RPGWatch Feature: Legerdemain Reader Interview

Rune turns his attention to the story-based roguelike Legerdemain, in this latest reader interview. Here's a descriptive snip, for those not familiar with the game:

1Rune - How would you describe Legerdemain to anyone who is not familiar with it?
Nathan - It is a computer role-playing game that has been produced independently by a single author. This last point is a warning, but it is also a call-to-arms. In Legerdemain, I have made numerous design decisions with a conscious disregard of what makes a game popular or easy to market, and focused instead on something I could tackle on my own terms. This meant throwing out fancy graphics and cut scenes and so forth, but I'm OK with that. In exchange, I've been able to concentrate on the things I find most important, like interesting NPCs, and storyline, and a huge, original world.

Read it all here.
More information.

Does this run on a 64-bit OS? Thanks.

Originally Posted by Santos
Does this run on a 64-bit OS? Thanks.

Yes, that's what I run it on.

Nice interview. Heh, one of these days the Tile version will get working—-still a worthwhile purchase with the Cluebook and such on my end well before the tile version had happened by a hefty margin—-IIRC it wasn't far removed from the Con premier for me!.

Hopefully one day somebody does a quality video let's play of it as the style of the game should lend itself especially well versus other more "traditional" Roguelikes.

Thanks. I guess it's just my system that doesn't like it.

The tile version does work now…have you tried running it in administrator mode santos?

Yes. It pops up a cmd-prompt window so fast I can't read what it's saying; and that's the end of the show.

this thread may help you Santos:

http://roguelikefiction.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=475

Thanks, rune, just what I needed.

It runs with Java ? Nice move, imho.

This game sounds awesome, but I have no time to play at the moment

Yeah, on one hand its a 200 hour ascii roguelike for free…. On the other hand; they all are. :þ

Whats up with the sprites transparency?

Originally Posted by SirJames
Yeah, on one hand its a 200 hour ascii roguelike for free…. On the other hand; they all are. :þ

Whats up with the sprites transparency?

I think you will find this game a bit different…it is more a traditional style rpg in a roguelike world

Originally Posted by SirJames
Yeah, on one hand its a 200 hour ascii roguelike for free…. On the other hand; they all are. :þ

If you buy the novel (aka hint book) you get some nice tiles for this game as well as the huge novel. Something like over 300 pages long and pretty good writing to boot.

I like tiles whenever possible so the novel and tiles are worth the $20 for this huge game.

When I say huge, I mean freaking ginormous. I've been playing on and off for a few months and in the novel my characters are only up to around page 40. If I had to guess I have spent around 50 hours on this game so far. Although, I'm notorious for searching every nook and cranny which makes my playthroughs a little longer than most peoples.

Skav, why not post some screenshots of the tiled version!! You might consider a review too.

Heh corwin, there are pics of the tiled version in the interview….we are not talking insanely detailed tiles, just good enough

I'll post some screenshots when I get home.

They're tiles so of course they're not going to impress anyone in this day and age, but they're decent. I don't mind ASCII, but whenever possible I would prefer to use a tileset. It adds a little bit more flavor to the game.

I'd have to finish the game before I thought about a review for it. It's been one of my go to games when I need a break from my Sim Heroes in Sims Medieval, but if I can finish ledgermain I'll put something together for a review of it. A heavily biased review since I adore roguelikes and thought this one added some interesting ways of playing one with more of a story. I absolutely love that I can save my character at an inn. If I get killed while adventuring I restart at the last time I saved at the inn.

It still can be devastating if you've been in a cave for an hour or so and get killed. All that time is gone, but at least you don't have to start all over from the beginning again. That would be very difficult to swallow since the story is one of the appealing parts to the game.

Fate allowed you to save too, from memory. Rune, those pics in the article were WAY too small for me to see clearly!!

You know you can click on the screens for a full-size version?

Here are a few screenshots of some areas you'll first encounter when playing.









Here's a helpful hint for anyone who wants to try the game. Don't make the same mistake I did and treat the beginning like any other roguelike. DO NOT GO ADVENTURING IN THE PRISON!!! The beginning is brutal because unlike other games this one really treats you like you are a weak character who is trying to escape from jail. If you think you'll find some cool loot and level up while you're trying to escape you're dead wrong and I do mean dead. I must have died a dozen times before I found my way out of the dungeon and then almost died looking for the first town. Get there as fast as you can and rest at the inn. When I was more powerful I went back to that prison kicked the living hell out of every living denizen in there.

So to recap:

1. Get out of the dungeon fast.
2. Get to the town even faster and save at the inn.
3. Do some adventuring, level up, get better equipment, go back to the dungeon and kill everything in sight!