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

[LoreMaster]

I've been playing this a little bit, not a great deal to add to what Kalarion has mentioned as that seems pretty spot on.

I gather this was very buggy at release, but I've not really noticed any outright issues yet so it seems as though most of these issues have been resolved.

Overall it seems a good game with some frustrations (that the dev still seems to be tweaking and working on). Also, I'm not normally a huge fan of pixel art, but it's quite charming in this game.

Yeah, I had some major challenges at release, going from a handful of playtesters to hundreds playing the game. Those bugs are pretty much resolved now, but it was quite a trying time.

 

[Skorpion]

Im inundated with things but the work you keep doing on this game has me wishlisting it for when I have a bit of time.
Nice work seeing your vision to completion and now polishing and improving on it!

 

[Infinitron]

Coming to GOG: https://af.gog.com/game/caves_of_lore?as=1649904300

The release date will be Monday, May 22nd.

Released.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

Hands down: That's among the best and most high quality releases GOG had for years now. GOG has become a cesspit but this game is a shining jewel, a beacon of hope, that there is still a place for bold creativity and relentless dedication. I really really hope the GOG audience isn't already too degenerated from the massive and neverending influx of cheap japanese style porn games and hipster indie crap to still be able to estimate what a real pearl Caves of Lore is.

 

[Tyranicon]

cheap japanese style porn games

Trust me, it's still kinda hard to get these on the platform.

Although it's funny having long email chains with lots of polish names I can't pronounce.

 

[Sacibengala]

Released.

A release discount would be great, though.

 

[Jinn]

It's something like a 40+ hour game for $10...

 

[welly321]

I jsut started this game and it seems pretty cool so far. I am stuck after finding kalimdaur (SP?) and I have the quest seek the light. I spoke the code at the door and went through it but it seems to be a dead end? How do I get outside?

 

[HoboForEternity]

I played about an hour and a bit more and i am impressed. This little game just literally came out of nowhere, showed jeff vogel how creative a one man indie effort can be, instead of regurgitating the same formula for 30 years. (I do still have some respect for him for surviving this long, and his games are still decent at worst, don't get me wrong)

Glad to be able to play it

 

[HoboForEternity]

10/10 videogame RPG game dialogue

 

[HoboForEternity]

So is there any downside to resting? Afaik, you can just rest indefinitely between battles. No supplies to worry, no time constraint to meet. Feels a bit cheap.

 

[Tyranicon]

So is there any downside to resting? Afaik, you can just rest indefinitely between battles. No supplies to worry, no time constraint to meet. Feels a bit cheap.

We talked about it way earlier in the thread and there may be some dev responses. I think you can get attacked too.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Its easy enough to get enough mana regen that you don't even need to rest.

 

[welly321]

codex seems to be sleeping a bit on this game. The character building is in depth and well designed. The combat is strategic and there are tons of skills and spells to use and experiment with. The UI is definitely a bit rough around the edges but I surprisingly got used to it. I sunk 10 hours into this game the day after I bought it. I'd highly recommend checking it out.

 

[fantadomat]

codex seems to be sleeping a bit on this game. The character building is in depth and well designed. The combat is strategic and there are tons of skills and spells to use and experiment with. The UI is definitely a bit rough around the edges but I surprisingly got used to it. I sunk 10 hours into this game the day after I bought it. I'd highly recommend checking it out.

Yes,it is great old school game fit for a true kodexers,shame that there is not many left.

 

[HoboForEternity]

codexers nowadays love whining more about minority and women in videogames instead of playing RPGs.

 

[Fireblade]

codex seems to be sleeping a bit on this game. The character building is in depth and well designed. The combat is strategic and there are tons of skills and spells to use and experiment with. The UI is definitely a bit rough around the edges but I surprisingly got used to it. I sunk 10 hours into this game the day after I bought it. I'd highly recommend checking it out.

The combat system is nice, but the game became far too easy after the very beginning, so strategy wasn't really necessary. They did add some difficulty levels in a recent patch, but I was already close to the end of the game at that point so I didn't try that out. Still, recommended for sure.

 

[HoboForEternity]

the story and setting is pretty interesting too. tbh not a fan of morrowind keyword based dialogue, but they have charms and humors, and it's well done. would i prefer it, if it has regular RPG dialogue? yes, but it's still interesting.

 

[welly321]

codex seems to be sleeping a bit on this game. The character building is in depth and well designed. The combat is strategic and there are tons of skills and spells to use and experiment with. The UI is definitely a bit rough around the edges but I surprisingly got used to it. I sunk 10 hours into this game the day after I bought it. I'd highly recommend checking it out.

The combat system is nice, but the game became far too easy after the very beginning, so strategy wasn't really necessary. They did add some difficulty levels in a recent patch, but I was already close to the end of the game at that point so I didn't try that out. Still, recommended for sure.

Yea ive been playing on hard and I've found it to be the perfect balance between needing to use tactics + consumbles but not overtly difficult. I'm sure the true grinders would find brutal a better fit. The absolute best part of this game is the spells. Every spell is interesting and has its uses. Once I found that clicking the little i icon tells you more about the spell, everything clicked. For example, the spell spark does more damage the closer you are to your target. Almost every spell has it's niche like this. There are crowd control spells that root an enemy in place and even one that roots and also allows a corporeal enemy like a ghost to take physical damage. Each enemy also has strengths and weaknesses. Certain enemies cannot be rooted for example, but they can be frozen with ice block. There is a monster lore book where you uncover these strengths and weaknesses dependant on a monster lore skill and the more you fight, the more you uncover.

Also, there are hand placed unique items that fit, flavor wise, with where you find them. There are many recruitable NPCs. Unfortunately these NPCs are bare boned in terms of dialogue and don't have companion quests from what i can tell. You can't expect everything from a solo dev though.

 

[HoboForEternity]

as someone who plays most of his RPG as magic user or any of the hybrids, the magic system pleases me. even on my martial focused characters, simple spells like imbuing elements or summoning a cannon fodder is very useful. since there's a teleportation magic ( i havent found the relevant books yet), there are probably spells that can teleport you around so i can make a pseudo portal knight from the voidspire tactics games.

 

[felipepepe]

Started this yesterday, got hooked and played 5 hours straight. Really great stuff, it's not just good combat or fun exploration, everything seems to work very well and in sync. Even the story is interesting.

Only real complain so far is that stun seems overpowered. I'm playing on Hard and got destroyed by the rat boss on my first try, the second I just stunlocked him with the dog and won without even taking damage. Seems like later monsters like those giant stone creatures resist stun, but still, feels dirty.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Started this yesterday, got hooked and played 5 hours straight. Really great stuff, it's not just good combat or fun exploration, everything seems to work very well and in sync. Even the story is interesting.

Only real complain so far is that stun seems overpowered. I'm playing on Hard and got destroyed by the rat boss on my first try, the second I just stunlocked him with the dog and won without even taking damage. Seems like later monsters like those giant stone creatures resist stun, but still, feels dirty.

The 3rd boss has resist stun. It was still pretty easy because you can freeze it instead

 

[CryptRat]

Unfortunately these NPCs are bare boned in terms of dialogue and don't have companion quests from what i can tell.

Hehe, I just bought the game partly thanks to this part. Lack of party creation is what had made me hesitate a bit until now but I can tolerate recruited characters as long as there's no cringe shit related to them. It seems everything else regarding exploration, combat, dialogs and presentation is 100% right up my alley.

The price is very cool too.

 

[Kalarion]

I just beat the game, I'll give final thoughts later. For now:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2227130/view/3694686097157771392?l=english

A long sought after info section is being added in game...

Yes!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2227130/view/3680048764131236398?l=english [1]
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2227130/view/6298891407970491785?l=english [2]

Items stored within your inventory in chests, bags and other item holders are now seen by quests, recipes and other crafting, and are automatically deducted for expenses after the main inventory is used up.

Hi everyone! I've just added the option to "Sell All" in shops...
You can also "Sort All" in the inventory. Items will be laid out in the type order that they appear in your inventory. New items are easily sorted back in by using Sort All.

LoreMaster may I suggest tying some of the more spoilery portions of the new Info section to finding/reading the relevant books in-game? I'm primarily thinking of the moon runes, but there might be other opportunities to tie in-depth explanations of game mechanics to in-game activities, reading books, progression check points etc.

With all the jank this was a strong contender for my GOTY choice. Now it's a dead lock, I'm not even going to be looking at anything else this year.

 

[Sacibengala]

How's the schedule of the update on GOG version? I want to buy there at the beginning of the month, but I don't want to wait a month for each update to get through there after steam.