[Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

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LordMortis
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by LordMortis »

I've yet to play far enough to see a boss. I assume that changes things a bit...
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Sepiche
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Sepiche »

Personally I play a little differently and don't tend to get rid of anyone unless they are a mess of stress, disease, and bad traits. I think in my current game I'm around week 28, have around 10 level 4 - 5 heroes and 8 "B team" members, and I've only dismissed 1 hero and lost 2.

Money really gets tight as your heroes level and the cost of skills, weapon upgrades, and armor upgrades gets higher, but with a full stable of heroes I always have some who I can send out on a mission, even if others are waiting for the more money to get de-stressed.
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Sepiche
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Sepiche »

LordMortis wrote:I've yet to play far enough to see a boss. I assume that changes things a bit...
The first tier of bosses aren't too bad, but it's best to try them with a well equipped level 2 team. They each have weaknesses that some classes can exploit, but others cannot, so party and skill composition is very important.
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Baroquen
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Baroquen »

Sepiche wrote:Personally I play a little differently and don't tend to get rid of anyone unless they are a mess of stress, disease, and bad traits. I think in my current game I'm around week 28, have around 10 level 4 - 5 heroes and 8 "B team" members, and I've only dismissed 1 hero and lost 2.

Money really gets tight as your heroes level and the cost of skills, weapon upgrades, and armor upgrades gets higher, but with a full stable of heroes I always have some who I can send out on a mission, even if others are waiting for the more money to get de-stressed.
I suspect I'll play more this way the further I get in the game. It's easy to throw away the level 0/level 1 characters because the gap between them and new characters is so small. As these characters progress, I'll probably spend too much money/time/resources on saving them than I probably should.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by GreenGoo »

Paingod wrote:I take back what I said about just rolling over the game.

I took my first party of level 3 heroes into a level 3 dungeon and summarily got my ass handed to me. No deaths, but they all crawled out with low health and high sanity damage. I didn't even complete the dungeon, but I did recoup the cost of going in and healing everyone.
The early version of the game that I played, before I got a better handle on it, and before some patches that rebalanced in favour of the player, I would regularly take low level parties (level 1-3 characters) and with some bad luck have to bail LONG before completing the dungeon. Rarely would I push hard enough to lose anyone, but sanity would take so many hits that continuing was fruitless and guaranteed to spiral out of control, wasting what little resources I had left.

I guess what I'm saying is that my initial experience with the game was extremely difficult and I'd regularly have to chuck multiple characters after a run because they were too insane and I simply didn't have the resources to make them less so in a timely and useful fashion. In fact when I played expanding the stagecoach was a major priority, because churning through characters was part of the strategy for success.

After I became more adept at the game, but more importantly after the developers had nudged things towards the player (made things easier) the game lost some of its luster for me. I became more successful, lost less characters, and had a full roster of developed characters and could afford to outfit expeditions with large amounts of gear. In fact the goal was to balance usage of the gear at a rate that allowed me to collect treasure. i.e. empty my inventory of gear at a rate that matched the rate I acquired treasure.

When you wrote that despite getting your ass kicked you were STILL able to recoup your costs, that reminded me that that used to be impossible and one of the challenges once upon a time.

Amusingly, when I started playing, the game had already undergone a rebalancing that reduced the impact of insanity, which means my initial time with the game when it was "more difficult" was actually much easier than the game used to be.

I fired the current version up last night but didn't play past the first intro mission (i.e. just reaching the mansion). I did note many changes, all for the better, but it did seem much more difficult for me to determine what position an enemy was in (1,2,3, or 4). There were only two of them I believe they were in the 2 and 3 slots but I couldn't tell visually (I had to try certain skills that are target limited and then see if that skill would target one of the bad guys). Maybe I'm missing some visual cue.

I can't see not playing with corpses on, as it definitely changes the game in a way that I find more interesting. Whether the mechanic makes sense or not isn't as important as the tactical challenges it adds to the game, to me. It's not only a good addition to the game, it feels like a critical addition (although my experience with the current version is limited).

I look forward to discovering the new classes, and I'm hoping there have been enough new content added to dungeons to make the game fresh again.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Paingod »

morlac wrote:You have to build a party specifically geared and skilled for dark runs. That's the first challenge and not that easy as you can't control their traits. Then you have to survive dark runs. Not just survive but come back without a new set of ailments ruining your groomed dark run characters. It's a very well balanced risk vs. reward. Also, IIRC there are monsters that can put out your torches.
Agreed... and yeah - some abilities and attacks enemies have do diminish light levels.

I typically look for characters with a good head start on Critical Hits for dark runs.
  • The Jester gets a high base critical chance, and Finale adds 15% to that. I build him to move around a lot with Dirk/Harvest/Finale/Solo - but he might work well using his three songs and Finale - so he can buff the group over and over when there's no need to keep him at the front.
  • The Occultist gets high base critical chance, and can disrupt enemy positions while healing your team. His Weakening Curse may end up being essential in harder dungeons (I haven't tried him there yet). To be effective, though, he needs to stay in the 3rd or 4th position.
  • The Grave Robber gets a modest critical base, and her Lunge adds +10% to that. She can stun & fade back if she goes too far forward. Her Blight is pretty potent against high Protect enemies and stacks up to 3x round against something (I killed the Collector with her this way).
  • The Hellion doesn't get a great critical chance, but she works well in the 1st or 2nd position and her double-stun is a life saver against heavy hitters in front.
I think I've seen the Jester's Finale skirting 30% critical chance in pitch black, which is awesome.
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Sepiche
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Sepiche »

I feel like they made levels 0-2 a little easier, but then ramp it back up significantly at 3-5. Even with a 0 level party it's pretty rare I get too badly damaged in the early dungeons, but even with a well equipped party you can get wrecked in veteran dungeons if the RNG goes against you.

I'm hoping I'll be able to make some progress and at least make an attempt at the Darkest Dungeon before XCom comes out next week and steals all my time. :)
Last edited by Sepiche on Fri Jan 29, 2016 1:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Lordnine
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Lordnine »

tgb wrote:Based on what I'm reading here, I've obviously been doing it wrong (only 5 weeks into my first real game). If you're dumping every low level character that emerges stressed or diseased rather than investing in them to be cured, how do you keep anyone around long enough to mature?
Items can go a long way. I’m about 40 weeks in and I have a bunch of items that that greatly improve class stats. One of my favorites reduces stress damage by 30% and increases damage by (I think) 20%. Throw that on a newbie and he becomes a beast.
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Jolor
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Jolor »

Good lord this games sounds (deliciously) difficult!
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by morlac »

Paingod wrote:
morlac wrote:You have to build a party specifically geared and skilled for dark runs. That's the first challenge and not that easy as you can't control their traits. Then you have to survive dark runs. Not just survive but come back without a new set of ailments ruining your groomed dark run characters. It's a very well balanced risk vs. reward. Also, IIRC there are monsters that can put out your torches.
Agreed... and yeah - some abilities and attacks enemies have do diminish light levels.

I typically look for characters with a good head start on Critical Hits for dark runs.
  • The Jester gets a high base critical chance, and Finale adds 15% to that. I build him to move around a lot with Dirk/Harvest/Finale/Solo - but he might work well using his three songs and Finale - so he can buff the group over and over when there's no need to keep him at the front.
  • The Occultist gets high base critical chance, and can disrupt enemy positions while healing your team. His Weakening Curse may end up being essential in harder dungeons (I haven't tried him there yet). To be effective, though, he needs to stay in the 3rd or 4th position.
  • The Grave Robber gets a modest critical base, and her Lunge adds +10% to that. She can stun & fade back if she goes too far forward. Her Blight is pretty potent against high Protect enemies and stacks up to 3x round against something (I killed the Collector with her this way).
  • The Hellion doesn't get a great critical chance, but she works well in the 1st or 2nd position and her double-stun is a life saver against heavy hitters in front.
I think I've seen the Jester's Finale skirting 30% critical chance in pitch black, which is awesome.
Any party/class/combo can be good dark run group. IMO their traits determine it for me. Any trait that decreases effectiveness in dark conditions is automatic disqualifier. Ergo, any trait that increases effectiveness in dark conditions means put out the torches. Beyond that I use the above crit philosophy as well. If I can combine a group that uses marked targets and extra crits against with positive dark conditions traits it's usually a winner.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Jag »

Jolor wrote:Good lord this games sounds (deliciously) difficult!
I'm finding the stress management frustrating. Also the difficulty is really knowing what comps to take and how to upgrade. I hate being penalized for not knowing how to game the system. It's not intuitive at all.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by GreenGoo »

Sepiche wrote:I feel like they made levels 0-2 a little easier, but then ramp it back up significantly at 3-5. Even with a 0 level party it's pretty rare I get too badly damaged in the early dungeons, but even with a well equipped party you can get wrecked in veteran dungeons if the RNG goes against you.

I'm hoping I'll be able to make some progress and at least make an attempt at the Darkest Dungeon before XCom comes out next week and steals all my time. :)
That's interesting, because the game used to be the opposite. Early difficulty curve was steep, but then tampered off. That's the opposite of most games, and I think that put off a lot of players. Sounds like they moved to a more traditional curve.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by morlac »

Jag wrote:
Jolor wrote:Good lord this games sounds (deliciously) difficult!
I'm finding the stress management frustrating. Also the difficulty is really knowing what comps to take and how to upgrade. I hate being penalized for not knowing how to game the system. It's not intuitive at all.

Stress mgmt. gets better the higher level your guys get...usually. Good companion synergy, correct skill use and proper use of positioning are paramount to your success. Even then RNG will bite you and you may have to switch strategies mid run so I don't really get the gaming the system comment. I don't think there are "perfect" builds. Certain skills work better in certain situations/dungeons and synergize better with other skills but there is no end all be all builds that I know of. They've done a great job of making everything useful at some point which is why I think corpses add so much depth to the battles. Plague Doc was considered a useless class by most 6 months ago. Now it's one my favorites.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Holman »

morlac wrote:
Holman wrote:The one element that strikes me as wrong (from an RPG perspective) is that rewards are higher in the dark; that is, you get more gold and other items when you allow your torches to burn low. This seems like way too gamey a mechanism, and it encourages dark runs as characters get more talented.

Wouldn't it have been better and more thematic to make rewards better in the light, but give the monsters the ability to put out lights?

From your comment I can tell you have not attempted too many dark runs :)


You have to build a party specifically geared and skilled for dark runs. That's the first challenge and not that easy as you can't control their traits. Then you have to survive dark runs. Not just survive but come back without a new set of ailments ruining your groomed dark run characters. It's a very well balanced risk vs. reward. Also, IIRC there are monsters that can put out your torches.
I've made dark runs my standard early-game way to play--the money is just too good.

Now it's true that I've only been doing this with level 1 and 2 parties, but I'm seeing no difference between the end-run stress of a dark run and a light run. The extra rewards more than make up for it. I'm not specially tailoring parties for the dark, either, and I don't have a special group with good dark traits.

I assume this kind of play will be impossible in the later game, but I would encourage people to leave their torches at home for all of the apprentice-level dungeons, at least. For me it's the difference between having 10,000 and having 30,000 gold on hand.
Much prefer my Nazis Nuremberged.
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ColdSteel
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by ColdSteel »

I did my first boss run tonight and killed the necromancer's apprentice. I waited until I had 3 characters at level 2 and then did it. I used my starting Crusader because he does some serious unholy damage but I was very nervous because at week 15 there still hasn't been a single crusader on the stage. Plenty of every other class but no crusaders at all. I hated to risk the only one I've got but it worked out fine.

Of course the boss just had to be in the very last room in the dungeon, so I had to go though the whole thing. I held off on camping until there were only about 6 rooms left and got everyone completely healed and unstressed. And then I get ambushed during camping and got it all undone again. Frustrating.

It ended up not really mattering though. He was really a pretty easy boss. I stacked bleeds on him with my houndmaster and hellion while the crusader cleared the skellies and the vestal kept everyone healed. It seems that HP damage is not really the big threat in that fight, stress is. He does some serious AOE stress. Anyway, it ended up being easier than some of the fights I had getting there.

I made $15K on that run and had to leave behind several thousand in items because there wasn't room in my inventory. I can't understand why they don't let all items of the same type stack. All money should stack, if nothing else. it's frustrating because they give you a small inventory to start with.

My crusader and houndmaster ended up at level 3 after the run. As veterans I guess I can't use them now for the other boss runs, which kind of sucks. I 'll need to level up a few more guys before I try the hag.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by GreenGoo »

Ran my first dungeon (a manor run that didn't exist when I first played). Some of the balance changes threw a monkey wrench into my play. 3 of the 4 ended at full stress and 2 acquired afflictions. I put 3 into stress reducing activities but now I've forgotten what I supposed to do. Since I only have 3 heroes free, am I forced to enter the dungeon with just those 3 to advance time so my stress relievers can reduce stress? There's no "pass 1 week without doing anything" button, is there?

Torchlight burned more quickly than I remember, and new torches *seem* to add less to your overall light level than I recall. The suggested food/torch provisions resulting in too much food and not enough torchlight for my first run.

I was surprised that combat was so easy and that I escaped with barely a scratch (although a few heals were involved). I suppose it does a good job of illustrating that dying is not the only thing to be worried about in this game (since I took massive stress damage while remaining mostly unscathed physically).

Coinage seemed to be significantly more than I remember too, which I guess coincides with my observation of Paingod's party leaving early after getting pretty beat up but still recouping the costs of the venture. Given that I was low to pretty much out of light by the end probably also plays a part in the increased rewards. I had planned on returning to the one room I bypassed but I couldn't risk the sanity checks from walking the halls in darkness.

Recruited a houndmaster which is a new class (to me) so that should be interesting.

Had fun.
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Baroquen
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Baroquen »

Manor run? I'm unfamiliar with that.

Also not sure why you'd be stuck with just 3 characters. Aren't there always more on the wagon each time you return from the dungeon? Fresh meat for the next run?

My question for the group - how can you tell if a character is religious or not? Based on class or what? (The camping abilities often time depend on the distinction.)
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by LordMortis »

morlac wrote:
Jag wrote:
Jolor wrote:Good lord this games sounds (deliciously) difficult!
I'm finding the stress management frustrating. Also the difficulty is really knowing what comps to take and how to upgrade. I hate being penalized for not knowing how to game the system. It's not intuitive at all.

Stress mgmt. gets better the higher level your guys get...usually. Good companion synergy, correct skill use and proper use of positioning are paramount to your success. Even then RNG will bite you and you may have to switch strategies mid run so I don't really get the gaming the system comment. I don't think there are "perfect" builds. Certain skills work better in certain situations/dungeons and synergize better with other skills but there is no end all be all builds that I know of. They've done a great job of making everything useful at some point which is why I think corpses add so much depth to the battles. Plague Doc was considered a useless class by most 6 months ago. Now it's one my favorites.
So far for me stress management = Jester.

ColdSteel wrote:I did my first boss run tonight and killed the necromancer's apprentice. I waited until I had 3 characters at level 2 and then did it. I used my starting Crusader because he does some serious unholy damage but I was very nervous because at week 15 there still hasn't been a single crusader on the stage. Plenty of every other class but no crusaders at all. I hated to risk the only one I've got but it worked out fine.
I just did the Wiz Hag. She was fun. I barely made it out but the battle was unique and that was awesome.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by GreenGoo »

Baroquen wrote:Manor run? I'm unfamiliar with that.

Also not sure why you'd be stuck with just 3 characters. Aren't there always more on the wagon each time you return from the dungeon? Fresh meat for the next run?

My question for the group - how can you tell if a character is religious or not? Based on class or what? (The camping abilities often time depend on the distinction.)
The manor seems to be a tutorial type dungeon. No other dungeons are unlocked and available until you run this dungeon. I think you can only run it the one time when you first start a game.

I'm stuck with 3 characters because my roster only has 6 characters and 3 of them are in stress relieving activities. The stage coach only brings in 2 new characters per week until it is upgraded. So what's happened is that I've run the Manor, come back with 3 out of 4 party members at max stress. I put those 3 in stress relief and recruited the 2 new arrivals. Right now the stage coach is empty (because I already recruited this week's new guys) and won't replenish until a week passes.

This would normally only be a problem at the very start of the game (where I am) or if you had more characters die and/or in stress relief than arrive each week.

Characters aren't religious per se. They will have attributes that designate them as only able to relieve stress via prayer, or flagellation, or meditation. Which is sort of like being religious but mostly just determines where they can relieve stress (i.e. the brothel wouldn't work and they wouldn't allow you to put them there in any case). They can also be anti-prayer, or anti-meditation, or anti-flagellation, which means that they have specific issues with that type of stress relief, but not others. So someone might still be able to meditate but won't be able to pray.

Maybe there is an attribute that means they are "religious" but there didn't used to be and I haven't seen it in the current version, yet.

Basically a religious character isn't so much religious as it would have an affinity for a specific type of stress relief.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by GreenGoo »

Oh crap. The game won't let me enter a dungeon with only 3 characters, and the hint suggests I have to pull someone from stress relief. Since I just put them there I would lose my investment without benefit. That would suck. I'm curious what the game would have me do if my characters had died instead of being in stress relief. There would be no one to recruit at the stage coach and no one to pull from the tavern etc.

Hmmm.

edit: apparently the game will let you enter a dungeon if you have less than 4 living characters and no way to get more that week.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Lordnine »

That is actually a problem I encountered on my first play through. It seems to be the “noob trap”. Always upgrade your stage coach first so you can get the extra guys. I wasn’t that far into the game so I just restarted but it seems like a pretty big oversight that they don’t just let you go with a partial party.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by GreenGoo »

Lordnine wrote:That is actually a problem I encountered on my first play through. It seems to be the “noob trap”. Always upgrade your stage coach first so you can get the extra guys. I wasn’t that far into the game so I just restarted but it seems like a pretty big oversight that they don’t just let you go with a partial party.
I restarted because I had only done one dungeon run which is nothing. Even though I knew I needed to upgrade the coach I still failed to do it until the second turn which caused me to fall into the trap. I don't think it's an oversight and is pretty clearly a design decision. Whether you think it's a good decision is another question. Like I said, the game will let you take less than 4 into a dungeon as long as you have no choice, but if you have guys you can pull from stress relief, the game makes you pull them. I think that lines up with the overall philosophy of the game to make things painful.

I've run a few dungeons now and I so far like the balance they've arrived at. Some parts are easier than they used to be and some are harder. I like the new classes, which add some needed variety to your party composition. The equipable items seem to be better balanced for usefulness versus penalties without becoming purely beneficial. I like that.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by GreenGoo »

Something that made me raise and eyebrow is that clearing rubble with a shovel seems to still result in fairly big jump in stress and a little damage. Is this correct? It used to be that a shovel is how you avoided the stress hit. What am I missing, if anything?
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Butterknife »

My question for the group - how can you tell if a character is religious or not? Based on class or what? (The camping abilities often time depend on the distinction.)
The Vestal, Crusader, and Leper are religious. You can tell if a character is religious or not because it won't go with the Abomination if it is.
Characters aren't religious per se. They will have attributes that designate them as only able to relieve stress via prayer, or flagellation, or meditation. Which is sort of like being religious but mostly just determines where they can relieve stress (i.e. the brothel wouldn't work and they wouldn't allow you to put them there in any case). They can also be anti-prayer, or anti-meditation, or anti-flagellation, which means that they have specific issues with that type of stress relief, but not others. So someone might still be able to meditate but won't be able to pray.
This isn't really correct -- characters are religious or not based on class. Characters can gain traits that make them no longer religious, for example, but this doesn't influence whether they can join the Abomination in a group or whether or not they can heal extra during a camp. The developers are considering changing it so that traits do change this, however for now it is based on class.
It used to be that a shovel is how you avoided the stress hit. What am I missing, if anything?
The shovel should avoid you getting stress or taking any damage. The only reason I could think of that this wouldn't work is that the shovel is the only item that defaults to being "on" when you walk up to the Curio -- maybe you are clicking on the shovel again and turning it "off"? I always click in the middle (on the shovel) instead of on the checkbox.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by LordMortis »

GreenGoo wrote:Something that made me raise and eyebrow is that clearing rubble with a shovel seems to still result in fairly big jump in stress and a little damage. Is this correct? It used to be that a shovel is how you avoided the stress hit. What am I missing, if anything?
Don't click on the check. Click on the shovel. It's a bit goofy and unlike almost ever other thing, probably because it's a blockade and not a curio?



I went on my first level 3 fight with the crusader, the healer, the jester, and scout with the Finish Him skill. The were all level 3 with two skill upgrades and one weapon and armor upgrade. I got about 1/3 of the way through and my healer got a deaths door and killed before I ever took a turn. Brutal. And the game is unforgiving of loss. The income generated might cover my next fight. I don't even ever use the abbey or tavern, though I do heal disease a whole hell of a lot but income is way hard to come by.

I'll miss losing my first character.

Is any other class a reasonably good healer aside from the main healer you start with? I haven't gone through all of the skills of all of characters yet, but a good healer seems imperative. Is she just 3/4 position must have? In a 25 person roster, I had three of her but I'm wondering if I need five or six, which sucks because I want to try and play with all of the characters and I've tried only maybe 2/3 of them so far.

I may have to rethink the jester regularly in spot 3 as a and live with the stress gains to I can start to do more damage faster. His bleed skills even at level 3 are too slow when some of the monsters start dealing close 20 a pop. I just don't see me being able to afford the stress relief.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by GreenGoo »

Thanks for the correction Butterknife. My answers were based on my experience from early access and nothing I had seen in my current play gave me cause to believe it was different now. Obviously I don't have an Abomination (which didn't exist when I first played).

As for the shovel defaulting, I agree, but I could have sworn I tried it both ways. Just clicking the check and dragging the shovel into the slot and then clicking the check. I only just noticed I was having a problem and hadn't had a chance get all test-y on it.

edit: Yep, the "check" is actually the option to do it by hand. That is dumb and I'm sure it has always been like that. You know a mechanic is counter intuitive if you've already played hours upon hours with it and then after a long break you come back and do things the wrong way and can't figure out what's wrong. Thanks guys.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Butterknife »

Is any other class a reasonably good healer aside from the main healer you start with?
The Occultist is the other healing class. The skill they use is called "Wyrd Reconstruction," and it will heal for 0-12 with a 60% chance of making the character you are healing bleed. It sounds worse than it is -- actually the Occultist can be a really strong healer. My level 3 Occultist just healed my almost-dead Leper for 38 health(!) I got a crit and the skill is up to level 3. The bleed chance happens less and less as you level up, too -- thanks to your resistances going up. The Occultist also has the benefit of being able to party with the Abomination.

I always like to have extra healers around, so they are the first class that I start to double up on in the roster. Having a healer along is really important for most runs. It isn't mandatory, but it makes things go a lot more smoothly.
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ColdSteel
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by ColdSteel »

GreenGoo wrote:but I could have sworn I tried it both ways. Just clicking the check and dragging the shovel into the slot and then clicking the check.
I believe you click the shovel once you've dragged it in. Never click the check.
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Baroquen
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Baroquen »

I took out my first boss last night - the Wizened Hag. Wasn't bad, and my party left mostly intact. I did read up on the boss ahead of time, so I guess I had the strategy spoiled for me. So I feel a little bad about that, but I think I would have been more irritated to lose character/game progress in a wipe or two than to be prepared. So I'm good with it in the long run. Some of the party is level 3 now, so I'll have to train up others for the next bosses.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by LordMortis »

Baroquen wrote:I took out my first boss last night - the Wizened Hag. Wasn't bad, and my party left mostly intact. I did read up on the boss ahead of time, so I guess I had the strategy spoiled for me. So I feel a little bad about that, but I think I would have been more irritated to lose character/game progress in a wipe or two than to be prepared. So I'm good with it in the long run. Some of the party is level 3 now, so I'll have to train up others for the next bosses.
The level 3 dungeons handed my ass to me. So now I'm in the process of leveling up a large portion of the roster to 3 while I hunt for stuff to build my town to see if I qualify for better skills and weapons or even find an a reasonably item or two. Plus, I like getting teams up to level 2 and then going after new bosses. As far as I can tell there are more level 1 bosses than I will be able to take on, so I may end up tossing characters just see more of the level 1 bosses.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by GreenGoo »

For the record I try to keep all my heroes alive and working and don't discard them unless they are a lost cause or other expedient reasons. So I spend cash on stress relief fairly liberally and once I start having success in the depths and can afford to, I start putting guys into the sanitarium as well.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by tgb »

What are the hive minds thoughts on pressing your luck - continuing on in a dungeon after completing a quest vs. getting the hell out while you can.

I've been following my not insubstantial gut, which tells me to to get while the getting's good, because you never know when the RNG will fuck with you.

But if you take the risk and continue on, is the loot worth the chance you're taking?
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Baroquen
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Baroquen »

I suspect it's wiser to bolt when the quest is done, as the remaining loot hasn't seemed to be worth it during my past trips. That said, I don't always follow that advice. I usually continue on if the group is in pretty decent shape, if I have inventory space, if there are scouted curios on the map, etc. I'm happy to bolt when the job is done, but I'll keep going if things are going well.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Holman »

tgb wrote:What are the hive minds thoughts on pressing your luck - continuing on in a dungeon after completing a quest vs. getting the hell out while you can.

I've been following my not insubstantial gut, which tells me to to get while the getting's good, because you never know when the RNG will fuck with you.

But if you take the risk and continue on, is the loot worth the chance you're taking?
Sometimes you've scouted ahead and you know what to expect. If there is loot in the hallway and no monsters in the remaining rooms, it can be worth sticking around.

If you were spectacularly efficient and never did any camping on a bigger map, be sure to do it before going home. It's better to reduce stress in the dungeon than in the hamlet.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by GreenGoo »

tgb wrote:What are the hive minds thoughts on pressing your luck - continuing on in a dungeon after completing a quest vs. getting the hell out while you can.

I've been following my not insubstantial gut, which tells me to to get while the getting's good, because you never know when the RNG will fuck with you.

But if you take the risk and continue on, is the loot worth the chance you're taking?
Interesting. It never occurred to me that people would have trouble with this decision.

For me it is based almost entirely on how the run has gone, how much is left to explore. If everyone has plenty of room on their stress meters and decent amount of hp, I'll keep going for a bit. If I've successfully scouted (the random chance to "see" into unexplored areas) and can see lots of fights or some lightly guarded treasure, I'll make my decision based on that.

Obviously if I've just finished a battle and there is a chest sitting there, I'll "continue" until I've opened the chest, at the very least. That seems a no brainer.

My decision can even be influenced by my current roster, and whether I'm suffering significant stress or not. I won't push my entire roster above 50% stress. I need someone able to run the next mission, and if everyone is stressed out, I'm screwed, so I will cut a run short if things go badly or if I finish a quest surprisingly early (i.e. scout all battle rooms and the first 4 rooms are the only battle rooms).

Honestly there are enough factors and people weigh them differently that it's hard to give guidance. If someone has decided that any hero that is level 1 or 0 is expendable, then why not finish the dungeon. Anything extra picked up is a bonus, and you're throwing the heroes away anyway, so why not?
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by dbemont »

tgb wrote:What are the hive minds thoughts on pressing your luck - continuing on in a dungeon after completing a quest vs. getting the hell out while you can.

I've been following my not insubstantial gut, which tells me to to get while the getting's good, because you never know when the RNG will fuck with you.

But if you take the risk and continue on, is the loot worth the chance you're taking?
Often it's not a matter of going on but going back.

Loaded down with food, torches and the like, I often leave curios unexamined until I've finished the quest. Then I ditch the unnecessary supplies and go open the chests and all.

Plus, as others have noted, I really emphasize scouting, and sometimes I can see ways to pick off other treasures without taking a major risk.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by LordMortis »

I always press on until it's scouted, finished, or I'm in/on the verge of deep doodoo or am completely reasonably full in the backpack (in medium length dungeons but even then I usually press on)

But then I'm still in level one dungeons and have only suffered setbacks when I am playing against a boss.

My only foray into a level dungeon has seen my only death and some serious lasting wound licking to boot and I have no idea how close I was to finishing my goal.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by Paingod »

dbemont wrote:Loaded down with food, torches and the like, I often leave curios unexamined until I've finished the quest. Then I ditch the unnecessary supplies and go open the chests and all.
I've thought about that - but don't you end up suffering a fair bit of sanity damage by returning to everything, as well as dealing with new encounters and traps? I've had random encounters spring up in corridors I had explored, as well as traps appear where I had walked before.

I tend to push on and shed inventory by usefulness. First the bandages, then the antivenom goes, then the holy water, then the herbs, and so on, until I finally throw out my torches at the end (if I brought them at all).
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by GreenGoo »

Paingod wrote: I've had random encounters spring up in corridors I had explored, as well as traps appear where I had walked before.
This must be "new", since when I played the EA I'm pretty sure once you had explored a corridor that was it.
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Re: [Kickstarter] Darkest Dungeon

Post by tru1cy »

GreenGoo wrote:
Paingod wrote: I've had random encounters spring up in corridors I had explored, as well as traps appear where I had walked before.
This must be "new", since when I played the EA I'm pretty sure once you had explored a corridor that was it.

I think random events chances go up the lower your torch level
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