addicted to Hack Slash Loot

[Chiropteran]

http://www.hackslashloot.com/

I picked up the http://www.indieroyale.com/ bundle a few days ago because other games included looked interesting, but after installing Hack Slash Loot I've been playing it constantly during my free time for the last couple days.

It's not everyone's style of game, it's a bit of a cruel and unfair game. It's a rogue-like, simple turn based combat RPG. Almost impossible at first, but a few special items in game are considered "relics" and after finding them you unlock them such that you may begin the game with one of them on future attempts. There are also additional characters to unlock, at this point I think they are simply stronger versions of the original characters, not sure if there is a more significant difference other than slightly better base stats.

Anyone else try it?

 

[gorcorps]

turn based = turn & walk away for me

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Sounds like what happened to me and Dungeons of Dredmor.

 

[Chiropteran]

Sounds like what happened to me and Dungeons of Dredmor.

Sounds like I need to check that game out. I actually bought it on some steam sale, but never got around to trying it. Installing now...

turn based = turn & walk away for me

To each there own. I guess you never enjoyed chess or checkers? For me, the new popular thing where a game claims to be an RPG but it plays like an FPS with aiming and crap is "turn & walk away". Turn based = pure strategy.

 

[Elcs]

It's decent but I still prefer a real Roguelike.

Can't seem to complete any of the quests though or find any of these Relics of which you speak. Definitely a bit rusty.

 

[CPA]

Sounds like what happened to me and Dungeons of Dredmor.

Actually, looking at it and reading the description, it seems to be a poor man's Dungeons of Dredmor.

 

[Chiropteran]

Actually, looking at it and reading the description, it seems to be a poor man's Dungeons of Dredmor.

I've only spent a few minutes playing dungeons of dredmor but they seem very different. What made HSL so addictive to me is the instant challenge and speed of play. I can start a game and immediately "start", while dungeons of dredmor requires selecting skills, has multiple options and difficulty levels, and shops and stuff.

I might spend more time playing around with it later, but to me it's just not the kind of game I like. I want to just immediately start playing and having fun.

It's decent but I still prefer a real Roguelike.

Can't seem to complete any of the quests though or find any of these Relics of which you speak. Definitely a bit rusty.

The two quests I have won were "mask of the boy king" and "journey to the kimon".

Journey to the Kimon- This one has several relatively easy to obtain relics. unicorn horn from a unicorn in a "zoo" you can find on level 1 or 2 I think. EDIT: nope. The unicorn and horn are from "battle for stormrise" oops. A runesword from the goblin king. Overall this seemed like the easiest quest.

Mask of the Boy King- This one was easier once I realized the key- don't open the tombs. They just add too many extra monsters to fight and by opening them all you just run out of HP before you finish. Skip the tombs and the quest is much easier, although some of the vampires on the later levels are pretty nasty. The final boss drops a relic, the mask. This seemed like an easy quest as a wizard, since the later level mummy take extra damage from fire they died fast. There is a vampire boss sorta hidden that sometimes spawns on level 2, but I don't think it's even worth fighting unless you have some sort of divine damage weapon- he is just very hard and doesn't drop a relic (although he does drop a nice item), you can easily skip him.

One thing I missed until after I had played for several days, you can use "X" to switch weapons, and you can carry two different weapons. This is good for taking advantage of enemy vulnerabilities.

Basic tips: defense seems very important, I'll usually take an upgrade with a minus on my attack stat if it results in higher defense. The SWIFT ability from some items is very strong on a ranged character, you can kite almost anything with double move speed. Regeneration is a mixed bag. It's great to get on an item early game, but less useful later when your HP is usually much higher than the normal max where regen stops working. It can change the optimal strategy though, for example in "Mask of the Boy King" if you get an early regen item you might as well bust all of the tombs since you can just regen your HP after each fight.

 

[Doppel]

That game play/graphics literally would have looked dated 20 years ago.

 

[Craig234]

I tried - only a 9MB download!, but so far it's not much fun.

 

[Chiropteran]

I tried - only a 9MB download!, but so far it's not much fun.

Sorry. It's not for everyone.

 

[Rhezuss]

I love it!
Never passed the 2nd floor and just unlocked the Human Knight character.
12 Deaths / 0 Wins LOL
Awesome game!

 

[Elcs]

I actually haven't managed to unlock any new character classes yet... despite reaching level 5 on a few occasions and a total of 68 deaths.

Sad times

EDIT: Okay. Seems like I've unlocked quite a few different character classes without the game telling me.

 

[Borealis7]

i actually prefer turn-based to real-time, but the graphics really put me off. and i consider myself an old-school gamer...

 

[Craig234]

Sorry. It's not for everyone.

I'm glad you like it, have fun - I'll give it another try to see if there's more which I'll like.

 

[JTDSR]

Kind of reminds me of the old Gold Box D&D games. Azure Bonds FTW!

 

[Chiropteran]

Kind of reminds me of the old Gold Box D&D games. Azure Bonds FTW!

Yeah, same. I loved those games.

Finished a 3rd adventure, "they dwell beneath". Used the "human rogue" character, which is just much stronger version of the woodelf archer. I got really lucky with the random bonuses, my ranged was above 100 by the 3rd level, had 30+ defense, some haste bonus, nearly 200hp. Then I hit something that removed all my enchants, so I lost a lot of defense, my haste, and most of my ranged attack/damage. Still had pretty good base items though, and was able to win, but it was a lot closer than I thought it would be originally.

Had a really strong game in "battle for stormrise" but that adventure just gets ridiculous later on. I was playing the human amazon, which seems like one of the strongest classes, and doing fairly well, but the number of demons and special abilities they have just gets annoying. There is also a doppelganger which simply comes in as a copy of your character with the same stats, but I just ran away from it and went on to the next level. I was doing okay for awhile but I got overrun by demons that can just walk through walls, which destroyed my whole strategy of kiting and fighting the monsters in a choke.

I've read that the additional character unlocks are based mainly on number of deaths. The amazon is the second character unlocked, I think at 15 or so deaths, and it seems to be the strongest class so far.

 

[Martimus]

Looks fun. I wish it was available on the Android, as I would buy it there. I have too many games on my computer to add to the list.

 

[zokudu]

I really like the Roguelike genre and especially its recent resurgence in indie games.

 

[Rhezuss]

Question about the relics and all...
I found the Runesword (spelling?) from the 2nd floor Goblin Boss...but I Alt+tab out of the game to check another thing and now my game is lost...

How do you keep the relics and how can you start a new game with them?

And what is the left board showing blackened items...those are the relics?

 

[Chiropteran]

Question about the relics and all...
I found the Runesword (spelling?) from the 2nd floor Goblin Boss...but I Alt+tab out of the game to check another thing and now my game is lost...

Normally, you just play until you win or die after finding the relic and at that point it saves the relic as a possibility to start with. If you crashed out or alt-tabbed and exited without "finishing" the game it might not have saved it properly.

How do you keep the relics and how can you start a new game with them?

See above. When you start a new game it's just random that you may begin with one of your relics. Only ever one, and it just seems to be completely random. Sometimes you will start with none. You can just keep restarting until you start with the relic you really want one.

I find this aspect slightly annoying, I think it would be more interesting if you could pick one or possibly more than one eventually, but it is what it is and it keeps the game fresh each time.


Also note that as you unlock new characters, some of those characters begin with nice special equipment. Of note is the amazon and her divine bow, as a divine weapon on each kill it can grant you ranged attack or hp. It's not uncommon to eventually gain ranged attack all the way up to 100+ from this divine bonus over time. This equipment is static and always the same for a given character, and doesn't count as a relic.

And what is the left board showing blackened items...those are the relics?

No. The "Trophies" are really just achievements, they don't really grant anything just a way to keep track of what you have accomplished.

 

[Rhezuss]

Normally, you just play until you win or die after finding the relic and at that point it saves the relic as a possibility to start with. If you crashed out or alt-tabbed and exited without "finishing" the game it might not have saved it properly.



See above. When you start a new game it's just random that you may begin with one of your relics. Only ever one, and it just seems to be completely random. Sometimes you will start with none. You can just keep restarting until you start with the relic you really want one.

I find this aspect slightly annoying, I think it would be more interesting if you could pick one or possibly more than one eventually, but it is what it is and it keeps the game fresh each time.


Also note that as you unlock new characters, some of those characters begin with nice special equipment. Of note is the amazon and her divine bow, as a divine weapon on each kill it can grant you ranged attack or hp. It's not uncommon to eventually gain ranged attack all the way up to 100+ from this divine bonus over time. This equipment is static and always the same for a given character, and doesn't count as a relic.




No. The "Trophies" are really just achievements, they don't really grant anything just a way to keep track of what you have accomplished.

Thanks 3 thousand millions for the clarifications! Here's a relic!

 

[OVerLoRDI]

To each there own. I guess you never enjoyed chess or checkers? For me, the new popular thing where a game claims to be an RPG but it plays like an FPS with aiming and crap is "turn & walk away". Turn based = pure strategy.

If we want to be excessively pedantic. RPG = role playing game. Pretty much every game is an RPG. Call of Duty is a game where you play a role.

Now I agree that most RPGs (in the sense that most people think of) have lost their roots. The best example is Dragon Age 1 vs 2. Mass Effect, without its story and cool universe is exactly what you are describing and I agree. I hope developers will bring back more traditional RPG games like Neverwinter, Baldurs Gate, or DAO.

 

[Elcs]

Deaths: 100
Wins: 1

Took down Journey to the Kimon with a Human Rogue (1st attempt with that character). Sailed through very, very easily until the end and then I gained Swift from an Altar which made the last level so easy I barely had to try.

Mask of the Boy King? Cannot complete this for love nor money, even with the Human Amazon and Divine Bow headstart. Get nailed either by the two Liche Knights (when I unluckily bump into them) or by the Guardians on level 5.

Just fiddling around now.

 

[Chiropteran]

Mask of the Boy King? Cannot complete this for love nor money, even with the Human Amazon and Divine Bow headstart. Get nailed either by the two Liche Knights (when I unluckily bump into them) or by the Guardians on level 5.

Just fiddling around now.

For MotBK, it's key to have 2 different weapon damage types. For example most of the vampires and such are weak against divine, so it's great for them, but then the mummy have divine resistance, so you switch to a backup weapon, preferably fire or lightning since the mummy tend to be weak against that type...

It's partly just luck though, sometimes no matter how hard you try you get hit with some nasty effect or your best item gets destroyed by fire or whatever and you can't recover. It's a tough game.

 

[Elcs]

For MotBK, it's key to have 2 different weapon damage types. For example most of the vampires and such are weak against divine, so it's great for them, but then the mummy have divine resistance, so you switch to a backup weapon, preferably fire or lightning since the mummy tend to be weak against that type...

It's partly just luck though, sometimes no matter how hard you try you get hit with some nasty effect or your best item gets destroyed by fire or whatever and you can't recover. It's a tough game.

It's a lot easier than I'm used to. No DV/PV, no need to eat food etc.

I've never been lucky enough to pick up a secondary bow which provides high damage and high attack or an appropriate elemental attack to abuse weaknesses. If I have, it's been nuked by fire-throwers or I've managed to reach Floor 5 in bad shape and chewed up by the Guardians. Only beaten them once to be completely demolished by the end boss.