Universal Cavern (by Sami Sierla)

Just beat the game w/ the Mage class, and made the top 20 hall of fame. Mages are OP, though in a fun way. Their equipment is way cheaper and more powerful than the archer, and you rarely have to get next to anyone like the fighter. Just put some skill points into vitality and then watch the health bar and make sure to heal yourself, and you'll be fine. There will be more than enough money for healing potions towards the end of the game. I'd recommend this class of the three to someone who wanted to try the game, although archer is fun too.

 

Hi all,
Just found this forum after playing through cavern a couple times and thought I'd create an account to share my thoughts on this game. Ive been looking for roguelikes on the iphone and have played a decent amount so far. Sword of Fargoal, POWDER, Endless Depths, Endless Nights, 100 Rogues, Tumulus of Fen, and Cavern. I really like this game. I've already beaten it with all three types, currently ranked 10th (BitchBow), and 13th (hobo) in the hall of fame. I didn't realize there was an active forum and such great dev support going on. This is great. I have a question about the high scores... what determines them? My first run through I used the teleport stone and skipped a bunch of levels. My next run I went up most levels and killed most creatures, and last run I killed everything and explored everywhere. I have no idea how the top score is lvl 37. Either way, fun game. I love the randomness, except when the fountains take away my attributes :/ hehe.
The game did crash on me many times, where the screen would freeze up and my items and map overlay wouldn't show, then crash. Sometimes I would start back right where it crashed, other times I would have to do the whole level again. Worst case is when I'm back in town and the teleport link doesn't work and I have to walk all the way back. This may be because I'm using iOS 5.1 on an iphone 4s, or maybe because I had too many dropped items on the floor of town?
I found the game rather easy except for some situations when you get mobbed, but having the right equipment can usually bail you out. Some strategies I used:
Always head back to town after a level up to check the stores. When I find a good ring, (i.e. frosted ring) I buy two.
Switching gear in battle doesn't cost a turn, you can use this to switch between offensive and defensive rings/amulets/helmets.
You can equip strength rings to pick up items you normally cant carry cause they weight too much, then switch back and go on your way.
Fire defense is key in the lower levels
Always have a town portal scroll, less weight then the stone, just don't forget to buy one back in town!
Trick for the last boss...only flick two switches, when you go into his lair he will be trapped behind the gate, you can just fire on him all day long till he is dead. Gear up before you grab the mystery object for your trek back.

I'm new to posting on forums so this post is probably a little disjointed, but I wanted to be part of it. I hope Bitchbow and hobo help you all out down there.

 

I thought the randomness of fountains and alters were fun too, until it lowered an ability. Fighting a demon or being poisoned is fine, taking an ability point can screw up the whole middle and end game. Now I never use them.

I did the trick for the last boss once, but I can't tell which lever is which. I always check, but I only got lucky once. Actually, I have enormous trouble even finding the levers. It's harder than the monsters.

A trick I would give people, if they're more interested in beating the game than high score would be to stock up on like five town scrolls before you pick up the mystery object. After the stone blows up, you use them and can get to the surface w/out fighting.

Next game may try for the highest score I can, by fighting to the surface even if I don't beat the game. I'm curious what the score could be.

I'm only interested in Mage now, it's way fun to play from the beginning, the archer starts off slow. I have no idea how you could beat this game w/ fighter, bit clearly a lot of people smarter than me figured it out.

Oh, it's also really important to have something that prevents you from being cursed, especially of it has other powers, but I'd take a sacred ring over a more powerful one on the lower levels.

Try to save an invulnerable potion for gazer and the final boss if at all possible. Blessing potion too.

If you play archer raise your IQ enough so that you can use magic. It's worth it over extra Dex.

 

You listed one here that I'm not familiar with (Tumulus of Fen). It looks like a 1st person dungeon crawler. Is it kind of like a rogue-like style of this?

 

Even though I may lose some ability points, I will always use the fountains, cant pass up the chance to gain some points.
The altars are dangerous early on because the demons can be very hard, I would only use it early if I had an invulnerability potion. Sometimes they fizzle and nothing happens, and once Ive gotten a guardian to aid me.
I stock up on as many invulnerability potions as possible. I usually have at least 8 before the last level. Blessing potions will help make quick work of a big group.
To beat the game with the fighter, I raised my intelligence enough to use a wand or septer. Tread into new areas carefully so you don't get mobbed. Shoot from afar and when they step adjacent to you switch to your sword and shield.

 

I've only just started playing it, currently at dungeon level 2. The maps are just a huge maze each level, but your character upgrades skills and stats, equips weapons and uses items as well. Haven't died yet so not sure about permadeath. I found it because it was listed on another site as a rouge-like, but I guess it more like a rpg dungeon crawler. It was not available in the us for a while but recently I found it, and its free. The music in the town is great, and the cave sounds are nice too.

 

Hi, thanks for the quick reply. Now I may have to try again with some gold hoarding strategies and a good name. I just found teleporting back to town to sell some goods time consuming and not necessary because there was always plenty of gold to buy whatever I needed. Now when I visit the weapons store I lock the door behind me. One time I left it open and Iras wandered out, getting closer to the dock each time I came back. Eventually she was right by the water, I think she is ready for a vacation.
I love all the words of wisdom on the walls in the dungeon rooms.
Is it possible you can make it so we can view the hall of fame while in the middle of a game?

 

Thanks for the details, man. The price is right lol so I'll pick it up tonight. Can't have too many rogue-likes, or rogue-lites, or rogue-like-likes, or rogue-lite-likes, or.. wait - nose bleed

 

Thinking about getting this, but the last review on the AppStore says the game is broken after the last update, and no update since. Is this still true?

 

The current version works great for me on an iPhone 5. If you enjoy roguelikes you're in for a treat .

 

I have a mini retina, same guts as the ipad air. I'll try it out to make sure it's not something with our device architecture and let you know.

EDIT: Played a quick run, works fine for me? Did the person say when it was crashing? Honestly, I see that a lot, that is, people who say games crash, even on the same device as me and on the same version. Then, I buy it and play it no problem. So, I often wonder if it's something on their device, a background app, lack of memory (i.e. they don't know how to force close apps) or jailbroken issues, etc.

Also note that the cavern developer is one of the best I've ever seen in terms of constant updates, be it content or support, so I highly recommend making the purchase.

If the person on the review gave more specifics as WHEN and WHAT he was doing, I can try it out for you, just IM me.

 

It's still working fine for me (4S, iOS6.3). Maybe the bad review was someone with a jb device or something else.

This is one of the few games I love and have kept on my iPhone since getting it. Great stuff, and I typically don't like roguelikes.

 

Thanks for letting me know, I'll be sure to pick it up asap

 

I have had zero issues since the latest update. In fact, this is one of those rare games that actually gets BETTER with updates.

Not everything is completely explained in the game but people here in the forums have been very helpful with answering questions.

 

@Broadsword

I guess the problem I have w fighter is you have to level up so many abilities to just compete, it's slow. Even archer doesn't really get cooking until you get to dex 15 and can use the serpentine bow. Then you have to chose whether you want to level int or str for armor or magic, but Mage you can do practically everything from the beginning. You really just need to level int and vitality a little.

I guess I'm puzzled why more people don't like this class, and do poorly at it based on the scores and deaths before mission completion compared to the other two classes. Just seems like fighter would be the problem, but different things are intuitive to different people it seems.

PS- Thanks for the game recommendations. Btw, I have the latest iPhone and it's buggy for me too, but I get the impression it's an independent Dev doing almost everything on his own, so the game's very impressive in that sense, esp compared to something like "endless depths" which is basically a horrible version of this game.

@ everyone in general

I did the game where I fought to the surface, and made top seven on Mage list. I was so OP at the end I felt like I could've cleared the whole dungeon, but I'd been playing so long, and the scores ahead of me were so high I doubt I could've risen much more anyway. A tip to someone who might want to try this is don't even bring the surface stone w/ you. It gives you extra room for scrolls and potions, and you feel cool, like Cortez burning his boats. I also refused to pick I up any town scrolls that dropped, it made me feel superior to the opponents, cuz I wasn't gonna run, and it just took up room for something of value anyway.

I really recommend you give this class a chance, if you haven't. Don't be scared of the low health, play it right and most won't even get close enough to breathe on you, let alone hit.

Random tip: charm the bachallian (sp?) chief and get away from him and let him kill his two friends. When it wears off nuke him w/ a powerful scroll and then shoot him until he's dead or nearly dead by the time he's next to you. He is an underrated boss, IMO, and can do you in.

PPS- Question?? Can anyone figure out what "resurrection scroll" does? It's never worked for me once no matter what I try to do w/ it??

 

@trickampsterdam - I am suddenly more curious about the mage class.

Resurrection scroll ->

Spoiler

lets you resurrect dead enemies to fight on your behalf, it must be used on bones which you will notice some enemies drop. You can even carry the bones and resurrection scroll with you for when in a bind.

...really a nice touch.

Tumulus of Fen is a fun game, it's got one of the most labyrinth mazes I've seen on iOS. It's not what I'd consider a roguelike but still well worth checking out. It went free last year when the ToF developer announced he wouldn't retain the app due to low sales so would abandon his ($99/year) developer status; but I guess he decided otherwise... for now.

 

I always unlock the door to the sheep when I start. I the scenario I'd made up, my character owned them, so he was freeing them in case he didn't survive and come back. It was just like a little superstition I felt gave me luck.

Any way, one time iris the shop keeper wandered into their barn. I locked the door of the barn on her, so I always knew where to find her. Before I returned the mystery object I opened the door to let her out again.

On another humorous note, I was going to take the skull of the final boss to the recycle bin. But I found a hat called "crude, old leather cap." Before I went into the temple to return the object, I dropped both at the same time and the cap fitted perfectly on the horned head. It was quite hilarious looking, should of maybe taken a screen cap or something.