Tales of Maj'Eyal

[Serus]

There are some classes that are unlocked by simply breathing, so you won't have a shortage of new classes to try.

What if you play an undead race? They don't breath!


Lame jokes aside:

I personally don't like playing on exploration/adventure even when I started the game long time ago because it doesn't teach you good habits.
Though to be fair back in like 2014 it took me over a month to get past The Master as Archmage (normal difficulty) that I was trying to force so not sure how much that taught me, exactly.

I know what you mean and I had similar experience. I never played on anything but RL. However I think if someone just wants to "have fun" and doesn't play the genre regularly, "bad habits" in Adventure mode don't matter that much. Even more so because you can get additional life or two on RL. At least that was true several years ago. Granted, one or two is not half dozen or so you get on adventure mode. Short story, Adventure is OK. Exploration is utter nonsense though. I don't see the point. It's not like the game has a story and having to not get killed (too much, in case of Adventure mode) is its main mechanic and challenge.

I'm trying to play again after several years. I don't remember much. Thank you f****s! As if i didn't have other, new, games to play.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

I'm trying to play again after several years.

Try the Ork campaign maybe?

 

[Torus]

I think you learn faster on adventure than roguelike honestly. Takes so long to get back to places you might have trouble with otherwise.

That, and the best habits for safe play are also very boring.

 

[Lacrymas]

Adventure is fine for a newbie, exploration is not recommended because death doesn't matter and it defeats the purpose of the whole game. It also teaches you bad habits and even bad builds are technically viable.

 

[baturinsky]

My favorite classes I guess are:
Solipsist: "You don't actually exist"
Temporal Warden: "You don't exist in this timeline"
Cursed: "Fuck me, fuck you, fuck everything I have and fuck everything around me"
Reaver: "Things go boom when I kill them!"

 

[Theodora]

I kinda wish more roguelikes had the "unlockable classes" thing, or aspects of metaprogression in general, but it sure isn't common. Always found it kinda funny that a lot of @like purists will post angry things about roguelites and their metaprogression, but ToME gets a free pass for doing many of the same things in defiance of "Berlin". Guess it's just too good or something!

 

[Dadd]

Meta-progression is absolute garbage in ToME and everywhere else, fuck off

 

[Lacrymas]

ToME's metaprogression doesn't make subsequent runs easier, it just unlocks classes, races and cosmetics. Which is great, it doesn't make you feel like you are wasting your time when you die, especially in the beginning and when you are a new player, but it also doesn't lower the difficulty later on. Win-win imo. You can also just download a mod or whatever it was and have everything unlocked from the very beginning. It still won't make the game easier.

 

[Theodora]

You can also just download a mod or whatever it was and have everything unlocked from the very beginning. It still won't make the game easier.

Exactly. Metaprogression in general is also just a great tool for developers to make a game's learning curve more gentle. Like it or not, more people playing roguelikes because they didn't immediately filter themselves out with some intentionally obtuse, or overly complex, class is the best thing for the genre's health and development (resources) with it.

 

[vitellus]

"Berlin"

everything else is most definitely not roguelike; they are for kids. anything less than permadeath is bullshit.

no stakes, no rewards.
i treasure ironman modes

also, thanks fuckers for all the answers i gotta sift through and die with.

Meta-progression is absolute garbage

only if handled retardedly. i always liked the character unlocking of nuclear throne where you either had to do something specific which was usually hidden, or you had to kill that thing to unlock it as a playable thing. it sorta worked within the game.

 

[Lacrymas]

I just killed the Master with a Writhing One on nightmare for the first time (as a Writhing One that is) and it was certainly something. I had to level jump like 20 times to do it and I still died once. WO needs so many things that it's hard to plan out a build that covers all bases. It seems to be incredibly susceptible to physical damage and almost all my deaths were from physical damage. The devouring and bloated horrors are very powerful, but it turns out insanity management is teh hard and they don't last very long, so I feel somewhat helpless when I can't rely on them. If I end up dying somewhere in the East, I'll try out a different build that focuses more on Disfigured Face, rather than the summons.

 

[vitellus]

huh

 

[Serus]

I definitely don't remember much. I just entered the cemetery (near last hope?) iand got destroyed there. I think i recall something about not going there under level 10. Oh well. I had another game that lasted past tier 1 dungeons. I'm starting to remember stuff. Slowly. Damn sclerosis. And i was always bad at RLs. I mean, i beat several of them on normal or hard equivalent but it always took me a LOT of tries. It's fun though. Not remembering much means i can replay classes that i knew how to play (more or less) and they feel fresh again. Some changes in how some of them work helps too.
I blame you, all of you in this thread. I could have played something different. Perhaps even a game not meant for

How one unlocked oozemancer? I have the other 2 classes of the meta class if that matters.

 

[Covenant]

I definitely don't remember much. I just entered the cemetery (near last hope?) iand got destroyed there. I think i recall something about not going there under level 10. Oh well. I had another game that lasted past tier 1 dungeons. I'm starting to remember stuff. Slowly. Damn sclerosis. And i was always bad at RLs. I mean, i beat several of them on normal or hard equivalent but it always took me a LOT of tries. It's fun though. Not remembering much means i can replay classes that i knew how to play (more or less) and they feel fresh again. Some changes in how some of them work helps too.
I blame you, all of you in this thread. I could have played something different. Perhaps even a game not meant for

How one unlocked oozemancer? I have the other 2 classes of the meta class if that matters.

I wouldn't go to that graveyard below level 30, myself (unless I was trying to unlock Necromancer/become a lich). Definitely not under level 20.

Oozemancers are unlocked by beating the Sludgenest dungeon, which spawns in about 20% of games when you reach level 20 (unless you're playing Thalore, in which case it's guaranteed). The other 80% of the time, other random dungeons spawn instead.

What class are you playing? Some of them are a lot harder than others.

 

[Lacrymas]

Yeap, the cemetery is a higher level dungeon, mostly to unlock the Necromancer once you know how and have the required stuff. Normally, I'd suggest avoiding optional zones most of the time, especially if you feel like you are going through the game with some effort. Optional stuff is for when you've had luck with drops and escorts, and such, and think you can handle more difficult opponents. The basic blueprint of going through the first half of the game is doing all T1 dungeons, regardless of whether you have a quest for them or not -> do the T2 dungeons (avoid the time rift in Daikara) -> do the Master -> go through the Mines of Moria Reknor. The only optional thing I'd suggest doing is Tempest Peak because the inscription you get as a reward is coconuts. Theoretically, siding with the assassin lord when you get the chance is recommended because you unlock crafting later on, but you wouldn't know what to do with it as a newbie anyway, so ignore that for now.

 

[Serus]

Guys, i have a question. I came in possession of Blood of Undeath. However I play a Necromancer. Does the result of the Blood stack with other sources of "negative life" (when you can survive when below zero life) or is only the highest* value applied? In second case i'll probably lose some maximum health without gaining anything in return. I'm tempted to science it anyway but maybe someone here knows the answer.

*technically speaking the lowest since we talk about negative values.

 

[Lacrymas]

Guys, i have a question. I came in possession of Blood of Undeath. However I play a Necromancer. Does the result of the Blood stack with other sources of "negative life" (when you can survive when below zero life) or is only the highest* value applied? In second case i'll probably lose some maximum health without gaining anything in return. I'm tempted to science it anyway but maybe someone here knows the answer.

*technically speaking the lowest since we talk about negative values.

Negative life stacks to some degree, but I'm not 100% sure how. Check your character sheet and you'll have a straight answer how much negative life you actually have.

 

[Serus]

Guys, i have a question. I came in possession of Blood of Undeath. However I play a Necromancer. Does the result of the Blood stack with other sources of "negative life" (when you can survive when below zero life) or is only the highest* value applied? In second case i'll probably lose some maximum health without gaining anything in return. I'm tempted to science it anyway but maybe someone here knows the answer.

*technically speaking the lowest since we talk about negative values.

Negative life stacks to some degree, but I'm not 100% sure how. Check your character sheet and you'll have a straight answer how much negative life you actually have.

I did for science! It stacks just like all others negative life. 50max less, 120min more. 70 net gain. Yay, great. In fact on necromancer it is even better because some talents activate when passing to or at negative values.

 

[Serus]

Now, i need to pick the first prodigy. Or wait to be able to become Lich. Sounds cool and thematic, the advantages of being one are very good too.

 

[Lacrymas]

I did for science! It stacks just like all others negative life. 50max less, 120min more. 70 net gain. Yay, great. In fact on necromancer it is even better because some talents activate when passing to or at negative values.

As a necro, you benefit from as low positive hp as possible because Hiemal Shield interacts with low and negative hp.

 

[luj1]

u guys use any mods?

 

[Kabas]

u guys use any mods?

Zomnibus lite, clear item names on your paperdoll, show tiers in inventory...
Nothing too gamechanging. Didn't try any of the custom classes yet.

 

[Serus]

u guys use any mods?

I use one that makes one annoying thing in the interface go away. When you hover over an item it shows its stats but when you take away the mouse from it, the stats stays on screen until you look at a different item's stats. Annoying as hell so obviously someone made a mod for it.
https://te4.org/games/addons/tome/inventory_tooltip_away

I don't know why it works that way, i'm pretty sure it didn't a few years ago.

 

[Serious_Business]

I'm a big necromancer guy but I don't like them much in ToME. The minions are too powerful and will make you play badly. I prefer melee kind of classes in this game for some reason ; the best I ever did was with rogue and shadowblade. I never did get a win (only play on RL of course), but when I get to the second part the game kind of becomes a grind and I loose a bit of interest... subconsciously I suppose I'd rather just start again. At least this is what I tell myself to justify my deaths, ho-hum. Although I didn't have that excuse for the 20+ berserkers I played that never got past lvl 20 (I really wanted that Guts cosplay, but I guess I fell down the stairs with my big sword or something).

It took me a long while to realise that you should actually skip some areas, like the Spellblaze and Tempest Peak, and just go for Dreadfell once you finish T2 areas. This might be the single one tip that got me part the mid-level obstacle and it never was mentionned anywhere as far as I know. Although of course you still have to go through the Master ; it's very easy with rogues to be honest, maybe this is why it worked out for me. Just shiv the fucker, works every time

 

[Serus]

Perhaps a silly question but here it comes. How do you use those "steam" items that keep dropping in main campaign? It reqiures steam-tech or something. It was, iirc in the dlc, how one gets it in main game?