Grimoire

[morlac]

I am interested but there is no way in hell I'll pay $40 for this. Maybe $20 but even that feels like a bit of a stretch.

If it's good it's worth it. They don't make games like this anymore. Maybe that's a good thing de pending on your view? Just think of it like a rare never released sequel to Wiz 7 that just got unearthed. What would that be worth to play? Of course this is all hengent on it playing well.

I am sure that this is great for some but for me, not so much. 15 years ago maybe but I am not willing pay $40 for a game that was dated when it started, not even for the nostalgia. If I want nostalgia, Ill save my money for a SNES Classic and get 20 plus games of nostalgia. I can wait for the price to drop on Grimoire, even if it is a good game.

I hear ya but Bad comparison unless you are buying brand new SNEs games that offer a new experience. Your not replaying an old game that's been out for 20 years. Your playing a brand new game that just took 20 years! I kid somewhat but valid distinction imo.

[Carpet_pissr]

I'm not aware of the history, but if this is as good or better than Wizardry VII, I'm definitely interested (huge Wizardry fan).

But as others have said , not for $40.

[baelthazar]

Wait, this game doesn't even support widescreen?

[hepcat]

Catching up on his steam updates for his game is now my favorite past time.

Grimoire was quietly released in the morning in America without much fanfare and has sold well over a thousand copies before closing hours. Not bad for an indie game written by one person with almost no advertising whatsoever of any kind. The sales seem to be increasing hourly.

Everybody who has played it has known they are on the verge of discovering something really amazing. A lack of understanding of the user interface and game mechanics has not prevented the majority of players from concluding they may be looking at one of the best computer roleplaying games ever written. The smartest ones intuit it, they don't need a press rep to give them a bag of promotional goodies for them to guess it.

For this reason, the manual is a priority this weekend and it will be released as a prototype early next week.

Initial reports of bugs in the display (mostly due to resolutions and display modes that did not exist only a few years ago) were fixed shortly after the game went live. There were other problems with 64 bit machines that were also solved in less than 120 minutes after they were reported.

This did not stop a vocal, dedicated group of politically motivated activists from deliberately purchasing the game solely to give it a bad review and then get a refund. They were trying to stop a tsunami by body surfing the edge of it. That attempt has already tanked. The incline is so suffused in Grimoire it is only a matter of time before their slander of the game is washed away by the sheer volume of people discovering how rich it is.

As the author, I know what people have not discovered yet. They are on the tip of an iceberg and Grimoire runs into deep, deep waters. The density they see now is only a fraction of what they are going to find as they push further into the game. A play of only a few hours will not even break the surface. The familiar area of the original demo, the Avian Mountains, is now only a single drop of rain in a cyclone compared to how much they will discover when they leave this area. Rather than tell people of the Dirge ... or of Waterport ... or of Bahomet Megalith ... or of the Necropolix ... or of Black Pierre ... or of the Raven Wildes ... or a hundred other areas ... or of the vast story that awaits them ... would only spoil the fun. I prefer to let word of mouth do that for me, the best kind of promotion of them all.

[ColdSteel]

I'm definitely interested (huge Wizardry fan).

But as others have said , not for $40.

This is basically where I'm at. But then again... I bought every Wizardry game when they came out and all of them retailed for about $40 (or more). I think we old guys remember just how expensive games like this used to be. Sure, you could catch them on launch day at a good discount from brick and mortar stores a lot of the time but for the most part, you paid $40-$60.

I'm wondering if Cleve may actually be in a time warp where he set the price in his head at $40 way back in 1997 and has never wavered from that. It would be a very Cleve thing to do.

For myself, I'm torn. The more I read about this the more I want to play it. The sale runs until the 11th so I have time to see how he patches it and read impressions to see how the game holds up past the initial starting area(s). Plus, down the road he says he will bring it to GOG after he uses the Steam release to iron the glitches out and get the manual finished. It's possible it might see a 10% of sale again then. We shall see.

[tgb]

I hate the thought of giving Cleve any of my money, no matter how good the game may be.

[morlac]

[quote="hepcat"]Catching up on his steam updates for his game is now my favorite past time. [quote]

He is part PT Barnum, part Any Kauffman and part ???. I'll admit the side show/meta game is what I was most interested in the last couple/20 of weeks/years. Interesting though he has been nothing but cordial, helpful and patient in the bugs and glitches threads. He's even ignoring all(most?, cant read them all) the trolling attempts. It's like he hit the release button and was able to let go off the bullshit. We shall see if he can maintain it as the Steam forum is full of shit posting this morning.


On the game:

Played another half hour last night without a single crash or critical bug. It's certainly quirky and full of little bug/glitches/oddness. It really is like an unearthed fossil of a game from the early 90's. Full of bugs and weirdness that makes you LOL one second, shake your fist the next but keep playing. Reminds of Daggerfall when it launched where the bugs were somehow "charming" . Cleve is getting a hotpatch out again today and is working on other issues/etc. so maybe he can get them all worked out?

Worth $40? Still not sure. I'm 50/50 on refunding it which has been trending towards keeping since yesterday. It's going to be really hard to make that decision after only 2 hours of play unless it starts crashing like mad. I could spend 2 hours just rolling up a party of 8. I don't mind the price at all for an old school dungeon crawler with this kind of mad genius depth to it. I'm more concerned with how much it can get cleaned up. That and gimmie a freaking manual already.

[morlac]

I hate the thought of giving Cleve any of my money, no matter how good the game may be.

I think 80% of his nonsense is just him goofing and horrible/awkward attempts at being funny and deflecting from his own shortcomings. I would imagine it stems from crippling insecurities. That being said If I boycotted all media made by douchebags I would be pretty freaking bored. Entertainment industry is full of some of the most vile people on the planet. I certainly wouldn't think less of anyone who thinks otherwise though.

[ColdSteel]

I hate the thought of giving Cleve any of my money, no matter how good the game may be.

I think 80% of his nonsense is just him goofing and horrible/awkward attempts at being funny and deflecting from his own shortcomings. I would imagine it stems from crippling insecurities. That being said If I boycotted all media made by douchebags I would be pretty freaking bored. Entertainment industry is full of some of the most vile people on the planet. I certainly wouldn't think less of anyone who thinks otherwise though.

I agree. It's like refusing to look at a van Gogh painting because he was mentally ill. If I refused to play games, read books or watch movies because I disagreed with the creator's politics or personal beliefs, I don't think I'd have much to do for the rest of my life.

[Carpet_pissr]

He is part PT Barnum, part Any Kauffman and part ???.

Trump? Just reading the above that someone quoted, that ego...wow.

Was just looking at the graphics for Wizardry VII vs. Wizardry VIII, and the difference is shocking. Hard to say which is better between W7 and Grimoire, though I would lean toward W7.

Obviously graphics aren't the focus on games like these, but they don't hurt either. If someone made a Wizardry 9 with no graphical upgrade from 8, I would play the hell out of that, even today. And plunk down $40 for the privilege.

Also, seriously? "This did not stop a vocal, dedicated group of politically motivated activists from deliberately purchasing the game solely to give it a bad review and then get a refund." Maybe add in Venezuela's Maduro to the personality mix, based on this quote...sheesh.

[AWS260]

It's like refusing to look at a van Gogh painting because he was mentally ill.

Well, it's not quite the same. When you look at Starry Night, you're not putting money in Van Gogh's pocket. Also, Van Gogh was mentally ill, whereas Cleve is racist.

[DD*]

It's like refusing to look at a van Gogh painting because he was mentally ill.

Well, it's not quite the same. When you look at Starry Night, you're not putting money in Van Gogh's pocket. Also, Van Gogh was mentally ill, whereas Cleve is racist.

You only say that because you are not party Neanderthal. Fucking homo sapien...

[baelthazar]

Catching up on his steam updates for his game is now my favorite past time.

Grimoire was quietly released in the morning in America without much fanfare and has sold well over a thousand copies before closing hours. Not bad for an indie game written by one person with almost no advertising whatsoever of any kind. The sales seem to be increasing hourly.

Everybody who has played it has known they are on the verge of discovering something really amazing. A lack of understanding of the user interface and game mechanics has not prevented the majority of players from concluding they may be looking at one of the best computer roleplaying games ever written. The smartest ones intuit it, they don't need a press rep to give them a bag of promotional goodies for them to guess it.

For this reason, the manual is a priority this weekend and it will be released as a prototype early next week.

Initial reports of bugs in the display (mostly due to resolutions and display modes that did not exist only a few years ago) were fixed shortly after the game went live. There were other problems with 64 bit machines that were also solved in less than 120 minutes after they were reported.

This did not stop a vocal, dedicated group of politically motivated activists from deliberately purchasing the game solely to give it a bad review and then get a refund. They were trying to stop a tsunami by body surfing the edge of it. That attempt has already tanked. The incline is so suffused in Grimoire it is only a matter of time before their slander of the game is washed away by the sheer volume of people discovering how rich it is.

As the author, I know what people have not discovered yet. They are on the tip of an iceberg and Grimoire runs into deep, deep waters. The density they see now is only a fraction of what they are going to find as they push further into the game. A play of only a few hours will not even break the surface. The familiar area of the original demo, the Avian Mountains, is now only a single drop of rain in a cyclone compared to how much they will discover when they leave this area. Rather than tell people of the Dirge ... or of Waterport ... or of Bahomet Megalith ... or of the Necropolix ... or of Black Pierre ... or of the Raven Wildes ... or a hundred other areas ... or of the vast story that awaits them ... would only spoil the fun. I prefer to let word of mouth do that for me, the best kind of promotion of them all.

See... this crap makes me want to buy the game purely to write a humor-filled AAR here.

[baelthazar]

So... I actually bought this last night and began to write an AAR for you guys. But the first 45 minutes were marred with technical issues (including the need to reinstall the game to fix a black screen), a complete lack of documentation of any feature, a game screen that was so tiny it was difficult to see what you were doing, and a beginning that was disjointed and bizarre - going from a strange mire to an empty town to be immediately attack by ruffians, then surprised attacked by extremely difficult bugs that nearly wiped my party (second encounter). The combat was extremely boring (you set up your moves then "initiate" the combat and watch what your people do) had odd and ambiguous feedback, and took FOREVER (my first encounter against two ruffians took around ten minutes and that was even with me using the enter key to speed up the actions).

When you created your characters there as almost no information at all. You have no idea what the spells that you are choosing do. You have no idea why you cannot choose some of the classes, even though you rolled the highest level of extra creation points. You have no idea what each class does (as in, how is a bard different from a thief or a sage different from a thaumaturge). Some of the character creation pictures look blatantly ripped off - I am almost positive there is a Jagged Alliance pic in there and I am sure one is a pixelated version of Tanis from the cover of the Dragonlance books.

The writing was also heavy handed and cumbersome. Not that I got to see a lot of it.

I hate to say it, but just struggling to get through the opening scene took me a ton of time - more time than I have to devote. My gaming time is more limited than I like and I figure that it would take me so long to do an AAR with this slog that it would not be worth the "lulz." I figured the game would be a beast, but I never anticipated the sheer lack of feedback, information, and the amateurishly bad UI - everything takes multiple clicks to do - even selecting how you want to attack or looking at your stats or inventory.

I am going to include some screenshots in my next post, for your enjoyment. I asked for refund after "playing" for 45 minutes (20 or so was trying to figure out how to create characters and get into the game).

[baelthazar]

Intro screen


Starting Screen:


Options


I am not kidding, it took me like five to ten minutes to realize "library" was where you created your characters. Not an Inn... not a Tavern... a Library.


I have no idea what that race is. There is absolutely no lore text for any of these races.


Here are the classes.


There are the male choices for player faces. I am pretty sure some of these are ripped off.


Female faces:


This is the first game area. Look at the characters, you might see some familiar "faces."


This is the teleporter that abruptly took me to the first town with no fanfare.


The ruffians I abruptly ran into upon teleporting to the first town. Fighting them took like 10 minutes of mostly missing or doing minimal damage.


Here is the inventory screen. I could barely make heads or tales of it (and it is very small with small text).

[ColdSteel]

There are the male choices for player faces. I am pretty sure some of these are ripped off.

According to Cleve, all the art was contracted in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He didn't like a lot of the originally contracted art so he contracted more later on to replace the stuff he didn't like. I think the art looks pretty good.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I made it into Grimoire! I'm famous!

[Archinerd]

TGB looks just as I imagine.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Ol' Cleve sent out an update to change where the saves and config files go, but borked it up, so the game doesn't even boot unless you create the folder in the correct location. On top of that, many players (including myself) can't access the Library. This truly is the best of the best.

[Carpet_pissr]

Yeah, I think I will stick with the much inferior Wizardry series to scratch my retro CRPG gaming itch. Guess I am not one of those "Enlightened Ones" gamers who see this for the true masterpiece it is.

Wowza.

[Malacheye]

I bought the game a few hours after it came out and have logged almost 40 hours into the game in almost 5 days. I LOVE the game, and it really is everything Cleve promised. Its a Might and Magic 2 or 3 combined with Wizardry 6 or 7. It does go full screen if you have your settings right.

I didnt have one problem or crash (I think the game works better with Nvidia graphics cards from what I read the first day or two) until patch 1.2.07 two days ago when the save game files didnt work. I had to restart-no problem, there was no manual, so the first few tries are hit and miss with what characters to create, applying skills, choosing starting spells, etc. I have explored pretty thoroughly two outdoor zones and two dungeons, with my characters getting to level 3 and 4.

But this afternoon, another update, 1.2.08 is riddled with problems so the game wont start for most people and for those who do get it to start, the character library is corrupted. I am a little miffed, but its not too bad as I feel I can start again with my 4th or 5th party and get a few more things right to make the mid and end game more enjoyable. But, Cleve has GOT to stop corrupting the saved game files with his updates. Some people are already starting to light their torches and grab their pitchforks...

As I said, thoroughly enjoying the game...9/10, without the update glitches. IMO, worth every penny of the $36 paid.

[baelthazar]

TGB looks just as I imagine.

Ahem... did you see the person on the right, second down? Look like anyone's avatar?

[baelthazar]

Malacheye, you are a better man than me (or much more tolerant, perhaps).

The game just screams bad design. An effective game design philosophy is to look at something and say "what does this add to the game? Is the system complex just to be complex or does the complexity make the game more fun?" Similarly, for a game to even BE a game, the players need to know what effect their choices have on the game itself. IMHO, Grimoire does neither. There are layers after layers of complexity - skill levels, attributes, resistances (all with inscrutable abbreviated names), a variety of ill defined classes and races, item stats, hidden enemy information (even their names are hidden), poorly defined spells and special abilities coming from a multitude of spell books. But none of this really makes the game more fun (to me, at least), because you don't have any feedback as to why you would choose one over the other. Thinking about Wizardry 8, which was one of my favorites of the genre, you had many of these things but you knew what one offered you over another - this spell is direct damage while this is crowd control but no damage - this resistance helps against this damage - this stat increases action speed and number of attacks while this one increases damage. You can ASSUME that Grimoire has some analogous ideas, but that may or may not be accurate.

The UI is also a mess. And I say this as a person who once gave himself a massive hand cramp from playing too much Dungeon Hack. So many clicks, few tooltips on key icons, no clear idea what action is best to take. The screen where the action actually takes place is very small. That might have been fine for Bards Tale in the 85, but the full actions screens of Wizardry 8 and even Clouds of Xeen and Darkside of Xeen have spoiled us. If Xeen can have full actions screens in 1992 and 1994, this should too. It is also not entirely accurate to say the game runs in full screen - it runs in full screen by a movie definition, sticking to a standard screen size and chopping off the sides with black bars. It does not run at full widescreen. It does this not without some issues - even though I have an Nvidia card, my mouse had a strange sort of "lag"or fluidity, as if the cursor was too floaty. If made you feel like you were playing the game drunk, because the mouse moved where you wanted it to go, but felt inexplicably strange. This is a fairly common issue, according to the boards.

The sad thing is that I wanted to like the game. I went in with the intention of mocking it, but playing as much as I could. I hoped that I would be surprised, that instead of mocking it I would enjoy it greatly. I have played almost all of the classic PC RPGs, the Ultimas (the early ones were like this), the Wizardry series, the Eye of the Beholders, Might and Magics, Drakkhen, Bards Tale. Heck, I grew up with the Adventure Construction Set and Bards Tale Construction Set. But, in the immortal words from Lethal Weapon, I'm getting too old for this shit.

[hitbyambulance]

the positive Steam reviewers and commenters sure love to throw the term 'degenerate' around at the games' detractors

[GreenGoo]

I made it into Grimoire! I'm famous!

Huh. Me too. Not sure if I should be honoured or afraid. Maybe both?

[ColdSteel]

Huh. Me too. Not sure if I should be honoured or afraid. Maybe both?

You should be disappointed. This would have been an awesome AAR and I looked forward to seeing all the many ways that my dwarf could die horribly.

I've decided to wait until Cleve is through breaking the saves with his untested patches before I buy and play this. I think he's too over eager to get fixes out and isn't testing them enough first. Someone should tell him about Steam's beta branch feature because he should be using it. Then again, he needs to first figure out how to use Steam update. So simple a caveman could do it...

This UI was developed in the 90s so it's not terribly surprising that it looks like it does. I've found you can get used to just about anything once you get over the learning curve.

Speaking of learning curve, here's some useful info on various stuff I found:

Class Planner:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/s65dktw1by2s7 ... .xlsx?dl=0

Changing Classes:

Spoiler:

Class-changing infodump:

To change a character's class, he must be level 10+ in his current class and have the minimum stats for his new class. Additionally, allowed class changes are limited to three outgoing choices, according to his current class. (Specific allowed changes below.) Recruitable NPCs cannot multiclass.

Stats are reset to the minimum on class change. You keep your skills. You also keep your spells, as well as your unspent spell-scribing credits. I'm not sure what happens with level progression; it's not reset to 0, but it also doesn't appear to be kept the same as your old profession. It looks like the progression table for the new class is used, with some multiplier. (Around 1.25x the natural XP progression cost, as far as I can tell.)

Bonus attribute points are retained, so if you are motivated and insane (hello, Codex), you could conceivably grind up to the minimum stats for the new class and then hoard your points until the switch, then dump them all. Could make for a rough start, though.

Outgoing class changes allowed:

WARRIOR: Berserker, Pirate, Ranger
WIZARD: Necromancer, Sage, Thaumaturge
CLERIC: Bard, Sage, Templar
THAUMATURGE: Necromancer, Sage, Wizard
NECROMANCER: Sage, Wizard, Thaumaturge
RANGER: Warrior, Thief, Assassin
THIEF: Bard, Pirate, Assassin
TEMPLAR: Warrior, Cleric, Bard
BERSERKER: Warrior, Pirate, Ranger
JESTER: (why???) Thief, Bard, Assassin
BARD: Cleric, Jester, Sage
METALSMITH: Warrior, Berserker, Pirate
PIRATE: Thief, Berseker, Assassin
ASSASSIN: (why?) Warrior, Thief, Berserker
SAGE: Cleric, Wizard, Thaumaturge

Observations:
(I'm not sure how much XP is in the game, but I'm assuming a max of one class change.)

Templars: If you want a templar, you have to either roll one as a durendil or multiclass in from cleric.
Assassins: Two of the four classes that can change to assassin are elite ones (Pirate and Assassin), so if you want one in your first 20 levels, you need a ranger or thief.
Pirates: This is the most accessible non-creatable class, with routes available from Warrior, Berserker, Thief, and Metalsmith.
Jesters: Only bards can become jesters. (Because you clearly needed another reason to bring bards . . . )
Metalsmith: No one can change into this class; it can only be a starting class. Since it and Sage are the only ones who get metallurgy, and Sages get very few skill points to invest in it, you probably need to create a metalsmith if you want metallurgy. (Thanks to Gestalt11 for pointing this out.)

Pure mages are mostly locked into staying pure mages; only clerics have exits. (Bards and templars.)
Martial classes generally have hybrid advanced classes available.


SPELL TABLES
All classes in Grimoire learn spells. There are 5 basic spell schools associated with a specific specialist who starts learning that school at level 1, as well as Arcanum/Eldritch spells (which I don't know anything about yet). Each class begins learning from a specific list at a specific level.

Spell interactions with multiclassing: Spells available to learn on level-up are based ONLY on your current class. The list of spells available do not transfer between classes. E.g., if you are a level 10 cleric and multiclass into templar, you do not get spell picks for your first two templar levels, and when you start learning spells from the Cleric list at templar level 3, you only get the spells available that a level 3 templar (level 1 Cleric) would get.

Base caster classes:
WIZARD, CLERIC, NECROMANCER, SAGE, THAUMATURGE: Each learns his own school, starting at level 1.

Other classes:
WARRIOR: Wizard spells at level 9
RANGER: Thaumaturge spells at 4
THIEF: Thaumaturge spells at 6
TEMPLAR: Cleric spells at 3
BERSERKER: Thaumaturge spells at 10
JESTER: Sage and Wizard spells at 3
BARD: Cleric and Wizard spells at 3
METALSMITH: Sage spells at 6
PIRATE: Wizard and Thaumaturge spells at 6
ASSASSIN: Thaumaturge and Necromancer spells at 3

Abilities:

Spoiler:

Ability Scores
INT: Intelligence
Important for spell casters and maybe metalsmith item creation.
WIS: Wisdom
Probably also spell casters, though maybe only clerics etc.?
WIL: Willpower
Resistance against mind attacks, maybe some attack bonuses.
STR: Strength
This one is obvious. Attacks and carrying capacity.
CON: Constitution
Hitpoints and things like resistances or healing from diseases and what not.
SPE: Speed
Who attacks first and maybe additional attacks per round.
AGI: Agility
Dexterity and evasion of attacks.
FEL: Fellowship (equivalent to charisma)
Recruiting and talking to NPC's.
DEV: Devotion (equivalent to faith)
Probably something for spell casters.
MET: Metabolism
Amount of vitality and how quickly it goes down or replenishes.
DES: Destiny (luck, karma or both)
Can save from death in fights, "Destiny intervened".

Armor
NAC: Natural Armor Class
BAC: Basic Armor Class
CAC: Class Armor Class (?)
IAC: Item Armor Class (?)
MAC: Magical Armor Class (?)
TAC: Total Armor Class
Resistances
AIR: Air
CAU: Caustic
COL: Cold
DEA: Death
EAR: Earth
FIR: Fire
GAL: Galvanic (Electricity?)
HYP: Hypnosis
LUM: Luma (light?)
MEN: Mental
MES: Mesmerizing
SON: Sonic
SOR: Sorcery
SYS: System
TOX: Toxin
Aqua
Paralysis

[Archinerd]

TGB looks just as I imagine.

Ahem... did you see the person on the right, second down? Look like anyone's avatar?

I did.
Hepcat's hair is beautiful and he has green junk. You've got all the details correct. Well, maybe not all. Coldsteel looks too much like Moatman but I understand you are working with a limited palette.

[ColdSteel]

But this afternoon, another update, 1.2.08 is riddled with problems so the game wont start for most people and for those who do get it to start, the character library is corrupted. I am a little miffed, but its not too bad as I feel I can start again with my 4th or 5th party and get a few more things right to make the mid and end game more enjoyable. But, Cleve has GOT to stop corrupting the saved game files with his updates. Some people are already starting to light their torches and grab their pitchforks...

You maybe can download a previous version that worked on your PC by following these steps:

Had to download the earlier version since Cleve activated auto-updates and my saves stopped working.

Basically, start the Steam console by typing this in the browser: [url]steam://nav/console[/url]

Then in the Steam console type in:
download_depot 650670 650672 7939698706882502090

If you want other previous versions, you need to change the last number (ManifestID). A list of all ManifestID's is here:
https://steamdb.info/depot/650672/manifests/

copy the files from steam\steamapps\content\app_650670\depot_650670 and overwrite the files that got updated in steamapps\common\Grimoire_directory but it works!

[morlac]

I refunded it this morning after the latest patching fiasco. There is a good game in there somewhere. A potentially great game if you like Wizardry 7. I did not have single crash nor any of the other major bugs in my first 2 hours. I did stop laying after the second patch as I hit the refund barrier and wanted to see how things shaked out for another week before deciding. However, he has no idea what he's doing on patching and based of the last few days I don't see it getting better.

Quick very non detailed breakdown: (there has never been any patch notes, just what Cleve said which was usually ambiguous...ie I fixed a bunch of other little things)Also, This may not be 100% but fairly close

1st patch: smooth fixed a few little issues.
2nd patch: IIRC this one wasn't bad either.
3rd Patch: There was some "tiles" that were flagged in wrong zone and looting Keys was causing crashes. I think he fixed another issue. Things start breaking here.
4th Patch: Patch 3 screwed up encounters. Random Encounters stuck at Ludicrous Speed. Every registered move would trigger one. So Turn left...encounter...turn right encounter.
5Th Patch: Tried to Fix the above. Now random encounters stuck at zero! So this patch is to fix that and ?
6th Patch: I think this one added buttons on the inventory to speed through it quicker. Also eliminated two spaces in the inventory bar to accommodate the two new buttons. So scroll faster but more often? everyone has been bitched about no auto updates. You had to uninstall and reinstall to trigger a patch. To fix the auto update "whiners" he know makes all updates auto...without any user prompts or agreements. I Believe this patch or next? broke all the previous saved games. (3 days of gameplay) Last two points combined....ouch. He apologizes profusely says it won't ever happen again.
7th Patch: Says he may have a Hack to make old Saves valid again but apologizes profusely while encouraging folks to restart as it is what it is. crickets on the saved game issue so most people restart. This patch is to move the saved game data to folders under User and out of the main game files so they won't get overwritten again. Patch succeeds in pointing to said folders. Patch fails to create said folders. Nobody's game will launch.
8th Patch: He succeeds in making all previous saved games work!!! Except for those created since after Patch 5. Everyone who started over 2 days prior has to again. He apologizes profusely says it won't ever happen again.

Total F'ing amateur hour. I have only outlined the 'Major" bugs above and none of the wacky balance. The scary part is nobody's really gotten to far past the 'Demo" areas which people have played/tested for years. What kind of mess will the latter game be in?

I will say he has been very humble and quick to try and fix things. But he's coding like this is 20 years ago, has no idea how Steam/Windows works, etc. Sucks as I do like the game with all it's quirks and warts. It is overly obtuse and complex and there is content every where but it's compelling and fun. Ton's of secrets, Easter eggs, etc. He really did turn everything up to "11". He just needed to make this EA to get his diehards to beta test and fix it and I think he could have had big hit on his hands (as big as the nichey genre can get). I'll pay attention and rebut it down the line if/when it get's cleaned up. He's made enough money to hire some help but I doubt he will.

[Malacheye]

Heh, Baelthazar,

I am not better, just a thirsty person walking through the desert looking for SOME form of liquid... A role play game like like M&M 3 and wiz 6, my favorites of the two series. I cant stand looking at the wiz 6 graphics anymore. I like many of the changes Cleve has made to his game and I am on summer vacation now, so I have the time to be more patient with a game style that I really love. I think many of the customers were hoping for a more polished product after 23 years in the making as well...a manual was really needed for all the reasons you cited.

That vacation ends next week though, so if some issues dont get fixed, I might get more grumpy...I also turn 50 years old in two weeks, so the earth might end in a rain of fire and brimstone as well.

Looking forward to trying out the new Bard's Tale series coming next year..."heading on down to the cellar to try some special whiskey..."

[baelthazar]

I feel bad I got frustrated. Perhaps if I had been in a better mood or didn't have a huge gaming backlog, I would have been able to get past that first encounter. To be fair, this summer has been pretty terrible, so I may just have had a low tolerance. I really DO want to play it, but - like morlac noted, I can't justify it with the current patch irritations.

[morlac]

And the train just derailed.....



omething Has Messed Up Grimoire So Badly I Can't Even Understand How It Is Possible
It has lost the ability with simple ANSI C file commands to overwrite a file or delete an existing one. I have never seen anything like it in thirty years of programming, never, on an application anywhere. "NO, DON'T OVERWRITE THIS FILE" is not a windows message. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?

The sample savegames were uploaded by people pirating the software. That was a pirated version they uploaded. There were pirates asking for support on this forum. I don't know if they have introduced a very ugly virus into the program. I trusted them when I had a look at their samples but discovered later these are all pirated copies they were ASKING FOR SUPPORT for on this forum.

These are simple file commands to create, write and erase files. I took out ALL file commands to get permissions for user app files and rolled BACK to what was there before. There is nothing to these commands, no special windows tokens for users, no file specs on files. I deleted my target directory and started in a new one. The problem is still there. Grimoire can't even simply create files, erase them and write new ones. I have never seen something so messed up.

This is why we can't have nice things on this planet.

I am running my AV software with new definitions and trying some new things with file permissions, I have to work carefully and see if I can isolate the problem. These aren't fancy Windows file writes we are talking about. These are vanilla C commands working for 20 years, never had a problem of any kind.

I am really sorry about this and working constantly on the problem. It's a shame because the game was just now reaching a nice stable version before this nightmare. Now it has basically been sabotaged in Steam ratings and is giving newcomers a terrible impression of the game.

Warning anybody who posts to this forum for support for a pirated product you got off Dropbox or Megashare that you will be banned permanently, reported to Steam and it is likely they will remove your account for pirating products you got off Steam.
Last edited by GOLDEN ERA GAMES; Just now

[Carpet_pissr]

Good lord, the drama.

Next up: "Grimoire has become sentient and has physically attacked me in my own home! RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!"

I have to admit, his product is entertaining, but probably not in the way he intended.

[morlac]

Good lord, the drama.

Next up: "Grimoire has become sentient and has physically attacked me in my own home! RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!"

I have to admit, his product is entertaining, but probably not in the way he intended.

It's been entertaining me for years. Nobody was more surprised than me there was an actual game.

Anyhow, glad I refunded and uninstalled before the ?Pirates? hacked my pc.

[Jag]

Very entertaining. A shame he couldn't get out of his own way. I also have a low tolerance for old school stuff lately. Too many games and too little time. It was easier before massive backlogs of AAA games ate up all my time. Size of the screen and text is also a big negative lately. I really don't want to have to squint at my dual 27" G-Sync monitors.

[ColdSteel]

A shame he couldn't get out of his own way.

People that trash talk as much as Cleve does had better bring their A games when they hit the field. It looks like he's really been feeling the pressure and has reached the end of his rope and had a meltdown. A savegame virus really doesn't make much sense, it's not an executable. He's really just flailing about because he has no clue what he did to mess up his own game. Now you'd think that surely he has made a backup of the previous working version's code and can just restart from there, right? Right?

[baelthazar]

A shame he couldn't get out of his own way.

People that trash talk as much as Cleve does had better bring their A games when they hit the field. It looks like he's really been feeling the pressure and has reached the end of his rope and had a meltdown. A savegame virus really doesn't make much sense, it's not an executable. He's really just flailing about because he has no clue what he did to mess up his own game. Now you'd think that surely he has made a backup of the previous working version's code and can just restart from there, right? Right?

I am pretty sure Steam archives older versions of files, so he could likely get the one he released from there. This is really starting to sound like he does not have any content past the initial stages and has found a way to avoid people seeing that by feigning a catastrophe. I must say, I was a bit skeptical about the 85 MB install file.

[ColdSteel]

am pretty sure Steam archives older versions of files

Yeah but I'm pretty sure it doesn't archive source code. That's usually kept securely on the development PC and hopefully backed up elsewhere off-site. Unless maybe Steam allows for off-site source backups as a developer tool? I have no idea.

[Jeff V]

TGB looks just as I imagine.

It's missing the bushy eyebrow and fake eye lash.

[Carpet_pissr]

For anyone disappointed with this, consider looking at: Heroes of a Broken Land if you haven't. Should scratch the itch.



or maybe Elminage Gothic (less recommended maybe, and more like very early Wizardry than the later ones:)