After finishing the crimson court and the rest of the added content with a few quality of life mods i can say that this game is a masterpiece on it's own right
My advice is to watch Sinvicta play. Second, burn any bad quirks that limit your stats, but leave the ones that prevent you from going to certain places to relieve stress. Third- Jesters are your friend.
@Ron .M: Jo explained years ago that 'red engie' was designed by someone else, and when he started implementing consistent characters with names he specifically decided to only use his own character designs.
I'm having a great time playing Darkest Dungeon. There's several ways to shed bad traits, but my favorite is to visit the Cove for my leveling up and gold grinding. Bring lots of herbs to use on corals, and you can wipe out your bad quirks.
@Adam Dunn: It's clear you dont enjoy a game that takes away so much control, and I understand completely, the game devs dont want you to have control.
Your accuracy is capped at 90% no matter what, and they have made it so you cant stack the same trinkets, they want the game to be more random.
@Adam Dunn: The skill of the game is risk management and the ability to rationalize a solution out of the shit random situations you're put into. There is skill in the game because there is a way to play better and a way to play worse.
Reminds me of xcom actually. Only less options
The trick to keeping negative traits in control, is to visit the Cove with medicinal Herbs which you use on the Eerie Coral to remove them for FREE!
Another good way is to complete the mission in the Weald where you need to collect medicin bags, which triggers the Caregivers convention.
The way to keep your mentally unhealthy veterans is to hire brand new people, grind with them, then toss them away like used napkins. Repeat until you're rich.
@Beastwolf I can see that people like the game, and that's because each run is a gamble. That is why I call it a glorified slot machine. You can say that's the point of every game, but I say the difference between a sport and a gamble is skill, and DD does not actually require skill. (2+1/2)
@Beastwolf Ultimately the failure I personally found in DD is that it takes too much control away from the player. I know it's an RPG, but even then you still have less control over the game due to the stress mechanic and the unnaturally steep uphill nature of the game. (2/2)
@Beastwolf I wouldn't really call anything you can do in DD skill since the game itself decides whether or not if you succeed or fail. Unlike Dark Souls-esque games you can't legitimately blame the game for your failure because more often than not it is due to your own lack in skill/knowledge. (1/2)
There are a multitude of ways to dispose of negative quirks. Medicinal Herbs on coral, Holy water on Eldritch alters, 25% chance when interacting with Confessional booths and Sacrificial Stones, and using a torch on scroll piles found in the Warrens to be specific.
the biggest disappointment is the fucking ending
it's basiclly a huge F**k you just to send you to NG+
not that i regret buying it but the game gave me some severe depression and pissed me off to high heavens with it's random disease bullshit
@Mythriel Pelageirin: Me too.
Although I was glad the Klepto died.
When your klepto steals a rupie, food you need, and a shovel you need for an obstacle because the dungeon fucked you, you will hate kleptomaniacs as well.
@Adam Dunn: Statistically, you are rewarded by skill.
Losing 2 parties worth of units getting To the darkest dungeon isn't uncommon, Sometimes a unit just gets crit to death while everyone misses, but theres still ways to improve your odds of winning while relying on the least amount of chance.
A big problem with intentionally stupid hard games like Darkest Dungeon is that the experience is more of a chore rather than entertainment. I pretty much immediately hated DD. I hate Rouge Legacy as well, but unlike DD, I am rewarded with skill rather than be punished by a glorified slot machine.
Still, I agree with everyone here--it's basically crisis mode sim. Best way to approach it is to build dedicated teams and keep 'em in the sanitarium/church when in downtime.
Most negative quirks are manageable, and others can be healed.
Bigger problem is that after you level hero for a while, he/she refuses to go to low-level dungeons.
It's crisis management at it's best the situation is fucked either way.
The game punishes you with taking away your most valuable assets: free time and willingness to play.
It's kind fitting really most Lovecraft main characters get defeated in a similar fashion.
This is kind of spoilery, but I'll say it anyway.
The whole point of the game is with the eldrich horror backdrop. Ultimately you do not win or lose againts a cosmic being that barely even acknowledges your existence as more then mere ants.
"Darkest dungeon is the most intense human resource manager you will play."
Strange paraphrase of something totalbiscuit said in a podcast one time I think
I mean you could always just, I dunno, remove their negative quirks and diseases using camping and curios? Not all the negative quirks affect combat, and combat is Paramount.
Once you see every other disease and quirk as combat/non combat, it becomes more managable
But fuck Klepto.
Gonna have to disagree with your assessment, Jo. The difficulty of Darkest Dungeon is what makes it good. The game is balanced in such a way that you can get invested in your characters, but it's not hard to replace them if things go tits-up. Plus the trait system gives each character an identity
Tentacles and boobs? I'm sold. :3
There was one I saw that I loved the art but you were a villain trying to escape a book while heroes came in to stop you & you kill them & nope I like being the hero call me old fashioned but I like playing the good guy & if I'm bad I dont want to kill good guys.
It's not a game for the "modern" gamer. It does not give a shit that you want instant gratification and it won't pamper your ass if you put yourself into an unwinable situation. Which is why I love it.
Also big update is comming on the 19th of June and it seems to bring a lot of new things.
You can always heal negative traits, either in town or even in dungeon itself (if you know which curio you need to interact with). Take care of you veterans and keep them alive, but low level ones treat as cannon fodder: unless they survive to level 2, ditch them if they catch up something nasty.
Though one could always do three or four teams of professional dungeoneers... Or try to make use of bad traits... Or just ragequit from the game like I did...
Are negative traits a problem for you, then you should definitely try out the ultimate support-classes: Jester and Antiquarian! Jester excels in reducing stress both on and off the battlefield and Antiquarian keeps you swimming in gold and artifacts! [1/2]
@Adeptus Enginus: positions 1 & 2 because you only have back liners to send out that week. Then finding out new synergies you'd never thought of, or that what you expect to be weak can work really well. [2/2]
@Adeptus Enginus: Unless you're in stygian mode surely that's not a problem? The core gameplay loop is good enough that doing money or heirloom runs isn't tedious, and having to rethink your lineups because of your heroes levelling up is part of the fun. Like putting a highwayman and vestal in [1/2]
I always found that negative quirks are always manageable, with a large roster I can fill the sanitarium most weeks to remove the most problematic and just work with the minor ones. But this is on normal mode, so I probably have more weeks spare and not using my veterans.
Darkest Dungeon is one of those games I hate playing myself but I love watching others play.
Watching others play is less stressful than playing myself but still stressful enough that I get invested, rooting for them to make it through.
And within those hours upon hours upon hours, you'll largely be doing the exact same things. Leveling up veterans. Running out of money for upgrades. Needing to delve into the same dungeons to find more. Having Veterans outlevel your "farming" dungeons. recruiting new heroes so you can repeat it all
I have a love hate relationship with DD, and it's largely for the things you mentioned. The main problem is the grindiness amplifies all of the flaws tenfold. If you aren't playing on radiant difficulty, it'll be hours upon hours upon hours before you so much as touch the endgame. <cont>
I do really like this game. But as you said, characters piling up negative traits is kinda annoying.
Add to that how easier it is to gain stress than to lose it, and you get something that is really annoying.
