Ah good! I was wondering when we'd get it here. Wasn't too long, nice!

That's what the Radiant update is aiming the fix so it's not as grindy. It's still a lot of hours of great gameplay until it gets to that point.

The game is certainly not for every one. I find the "grinding" (which is present, and which I usually hate...) a necessary and even fun aspect of the game.
Concerning the "expendable characters": You're not the hero, you don't play "one party". You're more of a "hero manager", who sends them on their quest. And yes, many of them will die, also some who might have grown attached to. That's part of the game. Like a trainer of a sports team who has to part with some player, although they even might have been friends.

Interestingly, I happen to like the idea of having to use throwaway characters, but not their idea for enforcing this.

The way *I* would get a player to use throwaway characters would be something like the following:
1. Some of the character options would have limited potential, but would reach that potential quickly. Hence, using a character of this type would be good for getting important spells (like cure poison and the first group-attack spell) quickly, and hence would be helpful in leveling up other characters.
2. Some character options wouldn't be unlocked until later. These options would have more potential than the early fast-levelers, but would take a while to reach that.

On the other hand, I don't like mechanics designed to limit the life of a character, like age (in classic Wizardry) and sanity (as in Darkest Dungeon).

(For the record, I have not played Darkest Dungeon, and I do not own it either.)

I actually loved this aspect of the game. In a way, it almost reminded me of the way Knights of the Old Republic revolutionized Party EXP games (okay, I exaggerate a little bit). Prior to that, in RPGs it was more common than not to have characters in party only gain EXP. In tough games, you'd basically work and max out one party. KOTOR came along and even your "off party" members gained EXP and it encouraged you to try out new combinations of characters / groups.

Darkest Dungeon takes this to a whole new level. You're constantly playing with these new party mixes and experimenting with new character classes. It's a ton of fun to throw a group together and find out they actually stomp the monsters and work with amazing synergy.

Conversely, it's hilarious to put together what you think would be an awesome party and have them get destroyed three rooms in. It was an aspect of the game I really enjoyed and at any point in the game, my favorite character class would constantly be shifting.

Even when I thought a certain class might "suck," maybe I'd have too many beaten up / insane characters and would have to work in a class I hadn't really used previously... only to discover their potential in the right circumstances. The constantly rotating groups is part of the fun of the game.

Maybe this is the time for me to get back into Darkest Dungeon. Like with Sunless Sea, I can stand being ground into paste by a game for only so long before I get bored and move on to something else.

The grind in that game is doing dungeon runs. It's a different kind of grind than what you'd be doing in a JRPG, for example, where you're walking back and forth killing the same enemies. I really enjoy the dungeon runs, so I never really got tired of it.

Also, the game punishes you more, the worse you play. If you play carefully, you may have to do many less runs than another player that takes too many risks. When I did my playthrough, I lost 13 people, but only 2 of them had any time or money invested in them. The others were level 1's, who are the most prone to stress and death.

Last month, someone beat NG+ in 26 weeks. I wonder how quickly they could finish Radiant mode. I don't imagine it would be too much faster since most of the changes seem to revolve around lessening the setbacks of failure, but still. It could be interesting!

The changes sound intriguing and quite possibly reduces the frustrations caused by the RNG-heavy gameplay. Put this back on my wishlist and will probably pick this up the next time it is on sale. It seems to be discounted through less consumer friendly (read: DRM-supportive) channels right now. Maybe Red Hook can give GOGers a little love soon too.

"50 Shades Darker Dungeon Valentine's Day Sale"

"Ropes, whips, chains... and just wait until you encounter the monsters!"

When will this update be available to download? It's not showing up on my shelf.

Very glad for this unexpected update!
And looking forward to the announced DLC :)

I'm guessing it's the two patches that are up now (144XX patches) or the full installer which is also something like 14448?

If you read the changelog that number corresponds to the long description of the Radiant Update described there.

Also, I forgot to post it before but Tarhiel just reminded me - the changelog mentions an upcoming full expansion called "The Crimson Court."