Caves of Lore - turn-based pixel art RPG inspired by classics

[Anthedon]

I'm only three hours in, but color me impressed. There's a lot going on with the exploration aspect and secrets, the role the firmament seems to play, some nice turn based combat and even the eponymous lore looks interesting. For a one-man project this is pretty amazing (so far).

 

[Abu Antar]

I dropped the doggo. Sorry, Brutus! Invited another spellcaster. My party is looking for the librarian, but not much luck. I have delved into lots of places, but he probably just wants to read his books in peace.

My main hero has 29 armor, so he's the main tank, with two others sitting on 19 armor. I try to use those to flank enemies. The new guy is pretty useful with his summoning spells. It has been very helpful.

 

[Anthedon]

I ditched the dog too, on Brutal difficulty he just gets destroyed in combat.

 

[Abu Antar]

Where do you actually find the librarian?

I have killed cleared everything I can in the Bleak Halls, and Infested Chambers. I Decalcified the summoner, and got the miner out of the cocoon. Still no librarian.

 

[Kalarion]

Where do you actually find the librarian?

Spoiler

The Librarian is Naira, the leader of the refugees in Kalindraur. If you've cleared all of the Athenaeum, Bleak Halls and Infested Caves you should have found a note, from Laszra, telling you about the Moon Bridge that leads to the (blocked) southern entrance to Kalindraur. It will also mention the word you need to speak to Naira in order to unblock her memories.

 

[Falksi]

I'm having a whale of a time in the normie groups of Facebook as they bitch about 2023's GOTY going to either Zelda TOTK or FF16, and I keep dropping out the line "both those games should be considered contenders, but Caves of Lore will win it if we're going on quality of game and not brand loyalty".

Watching them being unable to compute that an indie game is better than their normie shit trash is just mint.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I'm clearing The Library and Bleak Halls now but still couldn't find the goat in graveyard. There is only a pig standing there...

 

[Abu Antar]

I'm clearing The Library and Bleak Halls now but still couldn't find the goat in graveyard. There is only a pig standing there...

The goat doesn't stand still. He's roaming nesr the top, I think. I rememberxescorting him back.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I looked everywhere in graveyard for 3 times, day and night. Clicked every goddamn tombstone, thinking maybe he is behind one of those.
Am I that blind??

 

[Abu Antar]

I looked everywhere in graveyard for 3 times, day and night. Clicked every goddamn tombstone, thinking maybe he is behind one of those.
Am I that blind??

He's roaming around to the east.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

There is a semi-hidden area in the east of the graveyard that isn't obviously traversable and to a lesser extent to the west.

 

[Clink]

How good is Android version/gameplay?
Just thinking of buying it to play on Samsung Tablet.

 

[Salvo]

Quite the hidden gem this one.
It's rare for a game to hold up my interest this well, without just autopiloting through the motions.

Exploration has been incredibly fun and well rewarding so far. You can feel the passion and the care that's been poured into making the environments interesting to navigate.

Probably the most fun I've had this year playing videogames. Dude's got talent, and I hope he delivers more.

 

[Darth Canoli]

So, I wanted to like this game, interesting spells and secrets but too much backtracking ad on top of that, no encounter design, combat gets boring really quickly.
Last but not least, itemization is retarded and the item upgrade thing is even worse.

It's not bad, it's just alright an alright RPG with random diablo and jrpg features on top of it.

A shame, it could have been way better, remove 2/3 of the battles and add a good encounter design for the remaining third and it would be 10 times better already.

 

[Abu Antar]

Today, I finished this. 36 hours was my completion time. Thank you, Kalarion for the game. For those wondering, there will be a sequel.

Pros:
-Exploration is fun, with lots of secrets to find.
-No real hand holding. Read notes, and go from there.
-Spells, and abilities. While there are way less abilities than spells, there is enough good ones. When it comes to spells, there are very many. I didn't learn all of them.
-Pre-combat buffing. While you can do absolutely fine without it, I like to have the option.
-Boss encounters are fun.
-Unique items are actually worth your time. This is important to me.

Neutral:
-Writing. It is serviceable. There's nothing wrong with it, but I skipped a lot of dialog.
-Graphics. Most of it is fine, but not a fan of the human sprites.

Negative:
-Human character Sprites.
-Diablo style loot is hit and miss. While you will find cool items, I prefer more handmade items.
-Better descriptions, or a full digital manual for attributes, traits, and so on.

Abu Antar is a moron:
-It took me 28 hours to realize that I could set a way point on the current map I was in, and then auto walk there.

 

[Naraya]

It took me 28 hours to realize that I could set a way point on the current map I was in, and then auto walk there

HOW?!

 

[Abu Antar]

It took me 28 hours to realize that I could set a way point on the current map I was in, and then auto walk there

HOW?!

When you have the local map up, there is a way point marker in the top left. Right click on the location you want to go to, and then press the character icon beneath the way point icon.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

Ha I only figured half of that out (the marker)!

 

[Naraya]

Ha I only figured half of that out (the marker)!

Same here...

 

[Anthedon]

And I'm through. Took me 30 about hours and I enjoyed it all the way to the end.

My biggest gripe is the (mostly) randomized loot. There are a couple of individual pieces and sets, but they are the exception. Some abilities and spells are also downright worthless, but that can be fixed with a little , I'm sure.

Overall, very impressive for a first game and even more so for a solo developer. Oh, and it looks like the second game will feature a savegame import option to boot.

 

[Filthy Sauce]

Just bought the game on gog. Can't tell which has the worst UI. The Galaxy client or this game.
HOE-EEE SHIT GUYS.
HOE.......EEE SHIT.

 

[cyborgboy95]

Camping Difficulty Option and new Spell
+ First, a new spell has been added to Planar Slag, a late game item. This will allow players to continue the questline without wasting unnecessary time dealing with moons.

+ Second, a new difficulty mode has been added for Camping. It defaults to Off.
The ideas is that Tiredness builds up and acts like a resource when healing. Spending time in camp uses up your Tiredness, which then prevents you from healing or gaining mana.

Tiredness can be gained back by wandering or fighting monsters, especially difficult ones.
Camping is not prevented, only healing. The idea is to limit the constant use of camping to fill up to max after fighting, for players that want more of a challenge.

Man and Health regen are not limited by Tiredness.

+ Last, some rare bug fixes.

 

[xuerebx]

So I bought the game after reading all the rad codex reviews - don't have plans to play it to completion for now but wanted to test it out. I like the graphics actually, it's reminding me of the old Monkey Island games heh. What I think can be vastly improved upon is the UI. It's not always clear what happens when you click a button on the menus, how to "prepare" spells, do you drag them or just click etc. It's not very intuitive IMO.

 

[Anthedon]

From the Discord:

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Game keeps crashing every few minutes with "no licenses" -message after latest GOG patch.

edit.
For fucks sake. It's trying to verify game via Steam client.
Since I own GOG version that's kinda a problem.

LoreMaster, please fix.