Poll: Thoughts on Darkest Dungeon (Post-Patch): Worth Buying?

[sageoftruth]

Hi everyone. For some reason, I recently got an urge to dive into Darkest Dungeon. However, upon recently checking individual reviews, I saw a slew of "Don't recommend"s, mostly complaining about the recent patch. There were so many, I suspected a review bomb, but they were all much longer and more detailed than a simple "It sucks". Most complaints basically said that the patch made the game too unforgiving, to the point where there was no strategy that prevented you from losing your entire party to a few bad rolls.

This, on top of the sheer number of negative comments, made me doubtful that this was for me, but a part of me still has hope for it. So, have any of you played the game post-patch and would you recommend it?

EDIT: I forgot to specify that I'm referring to the "Inhuman Bondage" patch, which I assume is the most recent one. I had to do some digging to find the actual title.

 

[Zhukov]

Can you specify which patch? There's been a few.

Anyway, I played it a fair bit before the patch that added the Abomination hero.

I found it very enjoyable and not overly punishing. Although it is the kind of game where you're probably going to lose your first attempt before you figure stuff out. I kinda did.

The aesthetics, presentation and atmosphere are top notch.

Main problem is that it gets repetitive after a while. There isn't much variety and one dungeon crawl starts to feel much like another. Plus the sense of progression is lacking with high level parties playing the same as low level ones, just with bigger numbers.

 

[sageoftruth]

Can you specify which patch? There's been a few.

Anyway, I played it a fair bit before the patch that added the Abomination hero.

I found it very enjoyable and not overly punishing. Although it is the kind of game where you're probably going to lose your first attempt before you figure stuff out. I kinda did.

The aesthetics, presentation and atmosphere are top notch.

Main problem is that it gets repetitive after a while. There isn't much variety and one dungeon crawl starts to feel much like another. Plus the sense of progression is lacking with high level parties playing the same as low level ones, just with bigger numbers.

Based on some of the complaints I heard, it was a patch that caused enemy attacks to randomly debuff your characters.

I get the impression that this recent patch had a lot to do with the negative responses, because overall reviews were marked as "Very Positive" and yet after scrolling through the 30+ most recent reviews, I found only one positive review among countless negative ones.

From what I've read online, it looks like the "Inhuman Bondage" patch.

 

[suitepee7]

I played on the first release, and then the patch before abomination came along (waiting for the full release). Personally, I really enjoy the game, it can be really atmospheric if you block out everything else, but can be a good game to play while you're watching stuff on the side and grinding a bit.

As for the negative reviews, I'd wager they are not new players, they are players who played before, then something changed they didn't like, and chose that moment to leave a negative review. I couldn't say if the latest patch has made the game worse, but I didn't get the hate for the previous one (which left corpses on the ground). You can have some super bad luck in the game, but I find that part of the fun. You are never over-prepared for situations, and every encounter can be a genuine chance of total death.

That being said, when I looked over the latest patch notes, I gotta admit I raised an eyebrow. I don't know how bad the provision limits are, and the heart attack changes could be an improvement, but they've also made stress more of a serious consideration and then penalised stalling. I dunno, but I'm not touching it again until the final release.

TL;DR it's probably still a good game, but be prepared for a really hard time, which will probably border on seeming unfair

 

[sageoftruth]

I played on the first release, and then the patch before abomination came along (waiting for the full release). Personally, I really enjoy the game, it can be really atmospheric if you block out everything else, but can be a good game to play while you're watching stuff on the side and grinding a bit.

As for the negative reviews, I'd wager they are not new players, they are players who played before, then something changed they didn't like, and chose that moment to leave a negative review. I couldn't say if the latest patch has made the game worse, but I didn't get the hate for the previous one (which left corpses on the ground). You can have some super bad luck in the game, but I find that part of the fun. You are never over-prepared for situations, and every encounter can be a genuine chance of total death.

That being said, when I looked over the latest patch notes, I gotta admit I raised an eyebrow. I don't know how bad the provision limits are, and the heart attack changes could be an improvement, but they've also made stress more of a serious consideration and then penalised stalling. I dunno, but I'm not touching it again until the final release.

TL;DR it's probably still a good game, but be prepared for a really hard time, which will probably border on seeming unfair

Sounds like a good idea. Apparently that's only about a month away, so waiting for the official release may be for the best. I'll just have to reign in my enthusiasm until then.

 

[jademunky]

This kind of thing has happened to Darkest Dungeon a few times before. Come to think of it, every major patch gets it's fans up in arms shouting "they ruined it forever." It happened with the persistent corpses and heart attacks months ago, people found that the strategies they were comfortable with suddenly no longer worked and that they would have to manage their stress level and make better use of their back-row ranged units.

It certainly is still worth buying.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Never liked it in the first place

That 1 vote is mine.

Rubbish game with a way overly hyped random number gener-err, I mean a totally original and well thought-out traits/affliction system. And it's progressive and PC and a 10/10 on GameFaqs!

 

[sXeth]

Did that happen again? I remember the patch everyone hated because it got insanely hard, then the next patch kind of evened it back around, but that was a bit ago. Such is the peril of buying/playing an unfinished game.

I haven't played in awhile, since the Cove was finally unlocked I puttered in a few runs. After you get past the initial adversity and start to build some momentum, its a bit repetitive, especially once the towns completely upgraded, and you're just grinding gold and turning your guys into supermen with sanitarium treatments to eliminate defects. That is significantly far in though, and the gameplay isn't too bad if you like that sort of X-commy/JRPG type stuff with a slight horror element (though stress just kind of boils down to Hp version 2, in the long run)

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I remember watching it at my friends house back at the beginning of the year, and it looked like some decent fun (albeit fairly punishing, especially if you didn't prepare at all.) and just by pure random chance I happened to start playing the game after one of those "patches"..

the game is definitely WAY too unforgiving sometimes, to the point that I really question what sort of masochist was having fun with the game, some of my most prepared parties were getting wiped instantly and some of the shitty ones that I got stuck with would actually make it to the end of the dungeon, made no sense short of rngesus smiting me.

I haven't played the newest patch, partially because I was waiting for the game to hopefully "patch out" some of that stuff that just made it so randomly unforgiving, but it seems that has either stayed the same or been made worse.

note: I'm not one of those die hard players who thinks every game in existence is made for "casuls" and lusts for extra buff super hero hard death extermination mode in every game, so if you're more of an average player like me, your mileage might be closer to mine.

 

[Erttheking]

=And it's progressive and PC

That got brought up three times on this website. Why is it even the most minor of things like this earn some degree of scorn?

OT: It's a game that can be a little brutal and repetitive, but if you can let the atmosphere suck you in, it's totally worth it.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

=And it's progressive and PC

That got brought up three times on this website. Why is it even the most minor of things like this earn some degree of scorn?

OT: It's a game that can be a little brutal and repetitive, but if you can let the atmosphere suck you in, it's totally worth it.

Its a mild form of mockery of our more liberal and easily manipulated brothers and sisters. The kind that think if a game uses current hot buzzwords or identities, like Transgender, Lesbian or Gluten-Free, it automatically gets high-praise irregardless of game quality.

So if you released a very buggy and incomplete version of PacMan, called it "Love who you are!" and said it was about the struggles of a transgender lesbian trying to be gluten-free in a small town, it would automatically get critical acclaim from reviewers more scared of pissing off that niche audience than actually judging the game on its own merits.
Because how can you be against a game with lesbians and trans-gendered? Are you a bigot?! Only bigots are against lesbians and this game has lesbians and you're against it, therefore you're a bigot and you're fired!

Its mockery of that culture.

 

[Typhusoid]

=And it's progressive and PC

That got brought up three times on this website. Why is it even the most minor of things like this earn some degree of scorn?

OT: It's a game that can be a little brutal and repetitive, but if you can let the atmosphere suck you in, it's totally worth it.

Its a mild form of mockery of our more liberal and easily manipulated brothers and sisters. The kind that think if a game uses current hot buzzwords or identities, like Transgender, Lesbian or Gluten-Free, it automatically gets high-praise irregardless of game quality.

So if you released a very buggy and incomplete version of PacMan, called it "Love who you are!" and said it was about the struggles of a transgender lesbian trying to be gluten-free in a small town, it would automatically get critical acclaim from reviewers more scared of pissing off that niche audience than actually judging the game on its own merits.
Because how can you be against a game with lesbians and trans-gendered? Are you a bigot?! Only bigots are against lesbians and this game has lesbians and you're against it, therefore you're a bigot and you're fired!

Its mockery of that culture.

Please provide one example of people actually speaking like this. I believe you are presenting a complete strawman. I (and lots of other people) believe diversity in games is important, so of course we praise games for being diverse and criticise games for lacking diversity. And we criticise people who don't recognise the value of diveristy and who try to mock games for being diverse. However, literally no-one thinks any game with a lesbian in it can't be criticised.

 

[sageoftruth]

I remember watching it at my friends house back at the beginning of the year, and it looked like some decent fun (albeit fairly punishing, especially if you didn't prepare at all.) and just by pure random chance I happened to start playing the game after one of those "patches"..

the game is definitely WAY too unforgiving sometimes, to the point that I really question what sort of masochist was having fun with the game, some of my most prepared parties were getting wiped instantly and some of the shitty ones that I got stuck with would actually make it to the end of the dungeon, made no sense short of rngesus smiting me.

I haven't played the newest patch, partially because I was waiting for the game to hopefully "patch out" some of that stuff that just made it so randomly unforgiving, but it seems that has either stayed the same or been made worse.

note: I'm not one of those die hard players who thinks every game in existence is made for "casuls" and lusts for extra buff super hero hard death extermination mode in every game, so if you're more of an average player like me, your mileage might be closer to mine.

I'm currently uncertain about what I am in that regard. I've beaten all the current Souls games, and Ninja Gaiden 1 & 2, and consider games like Assassins Creed to be too easy for me, but I think I regress to a more casual state when it comes to strategy. Part of me is excited by the challenge offered by Darkest Dungeon, but part of me remembers how I got crushed in X-Com and Final Fantasy Tactics.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I remember watching it at my friends house back at the beginning of the year, and it looked like some decent fun (albeit fairly punishing, especially if you didn't prepare at all.) and just by pure random chance I happened to start playing the game after one of those "patches"..

the game is definitely WAY too unforgiving sometimes, to the point that I really question what sort of masochist was having fun with the game, some of my most prepared parties were getting wiped instantly and some of the shitty ones that I got stuck with would actually make it to the end of the dungeon, made no sense short of rngesus smiting me.

I haven't played the newest patch, partially because I was waiting for the game to hopefully "patch out" some of that stuff that just made it so randomly unforgiving, but it seems that has either stayed the same or been made worse.

note: I'm not one of those die hard players who thinks every game in existence is made for "casuls" and lusts for extra buff super hero hard death extermination mode in every game, so if you're more of an average player like me, your mileage might be closer to mine.

I'm currently uncertain about what I am in that regard. I've beaten all the current Souls games, and Ninja Gaiden 1 & 2, and consider games like Assassins Creed to be too easy for me, but I think I regress to a more casual state when it comes to strategy. Part of me is excited by the challenge offered by Darkest Dungeon, but part of me remembers how I got crushed in X-Com and Final Fantasy Tactics.

I personally did fine in x-com (not on classic difficulty, I got pooped on the first time a bit I attempted that) but it just seems like there is too much "unknown unknown's" in darkest dungeon, so your first like 5 parties will be spent just figuring shit out and watching them die from the weirdest shit (heroes are unlimited, so until you get lucky and get some characters leveled up, you just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks in terms of characters)

if you're bored, I'd recommend it, but if you've got a backlog that you are interested in, I'd probably say stick to the backlog for now.

 

[Xeorm]

I'll go on and say that I didn't find Darkest Dungeon all that enjoyable. The gameplay gets fairly samey after awhile, and the game itself seems at odds with the game design.

Take stress. By itself, it's hard to avoid. Or at least, I never found myself really able to avoid getting too much of it. From the looks of it, other people didn't either, and so it was ignored. Which required the heart attack to be put in from too much stress, but without adjusting the numbers. The problem still stems from it not being a resource one can really have that much control over.

The ultra RNG is also a pita.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Please provide one example of people actually speaking like this.

I can. Found one right in this thread.

How can you be against a game with lesbians and trans-gendered? Are you a bigot?! Only bigots are against lesbians and this game has lesbians and you're against it, therefore you're a bigot and you're fired!

And in case you think I'm being facetious, incidences like this are literally the only time I ever hear anyone speaking like this. And I'm beginning to think they comprise 99.9999999% of all the times anyone has heard someone speaking like this.