[WIP] Generations of Kings

[RacerX]

I tested that latest version food stacking is great...thx

[Slava]

^^ yes it is. I forgot to write about it.

[Jos]

Me and my console have managed to complete your updated mod, and I have some good, ...and some bad news for you, which I think you deserve to hear. For the good... I was impressed by the solutions you have found for the bugs noted in Nexus. All issues are completely solved or in one case almost solved and that includes all of the things I had found. The characters stay hungry throughout the game too, so that's solved too. I deliberated tried to replicate old crashes but every one of them seem solved. Well done!

And then the bad, ... New issues have arrived. The new keyholes for example. They are not connected to the thing they are supposed to do. They click, but nothing happens. The iron key to the Anomolous Zone doesn't open the spear gate, the Twisted key doesn't remove the Forcefield around the Air Gloves in the Elemental Tower and the Star Key doesn't remove the Magic bridge that allows you to descent to the Licks of Fire in the Frozen dungeon.

Then there are crashes.
* Hitting any one of the Twin Fire Golems in the Elemental Tower Fire optional area: mod_assets/scripts/monsters.lua attempt to call global 'findEntity' (a nil value)
* Buying Force Field (mod_assets/ext/grimtk/samples/orden_paladinov.lua:132: bad argument #1 to 'addItem' (ItemComponent expected, got ???)
* Frost Wyverns doing an attack: mod_assets/scripts/monsters.lua attempt to index field 'fo' (a nil value)
* And and old Floor_Trigger_146 seems to activate again after gaining access to end boss of the Prison area: #script_entity_114.script:2: attempt to index global 'skuggs_gearsping_clockwise_1' (a nil value). I solved this by the known Floor Trigger destroy command.

And there are hangups. The 1st encounter with the big bad, where he fights with his bare hands, in the red Forest is now completely hanging. No way around it. Same with the 3rd encounter on Dark Tower Level 3. I had to teleport and skip these bosses. I don't know why, and I don't know how and no crash information available. It's different than the old version for sure, where I would be hanging sometimes and only on the Hands, now it's an instant lock.

Your mod is so close to being really good, but now it's a bit broken. I still had fun playing it again and I hope you will consider an update.

[Slava]

Hi Jos, thank you so much for your review! I was expecting some new bugs to appear. Unfortunately, I don't have time to test everything myself. Huge thanks to you for this! I will definitely fix all bugs and release a new version in the near future.

Did you find a little mention of yourself in the game?

I was unable to reproduce the error at the third level. Maybe it doesn't always happen?

[Slava]

Thank you so much for your review! It's a great encouragement for me. I am flattered that this is your first post on the forum.

[Jos]

Hi Jos, thank you so much for your review! I was expecting some new bugs to appear. Unfortunately, I don't have time to test everything myself. Huge thanks to you for this! I will definitely fix all bugs and release a new version in the near future.

Did you find a little mention of yourself in the game?

I was unable to reproduce the error at the third level. Maybe it doesn't always happen?

Hi again, that's great to hear! I didn't find the mention.. ah, I guess I rushed it a bit this time. Next time, I will find it. I said third level, but I was mistaken, it happens at Dark Tower Level 4 (map 36). It's kinda like the 3rd encounter, so I got that mixed up. I have some extra minor issues to add too: Ale Flask results in a crash and the spell Nature Grace seems inactive.

About the new options: I was excited to use them, something different right? It was fun using them, but in the end, I think the "old ways" were in a way better. I'll give all my examples, and you can just decide what to do with it, or even completely ignore it, it's all okay. So here we go: I turned the bleeding off, and I know this was a remark made about the forest level being a bit harsh with bleeding, and he has a point, and maybe it's a little bit better without, but from there, not having Bleeding On, is ripping your Mod of something essential. It all felt a little bit flat, like a horror house without jump scares. And you will find enough Bandages and Blood Herbs, can even buy them, so Bleeding On is very recommended.

And there's the Forbidden Spells. I know of a guy who literally asked for these (that was me), but they are to risky to use. I used them all together, with the Air Boots, and after loading, Time itself was flowing differently. I was slow until I consoled myself out, and then got slowed down on ladders and stuff, it was pretty weird. Forbidden is the right word, but Time and MovementSpeed seem techinally implemented in a way that modding it, maybe isn't recommended.

Knowledge being Oblivion Potionable gave me 5 extra skillpoints. And I didn't have Knowledge 3 or 5 for more than 10 seconds, just to read the books. In the old version it was like an investment, that if you would find enough (there's like 10) you work to a net positive. In the new version, it just turns any book into a skillpoint book. Very forced to exploit it, why would I want Knowledge 5? Permanent based felt justified.

I think your premade party is perfect for your mod. It's a gentle nudge in the right direction, making Poison Cloud/Druid Swarm and Wizard Dispel fun spells to use, while you also basically need a Rogue and a Paladin. And, the custom party of 4 Lizards makes your well crafted Elemental Tower a walk in the park. I also like your premade party, because they have things to say, have unique abilities (I love it when the alcoholic dwarf went into a Rage because he doesn't have a drink!), while the party finding adds something fun to your mod.

I don't think Treasure detection is working, and it's not a ability I need. Your mod is not a digging kind of mod. You can, and there is stuff under the ground, but it's not that important either.

The reason I said you can ignore this all, is because my preferred way of playing is available, I just need to toggle the right settings and choose the right options. But that is a bit of a in 'hindsight' story, where I could see myself choosing the "wrong" ones, if I would start up your mod for the first time. If you would release it like this, I would add a "recommended" session.

Pff, that was a lot again. Know that it is out of love, not criticism. The Arena buttons were spot on. In the old version I didn't use the wallet, now it's working perfect. The enchanter next to the enchanter items is also QAL+, now I usually upgrade one item after an Arena fight, instead of managing like 6 different ones, because of the long walk. Getting rid of the decimals looks better too. All in all, it was just a fun walkthrough again, so I'm just thankful.

[Slava]

Hi Jos!

I said third level, but I was mistaken, it happens at Dark Tower Level 4 (map 36).

Okay, I'll take care of it. I think I even know what the problem is. Could you check my hunch?
Type in the console:

Code: Select all

floor_trigger_300.floortrigger:removeConnector("onActivate", "DarkSollSecond", "activate")

Ale Flask results in a crash and the spell Nature Grace seems inactive.

I'll check it out and be sure to fix it in the next version
About the options... You are not alone in writing criticism, requests or comments. The mod is also translated into Russian and has a Russian-speaking audience, which gives a lot of feedback because I am also Russian and players can communicate with me almost directly. This applies to all of the points you listed.

Bleeding becomes truly lethal on high difficulty levels. I'm watching one player's walkthrough on YouTube. He's playing on high difficulty. If you knew how many insults I have sometimes heard about bleeding!

About the speed of movement and the flow of time - I really tried to synchronize time with the spell, the use of buttons on speed change, acceleration and acceleration of movement. I completely forgot about the air boots. Perhaps therein lies the problem. But tying all these mechanics together is unrealistic! And there are a lot of problems with that, besides, as you said, the engine isn't designed to mdify those parameters. (You can, you can even use negative values lol). I'm not a programmer, I'm not a game developer, I'm just a fan, it's hard for me to understand other people's code.

The fact that the oblivion potion didn't reset knowledge before is my joint, played as a feature.

Yeah, originally I didn't want to provide the opportunity to play with a custom band. Because it would have created a lot of problems for game design. But then again, Russian-speaking players asked for such an opportunity. Because of this increased development time and had to give up some mechanics (originally I wanted to add variability to the characters by choosing branches for development).

I haven't tested detecting buried treasure. I'll test it, fix it if it doesn't work. Again, this is something the players have asked me to do.

I thought I'd thank you for your long post with my long post. I'm glad you like it. It's the biggest reward for me!

[Jos]

Your hunch was correct! I tried the command, and it works flawlessly. That's great, you will fix it, no doubt!

Nice to hear, a group of players playing with a different opinion than mine. I didn't really try it on Hard, but I can imagine Hard+Bleeding can be scary for sure! I play most, if not all Mods, on Normal (or sometimes even Easy when recommended), just because they are mods, and you never know, what unbalances you introduce (and my machine is slow, so loading takes forever). Mod builders can be sadistic from time to time, and playing on Hard feels like a real risk, lol.

And like I said, I'm perfectly fine with options. I'll choose the ones I like, they chose the ones they like, and I'm not going to complain about 5 extra skillpoints any further (losing the 50% protection from Magic skills is brilliant btw, makes it so you can't get OP by having an abundance of skillbooks, so a mod can be much more generous).

I'm currently moving my Grimrock game to a heavier machine, so that will be a good excuse to give it another go (after your update).