Wow, I love this, it's sort of a weird strategy/rpg thing.

My only wish is that there was some way to play it 2x scaled without fullscreen.. and maybe it would be nice to know exactly how much "bonus experience" you get for killing higher-level enemies.

Also like this a lot.

Fans of similar gameplay should try out good old Tower of the Sorcerer (more of a puzzle game than a roguelike, not featuring randomness). Also DROD RPG, which has all TotS features and stuff like a powerful level editor.

Horrifyingly addictive!

Tip: Your gold carries over from game to game (whether you die or retire), and maxes out at 99.

Monsters also regenerate when you do, so you generally have to be prepared to fight to the death when engaging one, unless you can find a special glyph...

Favorite character classes? I'd have to say that mine are the Rogue for just plain lategame awesome and the Monk, who switches the game up a lot.

Wait, "special glyph"? What?!

Depending on the enemy, I've been able to dash away to heal (via uncovered tiles) then back to kill them. But often this doesn't work.. I don't really understand how to determine their healing rate.

Awesome! very addictive...

Dangerously addictive indeed.
Really love how the difficulty forces you to play each class completely different. I agree that it'd be rather nice to have some sort of indicator as to how much exp would be earned from an enemy though.

Still got to figure out how to take down Meat Man Boss. grr...

special glyph, the 'lemmisi.'
it reveals 3 unexplored dungeon spaces, so it heals you!
any tips guys? its great but hard

Argh, that heals you?! I've been throwing it away because I figured "well, that's going to eat into my healing later on"!

Chris Said:
"special glyph, the 'lemmisi.'
it reveals 3 unexplored dungeon spaces, so it heals you!
any tips guys? its great but hard"

Not only does it heal you 3 health, but it also gives you 3 mana, so as long as you have 3 mana to cast it, it is a free healing spell. Not good for over-powering a strong foe, but good if you find yourself low on health.

The Thief is pretty easy to win with once you get going, but the rogue is a lot more difficult.

Great game though, I love how beating it with characters unlocks new monsters and items.

Yo! :)

Anybody looking for extra hints and tips can take a look at the game's main thread on the NAG forums (http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=13014). People there are chatting quite a bit about their findings.

I'm glad you lot are enjoying it, and I'm particularly happy to see that discussions are being held about the game's various intricacies. Suggestions are, of course, welcome: development is still progressing at a fairly steady pace!

For some reason, the NAG forums are not sending me verification emails, so I can't register over there. But I'd like to talk about glyphs.

I can beat the game as a warrior, wizard or priest. Haven't beaten as a rogue yet, haven't beaten as any of the unlockable classes. So that tells you I'm far from an expert. That can put the following comments and questions into context.

How do you guys manage your glyphs?

I find the +20% attack glyph to be almost useless. It almost never changes the number of hits it will require to kill a monster, and it seems like that's it's only possible use--reducing the number of hits it takes to kill a monster. So I automatically convert this glyph rather than putting it in a skill slot. Do you guys think it's more useful than that for any reason, though?

Also, the monster-into-wall glyph I only use if I encounter the altar that rewards me for petrifying a monster. If I find the altar and it's not the monster-petrify altar, then I immediately convert the petrify glyph. But am I missing something?

The "first strike" glyph seems to me to be an absolute necessity for every class. But am I putting too much importance on it?

I generally keep either teleport monster or destroy wall, converting the more mana-expensive one once I've found both. It seems like both basically serve the same purpose--to allow access to areas blocked by monsters too powerful to kill. I won't convert the wall-destruction glyph until I've found the altar, since one of the altars tasks you with destroying a wall.

But is there any reason to keep both of these glyphs that I'm missing?

Once I've got access to the whole dungeon, I simply get rid of whchever glyph (teleport monster or destroy wall) I still have. Any reason I shouldn't be doing that?

Teleport self I convert on sight, as I can't see any real use for it. But am I missing something?

LEMMISI I of course retain no matter what class I am.

Finally, there's the glyph that teleports one creature of your level to your location. I haven't found a use for that one yet.

What are your thoughts on glyphs?

Mild strategy spoiler, including comment about one of the unlockable classes:

I find that the fireball glyph is crucial for wizards, allowing them to kill monsters much higher in level, thereby gaining levels very quickly, thereby becoming powerful enough to take on the boss without having already wasted all their potions. I also think it's crucial for the sorceror, since you can use it to both harm the enemy and heal yourself at the same time. But then, I haven't beat the game with a Sorceror yet.

"Finally, there's the glyph that teleports one creature of your level to your location. I haven't found a use for that one yet."

The most obvious use, is for XP in cases where you are either a little short of a level, or you are left only with higher level monsters and want to level up without throwing yourself at a foe 2+ levels higher than yourself. I have found myself wanting for another level more than once in the endgame but I never have that glyph on those occasions anyway.

Hm, I guess that use hadn't occured to me because I'm typically trying to go after monsters one or two levels higher than me. I see same-level monsters as "last-resort" kills since I don't get any bonus XP for killing them.

(Perhaps this becomes impossible when playing unlocked classes--so far I've only played as the original four.)

One note: I think if there are no monsters of your level left in the dungeon, this glyph will have no effect. In other words, I don't think it creates a new monster--it just brings one over from somewhere else in the dungeon. But am I wrong about that?

By the way, am I missing something or do the Monk's first two attributes (50 percent damage dealt, and 50 percent damage absorbed) have no practical outcome? Meaning the Monk for all intents and purposes just has one attribute--the fast regen?

The Monk is more powerful in conjunction with increased attack - you can increase your damage % as you progress, but the damage reduction is always,always awesome.

I cannot win with the damn Berserker. The problem with Bloodlust is that it only works on same-level monsters, which are usually a last-resort kill. The +MP Cost in conjunction with that is somewhat crippling. Usually I get to level 9 only to find that everything in my possession is useless because I simply can't cast enough spells on the boss.

If you have no other spells, the +20% is useful as something to do with your MP. If you do have other spells, the +20% can be useful in a pinch - you can cast it and then convert it into attack for a total of +30% on your last hit.

Ah, totally misunderstood what "50% damage reduction" means for the Monk class. Now I get it, thanks for setting me straight!

I've now beat it with the Paladin.

'Finally, there's the glyph that teleports one creature of your level to your location'
So so useful if you find it right away, instead of searching around the dungeon for level 1 or 2 monsters- (wasting those regen blocks) it brings them to you for easy killings

Winning with berserker is hard, unless you just restart until the boss is a magic damage type.

Ahahahaha~
I got second place~
Yessss~~

About the glyphs: I use freball with almost every char, summoning monsers is also very useful, lemmisi is good but I think that the special glyph Guy was refering to is assasin's Poison glyph. Great game overall. I'm wondering what will be added to the final version.

A lot of things were confusing me when I first started (why do enemies heal sometimes and not other times, what does the +20% number next to my attack mean, etc).

What I have figured out that is not directly stated anywhere that I could find:

Enemies heal by their level for every square revealed by you

Your base attack damage is 5*your level and percent bonuses are of the base attack damage (therefore +20% is the same as +yourlevel in attack damage) (this might be off by a little bit, actually, I think that there might be some other facotrs involved or some funny rounding up)

First strike ability does not work against creeps that also have first strike ability (gorgons and goblins, as far as I know)

You will heal to full health and mana when you level up. (Therefore leveling up against a tiny enemy halfway through a boss fight is very effective)

experience required to go from level(x) to level(x+1) is 5*x

Experience gained for killing an enemy is its level. The bonus for killing higher level enemies is
1 level higher: +2
2 levels higher: +6
3 levels higher: +12
4 levels higher: +20

max health is (10+hpbonuses)*yourlevel (so going from level 1 to level 2 will double your health)
max mana is 10+manabonuses

health and mana potions heal 40% of max (rounding down)

also: elf wizard with fireball is amazing.

"You will heal to full health and mana when you level up. (Therefore leveling up against a tiny enemy halfway through a boss fight is very effective)"

!!!

We call that level-buffering. Wondered how long it would take before people would figure that one out :)

Since the link's having trouble, I thought it would be nice to post the URL to go directly to the game download:

http://www.box.net/shared/r0h0vfahdl