KickStarter Lords of Xulima

[Pope Amole II]

My only idea now is to grind that small forest till I'm level 10 or something, and 1) I'm not doing that, 2) It can't be right. What am I missing?

There's a route to the castle in nabros. It goes through the first small forest, then near the river, then into a bigger forest with some creeps placed, then there's a smoky pass, teleporter stone and finally castle. It's tuned for level 7 or so, so you'll still have to grind. So you know - this game is totally about grinding. Where do you think 100 hours of playtime come from?

There's another option (if your party is powerful enough) is to go Sorrentia and to break through the prince's blockpost (the one with 10 guys in it). It's possible if you prepare good amount of sparks 4-5 scrolls and if you burn through a good deal of consumables there (I spent about 6 grazino eggs, 3 elixir, 4 shurikens, 5 scrolls). Then you can grind in rocky valley & green forest, up to level 12 (at which point you can return to nabros and kill all those 10 man squads rather easily).

 

[Renevent]

^ Cool. There seem to be areas that never run out of enemies; the small forest in the second area of the game for instance.

By the way, I am either blind like 4249 claims or really bad at this game. I'm now level 6 with decent equipment and I've cleared out everything. I can't kill groups of four AoE mushrooms (I'm lucky if I manage to even get my turn with the constant sleep spam) or the massive 8-man groups of soldiers on the way to the next area.

My only idea now is to grind that small forest till I'm level 10 or something, and 1) I'm not doing that, 2) It can't be right. What am I missing?

So when is this going to be released on gog?

Did they say it was going to be?

I think you are at the part that I basically almost raged quit myself...not sure where to go and either getting killed by the damn mushrooms or the waaaay overpowered soliders. Turns out I missed a path in the forest that brought me to one of the dungeons which was much more manageable. Anyways once past the point the game gets a lot easier IMO.

 

[Grunker]

Seriously, what path? I feel like I've comb-walked the entire mini-forest, it ain't that big, really. Oh well, back to the search.

 

[4249]

I don't think I've encountered any unclearable areas yet. To clear the area you also need to kill the hand-placed monster groups as well, so might be that. Although the road to Rocky Valley in Sorrentia seems to have a crapload of random encounters.

And I think the thieving prick you encounter when entering Nabros hints at going through the forest is the way to go or something? Or it was hinted at some other point, can't remember.

 

[Grunker]

And I think the thieving prick you encounter when entering Nabros hints at going through the forest is the way to go or something? Or it was hinted at some other point, can't remember.

Yeah, I paid him 100 gold for that hint, I just can't seem to find any paths even though I'm comb-scanning. I obviously just missed it though, so I'm just going to do it till I find it.

 

[Lord Azlan]

Seriously, what path? I feel like I've comb-walked the entire mini-forest, it ain't that big, really. Oh well, back to the search.

Not sure if this helps you = when I was stuck early on I found a way to progress by taking on the Soldiers of Nengorth guarding path to Nabros = that opened up a whole new map. There I had to avoid the main path - but there was a way to meander through. Look SE of first map. Different guards = not those that guard the first town. If they are "Difficult" or something = get lots of scrolls and blessings to all your party can damage them.

 

[Grunker]

Seriously, what path? I feel like I've comb-walked the entire mini-forest, it ain't that big, really. Oh well, back to the search.

Not sure if this helps you = when I was stuck early on I found a way to progress by taking on the Soldiers of Nengorth guarding path to Nabros = that opened up a whole new map. There I had to avoid the main path - but there was a way to meander through. Look SE of first map. Different guards = not those that guard the first town. If they are "Difficult" or something = get lots of scrolls and blessings to all your party can damage them.

Nah, nah, already killed those guards and got to the new map. It's there I can't find a path around the 10-man groups.

edit: oh lol, found it. man that was pixel-hunting reliving my childhood right there

 

[JarlFrank]

And I think the thieving prick you encounter when entering Nabros hints at going through the forest is the way to go or something? Or it was hinted at some other point, can't remember.

Yeah, I paid him 100 gold for that hint, I just can't seem to find any paths even though I'm comb-scanning. I obviously just missed it though, so I'm just going to do it till I find it.

You need to cross the road a couple of times. First forest area --> exit it to the southeast --> cross the road and enter the next forest area to the south --> northeast --> north etc

 

[Renevent]

And I think the thieving prick you encounter when entering Nabros hints at going through the forest is the way to go or something? Or it was hinted at some other point, can't remember.

Yeah, I paid him 100 gold for that hint, I just can't seem to find any paths even though I'm comb-scanning. I obviously just missed it though, so I'm just going to do it till I find it.

If I remember correctly you basically have to keep going through the forest areas and skipping around the guard checkpoints, eventually you will find yourself heading kinda north east and will reach a kinda mountain pass north of the tree line...taking that will put you going back west then you can go south to the castle.

I looked online for a map but couldn't find a map of Nabros...sorry couldn't be more help

 

[Grunker]

Yeah thanks guys, just found it after some laserpoint combing.

 

[Scroo]

/edit:

I should finish reading threads before I answer to already answered questions.

 

[Renegen]

If you think the mushrooms are bad, you should see the Golden Woods later on. I actually had to find the solution to that one on the web because I didn't grasp what I was supposed to do. My characters are around lvl 13 and the game keeps having these puzzly or riddle like challenges to it, I really enjoy them. The game is slightly grindy but the tradeoff is that you have a massive world to explore that always offers unique challenges.

Also don't be afraid to use consumables, I currently have almost twice the maximum party weight, and I suspect it's because of consumable stacks I never used.

 

[Renevent]

If you think the mushrooms are bad, you should see the Golden Woods later on. I actually had to find the solution to that one on the web because I didn't grasp what I was supposed to do. My characters are around lvl 13 and the game keeps having these puzzly or riddle like challenges to it, I really enjoy them. The game is slightly grindy but the tradeoff is that you have a massive world to explore that always offers unique challenges.

Also don't be afraid to use consumables, I currently have almost twice the maximum party weight, and I suspect it's because of consumable stacks I never used.

That's actually where I am atm. I tried going into the Golden Woods and yeah, not exactly sure what to do yet

Luckily there's a few other directions I've been able to do some minor exploring for the time being, but I'm sure I will at some point have to figure that one out.

 

[A600]

The Riddle Imp's question, is it a common riddle or is the answer somewhere in the game? I thought it could be "echo" but nope (please, don't post the answer)

Btw, I haven't had so much fun with an RPG in ages. I'm playing with Gaulen, Barbarian, Thief - Cleric, Bard, Divine Summoner.

 

[Renegen]

The riddle imp questions are really clever, I figured the first one out by really thinking about the answer. Think, the two things that are mentioned in the riddle are not related exactly by weather phenomenom.

 

[Applypoison]

That would mess with the resource system tho.

Easy fix change the button to 'wait for encounter' that uses up the food resources.

The idea of a way to accelerate random encounter-chasing has always been around, just mixed reception. We're getting close to a pretty decent compromise though, keep the ideas coming

Pope Amole II, RNG is just mathematics man. There's 2 ways it can be done:

1) Gaussian bellcurve, meaning 'true' random distribution. Few games are brave enough to use this, and I think (correct me if I'm wrong) Age of Decadence uses that system. One of the advantages of this system is that it gives more room for character growth; instead of just improving your damage until you shoot lazer beams of massive destruction, you have the more subtle (and true) progression of watching your warriors improve in the precision of their swings through better equipment choices and skill usage.

2) Pseudo-random distribution, meaning the more one specific outcome happens (miss, for example), the more likely other outcomes (hit or crit) will happen. It could be argued that this is pandering; it also creates the false expectation that undertaking an action with only 60% or 70% success chance is a good call. It's not; it's actually risky as hell, and you want to take steps to improve your odds ASAP (or just take another, more appropriate action such as Defending or using a Scroll). In many RPGs, P-RD also means skills and stats which improve accuracy have a pretty good chance of just being window-dressing.

RNG 2 could be considered to be more 'fun', especially towards an audience that doesn't know better. It is the easy road of RPG development.

RNG 1 is more authentic, and can be really interesting if the game offers 'proper' progression systems (equipment, skills, stats) to support it. It just takes a little more patience at the start, and a willingness to grasp those systems. This is what Lords of Xulima sets out to offer.

 

[Branm]

The Riddle Imp's question, is it a common riddle or is the answer somewhere in the game? I thought it could be "echo" but nope (please, don't post the answer)

Btw, I haven't had so much fun with an RPG in ages. I'm playing with Gaulen, Barbarian, Thief - Cleric, Bard, Divine Summoner.

Those Imp riddles have to deal with the 8 gods of Xulima. If you read up on the gods the riddel answer should come easy enough

 

[V_K]

If you think the mushrooms are bad, you should see the Golden Woods later on. I actually had to find the solution to that one on the web because I didn't grasp what I was supposed to do. My characters are around lvl 13 and the game keeps having these puzzly or riddle like challenges to it, I really enjoy them. The game is slightly grindy but the tradeoff is that you have a massive world to explore that always offers unique challenges.

Also don't be afraid to use consumables, I currently have almost twice the maximum party weight, and I suspect it's because of consumable stacks I never used.

That's actually where I am atm. I tried going into the Golden Woods and yeah, not exactly sure what to do yet

Talk to NPCs in Velegarn, one of them tells you what to avoid IIRC. Or maybe it was one of the tavern's rumors.
The way nameless NPCs in this game are presented, they tend to look like just a part of scenery - but sometimes they give really useful hints.

 

[Sinatar]

Is there anyway to see whether an area is cleared or not?

Right above the mini-map is a little crystal ball, orange means enemies are near, yellow means the area is dangerous and clear yellow means it's done. You can also mouse over it to get an idea of how many encounters are left. It'll give a general description like 'there are a great many enemies around' or 'there are a few'.

 

[Renegen]

That would mess with the resource system tho.

Easy fix change the button to 'wait for encounter' that uses up the food resources.

The idea of a way to accelerate random encounter-chasing has always been around, just mixed reception. We're getting close to a pretty decent compromise though, keep the ideas coming

Pope Amole II, RNG is just mathematics man. There's 2 ways it can be done:

1) Gaussian bellcurve, meaning 'true' random distribution. Few games are brave enough to use this, and I think (correct me if I'm wrong) Age of Decadence uses that system. One of the advantages of this system is that it gives more room for character growth; instead of just improving your damage until you shoot lazer beams of massive destruction, you have the more subtle (and true) progression of watching your warriors improve in the precision of their swings through better equipment choices and skill usage.

2) Pseudo-random distribution, meaning the more one specific outcome happens (miss, for example), the more likely other outcomes (hit or crit) will happen. It could be argued that this is pandering; it also creates the false expectation that undertaking an action with only 60% or 70% success chance is a good call. It's not; it's actually risky as hell, and you want to take steps to improve your odds ASAP (or just take another, more appropriate action such as Defending or using a Scroll). In many RPGs, P-RD also means skills and stats which improve accuracy have a pretty good chance of just being window-dressing.

RNG 2 could be considered to be more 'fun', especially towards an audience that doesn't know better. It is the easy road of RPG development.

RNG 1 is more authentic, and can be really interesting if the game offers 'proper' progression systems (equipment, skills, stats) to support it. It just takes a little more patience at the start, and a willingness to grasp those systems. This is what Lords of Xulima sets out to offer.

Hi there, I'm glad an actual developer of the game is part of the discussion, welcome to the Codex.

If you've read my post in the other Xulima thread, you would've learned I also identify the RNG as a problem. I've played many games for decades, and I've noticed that I got better at not raging, well Xulima brought back that rage. I strongly support pseudo-random distribution, it's a great solution and I don't see it as "casual" at all, it simply removes the rage. Or do something about making it possible to reach 90%+ in accuracy, for example what's the point of accurate strike? The way the distribution is handled right now, it barely increases the hit rate whether against normal enemies or wasps.

Btw, I completely agree with Pope Amole's comment that the game requires reloading, you can very easily go from wiping in a battle to winning handily just because of RNG, it's just really that random. Forcing the player to save scum is bad game design IMO, in fact there's a whole thread on it.

 

[Lord Azlan]

The Riddle Imp's question, is it a common riddle or is the answer somewhere in the game? I thought it could be "echo" but nope (please, don't post the answer)

Btw, I haven't had so much fun with an RPG in ages. I'm playing with Gaulen, Barbarian, Thief - Cleric, Bard, Divine Summoner.

Those Imp riddles have to deal with the 8 gods of Xulima. If you read up on the gods the riddel answer should come easy enough

I really liked this. Showed the developers had confidence in their lore. Usually all this stuff is in the background notes and not important. You think you can simply ignore all that and play the game. Then you hit a spot where they test your knowledge of the lore - not sure if I have seen that anywhere else. THEY ACTUALLY TEST IT IN GAME.

The Golden Woods - just shows how far my brain has gone downhill since my teens.

I used to play chess a lot and would eat these puzzles for breakfast - now I damn well go straight to Google.

Brain turned to jelly. If this game does nothing else - it turns the tide back to a time where I had mojo and my brain had muscles.

This game says wakey Wakey to my brain.

 

[Grunker]

That would mess with the resource system tho.

Easy fix change the button to 'wait for encounter' that uses up the food resources.

The idea of a way to accelerate random encounter-chasing has always been around, just mixed reception. We're getting close to a pretty decent compromise though, keep the ideas coming

Pope Amole II, RNG is just mathematics man. There's 2 ways it can be done:

1) Gaussian bellcurve, meaning 'true' random distribution. Few games are brave enough to use this, and I think (correct me if I'm wrong) Age of Decadence uses that system. One of the advantages of this system is that it gives more room for character growth; instead of just improving your damage until you shoot lazer beams of massive destruction, you have the more subtle (and true) progression of watching your warriors improve in the precision of their swings through better equipment choices and skill usage.

2) Pseudo-random distribution, meaning the more one specific outcome happens (miss, for example), the more likely other outcomes (hit or crit) will happen. It could be argued that this is pandering; it also creates the false expectation that undertaking an action with only 60% or 70% success chance is a good call. It's not; it's actually risky as hell, and you want to take steps to improve your odds ASAP (or just take another, more appropriate action such as Defending or using a Scroll). In many RPGs, P-RD also means skills and stats which improve accuracy have a pretty good chance of just being window-dressing.

RNG 2 could be considered to be more 'fun', especially towards an audience that doesn't know better. It is the easy road of RPG development.

RNG 1 is more authentic, and can be really interesting if the game offers 'proper' progression systems (equipment, skills, stats) to support it. It just takes a little more patience at the start, and a willingness to grasp those systems. This is what Lords of Xulima sets out to offer.

I don't really care since reloading and replaying is fast and easy, and I like that there's a random factor. But it's a fact that this game has encounters that swing from "win easily" to "get your ass kicked" only based on rolls. I agree with Pope that this makes Ironman a really bad choice for this game. I usually LOVE the fuck out of Ironman but I'm really glad I didn't opt to go with it this game.

 

[Pope Amole II]

Pope Amole II, RNG is just mathematics man. There's 2 ways it can be done:

Get off the high horse, dude. Trying to teach me about rpg mechanics might be a funny notion, but the choice of RNG systems has zero relation to the fact that the constant accuracy of 60-70% is just bullshit. As well as the big percentage of critical failures which (apart from the one enchantment) also introduce pretty much nothing but "lol, fuck you" factor into the game (especially since it even works with special attacks). And the occasional really cheesy victory over a tough enemy where he just screws himself over. It's fun for the first time, but past that (and we're talking about 100 hours game where everything repeats a lot) it's just boring. As well as the "oh, I'm gonna defeat this low-lvl trashmobs fast, only no, because my characters screw themselves over". That's just bad design and all it does is destroying the actual tactics (random initiative, which screws up planning, fits here as well).

 

[Jack Dandy]

Grinding, reloading? pffft.

Just buy a blessing or 2 from the priestess and you're good to go. Shit is cheap, people. Use it.

 

[Applypoison]

But it's a fact that this game has encounters that swing from "win easily" to "get your ass kicked" only based on rolls.

Agree, and it's a fact that there are ways to influence and even eliminate the chances of facing the worst possible scenarios. It's all part of the strategy of party management (something the game should document better, perhaps).

For example, if you're going to go against those elusive Wasps, it might be a good idea to carry spare daggers that you can switch to. Daggers are very accurate. Alternatively, you could carry Scrolls of Song of Stunning, and hit them hard while they are stunned and their Evasion is reduced to 0%.

The party you go with will be good at combating certain creatures, maybe less so against others. There ways to improve your odds in such cases. And, there are always temple blessings, which are a huge help at the start.