On the party builder screen there's a Help button which explains all the attributes and stats. I should possibly make that available in-game too in case anyone didn't read it while building their characters.
I thought this game was being billed as old school like Eye of the Beholder or Wizardry. As in, take your turn-based time and consider the fight. Sip some coffee and maybe draw a map... Why do we need another real-time clone of Grimrock? Sure, we can always play The Quest but I thought this game was supposed to give that game a run for its money. Ah well.
@Jaggus: Looks like they took more inspiration from Dungeon Master (which is fully realtime, and I personally consider a horrible game just for this, nevermind there are more reasons) than turnbased ones like you listed. And yes, I would prefer a completely turnbased approach at least for combat, too.
Combat for me is keeping an eye on health and whose turn it is. Really a weapon mashing process. No tactics at all. Turn based is really the best option for you his type of game imo.
Agreed, the interface has quite a few quirks. To read the stats of an equipped item, I need to unequip it first. But then the item disappears in the inventory, and I have to locate to read the stats. Of course I can sort inventory by type, but switching characters resets the inventory position. All that makes swapping around items between characters just a bit more annoying. Also there was a longbow I could not seem to equip into the bow slot of either fighter or rogue. There was no indication what prevented the bow from being equipped. Later I found out that the longbow can only equipped by a fighter, and only if there's no shield equipped. A good GUI makes that clear. At first I thought it's also impossible to de-select an item, but it turns out I need to tap the character portrait for that. I stopped using the automap, because the rotation drove me nuts. Might work well for those people who also set their car navigation system to rotate the map with the car. Zooming the automap also in some cases does not work so well, it's impossible to see the whole map on the screen. The game does look good, though, and the level design and the puzzles are fine, too.
Almost took the plunge. Will wait for an update, hopefully an option where you rotate in the map, like an arrow symbol to show where you face, and not let the map rotate along with you
Hey. - I'm stuck on the second level. I pushed all the little buttons on each side of the pillar. It makes a clicking sound, but the metal door won't open. Any help would be great! #
Random stat-rolls are actually making a comeback in pen and paper games too thanks to the OSR (old school renaissance) games like Labyrinth Lord and Dungeon Crawl Classics.
I think the point is more about random stat-rolls being the only option, as they limit the target audience for an iPad game. As a game dev who wants to sustain themselves on their AppStore sales, you'd be well advised to provide a simple way around them. That does not compromise the experience for hardcore players. It's just like an automap, simply don't to use it if you prefer to map with pen and paper. And maybe even some people who'd never touch a game that enforces random stat rolls on you will try them out after they've beaten the game once or twice. Personally, I'd rather invest my time working around the random stat-rolls that shape my real life, and have a more streamlined experience while playing on my iPad. But maybe that's because I already played most oldschool RPGs when they were cutting edge. YMMV.
Just completed The Deep Paths and came here to share a few thoughts on it. It's a good game marred by a few frustrations in the UI and combat. Im not sure I'd recommend it to everyone but if you're a fan of dungeon crawlers it's a nice way to pass 10-11 hours free time. Steve, I just wanted to say to you that your games have come along leaps and bounds since Descent which I honestly didn't rate at all. I think you're on the cusp of having a truely great game here. Dungeon crawlers on touch screens seem to have converged on a standard UI and I think you should look into emulating it if possible. With enemies I'd suggest a more gradual increase in difficulty as the rock hard nature of the first few encounters is going to be offputting to some. If anyone is having diffilty beating the monsters (mobs) here are a few tips I can offer from most favourable to least. 1. Use traps to your advantage, if you can lead a mob to a pit trap and dump them in it do so, if not an impaler trap. 2. Pepper mobs with long range attacks to whittle down their health and make them easier to tackle. 3. Backstab, if you can get a mob in a 4x4 square face them, sidestep, turn around and when you hear them move forward press back then sidestep behind them. With luck you'll have time for all 4 characters to attack with a nice damage bonus. You'll take one hit and then you can repeat. 4. Head to head, basically a war of attrition. Avoid if at all possible.
