Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

KickStarter Darkest Dungeon Pre-Release Thread

Gord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
7,049
The pirates are just one of the new enemy classes, I think (actually I suspect that's one of the bosses).
AFAIK there will be plenty of Lovecraftian horrors in the update.
 
Last edited:

randir14

Augur
Joined
Mar 15, 2012
Messages
641
Well, thats kinda underwhelming, when i saw the anker i thought we may see some more lovecraft elements. Pirates are boran, undead pirates are a joke.

There's one more dungeon coming after this one. If there's any Lovecraftian stuff it'll probably be in there since the narrator in the game intro refers to the "darkest dungeon" as having antediluvian horrors.
 

Reinhardt

Arcane
Joined
Sep 4, 2015
Messages
29,226
Well, thats kinda underwhelming, when i saw the anker i thought we may see some more lovecraft elements. Pirates are boran, undead pirates are a joke.
There is fish people, drowned corpses, jellyfishes. Pirate captain and his crew only one of bosses, i think.
 

eXalted

Arcane
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
1,213
Bought Darkest Dungeon a month ago and I'm restraining myself from playing it before it's completed.

Is a release date known?

Is it worth it to be played now? I'm afraid of burning out before actual release.
 

randir14

Augur
Joined
Mar 15, 2012
Messages
641
Bought Darkest Dungeon a month ago and I'm restraining myself from playing it before it's completed.

Is a release date known?

Is it worth it to be played now? I'm afraid of burning out before actual release.

It was supposed to release in October, now they're saying hopefully before the end of the year. I've only played a few hours for the same reason as you, I don't want to be burned out for the final version.
 

eXalted

Arcane
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
1,213
It was supposed to release in October, now they're saying hopefully before the end of the year. I've only played a few hours for the same reason as you, I don't want to be burned out for the final version.
If it's by the end of the year I can wait for it. I'm not fan of early access but I just couldn't and bought it.
 

Wizfall

Cipher
Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Messages
816
Is it worth it to be played now? I'm afraid of burning out before actual release.
Don't start playing it IMO.
Like you i don't play early access game (in fact DDungon was my first one) but my brother bought it and after i could not resist.
Very addictive and enjoyable game but after 30 hours i don't think i will play it anymore despite new contents, got completely burned.
So you better wait.
 

Gord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
7,049
Played two short missions in the Cove.
First impressions: Mostly more of the same, but the new art (visuals + audio, also some updates to the older dungeons) is very well done (although one of the fish enemies seems to wear his balls in his face).
Biggest change is probably the new synergistic skills of some monsters - they now heal, protect and buff each other.
Difficulty seems a bit higher to me, although that's difficult to tell from just 2 missions, rng can always produce some anomalies.
Other than that, the patch contains the typical EA adjustments, tweaks and stuffies.

Cove Update Changelog
 

Reinhardt

Arcane
Joined
Sep 4, 2015
Messages
29,226
Yeah, i liked it too, when first met him. But my first time was at the end of run, not at the beginning.
 

Pope Amole II

Nerd Commando Game Studios
Developer
Joined
Mar 1, 2012
Messages
2,052
TBH, after this and summer balance updates I got kinda disappointed in this game. I mean, it's not like it's bad - it's a fine 20 hour rogue-lite (though the continuously added grind will do a lot to prevent those 20 hours from actually being 20 hours). But I've played Renowned Explorers & Rampage Knights recently and this game isn't much better than them. Especially when you compare the sales. TBH, it's actually worse because of the grind (and of incredibly long animations padding the process seriously).

It's just that this game requires a lot of time to build-up your crew - get the needed upgrades, the decent recruits, the proper items, train them all, etc. But there's no real payoff - the character's don't really change from level 1 to level 6. The numbers grow, obviously, but their strats and interactions remain the same. The enemies don't change that much - there is a bump in diversity once you enter the expert dungeons as the new kinds of monsters are unlocked, but that's pretty much it. There's no difference between the various-tiered bosses - numbers change, but you do the same stuff. By the same reason there's no difference between expert and champion dungeons - I guess the RNG is somewhat less in your favor, but that's that. And that's talking about combat only - exploration is always 100% static.

And it's not like the Cove brings any variety. The exploding, healing and guarding monsters are supposed to be fun/challenging/fresh, but my lvl 5 Marksman/Occultist/Bounty/Bounty squad wrecked through it all without barely experiencing that shit - I just killed foes before they could even do that. And any decently assembled squad would do the same. And so, despite being new, it played exactly like the old stuff.

Rebalancing the items also didn't do shit - sure, many of them got better, but it's just higher numbers involved. No actually fresh strategies created. And, since the previous ones also were not that deep, there isn't really any fresh gameplay in the cove.

I dunno, despite all the hype, this game is really, really shallow. It's just that it obscures its shallowness over the really slow gameplay and pseudo-hardcore gimmicks.
 

Gord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
7,049
Sadly I've to agree with most of what Pope Amole II wrote.
The game does have a great atmosphere, and it's certainly fun for around 20 hours, but in terms of gameplay there's currently too little to keep it fresh for much longer.
Progression is currently mostly grinding, with the only thing you get from it being higher numbers and a few new enemies.
The cove update has added some fresh ideas insofar as enemies now interact more and have a few nasty synergies, offering the potential for more tactical combat. I hope they expand those abilities in scope and add them to the old monsters from other areas as well.

Still, the actual gameplay is indeed somewhat shallow. Dungeon crawling is as simple as it gets, as typical dungeons are just a sequence of rooms connected by (straight) hallways, without any surprises or interesting layouts and only the simplest non-combat challenges (traps with disarming chance, thematically consistent stuff to interact with).
Quests ultimately always boil down to the same thing: Make your way through a dungeon, do some fights until you have reached the goal, return (or get killed along the way).
Even the stress mechanics, which were one of the main selling points are not particular deep - they serve as a 2nd health bar with some nice quirks and have their own way to regenerate, but I feel as if they usually simply not matter enough during normal gameplay, nor is the build-up (or removal) solved in a very interesting way.

So far it's not clear to me how they want to tie the game together for the endgame-content (the "Darkest Dungeon"-dungeon). If it will be nothing else but leveling up some heroes to kill all the bosses (of which there are quite a few as every boss has 1 incarnation in each of the 3 dungeon difficulties) until you can have a go at the final dungeon/boss after what would probably be 40+ hours, I seriously doubt most people will ever play through, since it would overstay its welcome for most well before reaching the ending. Just as the last sentence of mine has.
Rather it might be a nice game for a couple of 5-15 hour runs given some randomness to the encountered monsters and bosses, or maybe good for playing it once at 25 hours. Everything above that would be pushing it, as it stands now.

So, ultimately I got my money's worth of fun out of EA already and I will keep playing it from time to time when in the mood, but it didn't quite turn out to be what I had hoped for.
Ironically my very first impression during the kickstarter was rather accurate - I thought it's a nice looking and atmospheric game with somewhat samey and boring gameplay.
EA is not over yet, of course, so there's yet hope they will add some things that would fix its shortcomings, but their work in the last months has somewhat dampened my hope that they will do so - I think their vision is pretty close to what the game currently offers.
 
Last edited:

Reinhardt

Arcane
Joined
Sep 4, 2015
Messages
29,226
I have no problem with grind, even raised exp needed for every lvl up in my play. My main problem - game is too easy.
 

Gord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
7,049
I have no problem with grind, even raised exp needed for every lvl up in my play. My main problem - game is too easy.

Grind is boring, so I'd rather keep it to a minimum.
What does make the game to easy to you?
I didn't get the whining about corpses or most other difficulty-related things, but I still wouldn't call the game too easy.
 

Reinhardt

Arcane
Joined
Sep 4, 2015
Messages
29,226
What does make the game to easy to you?
Don't know... Everything? Too many hours spent in Deepest Dark mod. After this vanilla is a cakewalk. Escape button, for example. First thing i removed, when started to mod game for myself.
 
Joined
Aug 6, 2008
Messages
7,269
Money is too common post patch - heirlooms are more (too?) rare.

Still, I like the Cove. Pretty cool. It does seem a bit easier this time around? Or maybe I'm just getting better at it.

Also - I don't know if the RNG is fucking me or what, but the caravan is full of grave robbers and vestals and not much else at the moment.
 

Invictus

Arcane
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,789
Location
Mexico
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Was super psyched for playing this and the few esrly access builds I played were fun... But the. The modders gonna mod sindrome hit and the developers started fucking arround with things which were prefectly fine; instead if tweaking the sanity systems to make them more of a risk reward scenario like the early builds they vame out with their "innovative" heart attack retardness and their corpse system.... Just why would they add that sort of thing to a combat system which is supposed to be strategic yer fun was simply beyond me and honestly gave me little desire to see the game till it is finished but now I have little to no expectations about it
 

Shaewaroz

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 4, 2013
Messages
2,923
Location
In a hobo shack due to betting on neanderthal
I'm very into cock and ball torture
The corpses are pretty dumb addition, agreed. Maybe this wouldn't be the case if the corpses could be used in some way other than just blocking everyone's way - maybe certain enemies could draw strength from corpses, eat them or reanimate them and maybe a player class could use them in a similar way.
 

Invictus

Arcane
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,789
Location
Mexico
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Yeah if the corpses had some sort of risk reward such as they could spawn a new super monster if you dont finish the fight quickly or maybe beign usuable by the necromancers for a special atrack... Just as they are they are annoying addition in a game which cannot afford to add stupid systems because of its grindding. If they added some sort of special item reward for finishing the various dungeons to add some sort of character building other than the usual upgrade path it would give some inventive for the mindless grindding
 

Gord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
7,049
Some additional complexity would be welcome, yes.
But I still don't get the hate for corpses. They force you to differentiate your party a little bit more and made some less-used classes more useful.
They can be even used to the players advantage in some situations.

Anyway DD's problems (or my issues with the game, anyway) run much deeper than the corpses&heart attack patch.
Without more content and complexity to its core mechanics, it will never be more than an atmospheric but shallow in-between game for 20hrs of fun before it gets old.
 
Last edited:

Trash

Pointing and laughing.
Joined
Dec 12, 2002
Messages
29,683
Location
About 8 meters beneath sea level.
Saw a tool tip about bloated corpses actually being able to explode and shower you with bad shit. Haven't seen it happen. Anyway, uninstalled again as it crashes too much and I want to keep it fresh for when the game is finished. Game seems to be progressing well. Like the growing complexity, the growing diversity in encounters and tactics employed by the opposition. Hope they keep adding to that. They nailed the atmosphere, would like some more musical tracks and especially spoken content though.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom