Old school Dungeon crawl: 'Legend of Grimrock'

[Greg Wak]

Is there no way to attack using the keyboard?  I'm finding that I'm staring at the 4 portraits during combat for click aiming rather than watching the combat.

No. And I think this is a poor design choice. I don't want to spend combat staring at a hand.
I like the game, but it spins up the fan on my 460 like crazy.

make sure you have vsync turned on, otherwise it'll render too quickly and cause your temps to go up.

Thanks CeeKay. I had to go searching because the fan noise was driving me crazy. I found out without vsynch the game can render up to 200fps. The temp never got high enough to hurt my card, but the fan noise hurt me.
I can be such an idiot. The game says use lmb to put weapon in the hand, and rmb to attack. So for the first level and a half i was left clicking then right clicking for every swing. Duh. Then in a big flurry I realised my idiocy. Combat is much smoother now.

[Greg Wak]

This game is as frustrating as I feared it might be. Had to look up solutions to three puzzles already, and spiders are the bane of my life right now. Lots of repeating. That being said, I love the game concept and the production values are top notch. I have always been a big sucker for skill trees. I just hunger to get to the next cool skill.So I will put up with all the reloads and being a save bitch every 3 feet.

[wonderpug]

What are the odds of this game getting some good player mods?  I like the idea of the game and the game engine, but all the little design decisions I don't like are kind of adding up to make this a game I don't want to play. 

[TiLT]

This game is as frustrating as I feared it might be. Had to look up solutions to three puzzles already, and spiders are the bane of my life right now. Lots of repeating. That being said, I love the game concept and the production values are top notch. I have always been a big sucker for skill trees. I just hunger to get to the next cool skill.So I will put up with all the reloads and being a save bitch every 3 feet.

This is an indie game, appealing to a niche audience. As such it's a good idea not to expect typical commercial gameplay decisions. One of the things we've been trained to expect in modern, commercial games is to always expect progress, and to never get stuck. Grimrock doesn't cater to that kind of gameplay. You're supposed to get stuck and think about a puzzle for a while before the solution drops into your head, just like the original games in this genre did. In this way it's also very much like the classic LucasArts adventure games. Gameplay videos may seem to indicate that Grimrock is a mindless action game, but in reality it's a slow-paced tactical dungeon crawler with an emphasis on puzzles.

If the puzzles annoy you, just look up a walkthrough (if there are any at this point) and use those to skip the parts you don't like. Just be aware that you'll probably not end up liking the game very much when you remove one of its central aspects like that.

[Greg Wak]

Tilt, I fully understand all of that and knew what I was getting into in most aspects. If I just hated the puzzles and "forced strafing it would be one thing. The fact is I love 80% of it. it's the other 20% that drive me crazy. And I do look up the answers to the puzzles I get completely stuck on. There is no way I'm not getting to the bottom and out, I just have to grit my teeth now and then.

[Scraper]

Tilt, I fully understand all of that and knew what I was getting into in most aspects. If I just hated the puzzles and "forced strafing it would be one thing. The fact is I love 80% of it. it's the other 20% that drive me crazy. And I do look up the answers to the puzzles I get completely stuck on. There is no way I'm not getting to the bottom and out, I just have to grit my teeth now and then.

If the puzzles on level 3 are stumping you, then you better just bookmark your cheat page, because they will get a lot harder.

[TiLT]

A tiny hint that some may appreciate:

There's a very powerful crossbow that is found already on level 4, but which can actually be found before you even step down the main staircase to that level. It is hidden behind multiple layers of secrets and requires you to go through an area that is so tough that you actually get an achievement for surviving. It's worth it though.

For another push in the right direction, without outright spoiling it, look in the spoiler below:

Spoiler for Hiden:

The path to this crossbow begins on level 3, but does NOT involve dropping down holes.

[Crawley]

A tiny hint that some may appreciate:

There's a very powerful crossbow that is found already on level 4, but which can actually be found before you even step down the main staircase to that level. It is hidden behind multiple layers of secrets and requires you to go through an area that is so tough that you actually get an achievement for surviving. It's worth it though.

For another push in the right direction, without outright spoiling it, look in the spoiler below:

Spoiler for Hiden:

The path to this crossbow begins on level 3, but does NOT involve dropping down holes.

If its the place I think you're talking about, green glowing "critters", then I guess I have to go back. I went down there and almost died pretty quickly. Figured I probably wasn't supposed to be down there yet. But guess I'm going back.

[Morgul]

Since I am only on midway through level 2, thinking about restarting.  Made some mistakes on my characters, like Dex being shit for my rogue archer.

On the mage I have spread out my points between the schools.    I am thinking about rebuilding him and sticking all the points into one tree + spellcraft.

Like maybe ice + spellcraft or something.   I am not sure if that is wise or not.

Then a pair of minotaur warriors for the front rank, this time putting a little more into dex maybe for the evasion, and perhaps splitting points between armor and a weapon.   Seems like armor in this game has some pretty high penalties.

Anything else I need to think about before doing this?

[Greg Wak]

your choices seem pretty sound to me. I avoided the dex mistake but kinda wish I had gone with ice instead of fire. Ice freezes characters solid and it's nice to have them out of commission for a bit. Fire may have some nice bonuses later on, but I'm not that far down the tree yet.

[TiLT]

Fire does pretty serious damage when you're starting to lob fireballs around.

[jersoc]

Is there no way to attack using the keyboard?  I'm finding that I'm staring at the 4 portraits during combat for click aiming rather than watching the combat.

No. And I think this is a poor design choice. I don't want to spend combat staring at a hand.
I like the game, but it spins up the fan on my 460 like crazy.

make sure you have vsync turned on, otherwise it'll render too quickly and cause your temps to go up.

you mean make sure you download 3doverdrive or whatever it's called. vysnc is shit.

[Calavera]

The main hint for combat is to never, ever, fight in a hallway. Backup until you get into a room (at least a 2x2 square). In the room, just start 'circling' in the box forcing the AI to move. Attack as soon as the AI is in range, then move to the diagonal. The AI will "break" after a few rounds of this and will start turning left and right a few times before walking. Wait.. this makes it like an FPS. Circle strafe until dead then repeat.

[morlac]

My wife and 3 year old daughter both scared the crap out of me last night when I was playing with headphones on.  It was awesome!  I play this on the edge of my seat and never blink least I miss some secret clickie on the wall   Seriously this game wears me out after a half hour of play.  I have to play in small chucks.   Loving it so far and can't wait to see what they add to it over time.

[Arclight]

My wife and 3 year old daughter both scared the crap out of me last night when I was playing with headphones on.  It was awesome!  I play this on the edge of my seat and never blink least I miss some secret clickie on the wall   Seriously this game wears me out after a half hour of play.  I have to play in small chucks.   Loving it so far and can't wait to see what they add to it over time.

Hahah, yeah I've had experiences like that. The biggest one was years ago in the original "Unreal". Remember the part near the beginning where you're in a dak passage way with dim lights on above all the way down the hall. Everything goes quiet and then you hear a click and the farthest light down the hall goes out, then the next and the next..all the way toward you till finally you're in complete darknes knowing that something very bad is about to happen you just don't know what. A pin dropping behind me at that time would have sent me through the roof...loved it.

[Crawley]

Whew. Finished it up a bit ago. Had a total blast playing the game begining to end. I really enjoyed all the puzzles in the game as they were never really the same and there were some fun ones thrown in ("Dungeon Hero"). I also really enjoyed the story for the few scraps of story elements the come up from the notes and sleeping. There was enough mystery there to keep me engaged. And without spoiling anything the whole final section (the last two levels of the dungeon) were fantastic.

18hrs played according to Steam - although I did have the game minmized some today while...uh...squezing in a few minutes here and there at work. 

I had a lot of unsued crap at the end including a ton of throwing items I should have gotten rid of a long time ago, an incredible amount of food, and various weapons I held on to even though I barely used them. None of my characters got to 50 skill points. Think the closest one was 35 skill points in one area. But they were still pretty damn powerful at that level.

Can't wait till the next game.

[Morgul]

Can't wait till the next game.

These guys need to do some DLC/expansion stuff.  They can take my $, I would like to see more dungeon.   

[Crawley]

Neat little easter egg for those who have finished.

Spoiler for Hiden:

If you get the "Buddles with Toorun" achievement - get this by setting Toorun free (suppose that needs another spoiler) you can play as Toorun by starting a new game, changing the first character name to Toorun and hitting enter. You'll start the game solo as Toorun.

Apparently nothing has changed other than the notes are gone but Toorun has his own portrait, starts with some stats, and his movement speed is a lot faster.

Still a neat extra.

[Zinfan]

Patch coming soon which adds quick save key.

http://www.grimrock.net/2012/04/20/patch-1-1-4-released/

Oh and custom character portraits, I loved adding those to my Balder's Gate games.

[MonkeyFinger]

Patch was released on Steam today.

[Morgul]

Skeletons to the left of me, spiders on the right, here I am, stuck on  level 4 with no food.

 

[Bullwinkle]

Apparently, if you're not on Steam, you have to uninstall, download and reinstall the whole game (holding onto your game saves).  What a pain!

[Caine]

Apparently, if you're not on Steam, you have to uninstall, download and reinstall the whole game (holding onto your game saves).  What a pain!

well, if it makes you feel any better, those of us who were online when the patch first went out got to watch as Steam downloaded the entire game not once, not twice, but three times as the first two patches were broken. 

[Bullwinkle]

Legend of Grimrock is "in the plans" for iOS.

[EddieA]

No details yet, but the developers have announced that they're working on a sequel.

[Jancelot]

Nice. I loved this game. Felt like i was back in high school. Even broke out my old staple of Mt. Dew and mini pizzas.

[Greg Wak]

While I really enjoyed a lot of things about the game, the puzzles just got way to hard and I had to use a walkthrough for most of the second half. So it's not for me.

[Scraper]

While I really enjoyed a lot of things about the game, the puzzles just got way to hard and I had to use a walkthrough for most of the second half. So it's not for me.

If I were you I would just use the walkthroughs and enjoy the game. I hate getting frustated in games becase the puzzles are too difficult and the clues are vague or non existant.

[CeeKay]

Master Quest:

Legend of Grimrock - Master Quest is a complete re-working of the entire original game with tons of new puzzles, updated dungeon designs, unique story elements, and more. It has been referred to as "Grimrock on Steroids".

This project began as a precise re-creation of the original Legend of Grimrock dungeon with all its puzzles and scripting, largely as an exercise in mastering the editor. As I neared completion of that monumental task, I asked myself "Self, aren't people bored of the original game by now?". So I figured, why not pull a "Zelda" and create a changed-up re-imagined harder version and call it the Master Quest?

[Destructor]

Interesting...

I may have to give Grimrock another run sometime soon.

[Jancelot]

In. This game transported me back 20 years.

[EddieA]

Here's the first screenshot of the sequel.  It looks like we'll be going outside this time.

[Crawley]

Ooh that looks lovely. And outside too! Can't wait.

Up until Bioshock came out I've been playing the Master Levels mod. It doesn't seem to be quite as challenging as I was expecting but in some areas it is deathly hard. Its been awhile since I played the main game so I can't even tell where the changes are. Was having a blast with it though. But would welcome a sequel.

[Greg Wak]

While I loved the gameplay and graphics and the storyline, the puzzles were just too hard and I was lost. Had to play the second half of the game looking up solutions on line. If the LoG 2 is that hard, I'm out.