Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Mephansteras]

Man, it's horrible.

Stardock: We're going to make a spiritual successor to Master of Magic!
World: YAY!!!!! FINALLY!
Result: FAIL

Dungeon: Spiritual Successor to Dungeon Keeper!
World: YAY!!!! FINALLY!
Result: FAIL

2K: New X-Com game! Oh, and it's an FPS without any X-com elements at all!!!
World: !!??? YOU SUCK!
RESULT: READY TO FAIL!

[Aklyon]

Man, it's horrible.

Stardock: We're going to make a spiritual successor to Master of Magic!
World: YAY!!!!! FINALLY!
Result: EPIC FAIL

Dungeon: Spiritual Successor to Dungeon Keeper!
World: YAY!!!! FINALLY!
Result: FAIL

2K: New X-Com game! Oh, and it's an FPS without any X-Com elements at all!!!
World: *RAGE* YOU SUCK!
RESULT: READY TO FAIL!

Results: Reviving good ol' games with modern game companies should be dumped into the "Bad Idea" category.

[nenjin]

So how many people are playing a pirated version? I'm curious because I'm playing the German demo right now, and some of the things people are saying don't seem that bad.

Yes, the first level, meant as an introduction to the mechanics, is kind of badly designed, because heroes take everything from the chest, fill up, and walk out to the exit not 10 feet away. So your dungeon lord has to camp there.

And yes, the skeleton invasions are annoying, but dealt with once you build a few spawns there.

And yes, it makes you question what they were thinking when they tied monster spawns to expanding your influence ring. It makes you build a lot of monster spawns specifically to expand your influence...so they do virtually nothing.

Level 2 is a blank slate compared to the tutorial level. I've gotten things figured out even not being able to read anything, just going on guess work at German. I'm going to hold off saying what I think until a) I get farther in, and honestly b) I get the full, patched, uncracked version.

But one thing people need to get a hold of....a hero leaving your dungeon is not the end of the world. At least on the tutorial level, you get serious money from just one properly milked hero. Yes, it sucks to know they're leaving, but they're not actually stealing resources from you it seems. It's confusing because heroes add to your gold stocks, but don't take away from them. So if they drain a bunch of chests and leave, your goblins will refill them from....nothing. At least that's what I've seen.

I know they had big shoes to fill, but it seems like people are being unnecessarily hard on them, so far. The demo seems pretty solid performance wise to me, and there aren't any glaring bugs that I can tell. Of course I can't read 1/2 the mechanics, so I'll pipe down.

And the "take half the gold and move on" mechanic makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.

I suppose it's so they actually wander your dungeon. Secondly, once you get more advanced champions than just the lvl 1 schloobs, you will HAVE to give them more than that. Equipment, libraries, traps. So the first level does an especially bad job, I think, of making you expect more out of the game...because all the player sees is greedy heroes getting the gold immediately and leaving, and they assume that's what all heroes will do later on.

As far as atmosphere, I'm enjoying the game. The detail work is great, the visuals are sweet and hopefully when I get to do things my way, I'll get the DK kind of vibe. Whether or not I enjoy the humor I'm sure will be another story.

[SeaBee]

You can only hope to compair to Stardock if your CEO freaks the fuck out. Let us all hope for this.

That was the most entertaining aspect of Elemental, by far. I still look back at those ludicrous outbursts with fondness. Oh, and the Elemental "novel" he wrote is probably the worst book written in the last twenty years. Which made the entire meltdown all the greater.

But yes, I'm looking forward to public cries of self-flagellation followed by layoffs and rage, returning eventually to the self-flagellation in a glorious cycle.

[Frumple]

Oh, and the Elemental "novel" he wrote is probably the worst book written in the last twenty years.

Categorically impossible. Reason for saying this: Fanfiction.

Your point stands, though. Bad writing makes bad things worse.

[Aklyon]

Oh, and the Elemental "novel" he wrote is probably the worst book written in the last twenty years.

Categorically impossible. Reason for saying this: Fanfiction.

Error: Most fanfiction is not in book form. Is not in same category.

There was a novel?

[burningpet]

This is certinally not in the same fail category of Elemental. not design wise nor technical wise.

Just had a few sandboxes games (most ended with me dying early, but the last one i had is still going ok), and while there are certinally weak parts in this game, i think that after getting used to the fact that this is not a proper and improved DK2 successor and that you are not running a home for monsters, but a giant trap for heroes, it gets bearable and the potential for fun is there. its certinally better than the campaign levels which i find annoying.

i still find the whole monster spawns instead of rooms mechanic bad, basically meaning they are reduced to no more than the shooting traps in DK2 when you come to think of it. the actuall traps are there not to hold heroes off, but to please them, the monsters are there not to kill heroes, but to please them, the treasuries are not there to keep your gold safe, but to please the heroes, all the rooms except the prison types (so far from what i have built) are not there to fullfill your dungeon needs, but, again, to please the heroes. this makes your dungeon abit mechanical and lifeless, but still, i can visualise a dungeon with all entrances open as a somewhat complicating machine of luring and killing heroes.

There is something beatifull and satisfacting in those kind of creations, like seeing a late spacechem level fully working, or a network of trains with maximised efficiensy in transport tycoon. all the little parts of a bigger machine working together.

So far, Dungeons is not as challenging as spacechem puzzles, so the satisfaction is purely aestethic and not mental, the fact you are greatly rewarded to get your lord to do the killing blow kinda prevents you from the whole sitting back and watching your creation handle itself like in Transport Tycoon or other economy type games, but if you manage to make the heroes from all the gates walking into the same area, getting there almost fully pleased, you can, with the aid of monsters finish them in one area and not having to walk your lord all over the map. but this isnt as straightforward as it could be because you cant fully control the direction or purpose of the heroes and they sometime just turn around and walk randomally to another place, forcing you to run your lord there to kill them before they are even half pleased, because they might stumbe upon newly spawned monsters and kill them before new heroes come to kill them, which will mess things up.

Techincal wise: i had a few CTD, had to turn off blood because it spawned weird black squares where battles took places, had a few corrupted save files and theres a memory leak that slows down the game after a while which can be fixed by exiting to the menu waiting a few seconds and returning to the game, the whole wall hack thing that got mentioned.

So as i said earlier, with very few patches and greatly reduced price (atleast 50%), this is a game i will buy.
this is certinally not a worthy successor to DK2, nor living to its own full potential, but it is also not a major fail like Elememtal.

[Bohandas]

Well, it does seem like good news.

Although the flavour text makes the setting sound like Overlord. Which was neither atmospheric, nor funny. Less "haha lol evehl" and more bad ass evil, please. But that's a minor detail compared to whether or not they'll make it as complex as Dungeon Keeper.

This.  I can manage if the world is a little tongue-in-cheek but it has to be subtle, which isn't something game developers are good with.  Majesty was good about this, Majesty 2 was awful about it.  The whole game was one big joke, and the joke wasn't even funny.  Same with Overlord.

The overlord series is pretty bad, but it is possible to have over-the-top, unsubtle humor without making the evil less badass...

Take "Grand Theft Auto 2" for example; remember the Loonies gang? They were pretty &%$#*@% funny... and brutal.

[nenjin]

So, Level 2 of the demo.

2 visible entrances, that are basically linked by a main corridor, that branches off to your dungeon heart.

So I build a corridor off one of the entrances, and line it with prestige items, directing heroes away from the corridor that leads to my dungeon heart.

I create a fork in this dummy passage, and place some bats there. Both forks lead to rooms with bat spawns and two treasure piles, and a load of prestige items. The exits to these rooms connect back into one corridor, which has some skeleton spawns and a treasure chest. The exit to this room leads to another like it, with no monsters and a treasure chest. Prestige items tell the heroes where to go, and line the walls of my treasure rooms so they look cool.

I go back and place another bat spawn at the 2nd branch to this dummy wing.

I position my dungeon lord down the hall from the dummy wing, and hero, entrances, around a corner, so that any hero leaving the entrance to go to the dungeon heart, or exit the dungeon, is within spitting distance of him.

The rate of happiness the heroes on the 2nd level get from gold is much, much lower than in the 1st level. The end result of all this is I get the heroes stuck in a sort of loop. They monsters from the nearby rooms aggro, keeping them tied up in combat for a while. They finally clear everything, get a little loot, and start following prestige items. They waste some time looking at them, monsters repop, they do some more fighting, drink their potions, and get a little more gold.

This cycle repeats, and repeats, until finally the heroes are maxed out and, missing most of their hit points, they stagger back to the entrance of the dungeon to leave. And that's when my Dungeon Lord pops out and prangs them.

This strategy basically allowed me to sit back and only have to chase down stragglers and full heroes every couple of minutes. And by chase down I mean, run 1.5 seconds. It seems like only when a TON of heroes were in the dummy wing would new heroes start ignoring the prestige items for places the rest of the adventurers weren't looking. After a while, when I opened the second gate with the same setup, basically, I had at least 8 to 10 heroes running around, all trapped in the dummy wing.

Occasionally monsters would kill the heroes before they were full, and my goblins would pick them up, get their gold, and put them in prison. I may not have been getting all the soul essence from them, but the things you need soul power for aren't super demanding. (Prestige items, some purchaseables from the Dungeon Heart, like your Guardian or higher Goblin capacity)

Prestige item usage actually seems pretty cool. Not only are you using it to guide guys, but its useful for tying them up and keeping them busy so they aren't going everywhere in your dungeon, and it gives your monster spawns time to repop. And there's the whole aesthetic imagination thing, too.

Unfortunately, the level of heroes that comes into your dungeon seems to be tied to your prestige. Luckily, you can buy up the level of all your creatures to the dungeon heart. If you really want to kill heros, you can buy your creature level up way higher than the heroes (although I think it's capped by dungeon prestige), and they'll mow through heroes in large packs. In Lvl 2, at the cap, your monster level was 2 lower than the heroes.

So it should be said, I milked this scenario for all it was worth. With one hero gate open, I racked up thousands of gold and soul essence, with minimal effort on my part. I just had to keep an eye on my minimap, and look for the tell-tale hero icon heading toward the exit icon, to know I had to intervene. Once my supply chain was pretty much guaranteed, I quit paying attention to it and started completing the level objectives.

I think when you let go of the DK II expectations, this game will be enjoyable in its own right. It is far more tycoon like than even I predicted...but there are nice little touches here and there. Adventurers having their own gear, coming into the dungeon with a variety of set ups (2 handed weapons, 2 weapon fighters, pole arm users, sword and shield guys, axe guys...)

After several hours I'm still excited to get my copy, as there is a ton of stuff about the game I can't understand yet (like abilities, spells, scrolls, all the flavor text...) I'm kind of miffed the demo leaves off on what seems to be an open ended level where you lose soul essence every second, and when it runs out, its game over.

[Farseer]

So, basically, it's theme park in a dungeon like I said? :p

Yeah, not my sort of game, really.

[nenjin]

So, basically, it's theme park in a dungeon like I said? :p

Don't pat yourself on the back too hard, it's been said since the thread was created.

[King Cow]

Are there many different ways that you can win or are the viable strategy's limited?

[jester]

Buzz ive heard is for a HUGE patch on release day.  I absolutely loved the idea of dungeon keeper, even if the game was a bit flawed.  Personally im gonna wait for a few patches to hopefully work out the crap that seems to be in every game for the first month or 2 and then make my call.

[King Cow]

Any link to the news about a patch?

[nenjin]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Content and patch 1.1 / Changelog
Here very much in advance of the changelog.
Update is expected on Friday, 28 January delivered via the launcher.

28. January 2011 - Version 1.1 - Changelog


 New Features
• Seven new Sandboxmaps.
• Accelerate game speed (double speed) installed (F3/F4 hotkey).
• In options configurable keyboard layout installed.
• Mr. Sidekick is now animated when talking.
• New skills in Bautree: Pessimissmus and invisibility.
• New skill in attack tree: Round Kick
• In the Save / Load screen autosaves can be hidden.
• Magician to discover while reading in the library new spells they use it for the attack.
• Inter-action buttons are now displayed for captured heroes in the hero list.
• Cool Downs are now displayed in the spell book.
• Players will be notified when heroes are killed by a trap.
• Camera movement made generally softer.
• Icon of the Guardian is now displayed in the mini map.

Balancing / Gameplay
• The ability to "Improved guard" has been moved to the Bautree.
• Boxes located throughout the missions, which can be collected and give the player resources.
• Award-Buff maximum increased to 400%.
• Battle values of many monsters and heroes adjusted.
• skill points and attribute points quests for increased and redistributed.
• Time limit for quests increases.
• Opposing avatars were somewhat muted.
• The spells "Improved Aura" and "Fire Aura" now have the right Spell Power.
• Costs for the guard adapted.
• monitor can not be invoked directly after his death, but has a cooldown.
• Bonus for heroes by visiting a gun room increased.
• difficulty now additionally determined how much soul energy is removed, when heroes are not blown away by the avatar.
• Enemy dungeon lords prefer priest now and have slightly higher damage against heroes and champions.

Maps General
• errors in the acquisition of skill and attribute points between the fixed maps.
• Martha can "delete" any longer.

Special Maps
• Tutorial: spell book will now be made available if the player reaches a certain point in the level.
• crystal throne fire trap can not be crossed.
Freud • Bach: All quests will now display correctly in the quest book.
• Sheep Mountains: Order 'grave care "revised.
• Good sleep Stein: Information added for hidden box.
• Knuffelfingen: escaping thieves groups are counted properly.
• Knuffelfingen: number of thieves groups reduced and reduced distances between the groups.
• Knuffelfingen: fewer thieves per group.
• Never Bφsenberg: Max monster level reduced from 31 to 23.
• Volcano of terror: Card size is reduced.
• Volcano of terror: More prestige necessary to open the stairs and improved Spawnverhalten the local monsters.
• Volcano of Terror: Monster attack Marthas of the stairs no more, if he is hiding there.
• Volcano of terror: Lost goblins appear on the map.
• Volcano of terror: new cut-scene of the death of Martha and the spawning of a monster wave.
• Volcano of terror: new sequence in the death of Martha.
• Schneeglφckelingen: new sequence in the attack of the enemy.
• Schnuffelbergen: New side quest "Chaos and destruction" and "pocket money".
• Schnuffelbergen: Martha's return to the throne room, if the avatar dies or teleports back there (when before the gate was open).
• Schnuffelbergen: Upon the death of Martha's mission is ended now.
• Schnuffelbergen: sequence at the rear gate of the church will no longer plays twice.
• Snow Glφckl Ingen: Volbar added to the Dungeon Lord to only half of the damage and followed him no more than 5-10 fields.
• Snow Glφckl Ingen: the arena can be excavated only after the end of the side quests. The fire angel fire angel will be healed after the Quest. Volbar has no more spells.
• Zwitschertal: I need to meet the main quest now less frogs arrive safely.
• Nice view: Attack sequences are displayed.
• Nice view: Heroes progression slowed.
• Nice view: Martha is now displayed as enemy Dungeon Lords on the mini map.
• Nice view: built additional input heroes for the player.
• Nice view: Enemy Dungeon Lords now attack with monsters.

Graphics
• beautiful floor final at the walls of the sunken temple.
• Modeled variations of granite surfaces for all the cards.
• Eastern European and Cyrillic characters in Fontmap inserted.
• normal map from Statdtor in Mission Schnuffelbergen fixed.
• Various improvements in particle effects.
• Errors in input Navigationsmeshes the hero in the levels of "Catacombs" and "Sunken Temple" fixed.

General bug fixes
• Stability of the game improved.
• Fixed problem that was in some cases, after loading a saved game winning a mission, not advanced.
• Memory Leak Fixed
• Camera does not solve any clipping errors from everything, while the player is under the influence of the spell "Through the eyes of the Lord."
• On the death of Dungeon Lords is the magic "Through the eyes of the Lord" be broken.
• scrolls are stored in the profile and taken to the next level.
• game progress in the profile can not be lost when you lose a loaded map.
• Cool Down for scrolls to be displayed correctly.
• Objects are not selected for sequences incorrectly.
• Achievements of the type "no more than x hero in prison," now work.
• Game statistics showing the number of heroes now escaped properly.
• In English, it is shown the number of escorting slime monster right now.
• Challenges are beginning to appear on maps correctly.
• Rewards are displayed in the correct quest item.
• Goblins fill treasures now correct, even when heroes just the same time help yourself to it.
• Several spoken text of a character can no longer be played by each other.
• Population limit with four digits will be displayed properly.
• The touch panel can not display the same tip several times.
• Tips for repairs scrolls.
• Selections will be lifted only by right-clicking or if this a movement command is given.
• Exempt heroes are no longer counted in the statistics as to escape.
• need satisfaction of the heroes is already displayed in the GUI, if it is on the way to make interaction.
• Heroes no magic spells or due to Goblins.
• Visual Effects for Spell Shield now works for all monsters.
• Lootbags or heroes that can end up with scare away goblins in goods are collected again.
• Spells that do not belong to the avatar will now have correct tool tips.
• Too long GUI texts with "..." abbreviated.
• Improvement of the detail Overview for spawn points.
• Uncovered areas of a map may once again disappear in the fog-of-War.
• tool tips in the Quick Launch toolbar now work correctly.
• Resolve several smaller bugs in the main menu.
• The field of view is when you zoom in the minimap now displays correctly.
• Demolition of a pentagram using a keyboard key now deletes the corresponding monster.
• soul energy loss is indicated by Floating Numbers.
• Class Heroes distribution of inputs is now displayed correctly.
• Improved stability when playing videos.
• Game starts now, even without sound card.
• Bugs in connection with plane change of the avatar fixed.
• Names of side quests will now display correctly in the quest book.
• The Maya XXL chest now has a correct description.
• On the death or teleporting the Dungeon Lords are killed all his minions summoned.
• Challenges to the deletion of gimmicks are now calculated correctly.
• Placement of Wandgimmicks corrected.
• Troubleshooting bugs related with too many open handles when playing sounds.
• Problems related to the selection of gimmicks and scrolls in the quick bar and minimal movement of the mouse fixed.
• Fixed a bug that occurs when the scrolls were activated too quickly.
• Dungeon Lord teleports to walk away from areas impassable.
• The building of Raumgimmicks rooms are now stained immediately.
• Gimmicks can not be built in other gimmicks by quick click.
• avatar can not build more gimmicks while the effect of the spell "Through the eyes of the Lord."
• Several bugs related to the playing of fixed in-game sequences.
• Flickering lights were removed from sequences.
• projectiles are flying independently in a straight trajectory from the ground.
• For the challenge, "book collector" are now all the gimmicks and not just the Kapazitδtsgimmicks.
• Dungeons is now working with the current version of the AlienFX Alienware m11x r1.
• Characters are not wrong in and after more animation sequences.
• Captured pentagrams can now always be demolished.
• Description text for coinbasin fixed.
• Tooltip that was broken in the hero's detail window fixed.
• The demolition of a room is now the level indicator removed.
• heroes as no opponent more that are too far away.
• If the Dungeon Lord receives during a fight a motion ordered to build it then do not try again once the battle with his former opponent to take.
• All traps can now be built, if at the back wall of the objects are attached.
• Goblins take heroes even if they are not at an accessible position.
• Keyboard command added to attack the selected object.
• No longer possible to break in a sequence.
• "Exorbitant Weapon Rack" can not be built into walls.
• In Map Schneeglφckelingen the fire angel now gets the right wards. Martha and Volbar no longer use the round kick, as this damages the fire angel.
• Improvement of finding opponents in the fight logic.
• Monster will no longer spawn in inaccessible objects.
• KI States can now be overridden by Lua from.
• Wandering monsters can now also conjure.
• Improve the animations at a low level of detail.
• Open build menu can not lead to stuttering.
• The demolition of Prestigegimmicks be charged the remaining Prestige will always be correct.
• avatar can not die a hero behind the entrance
• Rotate the camera breaks with the right mouse button from not more Bauaktionen.
• Click on mana or life-centered display the avatar.
• Town-portal of the hero now takes 30 seconds.
• Martha's return to the throne room, when the Dungeon Lord dies.
• Ordinary Heroes inputs to listen to spawn, when already 40 heroes are in a dungeon.
• Necromancer and Hell champion not over-powered are.
• Improvement of the weapons of choice in combat logic.
• Picking the soil has been improved.
• GUI can now be scripted with Lua.
• The attribute panel shows changes in values immediately.
• pentagrams can only be built is in compliance with public space, even if the same type were already pentagrams conquered.
• Meets challenges remain on the campaign map is no longer grayed out.
• Countdown to the arrival of a champion for the first begin with the opening of a hero gate.
• All challenges are now displayed in the campaign map.
• Challenge "Prince of Darkness" is one of the only players built gimmicks.
• spell "Invisibility" is now interrupted by magical damage.
• The Map Freud Bach was the skill quest fixed.
• Map Lecker-Schmeckerlingen no longer crashes when they have to win without a scroll.
• The Dungeon Lord does not go back to attackers who had attacked him during a run command.
• In the crystal throne map all dialogs are now displayed correctly.
• Music is not interrupted when entering or leaving a sequence.
• grave logic in improved maps with layers.
• Priests no longer heal each other.
• Icons of the Level 2 weapons chamber Interaktionsgimmicks fixed.
• If you immediately at the start of a sequence "Esc" key presses, can no longer crash the game.

I had to run it through Google Translate, some of it does not.....translate all that well.

I wonder if German customers are feeling a little bit like guinea pigs at this point.