Caves of Qud (ROGUELIKE) - coming December 5th

[buffalo bill]

Mechanically the game is great, and anyone who thinks otherwise either hasn't played it or has shit taste. However, the game is actually way more woke even than I think most people here realize: mid-to-late game content contains a faction (the Mopangos) who are explicitly non-binary etc creatures, and who explain their views on gender in unnecessary expository dialogue (which is thankfully optional). It is psycho how ham-fisted it is.

This faction and the Barathrumites are clearly presented as the "good guys", and they are both so cloyingly twee that I want to kill them all. They are BY FAR the worst parts of the game, and the criticism that you are forced to side with them (well, with the Barathrumites anyway) in the main questline is spot on. Btw I am personally not anti-trans/gay/whatever, and I even don't care if a dev wants to intentionally make a game with a political message (Cruelty Squad for instance is actually a pretty good anti-capitalism game), but there is a way of making political "art" that is extremely annoying and cringey, and that's the way that Caves of Qud does it. Luckily you can play the game and completely ignore the main questline, but the game would be much better if the heavy handed gender identity messages were removed or made much more subtle (oh also another major quest-giving faction in the game—the Kindrish—who are also poly non-binary etc vehicles for gender identity politics).

This is coming from a major fan of the game who has put in countless hours and actually loves many aspects of it.

 

[Alex]

I remember when qud was free and looked like a very cool take on gamma world.

Also, I think most of its problems (well, except the commie devs) could probably be fixed with modding. As I understand it, the game has good mod support, doesn't it?

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

The game itself isn't really. The main thing people cry 'wokeness!' about is that you can't play as the 'fascistic' templars, but they're just one of 60+ factions you can't join, so it's a bit of a non-complaint -- at least politically -- to make a big fuss that they're not an option.

The complaint isn't that you can't join the Templars. It's that you get banned for asking if you can join the Templars. Because the dev equates that with supporting muh Nazis.

It's basically like if Steam would ban people from Star Wars games for asking if there was a Dark Side path, or else suggesting that there should be one.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

(Cruelty Squad for instance is actually a pretty good anti-capitalism game)

Liberal Crime Squad would be a more fitting suggestion. I wasted hours on that roguelike.

There was also a Conservative Crime Squad mod released at some point fyi.

 

[Alex]

(Cruelty Squad for instance is actually a pretty good anti-capitalism game)

Liberal Crime Squad would be a more fitting suggestion. I wasted hours on that roguelike.

There was also a Conservative Crime Squad mod released at some point fyi.

LCS is a nice relaxing game. All you have to do is nothing and the world becomes steadily better with each passing year.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

It's fun, worth a pirate.

 

[Tacgnol]

Sseth wasn't doxxed by Qud devs, you Reddit-rotbrained monkeys. He doxxed himself in one of his videos.

"Fast forward to 2021 and it turns out the reason he went on a hiatus for a few months is because he accidentally doxxed himself which caused his parents to find out that he was making shitposting reviews instead of still being in medical school, so his internet was cut off while he smoothed things over with them."

Also, his Discord was taken down, because it's members got so cringe and annoying- moderation decided to just nope out, as it was pointed by one of the mods.

Stop spreading made-up bullshit. Y'all are acting like twittards out here.

Yet, These devs are still retarded and think pepe is a Nazi symbol, so don't support them.

This certainly differs from the narrative that was flying around the merchant guild discord before it was dissolved at the time.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Sometimes when i read the title of this game I feel like Elmer Fudd

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/333640/view/3404185547150740055

The Moon Stair beta is here!
The beta for our latest feature arc, the Moon Stair, is here. Big picture, this arc includes the last late-game region, a new quest in the main questline, significant updates to the new UI, all new sound effects, and many, many gameplay changes. Everything is quite functional, but -- per usual -- it is subject to change and will get additional polish over the next several weeks.

If you'd like to help us test it, right-click on Caves of Qud in Steam, select Properties, click the Betas tab, and switch to the 'beta' branch. Note: previous saves won't be compatible with this beta. Check out this thread if you want to post your feedback, or get access to a debug wish to fast-forward to the new quest.

Here are the patch notes, with the usual caveat that some small changes may be missing.

Live and drink!


NEW QUEST IN THE MAIN QUESTLINE

• There is now a new quest after returning from the Tomb of the Eaters. Talk to Barathrum in his study to learn more.
• Added a new system for the creation of [redacted] in support of this quest.

NEW LATE-GAME REGION

• Added the last late-game region: the Moon Stair
• Added new creatures: zero jell, unimax, dawning ape, n-dimensional starshell, dreamcrungle, monad, and dream wren.
• Added a new village-like location -- Chavvah, the Tree of Life -- with several new NPCs.
• Added a new side quest at Chavvah.
• Added psychic biomes, limited to the Moon Stair.

UI

• Added a new Pixel Perfect mode, which forces zoom to snap to a perfect multiple of the pixel art. You can toggle it in the General options menu.
• Added a new Docked mode that locks the combat log, nearby items list, and minimap. You can toggle it in the General options menu.
• Added new UI for target pickers.
• Added new UI for examining things with the Look function.
• Added a new target reticle for some contexts.
• The information bar when using the look/target pickers is now at the top of the screen.
• The ability bar is now fully functional.
• Added a new UI for the Options screen.
• Added a new UI for the High Scores screen.
• Added a new UI for the Help screen.
• Added tooltips and highlights to attributes with bonuses during character creation.
• You can now look at who you're talking to from the conversation UI.
• Added binds for page up and page down.
• Removed option to show tooltips when looking. It's now always works this way when the modern UI is enabled.
• Tooltips shown by mouseclick now hide when keyboard or joystick buttons are pressed (please report any tooltips that do not behave this way).
• Added a tooltip to the window layout lock button
• Look now is now bound to left stick button by default in the modern input manager.
• After firing a ranged weapon, your target for future shots is now more reliably what you shot at instead of what you hit.
• Added two options for filtering the nearby items list to only takeable items and only items in the current tile (Options > Overlay UI > enable Show overlay nearby objects list). When both are enabled, the behavior approximates the legacy UI "only show contents of the current cell" option.
• Refactored the imposter system for visual effects. This fixes many bugs where visual effect artifacts remained on the screen improperly.
• Removed code and unused bits of Overlay UI that have been replaced with the Modern UI.

SOUNDS & MUSIC

• We're in the process of adding all new sound effects to the game. Several hundred have already been added. More to come.
• Added ambient environmental sounds. For now: to Joppa, the salt marsh, and subterranean caves. More to come.
• Added a new toggle and volume slider for ambient sounds to the General options menu.
• Added a new music track in the Moon Stair.

NEW THINGS

• Added new cybernetic implants: grounding shunts and social coprocessor.
• Added new items: palladium weave tabard, dazzle cheek, psychodyne helmet, black mote, and stasis casque.
• Added a new liquid: warm static.

GAMEPLAY CHANGES

• We made some balance tweaks to the attributes of merchants.
  • Stiltground merchants are now higher level and have more Willpower.
  • Legendary merchants are now leveled appropriately for the difficulty tier their workshops are found in.
  • More kinds of merchants now have hired guards.
  • Adjusted the number of hired guards for several kinds of merchants.
• We changed how the item mod 'gigantic' works and classified some creatures as 'colossal'.
  • The following creatures are classified as colossal: salt kraken, star kraken, great saltback, great magma crab, Rodanis Y, chrome pyramid, and [redacted].
  • Colossal creatures can no longer wear non-gigantic gear.
  • Non-colossal creatures can no longer wear gigantic gear, with the exception of gigantic weapons, which can be wielded in twice the number of hands they normally take to wield.
  • Most types of items can now be gigantic.
  • Gigantic weapons deal additional damage and may have other effects, depending on the weapon class.
  • Gigantic vessels now store twice as much liquid.
  • Gigantic grenades have double the radius.
  • Gigantic gems and precious nuggets have 5x the trade value.
  • Gigantic energy cells have twice the energy capacity.
  • Swarm racks are now gigantic and no longer occupy back or arm slots.
• The Quantum Jitters defect is now worth 4 points.
• Svardym are no longer considered a sultanate faction.
• There is now a teleport gate in the rusted archway.
• You can no longer trade with creatures who are engaged in melee combat.
• Having an adjacent inanimate object as a target no longer counts as being engaged in melee combat.
• Robots with the Wings module can no longer fly while EMP'd.
• Set the region tier of the Six Day Stilt to 2.
• Krakens who have a party leader no longer wander in the characteristic kraken style.
• Item-based bonuses to throwing range are now functional on geomagnetic discs.
• Cheap credit wedges are now excluded from dynamic encounters.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Autoget can now unload weapons and empty liquid containers.
• Campfires and torch sconces are now avoided to a much lesser degree by pathfinding.
• Sometimes pilgrims you encounter are now lost. You can give them directions.
• Teleport gates are now points of interest.
• All creatures with proper names who are not player companions are now considered points of interest.
• Artifact functionality that displays status indications in item descriptions, such as (nonfunctional) or (unpowered), no longer does so in context of tinkering item descriptions.

BUGFIXES

• Fixed a bug that prevented legendary creatures from awarding extra XP in some contexts.
• Fixed a bug that caused legendary creatures to have too little XP for their level.
• Relic missile weapons with the vibro effect now get any penetration bonuses they may have applied on top of the vibro effect.
• Fixed a bug that caused armor categorized as Clothing to auto-equip as held in hand rather than worn.
• Fixed a bug in pathfinding that caused occasional mishaps, in particular inexplicable penchants for walking through fractus.
• Fixed a grammar error in some messages resulting from you decapitating your companion.
• Legendary villagers no longer sometimes erroneously have two names.

DEBUG & MODDING

• When using the debug option 'Show quickstart option during character generation, pressing the keybind now only works on the first screen.
• Autoget is now handled with the AutoexploreObjectEvent. Set E.Want = true and E.FromAdjacent = "Autoget". Users of the AutoexploreObjectEvent should now check the AutogetOnlyMode flag. You should only return "Autoget" (or equivalent) actions when this flag is true.
• Moved MenuOption class from XRL.CharacterBuilds.UI to the XRL.UI.Framework namespace.
• Removed old character code entries (Code="ab") from Mutations.xml, Subtypes.xml, and Genotypes.xml. Also removed the properties XRL.MutationEntry.MutationCode, XRL.SubtypeEntry.Code, and XRL.GenotypeEntry.Code.
• The ModManager UI has an additional tag for loaded mods which have Harmony Patches.
• Fixed overriding color palette in Display.txt
• Added some helper methods to make color string templates easier: Markup.Color(color, text) and StringBuilder.AddColored(color, text)
• ObjectBlueprints.xml now logs errors when setting a <part> parameter that does not exist, or if the value can not be parsed.

 

[Seethe]

Sseth never did anything to the CoQ guys. They just freaked out because muh right wing boogeyman and then acted like it was him sending his fans to rape them personally when, predictably, fans reacted poorly to CoQ dropping their spaghetti all over the floor. Whatever shit they got is richly deserved.

It's like getting your shitty indie product promoted by Ryan Gosling, then calling him a fag who sucks dicks because you disagree with his personal opinion on other matters he never bothered you with, and being outraged when his fans then shit all over you. It's that one bicycle meme, but as reality.

"Oh no I crashed myself into this brick wall, how could the bricklaying company could have done this to me"

What is this cope? He literally showed in his own review what he did to the server. He spam pinged the mods, and then rallied his underage fanbase to create a shitshow after he got banned. AFAIK, the mods did not even know who he is, and neither should they. He's a funny retard, but a retard nonetheless. And like all celebs, his fanbase is infinitely more retarded, and infinitely more unfunny parading his jokes all over the internet and repeating them infinitely til you start finding the man himself unfunny all thanks to his dog brained following.

The worst part of these e-celebs is that their fans gasp at you not giving a fuck that you've been blessed by their attention. Like you did right here in your post. I hate e-celeb dick aficionados like you wouldn't believe.

 

[Haba]

Seethe and cope.

Regardles of what you think about Sseth, Caves of Cuck devs are a bunch of humourless soyfurs. And unfortunately it shows in the game as well.

 

[Utgard-Loki]

oh he "spam pinged" them on discord! that clarly justifies trying to get him fired from his job and branded a neonazi!

what the fuck is spam pinging on discord, you homo? is that like slapping someone with a large trout on irc?

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Regardles of what you think about Sseth, Caves of Cuck devs are a bunch of humourless soyfurs. And unfortunately it shows in the game as well.

I see nothing in caves of cope to justify the adoration that it gets.

Is this reddit baby's first roguelike or something?

Sseth covers some cool sounding mechanics in the game, but I don't see it as any more fun than other roguelikes like Elona or Cataclysm.

>OH WOW I GOT "MONOCHROME" AND NOW THE SCREEN IS BLACK AND WHITE!

Meh.

 

[notpl]

Elona and cataclysm are both good comparisons, but are also both turbo-autistic grindfests. Also, three games of a kind ever made is not exactly a crowded market, is it so hard for you to imagine someone wanting more?

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Elona and cataclysm are both good comparisons, but are also both turbo-autistic grindfests.

They're also free and not made by furry turbo faggots. (Not ones that advertise it, at least.)

Also, I picked them because they're turbo-autistic grind fests, and because Sseth has covered all three.

Also, three games of a kind ever made is not exactly a crowded market

Goalpost shifting. No one is saying the market is crowded, just that you have other options.

Dwarf Fortress, ADOM, Liberal Crimesquad, Gearhead, UnReal World - how long does the list need to be? All have varying levels of autism and grinding, if that's really an issue.

There's a 100+ page thread full of roguelikes (and games that are clearly not roguelikes, but are similar enough) on this site (list on page one not updated since 2014). Let me know when you've played all of them.

 

[buffalo bill]

Regardles of what you think about Sseth, Caves of Cuck devs are a bunch of humourless soyfurs. And unfortunately it shows in the game as well.

I see nothing in caves of cope to justify the adoration that it gets.

Is this reddit baby's first roguelike or something?

Sseth covers some cool sounding mechanics in the game, but I don't see it as any more fun than other roguelikes like Elona or Cataclysm.

>OH WOW I GOT "MONOCHROME" AND NOW THE SCREEN IS BLACK AND WHITE!

Meh.

have you played the game? it is clearly great, regardless of politics.

 

[buffalo bill]

There's a 100+ page thread full of roguelikes (and games that are clearly not roguelikes, but are similar enough) on this site (list on page one not updated since 2014). Let me know when you've played all of them.

I have played mad roguelikes (see my posts on the roguelike forum if you want to check my cred—based on angelic badges I am prob in the top 5 doomrl players). Caves of qud is one of the best roguelikes ever made, hands down. It won a codex poll several years ago as the best roguelike even while in early access and without an endgame, and it won for good reason. Complaining about the devs and their politics is fine, but saying that the game is not good because you don't like the politics of the devs is beyond stupid

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Complaining about the devs and their politics is fine, but saying that the game is not good because you don't like the politics of the devs is beyond stupid

Not being able to read is what's beyond stupid, fanboy.

Did I say it was bad? No. I liked everything Sseth covered about it.

I'm just not as impressed by it as you clearly are, and don't think see anything worth supporting devs with cancerous politics, who ban users for something as simple as asking if you can join the game's "evil" faction. Not when there are plenty of other roguelikes out there to play.

 

[buffalo bill]

Complaining about the devs and their politics is fine, but saying that the game is not good because you don't like the politics of the devs is beyond stupid

Not being able to read is what's beyond stupid, fanboy.

Did I say it was bad? No. I liked everything Sseth covered about it.

I'm just not as impressed by it as you clearly are, and don't think see anything worth supporting devs with cancerous politics, who ban users for something as simple as asking if you can join the game's "evil" faction. Not when there are plenty of other roguelikes out there to play.

I'm not a fanboy, I see the strengths and flaws of the game (as I've already pointed out in this thread). But it really seems like you haven't played it, and are edgy shitposting (for instance, you seem to only refer to what some internet "celebrity" has said instead of offering your own opinions on the game). On many fronts, this is not just the best roguelike of the last ten years, but the best rpg. It is better than all the other roguelikes you mention in many ways.
Yours argument is sort of like this "fallout 1 devs are gay sjws, and there are tons of other classic rpgs to play, so why would I bother to play fallout 1?" Obviously fucking stupid

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

I'm not a fanboy, I see the strengths and flaws of the game

You're not a fanboy, you just see red when someone doesn't like your favorite game, sure.

But it really seems like you haven't played it

Well, I didn't buy it.

and are edgy shitposting (for instance, you seem to only refer to what some internet "celebrity" has said instead of offering your own opinions on the game).

I offered my opinion: it's nice, but it's not worth all the dickriding you and others seem to be doing for it. I'm sorry if that upsets you, but that's my opinion.

On many fronts, this is not just the best roguelike of the last ten years, but the best rpg.

Yours argument

When you're so mad that you've lost the ability to write English. Obviously a fanboy.

Yours argument is sort of like this "fallout 1 devs are gay sjws, and there are tons of other classic rpgs to play, so why would I bother to play fallout 1?"

I guess it's a valid enough argument. It invites others to justify the value of the game to the one saying it. Or to just sperg out and call them stupid for not seeing the value...

Of course, I don't think Interplay was banning people for asking if they could join the mutants.

 

[buffalo bill]

christ, you are as bad as a sjw, it's like the exact inverse

I care about good games, not culture wars

Anyway, you admit that you didn't play it, so you are posting here just because you want to show off your anti-sjw cred (like a lot of the posters itt, I take it)

 

[Dadd]

Chad Gonaz says it's good so it couldn't be as bad as some say

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

christ, you are as bad as a sjw, it's like the exact inverse

Because not buying a game is equivalent to banning fans because they basically asked if they could join the Brotherhood of Steel.

Anyway, you admit that you didn't play it

Again, learn to read, fanboy. I admitted no such thing. I just said that I didn't buy it.

I don't think the game is worth supporting SJWs, or worth $20. There are other alternatives that are free. I'm sorry that upsets you so much, but that's my opinion.

 

[None]

Because not buying a game is equivalent to banning fans because they basically asked if they could join the Brotherhood of Steel.

I was under the impression there is no "joining" of factions. The closest thing is raising your relation with a faction high enough that they become friendly.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

I was under the impression there is no "joining" of factions. The closest thing is raising your relation with a faction high enough that they become friendly.

I think people want to start as one of them, sort of like playing a water merchant. There is a joinable faction iirc, but I forget what it's called because I don't really care.

I'm referring to the reddit posts, discord screenshots and tweets mentioned earlier of devs banning people from Discord for asking if they could be playable or to have some kind of questline to join the Templars because doing that was basically supporting fascism or whatever.

Eg, this a dev posted on their Steam forum:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/333640/discussions/0/3005549744946532986/

So, you can talk about them, but you can't like them or agree with them, or you get banned.

They also apparently took steps to try to make it so that mods to play as them won't work according to someone on their forum, but I haven't looked into it.