Zorbus (D&D-inspired roguelike)

[KeighnMcDeath]

Maybe it is a Zorbo drinking Sorbus.

 

[xuerebx]

Can someone summarise for me. Is it prestigious or is it shit? I could sail the high seas and check myself or even buy it outright but i want to hear the Codex Consensus(tm). In general I like roguelikes very much - both classical and games like Cataclysm DDA. Rogue-lites - that really depends.

This one has a great ambient, I'm not a huge rogue-like fan, in général, I like the ones closer to a real RPG more.
I love the sounds, the dangers, the hidden areas.
The fact you can make a party, recruit adveenturers wxhich are going to follow you through the game if you can keep them alive.

I agree, but the absence of plot/quests help. Having just a string of combat encounters helps for short sessions, so long as you're not dying very often. I find I can pick them up where I left them far more easily than a Bioware game, for example.

There is a hidden plot here, you can find some of it through the market level if you explore carefully.
And then from the end-game, while exploring with a high search score again.

Apologies for quadruple posting but yesterday I was actually pissed off at my own greed. Should have taken the win!

Anyway, I want to try my hand at the same character again, not sure if anyone here could offer some advice.

My level 21 gnome mage had most of the spells and 5 followers equipped very well. In fact we steam rolled past our enemies. But the second Demi god quickly dispatched my followers, and one v one with him (Orty?) proved no match for him. Any celestial/animal/elemental I summon is killed in a couple of hits, then I run out of stamina. My lightning spell proved most effective but I'd need to have enough stamina to hit him 20+ times.

So my question is what would a tactic of a mage summoner look like to win? I had around 24 Mind and 21 Spirit.

Thanks!

Big spoilers here, summons are good for the regular game but companions are better.



Best spells : Holy Aoe Spell
Chain lightning spell
You have to adapt your strategy to the enemy, end game gods have immunities and resistance to some elements.

Explore around first, prepare, get TP potions, healing potions, resurrection means, it's goign to be hard, you'll have to run and come back later if it fails, as long as you're alive, there's a chance, first time i became a god, i had to flee half a dozen times.
Half against the archer god which teleported itself out of range.

Positionning before the final battles matter.


If you want to be the overgod or kill a lot of gods

Spoiler

You can free an evil entity in one of the rooms, fight some hardcore archangels to clear the place, try to fight them one after the other.
Free him and then run or he will attack and destroy you.

He's going to go the the central room and attack the other gods, wait until one is close to dying and kill him, and then the other ones.

Find the spell doing the most damage against each enemy.

The overgod is tough but once yo've cleared the gods if you have enough potions for everyone, you'll kill him.


Build

Spoiler

For mages, the character creation is important, you'll require a lot of skills, try to get as many as possible by optimizing your starting build

Amazing game.

Hey thanks a lot man! I may have some questions when I'm playing it again in terms of optimising builds - I mostly did everything out of instinct (and a hell a lot of dying).

 

[Darth Canoli]

Can someone summarise for me. Is it prestigious or is it shit? I could sail the high seas and check myself or even buy it outright but i want to hear the Codex Consensus(tm). In general I like roguelikes very much - both classical and games like Cataclysm DDA. Rogue-lites - that really depends.

This one has a great ambient, I'm not a huge rogue-like fan, in général, I like the ones closer to a real RPG more.
I love the sounds, the dangers, the hidden areas.
The fact you can make a party, recruit adveenturers wxhich are going to follow you through the game if you can keep them alive.

I agree, but the absence of plot/quests help. Having just a string of combat encounters helps for short sessions, so long as you're not dying very often. I find I can pick them up where I left them far more easily than a Bioware game, for example.

There is a hidden plot here, you can find some of it through the market level if you explore carefully.
And then from the end-game, while exploring with a high search score again.

Apologies for quadruple posting but yesterday I was actually pissed off at my own greed. Should have taken the win!

Anyway, I want to try my hand at the same character again, not sure if anyone here could offer some advice.

My level 21 gnome mage had most of the spells and 5 followers equipped very well. In fact we steam rolled past our enemies. But the second Demi god quickly dispatched my followers, and one v one with him (Orty?) proved no match for him. Any celestial/animal/elemental I summon is killed in a couple of hits, then I run out of stamina. My lightning spell proved most effective but I'd need to have enough stamina to hit him 20+ times.

So my question is what would a tactic of a mage summoner look like to win? I had around 24 Mind and 21 Spirit.

Thanks!

Big spoilers here, summons are good for the regular game but companions are better.



Best spells : Holy Aoe Spell
Chain lightning spell
You have to adapt your strategy to the enemy, end game gods have immunities and resistance to some elements.

Explore around first, prepare, get TP potions, healing potions, resurrection means, it's goign to be hard, you'll have to run and come back later if it fails, as long as you're alive, there's a chance, first time i became a god, i had to flee half a dozen times.
Half against the archer god which teleported itself out of range.

Positionning before the final battles matter.


If you want to be the overgod or kill a lot of gods

Spoiler

You can free an evil entity in one of the rooms, fight some hardcore archangels to clear the place, try to fight them one after the other.
Free him and then run or he will attack and destroy you.

He's going to go the the central room and attack the other gods, wait until one is close to dying and kill him, and then the other ones.

Find the spell doing the most damage against each enemy.

The overgod is tough but once yo've cleared the gods if you have enough potions for everyone, you'll kill him.


Build

Spoiler

For mages, the character creation is important, you'll require a lot of skills, try to get as many as possible by optimizing your starting build

Amazing game.

Hey thanks a lot man! I may have some questions when I'm playing it again in terms of optimising builds - I mostly did everything out of instinct (and a hell a lot of dying).

It requires spending some time rolling a good character, spirit is the characteristic you want to improve faster early on to get as many perks as possible, reaching 1 every two levels or 1 per level is optimal but if you know what you're doing, 1 per 2 level might be enough.
I prefer getting as many perks as possible.
Gnome character is great as a mage but i saw many players using a tiefeling for speedruns for their special missile perk.
I don't do speedruns but you might want to consider it if you do.

Also, if you want to speedrun and stop at demi-god, lonewolf might be a good choice (not sure about the name) otherwise, get good recruits.

 

[Joonas]

Update 59.6 out on Steam.

Finally got around on adding companion images into character sheet pages and inventory screen.

In inventory, right clicking on the companion panel / list titles switches between Equipment & Backpack- and exchange items -modes. With the keyboard, you can now use Ctrl + Up / Down or Numpad Minus / Plus to switch between characters, (Ctrl + left / right already used for adjusting stack amount).

 

[udm]

25% off now on Steam. Pretty darn cheap if you ask me. I think I'll pick it up.

 

[Replicante]

great game, enjoying it a lot. Anyone care to share some good resilient builds for beginners? cheers

 

[xuerebx]

I'm not an expert by any means, but I managed to win* with a gnome wizard and using recruits as cannon fodder. It takes a few starts to get lucky and make it to the second level.


*well not win, I just needed to speak to a character and win the game. I decided to fight, and lost...but ehh close enough.

 

[Replicante]

yeah, playing a gnome summoner is inded working well for me, slain the Goblin king already. There isn't a resource for checking enemy stats and talents, is there?

ed: it's such a shame there isnt more resources and community around this game. It's very nicely polished and streamlined. All in all it's a great experience and map design is also great. Still, it's a shame there isnt a good online resource to check enemy stats and that kinda thing.

 

[Replicante]

I'd really like to have more detailed info on things like:

"The formula for an ability check is:d20 + ability modifiervsdifficultyIf the result is equal or higher than the difficulty then the ability check was successful."
So,d20 + body modifier when restrained




Yes, but what is the DC for a web spell? is it alwways constant or does it vary with the caster's magic ability?

 

[Joonas]

I'd really like to have more detailed info on things like:

"The formula for an ability check is:d20 + ability modifiervsdifficultyIf the result is equal or higher than the difficulty then the ability check was successful."
So,d20 + body modifier when restrained

Yes, but what is the DC for a web spell? is it alwways constant or does it vary with the caster's magic ability?

Effect strength / DC vary with the caster's Magic skill. If the effect doesn't have a source, then the strength is calculated from the current dungeon level depth.

I've thought about an ingame monster manual, but haven't figured out a format / UI for it yet. Also, ability scores for most creatures aren't fixed, there is almost always some variation.

 

[Replicante]

Interesting, thanks. I'm enjoying the game a lot. As for builds:

Strongest build I've found is Gnome starting with 17 INT and decent (14ish) Spirit. Decent motion is also good if you plan on going ranged. Pick Leader trait. Tread carefully until you can recruit your first companion. Companions are as strong as regular characters (almost) and wreck face if you handle them well. Save uber equipment for them.
On lvl up, pick great Mind I. This allows for +4 mod on MIND which gives you a talent every lvl up. This is what makes the build so strong. Without mind 18, you'd be getting way less talents.
For lvl 3, pick Team Spirit to get 100%xp from your companions damage. From here, just pick 3 or 4 companions and wreck face. I'd advise to go for ranged, search, and just a bit of magic. Pick the Blink skill to save you and your companions. Eventually "seeker shots" trait to shoot without line of sight. But with so many talents, you can go for a magic build instead of ranged. Getting a talent every level up s what separates this build from the rest. I prefer ranged tho, easier to spam and to avoid friendly fire.
Blink (which affects you and your companions) and charm are very, very useful spells. GG.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Interesting, thanks. I'm enjoying the game a lot. As for builds:

Strongest build I've found is Gnome starting with 17 INT and decent (14ish) Spirit. Decent motion is also good if you plan on going ranged. Pick Leader trait. Tread carefully until you can recruit your first companion. Companions are as strong as regular characters (almost) and wreck face if you handle them well. Save uber equipment for them.
On lvl up, pick great Mind I. This allows for +4 mod on MIND which gives you a talent every lvl up. This is what makes the build so strong. Without mind 18, you'd be getting way less talents.
For lvl 3, pick Team Spirit to get 100%xp from your companions damage. From here, just pick 3 or 4 companions and wreck face. I'd advise to go for ranged, search, and just a bit of magic. Pick the Blink skill to save you and your companions. Eventually "seeker shots" trait to shoot without line of sight. But with so many talents, you can go for a magic build instead of ranged. Getting a talent every level up s what separates this build from the rest. I prefer ranged tho, easier to spam and to avoid friendly fire.
Blink (which affects you and your companions) and charm are very, very useful spells. GG.

Good advice, you could also replace ranged combat by Aoe damage spells which work very well, particularly if you pick all of them to bypass opponents resistances, it's really important for late levels and even more for the end game.

 

[Joonas]

Released a 400+ page sketch art & lore book for Zorbus. The images are generated with AI (DALL-E 3).

Available from here as a PDF (140 megabytes).
lore.zorbus.net

Or as a online flipbook here:
lore.zorbus.net/flipbook

 

[Aemar]

Extremely high quality shit. The artwork must have costed quite a lot.

 

[Serus]

Extremely high quality shit. The artwork must have costed quite a lot.

Emmm... "The images are generated with AI (DALL-E 3)".
In fact, those are better than i thought possible if that's the case.

 

[Gandalf]

Released a 400+ page sketch art & lore book for Zorbus. The images are generated with AI (DALL-E 3).

Available from here as a PDF (140 megabytes).
lore.zorbus.net

Or as a online flipbook here:
lore.zorbus.net/flipbook

Thanks, I will be reading this aloud. Maybe even today!

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Yeah, that is astounding. I knew AI could crank out images but I didn’t think in the b/w styles I like.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Yeah, that is astounding. I knew AI could crank out images but I didn’t think in the b/w styles I like.

Eh, look at the lower guy's left hand.

Still though, not bad.

 

[Joonas]

December '23 tournament

Running from 27-Nov-23 to 31-Dec-23.

In this tournament anyone can win!

• $50 Steam / Amazon eGift Card for the ascended Overgod with the highest score.
• $25 Steam / Amazon eGift Card for the ascended God with the highest score.
• $25 Steam / Amazon eGift Card for the fastest ascension.
• $10 Steam / Amazon eGift Card for a wildcard winner each week.

The weekly wildcard winner is chosen randomly from all players who have played that week.

To make a wildcard entry, your character needs to level up to at least experience level 3, and have a higher score or more experience points than any of your previous characters during the tournament. Characters that reach the endgame are always included in the wildcard draw.

Wildcard prize can be won only once per player.

More info and rules: tournament.zorbus.net

Game just updated, changelog here.

 

[Joonas]

Small update to 60.4

• Changes to the Morbid Fascination of Undeath talent:
  • Stats of your undead companions get automatically boosted everytime you descend to the next dungeon level.
  • You can not use any weapons or ammunition that does holy-damage.
• You can now trigger detected suspicious furniture to reveal themselves by firing at them from afar with a reach / ranged attack. The attack itself does not do damage. Worst quality of ammunition is automatically used. (Detected suspicious furniture is mostly mimics, living statues, and such, and is marked with a red "!" on the furniture)
• You can spring detected traps by firing at them from afar with a reach / ranged attack.
  • Worst quality of ammunition is automatically used.
  • Traps that affect a single creature do nothing when sprung from afar, but Animate, Confusion, Dismiss, and Summon traps are very usable.
  • Expert Trapper gives a +4 bonus to hit the trap. The Seeker Shots talent can not be used to shoot at traps.
• Weapon changes:
  • New property: shafted. Shafted weapons deal 50% more damage on hit when Charge talent is used. Polearms, spears, hoopaks, and urgroshs are shafted weapons, but staves are not.
  • Urgrosh: removed great-property. Added reach- and shafted- properties.
  • Hoopak: Added shafted-property.
• Charge talent description updated:
  • "You take one step towards a target creature, and make a melee attack with +3 modifier. You will cause 50% more damage on hit if you are wielding a weapon with the shafted-property. The talent's action cost is used instead of the weapon's action cost. Polearms (bardiche, glaive, halberd, ranseur), spears (spear, shortspear, trident), hoopaks, and urgroshs are shafted weapons, but staves are not."
• You now get experience points from killing creatures while possessing someone.
• Companions now correctly use flasks (of poison, slime, etc.) when in regroup-behaviour.
• If the player leveled up before all of his companions had arrived on the map, then the companions not yet on the map didn't get the level up. Now after everyone has arrived on the level, a check is made to level up all companions up to the player's experience level.
• Some new pages to the game over / win menu:
  • A kill count page with randomly positioned images of all killed monsters, a list of fallen companions, and a list of ascended companions. Only shown if applicable. Obituary files also have the fallen / ascended companions listed.
• Replaced the menu click sound effect file. It was an OGG file that mysteriously every now and then sounded a bit distorted, something you could hear with headphones at least. Replaced it with the same effect but in uncompressed WAV format.
• Some typos fixed.

Zorbus on Steam

 

[Turn_BASED]

I came back to this game after playing it on release and it’s really had some great improvements. The new talents - holy warrior, undead obsessed weirdo (forget the name of this one), among others - really add a lot of flavor and the new race, Minotaur, is cool too.

If you haven’t played in awhile I’d highly recommend jumping back in.

 

[xuerebx]

Damn you, I last played it in July 2023 according to steam and now I'm hooked again :D

 

[xuerebx]

Can someone remind me - if you're running a wizard focusing on summoning - do you need Spirit (apart from focusing on Mind) to raise the cap to have more than 3 summons?

EDIT: it seems spirit adds more recruitable NPCs, but doesn't increase summoning party size.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Zorbus has the most intriguing sound effects that I've heard in a rogue game. Very satisfying sounds. But, there are so many that I may be wrong.

 

[xuerebx]

Like squishing the mushrooms/fungi? :D