Legend of Grimrock II

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 8:21 pm

Anybody picking this up? I loved the first one and I'm in need of something to tide me over for the next week until Civilization: Beyond Earth comes out ...

Malacheye · Post by **Malacheye** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 8:33 pm

i bought it yesterday, looking forward to playing it

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 8:48 pm

I really didn't like the first one, but this review from RPGFan has me possibly interested.

Effidian · Post by **Effidian** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 9:09 pm

I'm in. Liked the first one a lot and looking forward to more.

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 9:46 pm

I went ahead and bought it. I'm so weak. Sorry backlog. I'm really, really sorry.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Tue Oct 14, 2014 10:26 pm

The only thing holding me back is the promise of new builds of Sovereignty and Galciv III in the next couple of days. Those should tide me over until CIv:BE and BASPM hit in the next 2 weeks.

In other words, I can wait for a sale.

Suitably Ironic Moniker · Tue Oct 14, 2014 10:46 pm

Preordered both this game and the remastered Gabriel Knight game. I enjoyed Legend of Grimrock until I got stuck on one puzzle.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 12:26 am

I absolutely loved the Eye of the Beholder games and Legend of Grimrock 1, so I can't wait to play this sequel today. It's looking very good.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 8:39 am

I just didn't care for the square dancing combat in the first one. Everything other than that was fine though. Probably will just wait for a sale on this.

Malacheye · Post by **Malacheye** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 4:50 pm

Played it two hours already. Human/Knight, Lizard/Barbarian, Ratkin/Rogue, Human/Wizard. Love it! It is MOTS with the dancing combat, but super fun nonetheless. I like the fact that as soon as people design their own dungeons, we can play them. No problems with crashing or sound issues, flows really smooth.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 4:50 pm

The game rocks so far. Have played it for about 3 hours or so, and it's been stellar. Lots more variation than the first one, including actual boss battles this time around. You're still dancing around enemies (this type of game is designed around that concept), but most enemies have ways to trip you up this time. Some of them will leap at you from a distance or launch rapid ranged attacks. Some are able to attack in other directions than just in front, which is a nasty surprise if you're trying to flank them. Some are able to leap to the side and make an instant attack against you if you try to flank them. Some are able to strafe quickly to flank you. Most will wait a little while turning back and forth to confuse you, which makes both the direction and timing of their approach harder to predict. All of this is stuff I've seen myself, and I'm sure the game will have further ways to mess with the old combat routine. Suffice to say, it's next to impossible to avoid all damage by moving around this time.

Having said that, the Legend of Grimrock games aren't about combat. They're about puzzles, and I've already stumbled across a couple that stumped me briefly before I had that oh-so-satisfying moment of revelation where the solution became crystal clear. Lots of secrets too, so prepare to obsessively scan walls for hidden buttons. Just don't take too long, because food and light is limited...

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 5:05 pm

I caved. $20, why not? My very first experience beta testing was on the original Dungeon Master for the ST, so this genre holds a special place in my heart. It will come in handy when I need a breather from Beyond Earth

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 6:23 pm

How could I resist playing a Farmer?

Party makeup for first try (Normal difficulty)
Barbarian Minotaur named "Bull Hit"
Human Farmer "Udderly Useless"
Ratling Alchemist "Meth Head"
Insectoid BattleMage "Gandolt"

I'll keep my farmer in the front row if I can, but if he's too squishy I'll put him in the back and see if a BattleMage really can be a front-line character. If it turns out that neither of them can be in the front line, I guess I'll start over.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 7:00 pm

I'm starting over because I just noticed that instead of a Ratling Thief I created a Fighter. I don't know if I screwed up or that's a weird bug.

By the way, in case you haven't tried it

Spoiler:

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 8:57 pm

Also I would have thought that you could create a torch of sorts by sticking a branch in fire.

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 12:26 am

I'm really enjoying it. It feels just like playing the first one -- combat to keep things interesting, puzzles that are hard, lots of secret areas. I've only put in 2 hours, but I think I'm going to like it a lot. Got stuck on one really simple puzzle right off the bat -- that doesn't bode well (not for the game -- for my ability to play it well).

The Human Farmer isn't as bad as you would think, at least so far. Of course, he isn't really good for anything, either. But the mechanic where he levels up by eating instead of killing monsters is interesting. I think I can pretty much grow him into whatever type of character I want, so for now I'm making him into a thrower. We'll see how this plays out in the long run.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 12:35 am

The farmer is a joke class, so don't expect it to be balanced. I think it's there to give Let's Players some interesting challenges to show off.

tgb wrote:Also I would have thought that you could create a torch of sorts by sticking a branch in fire.

That would have been a crappy torch. The torches we see in most fantasy games are actually (at least as far as I'm aware) a thick stick covered in oily rags at the end. The rags and the oil are what's burning, not the wood itself.

Dave Allen · Post by **Dave Allen** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 3:43 am

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 3:12 pm

I gave my Ratling Alchemist a point in Water Magic, thinking that anyone could use magic, but apparently only certain classes can do that. So I think that point is totally wasted, which sort of sucks. I also gave him the "Aura" trait, which isn't worth much either. I'm probably going to restart and make a better party, as the Knight, Battle Mage, Alchemist, and Wizard combo was not overly easy to play.

That Battle Mage can absolutely be front line, particularly if you kit him well with protection traits. That being said, he is the character that dies the most in my party, so that is no good. I also made a mistake in giving my lower Dex Battle Mage the Light Weapons skill - he needs Heavy weapons to be more effective.

I think my "do over" party will be a Knight (kitted with Armor skill and either athletics or a weapon skill), Rogue (light weapons and dodge for later dual wielding), Alchemist (Firearms and Alchemy), and a Wizard (Fire and Earth, probably). I may trade out the Alchemist for something else (and give it the alchemy skill) because I was not noticing any of the herbs "growing" in his inventory. Class seems secondary to skills, as the classes only really offer bonuses to actions rather than limit what you can do.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 3:37 pm

baelthazar wrote:I may trade out the Alchemist for something else (and give it the alchemy skill) because I was not noticing any of the herbs "growing" in his inventory.

It happens constantly for mine. Put your herbs in neat stacks, and you'll easily be able to tell when you've had growth because the newly grown herbs won't be part of the stack.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 8:32 pm

Did the original have a free camera mode? If it did, I never used it. Anyway, as I discovered by trail and error, you can look up and down by holding down the right mouse button. I suspect that will lead to a lot of puzzle solutions.

Speaking of puzzles, the only one to give me a headache so far was

Spoiler:

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 8:46 pm

I'm pretty sure it did, yes.

Malacheye · Post by **Malacheye** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 5:47 pm

Exploring the underground reveals lots of pits that one can fall through. After falling through there are areas to explore, some even have secrets and decent loot.

Does anyone know if these places are revealed later on as "normal" dungeon exploration areas, or do we need to fall through the pits and take the fall damage and broken limbs and explore from the current area?

Thanks

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 6:04 pm

You should always save and jump into pits when you find them in both Grimrock games, because there are often secrets down them. You'll eventually find ways to descend safely, but you shouldn't hold off. I don't think you'll end up in later levels (though there may be exceptions), so there's no reason to be afraid of whatever's down there, beyond the usual reasons to be afraid of rounding a corner in this game.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 12:57 pm

In the first one there was at least one area where you could farm snails for food. Anything like that?

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 1:13 pm

Not that I've seen. Not that it matters much. I'm swimming in food right now, with two full crates and a sack full of it, as well as some outside of containers. It's becoming a real weight problem.

Malacheye · Post by **Malacheye** » Sat Oct 18, 2014 5:14 pm

Im thinking it would be a good idea to dump a lot of the extra food at the "hub".

Best centralized location i have found so far...

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Sun Oct 19, 2014 9:24 am

Surprisingly there does appear to be some randomization (unless it's a bug). I had to reload and restart a particular (small) dungeon and when I did I found

Spoiler:

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Sun Oct 19, 2014 8:19 pm

I think I'm running into an odd bug where health potions disappear after I put them in the inventory of one particular party member. I'm going to go back and confirm that they are really gone, but if they are, that's a pretty nasty bug.

[edit] Never mind. It's still a bug but instead of going into inventory they go into his empty hand in weapon set II. Still a bug, but no biggie.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sun Oct 19, 2014 11:56 pm

Finally broke through to the Hamlet of Stormbreach (where are the villagers?), but man some of the puzzles are insanely difficult. Good thing I remembered some cheesy techniques from the first game (like hiding behind a chained door during cool down). I must be missing a lot of secrets, will probably replay once a decent walkthrough is out. There are some videos out, but it's some idiot blundering along who doesn't even edit out his many team wipes.

does anyone know:

Spoiler:

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 12:07 am

Malacheye wrote:Exploring the underground reveals lots of pits that one can fall through. After falling through there are areas to explore, some even have secrets and decent loot.

Does anyone know if these places are revealed later on as "normal" dungeon exploration areas, or do we need to fall through the pits and take the fall damage and broken limbs and explore from the current area?

Thanks

You can get a rope to lower yourself down into pits (this is new, not in # 1). But the only one I have seen so far was behind a gold key lock, and I did not want to use it on that.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 12:29 am

I don't think I've ever seen a game where secrets are as important as this one. If you don't find any secrets, your equipment will be absolute crap for the vast majority of the game. Almost all the equipment I'm using comes from secrets.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 2:11 am

Fucking leprechauns.

Suitably Ironic Moniker · Mon Oct 20, 2014 1:33 pm

tgb wrote:Fucking leprechauns.

Not a day goes by that I don't say the same thing.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Mon Oct 20, 2014 3:24 pm

Suitably Ironic Moniker wrote:
tgb wrote:Fucking leprechauns.
Not a day goes by that I don't say the same thing.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sat Oct 25, 2014 1:31 pm

Here are some helpful tips (minor spoilers) that may increase your enjoyment/reduce frustration:

Spoiler:

Effidian · Post by **Effidian** » Sat Oct 25, 2014 8:55 pm

I finished this up and thoroughly enjoyed it. The polish and puzzles in Grimrock are really great. Definitely looking forward to more stuff from them.

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Wed Nov 05, 2014 12:44 am

How long did it take you to beat this game? I'm about 20 hours in and I'm wondering how much more I have. I'm afraid I'm resorting to spoilers more than I'd like -- the puzzles can be pretty hard!

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Wed Nov 05, 2014 1:34 am

I finished this game yesterday too. Keep in mind that there are two endings in the game, where the most obvious one is actually a kind of failure. The true ending requires a bit more work. If the ending implies that something is left unresolved, you haven't actually finished the game yet.

Steam says it took me 31 hours, but I know I was alt-tabbed during some of those. Probably took 25-28 hours total.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Wed Nov 05, 2014 12:18 pm

I finally started this one up last night after finishing my lengthy Wasteland play through. It’s definitely Grimrock! I found the grid movement in the wide open areas a bit odd feeling but once I made it to the first underground area it was like coming home again. It seems like they are throwing a lot more equipment at me early on, that or I'm just better at finding secrets now. I remember being an hour in the original and still fighting mostly by throwing rocks at enemies.