Late game dreariness

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

Sure, we can be more like Elona. Turn Linaniil into a little girl we can marry and have children with, throw in alien pregnancy epidemics instead of storm elementals in Derth, go insanely grind-heavy (it's a GOOD thing!), and have a disease that mutates and destroys all living things run rampant across the land until everything is dead.

....Yeah, that's not a dark setting at all, it's all happy and bright.

The only lore that's actually 'dark' in the sense that it might offend some prudes, is the lore in breeding pits. And that's more horror then seems standard, but everything else is perfect. We see two perspectives on history, which basically teach us that orcs got screwed, and all halflings are d***s.

[evouga]

I agree; the lore is great. But that only helps the first couple of playthroughs, of course.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

I agree; the lore is great. But that only helps the first couple of playthroughs, of course.

Nothing will last you and stay fresh 'forever', but applying these general ideas to the eastern dungeons might help.

Alternate Completion Methods

Dungeon Variations

Crossposting so folks can refer to them. Thoughts?

[evouga]

Those are some great ideas! I especially like the suggestion for more quest-based takes on the standard dungeons in the first thread. The ideas in the second thread are cool, but I don't like that they're random.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

In the case of the random one, we could easily build 4-5 different possible incarnations for each dungeon. And then pull a random one. That would help IMMENSELY with the 'dreariness' and 'repetitive'... It also opens the door to creating all kinds of mini- and sub-plots that we could use to flesh out different aspects of the story. Granted, this means making more dungeon variations, but I'm sure there are a number of users willing to step up with reasonable balanced suggestions that fit thematically and logically into the flow and setting of the game. That would help.

So how could we address these issues to the prides?

In the event of the 'events' for each dungeon, we could have a dragon outbreak of captured dragons in Vor Pride. This could fit in with the existing lore in the dragon pride about Vor mages capturing dragons. Could even split them into factions, with rampaging dragons attacking orcs, ad orcs fighting back as we move through the middle of it. (Though the dragons would be as apt to strike at us, as at orcs, so.... still good exp and challenge.)

Gorbat? Perhaps there necromantic acts have gone awry, and drawn forth assorted horrors. Throw in some fearscape incursions.

Rak'Shor? Maybe they've decided to torment some local anorithil mages with the antimagic prowess they have, offering us an opportunity to rescue them. (And maybe fight through the last floor with them, similar to Dorgan at the dwarf starter... Perhaps with an achievement for keeping them alive?)

Especially after the orc campaign comes around, maybe there could be a more... humane path in which we side with the orcs to overthrow the sorcerors, helping the orcs out a bit, potentially offering a different ending? Though much like siding with the corruptor, this leaves the future of Maj'Eyal under a cloud of uncertainty...

Feel free to chime in with more, and make em fit the existing lore/setting of the game.

And don't bother mentioning "Let's go through the void portal at the end and fight the *spoiler* there".

Why? Because I'm sure Darkgod is currently working on implementing that as a replacement for the 'Void' that was in Classic Tome. And if he isn't, well... Then he will be. *looks for a whip* I've seen that coming ever since I saw it was called a "VOID portal". C'mon, that's a gimme reference!

[HousePet]

Would be nice if late game random loot could compare with late game artifacts.
Not that early game is much better in that regard.

[evouga]

What is through the portal? I've beaten the game several times but never understood that. Didn't the Shertul already kill all of the old gods (except for the one that fled into the infinite dungeon)?

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

Yarrr... There be spoilers ahead. Savvy?

[space to hide prying eyes]




























[more space]



























[bit more]













My understanding is that they cut up and drained the gods of power, and what's over there is one of the exiled drained-of-power gods. The other theory I've heard is that it's one of the gods that left (the one from human legend), before the war ever started. The remains of Amekthel is what I understood is over there, and they are going to absorb enough power from the world to restore him. At which point, he smashes the world down to the bedrock in his righteous vengeance. Regardless, it is a god that is exiled outside the universe. Quite possibly in the same 'rift' that the blight is leaking out of when the spellblaze tore it open.

In fact, My mind jumped to the blight being a source of power and hatred leaking out of a god, who is lying wounded and weak outside of our universe where the Sher'Tul banished it, with a rift to this 'outside of the universe' torn open by the spellblaze. I actually concluded that the spellblaze itself didn't create the blight, but rather only opened the way for a god to create it. This is purely a hunch, with little evidence to support it, but given that the 'void portal' leads to a 'god', this seems to point to the gods being outside our dimension, the same hole in the universe the spellblaze made.

And there is no rule saying all the gods are 'dead'. After all, the Sher'tul still live. And there are quite possibly other worlds on which life was created by the gods, who the Sher'Tul have not managed to find and destroy. After all, the Sher'Tul still live as well.

Darkgod, We really need some [spoiler] tags.

Darkgod/Grey/Other Lore Authors, We really need clarification about this point.

[Mewtarthio]

Mega-spoilers:

There are unused files in the game for a quest that involves traveling through the void portal, including the zone and a certain NPC. It's possible to look at this content by source diving or using cheat mode to travel to a zone called "void"...

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

Mega-spoilers:

There are unused files in the game for a quest that involves traveling through the void portal, including the zone and a certain NPC. It's possible to look at this content by source diving or using cheat mode to travel to a zone called "void"...

A-HA!!!! PROOF!!!! All Hail DARKGOD!!!!!!

[tylor]

What is through the portal? I've beaten the game several times but never understood that. Didn't the Shertul already kill all of the old gods (except for the one that fled into the infinite dungeon)?

Sorcs hinted some deity with demiurge powers, so I assumed it is DarkGod himself.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

What is through the portal? I've beaten the game several times but never understood that. Didn't the Shertul already kill all of the old gods (except for the one that fled into the infinite dungeon)?

Sorcs hinted some deity with demiurge powers, so I assumed it is DarkGod himself.

Welllll.... He did it before in Classic Tome....

[King Gainer]

We totally need this portal quest finished as an alternate ending.

[b0rsuk]

I can't agree more. The first continent is usually fun no matter how I play, but then I get to 4 absolutely identical orc prides and have to force myself through this part of the game. I'd really like to see those levels reduced in size or maybe have more differences between each other.

So exploit it. Play Cursed with Predator. Humanoid/Orc and you're set.

But yes, I agree, it's copy&paste. For me the worst part is the pride layouts.

[Ritz]

So exploit it. Play Cursed with Predator. Humanoid/Orc and you're set.

Nah, the problem is not in beating the prides, the problem is struggling with boredom while doing so I like Cursed, though. Will give your combo a try in the future.