Darkest Dungeon

Games
961

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.

962

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.

963

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

964

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.

965

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.

966

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. :)

967

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.

968

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

969

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.

970

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

971

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

As for a cheat sheet:

https://gaius.coffee/DarkestDungeonCheatsheet/

972

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.

973

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”.

974

Yeah, I’d prefer L3 and R3 never be used for anything, ever.

975

Text size was the reason I stopped playing this on the Vita. It’s playable, but I can’t see too well up close and at the distance i can see well, text is too tiny (yeah, I need bifocals).

976

It’s too small for me to read for sure. I’m nearsighted with progressive lenses and trying to play In docked mode on a 60” TV from about 10 feet away.

Wish it had UI scaling for us olds 🤔

Diego

977

As in all things, vision may vary, but with a weekend of docked and undocked play, I am pretty happy. My TV is 55 inch and 10 feet away. I had zero issues docked. Some things were a slight bit hard to see in handheld mode (R stick vs. A icon or some jumbled random names when not in the character panel).

Overall I like the interface. Some things are wonky and took some work to figure out. Trinket and party management had me scratching my head for awhile and mouse over on certain things like enemy stats are at first more accessible. That said after a few hours, everything works out just as well if not better. I even booted up the Steam version to compare. I even like buttons and sticks for most common elements over mouse and keyboard. I still don’t like R stick press for embark, provision, etc. though. Thumbs up for the Switch version here.

Now, as to the game itself…I am getting chewed up and had a hilariously bad run with dual paranoia afflictions last night. There is a lot to discover and I look forward to it.

Do folks generally invest in lowering stress via town options (bar, etc) or just rotate/ burn out free heroes early on? What about cleaning up negative perks?

978

If their stress is 75 or higher, I tend to stick them in the buildings that reduce stress. Otherwise, I let them sit unassigned in the hamlet where their stress diminishes at a slower rate between quests.

Removing negative perks is expensive, so I tend to let them be until a hero is more experienced. I instead throw coins at increasing an inexperienced hero’s weapon and armor levels.

979

I think that you basically always want to be cycling through new victims, er heroes, throughout the game. In parallel you’ll want to coddle and optimize the perks and things on the characters that you are trying to advance forward with.

I am definitely mediocre at the game, but I felt like the grind actually moves along faster when you realize that sending in disposable resource collection squads is viable. Only one soul is needed to bring the loot home.

980

A terrified and traumatised antiquarian, too shaken to ever venture back into the dark depths from where she hauled a vast amount of loot, is perfectly fine!