ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

A quick idea from atop the head - TOME is now a pretty lengthy game - I wonder if it'd be of some use to provide a character generation option for a speedrun mode - each dungeon cut in half in levels (rounded up), each non-unique enemy giving +80% exp, item drop chances for non-unique NPCs increased accordingly.

Wonder if such a change would attract many devotees - i'd for sure count myself in.

I've done speedruns myself where I just rush straight to the boss. Can be quite fun, and you certainly get enough items and xp from it. I got to Dreadfell doing this without items actually (before dying whilst frozen). I'm not sure a separate speedrun mode is needed when you can just go speed through the game as is.

Arena mode is sort of a speedrun for character progression - you get to level 40 pretty easily in it.

As the game grows bigger I think it is generally a good idea to make the dungeons shorter.
Starter area's used to be 5 levels I believe, now they are only 3 levels deep.

I am a fan of shorter dungeons myself. I hate it when they are to big (height x width) or to deep (levels).

marvalis wrote: Starter area's used to be 5 levels I believe, now they are only 3 levels deep.
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Tier 1 is 3 levels, tier 2 5...Dreadfell is 9 though - I wouldn't mind if it was 7, actually. Less of a jump in length(though it might be intentional?)

I actually like the length of dungeons, at least lore-wise. Doesn't it make sense that the Trollmire, a puny little forest, is nowhere near the size of Dreadfell, a vast tower housing hordes of undead controlled by the one of the most powerful creatures in the west?

The second-tier dungeons really seem to drag on and on (apart from Old Forest). I think it's partly the layouts (or, in Daikara's case, huge waves of resilient, obnoxious enemies).

I still want the maze to be one massive level, but other than that I like the new dungeon depths.

And - if the game keeps getting bigger [aka more zones], why shorten them further? If you do that, then you are just adding more work [aka more zones] for no more added game length.

The only dungeon I would like to see shortened is the Sandworm one. That is tough enough to navigate through at just three levels.

I like Dreadfell being nine levels and wouldn't care if it deeper as it is more chance to find/explore random vaults. I like fighting through difficult vaults almost more than the boss fights. Not to mention that is were I usually find most of my good loot.