too many of these games to count, is that this is great.

I gimped my mage from the start but have still pressed onward. Now that I can fling ice shards and firebursts, he is doing good.

I'm really digging the creep-factor of the skeletons. Seeing them stomp around is pretty neat.

My girlfriend was watching me play a bit ago and she said "that thing looks real. this is creepy!"

and then she leaned over and stared at the screen for a good 15 minutes, jumping every time a monster would attack or spray poison-nonsense at me.

I hope more of these games happen. I haven't found any complaints thus far.

I absolutely love it.

Incidentally, I made the same Mage mistake as the rest of you, so I gave him some rocks to throw and soldiered on without spells until he levelled. No at Dungeon Level 6, he's a level ahead of the rest of the party!

Edit: Should probably mention that I'm also a Dungeon Master, EotB, Lands of Lore etc. veteran.

It's a cool game. Early game combat felt a big sloggish(I now hate spiders, thanks for that), but late game the the combat tended to be pretty enjoyable as more enemies became more varied and the environments started requiring more thought.

The puzzles tend to be pretty clever, I liked the different mazes that showed up and their differing mechanics. I like that some of the more difficult players had hints you could find if you were persistent and/or clever enough. Good for when you're just not thinking laterally enough.

Of course, the game looks great, and does a good job of feeling dark and creepy. Hearing an enemy "somewhere" is straight up unnerving, especially if you know it's something dangerous.

Varil wrote:It's a cool game. Early game combat felt a big sloggish(I now hate spiders, thanks for that), but late game the the combat tended to be pretty enjoyable as more enemies became more varied and the environments started requiring more thought.

The puzzles tend to be pretty clever, I liked the different mazes that showed up and their differing mechanics. I like that some of the more difficult players had hints you could find if you were persistent and/or clever enough. Good for when you're just not thinking laterally enough.

Of course, the game looks great, and does a good job of feeling dark and creepy. Hearing an enemy "somewhere" is straight up unnerving, especially if you know it's something dangerous.

There is a particular spot in the archives that made me piss myself basically.

My impressions so far are that this is a fun game that's has some glaring UI issues and some pretty big balance issues.

The core gameplay of crawling and fighting is fun for the most part, but it's really hampered by inventory management - especially if you're using the default thief. Managing her thrown and missile weapons is a headache, especially in the heat of battle and having to juggle all of her stuff forces you to take damage while you switch out her gear after she's thrown all of her daggers or shot all of her arrows.

I'm also pretty disappointed with the fact that the timing for puzzles isn't balanced for all control methods. They include the option for using the mouse to move around (by using buttons on the UI), but every timed puzzle I've come across so far requires movements too quick for this control scheme. I'm constantly forced to use the keyboard instead, which defeats the purpose of even having the mouse option there in the first place.

Smaller quibbles include the lack of a native anti-aliasing option (though it appears the modding community took care of this almost immediately, I prefer not to use library injectors), the short draw distance on detail shadows and SSAO. the inability to have a translucent automap up on the screen while moving around (making it like FarCry 2 or Minecraft where you can move around, but the map partially obscures the screen because it's in the game world would be awesome and useful at the same time).

Yesterday I gave LOG 9.9/10

Today I give it 10/10

Says it all really.

Here are my over impressions as of the start of level 5. This is my first play through so far, and it has been a learning experience on character building (not knowing what to build into first). I prefer turning with the mouse as I get to look around at the same time and find it much easier to turn with. Q and E make things awkward when I accidentally hit them while trying to strafe out of enemy fire.

Pros:
-Graphics are amazing. Everything is running on full and it is beautiful.

-Tough at first to pick, but once you get the hang of everything - Excellent Game play.

-Scariness. My god I am now deathly afraid of (level 3 enemy spoiler)and (level 4 enemy spoiler) But all these fears just added to the games awesomeness. Even when I know I have cleared out areas, I still go slow in case of random enemies (im looking at you level 3 and 4) The earthquakes suck too. After seeing the trailer with the guy charging at you... I cower in fear at each earthquake.

- Combat. It has a great feel to it. Easy to play, yet tricky when trying to throw in spells. A good challenge.

- Puzzles are not too difficult, but the enemies can make it tricky sometimes.



Things to improve upon (not necessarily cons)

-Give mages a spell at level 1. Many have started the game not realizing you cant cast anything at level 1 if you dont put skill points into the right thing. And having two fighters up front, means the mage has to sit back and wait to level. Also, I believe you need 2 points in fire to cast, however minotaur only get 1 skill point meaning they HAVE to take the plus skill points or play without casting for the first level)

-Different places for switches on the walls. There is literally two *secret* switches on walls. one is painfully obvious. And the other is a small crack. Every time im checking walls, I just look at the one spot. Got chains or branches on the wall? No switches there.

-First couple of levels item drops. This is mostly a concern with the fact that (I may have missed items of course) I ended up with 1 shuriken and 1 throwing knife for my (planning on being an archer) thief in the back group. 2 throws and he was done (doesnt help my mage couldnt cast till level 2...) Once he got a bow, it was great... but there was only 3 arrows then I had to resort to my shuriken. Now that I have the cross bow, their arrows seem to be all over the place.

- Enemy battles. If you don't get to corner where only 1 guy can hit you in a room of 3 guys, your done. That is the unfortunate side of battles. They are fun and exciting, but whenever there is more than 1 (sometimes i can deal with 2) in a small room, you just get stuck, unable to move, and just getting pounded by enemies. With the hit/ratio... I barely take down one guy before im being killed by the second. Its fun, but sometimes over whelming when you set off a trap releasing 10 enemies at the same time without knowing.

- Inventory and Battle Items. Its hard to switch out with different items while dodging enemies. The Bag takes up at least a 1/4 of the screen, and you have to look to see what your switching into.


Next Steps

As I have not completed the game yet, I cant offer TOO much of an opinion on this yet as there still might be some interesting stuff coming. However I do have a couple of things (mentioned in other posts by others) that should be their next goal.

- More Races and Classes.
- Custom Level design
- Hard more (Tougher enemies, maybe permanent death)
- Broader range of puzzles and new environments ( I know things change in level 5 with respect to wall design)

All in all

A very satisfying game that I recommend to anyone. I love the RPG aspect of building your characters and battling enemies. Definitely needs to have a second run through once I complete my first run, now that I know what to build for my characters at the start. I look forward to the content to come, and to see how you improve on an already excellent game. 9/10

Love it. Amazingly taking me back to Dungeon Master/Chaos Strikes Back moments.

The only thing I would have done different is the skill/class/lvl system:

Dungeon Master had it perfect = 100% learning by doing, no points to declare, just act and raise in what you do. Real life, it is.

But I enjoy the visuals so much. It's breathtaking.