ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Stolen from/inspired by bricks' post

bricks wrote:I think a better solution is to implement alternative unlock conditions for each class/race, one "story" and one "grind." For example, killing Vor (that's the mage orc, right?) unlocks Wildfire/Ice (only one, randomly picked, like the Master and the Undead races). Killing 1000 Ghouls unlocks Ghoul as a playable race; killing 1000 Skeletons unlocks Skeleton as a playable race. Escorts could be worked into alternative unlocks for Anorithil/Sun Paladin. And so on. Things that would occur naturally as one plays, and would take longer than a typical unlock run, but still makes all of the classes/races eventually playable so long as the player is persistent.

I think that this is a very good idea, as it would reward persistent players alongside of ones who get to the late game. One important thing to keep would be to keep early unlocks early, and late unlocks late as well as thematically consistent. My ideas for implementation (current unlock in brackets): (ordered by most unlocked to least)

Summoner (see something summon): kill 100 monsters that can split or multiply
Archmage (unlock angolwyn): Cast 1000 spells
Cursed (kill Ben): die 50 times (including adventure mode deaths)
Wyrmic (eat the heart): kill 500 dragons
Storm (kill urkis) 1 000 000 lightning damage
Temporal Warden (beat the rift): kill 1000 horrors?
Stone (kill Harkor'Zun) ???
Skeleton (50% kill master): kill 1000 skeletons
Ghoul (50% kill master): kill 1000 ghoul
Anorithil (pass unremarkable cave): deal 100 000 (?) light or darkness damage
Reaver (kill 1000 humans): kill all possible escorts in a game (and get a reward for it?)
Yeek (rescue Wayist): ??
Poison (side with assassin) deal 1 000 000 nature damage
Sun Paladin (beat spider quest): save 200 escorts
Brawler (win slave game): win derth arena 50 times?
Doomed (kill your shade): curse 10 000 (?) items with fateful aura
Mindslayer (rescue wayist as a yeek): kill 5000 monsters as a yeek (over multiple games)
Corruptor (fight Zigur): deal 100 000 (?) blight damage
Paradox Mage (die to future self): split the timeline 500 times?
Wildfire (1 000 000 fire damage) 50% kill Vor
Necromancer (kill celia etc): kill 10 000 undead
Ice (1 000 000 cold damage) 50% kill Vor
Marauder (deal 600 damage as rogue): ??

Also winning the game gives 1 random (new) unlock?

For Marauder: Read all of the lore detailing Garkul's life.

Stone Magic, grind style: kill 500 (or 1000 ?) diggers (sandworms, xorns, ...)
Yeek, grind style: kill 500 enemies while they are suffering from stun or confusion

Generally I like these.

I don't like the alternative paradox mage unlock though. Someone could grind that out in town. Maybe an anomaly could be worked up for it with some kind of do X while anomaly is active worked in.

You could also cast 50 spells in a town for an easy Archmage unlock, the idea is fun though.

Archmage needs an alternate unlock less than most other unlocks. It's neither hard nor obscure. The apprentice mage tells you what to do and it's not that hard and there are no prerequisites. Adding a reference to the possibility of a single artifact satisfying the quest would make it even easier.

Paradox Mage is a problem. It's not clear in the slightest without spoilers that dieing to your future self is desirable in any way, and killing your future self is easier than losing when you're trying to paradoxify, much less when you don't know you're supposed to. An alternate unlock would be good.

Dealing X amount of temporal damage would be a good alternative. It would be almost impossible without playing as a Temporal Warden, so the unlock order wouldn't likely change.

I unlocked wildfire and ice basically with my shadowblades' on hit effects (admittedly back when they applied to both weapons), so dealing x temporal damage would be totally possible without unlocking temporal warden

Doesn't giving the Temp Warden an alternate unlock kind of ruin the flavor? Confused the hell out of me the first time I did it, and Paradoxology later, but its fun.

The alternate unlocks aren't really meant to be flavorful, but rather something that benefits players who have trouble getting past the early-mid or mid-game but still want to see more unlocks. I think most players would still follow the traditional route.

What about something like: Killed X of Temporal Horrors?

Archmage (unlock angolwyn): Cast 1000 spells

1000 is too easy, methinks. Then again, it's not like the apprentice quest is too hard, either. Chances are you'll finish it before the 1000 spells...

The Marauder unlock could get a miniboss with iconic marauder talents that may appear in levels 1-4 of the labyrinth. Say, a brutal halfling bandit queen who has subjugated the other outcasts.

Perhaps the Marauder unlock could be 600 damage in one hit as a rogue, or 1500 damage in one hit with any other class. The latter is a bit harder to do with the new power/save system, but still achievable.