Well said, Dorateen, in your assessment of RoMD.
I started a run of this game myself last night. I agree with you. It's an enjoyable, old-school dungeon romp with simplified 3E D&D rules, admittedly neutered character advancement (you can't choose any of your feats or skills once you level up; they're chosen for you), and rather pleasing graphics and sound.
With the latest patch (1.4 I think?) it's surprisingly and pleasantly bug-free so far. It's a lot of fun to play. I love the atmosphere, I love the D&D lore in it, and I actually enjoy the combat. You can't just stand there in a doorway and let the orcs pile up in front of it and come to you, they're going to pincushion you with their bows unless you back into the room and draw them in. There are rudimentary AoO's, there are defend and delay combat options -- just enough to be light tactical enjoyment.
I'm actually glad I never played it when it was released. Going into the game completely blind has been a pleasure so far.
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Pretty rude of you guys to hijack this thread like that.
Anyway, RoMD continues to impress me so far. I'm still in the beginning parts of the dungeon, just cleared out the orc-infested Main Hall, and found a neat little room with some good treasure in it. I've battled ghouls, who are tough, wraiths, who are tougher, and a ghast so far, who took a near-miracle to beat. My dwarf cleric saved the party.
As Black Cat stated in her LP, the DM narrative is a nice little touch. There's always something interesting to check out in each part of the dungeon, driving away any monotony that might arise due to the sameness of the graphics assets used, etc. I love how the music changes to new tunes the deeper in you go.
Unless this game takes a turn for the megaderp, which I realize it may, I don't know why it was hated so much. For a D&D nerd, so far, it's heavan. I just wish it had more depth of character development.
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Just had another excellent session with this game. Happened upon the orc boss and his two lieutenants, one an orcish sorcerer and the other a witchdoctor. We tried to close with them but the boss laughed at my 2nd level warrior's puny attempt to swat at him and the witch doctor pummeled my own sorcerer with Magic Missiles. Party wipe. Cool death scene. Reload.
I go carefully around them this time planning a major comeback once I've leveled up, and this time come upon a creepy room with two very powerful undead -- I think they were called origons? In any case it was a pretty hairy encounter until my fighter equipped his recently-found two-handed warhammer of death which is +2 against undead and +6 damage against them! Two nice hits and the first one went down. My dwarf cleric held the other one off long enough for the fighter to leap over and smash the thing on its rotting head. Nice. Found some very nice amulets in their coffins, one of them +2 to STR and the other one perfect for the dwarf.
I'm playing Dungeons and Dragons the way it was meant to be and I'm loving it. How's that for borrowing two slogans at once?
Suck it, Volourn.
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The hits just keep on coming! Here's another exciting encounter:
Still exploring Main Halls. Bust the doors open on what must've been the orc boss's second-in-command. He's got a nice little pad down here, pretty well tucked away. Problem is he's got some serious muscle with him. Two big bodyguards and a priest capable of casting Hold Person. Not good for a 2nd-level party. But I've got a couple of aces up my sleeve, one of which is a brand-new sorcerer I just added to my party by freeing him from a stone prison (long story). More muscle of my own.
Combat starts with me trying to range the caster. Big guys rush my fighter who's blocking the door. Dwarf cleric's right next to him. That's good because the orc priest Holds my fighter and I'm thinking "oh, shit." Luckily, dwarf's got a Cure Paralysis scroll on him, two in fact. Other members are doing what they can but my priority is now saving the fighter's ass. Dwarf uses the scroll even though one of those big guards is right on top of him, fighter's now free, dwarf takes a big hit. He's now low on HP. Start pummeling the guards up front now but the orc priest gets the fighter AGAIN with another Hold Person. Dammit! Alright, dwarf, you know what you gotta do. Frees the fighter but takes another AoO, and dwarf drops like a stone. Not good.
Now by this time I'm getting sick of this orc priest asshole. Time to pull one of those aces. My female sorcerer pulls out her newly-purchased Wand of Stinking Cloud, which cost a pretty penny. Perfect placement. Now that priest and all his friends along with the boss are puking their orcish guts out. The tide has turned. Multiple Heal skill attempts on the dwarf finally stabilize him. Fighter takes down the guards. My half-orc rogue/barbarian sticks a +1 arrow in that priest's eye and he goes down.
The underboss is now pissed. He tries to rush the fighter but gets a big whiff of those noxious fumes. Ha, take that! He stands there helplessly, turning greener than the cloud itself. We all casually step back, equip missile weaponry, and proceed to pincushion his ass at will. He drops, cloud dissipates, we heal up, and loot this nasty-looking mace he was carrying. Well done.
Think anything like that ever happened in NWN? I don't.
