Posted on: June 17, 2022

ratkd

Games: Reviews: 19

absolute perfection

this is imo the most perfect tactical crpg out there. it doesn't have the most complex combat system, but hey, let me remind you the favorite crpg veterans line: "less is more". for example: JA2 and SILENT STORM tactical depth is still unmatched to this day, and they have the most complex combat mechanics. but what for? why do you need such depth in EZ games like these where AI is so braindead? you'll never have to use more than 30% of the tactical options available to beat those games. and you won't even struggle. what a waste. same goes with TOOE and KOTC: 90% of spells/feats are USELESS. just use fireballs and 2 AOE spells and you'll be fine. won't even need any good feats either. rolling stats during character creation doesn't really matter. why? because 90% of fights are unchallenging as they come. won't even talk about the broken crafting systems. about DUNGEON RATS: (i'll only be talking about the murderous psychopath difficulty since it's the TRUE NORMAL difficulty mode) DR is the only crpg where your stats are CRITICAL, and it also is the only crpg where the character creation process MATTER. DR doesn't tolerate mistakes when creating your char and lvling up. DR is PUNISHING and god this is so refreshing. AT LAST a tactical crpg that is HARD in a very smart way. unlike other crpgs, in DR you will need to use EVERY options available. also, if you're losing a fight, don't blame luck, blame your tactical sense and your gaming skills. if you think, you'll never lose because of bad luck. it's not KOTC2. atmosphere is also top notch, sound design is great and musics are brilliant, nothing exceptionnal but they actually give an identity to the game. replay value is great since you can beat this game with so many different approaches. the dark souls of crpgs. a little message to those who complain about the lack of quests, npc interactions, difficulty, linearity: next time before buying a game, do yourself a favor: read the game description.

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Posted on: March 21, 2017

Vigge_Ryker

Verified owner

Games: 248 Reviews: 2

Simple Crawler to Tacticians Challenge

Definitely a dungeon crawler game. The story is straight forward, and short, great if you want to burn some time. And has a fair amount of replay-ability as do most RPGs of the like. Closest comparison I can think of is "insert typical RPG here," not to say it doesn't have its own qualities. It gives you the option to play solo or a group of characters, each with their own challenges and benefits. If you are a completionist, then you will get a couple of play throughs on this at least as some things can't be done by one character type. If you are wanting a strategical challenge then you'll want to play on harder difficulty, otherwise you may end up going through it mindlessly. On the easy I did most of the game with a basic warrior build and used very little items outside of my weapon. On the harder difficulties you will definitely be using all those extra goodies they give you and will still be wondering how you are going to get through this battle with what little you have. Its also not very kind to those who want to try different builds in one play through, a bit of a min max game, though done correctly you can viable have an archer trained in Alchemy and hand to hand combat, it just puts a strain on earlier gameplay. Its also a humorous game, most character interactions are limited as far as what you want to say, but I found the choices had a sense of humor to them, not ridiculous rolling on the floor humor but definitely chuckles throughout. All in all I feel the game was well worth the money spent, and I would in fact buy it at full price and not just on a sale.

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Posted on: April 8, 2020

michelex

Verified owner

Games: 141 Reviews: 3

Acceptable tactical dungeon crawler

Challenging AoD combat tactical crawler. Do not try it if you hate being killed all the time or if you hate when one simple mistake leads to your whole party being massacred in a second. If you build your character in a wrong way you will simply arrive to a point you CAN'T win. I give it a 3/3,5 - sort of like it, but - the game is boring after a couple of tries. There could be more dialogues before/after events and fights or some things to check and learn about in the mines (I know it's not an RPG but It would be nice and a couple of textlines should be pretty cheap for the studio) . I also have the sad impression that only a few builds can work and most of the possibilities the game gives are useless (because you will be slain in a second with an explosion before using your party or your personal advantages, because of short alchemy supplies etc.). Not great, not bad. Some fun and a tone of save/load.

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Posted on: March 22, 2023

Kranach

Verified owner

Games: 475 Reviews: 5

Good game with horrible UI

This is very decent game severly crippled by horrible user interface. I can't count number of times i had to reload the battle because i misclicked something. And misclicking here occurs often because this game has almost no keyboard shortcust, the usage of mouse itself is awkward and uninuitive and visual indicators and hint on what is going on the screen is almost utterly lacking. I will play it to the end anyways because i really like the atmosphere, mechanics and combat, however the UI is so bad it makes you wonder if devs even tried to play this game themselves... Even games released in 90s like Fallout 2 had easier controls.

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Posted on: September 28, 2020

Matesalsa

Verified owner

Games: 118 Reviews: 20

Enjoyed AOD, this one, not so much.

Dungeon rats is the dungeon crawler version of AOD from the same developers. Checked the gameplay of the first level on Youtube and I kind of liked what I saw. It seemed to be the Temple of Elmental Evil of Age of Decadence. Sadly I was wrong. The first act has some dialogues and lore bits which makes the hacking interesting, but from the second level it becomes a non stop fighting scenario. There is really no other content apart from some walking and exploratino. Also the amount of healing supplies becomes more and more limited from the second level so the game becomes an actual rougelike where you can easily fail the game if your team members took too much damage during encounters and you can't properly heal up for the next fight. It happened with me, I went quite far, but ultimately couldn't proceed further. I had zero motivation to start over though. I think the game has 2 major flaws: the devs overestimated their combat system. It was tolerable and functional in AOD becuase it was a part of a narrative and choice driven rpg. But in itself it is very limited and dry. Making a purely combat game around it won't appeal to most I think. The other thing I didn't like that the setting itself was not used at all. It cried for faction politics, quests, discovery of this interesting prison mine ecc. But there is only combat in a mostly linear fashion. You cannot trick some encounters using alchemy or crafting you need to do the fights as they are or fail trying. There is zero appeal here to an rpg fan, especially for those who didn't play AOD. I admit I'm an rpg fan, not a tactical combat game fan so despite liking Age of Decadence very much, I was not the target group of this game. Maybe if you like tactical games you will enjoy it, but to me it seems an experimental project of the devs to check their combat system with a party. I didn't really like it, but for some it can be enjoyable. Just prepare to die and reload a lot because the game is brutal and unforgiving.

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