Darkest Dungeon

You bring up a great point, the UI should be easy and intuitive. I found someone on YouTube play the first 15 minutes of the game and it looks like it’s going to work fine. Not as good as mouse imo, but totally inoffensive I think. I took a few pics to show what I noticed, but here is the video:

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This is the only one I’m not sure about - I don’t want to have to use the touch interface, so I’m hoping this is just an optional way to scroll rather than moving the “cursor” over to the menu and using up/down?

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This seemed like a nice touch.

Combat and interactions seem like they will be easy. Simply cursor over an item and hit X to collect it, or A to take All and B to close (or in the case of interacting, A to interact with a curio, and B to ignore, I assume).

For Combat, looks like you flick the (left?) stick left/right and then hit A on the highlighted ability to use, and then select a target and off you go.

Should work out pretty well, I think?

This would be awesome, it wasn’t in when I played last but that was pre-Vampire Court, so if you are correct it’s an amazing change.

Yes, the game now provides feedback to the player with regards to items used on curios. I’m not saying the designers took my July suggestion to heart, but what they implemented is similar to my alternative suggestion. :-)

Oh! If the game remembers what curio combinations I’ve tried…I prefer that so I can experiment, but not be punished for long breaks from playing.

@Scotch_Lufkin Thanks! I was looking for just that sort of thing yesterday, but came up empty. I’ll take a look. In the few Switch games I have that have touch controls, I like the option in portable mode, but prefer a slick interface. I’m mostly hoping that the sticks and context limiting can simulate mouse movement well enough. I’ve read nasty things over time of DD not porting well in regards to text legibility too, so that is a concern.

More thoughts on Crimson Court, Shield breaker, and radiant (or moon I guess) mode? I don’t think there will be a bundle option, but I’m considering grabbing it all an finally going for the deep dive. I did read some feedback elsewhere that Radiant mode, while faster, can back the player into a corner as they progress too fast without building up resources leaving them unprepared for where they are in the game (potentially). I have no idea if this is a fair statement.

Touch has to be optional, or we won’t be able to play in docked mode.

I’ve never tried Radiant mode, because I enjoy the grind and management. Plus, I like crying!

I’m loving The Crimson Court DLC, because it’s made the game more difficult, and added a communicable disease whose spread and effects must be managed (“Blooooood!”). It also adds Districts (new stuff to add to the Hamlet), a new hero class, plus more. Easily worth $10.

The Shield Breaker DLC adds that hero class and new combat mechanics (Armor Piercing, Guard Break, and Stealth), plus a few other things. If you want more options for party composition and additional combat mechanics, it’s worth it for $4.

The game punishes you for winning too much and forces you to fail no matter what difficulty you’re on. It’s probably just easier to make that happen in Radiant because it’s easier to win level-appropriate content.

Thanks again for the video. I watched and it looks like the UI is pretty slick actually. I see no issue with text size. Maybe they learned from the iPad and Vita versions. The touch controls could be a nice option too. I just soooo like the idea of bingeing in front of the TV or playing a random mission on the go in a game like this. I think this might be the definitive edition. I also sort of can’t believe I am playing this game on a Nintendo product. Or that the Switch has become my favorite console by far. Is this how I slip into madness?

@Mysterio Ok, I think you convinced me to go all in. Question though (for you or others): if you were to start all over again in Darkest Dungeon, would you start with the DLC activated or do a run without it to learn the vanilla features and combos better? I guess that is sort of like an Xcom question. It almost always seems like the product is better post DLC, but I know some games get too fiddly or daunting if all the extras are tacked on from the start.

I would say you are pretty safe playing the game DLC-free the first time. I really like this game, but what blows me is just the amazing atmosphere of it all. I always peter out in the later grind, even with Radiant Mode, but man, I really like starting new games of it.

On the other hand, the game is very long, so if you aren’t the type to replay a very long game, then you would be better off starting with the DLC.

On my last hand, if you’re the type to start, and then want to start over, that really isn’t necessary in this game. So, you shouldn’t think that you’ll want to start playing without DLC and then then add it when you inevitably restart.

I say go all in. There’s a lot of stuff to play in this crazy mixed up world of ours, and who’s to say you’ll ever find the time to face the Crimson Court? The victory over the first area of the Court felt pretty amazing, too.

If you’ve played vanilla previously, definitely activate both DLCs. Reviewing the in-game glossary will get you back up to speed, if needed.

I looked it up on my steam account last night. It seems I only made it 13 hours. I think I restarted once and beat the level 1 bosses (maybe 2 of a few hubs), but this was back when it first released.

https://www.gamespace.com/darkest-dungeon/review-nintendo-switch/

A little troubling, perhaps:

On the Switch, my biggest complaints are twofold – firstly, the text in handheld mode can be way too small at times. Secondly, the control-scheme of navigating menus is unintuitive at best. DD is menu-heavy, and it’s all too easy to press the wrong thing, or have no clue how to access a part of the menu. Thankfully the touch controls on the Switch help somewhat. The rest of the game’s best features – its strategic and satisfying combat, heavy RPG systems, and intensely unfolding story, are all intact.

Don’t know if this is common knowledge, but I happened to search for Darkest Dungeon instead of going to New Releases and found there is an “Ancestral Edition”. Base game and all DLC for $35. Essentially, you’re getting The Shieldbreaker for free.

EDIT: NM, the bundle is listed on the base game’s page. :)

Hmm. Well, I’ve watched two versions go by and I’m itching to finally play this one. Plus I watched footage from the video you linked, so it can’t be that bad.

I’m jumping on the grenade and will report back later.

I’m sure it’s fine, but do let us know. Once I get $35 put together, I’m getting a copy as well!

My first time playing it (on Switch), only played in docked mode so far, but it’s fantastic. I am going to have to do a little research on some of the mechanics, but I’m hooked. Some of the UI stuff isn’t super intuitive, which I’m sure has been the case on every platform.

I can imagine some of the text in handheld mode may be a bit difficult to read.

It was absolutely playable on the Vita despite a few UI issues that they mostly cleaned up. I would be shocked if it was worse on the Switch

Text size was awful on iPad. This is better? Have they updated the mobile version?

As for a cheat sheet:

https://gaius.coffee/DarkestDungeonCheatsheet/

Thanks for the cheat sheet @Misguided, that is exactly what I was hunting for before. However, if previous actions are now logged on curios, I might try that first. Does anyone know where the curio log is in the UI (PC or otherwise)?

I didn’t get to play much last night, but I did play through the tutorial and then tinker with the UI of the estate. I did this exclusively in handheld mode and avoided touch controls for now.

–I don’t know how bad the text was on Vita or iPad, but to my middle age eyes, it was small but perfectly legible. If there were any issues, I maybe had a hard time distinguishing the button prompt for “R” over “A”.

–The menus or UI flow are not as simple as a mouse, but I imagine they will be more efficient after an hour or so of playing. It reminds me of tab driven data entry over mouse UI. Basically the game uses either left stick or a button to work on a part of the screen. Once there, you move through that set of options. Many times there is a button or stick choice shortcut to jump to one part of the UI. After just a few minutes and checking the controls in settings, I was moving about fine and actually liked the sort of hot key elements of d-pad for this, shoulder buttons for that.

–Some, but not all, UI elements are on the screen. A small “Y” denotes the details button for a character for example, but d-pad to toggle map/inventory didn’t seem to be.

–Redhook uses a R-stick press for major confirmations. For example, “embark” is a R-stick press. I’m not a fan of this and wish they could have done that differently. I’d rather have had some lesser needed submenu be the press and major “next phase” type stuff a button. That’s maybe just me though.

Overall, at a whole whopping 15 minutes, I am fine with the text and UI on Switch (handheld). Plus the idea of running my first dungeon or tweaking my estate at lunch then resuming to weekend binge at home with surround sound on the couch is all rather sexy indeed. I’ve said it before, as someone who expected to be totally “meh” about a Switch, I love my mother$&@%ing Switch. It is such a cool piece of tech and, for me, games like Darkest Dungeon are exactly the reason why. Screw the Marios and Zeldas, keep the indies and ports comin’! I’ve had a good PC forever. I’ve had DD on Steam since release. But THIS is how I feel the game is best experienced. And it’s not at all the first game I’ve felt that way about.

Oh, that explains the issue I was having when I fired it up briefly last night–I thought that icon showed an “A” instead of an “R”.