| paleface [sys=PC; cat=Adventure; reg=EUR] |
| | | | Steam / GOG release of an enhanced remake of the free game jam game Demon Lord (see entry 1641) from earlier this year. |
|
|
| | |
Playing the streamlined Wizardry-like dungeon crawler Demon Lord Reincarnation by Graverobber Foundation!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2395150/Demon_Lord_Reincarnation/
https://www.gog.com/en/game/demon_lord_reincarnation
Manual: https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/2395150/manuals/Demon_Lord_Reincarnation_Manual.pdf
Uses public domain char art from Javardry: https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/5887541
It's a significantly expanded and enhanced version of Demon Lord, their free game jam game from earlier this year https://surt-r.itch.io/demon-lord
What was already a brutal combat and exploration game has become even more brutal: you've got to survive multiple floors of a confusing mazelike dungeon now, enemies may have AoE attacks, and your party's attacks are spread across all the enemies in a group, instead of just hitting a single enemy--so more of them are alive longer to keep hitting you; then again, once they start dropping, they drop fast. ; D
All this and I basically haven't advanced past the first dungeon square yet! ; DDD
Can't take multiple characters of the same class in the four-person, formationless party this time, so I've gone with the beefiest I could find: General, Dwarf, Executioner, and Guard. HP max! Maybe eventually I'll learn to use fragile ranged types...
Defend actually works this time, and you pick your action on a per-character basis, so you can't quite mash through as quickly as in the Jam version--but there is a "Repeat" command to repeat the previous round's commands, which speeds things up a lot as long as you don't have to switch a wounded party member to Defend.
Feels like this is gonna be a heck of an adventure. ^ _^ With multiple floors I don't think my brain will quite be able to hold the path in my head, so I'll be mapping in Photoshop as I go (this time you've got the Check command that tells you your coords and facing; 0,0 is the SW corner of the 20x20 floor space).
For a while I thought there was a bug where the enemy group counter would go from like 1/1 to 0/1 then back to 1/1; finally looked through the manual (gee ; ) and found the left number is number of enemies who are able to attack, so stunned or whatever enemies would drop out of that momentarily. Also didn't think the battle UI showed SP--the resting one doesn't, which seems odd--wait, yes it does! Argh I was looking for a xx/xx readout like for HP, not just a xx readout, so I overlooked it repeatedly darg--but yes, it does. ; ) And didn't think the battle UI showed when you don't have the SP (Skill Points, forgot that for a bit : P) to use a skill, but it does--the graying-out is a bit subtle.
Does indeed have the option to turn off screen shake that the developer said they'd add when I asked about such an option pre-release. : )) |
|
|
| | |
My party members started learning some cool skull-splitting skills--but so did the enemies! For instance:
Butcher - Wide Cut - AOE slice
Goblins, Slimes, Thieves - Sleep Powder - AOE sleep
Scorpions - Poison Mist - AOE poison
This prolonged my attempted grind to get ahead of the power curve through sheer HP numbers! And man is that Sleep Powder annoying. ; ) By the end of this session I felt like I was close to getting on top of things again...but will the enemies respond with a fresh round of upgrades?? Will I have to bite the bullet and venture into the depths of the dungeon without a clear power advantage? ; D
Hopefully the enemy scaling isn't limitless, that would just kind of suck, what would be the point of leveling anyway. : P Maybe it isn't, though; they've already raised their group sizes AND their skills, and I'm still maybe close to pulling clearly ahead--and I *think* there's gonna be a limit on their group size? Or maybe that's just wishful thinking.
Number of possible enemy waves per encounter has increased also, got up to a third wave of attackers. Not a big fan of the waves mechanic; it's just trying to force you to have to flee the combat and get no XP, barf. And no healing so eventually you end up having backtrack to some safe haven. But...I guess it keeps you on your toes. (But I just want to crush things as reward for a little grinding! ^ D^)
Overall though I'm enjoying the combat system, I guess I like just a straight simple fantasy combat simulator of endless random encounters and watching numbers go up--with some nice atmosphere and the occasional amusing occurrence. ; D
I do kind of want to explore the dungeon a little though and do some mapping in Photoshop so uh well we'll see how the next power peak push goes. |
|
|
| | |
I did a little kludgy tutorial of how to simulate the Demon Lord visual look, starting from the original public domain Javardry character art. I'm using my fave old Photoshop, 4, from 1996, which also happens to be the year I graduated from college with an art degree and went home determined to teach myself how to do commercial illustration. ; )
The "tutorial" is very quick and dirty, settling for very rough approximations of some of the visual effects seen in the game, but actually since recording I figured out how to get a lot closer with them, for instance perfectly re-creating the dot patterns (there are two of them at once for some reason! = ooo), and even how to simulate the game's slight chromatic aberration or color bleed or whatever, so I'm gonna have to do a second, slightly less quick 'n dirty tutorial next time. ^ _^
And I finally felt comfortable enough with my party's power level to start exploring floor 1, and got most of it mapped clumsily in Photoshop! ^ _"^
Game (and video thumbnail) uses public domain char art from Javardry: https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/5887541
I think some of the chests are random occurrences and some aren't--like some encounters are scripted, while most are random. The chest at 3,4 wasn't there when I left and came back without opening it, which makes me suspect it was random; I didn't try that with the chest at 14,6--just opened it right off--so I'm really not sure if that one's random or scripted. The two later ones, the ones in the northeast, I did leave and come back to, and they were still there, so I'm fairly sure those are scripted to be in those positions.
I suppose some of the random-seeming encounters could actually have been scripted!
Enemy types are probably floor-specific, I mean I haven't encountered more enemy types while on floor 1, but those enemy types have leveled up a bit and gained new skills--plus larger groups and more waves of attackers per battle. I did finally get ahead of their power curve, whew. I expect to encounter different enemies on floor 2, but we'll see!
Since recording I've cleaned up the map a bit, replacing the letters for friendly NPCs and treasure chests with silly little icons I drew. : D We'll see them next time.
That mobile-style game also using the Javardry character art, whose name I couldn't quite remember, is Buriedbornes. |
|
|
| | | Download added: map_floor1.png (11431 bytes)
"Map of dungeon floor 1"
Playing through the streamlined Wizardry-like dungeon crawler Demon Lord Reincarnation by @GraverobberFoundation ! Currently running a "Max HP" party of General, Dwarf, Executioner, Guard.
And I took a more in-depth and hopefully slightly more accurate if still clunky stab at a Photoshop (ancient version 4 from 1996 ; ) tutorial for creating DLR-style screens from the original high-res, full color, public domain Javardry character art. ^_ ^ ( https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/5887541 )
Finished (first pass, anyway) the floor 1 map! Maybe the most likely spot for mistakes would be me having encountered a scripted thing I thought was just random, like an encounter or a treasure chest.
For chests, I'm not sure if the chests at 3,4 (backed off and it wasn't there when I went back, so, random?) and 14,6 (just opened it straight off so dunno if it would'a been there when I went back which would mean scripted?) were random or scripted, which is why they have "?" on them. : P
Man that was a lotta secret doors--that I almost missed! If I hadn't happened to stumble through that one secret door last episode, and then think of that this episode and think wait, maybe those other "empty" areas had doors...I would'a missed about a quarter of the first floor!
Finally felt really on top of the power curve in this episode. What'll the encounters on floor two and its new walls and orangey color scheme be like? = o |
|
|
| | | | I'm counting chests that weren't there after I backed off and went back as random rather than scripted, so I've removed the chest at 1:3,4. |
|
|
| | | Download added: 45_one_way.jpg (29056 bytes)
"Floor 2 goes hard on a new shtick: one-way doors!"
So many one-way doors and tiny, tiny rooms! = oo
Enemy power curve continued smoothly from floor 1; floor 2 brings some new enemies to mix with your old beat-up buddies. Those banshees gotta lotta tricks!
The 8th skill slot stuff has been impressive. ^ _^ |
|
|
| | | | Floor 2 has a different color tint than floor 1 (I think they all will), a different architectural style, and a different, very chill outside-of-combat music track! |
|
|
| | | Download added: 54_sham_tram.jpg (47756 bytes)
"A spooky team takes a big hit from an ultimate skill"
Explored the SE of floor 2, had overlooked a door there before. : P One whopper of a fight after I'd forgotten to rest and went in with half SP, SP makes a huge diff! Think I've got the 8th ("ultimate" or whateveR) skill for each party member now, big damage on ems. ^ _^^
Finding the hidden door to get to the last area of floor 2 was like some "when the thrush knocks" The Hobbit stuff except I guess with all dank and glowy-eyed undead knights and stuff instead of cute little birds. |
|
|
| | | Download added: map_floor2.png (12215 bytes)
"Dungeon floor 2 map"
I felt I had to check its permanence so I missed petting the bunny. = o (Called "Vorpal Bunny" in the Javardry source art).
I'd got so into getting to the last unseen part of floor 2 that I forgot I'd found the ladder down to floor 3 hours ago in another corner of the dungeon; s'then it was the long loop around yet again to go down once I finally completed exploring floor 2. But hey, got the map for it done!
Party HP levels are getting quite large (nearly 600 for the dwarf); enemies for the most part just can't do enough damage for long enough to threaten me even in a three-stage battle, unless I go into it already weakened--which *can* happen if you don't have any nearby small enclosed area that allows you to rest without getting ambushed. There were plenty of those in most of floor 2 and now I find myself getting annoyed if I'm in part of a dungeon that doesn't have a nice resting area nearby, but I suppose those safe-zone-strewn areas in 2 were just there to soften me up.
If you're threatened though you just run from the combat, which you can always do in the first round; the only risk is waiting until later in a battle, when rather bizarrely you can't run if your leader is incapacitated--which happens all the time in this game, the lowliest goblin can put anyone to sleep a single Sleeping Powder attack--basically the only time other than a boss battle when it's theoretically possible to suffer an inescapable party wipe. |
|
|
| | | Download added: 65_living_stats.jpg (36545 bytes)
"Statue bros"
Floor 3 hasn't introduced a new mechanic yet and maybe not a lot of new enemies have shown up, so maybe I was yawning a bit. ; ) Tempting to take the ladder right down to 4 but dang I got a map to fill out! I could just skip out of battles--I'm fairly comfortably overpowered as it is--but ehh we'll see. ; )
Although, most of the battles on this floor have been shorter! Just one wave of enemies usually, whereas most on floor 2 were three waves. |
|
|
| | | Download added: 69_vamp_slam.jpg (35683 bytes)
"Vampire bodyslam"
Turns out floor 3 DOES have a new mechanic: the central room lets you in the door but then pushes you out, but not before revealing another ladder going down--I've found three of them so far, and the pattern implies there's probably another in the NW corner. So it looks like we're now into a multi-level maze in which to get into that room you'll have to come up into at least that one area from floor 4.
And things were spicier this time too because way more new enemies started showing up. ^ _^
And maybe the coolest thing: I realized I was hearing a "whooshing" sound--like you hear when going through a doorway--when just moving into certain squares, and finally realized that it means there's a secret door in an adjacent wall! Really cool touch! Nicely immersive, and way easier to find secret doors now--as long as I keep my ears open--rather than the ol' "bash your head against every wall" approach that's been the go-to since at least "Eye of the Beholder" for DOS. ; D (Not to be confused with the "burn every bush" from Zelda.) (These were both things I watched my much-more-patient-than-me brother do when we were kids. ^ _^)
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cailleach , "cailleach" means "old woman" or "hag" in Gaelic, and the plural -- seen in a healing message at 46:16 -- is "cailleachan." |
|
|
| | | | When I tried to post a link to one of my maps in a Steam discussion topic in the Steam DLR "Community Hub," the post languished in link verification limbo for three or four days before evaporating completely. ; D In the mean time I found that kind of what you're supposed to do is post such images directly in the "Artwork" section, or, if complete, as a "Guide," so I've been posting them piecemeal as Artwork and plan to do a Guide once they're done, even though someone beat me to it with a Guide of fancier maps--but maybe missing a few things mine have (but also doing stuff like distinguishing between hidden and normal doors ^ _^). |
|
|
| | | Download added: map_floor3.png (13055 bytes)
"Dungeon floor 3 map"
Floor 4's twist--aside from the first place I dropped into with a big wide dark pit-strewn hall--is, at least in its first half, having you go after four separate specific Bone Wizard targets, it turns out, to disable a force field blocking your progress to the ladder down to the main chunk of floor 4 from floor 3. Nice to have some important fights, unfortunately the scripted fights don't scale so they were incredibly easy for my built-up party. Still, it was nice to have specific objectives to head for.
I forgot to mark the position of the last three scripted Bone Wiz fights on the floor 4 map! Had to play the video back and mark them in. : P
Oh man with the cyclopes I was trying to refer to John Henry, the "steel-driving man" racing a machine in American folklore, and instead came up with "John Henry Irons," the "Steel" of the replacement Supermen after Superman's death in DC comics in the '90s. : P I mean yeah Steel was a John Henry reference but eh anyway, thoroughly embarrassing bit, also may not help that the cyclopes' facial features are perhaps a bit negative stereotype-y. Anyway, I'm an idiot.
I'd seen a cyclops in the Jam version, Demon Lord. Uh well it's likely a bit of a spoiler for this game WHERE I saw them in Demon Lord, but anyway it was here: ***SPOILER WARNING*** https://youtu.be/vpfGLPDTMkM?t=3023
"Orc" came from Old English, showing up once in Beowulf. Tolkien introduced it to modern English in The Hobbit--where it was used just once--and The Lord of the Rings. |
|
|
| | |
Essentially linear--while still shaped like a boring rat-maze--the fifth floor of the dungeon goes pretty fast. The one large room with double-wide halls and a sort of pit maze was a nice change, even if the pits are silly. Oh, and the very last bit feels like part of the maze from Pac-Man. ; )
Then you get to the big plot twist and things get kind of crazy; there's much greater party variety but you control only your party leader in battles. And your power level doesn't seem to carry over--UNLIKE the single-floor prototype game jam version, where when I hit the twist with a grossly overpowered party, I suddenly found a whole other slew of uber-powerful monsters I'd never seen before; those monsters are already in this version in the lower dungeon floors, but you kind of have to work your way back to them.
I tried just rushing through this second phase of the game, and it seemed to be working because it felt like my team leader was strong enough to tip the balance of the auto-scaling random battles pretty consistently, and the scripted battles were still quite weak--until you reach the hallway to the ladder up to the top floor of the dungeon, where there's suddenly a much, much tougher scripted battle; I escaped the first time, rested up, figured I hadn't quite been full strength going in, and tried it again; this time I seemed to be holding my own...until my leader got paralyzed, which meant I lost my most powerful attacker AND all control over the party, so the enemies just beat on us until the whole team was wiped.
Restart back at the plot switcheroo point, 3.95 floors down. : P Oh, forgot to mention that once you hit floor 5, the game stopped telling you your coordinates and facing, so although I'd painstakingly mapped all the floors of the dungeon, it's now quite easy to get disoriented and lose track of where you are in the mazes. D-argh. Seems a bit much.
So not wanting to have to retrace my steps back up through the entire dungeon more than this second time, I spent an hour or so turbo-grinding random encounters next to the plot switch point. This worked well; I now have nearly twice the HP I'd had when my party got wiped, plus a particularly keen "ultimate" ability: an AOE that does big damage to all (max two) enemy groups; in the random battles I can just mash to victory in about four seconds of weird agonizing sounds. SHOULD be enough to beat the game, if it plays out like the jam version, which it has been so far, plot-wise. Was a little silly to think I didn't have to do any grinding after the plot switch; I suppose I was a little disappointed in the lack of end-game mega-monsters in this version (or so I was thinking--as noted above they're here already, I'd just gotten used to them, instead of having them suddenly lavished on me at the end in the jam version), and just wanted to blow through it. Anyway it's still a good twist and okay aside from the unnecessarily tedious reverse-maze work, blasting my through from here should be a bit of a hoot...as long as there isn't another surprise difficulty spike at the end. ... |
|
|
| | | Download added: 93_blue_arch.jpg (14408 bytes)
"Blue archway"
Because of how I've been playing the game, the end game enemies are really tough! Having to work on alternate approaches. = PPP |
|
|
| | | Download added: 95_shadow.jpg (15293 bytes)
"Shadow in a hall."
Fortunately, even if you get wiped and your stats reset in the second half of the game, any scripted battles you won stay defeated--so I didn't have to re-fight the first two, overpowered ('cause of how I'd been playing ';) opposing teams in the back-to-back final three battles--which is good 'cause my attempted plan B strategy of going for status debuffs instead of straight damage didn't seem super-reliable, in fact I was losing most battles just before hitting floor 1 until I took an hour to grind and fortunately my team ticked over to level III on most of their skills, which gave us enough of a boost to continue. And it took me about that long to realize I'd started the session with already maxed HP for my party leader! (So my plan C of mega-grinding to absurd HP levels wouldn't have worked. ; ) |
|
|
| | |
