Demise Ascension - first impressions

Myrkrel

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I recently got Demise: Ascension in the IndieFort Bundle 2 on GamersGate and wanted to share some initial thoughts on it for anyone interested in this title. As of this post there is still time to get the Bundle (1 day, 17 hours left) - and it's a real bargain to get Demise for the bundle price ($5.99). The usual price for Demise: Ascension is $32.50.

Demise has been around for a long time (since 1999) in its earlier form (Rise of the Ku'Tan) but it's new to me and has been a pleasant surprise so far. Ascension is a very extensive expansion / update which includes all of the original game content.

I played last night for a few hours straight into the wee hours of the morning, and totally lost track of time. I can see this game becoming very addictive and can understand why it has gained a cult following.

This is a grid-based dungeon crawl which combines elements of classic RPGs (like Wizardry, Might & Magic, etc) with a kind of roguelike feel in some ways. The dungeon is not randomized, but hand-crafted. Some elements within it are random though such as monsters and loot. It is party-based or solo - depending on your preference. You can also add numerous companions / hirelings, and charm denizens of the dungeon to aid you. Multiplayer is also possible but I haven't tried that.

The dungeon is massive, complex and intricate with a good variety to the layout and variations in height. There are plenty of tricks, traps, secret doors, monsters and treasure to keep things interesting. Also it's well-decorated with lots of little details which add to the atmosphere.

The combat system is a little odd but I adjusted to it fine after a while. It is real-time and basically you can choose to be hostile or at peace (if the monster isn't initially aggressive) - and if you're hostile you will enter melee with nearby creatures automatically. You can cast spells and activate magic items when you want, those aren't automatic. Supposedly you can also talk to monsters - though I haven't done much of that so far.

I'm uncertain if there is much tactical depth to the combat - it might be more about how you build up your character's stats and improve your items in the long run. The stat system is satisfyingly "crunchy" and it seems like you can build a pretty diverse party, through joining different guilds (classes) and choosing from a wide variety of races.

The town area has a lot of features you'd expect (shop, tavern, bank, quest-givers, etc.), and you'll return there often to recuperate from your dungeon excursions. The game is definitely brutal early on - you will die a lot, until you've gained a few levels. The death penalty is not very harsh in the early levels at least.

Overall the game exudes a certain old-school charm which I find very appealing. It captures the atmosphere of old-school D&D and old CRPGs - in a visual way and also with its focus on a deep dungeon-delving experience. The primitive 3D graphics may turn some off but I find them appealing in a nostalgic way. I really enjoy the music as well.

Anyway - I highly recommend getting in on the bundle price if you like old-school dungeon crawling. By the way, there is an introduction video recently posted by Decklin which shows off the features of the game pretty well.

I attached some screenshots I took which show the 3 different ways you can display the interface, and some of the dungeon scenery. I only have one character in these shots but of course you can have more in your party.
 

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Doesn't look to bad the downside is I'm not interested in games like this. Some of my friends might be interested in it.
 
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looks interesting..are there any puzzles? (like in Dungeon Master)
That's a good question - I'm really not sure as I've only barely scratched the surface of the dungeon content. I haven't seen anything like the puzzles in Dungeon Master or Grimrock yet, but I've not gotten very far.

Maybe someone with more Demise experience could answer that.
 
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I own the original game and while it is enjoyable, it doesn't have any save game option. The game saves continually and your status is therefore saved when you exit. If you die, you have to have your body recovered to get it raised which is expensive. I eventually got frustrated and gave up.
 
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Yeah the single, continuous save aspect is part of what reminds me of roguelikes and makes it a bit more hardcore. I don't mind it so much and haven't found the death costs problematic so far. There is also the option to have other members of your party (or a new party) retrieve the body and possibly raise it with their own magic items or spells - which would cut down costs a lot. The thing I like about this is that it's pretty much how it would go in a tabletop RPG game.

They do have a backup / restore feature which functionally can be used to make an extra save slot, but they mention it's not really designed for that. I suppose one could use it for that if they really wanted to.
 
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I suppose you could just exit every so often and backup your save.
Well that is what the in-game backup / restore feature does - it basically makes a backup copy of the entire game state (dungeon, characters, etc). They have this so you can copy it off somewhere in case your hard drive fails or something. But it could be used as a backup save game as well. The only downside is it does make you exit the game each time you do this - so it's not quite as quick to use as a traditional in-game save slot would be.
 
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That's what I ended up doing, but it got painfully tedious as you got to the lower, more challenging levels.
 
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You can do that, but then you have to manually make a backup copy of your 1 save game; the other choice does that for you.
 
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I played a lot of the original, it can get challenging. It's fun.
 
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I played the original a fair bit (levelled up my party to the 130's or so reaching level 22 of the 32(?) in the dungeon), but never finished the game. It's a grinder to be sure.

IIRC there were some tactical options in combat preparation (monster resistances and whatnot). I also believe you could script spell usage.

looks interesting..are there any puzzles? (like in Dungeon Master)

Not puzzles per se. IIRC you need to do some crative exploration to find certain interesting locations, but that's about it.
 
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Well, the whole idea is that there is a single, huge dungeon, to be mapped by generations of adventurers. You will need a few parties (including a specialized 'rescue' party) to achieve anything here.

...my problem was that after, I don't know, 50 hours or more, I have only explored 5 levels, and not wholly! It's a huge game and it can get a bit boring. But I heard multiplayer was good. And well, 50 hours of fun for $6 is not bad!
 
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I've been playing this game for over 10 years now. It's an excellent game and the expansion makes it even better. I play single player only and have a 4 character/multi-classed party all of whom are in the 500+ level range. The bottom depths of the dungeon is still extremely challenging.
 
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The lack of a 'save anywhere' feature is unacceptable and flat-out dumb. I'll never play PC game lacking this feature.

Its not that you can't save anywhere, its that you can't not save everywhere :)

I very much like the concept, but a lot of the monsters are so eye-bleedingly terrible looking that its too much. The environments and most objects are completely serviceable. I think maybe some prerendered 2d sprites would have been the way to go.
 
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