Darkest Dungeon II

[Suicidal]

DD is the definition of all style no substance. The game is stylish, atmospheric, has excellent sound design yet the gameplay consists of endlessly grinding random encounters in the same 4-5 locations for several dozen hours with barely any interesting payoff.

Still I won't write this off, maybe they'll pour more money into this one so there will be more than 4 locations this time around.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I want to like Darkest Dungeon. It looks good, sounds good, the narrator is ace and the premise is good.

But the devs are dicks. That singular fact is not only the biggest reason the charm and magic of DD wears off really quick, it's also the biggest reason for the slipshod development, lukewarm release and all the post-release drama that the game has 'enjoyed'.

And now a sequel is in the works. Unless someone can provide proof that the devs actually learned something from all of that, I think it's best to give DD2 a pass.

 

[orcinator]

I hope all the game files will still be accessible without having to unpack anything, it's nice being able to enjoy all the artworks and catchphrases without having to deal with the garbage gameplay.

 

[Wunderbar]

DD was really good for a few hours(mostly due to the atmosphere), but then the senseless grind sets in, and bad luck/poor play will easily see you lose hours of progress.

I somehow doubt the sequel will fix it, since the masses don't seem to care.

Devs stated multiple times that they want to fix grind and unfair rng.
Pretty much every update for the base game tried to fix these issues (Radiant difficulty, Antiquarian).

 

[Turbo normie]

I'd rather gamble my house and family in a casino than playing this shit.

 

[jf8350143]

I like darkest dungeon, but why the hell is it called a RPG again?

 

[Tweed]

I like darkest dungeon, but why the hell is it called a RPG again?

Because it has numbers and you have to do the same thing over and over again to make them go up.

 

[karoliner]

I going to stay optimistic and believe they will fix all the grinding.

 

[orcinator]

Devs stated multiple times that they want to fix grind and unfair rng.
Pretty much every update for the base game tried to fix these issues (Radiant difficulty, Antiquarian).

They only cut down the grind by a relatively small amount and i'm pretty sure rng can annoy you just as well now as it did when the game launched.
Problem with DD is that at it's core it's just a glorified mobage and fixing it would require a full overhaul of the mechanics.

 

[Wunderbar]

Problem with DD is that at it's core it's just a glorified mobage and fixing it would require a full overhaul of the mechanics.

"although Darkest Dungeon's combat system will be returning in a recognizable but "tuned-up" form, the studio is focused on creating a "completely different" structure for its metagame"

 

[Reinhardt]

I will play it at release. And then after all dlcs with waifu mods.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

The combat in DD is painfully simple once you realize how retarded most of the classes are with CC/DOT effects as well as trinkets making things even worse that it becomes near auto pilot levels. In fact I'd say that once you get past the initial difficulty curve the game never retains it when you figure out the joy of stuns and how to completely destroy what would be tough encounters.

DD's real strength comes from its audio and atmosphere which are excellent. Stuart Chatwood is extremely good at setting the tone, Wayne June has a distinct voice that does well with the super flowery shit he is told to read, the attacks and enemy sounds are great.

It has to look and feel distinct enough or it's going to be like a lesser DD1 which has three or four years worth of DLCs and minor additions it has to succeed. Flipping assets or continuing on the DD1 path risks DD2 being more expansion pack than sequel.

That's kind of the curse of a game like DD. While there is room for improvement, I don't really know if those improvements are what justifies an entirely new game unless you really change up the formula. Either way this shit will probably make bank like the first one did so nothing I say matters.

 

[orcinator]

Problem with DD is that at it's core it's just a glorified mobage and fixing it would require a full overhaul of the mechanics.

"although Darkest Dungeon's combat system will be returning in a recognizable but "tuned-up" form, the studio is focused on creating a "completely different" structure for its metagame"

This is also a team that added a "grind for keys to enter the special dungeon" mechanic so I seriously doubt this is anything more than marketingspeak.

 

[vorvek]

Darkest Dungeon could be grindy, but I really don't understand the tears over RNG. They rarely come into play in any meaningful way unless you are retarded.

 

[orcinator]

Darkest Dungeon could be grindy, but I really don't understand the tears over RNG. They rarely come into play in any meaningful way unless you are retarded.

Because RNG dictates every single aspect of the game. If you grind long enough and make sure all your dudes are properly upgraded you'll just be forced to retreat once you get hit with the chain crits and lose minutes of grind instead of hours of grind but that doesn't excuse the bad mechanics.

 

[Pope Amole II]

The saddest thing about this announcement for me is that Iratus' developers have been taken under the wing by Daedalic publisher and yesterday they did a major press release, getting lots of news everywhere and stuff. And at the very same day, suddenly, as if to show a big middle finger to us, this announcement appears. So nobody'll talk about Iratus, sure.

Well, whatever. But yeah, I don't think DD2 will show anything amazing as both DLC have shown that the authors don't really understand why DLCs have sold that well. Feels like they think that autists just love to be grinding and so you can add some grind to keep 'em happy as, gameplay-wise, both Blood Court and Harvest are utter shit.

Also, is it me or does the trailer look a bit 3d-ish? There have been rumours of them hiring 3d experts. And I dunno, that may be a huge risk to them as few 2d games/studios have survived going into 3d. Anyone remembers what a crash & burn Trine 3 was?

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

I'd personally buy Iratus over DD2. From the demo I played months ago it had a lot more potential going for it in the combat which is DD's biggest pitfall.

And the art is pretty cool.

 

[The_Mask]

The combat in DD is painfully simple once you realize how retarded most of the classes are with CC/DOT effects as well as trinkets making things even worse that it becomes near auto pilot levels. In fact I'd say that once you get past the initial difficulty curve the game never retains it when you figure out the joy of stuns and how to completely destroy what would be tough encounters.

Exactly. And even worse, on hardest difficulty, once you reach levels 5-6, there is no other healer than the Vestal, and no other stress relief than the Jester.

Party compositions become repetitive, and boring.

You have fun until that point. That point onwards the house of cards crumbles.

 

[Wunderbar]

And even worse, on hardest difficulty, once you reach levels 5-6, there is no other healer than the Vestal, and no other stress relief than the Jester.

Occultist is better than Vestal, he can do something useful other than healing and can be used as a frontliner. Crusader can heal stress and smite infidels. Flagellant can do both while inflicting strong bleed.
Git gud.

 

[The_Mask]

Occultist is unreliable, and lacks mass heal. No.

Crusader is interesting, but if you're hit heavily with stress, le poop hits le fan pretty quick, but I concede the point.

I don't like the Flagellant, but I'll concede the point to anyone that does.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Vestal is way better than Occultist. She has more practical abilities and her healing is more consistent. She can stun from the backlines, do damage/heal herself at the same time for self-sufficiency, and she can defend against party-wide damage with AOE heals. She also has very good camping abilities. Sanctuary is straight up better than Unspeakable Commune and the buffs Occultist can do for camping are always with a stress trade-off, you'd be better off using the ability of the other class instead. The only worthy camp skill he has is Dark Ritual, but if you're running with a Crusader then Stand Tall does it better anyways. Crusader works better with Vestal in general due to being religious.

Occultist seems good early on, but he gets outpaced as Vestal gets stronger.

 

[111111111]

I"M SO EXCITEDD YAAAAAY

 

[111111111]

I hope they add new classes and we're allowed to bring more people

 

[Humanophage]

DD is ultimately unsatisfying because its challenge derives too much from the need to always pay attention and play conservatively. That is not in itself bad. For example, Civ4 is more fun because of the need to exercise considerable caution with the settlers. However, playing conservatively in DD is boring and feels like a job. Much of DD content consists of unchallenging monotonous grinding, so it is hard to be very engaged. I presume the intention is to keep suspense high in preparation for a difficulty spike, but it is mostly just tedious compared to a regular turn-based strategy. It ends up being extremely time-consuming yet strangely forgettable.

 

[111111111]

I also disagree with everyone about the RNG.

It was punishing, but as along as you didn't do something retarded like put four lepers, it was smooth sailing.

The entire game is not hard until champion level dungeons.

Maybe the only "bs" is like shambler and collecter but the Collecter is such a joke that you WANT to run into him for his loot.