Legend of Grimrock 2 is worth playing now that there are some good mods!

[anvi]

Any blobber fans? I completed LoG2 when it first came out but I didn't exactly enjoy it. I liked the world and quests and puzzles and stuff, I just didn't like the combat.

But I looked it up recently and there are some mods now so I am playing it again with a mod called Magic of Grimrock and it is really good! You get a lot more spells and they are quite powerful, so it is recommended to up the difficulty from what you usually play, although you don't need to. It is also recommended to play with 2 wizzies but I actually recommend 3 because there are so many more useful spells, including at least one decent healing spell, so the third wiz could be built as a battle Cleric and go in the front row, give it evasion etc, and have it cast heals. But I didn't know this before so I am playing with just 2 wiz in the back row and it is great.

The game plays the same as usual, but you find extra spell scrolls along the way, and they get automatically added to a spellbook to store them all. You still have to cast them by drawing shapes, but there are more now. I don't really like the shapes thing because it means there are a lot to remember, but I love having more spells. You can now face tank stuff sometimes because you can heal through it. I also have an area effect spell which sets fire to everything nearby. I don't use it much because it uses a lot of mana so the single target one from the base game is best, but it helps sometimes. Also you get a spell called Oracle that lets you see buttons through walls, and there is a spell that drains your health and converts it to mana, so instead of resting all the time, you can often just cast the life drain and then the heal spell and the counteract each other and give you mana. There is also a frost spell that hits everything in a line, and many more.

If you are like me and liked the game apart from the combat then you might like it as much as me!

 

[anvi]

Make sure you give your casters 'Aura'...

 

[Siobhan]

Cool, I'll look into it. I loved LoG2 the first time around, easily one of the best RPGs we've had in ages. But when I attempted another replay I was pretty disappointed that there is actually much less build variety that one would think. My first party was an insectoid knight (light weapons), minotaur barbarian (heavy weapons), rattling alchemist (bows), and human battle mage (fire). Not the greatest choice, in hindsight, but capable enough to make combat fairly straight-forward. My second party was a dual-wielding lizardman rogue, insectoid battle mage (tank with light weapons and some utility spells), rattling fighter (heavy weapons), and minotaur rogue (throwing). I figured this party would play very differently, so that maneuvering and smart use of utility spells (shield, barrier, invisibility) would become more important. But in fact it worked out exactly the same for the first 5h, at which point I stopped. I also tried a solo farmer run, and that was just way too tedious.

Maybe the combat mod will indeed mix things up a bit. Though, to be frank, what I'd need is a "master quest" mod that moves the locations of items, changes the puzzles around, and makes everything more challenging. Puzzles and exploration are the greatest strengths of LoG2, and neither one holds up well to repeat plays for obvious reasons.

 

[Ivan]

does anyone know if there's a Master Quest being made for Grimrock 2?

 

[anvi]

Not sure that exists, but that would be amazing. For now I'm happy though, I really liked everything about the game except the combat so this mod gives new life to the game for me. There are lots of other mods too btw but this was the only one that looked worth it to me.

 

[anvi]

Hmm either this mod does a lot more than I thought, or they added a lot more secrets to this game in recent updates. I can find a bunch of tunnels and areas and new puzzles that never existed before. I even watched various walkthroughs and they have blank walls where there are now new rooms. So something must have updated the game with more stuff!

 

[Siveon]

The Magic of Grimrock mod does seem to add puzzles/rooms but the only mention of that seems to be in the comments on the Nexus.

Pretty cool!

 

[Scroo]

Sounds nice, thanks! Is it bug free too?

 

[anvi]

Seems perfect so far. I like how they have spread out the spells as well so you get them gradually. I am finding it hard to build the wizards though now because you can't just max fire/cold on one guy, and disease/air on another, because many of the bigger spells require points in 3 or 4 magic types. It is hard because you don't know what the better stuff will require until you get it later on, and by then you have already spent a lot of points. I am getting by fine though, I will probably end up being high concentration on one guy because some spells require that, and the other guy will have no conc but lots of fire, earth, etc.

The only other catch is that it seems to strongly favor some traits. I can't remember if you get to pick more later on but I think you can only get them at the start of the game... so it could be harsh if you don't pick the right ones. Aura is a must because it makes some buff spells hit your whole group, only if you have Aura. Luckily both my casters have that. But I got a new spell that gets boosted by Strong Mind which I don't have. That one doesn't really matter that much, but I would have restarted if I didn't have Aura.

 

[Lady_Error]

Somebody should create a TB combat mod for it... Or at least RTwP like in Stonekeep where you pause the action but can select your next spell in Pause-mode.

 

[Siobhan]

If you remove the time pressure and importance of good timing and smart maneuvering from the combat, you might just as well remove it completely because that's all there is to it. You could've just as well asked for a turn-based Diablo 2, that's equally pointless.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I'm giving this a try. It immediately fixes one glaring problem with Grimrock 2, which is the imbalance of the magic skills. Now each skill has a nice selection of spells, so it's now a viable choice to major in one of the five schools of magic and minor in another, instead of just maxing Fire and bumping Air to get the (somewhat underperforming) Meteor Storm while ignoring the rest.

And some of these spells are really cool. Deamonic Pact quickly became one of my favorites, and the various detection spells will be quite useful.

The problem is, the mod may be overdoing it on the spells. I'd have to play more to see what else lies in store, but even now (just reached Sleet Isle) there are too many spells, with too much dependance upon just two traits - instead of Aura and Strong Mind becoming viable choices they're now the ONLY sensible choice for spellcasters.

As for gameplay changes? There is real thought put into them. New areas are readily accessible, but to unlock some of them you need to get certain projectile spells and experiment with them. This gives the game a metroidvania vibe, as some areas and puzzles cannot be solved until later on.

 

[anvi]

Only issue for me is remembering all the damn shapes. I wish there was a hotkey mod so I could use more spells. So far I am only using the same 5 or 6 spells because that is all I can remember in the heat of the moment. I like it though, and I liked that I don't have to kite shit around in every single fight. I can just go toe to toe with stuff most of the time and whoop it while healing myself.

 

[cvv]

Aw shit don't tell me one of my favourite games in the last 10 years became even better. I loved almost everything about this game (except a few really dumbfuck gotcha puzzles, aaargh), including the combat. I was actually planning another playthrough in the next few months. I just hope the new spells won't make the game trivial.

 

[Darkzone]

"Legend of Grimrock 2 is worth playing now that there are some good mods!"
Wrong.
It was always good and was always worth playing. Nevertheless i will try the new mods out, if i have the time.

 

[anvi]

I just hope the new spells won't make the game trivial.

They are more powerful maybe 50% to 100% more powerful. But I liked it. I played on the same difficulty level (medium) and it just means I don't need to kite every fight. Usually I spent the whole game running backwards shooting stuff which got a bit tedious, now I can just tank stuff. The mod recommends playing on higher difficulty though so you could do that unless you already played on hard. For me the main thing that helps is the ability to heal which I hated not having in the original game. You can just use potions but now I just use magic instead, and I can cast a regen over time or a straight heal, so my party can tank stuff and I just heal through it. Harder enemies still require kiting though.

As for nukes I don't use much more than usual. I still use my flame/lighting/frost blast from the original game. I also have a new one that sets fire to the ground directly in front of you, and it lasts for several seconds. It does some more damage than the usual flame blast if you fight the enemy in the fire. There are also some spells that shoot out in a long line but I never use those because I figure they are not worth it unless you can line up a whole line of enemies, which is rare. Also I have some big explosion spells that spread out from the player and burn or nuke everything nearby, but I never use those either because they use so much mana and you rarely get yourself surrounded so it isn't worth it. I used it once and it was good because the burning effect lasted on the enemy for ages, but still wasn't worth the mana. But you could use it sometimes if you charge into a group of enemies and blast them all and then run away, or something.

But so far I like that 1 new nuke, the two heals, and the utility spells. Not sure what else is to come. I am still quite early in the game.

 

[anvi]

^ Since that post I just found some really powerful spells! I think Hard mode is the way to go. I got one that creates food, a good nuke, a teleport that lets you memorize a location and then teleport to it any time (uses a lot of mana though), and one called misdirection which chooses the character with the most health and sends all damage the group receives to that one character instead, and gives them a minor buff. They can die easily if you don't use it at the right time, but mostly it means your big tank can suck up all the damage and you just keep them healed.

It feels a lot more like a real RPG to me now. But it definitely makes things easier so I think Hard mode would be better. And if you already played on Hard, maybe need to find another mod to add more difficulty.

p.s. Memorizing shapes is getting hard!

 

[RuySan]

Indeed LoG2 was always great. I didn't try any Log2 mods, but I did play some good ones for LoG1. The best one was called "The mines of Malan Vael":

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=116990543

Highly recomended.

I will check Log2 mods soon.

 

[thesheeep]

Is there a mod that makes the game look a bit more like its inspirations?

Spoiler

Spoiler

What? I wanted to earn some edges, too.

 

[RuySan]

If Crypt of the Necrodancer was in first person it would make a whole lot more sense.

 

[*-*/\--/\~]

I checked the patch notes and...

- Scaling monsters: monsters now scale with you. They gain 5% damage, 5% health and award 5% more experience per level.
- Monsters now also gain accuracy when they scale.

Fuck off with that, keep the level scaling in Bethesda crapgames. ;/

 

[anvi]

Is there a mod that makes the game look a bit more like its inspirations?

Lols, well yeah the mod I talked about does that! Because you no longer need to dance around kiting enemies, you can just tank them and now you have heals and better magic.

 

[Valky]

I'd be more interested in something that made firearms not so shit. They need some form of renewable ammo.

 

[anvi]

So many great spells! I have a lot now but I can still only use about half of them. But I have at least 30 spells. Curious how to beat some of the new puzzles, I think I need some item from later in the game.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I checked the patch notes and...

- Scaling monsters: monsters now scale with you. They gain 5% damage, 5% health and award 5% more experience per level.
- Monsters now also gain accuracy when they scale.

Fuck off with that, keep the level scaling in Bethesda crapgames. ;/

5% is barely worth talking about. It'll probably only make a difference once you're up against heavy hitters like Ogres and Lava Golems, though the extra XP is nice.

I'd be more interested in something that made firearms not so shit. They need some form of renewable ammo.

The mod changes the Firearms skill so that malfunctions are eliminated after putting just two points into the skill. It's now a viable sidearm for my Ratling Alchemist (who's strikingly similar to Darth Roxor in appearance ).

As for getting more ammo, I think pistol-packing rats respawn for just that purpose.

So many great spells! I have a lot now but I can still only use about half of them. But I have at least 30 spells. Curious how to beat some of the new puzzles, I think I need some item from later in the game.

Earth Magic is very strong in this mod because that's where all the healing spells are, but Air Magic is not to be overlooked because of the mobility spells. Wind Runner boosting your movement speed is a godsend, especially underwater.

Most of the new areas feature puzzles that do one of two things: Have projectile receptacles that require a specific projectile, or have open spaces that need to be bridged. The problem with the receptacles is figuring out which projectile goes where, but there are visual clues present for almost every one. The problem with bridging gaps is that the Magic Bridge spell only allows one tile to be bridged per caster - if the mod actually intends that the player have 2+ casters in the party the author can go fuck off right now. Hopefully there's a more powerful version of the Magic Bridge spell somewhere.

It's clear to me that the modified dungeon is clearly designed with the intent that you can NOT grab all the goodies with a fresh party. You need 12 skillpoints to be able to fire all four elemental projectile spells, plus 3 more to fire the Darkbolt spell - that's 13 level-ups and almost 80% of the game right there. So my Battle Mage has been hogging the Spirit Mirror Pendant (+25% XP) and all Tomes of Knowledge I've come across.