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

[Tyranicon]

According to the dev on gameplay length (in hours):

It's probably 40-80, but I don't want to over promise, so I say 20-40

And also

There are manuals in the works

Personally, I will be waiting a while for the game to be polished before diving in, but this is looking pretty good bros

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

Still not a big fan of the graphics but it's an RPG after all and if I prioritized graphics I'd never have played Dark Disciples II (which is a goddamn epic beast of an RPG - and one of my eternal favourites in the genre - under its rather unappealing hide). So I got the game. First thing I noticed: The annoying breathing animations are gone - thank God! And secondly: The game immediately draws me in, feels natural and direct, there is an overall very motivating, adventurous, atmospherically strong vibe to everything. RPG system seems solid, controls work well. I only delved in for some minutes but I'm eager to continue playing. In the first minutes it's clear that the dev put much dedication and love in this game.

 

[Jinn]

but this is looking pretty good bros

Even with the lack of challenge?

 

[Tyranicon]

but this is looking pretty good bros

Even with the lack of challenge?

Maybe the dev will add difficulty options.

If not, just use the tried-and-true method of hobbling yourself by allowing one rest per 30 minutes/5 battles, whatever.

This is how I ran permadeath modes in games that don't have them. If you die, wipe your save files.

 

[Jinn]

Maybe the dev will add difficulty options.

If not, just use the tried-and-true method of hobbling yourself by allowing one rest per 30 minutes/5 battles, whatever.

This is how I ran permadeath modes in games that don't have them. If you die, wipe your save files.

Very rare that I'll use self-imposed rules to hobble myself for the sake of challenge. If it's something very minor, sure, but it's the developer's job to make the game challenging, not mine.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Maybe the dev will add difficulty options.

If not, just use the tried-and-true method of hobbling yourself by allowing one rest per 30 minutes/5 battles, whatever.

This is how I ran permadeath modes in games that don't have them. If you die, wipe your save files.

Very rare that I'll use self-imposed rules to hobble myself for the sake of challenge. If it's something very minor, sure, but it's the developer's job to make the game challenging, not mine.

I kind of agree... certainly if a game is too easy there's no helping it, but DIY ironman for a game that doesn't explicitly have that mode seems fine if you like that type of experience and the resting thing seems legit since otherwise you can rest every 3 steps in certain games and at that point, why not just have regenerating health after every battle and all abilities be per encounter use?

 

[Jinn]

Really a shame the developer hasn't been here since mid-December. It'd be nice to get their take on all this.

 

[Tyranicon]

Maybe the dev will add difficulty options.

If not, just use the tried-and-true method of hobbling yourself by allowing one rest per 30 minutes/5 battles, whatever.

This is how I ran permadeath modes in games that don't have them. If you die, wipe your save files.

Very rare that I'll use self-imposed rules to hobble myself for the sake of challenge. If it's something very minor, sure, but it's the developer's job to make the game challenging, not mine.

Fair enough. It's my personal go-to with easy games or games that have not-fun difficulty options (turns everything into a HP sponge, etc). Devs in recent years have gotten better with difficulty options, but
I've had too many corrupted saves or game-breaking bugs to trust a built-in permadeath ironman mode again.

Really a shame the developer hasn't been here since mid-December. It'd be nice to get their take on all this.

Normally I would say that as a normal person, the sane thing would be to avoid the codex. But seeing how this is launch week and they're running around throwing up patches (one bug at a time, apparently), they're probably pretty busy.

 

[CyberWhale]

 

[fantadomat]

Looks pretty good,wouldn't mind buying it if it came to gog.

 

[Whisper]

but this is looking pretty good bros

Even with the lack of challenge?

Where you got that info?

 

[Jinn]

Where you got that info?

From Tyranicon.

I'm not too far, about two hours in. My opinions.

Pros:

• Great music
• I like the art and animations, even if they are simple
• Each character has their own special skills to use on the map, they open up new dialogue with NPCs, etc
• The RPG basics are done very well for a first time solodev (better than me at any rate)
• The writing is competent enough
• A classic cave-exploring, party-based, turn-based RPG

Cons:

• Buggy. There's no way around it, there's a fair amount of bugs in here.
• Some weird design decisions, and the system is not explained well. Some mechanics are left vague.
• Way too easy. Are there any drawbacks to the resting system? Seems like you could just spam rests and you'd steamroll all the combat encounters.
• Some balancing issues, certain spells (like the rock drop that stuns enemies) are way too strong.
• Lots of typos

Right now I would say this is the type of game you buy to support the dev, but it holds a fair amount of promise. IMO, releasing into early access would've helped a lot.

Sadly the reason why I haven't gotten the game yet, despite being very interested in it and feeling that it looks promising in most regards.

 

[Tyranicon]

Where you got that info?

From Tyranicon.

I'm not too far, about two hours in. My opinions.

Pros:

• Great music
• I like the art and animations, even if they are simple
• Each character has their own special skills to use on the map, they open up new dialogue with NPCs, etc
• The RPG basics are done very well for a first time solodev (better than me at any rate)
• The writing is competent enough
• A classic cave-exploring, party-based, turn-based RPG

Cons:

• Buggy. There's no way around it, there's a fair amount of bugs in here.
• Some weird design decisions, and the system is not explained well. Some mechanics are left vague.
• Way too easy. Are there any drawbacks to the resting system? Seems like you could just spam rests and you'd steamroll all the combat encounters.
• Some balancing issues, certain spells (like the rock drop that stuns enemies) are way too strong.
• Lots of typos

Right now I would say this is the type of game you buy to support the dev, but it holds a fair amount of promise. IMO, releasing into early access would've helped a lot.

Sadly the reason why I haven't gotten the game yet, despite being very interested in it and feeling that it looks promising in most regards.

So I went back and did some testing on the camping function. Here's the camp screen:

So you see a bunch of slots, including one for keeping watch. So I'm assuming enemies will attack you at some point, but after resting until night/morning six times in a row, nothing attacked me. I can't remember being attacked a single time during rests in Chapter 1.

So, this may be because the dev wanted things easier in the intro chapter, or it's bugged, or the frequency of rest attacks is just really low.

 

[Jinn]

So you see a bunch of slots, including one for keeping watch. So I'm assuming enemies will attack you at some point, but after resting until night/morning six times in a row, nothing attacked me. I can't remember being attacked a single time during rests in Chapter 1.

So, this may be because the dev wanted things easier in the intro chapter, or it's bugged, or the frequency of rest attacks is just really low.

Interesting. So the difficulty could indeed ramp up as the game progresses - which would make sense, of course. Can anyone later in the game confirm?

 

[Whisper]

Where you got that info?

From Tyranicon.

I'm not too far, about two hours in. My opinions.

Pros:

• Great music
• I like the art and animations, even if they are simple
• Each character has their own special skills to use on the map, they open up new dialogue with NPCs, etc
• The RPG basics are done very well for a first time solodev (better than me at any rate)
• The writing is competent enough
• A classic cave-exploring, party-based, turn-based RPG

Cons:

• Buggy. There's no way around it, there's a fair amount of bugs in here.
• Some weird design decisions, and the system is not explained well. Some mechanics are left vague.
• Way too easy. Are there any drawbacks to the resting system? Seems like you could just spam rests and you'd steamroll all the combat encounters.
• Some balancing issues, certain spells (like the rock drop that stuns enemies) are way too strong.
• Lots of typos

Right now I would say this is the type of game you buy to support the dev, but it holds a fair amount of promise. IMO, releasing into early access would've helped a lot.

Sadly the reason why I haven't gotten the game yet, despite being very interested in it and feeling that it looks promising in most regards.

Thanks, will pass this game if its so too easy.

 

[Tyranicon]

Ugh, you guys are making me do like work and shit. Do I get some kind of codex award for this?

 

[mediocrepoet]

Ugh, you guys are making me do like work and shit. Do I get some kind of codex award for this?

I was going to give you a brofist but you said you wanted an award instead, so there you are, good sir! Happy days to you!

 

[Tyranicon]

Dev seems like a chill guy.

I told to come give us a visit so he might.

 

[Jinn]

Thanks for going through the discord rigmarole for us, Tyranicon. Appreciate it. Sounds like it should get more challenging as it goes on. Going to buy it now!

 

[ghostdog]

Ugh, you guys are making me do like work and shit. Do I get some kind of codex award for this?


View attachment 32766

Gold fisting is the best I can do

 

[WarHamster]

Those of you waiting for a GOG release, don't hold your breath. (This from the game's Steam forum.)

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Why all characters in pixel art games have breathing issues?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Why all characters in pixel art games have breathing issues?

Nostril pixel size not big enough to allow sufficient oxygen flow.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

Why all characters in pixel art games have breathing issues?

Not anymore, thankfully. No breathing animations in the release version.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

Those of you waiting for a GOG release, don't hold your breath. (This from the game's Steam forum.)

View attachment 32816

Yeah, GOG has become a strange place in the last years. Less and less "good old games", more and more cheap manga and hentai crap. And they regularly reject interesting indie games without discernible reason.