Dicey Dungeons

[Dcubed]

 

I wanted to make a post about Dicey Dungeons, but then I realised that we didn't have a thread about Dicey Dungeons, so I made a thread about Dicey Dungeons to talk about Dicey Dungeons!

So what the hell is Dicey Dungeons? Well it's a roguelike about dice! And it's really friggin' good! I would know, I wrote the review on the main site for this game...

Click me to read the N-E Review

Anyway, I made this thread for two reasons.  One, because this game deserves its own dedicated thread (it IS one of the best games on Switch after all!), and Two? The game just got some surprise stealth-released-for-free DLC today to coincide with the Xbox release, that would otherwise easily fly under the radar, and I wanted to spread the word!  Presenting... The Halloween Special!

Three brand new episodes starring Warrior, Inventor and Witch (bet you couldn't have ever guessed that they would be the stars here!), with all new mechanics, enemies and MUSIC!! Oh yes!!

Best bit? There's even MORE free DLC on the way!! Just recently announced on the Distractionware blog, there's a new DLC pack incoming within the next few months (to coincide with the release of the mobile version) with SIX BRAND NEW EPISODES!!! Can't wait!

 

Anyway, that's that.  Feel free to discuss this amazing game here  

Edited November 14, 2021 by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

Game's amazing! Music's amazing, writing's hilarious!

It gets pretty difficult, but it's so satisfying once you figure out a strategy that gets you through (with just a little bit of luck).

But sudden surprise free DLC? I'm ready to die all over again! Will make a change from bashing my face against an EMMI shaped wall.

Edited November 14, 2021 by Glen-i

[Dufniall]

Picked this up yesterday because your review was raving, and it's currently only €3,74 on the eShop!

That's before you started this thread and I read about extra free DLC.

[Aperson]

The creator of this game also made VVVVVV and Super Hexagon if I'm not mistaken. I've played both of those but not this one, though truth to be told I've never actually played a Roguelike.

[Jonnas]

1 hour ago, Vileplume2000 said:

Picked this up yesterday because your review was raving, and it's currently only €3,74 on the eShop!

That's before you started this thread and I read about extra free DLC.

Thank you for the heads-up! Decided to get it just now.

I don't usually buy these indie games with the intention of playing them soon... but this time I may have a reason to give it a whirl sooner rather than later. We'll see.

Edited November 14, 2021 by Jonnas

[Glen-i]

7 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

Thank you for the heads-up! Decided to get it just now.

I don't usually buy these indie games with the intention of playing them soon... but this time I may have a reason to give it a whirl sooner rather than later. We'll see.

I'm suddenly reminded that this game has 20 language options. Portuguese is one of them. Will be interesting to see how that localisation holds up, because naturally, I can't judge it.

Then again, it is an indie game, which have pretty good track records for language options.

[Dcubed]

16 hours ago, Glen-i said:

I'm suddenly reminded that this game has 20 language options. Portuguese is one of them. Will be interesting to see how that localisation holds up, because naturally, I can't judge it.

Then again, it is an indie game, which have pretty good track records for language options.

Yeah, the amount of languages it supports is insane! It even supports Turkish! (And my Turkish friend tells me that the Turkish localisation is quality ).

[LazyBoy]

Alright the review sold me, though I may wait until I’ve gotten a bit more value out of Slay the Spire. 

[MindFreak]

Even though that is a tempting offer, I don't think I have the energy for yet another roguelike in my life at the moment. As much as I enjoy them, I also get very frustrated with them.

[Jonnas]

Tried it for the first time earlier today, and I liked what I saw. I did think those 6 floors were a bit too easy (I learned how to optimise/manipulate dice rolls very quickly), but then they showed me just how much there is still left in the game, and now I get it. Hopefully later seeds will be trickier than this first one.

For those on the fence about this game, I'll just say that as far as roguelikes go (of the ones I played, at least), this has to be the smoothest entry when it comes to difficulty. Most roguelikes ramp up difficulty fairly quickly, but this one I found to be very forgiving on the first level.

So far, I haven't been impressed by the writing. Seems to be just as welcoming as the game itself, but there was nothing to wow me just yet.

On 14/11/2021 at 7:41 PM, Glen-i said:

I'm suddenly reminded that this game has 20 language options. Portuguese is one of them. Will be interesting to see how that localisation holds up, because naturally, I can't judge it.

Then again, it is an indie game, which have pretty good track records for language options.

Tell me about it, I actually took a screenshot of that language menu, because damn! Big list.

The Portuguese translation seems alright so far. Already found a typo (a status effect description), and mildly disagreed with a translation choice, but that's all normal. I appreciate that they're trying to properly translate typical RPG terms, even if it sounds off at first ("Status Effects" was translated literally, and it's really weird).

All it takes for a translation to win me over is to come up with a good pun (like Atomicrops' PT translation did), so I'll be on the lookout for that.

[Josh64]

I took the plunge on this too! Enjoyable for the short amount of time I've played, really wanna dig in more but also really wanna sleep so will hopefully get some proper time with it over the weekend

[RedShell]

For anyone that might be interested (but perhaps not that interested ) this game has recently been made available on Game Pass.

[Jonnas]

Had my first loss yesterday when using the Inventor. It took two enemies getting the precise rolls they needed (who the fuck rolls triple 6?!), and so I needed to do it again. Turns out, a healing command is very useful in this game, so I ended up saving that one and doing great on my second attempt. Can't say I liked using the Inventor much, but I appreciate the variety in playstyles. The Witch then brought a playstyle that I liked a lot more, too.

There are a lot of unique takes on RPG mechanics in this game alone, and that's pretty impressive.

The PT translation is really frustrating. I actually love seeing the language on menus, attacks, and such (I tried swapping to English, and seeing "even" and "odd" written instead of "par" and "ímpar" weirded me something fierce), but the dialogue is unbelievably unpolished. It occasionally uses the wrong gender, it switches between "tu" and "você" in the middle of a sentence, and the typos are starting to get embarrassing. Having one person translate an entire game (even a small one) is a tall order, apparently.

So I switched to Brazillian Portuguese. I hope it retains similar UI translations, while doing a better job with the overall script.

[Dufniall]

I played the first dungeon (six floors) over the weekend, and I liked what I saw so far! I like how you can upgrade moves at certain points in the game, and have a fairly limited "deck" you can use. I'm guessing when the game progresses and you know enemies weaknesses you will have to switch your moveset a bit more, but for dungeon 1 it was just a matter of completely annihilating everyone.

With the abundance of languages I set mine to Dutch, it's kind of weird to play a game in Dutch but for now the translation seems solid.

[Dufniall]

Put some hours into this yesterday, and it's hard to put away!

On 22-11-2021 at 10:07 PM, Jonnas said:

Had my first loss yesterday when using the Inventor. It took two enemies getting the precise rolls they needed (who the fuck rolls triple 6?!), and so I needed to do it again. Turns out, a healing command is very useful in this game, so I ended up saving that one and doing great on my second attempt. Can't say I liked using the Inventor much, but I appreciate the variety in playstyles. The Witch then brought a playstyle that I liked a lot more, too.

I had a couple of losses, one with the Inventor and twice with the Witch. I'm the exact opposite, liked what I saw with the Inventor (although it took a couple of enemies before I understood her mechanism). The Witch I'm having trouble with (and haven't finished a run with her yet) because I'm not doing massive damage and I lack healing as well. Will try again tonight!

Putting the next bit into spoilers although I think it's pretty safe to read for everyone.

Spoiler

I had a pretty fun run with the Thief. Came across an enemy that had a move that lets you transform into a bear. With the Thief's ability I used that, and didn't know it was a permanent effect so the rest of the run I was a bear. It has an extremely high damage moveset so I basically mauled my way through the rest of the dungeon haha. Was a nice surprice! Also with the robot it took me a while to realize that you can do the ZR calculation a couple of times, then use other moves, and then use ZR some more to try to get the Jackpot. First few enemies I kept messing up because I thought I had to first do the calculation thing before doing other moves! Was quite an eye-opener that I could mix that up.

 

[Glen-i]

Well, that's interesting, @Dcubed and @Jonnas both seem to dislike Inventor, but like Witch.

Meanwhile, @Vileplume2000 and I much prefer Inventor to Witch. Seems the two are quite divisive.

My issue with Witch is that you pretty much need at least one turn to set stuff up, which means you'll take damage, and that HP is a precious resource, so the damage builds up.

Don't get me wrong, it's fun, but Witch is definitely the character I struggle with the most.

Edited November 24, 2021 by Glen-i

[Sméagol]

On 16/11/2021 at 6:56 AM, MindFreak said:

Even though that is a tempting offer, I don't think I have the energy for yet another roguelike in my life at the moment. As much as I enjoy them, I also get very frustrated with them.

It's similar for me, except I hate roguelikes / lites. But I keep trying them, and sometimes there will be an exception.. I wasn't interested in this but the review, which I read some time ago, sold it a little bit? It could be an exception, but I'm just not in the mood for one right now.

[Jonnas]

12 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Well, that's interesting, [DCubed] and [Jonnas] both seem to dislike Inventor, but like Witch.

Meanwhile, [Vileplume2000] and I much prefer Inventor to Witch. Seems the two are quite divisive.

My issue with Witch is that you pretty much need at least one turn to set stuff up, which means you'll take damage, and that HP is a precious resource, so the damage builds up.

Don't get me wrong, it's fun, but Witch is definitely the character I struggle with the most.

The inventor isn't consistent at all, it feels like your entire kit gets randomised with each battle. Even the commands/equipment that I need to sacrifice each turn is randomised (quit suggesting the Hammer, game! It's my most useful command, geez!), so I either sacrifice something useless and get something pointless, or I must sacrifice something useful to make something good. It's overly stressful, and hard to control.

Meanwhile, the Witch is all about managing resources. There's a lot of flexibility to be had with that system, such as "summon a command, use a dice on it, summon it again, use another dice". And having one "improved" space where you just chuck in any spell in your repertoire (meaning you have access to every improved version of each spell)? Lovely, I can choose to prioritize healing, shielding, or good ol' massive damage.

I am wondering if further episodes will flip my opinion on either class though, because Warrior got a lot more frustrating to use in Episode 2.

[darksnowman]

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Dicey-Dungeons-1742949.html

Currently 80% off until 5th January 2022. Surely a steal at £2.69!

[Jonnas]

Alright, Episodes 4 is as far as I go with this game. I started to get real frustrated with the Inventor (since I don't enjoy her style much), but I powered through eventually. Then the exact same frustration set in with the Witch (who I like a lot more) and that was the last straw.

Look, I appreciate difficulty, but I don't like to see so many of my losses attributed to chance. I'm getting real tired of seeing my strategy evaporate to an enemy that drew three straight 5s, or seeing myself incapable of landing the final attacks because I didn't draw a single Even that turn. And I most certainly hate seeing that the option of using status effects like Stun or Weaken depends entirely on the game deciding to weaken/block the right attack(s).

It's infuriating, there's so much the game leaves to chance at those higher difficulties, that it railroads to only one or two viable strategies. A roguelike should not make me feel like half of its available builds are useless, and it most certainly shouldn't make it feel like a good build failed due to chance.

For now, I'm deciding to drop the game. Maybe I'll give it another shot someday, but it's gonna be a while.

[darksnowman]

I like how snappy this is. From movement around the boards to the combat itself. Sadly, it looks like it's getting drowned out by some other games I want to play for the time being, but Dicey Dungeons complimented Paper Mario: The Origami King really well for me there--what with TOK having meaningless battles and DD being all battles. The variation of playstyles between the characters I've unlocked so far is really something too. 

My feedback on the email questionnaire was that it would be nice to have some way of consulting item/card descriptions as it seems you just have to throw new cards into your setup and if they work they work, but if they don't, you're stuck with them.

One thing I would praise the game for is that I was... able to run from a boss! It was the vampire, and I'd bypassed the chess immediately preceding him in the belief that my card configuration would be good enough to see him off! Turns out you need that item or the vampire is unvanquishable. LOL. I was glad and relieved to be able to run from battle to pick up that item and start the encounter again. Much better than having to take a loss and restart from the first floor, so bravo for that.

I've taken my early-game losses on the chin, but I feel your pain @Jonnas.  

[Dcubed]

https://terrycavanagh.itch.io/dicey-dungeons/devlog/401621/dicey-dungeons-reunion
 

The (free!) DLC is finally out! 6 brand new episodes!!!

I’m SO ready to die again!

Edited July 7, 2022 by Dcubed