Honestly fantastic mod, might as well be free DLC for this game. Really great story cleverly made using just the existing assets. Now that I've played through it twice I feel I can leave a proper review and give some advice.
-Still pretty challenging on normal. It's very easy to get overwhelmed during some of the boss fights so I can't recommend playing on Hard. The Rage of Earth fight in particular would have been impossible without magic or weapons with armor penetration. -There's unfortunately a softlock on the beach in the pressure plate room and I had to restart. Make sure to save before going in. I was also never able to figure out the time puzzle in the same area but it didn't matter long term. -Weapon progression for heavy, light, and magic users was fantastic. The others not so much. It took me forever to find the first bow and I ended up using it until the end of the game. Throwing was a lot better off. -There are a LOT of elemental attacks that will hit your whole party. Poison wasn't really a big deal but if you at least don't have a mage that can cast Frost Shield or like three lizardmen you're going to have a rough going. -I had eleven skulls by the end of the game. Definitely worth bringing a Minotaur. -Food was a bit janky. You start out with way too much and not enough crates to put it in and by the end you'll barely have any. Not sure if it was intended but the wargs stopped spawning near the end of the game. -Put all of your unused gear in one place instead of just throwing it away. -There is a puzzle in the mines just to get to the life crystal and it was absolutely not worth it for how tedious it was to figure out. -There's really only one gripe I have with this mod and it's that the alternate ending is bugged. It doesn't matter what position you put the elements in the door straight up will never open. Spending additional time looking for the spare elements just to have the secret ending not work really sucks. -I finished the game at level 12.
Probably my favorite mod. It just melds so seamlessly with the rest of the game and doesn't have any janky or extravagant additions. Shame it hasn't been updated since 2015.
-There is a puzzle in the mines just to get to the life crystal and it was absolutely not worth it for how tedious it was to figure out.
Actually, there's also a secret wall there. One rock wall looks just like the model for secret rock walls and the map shows there's something behind it. I couldn't find the button for it, though.
EDIT: Found it. Past that same gate is a secret button on a wodden support wall. It opens the trap door in the chamber with all the gate levers. Go down it and fight the enemies, find a piece of the Valor set, and there will be a lever to open a secret door. Secret door leads to a corridor with another enemy, some stairs, and a chest behind some more wooden support walls.
Stairs lead to the space behind the secret wall you pass on the way to the crystal, with a lever to open it. There are four trap doors you cross over on the way to the crystal. If you fall through the third from the top, you'll land in a space to reach the chest behind the support walls on the lower level. Chest has a piece of the lurker set.
So, there's two secrets, a chest, a valor piece, and a lurker piece along with the healing crystal past that gate.
Such a great... I'd say mod, but it's basically Grimrock 3, honestly.
A spoiler-free warning to those just starting: either keep all the gear you find, or put it somewhere you will definitely remember and can access easily, instead of just dropping it on the ground when you don't need it. You (and the me of a week ago) will thank me later.
Some things I can't figure out, on the off-chance anyone's still here in 2020:
Spoiler:
Show
The single-square island south of the save crystal in the Swamp - how do you get to that? I can't find a button or lever or clue nearby. It opens automatically after you beat a boss.
I'm missing one of the ornate keys for the maze in the southeast/bottom right of the Forest Ruins. Should I look harder or is there meant to be one fewer than needed?
How on earth do you get to the save crystal in the top left of the Bay of Mist? Does it have to do with the "time is stronger than metal" riddle? Apparently yes, but I don't know what I did differently the second time. /shrug
In the Lower Catacombs, the map shows a hallway behind the stairs. Am I supposed to be able to get in there?
Where the heck are the three skull keys? Do I need to make the balance orbs to find them? They're behind the Enbalmer riddle.
What does the "I am first, I am second and first is fourth" puzzle mean? Is it supposed to point to the Kennels? What am I missing?
While i was playing this map a had feeling that it should be DLC to the main game. Locations, secrets, story, and monsters are just superb. From the start of fighiting bare handed to beging equpied to te teeth map kept me "wanting more". Progression via items is just perfectly balanced. What more to say? If we ever gonna get Legend of Grimrock 3 Nariath should be the level designer. Amazing and beautiful peace of work you done there.
This mod is borderline Perfect. You didnt put any stupidly annoying maze. Areas connect in multiple ways like Ocarina of time adding to the effect the it being a world. Puzzles are original and fair. No f*#@ing headache or huge progression slow down. Love the cubes on 4th floor of the tower. Maps are each cool and relatable environments, not stupid labyrinth everywhere.. No too much underground/indoor. Its open world, you can do one in the order you want, no stupid difficulty spike. Its not loaded with enemies, theres exactly enough. After playing countless hours of grimrock fighting has become boring and annoying so too much of it gonna get me to cheats or give up the mod. Thank god you didnt use the trickster who completly wrecks the immersion. You didnt rely on a story to make your mod good, tho a little bit more wouldnt have hurt. You used monsters to tell the story. Exemple the fire giant that tried to steal the Water essence. Rats stealing it. They had their zone. And no stupid egyptian/pyramid theme. You left small parts of area to be discovered later. Item progression if fun. Ive just spend 11hours doing it and they were the most fun Ive had with any grimrock games/mod. Food got scarce but not too much. I was really on the limit so you obviously took time to make it happen. Instead of putting a forge or just giving away free items you made us transform them with the altars. Loved it. I smiled when I figured i wasted that one ornate key. Not enough mod screws with you like that. Not enough to set you back too much but enough to be like; ohh mennnn -_-. I loved the idea of the ship wreck ebing a airship and not a ship ship. Like in FF8 and FF9.
Constructive criticism; 1. I loved the endless hyenas in southlands. you could have done something like this elsewhere to help in case someone runs out of food. Not too much to keep that sharp edge on our throats but maybe like the swarms of tiny rats for exemple. Or 1 or 2 creature per zone respawning on a timer giving no XP. It would also keep us on our toes. 2. I dont know why, but i ve always LOVED mods that made me start alone and retrieve other party member. I dunno if they have to be prebuilt character in order to do so but I wish you had that in there. 3. Spoiler: the puzzle on 4th floor tower, you could have rotated the cubes rooms so that its not obvious rightaway. 4.. WAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too small and short the quality and fun i had. I wish there was an other 10hours to go.I really had a great time and I hope you are going to do more. Keep me up to date please!
Great mod... until the rage of earth fight. With no spellcasters in the party and not enough points in Alchemy to craft bombs I found the fight pretty much impossible and had to end the mod there. Up until then it was good.
I finished your mod in approximatively 14 hours on normal difficulty. Food was a little scarce in the end (I literally finished the mod without having any food left in my inventory) but I didn't had to cheat, so it's fine. I liked the general atmosphere of the mod and your puzzles were overall well thought and intuitive. I got stuck in some areas but the hints you gave to other people on the Grimrock forum helped me to progress as well. The enemies were well balanced and some of them were quite challenging
Spoiler:
Show
i.e. the ice guardians in the crystal caverns or the little golems in the essence of earth room on the Mine lower floor.
Your mod is very good, especially for a first try, and I had a lot of fun playing it. Thank you !
It's a very good modification. Nice layout and a decent number of items. Puzzles seem fair as well as enemy placement/health. I endorsed this too. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
13 comments
-Still pretty challenging on normal. It's very easy to get overwhelmed during some of the boss fights so I can't recommend playing on Hard. The Rage of Earth fight in particular would have been impossible without magic or weapons with armor penetration.
-There's unfortunately a softlock on the beach in the pressure plate room and I had to restart. Make sure to save before going in. I was also never able to figure out the time puzzle in the same area but it didn't matter long term.
-Weapon progression for heavy, light, and magic users was fantastic. The others not so much. It took me forever to find the first bow and I ended up using it until the end of the game. Throwing was a lot better off.
-There are a LOT of elemental attacks that will hit your whole party. Poison wasn't really a big deal but if you at least don't have a mage that can cast Frost Shield or like three lizardmen you're going to have a rough going.
-I had eleven skulls by the end of the game. Definitely worth bringing a Minotaur.
-Food was a bit janky. You start out with way too much and not enough crates to put it in and by the end you'll barely have any. Not sure if it was intended but the wargs stopped spawning near the end of the game.
-Put all of your unused gear in one place instead of just throwing it away.
-There is a puzzle in the mines just to get to the life crystal and it was absolutely not worth it for how tedious it was to figure out.
-There's really only one gripe I have with this mod and it's that the alternate ending is bugged. It doesn't matter what position you put the elements in the door straight up will never open. Spending additional time looking for the spare elements just to have the secret ending not work really sucks.
-I finished the game at level 12.
Probably my favorite mod. It just melds so seamlessly with the rest of the game and doesn't have any janky or extravagant additions. Shame it hasn't been updated since 2015.
EDIT: Found it. Past that same gate is a secret button on a wodden support wall. It opens the trap door in the chamber with all the gate levers. Go down it and fight the enemies, find a piece of the Valor set, and there will be a lever to open a secret door. Secret door leads to a corridor with another enemy, some stairs, and a chest behind some more wooden support walls.
Stairs lead to the space behind the secret wall you pass on the way to the crystal, with a lever to open it. There are four trap doors you cross over on the way to the crystal. If you fall through the third from the top, you'll land in a space to reach the chest behind the support walls on the lower level. Chest has a piece of the lurker set.
So, there's two secrets, a chest, a valor piece, and a lurker piece along with the healing crystal past that gate.
I had a great time even though I didn't know how to use the extra essences for an alternate ending
A spoiler-free warning to those just starting: either keep all the gear you find, or put it somewhere you will definitely remember and can access easily, instead of just dropping it on the ground when you don't need it. You (and the me of a week ago) will thank me later.
Some things I can't figure out, on the off-chance anyone's still here in 2020:
The single-square island south of the save crystal in the Swamp - how do you get to that? I can't find a button or lever or clue nearby.It opens automatically after you beat a boss.How on earth do you get to the save crystal in the top left of the Bay of Mist? Does it have to do with the "time is stronger than metal" riddle?Apparently yes, but I don't know what I did differently the second time. /shrugWhere the heck are the three skull keys? Do I need to make the balance orbs to find them?They're behind the Enbalmer riddle.This mod is borderline Perfect. You didnt put any stupidly annoying maze. Areas connect in multiple ways like Ocarina of time adding to the effect the it being a world. Puzzles are original and fair. No f*#@ing headache or huge progression slow down. Love the cubes on 4th floor of the tower. Maps are each cool and relatable environments, not stupid labyrinth everywhere.. No too much underground/indoor. Its open world, you can do one in the order you want, no stupid difficulty spike. Its not loaded with enemies, theres exactly enough. After playing countless hours of grimrock fighting has become boring and annoying so too much of it gonna get me to cheats or give up the mod. Thank god you didnt use the trickster who completly wrecks the immersion. You didnt rely on a story to make your mod good, tho a little bit more wouldnt have hurt. You used monsters to tell the story. Exemple the fire giant that tried to steal the Water essence. Rats stealing it. They had their zone. And no stupid egyptian/pyramid theme. You left small parts of area to be discovered later. Item progression if fun. Ive just spend 11hours doing it and they were the most fun Ive had with any grimrock games/mod. Food got scarce but not too much. I was really on the limit so you obviously took time to make it happen. Instead of putting a forge or just giving away free items you made us transform them with the altars. Loved it. I smiled when I figured i wasted that one ornate key. Not enough mod screws with you like that. Not enough to set you back too much but enough to be like; ohh mennnn -_-. I loved the idea of the ship wreck ebing a airship and not a ship ship. Like in FF8 and FF9.
Constructive criticism;
1. I loved the endless hyenas in southlands. you could have done something like this elsewhere to help in case someone runs out of food. Not too much to keep that sharp edge on our throats but maybe like the swarms of tiny rats for exemple. Or 1 or 2 creature per zone respawning on a timer giving no XP. It would also keep us on our toes.
2. I dont know why, but i ve always LOVED mods that made me start alone and retrieve other party member. I dunno if they have to be prebuilt character in order to do so but I wish you had that in there.
3. Spoiler: the puzzle on 4th floor tower, you could have rotated the cubes rooms so that its not obvious rightaway.
4.. WAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too small and short the quality and fun i had. I wish there was an other 10hours to go.I really had a great time and I hope you are going to do more. Keep me up to date please!
Many thanks for all your work!!
Some feedback:
One question:
Food was a little scarce in the end (I literally finished the mod without having any food left in my inventory) but I didn't had to cheat, so it's fine.
I liked the general atmosphere of the mod and your puzzles were overall well thought and intuitive. I got stuck in some areas but the hints you gave to other people on the Grimrock forum helped me to progress as well.
The enemies were well balanced and some of them were quite challenging
Your mod is very good, especially for a first try, and I had a lot of fun playing it. Thank you !
I endorsed this too.
I look forward to seeing more of your work.