Darth Canoli
Arcane
I thought it was V2 but Game version is 3.something.
I'm not going to babble about the game roots or the history of the game's development or whatever else, it has been covered already and it's not my thing anyway.
What I'm going to do is to list what I like and what I dislike, nothing more and nothing less.
This playthrough isn't over, so far, I reached Samhain Crypt and that's the furthest I've ever been. It's probably around 30 hours of gameplay already so I guess it's enough to give an opinion as most games are over after 30 hours.
Exploration
Great dungeon design, not all dungeons are amazing but so far, they're all good enough, the floating text giving you some information about your surroundings in some places add to the atmosphere, puzzles are not meant to be solved by pulling levers randomly, you can find some info in game to solve them, just like it's supposed to be (I won't name the offenders)
Secrets everywhere. If your scouting skill check is successful, the game tells you there's something hidden and conjointly, the Detect Secrets spell blinks to warn you when it's on if there's anything weird around. True Seeing lets you see through illusionary walls. Everything is well handled, you don't have to hug every wall pixel hunting to find secrets (not naming this one either).
Many different monsters with their own set of skills, spells and resistances. Again, it's well handled. Cherry on the cake, there's many "boss fights". It's just fun.
Signs outside of shops and recognizable areas (I'm not naming those ones either)
?DOG? A simple thing, really but how often the mythology skill is really useful in cRPG? Even when there's one remotely working, by the time you get full intel on a category of monsters, that's when you're about to move on to a new area and never see a single one of them ever again.
Not here, you increase your mythology skill which works for every kind of creatures, it was never meant to work any differently.
Different starting areas giving different bonus like unlocking dungeons late game of giving starting equipment or skill bonus.
Microscopic letter box at the bottom of the screen.
Small and weird police going with the small letterbox not helping readability.
Raghilda sprite, it's probably an inside joke targeting a certain group of retards people but still.
Character development
A lot of magic schools. There's even a hidden unlockable school of magic.
Learning an Eldritch spell turn a character insane.
You don't lose attribute points on level-up (anymore?)
Bonus Attribute points which carry over multiple classes you can use to reach your next class requirements or save up for your last class.
Bonus spells on level up are stored if you quit the screen and come back later.
Combat and QoL
Fast travel. Pure incline!
It's not the only game doing this but it's perfectly implemented in Grimoire.
Every single video game dev should take a good look at how it's done.
You can create multiple waypoints on the map, each with a single click, then you click pathfinding and a last click to walk and exit the map.
If you're interrupted by an encounter, fast travel resumes afterwards.
Combat is good, some spells are the I WIN button but otherwise, I find the difficulty up to my standards on max difficulty (started on 4/5).
Fast combat by pressing ENTER. A speed slider in the options and modifiable in the combat screen (x1 x3 x10 speed) would have been better but it works fine just as it is.
Items you drop on the ground stay there so you can find yourself a nice place where to stash your extra consumables and equipment.
Limited inventory space, alleviated by the storing trick mentioned earlier.
The big new inventory/crafting management not allowing to equip nor stack items.
CONCLUSION
It's good, great exploration and combat, interesting itemization, many spells, interesting character development, all the ingredients are here.
If the letterbox grew 4/5 times larger when there's somethign to read with a twice as large and more readable police, Grimoire would probably make my top 5 blobbers of all times with the best M&M and Wizardry titles.
It's still good but less enjoyable, some people used to play their face glued to their screen might not notice it.
I'm not going to babble about the game roots or the history of the game's development or whatever else, it has been covered already and it's not my thing anyway.
What I'm going to do is to list what I like and what I dislike, nothing more and nothing less.
This playthrough isn't over, so far, I reached Samhain Crypt and that's the furthest I've ever been. It's probably around 30 hours of gameplay already so I guess it's enough to give an opinion as most games are over after 30 hours.
Exploration
Great dungeon design, not all dungeons are amazing but so far, they're all good enough, the floating text giving you some information about your surroundings in some places add to the atmosphere, puzzles are not meant to be solved by pulling levers randomly, you can find some info in game to solve them, just like it's supposed to be (I won't name the offenders) Secrets everywhere. If your scouting skill check is successful, the game tells you there's something hidden and conjointly, the Detect Secrets spell blinks to warn you when it's on if there's anything weird around. True Seeing lets you see through illusionary walls. Everything is well handled, you don't have to hug every wall pixel hunting to find secrets (not naming this one either). Many different monsters with their own set of skills, spells and resistances. Again, it's well handled. Cherry on the cake, there's many "boss fights". It's just fun. Signs outside of shops and recognizable areas (I'm not naming those ones either) ?DOG? A simple thing, really but how often the mythology skill is really useful in cRPG? Even when there's one remotely working, by the time you get full intel on a category of monsters, that's when you're about to move on to a new area and never see a single one of them ever again.Not here, you increase your mythology skill which works for every kind of creatures, it was never meant to work any differently.
Different starting areas giving different bonus like unlocking dungeons late game of giving starting equipment or skill bonus.Microscopic letter box at the bottom of the screen. Small and weird police going with the small letterbox not helping readability. Raghilda sprite, it's probably an inside joke targeting a certain group of Character development
A lot of magic schools. There's even a hidden unlockable school of magic. Learning an Eldritch spell turn a character insane. You don't lose attribute points on level-up (anymore?) Bonus Attribute points which carry over multiple classes you can use to reach your next class requirements or save up for your last class. Bonus spells on level up are stored if you quit the screen and come back later.Combat and QoL
Fast travel. Pure incline!It's not the only game doing this but it's perfectly implemented in Grimoire.
Every single video game dev should take a good look at how it's done.
You can create multiple waypoints on the map, each with a single click, then you click pathfinding and a last click to walk and exit the map.
If you're interrupted by an encounter, fast travel resumes afterwards.
Combat is good, some spells are the I WIN button but otherwise, I find the difficulty up to my standards on max difficulty (started on 4/5). Fast combat by pressing ENTER. A speed slider in the options and modifiable in the combat screen (x1 x3 x10 speed) would have been better but it works fine just as it is. Items you drop on the ground stay there so you can find yourself a nice place where to stash your extra consumables and equipment.Limited inventory space, alleviated by the storing trick mentioned earlier.The big new inventory/crafting management not allowing to equip nor stack items.CONCLUSION
It's good, great exploration and combat, interesting itemization, many spells, interesting character development, all the ingredients are here.
If the letterbox grew 4/5 times larger when there's somethign to read with a twice as large and more readable police, Grimoire would probably make my top 5 blobbers of all times with the best M&M and Wizardry titles.
It's still good but less enjoyable, some people used to play their face glued to their screen might not notice it.
