KickStarter Darkest Dungeon Pre-Release Thread

[zeitgeist]

I've seen a lot of custom class mods and other additions, is any of this worth getting and installing in the present state, or should I wait until the base game is fully finished?

 

[Ulminati]

I've seen a lot of custom class mods and other additions, is any of this worth getting and installing in the present state, or should I wait until the base game is fully finished?

If you are planning to get it eventually (or already have it), it's a good way to spend a few hours. Just be careful you don't sink a lot of time into it or you'll burn out on release.

 

[Zombra]

I've seen a lot of custom class mods and other additions, is any of this worth getting and installing in the present state, or should I wait until the base game is fully finished?

If you are planning to get it eventually (or already have it), it's a good way to spend a few hours. Just be careful you don't sink a lot of time into it or you'll burn out on release.

What he said. I've definitely had a fun few hours with it, and it was nice learning about how some of the systems work etc., but it's not yet time to play the game "for real". October's just a couple months anyway.

 

[Gozma]

I tried to hop back in and found myself still burnt after playing it pretty hard for the original first release. There's really just not enough meat to it. It has very little to do with difficulty - in the end it's still an unloseable game where being harder mostly means it takes longer. The good stuff is the cool content - as in the drawings, the narrator guy, etc. which runs out in a few hours.

If it had an easy mode where you could blithely do dumb shit like touch interactables without knowing the proper key items I'd recommend that, just for maybe 5-6 hours of play before you beat it.

 

[Gord]

Difficulty settings might actually not be such a bad idea. It's probably impossible to find a "one size fits all" approach with such a game.
It gets even more complicated considering that the devs consider losing team members or entire parties a part of the experience - something which is hard to communicate to most players, I think.

Also I wonder what they are aiming for in terms of play time. Currently it looks as if it might easily take 30-50 hours to complete, which is much too long for the relatively samey gameplay. At, say, 10-15 hours I could see myself replaying it a couple of times (albeit with some time in between). On the other hand the game is not random enough for a 1-2 hour short rogue-like experience either.

 

[Renevent]

I haven't spent a huge amount of time with the game (waiting for release)...but the experience I had with the difficulty initially (right on EA release) and playing recently is pretty dramatic. Granted, I know a patch or two since has been release but the last time I played (right after they added corpses) the game felt much more difficult, and for me in a bad way. Just felt more tedious, and things like being crit seemed to happen more often. I had a lot of fun the first time I played but if the "new" difficulty is where they are heading I don't think I will enjoy the game all that much.

The corpse mechanic blows as well. Maybe a few mobs can leave a corpse, but corpses just add unneeded frustration without any cool mechanics to offset it...they're just annoying.

I think there will be modding, though, is that correct?

 

[Jimmious]

The game definitely needs a failure state. Im actually wondering why there is none yet.

 

[prodigydancer]

The game definitely needs a failure state

to further incentivize people to err on the side of caution.

Great suggestion... if your goal is to make an already grindy game even more grindy.

 

[Gord]

The corpse mechanic blows as well. Maybe a few mobs can leave a corpse, but corpses just add unneeded frustration without any cool mechanics to offset it...they're just annoying.

I don't think they are so bad actually. There are enough abilities to deal with them, by shuffling or destroying them. They also make back-row abilities more useful as the enemy mobs keep their position longer.
Anyway the last patch has toned them down a bit again, so they should be easier to dispose of.

 

[Inspectah]

I've been playing the game recenttly, and didn't find the start so hard, just got to be super cautious and, just like other rogue-likes, minimize the amout of RNG you subject yourself to.
My biggest problem with the game is the grindiness and the amount of micromanagement required to have a decent group, but I know some people like that, to each his own

 

[PhantasmaNL]

new patch

tldr:

• Corpses and Heart Attacks can be disabled via the Options menu (Accessible only once you've started a campaign, and these settings are campaign-specific)

devs explain:

Let's Talk About the Corpse in the Room (Gameplay Options in Build #10217+)
Let’s talk about the corpse in the room.

When we deployed the Corpse & Hound patch in July, it brought quite a bit more upheaval within the community than we were expecting, centered largely on the corpses and heart attacks features, and to a lesser extent some of the other combat related changes such as the introduction of more armoring (PROT) for some enemies and the increasing of monster crits.

While many of you have enjoyed these new features, it's very clear that many others do not. In some cases, you feel that it has fundamentally altered your personal experience with the game--turning it from something you loved into something you don’t. The feedback has been clear that sometimes this comes down to a single feature even. Simply put:that’s a huge bummer for all of us.

Our obligation and promise to you has always been to try to make the best game possible, and we take that very seriously. We have an internal compass - a strong vision for Darkest Dungeon that has guided us every step of the way from inception to now. That compass was just as integral in producing the Corpse & Hound content as it was in features before that. Furthermore, we’ve always considered the ability to experiment as a huge benefit of Early Access.

However, we recognize that being for sale in Early Access also brings other important obligations. The Darkest Dungeon community is very large now, and quite a bit more varied than we would have ever expected! We’ve always been humbled by this show of enthusiasm and support. You have given us your hard-earned money, and when we make large changes, we acknowledge there is the potential for you to feel like you had the rug pulled out from underneath you.

We believe that corpses and heart attacks are important mechanics for the game, not only for the reasons initially discussed in the Corpse & Hound design notes but reinforced by our observations since.However, today we are introducing a set of gameplay options (accessed via the normal Options menu) which allows you to turn them off.

Just as we were willing to experiment by adding these features, we are willing to experiment with ways to allow you to shape the DD experience a bit to your liking. As many of you know, we have been reluctant to add difficulty related options until now because focusing on our intended version of the game has been our number one priority and our experiments and changes during Early Access have all been in support of iterating on that. But it would be foolish for us to not consider the fact that the Darkest Dungeon community is now big enough to include diverse groups, some of which would like to play the game differently than we might have envisioned. Although we’ve always been unapologetic about how important it is that Darkest Dungeon is punishing, unforgiving, and sometimes not even “fair”...at the end of the day we want those of you who own it to have fun and that can’t be forgotten.

For clarity,our official vision of the game leaves these two features ‘on’ by default.This does not mean the features are the best they can be yet, but we feel they are important in context of the broader experience. Those of you who would like to enjoy the game without corpses and heart attacks now have the option to. In addition, we’ll be collecting metrics on their use so we have a better understanding of the entire community.

We’re acutely aware that the addition of these options will not solve every issue with the game or even every concern that sprouted from the Corpse & Hound update itself.We’ve been active throughout Early Access and you can continue to look forward to continued content drops and gameplay iterations in the future.

We are going to continue to pursue our vision for the game--after all, that’s why we are all here in the first place. But if we can do better at providing ways for different people to enjoy the game in a way that suits them, we’ll be on the lookout for how to do it without compromising what the game is all about. It’s one of the benefits of making a single player game, really. Modding will eventually help with that as well and we remain excited about that, but we don’t yet have the infrastructure to officially support it.

Finally - we want to say a sincere thank you for your support and feedback - we care passionately about our game, and our community. It’s obviously a challenge to meet the needs of different groups sometimes, but we know that your passion is coming from a love of the game. We encourage your thoughts and observations - positive and negative - throughout this Early Access experience. Please rest assured, we will continue to read and carefully consider your posts, tweets, and emails as we push towards our full release.

Delve deep and keep to the light,

--the Darkest Dungeon team

 

[Inspectah]

If anyone here knows, is it worth it to keep the light levels high at all times or should I let it drop to get better loot?
Is it worth the risk/stress?

 

[Jasede]

It used to be worth playing at minimal light at all times but ever since they hiked up the difficulty I've been wary about it.

 

[Inspectah]

Yeah, that's why I asked, some months ago I would go with zero torches, but now it just didn't seem to be worth the risk of the stronger monsters and heart attack

 

[Pope Amole II]

Is it worth the risk/stress?

I've played mostly in the dark (with the exception of parties that depend on light to survive - dodge parties, for example, or sun ring ones) and it was totally worth it. The loot discrepancy is 2x-3x times and that was under the last patch - the new one is supposed to make that even higher. And dying of heart attack is really difficult as long as your party composition is nice and you don't push yourselves too hard.

Of course, that goes mostly for novice and expert dungeons period - once you start running champion, there's no real incentive to go dark there. Simply no reward for it - money stop being an issue at that time.

 

[Eirikur]

Looks like Darkest Dungeon got a politically correct overhaul.

:incloosive:

 

[Excidium II]

Looks like Darkest Dungeon got a politically correct overhaul.

:incloosive:

Look like fine europeans to me.

 

[Agesilaus]

Looks OK I guess, but I don't like jrpgs

 

[Jaesun]

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Pope Amole II]

Looks like Darkest Dungeon got a politically correct overhaul.

Eh, they're just putting Dark into the Darkest Dungeon.

 

[Gozma]

Backer designed class

noooooooo

 

[Gord]

Some more info about the upcoming Cove update (about to drop mid-late september):
http://www.dorkadia.com/2015/08/30/pax-prime-2015-darkest-dungeon-the-cove/

 

[Gord]

Cove update due tommorow:

Including undead pirates

Spoiler

Hope they manage to spice up the basic gameplay formula a bit.

 

[Lhynn]

Well, thats kinda underwhelming, when i saw the anker i thought we may see some more lovecraft elements. Pirates are boran, undead pirates are a joke.