Gordius
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 95
Registered: 12-16-2008
IP: Logged

The new altar makes for an interesting calculation. The math depends on how many times you've already used the previous altars (so, where the cost starts at the new altar), what you're using it for, and how many greckles you expect to gather on the new level. In general, though, the more times you expect to be able to hit the new altar, the more it makes sense to go back and hit the TT altar, instead.

For example, if you come in with the altar costing 1000, 40 ATK costs more at 4 TT hits than at 4 AA hits, but 80 ATK costs more at 8 AA hits than at 10 TT hits. And lowering that 1000 (meaning you've already used the altar fewer times) makes the tradeoff point come earlier and means you likely have more opportunities to benefit by using the old altar. So there's very little reason to save up your greckles for the "better" altar.

I say "an interesting calculation", but I'm not saying this is a good thing. In short, I think if you want the new altar to ramp up the cost faster, you need to make the old altar unavailable or not worthwhile somehow.

Someone Else
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2340
Registered: 06-14-2005
IP: Logged

I agree with Gordius - I finished BB with 311 attack (2603/311/40, 78GR, 11/8/2/1. I've completed up to the point(s) where it's unfinished, and I like it a lot so far.

12th Archivist
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 789
Registered: 12-07-2008
IP: Logged

Just a quick note to inform the testers that this project isn't dead. I've been adding a lot of content to AA and a few neat things elsewhere, so the next update will be pretty big and pretty soon.

____________________________
It was going well until it exploded.
~Scott Manley

Check out the DROD Wikia project here!

mrimer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5135
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Cool! Looking forward to it

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

12th Archivist
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 789
Registered: 12-07-2008
IP: Logged

And here it is, the revised version of this hold. This one has many changes:

-Ice Warriors are significantly less scary now
-Soulpiercers are one-shot at 800 ATK, down from 980 ATK
-AA has received several shortcuts that should make travel more convenient
-AA has been entirely complete (except for the "gimmick" section that's not very important as is it)
-The Wyrmsmiter and Oremite Shield should be obtainable now; try for them once you've nearly exhausted the rest of the level
-Replacing the Lucky Greckle is the Master's Pendant, which allows the wearer first strike on any enemy. Very useful against things on oremites (hint hint)
-Two places in the game will reward you with a free purchase from the altar, very useful during the end game expensiveness
-Buying HP from the altar is viable now, giving double what it did before!
-DEF should be easier to acquire now, with the player able to get 6 from the SS altar, 9 from the BB altar, 12 from the TT altar, and 15 from the AA altar, significantly improved from before
-Parts of the sixth and final level (Perilous Pinnacle, PP) are visible ingame, including the ending cutscenes. Don't look ahead if you don't want spoilers!

____________________________
It was going well until it exploded.
~Scott Manley

Check out the DROD Wikia project here!

Midootje
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 110
Registered: 03-05-2011
IP: Logged

Alright, I've played through the hold again. As a whole, it was once again a pleasure to play. Comments:

The 'free altar use' reward seems nice. However, if you are still at a low altar cost and don't mean to use it the next time you get to an altar (basically this is about the first freebie, since I had only used 2 altar upgrades from BB by the time I got it), you will be forced to. I don't know if this is intentional and whether it's even possible to make it a choice, but if so, I'd suggest making it just that.
The Pendant is just great. I was too stupid to realize it at first, but it would have been better to leave behind all those tar mothers on TT until after I retrieved it. That's already a reason for me to replay it again, good job!
I have a few questions about AA:
There's one room I don't understand (2N2E). How is it possible to get to the chest without having to use two blue keys? I don't see any other way around the closed black door.
About 4N2W: are you supposed to wait until you have the Wyrmsmiter before you attempt to take the Oremite Shield? This seems necessary, because Is this intentional?
Also, in 2N2W, maybe it's nice to have a character tell the player that the greckle door will drop if opened. Would've saved me over 5 minutes in running around this room to exchange the Pendant and the Grappling Hook over and over again.
Lastly:
Oh and in general, there's such a huge overload of keys! I am very sparingly using them because of scoring reasons, but I got to PP with 38/27/2/2.. which seems a little over the top. I'm not saying you should drastically remove keys, but maybe in some places it could be made so that spending keys is worth it, even for scoring reasons. This would however mean that you would end up with more HP instead of keys, but it's just a thought. Otherwise a bunch of keys would have to be removed from TT on to let them keep their use.

Looking forward to the next update, hopefully with the Tetris game (been wondering since the beginning what that's going to look like)!

____________________________
Don't worry, be happy, and slice monsters. You'll probably do better than me at all three.

---

[Last edited by Midootje at 10-13-2013 04:12 PM : Spelling..]

Gordius
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 95
Registered: 12-16-2008
IP: Logged

I liked that you made DEF a little easier to get, but I think the DEF path is now too easy (maybe even much too easy). I had no trouble getting over 800 DEF, which made it simple to get to Best Ending (I recognize that meant passing through some incomplete areas) with over 15k HP.

Someone Else
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2340
Registered: 06-14-2005
IP: Logged

I ended with 24092/810/962, and 47/36/3/3 keys. Good, but DEF is definitely too easy at this point.

12th Archivist
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 789
Registered: 12-07-2008
IP: Logged

I've changed the DEF rates on the altars to two more than the ATK option. Testing this seems to give a reasonable balance with the pure ATK route, so unless someone can still totally break the hold with the DEF route, I think we should be good.

I also changed the permission to You and Masters (although you won't be able to get to all the secrets).

Finally, I've added a few more holds around the room to fill up the empty spaces, including a few rooms in PP. PP isn't totally finished yet, but it's getting there.

____________________________
It was going well until it exploded.
~Scott Manley

Check out the DROD Wikia project here!

Midootje
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 110
Registered: 03-05-2011
IP: Logged

Haha, euhh.. When you start the hold anew, you end up in PP right after the first room of the first cutscene. A little extreme for a shortcut!

____________________________
Don't worry, be happy, and slice monsters. You'll probably do better than me at all three.

12th Archivist
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 789
Registered: 12-07-2008
IP: Logged

Oops! That's fixed now. A few more things have been added and changed now.

Expect a major content patch soon.

____________________________
It was going well until it exploded.
~Scott Manley

Check out the DROD Wikia project here!

Suwako
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 146
Registered: 04-29-2011
IP: Logged

Played all the hold during today.

Firstly : Great work , this hold is awesome, what you did with PP is incredible, truly.

Now with the comments, levels 1-3 are right

4th level : The thunderbolts have 350 of hp and 0 def. This mean you can kill them and not receive damage(without standing in front) with 350 of attack, this happen (or at least happened for me) soon after starting the level.

5th level: Here is where I begin, since i played the rest before, this level surprised me, it's full of new content and I liked it a lot. Comments about it:

The Grappling Hook makes you to get some power and hp without have to kill monsters or open doors that it protect, like in 4N3W, where you can open both red doors and get the attack and hp behind the blue door without using any key or killing anything.

I used the speed potion with the rattlesnake protecting the oremite shield, I don't know if there is a better use of it, I got the shield soon.

Unless I'm wrong and i miss something, this hold is problably imposible since there is a adder protecting a brain and a gel mother, that you have to kill to go to the end, this adder do like 1000/2000 of dmg and you have to cut and kill him like 6 times, that mean a harm of 6000/12000 of hp, I can't get enough hp to kill it.

The room in 4N5W also it's very hard.

Other room I see very hard it's 1S5W with two Ice warriors with two brains behind.

Finally, the last room is 1N6W where you would need either the speed potion (that i used) or 1200 of ATK to kill the rattlesnake, since I can't survive a hit.

I ended with these stats (not exact since i didn't save (blame on me) and continued a older game)

HP: like 4000 (with no potion left)
ATK: like 1000 (with no greckles for altar)
DEF: 230
GR: like 0
KEYS: 5/5/3/1

Hope my comment help you , tell me if i did something wrong with the level.

____________________________
A moment last forever, an eternity passes in an instant, the time I spent here was inevitable...

---

[Last edited by Suwako at 12-14-2013 07:28 PM]

12th Archivist
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 789
Registered: 12-07-2008
IP: Logged

Suwako wrote:
4th level : The thunderbolts have 350 of hp and 0 def. This mean you can kill them and not receive damage(without standing in front) with 350 of attack, this happen (or at least happened for me) soon after starting the level.

They are intended to be an ATK bracket. Once you get 350 ATK, you can kill the Thunderbolts cheaply and get their goodies.

The Grappling Hook makes you to get some power and hp without have to kill monsters or open doors that it protect, like in 4N3W, where you can open both red doors and get the attack and hp behind the blue door without using any key or killing anything.

In most places, it's intended that you can use the grappling hook and skip enemies. But I fixed 4N3W so you have to kill a few things.

I used the speed potion with the rattlesnake protecting the oremite shield, I don't know if there is a better use of it, I got the shield soon.

There really is no best place to use the speed potion, but I usually do use it to get the Oremite Shield if I'm doing a DEF run. If I'm going pure ATK, I usually use the potion somewhere else.

Unless I'm wrong and i miss something, this hold is problably imposible since there is a adder protecting a brain and a gel mother, that you have to kill to go to the end, this adder do like 1000/2000 of dmg and you have to cut and kill him like 6 times, that mean a harm of 6000/12000 of hp, I can't get enough hp to kill it.

Perhaps you missed the Wyrmsmiter? Once you get it, you'll be able to one-shot rattlesnakes and two-shot adders.

Other room I see very hard it's 1S5W with two Ice warriors with two brains behind.

I agree, it's a little too insane, so I moved one of the brains behind a snake.

Finally, the last room is 1N6W where you would need either the speed potion (that i used) or 1200 of ATK to kill the rattlesnake, since I can't survive a hit.

Again, having the Wyrmsmiter means you can one-shot the rattlesnake.

Thanks for playing through the hold! It has been plentyfun to build so far, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the stats! Those are always useful.

____________________________
It was going well until it exploded.
~Scott Manley

Check out the DROD Wikia project here!

Suwako
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 146
Registered: 04-29-2011
IP: Logged

Yep, i missed the wyrm smiter, well, time to replay the last level.

Replayed with a better stats, I found a problem.

There is a invisibility potion in 2S5W, but you can't exit there with it, since you need a grappling hook to jump over the pit.

Ok, conquered(there is some secret i didn't take), I'll replay since, knowing the location of the wyrm smiter is problably better to get it in place of the oremite shield. And i want to master this .

My end stats:

HP: around 4000
ATK: 1013
DEF: 245
GR: 3649
REP: 41334
KEYS: 15/13/0/2

Overall a great hold, it goes harder at the end, as usual. I ended up taking hp from altar in place of ATK. Hoping to see this soon on DROD RPG hold board.

____________________________
A moment last forever, an eternity passes in an instant, the time I spent here was inevitable...

---

[Last edited by Suwako at 12-15-2013 08:40 PM]

Midootje
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 110
Registered: 03-05-2011
IP: Logged

Oh, right, seeing as architects love to see what stats people have at their checkpoints:

GG Conquered: 184/27/10 and 7/1/0/0 keys.
Wooden Shield: 354/47/20 and 1/0/0/0.
SS Conquered: 349/78/20 and 4/1/0/0.
BB Complete: 2731/250/40 and 12/9/1/1.
TT Conquered: 1941/454/150 and 23/9/2/0.
Chase Scene: 10897/1222/245 and 33/28/5/3.

So yeah, a bit overloaded with keys at the end. Not on Greckles though, good job.

____________________________
Don't worry, be happy, and slice monsters. You'll probably do better than me at all three.

---

[Last edited by Midootje at 12-15-2013 10:17 PM]

12th Archivist
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 789
Registered: 12-07-2008
IP: Logged

I've uploaded a new version. It has a few more rooms designed to drain key surplus, as well as a few bug fixes. Also, the final boss will now permanently lose HP when you damage him.

The most notable change is the addition of Searing Dawn, a weapon that will make the final boss more manageable, but at a cost. Defeat yourself without the blade to get the best ending! (And a shiny cutscene!)

Just a bit more content, mostly scripting stuff, and this hold should be good to go!

____________________________
It was going well until it exploded.
~Scott Manley

Check out the DROD Wikia project here!

Midootje
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 110
Registered: 03-05-2011
IP: Logged

Huzzah! Got the best ending! Not exactly easy, as the HP I had here was everything I still had available. If I had optimized less it would've been very close.

Stats: 6738/1347/245/31/23/5/3, score: 8648. In the 'medium' ending, I had over 10000 points!

Last few questions: is the tetraminos game still not accessible or am I missing something? I can see that there's still one secret room I'm missing, but I can't believe it's anywhere else.

And once more about the adder in AA: 2N2E, is it there for a purpose? The trapdoor seems useless, because it doesn't help you put up black doors to jump over. Or, once again, I might be missing something.

I'll keep looking for a 10th secret until I hear from you.


____________________________
Don't worry, be happy, and slice monsters. You'll probably do better than me at all three.

Nuntar
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 4756
Registered: 02-20-2007
IP: Logged

Okay, I'm starting another playthrough of this from the start, and I'll post my stats as I go along.

Golem defeated: 158/73/20, keys 10/0/0 (no altar used yet)
Goblin king defeated: 369/167/40, keys 6/2/1
Rattlesnake defeated: 549/195/40, keys 8/5/1
Since it seems you can't revisit the first three levels, here are my stats before moving on: 976/237/40, keys 9/9/2/1
Eye of the Hurricane defeated: 166/409/80, keys 17/11/2/1 (I didn't find an altar on TT. Is there one?)

* * *

GG cutscene still has "hights" for "heights"
Altar script still has "nevermind" and "anytime"
SS 2N1E: is it deliberate that
SS 1N3E: is the orthosquare needed? It makes the ATK really hard to get, so it isn't a real choice at this stage.
Rattlesnake music still persists.
The new rooms in BB are great fun However, in 4E, I can't see that it would ever be worth giving up two green keys, or one green key and over 1000 HP, for one yellow key and some ATK when there are much cheaper ways to gain ATK
TT 3N2E: dropping the trapdoors doesn't lower the cost enough to be a worthwhile choice

____________________________
50th Skywatcher

---

[Last edited by Nuntar at 12-21-2013 02:28 AM]

Nuntar
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 4756
Registered: 02-20-2007
IP: Logged

Okay, I found the TT altar and that allowed me to clear up the level before moving on. (Maybe another time I'll come back and see if I can complete the hold without using it!)

Eye of the Hurricane defeated: 1130/553/80, keys 15/12/2/2. It's not quite true, as the scroll implies, that you have to get only ATK boosts to reach the secret checkpoint; I got one HP boost (to help me defeat that weird egg thing) and have enough GR for a further four boosts of my choice (but I'm saving the GR for the next level).

Oremite Shield obtained: 1974/1232/245, keys 6/5/4/3. AA is definitely a much harder level than anything so far: I had to do a lot of exploring and working out which areas to tackle in what order so as to reach the key 1220 ATK threshold without running out of HP. Mostly, this was very fun and satisfying. The downside is, towards the end, a hell of a lot of running around switching the Grappling Hook and Master Pendant back and forth. Please script the Command key to let us switch accessories once the player has both (and swords, once he/she has the Wyrmsmiter and RBS). You don't need to provide an Inventory room -- just a Question command would do the trick nicely.

AA finished: 10595/1252/245, keys 11/11/5/3 (I got five HP upgrades at the end). Good enough for the medium ending

Final stats: 17670/1264/245, keys 13/11/5/4. Dark Reflection does 12080 damage. Best ending earned!

In the end, I think you did a great job of making this an interesting but easier hold. I never felt completely stuck, but I constantly felt challenged to find the right way to approach the puzzles, knowing that just wading in wouldn't be enough to get me through. Some of the DROD-like puzzles are nasty -- but they're not compulsory to finish the hold. I also like the fact that the key surplus is well-handled by providing plenty of opportunity to use them to replenish HP or reach crucial ATK thresholds.

* * *

One of the AA entrances has "auxillary" for "auxiliary" and "endeaver" for "endeavour" / "endeavor". And it's "tetrominoes".
All (as far as I noticed) level entrances are set to display every time. Some of them clearly would be more appropriate to display only the first time you enter the level. You'll have to decide what's best for each one.

____________________________
50th Skywatcher

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[Last edited by Nuntar at 12-22-2013 12:12 PM]

komachi
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 163
Registered: 07-30-2012
IP: Logged

I've conquered the previous version of the hold with a defense route. I could kill the shadow.
I used the speed potion for the oremite shield because I don't know where was the wyrmsmither.

When i explored almost everything in Alphine Antre I returned to Turbulent Tempest to the bonus room, I wanted to kill the wubba that have 300 ATK, but he had 15000 of ATK, same with DEF wubba have 15000 instead of 500. I think this is intended to avoid get the bonus when you return to the level. Anyway altar don't upgrade (not TT altar at least), only gives the score checkpoint.
And the ending amount of keys.

Great hold anyway
My end stats are:

8460/836/543

20/19/0/3

I'm going to replay the last level in the new version and get the wyrmsmither.

EDIT: I saw the message as I posted it. It usually happen .

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[Last edited by komachi at 12-23-2013 05:26 PM]

12th Archivist
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 789
Registered: 12-07-2008
IP: Logged

Midootje wrote: is the tetraminos game still not accessible or am I missing something? I can see that there's still one secret room I'm missing, but I can't believe it's anywhere else.

It's still missing until I finish scripting it (which seems less and less likely, unfortunately). But getting a score of x or higher would have taken you to a secret room as an extra reward for winning it, in addition to a stat increase based on your score.

Stats: 6738/1347/245/31/23/5/3, score: 8648. In the 'medium' ending, I had over 10000 points!

I'm wondering if getting a higher score for the Average ending is a bit weird. I know the Average Ending and Best Ending are different score categories, so the numbers wouldn't compete, but still. Shouldn't you get a better score for the better ending? What do you guys think?

And once more about the adder in AA: 2N2E, is it there for a purpose? The trapdoor seems useless, because it doesn't help you put up black doors to jump over. Or, once again, I might be missing something.

It's to prevent anyone from equipping the Master's Pendant, killing most of the snake, leaving and dequipping it, then returning to kill the last part of the snake to get the achievement. If you want the achievement for killing the adder without the Master's Pendant, you can't *ever* use the Master's Pendant. (Although this is now obsolete because of something mentioned below.)

Nuntar wrote:
GG cutscene still has "hights" for "heights"
Altar script still has "nevermind" and "anytime"
One of the AA entrances has "auxillary" for "auxiliary" and "endeaver" for "endeavour" / "endeavor". And it's "tetrominoes".
All (as far as I noticed) level entrances are set to display every time. Some of them clearly would be more appropriate to display only the first time you enter the level. You'll have to decide what's best for each one.

Ah, thanks. Looks like I'm not as great at spelling as I thought I was. Got these fixed.

SS 2N1E: is it deliberate that

Click here to view the secret text

×the eye tunnel is very easy -- just kill the first, then you can kill the rest with your sword?

Oops. Not intended at all. Fixed.

SS 1N3E: is the orthosquare needed? It makes the ATK really hard to get, so it isn't a real choice at this stage.

I've actually always collected the ATK gem there, so unless I've never been optimizing well, I'll leave it.

Rattlesnake music still persists.

I hate these little bugs. Fixed.

However, in 4E, I can't see that it would ever be worth giving up two green keys, or one green key and over 1000 HP, for one yellow key and some ATK when there are much cheaper ways to gain ATK

I agree, so I've changed some things around.

TT 3N2E: dropping the trapdoors doesn't lower the cost enough to be a worthwhile choice

Now there's only one waterskipper, though whether or not ~500 HP for a saved yellow and green key being worth it is much better than before.

Nuntar wrote: It's not quite true, as the scroll implies, that you have to get only ATK boosts to reach the secret checkpoint; I got one HP boost (to help me defeat that weird egg thing) and have enough GR for a further four boosts of my choice (but I'm saving the GR for the next level).

I knew it wouldn't *really* be necessary for all the upgrades to be ATK or DEF, but I figured it would be pretty close. I think I'll update the scroll to reflect this.

The downside is, towards the end, a hell of a lot of running around switching the Grappling Hook and Master Pendant back and forth. Please script the Command key to let us switch accessories once the player has both (and swords, once he/she has the Wyrmsmiter and RBS). You don't need to provide an Inventory room -- just a Question command would do the trick nicely.

Heh. I'll add exactly that. But first, a little history. In my previous level set, Break Out of Jail!, there was a rat race (item swap meta-puzzle spanning the entire hold) to get the Invisibility Potion. The problem was that the hold was long, and there wasn't any way to get around faster, so the rate race took an unpleasantly long time to finish. I think that was the biggest criticism leveled at BOOJ, and it could have been entirely fixed if I had just added an inventory system. I wish someone had mentioned it before I submitted BOOJ, so thanks for bringing it up now!

In the end, I think you did a great job of making this an interesting but easier hold. I never felt completely stuck, but I constantly felt challenged to find the right way to approach the puzzles, knowing that just wading in wouldn't be enough to get me through.

Yay! That was my exact goal for this hold from the very beginning.

Some of the DROD-like puzzles are nasty -- but they're not compulsory to finish the hold.

This isn't a response to anything, I'm just curious which puzzles you thought were nasty. I'm glad you think they're challenging; I've always thought an RPG hold shouldn't be focused around just resource management.

I also like the fact that the key surplus is well-handled by providing plenty of opportunity to use them to replenish HP or reach crucial ATK thresholds.

That's another lesson I learned from BOOJ. Not everybody needs the extra HP or ATK, but it's great for those who need it and also have plenty of unnecessary keys.

komachi wrote: I used the speed potion for the oremite shield because I don't know where was the wyrmsmither.

The Wyrmsmiter is west of 2N5W.

When i explored almost everything in Alphine Antre I returned to Turbulent Tempest to the bonus room, I wanted to kill the wubba that have 300 ATK, but he had 15000 of ATK, same with DEF wubba have 15000 instead of 500. I think this is intended to avoid get the bonus when you return to the level.

Exactly right. You can only get a scorepoint if you reach the ATK or DEF goal while still in the level, since AA inflates your stats and cash so much it would make the challenge trivial if you could come back to it.

Thank you, everyone, for playing this version. I'm working on the next version as we speak, and it's looking cool so far!

____________________________
It was going well until it exploded.
~Scott Manley

Check out the DROD Wikia project here!

---

[Last edited by 12th Archivist at 01-01-2014 10:50 PM]

Nuntar
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 4756
Registered: 02-20-2007
IP: Logged

12th Archivist wrote: I'm wondering if getting a higher score for the Average ending is a bit weird. I know the Average Ending and Best Ending are different score categories, so the numbers wouldn't compete, but still. Shouldn't you get a better score for the better ending? What do you guys think?

It's normal in DROD:RPG that the best ending requires fighting a hard boss, so you have less HP left and a lower score than the normal ending.

This isn't a response to anything, I'm just curious which puzzles you thought were nasty. I'm glad you think they're challenging; I've always thought an RPG hold shouldn't be focused around just resource management.

I was thinking of the mimic puzzles in AA 2N5W and 2N1E, naturally. And I said "nasty" rather than "challenging" intentionally. I didn't bother solving either of those puzzles because I was enjoying the hold and didn't want to spoil it.

____________________________
50th Skywatcher

12th Archivist
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 789
Registered: 12-07-2008
IP: Logged

Nuntar wrote:
I was thinking of the mimic puzzles in AA 2N5W and 2N1E, naturally. And I said "nasty" rather than "challenging" intentionally. I didn't bother solving either of those puzzles because I was enjoying the hold and didn't want to spoil it.

Oh, um, well. Does anybody else have an opinion on those mimic puzzles? I thought they were quite good, but if popular opinion says otherwise, I'd be willing to remove them.

(Also, how did you avoid solving the mimic puzzle in 2N5W, unless you just took brained adder hits?)

____________________________
It was going well until it exploded.
~Scott Manley

Check out the DROD Wikia project here!

Nuntar
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 4756
Registered: 02-20-2007
IP: Logged

There are two ways in to 2N6W, are there not?

____________________________
50th Skywatcher

12th Archivist
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 789
Registered: 12-07-2008
IP: Logged

New version released!

The biggest feature in this one? Perilous Pinnacle has been totally finished! Dark Reflection has had his HP buffed to 30,000 now, but the south part of PP has been finished, and Searing Dawn has been buffed to a whopping +720 ATK. A few other things have been added as well (see my previous post).

What's left to do:
-Finish coding tetromino game (almost done with this one)
-Build last room of gimmick area
-Finish the aumtlich room for the second altar upgrade

Not much left, guys. It's looking good so far!

____________________________
It was going well until it exploded.
~Scott Manley

Check out the DROD Wikia project here!

Someone Else
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2340
Registered: 06-14-2005
IP: Logged

Okay, I beat it. Best ending.
Stats:


But it's possible to kill the Dark Reflection in PP:2E1N, so that helped. Not that I needed to (it was 5143 damage at full health).

12th Archivist
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 789
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Jeez. I'm really not as great at optimizing as I thought it was.

My goal here is to make the average ending on-par with the rest of the hold's difficulty, but make the best ending as equally hardcore as possible for both the ATK and DEF routes. I've been toying with the idea of having Dark Reflection have different stats depending on your route, but does anybody have some other suggestions?

Someone Else wrote:
But it's possible to kill the Dark Reflection in PP:2E1N, so that helped. Not that I needed to (it was 5143 damage at full health).

Got that fixed. Hopefully, there's nowhere else he's infinitely killable.

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Nuntar
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12th Archivist wrote: My goal here is to make the average ending on-par with the rest of the hold's difficulty, but make the best ending as equally hardcore as possible for both the ATK and DEF routes. I've been toying with the idea of having Dark Reflection have different stats depending on your route, but does anybody have some other suggestions?

Problematic, since the player need not necessarily choose one or the other "route". At the moment, the Dark Reflection seems just about right on a pure-ATK route, while Someone Else's stats suggest you want to increase its difficulty for a DEF route. To achieve that, you should increase the Reflection's ATK and decrease its HP.

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mrimer
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Your article on balancing is fascinating. From these formula for arriving at a pivot point, I'm intuiting that one may now also calculate offsets from this balance point, in the event one desires one power-up route to be harder than another by a certain amount.

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Someone Else
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Part of what helped was that I got 16 extra defence early by killing all the gel babies in BB for ~3000 health. After that (and a good clear of TT), AA was easy - and I had no key issues, even using 3 blue keys for the longsword.