Demise: Rise of the Ku'tan expansion to be released tomorrow

[Stabwound]

http://www.decklinsdemise.com/news.php

The fabled "Ascension" expansion is supposed to be released on 10/10/10, which has been in development for probably 5-6 years now. 10 years after the release of the original game.

The original is a pretty fun/lengthy dungeon crawler, and the expansion is supposed to improve on the game in a bunch of different ways.

Hopefully it actually is released, because it's missed countless tentative release dates over the years.

 

[SCO]

Looks like ultima underworld.

Does it play like it too?

 

[Stabwound]

Nah, not at all. It's grid-based like Wizardry 1-7 or Might and Magic 1-5.

 

[Eyeball]

Demise is a fun single-player MMORPG - tons of grind, hundreds of different kinds of monsters and lots of fun loot to collect. I put a lot of time into that one back in the day.

However, I will believe that it's going to be released when I'm playing it. Decklin has pushed back release like 10 times over the past five years.

 

[Shannow]

Too. Much. Grind.
Item progression was shit.
And I liked the Mordor 2 dungeon layout, graphics, difficulty and sounds better.
And it was a MUD with single-player option, not a single-player mmo.

Since grinding levels for items is what killed the game for me, that'd be a really easy fix... but I doubt that this expansion will come out. And if it does I doubt it'll change that mechanic.

 

[Archibald]

What exactly is single player mmo?

 

[Lightknight]

Demise is a fun single-player MMORPG

The fun ends where the interface starts. Honestly, the game expects you to have a party, but its incredibly awkward to control more than one character. Not to mention that GUI in general has no idea what information it wants to show you.

And through all these years the dev didnt even make a single attempt to evolve the character system, which would at least warranted many people to take a peek. Instead its more badly modeled monsters and badly textured levels, ideal for another few years worth of boring grinding, thanks dev !

 

[Shannow]

What exactly is single player mmo?

Minions of Mirth

 

[Yeesh]

Demise is a fun single-player MMORPG

The fun ends where the interface starts. Honestly, the game expects you to have a party, but its incredibly awkward to control more than one character. Not to mention that GUI in general has no idea what information it wants to show you.

And through all these years the dev didnt even make a single attempt to evolve the character system, which would at least warranted many people to take a peek. Instead its more badly modeled monsters and badly textured levels, ideal for another few years worth of boring grinding, thanks dev !

I agree that the interface is utter shit, and it seems like even a casual programmer could have improved upon it given the epic development time for this very modest expansion. But complaining about bad graphics and especially complaining about grind in Demise is like complaining about the lack of C+C in Diablo II, which is a lot like complaining about the lack of realism in porn. You're missing the point.

Still, fuck Ascension. I love what Demise is all about, but its absolute failure to evolve even a tiny, tiny bit over all this time has left me with zero interest.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Demise is a fun single-player MMORPG - tons of grind

 

[Elwro]

It's delayed again, of course:

Well it's not quite that precise unfortunately ... but CDs will be on their way this coming week and before the end of October there'll be a download available.

http://www.decklinsdomain.info/phpbb/vi ... 039#p39039

 

[Stabwound]

lol, expected.

I realize it's a free expansion for a 10 year old game, but he needs to stop committing to release dates and completely missing them.

 

[Elwro]

It's free? No way...

edit: I just remembered that I had bought the boxed version of the game only to learn that the 1.03 patch costs additional $25 :D Fun game, horrible bugs, hideous customer care.

 

[Eyeball]

Doubt it'll ever get released, and if it does, there is absolutely no fucking way it will be free - Decklin's famous for dicking around his fanbase who help him playtest the expansion for his old-ass video game.

 

[Ruprekt]

It's a strange game.

It's a hardcore oldschool dungeon crawler with the twist that the battles are all on autoplay. That sounds shit and and it kinda is... what it means though is you live with the consequences e.g. if your characters get demoralised and run off (or whatever... I think that happened but don't quote me on it). Basically, you manage your characters and hope for the best rather than controlling them.

 

[Shannow]

Nope. Actually it just runs on real time with limited options. Apart from attacking you can still decide to flee, to defend, to use items or to use spells. And you can actively switch between those.

 

[Lightknight]

Actually it just runs on real time

Actually its round-based with initiative.

 

[Ruprekt]

I guess I'm too naive (or I was back then). I assumed it was meant to be near impossible to control your party by design, not because the UI was hopeless.

 

[Eyeball]

Guys, you can just hit pause (I think shift+P or something) and halt the action at any time, enabling you to give complex orders to your spellcasters

Demise is also olskool in a way that will tickle the more hardcore Codexers pink - mainly because you can run around murdering goblins and imps thinking you're hot shit, all of a sudden, you run into a bunch of stat-draining undead who proceed to gobble up half your strength and endurance points, leaving you an enfeebled cripple unable to wear your plate armour or wield your awesome battleaxe of awesome. And raising your stats is not easy, considering you need to find semi-rare tomes that only drop from certain monsters.

Best tip for Demise I've found: When returning from the dungeon, use all your leftover spell points to heal yourself. SP regenerate instantly upon returning to town whereas HP regeneration ages your character. For best effect, when leveling one of your other characters, park your healer-type character just outside of the town entrance and have him heal you before you enter. This is how I managed to stay in my early twenties for even my meat shield giant warrior.

 

[Shannow]

Actually it just runs on real time

Actually its round-based with initiative.

And runs in real time. Or do you remember clicking "next turn"? One can be too pedantic

@Eyeball: You were supposed to munchkin grind to keep your age low. Start a game with a stupid warrior type. Farm tomes and potions. Then start your "real" character and pump him full of stat raising tomes and potions unil you've maxed at least endurance. Then be care full with him. In conjunction with potions of youth and paying for healing at the town fountain age shouldn't become a problem for a very long time. Your way works of course, but I'd rather pay the gold than waste time switching characters around...

 

[Stabwound]

Doubt it'll ever get released, and if it does, there is absolutely no fucking way it will be free - Decklin's famous for dicking around his fanbase who help him playtest the expansion for his old-ass video game.

According to a response from Decklin:

"Its already been stated elsewhere, if you are a Decklin's Domain customer who purchased Demise you will, in maybe a weeks time, be able to get an Ascension key from the 'My Demise' page that will let you download Ascension before the end of the month."

I think you're good to go as long as you purchased it from Decklin or the online version from before Decklin bought the rights. You're probably screwed if you have the original disc-based version, though. Unless you registered your purchase with him a few years ago when he was allowing people who purchased the game in any format to email him with your details, and then you were supposed to get a physical disc in the mail. He's sending out the CDs this week, and I registered mine, so it will be interesting to see if I get the physical copy. Surprising that he's still doing this for free, but then again I think they're just burnt CD-Rs.

I don't understand why he can't just put it online now for people already registered with a valid CD key, but whatever.

edit: this game also has a fairly popular (within the Demise community) online multiplayer option, where your characters are saved on a server (I think) and you play sort of like a MUD. I never tried it, but people seem to like it.

 

[mondblut]

I used to toy with Mordor II, Infinite Worlds and Demise for a while each, and they all seem too bulky and unwieldy for their simplistic premise. The original Mordor: Depths of Dejenol does the same much more efficiently.

 

[Stabwound]

Yeah. I used to play Mordor a lot, and I didn't even realize there was a sequel for a few years after it came out. I eventually bought t, and was kind of disappointed. Not that it's a bad game, but I agree that the original just seems like it's better.

 

[Lightknight]

And runs in real time. Or do you remember clicking "next turn"? One can be too pedantic

If i cant swing my sword again, because the current round isnt over yet - how is that real time ? If everyone has their exact place in attack queue - how is that real time ?

all of a sudden, you run into a bunch of stat-draining undead who proceed to gobble up half your strength and endurance points,

Stat-draining is mostly harmless. However those same undead can also drain your max HP, 5-10 points per attack, and there is nothing you can do to fix that, except from hacking your save or something.

 

[getter77]

I will probably give Ascension a go when it actually comes out on a spot of hope for good doings as it seems, by all indications, to be a bad idea to muck about with Demise for the first time given this one will have the fixes and new stuff to it.

I haven't seen a bit about how much it will cost and how the downloads will be done and all, though there doesn't seem to be much hope for a Steam release on their forums. I would think they could get on with at least Gamersgate though, as they seem keen on pretty much everybody. Hell, if it is cheap enough outright when all is said and done, they could go for a twist and see about getting it up on GoG.