Legend of Grimrock - Review @ GameBanshee

Dhruin

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GameBanshee has kicked up an early full review of Grimrock. In general, it's highly positive, though they do note a lack of depth in some areas and would have liked more non-combat skills. Still, it's a very strong start for Almost Human:
While it's hard to live up to quite so much hype, Legend of Grimrock succeeds on its promise of old-school gaming about as well, fitting the mold pretty much to a T. However, thanks to its technological advancements, it also manages to introduce a few new game elements that simply weren't possible back in the day. The end result is a game that plays very, very well, and while it might not have quite as much depth as those older games in some respects, it's got all the puzzle-solving, monster-slaying and secret-searching that fans fell in love with twenty years ago.
More information.
 
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it might not have quite as much depth as those older games in some respects? I wounder what that might be....
 
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it might not have quite as much depth as those older games in some respects? I wounder what that might be….

He mentions lack of non combat skills.

Only 20 hours gameplay.
I wonder how long gameplay EOTB would have if you could do automapping ?


Also, if i correctly understood. The game offers some kind of level editor ?

Thats pretty sweet :)
 
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Any lack of 'non-combat' skills is pretty forgiveable. I mean, we know what type of game we're getting here, right?
It's not like its antecedents had much in that regard. If there had been a bunch of non-combat skills that would have been counter to expectations, surely.

Edit: the reviewer mentions trap finding and lock picking specifically as omissions. Common, true. But not necessarily compulsory.
 
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Sounds simplistic and boring to me. I hate timed "hole-in-the-ground" puzzles. I was hoping for more cerebral stuff like riddles and item-based puzzles.

Minimal story and limited character development leaves us with a shallow hack/slash game with pretty visuals.

Nah, not for me.
 
I'm going to hold off on this until I hear a few more opinions. This preview implied it went in the opposite direction than I was hoping it would. It may still be a good game and worth buying but timing puzzles and shallow-ish character development is definitely not what I'm looking for here.

I was really hoping, and I'll admit perhaps unreasonably so, LoG would be like Wizardry 7 in a dungeon. Oh well, I'll keep an open mind if the collective opinion here loves it.
 
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The game looks pretty sweet. Simple, efective and nostalgic.

My only gripe is that it can become very boring very soon because you are always indoors and always with similar environments (i know the original DM was also like that)

If for example they shifted towards a more story oriented/outdoors classic RPG it would be unbelievable good, i would pay $100+ for something similar to a Lands of Lore1: the throne of Chaos remake/spinof from this guys of Legend of Grimrock.
 
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Well, even though I expect to be bored in the first few hours - I was feeling generous - so I pre-ordered. I figure, if they get enough success - they'll go deeper with their next title.

Also, the price is very reasonable - and they deserve some support for that, I think.
 
Yeah but the older games that it's based on didn't have any non combat skills either. I think people just tend to remember the older games as having far more depth then they actually did.

He mentions lack of non combat skills.
 
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Yeah but the older games that it's based on didn't have any non combat skills either. I think people just tend to remember the older games as having far more depth then they actually did.

It's called Nostalgia Goggles.


Personally, I read a review on RPGFrance this morning and I'm quite glad I pre-ordered.
 
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If for example they shifted towards a more story oriented/outdoors classic RPG it would be unbelievable good, i would pay $100+ for something similar to a Lands of Lore1: the throne of Chaos remake/spinof from this guys of Legend of Grimrock.

Well, the game is a dungeon crawl. What you suggest would be a totally entirely different game.
 
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I'm sure, if they have a certain success with this game, the next will have deeper gameplay, like DArtagnan said.

This is a DM clone. I'm not expecting anything different.
 
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Total Biscuit takes a look at LoG: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzIiXx-8BHc

Warning: It contains spoilers! (Disclaimer: I haven't watched the video, in fear of spoilers, so I know nothing of it, but Total Biscuit is usually pretty good and has old school sensibilities.)
 
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Yeah but the older games that it's based on didn't have any non combat skills either. I think people just tend to remember the older games as having far more depth then they actually did.

I'm not expecting a game coming out in 2012 to not evolve design from 1988 - but perhaps that's my failing.

I think I'm pretty well informed regarding the genre in question, as it used to be my favorite one - and I'm developing my own game in it.

Grimrock looks like a beautiful throwback - but that doesn't mean it couldn't have had much more interesting game mechanics. It would be pretty easy to implement, I'd say.
 
This game does look simplistic in some ways. 3 classes is very limiting. But I don't really think it'll be a problem. This is the first game in what I'm expecting to be a series. These guys made the engine and made a game in it and that game sounds like it's about the same size as Eye of the Beholder 1. I'm expecting that the next game will have less engine coding and more feature adding and in-game building. I mean, they don't have to write a new engine for LoG2, so all of the development time can be about adding new features and building a huge game. Maybe as big as Eye of the Beholder 2. Or as story-centric as Lands of Lore. Hopefully they don't streamline the gameplay to Lands of Lore levels, if they go the story-focused route.
 
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