Going back to the subject of Dungeons, I'd mostly agree with jnecros. It's annoyingly simplistic. The monsters are nothing more than mumorpeger mobs that you set up respawn points for. The only way to automate dealing with heroes would be to set up some elaborate tower defence scheme where the heroes end up being knocked out, but only after they've gotten entertained enough.
Not to mention the map design is annoying. "They're taking your gold!" - well, no shit, you put the gold right next to the entrance and I can't create gold spots elsewhere on this level, asshole.
That first level of the demo was terribly conceived. Once they give you more control, it's quite a bit less frustrating.
Monsters are also balanced against different types of heroes (skellies for mages, mages eat slimes, ect...). But again, none of that is made apparent in the one demo level people actually play and can take the time to digest all the text and what not.
As for automation, it's about your needs. Do you need max soul energy, so you can build up prestige, so you don't get your ass kicked? In the campaign, the answer is yes. In sandbox, in which most of the game values are stored in LUA and can be changed, the answer is up to you.
I've told them that the penalty for your DL not killing a hero is way too stiff, and basically shoots the sim fun of the game in the face. They've heard me, but their response was "well it's only a 20% penalty on easy difficulty, and it's moddable, at any rate."
I keep hoping with enough feedback, they re-evaluate some of the parts of the game they interpreted as fun. I think they were caught unawares by how much everyone, including people who like the game, wish there were more sim features.
From the way people are talking back and forth here, (having not played it myself though,) it sounds like a lot of people are complaining because the mechanics work a little different from the way they expect. You feel like you HAVE to get 100% kills, and the game really really doesn't expect to you. Bothering to try will just cripple and annoy you, it's not the way the game works. Or something.
From what I understand, the campaign can get "FU" challenging if you don't play by their rules. Champions apparently will hand you your ass without the commensurate Dungeon Prestige bonus to beef up your stats. Heroes, eventually, will start doing the same if they gang up on you in large numbers. The demo paints a very ho-hum picture of overall difficulty. Apparently the campaign, with champions and all the other hero types, multiple open gates, constant side-quests and demands coming from your boss....they've balanced the game very tightly to their overall design. Which is why I think some people feel like they don't have room to maneuver.
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Topic: Dungeons 2011 - Now with 50% less thread disappointment (Read 37076 times)