DROD RPG: Tendry's Tale

The DROD (Deadly Rooms of Death) series, a hidden gem long revered by discerning puzzle connoisseurs, finally makes its Steam debut with DROD RPG: Tendry's Tale, complete with Steam Cloud, Achievements and Leaderboards! DROD RPG is quite different from the main DROD series, which will also appear on Steam (hopefully) very soon. DROD first appeared in 1996 and has been kept up, reworked, and extended by just a few talented, dedicated developers and an active player/modder community. (NOTE: when I refer to DROD RPG as opposed to Tendry's Tale, I refer to the engine and imply the possibility of there being further official DROD RPG titles) [h1]Gameplay[/h1] While there are many similarities, the core gameplay mechanic in DROD is solving individual "rooms", while DROD RPG is about optimizing choices throughout an entire run through the game. Both games are laid out as a set of floors consisting of interconnected rooms. Floors are connected by stairs. Generally it's possible to backtrack just about anywhere at any point in (each half of) the game. Tendry's Tale has about 400 rooms total, including 40 secret ones. The game is split into two halves with independent stats/progression. DROD RPG, like DROD is a turn-based game. The basic movement commands are the same as DROD - 8 directional movement, and sword rotation. DROD RPG borrows mechanics from the main series such as door orbs, trapdoors, and bombs. Many of the enemies and characters will also be familiar. Unlike DROD, DROD RPG has stats: HP, ATK, DEF, GR (gold), and items - weapons, shields, usable accessories, and keys. Unlike DROD, enemies do not move in DROD RPG. Instead of combat being purely a question of who strikes first, combat plays out based on stats (yours and your enemy). Thus, the optimization gameplay is making decisions about when to and when not to fight, use keys, pick up items and stat boosting powerups, and determining a good order to do these actions in (e.g. pick up power ups before engaging in fights to save HP). But, to make smart decisions, you must first explore and learn the world. This means you will need to save and restore often, which the game openly encourages. [h1]Difficulty[/h1] The game is easy to start but very difficult to complete, especially if going for the secret/true endings (though perhaps not as difficult as some other titles in the DROD series). Luckily, there is lots of spoiler-free tips from fellow players available on the community forums at http://forum.caravelgames.com/. Also, the second, harder half of the game has a secret option to make the game somewhat easier at the cost of scores and achievements. This might be a good choice for initial exploration. [h1]Ambiance[/h1] The gameplay experience is further enhanced by an excellent soundtrack and an entertaining story that ties into the greater lore of the DROD world. It's absolutely not necessary to have played previous DROD games to appreciate Tendry's Tale, but it does help to understand some of the references. [h1]Value[/h1] If you finish the game and still want more, you can play the many community made "holds". So, I highly recommend Tendry's Tale to puzzle enthusiasts (although I recommend the main DROD series even more highly!). I've bought most of the DROD games at their original full price of $20 with absolutely no regrets.

One of the things I really liked about the first 2 DROD games was that each puzzle presented you a simple screen with all of the information needed to solve it. When you finished a room it was really finished and you felt good. This game, and the most recent DROD installments, are missing this feeling. You aren't solving rooms anymore you're solving whole levels. I got to Rule 6 and just got too frustrated to keep playing; I was no longer solving a puzzle I was going through trial and error. The difference between the two makes or breaks a puzzle game. I want to state for the record though that I have bought every DROD game to date and that DROD II is one of my favorite games of all time so I hope people don't take my critique of this game too hashly.

[i](note: originally posted on shinyloot. I played the drm-free version years ago, the steam version has various improvements, achievements, etc. my unlocked achievements with such short playtime are from loading an earlier save and doing the final steps again.)[/i] DROD is a long-running franchise of puzzle games, sadly very underrated, but in 2008 Caravel Games decided to try something a little bit differnt. Still set in the same universe as the other games, DROD RPG takes a few steps away from regular puzzlers. Your task is to guide Tendry, a brave soldier through several levels (12 plus a secret stage, each consisting of about 20-30 rooms or more). It's still very much a puzzle game but apart from collecting keys (different kinds open different doors, so you'll have to think twice before using them) you'll also need to fight all sorts of enemies (humans and monsters alike), collect money (by fighting said enemies) and get more powerful to be able to survive. While still not an RPG, despite its title, the game now has objects you can use (some only once, some more than once) and you can raise (or level, if you wanna stick to RPG terms) your HP, armor and defense to make things easier. The top-down perspective and the mini-map makes it easy to get an overview of the levels and think up a grand strategy, but sometimes you'll need to try different approaches to certain problems. No matter how tempting it is to kill everything as soon as you see them, it's a bad idea. Wait till you get stronger/more powerful, and in the meantime, try to think of alternate solutions, like bypassing doors, going round enemies without initiating a fight (which is turn-based, by the way), and so on. Be sure to save as often as possible, though, because it's easy to run into dead ends sometimes. Normally this would make me irritated, and admittedly this game had the same effect on me initially, but after I realized my mistakes (not using items/keys optimally, starting fights with monsters left and right, since 'Hey, there's a health potion right there, why should I care?', not looking for secret areas, etc.) I started over and had a much more fulfilling experience. And despite it being a long game (relatively speaking, but when you think it's over after a few hours, it turns out it's only the end of the first half), replaying certain areas with a more thought-out strategy doesn't take very long at all. The game is a huge amount of fun, very easy to pick up and pretty hard to put down. Just one more room... (It also has some references to other titles in the series but you'll be fine playing it without any prior knowledge.) Pros: - Takes a while to complete (~8 hours or more) - Save anywhere (you'll need it!) - Active community on the game's website - Replayability (try for a higher score, look for secret areas or alternate solutions, download user-made levels, etc.) Cons: - A little bit on the trial-and-error side, and sometimes the error part only becomes evident later, so save often - The voice acting is pretty poor, though after a while I found at least the main charcter's voice more funny than annoying

DROD RPG is basically a fancy version of the classic Magic Tower game. It's a great thinking-man's RPG that revolves around resource management and route planning. The player has to navigate various floors of dungeon environments in which color-coded keys needs to be obtained and used in an optimal fasion in order to reach the exit with the greatest amount of keys and HP remaining. Along the way you can find various attack and defensive upgrades that will play a big role in how the games turn-based auto combat plays out. The game rewards careful planning and good decision making because over the length of the game, bad decisions and poor management compounds into situations in later floors where the player could find themselves low on resources to push through. The game is pretty lengthy for what it is and there are multiple endings, the harder of which will only be able to be obtained by those who really master optimizing their playthroughs. As a fan of the Magic Tower type genre, I loved the games interpretation of this format and would recommend it, even if the voice acting is hilariously bad (so bad I can't tell if it was intentional).

As someone who's been playing DROD RPG outside of Steam for a few years now, I thought I'd describe exactly what playing this game is like and why I enjoy it. Please note that the gameplay is not like your typical RPG, nor is it all that similar to the other DROD games, although it is still a turn based game that requires a lot of thinking. DROD RPG is a resource management optimisation game. The optimisation is not just about choosing what resources to spend, but WHEN to spend those resources to ensure you make the most out of them. Fighting monsters is automatic and costs you Hit Points based on your Attack and Defense stats, the higher they are, the less HP you lose. You also have keys and money that can open doors. There are also accessories with various additional effects, such as destroying walls, letting you jump over pits and doubling money gains. The gameplay involves figuring out in what order to fight monsters, gain stats, kill bosses, collect resources and spend keys to ensure that you don't waste enough resources in the long-term that you're able to reach the end of the game without getting stuck in an unwinnable position. The game quite happily lets you get stuck, but you can (and should) save the game at any time because you will be restoring to previous saves quite a lot. This is by design, you're expected to do this. There is zero randomness in the game. Fighting the same monster with the same stats will always produce the same result, and the level layouts never change. It's one big manually crafted puzzle. Along the way you will reach numerous scorepoints that award you a score based on the resources you have. An important part of the appeal of the game is to try and maximise your scores to beat or match other people's scores on the leaderboard. There's a lot of replay value in this, as maximising a scorepoint early in the game will often require a different set of actions than if you're trying to maximise one in the late game. I personally find it a lot of fun to try and figure out e.g. how the person in the #1 spot on the leaderboard managed to beat me by 20 points, and it's an awesome feeling when you finally work it out. The game has an easy to use level editor built-in to it, and there are a number of level sets available for download from the offical forums if you're looking for more. There's a huge amount of content available at a range of difficulty levels to sink your teeth into if you enjoy the game. The offical level set, Tendry's Tale, is split into two entirely separate halves, and the second half is quite difficult. Ultimately DROD RPG is a game that you'll either love or you'll hate but you should definitely give it a try. The game will allow you to get a lot out of it if you're willing to invest the time in it, and is a pretty unique experience. I really enjoy it myself and it's kept me consistently entertained for an enormous amount of time.

This is a game where you have to use your noggin' to make choices. If you enjoy using judgement and logic to conserve resources effectively, this is a game you will enjoy. If you enjoy optimizing mathematical puzzles under the veil of stat-based RPG, this is a game you will enjoy. This game is like a grid based dungeon crawler, not totally unlike Desktop Dungeons (except not random at all), or Legend of Grimrock (except completely turn-based, with no reflexes required). It's obvious inspiration is Tower of the Sorcerer. You find stuff, stab baddies like goblins and evil brains with a big pointy sword, get stronger, and try to make to the end alive. It's brimming with secrets and you are generally rewarded for not acting rashly, despite the personality of the protagonist. If you have heard of DROD before, be warned that this game is utterly unlike most entires into the DROD franchise. It's a puzzle game of a different sort, but that's not a bad thing. Less pure logic and more judicial logic. It's a slow burner, but a good game, and it's pretty cheap for how long it'll take you to make it to the end alive. Give it a shot!

I loved all the DROD puzzle games, but this is a single puzzle spread over multiple levels and hours of play where your first attempts will likely end in unwinnable states requiring a complete restart. Playing correctly requires foreknowlege of the levels. For someone who hates repetition, this is a crime against game design.

這是一款2D地下城類Rogue的解謎遊戲，是個骨灰元老級的獨立遊戲，因這是一系列的作品，還有兩部剛過綠光（2012掛到現在才過...）。 http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93828972 http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93811035 這遊戲令人著迷的地方在於操作簡單容易上手，尤其開局很簡單，由於補血鑰匙等資源是有限的，隨著不斷深入迷宮，過關的有效解會越來越窄，而逐漸變成一個無解的爛攤子，其中像哪些門要開或走哪條路等策略取捨就變的很重要。另一個就是有mod的功能，很多人分享自己設計的地下城。 DROD還有一個重點就是蟑螂，作者最早花了一段時間觀察蟑螂，並領悟了一套理論，不久後來就發行了dos電腦版的DROD，殺蟑就變成這系列作很重要的主角。

[ I've played through the game when it was first released, back in 2008 ] DROD RPG is a min/maxing puzzle dungeon crawler that focuses on decision making which enemies to kill, which items/keys to take and use and has a steady progresion in hero power that's really satisfying. You'll upgrade your weapon and shield and find items that take you to secret paths with lots of goodies. There's a lot of backtracking to scavenge for health potions, power ups and secrets but it doesn't feel tedious as the level design keeps that in mind and has a lot of shortcut paths or teleports. Expect 20+ hours if it's your first playthrough. I struggled back than and got myself in situations where I couldn't progress without dieing to the next enemy. This may be frustrating for some, as it involves restarting the game and playing again with the new gained knowledge. Took me around 3 restarts till I got the hang of it, then you'll progress more wisely and in doing that the game will be much more enjoyable. It has this type of progression that I personally miss a lot in games, progression not only through the player character but through the knowledge of players. Think of games like Doom where you struggle if you ignore all secrets or games like Dark Souls. Knowledge is key and the game definately rewards this. It's not for everyone, but Caravel Games is on of the last developers who releases more than 5 minute demos so you can really see for yourself if you like it. I also want to mention how funny this game is sometimes. Tendry talks a lot and his quirky analogies and reactions are hilarious. The voice acting is not AAA but it's still good. Storywise you'll be a little lost if you're not familiar with the DROD universe, but then again, maybe it'll spark your interest and you'll begin the best puzzle game ever made. No silly, not The Witness. I'm talking about DROD! Edit: For some reason the demo isn't in Steam. Just Google search for "drod rpg demo".

Don't be fooled by the name: this game is not an RPG. It is first and foremost a puzzle game. The title isn't misleading though: DROD has become synonymous with excellency in puzzle games, and RPG means it will appeal to every fan of min-maxing or theorycrafting one can usually find in RPGs. This is a numbers game wrapped in a pleasant interface, an original soundtrack and a deep backstory sprinkled over all the DROD games. This game is story heavy for a puzzle game, but story light for an RPG: there is no complex story to read or numerous anecdotes and side-quests. The story elements are delivered through voice acting and will make you love Tendry for is panache ! The game is best enjoyed with at least two playthroughs. Saving often and backtracking is an inherent part of the gameplay. You have to strike a balance between going forth to gain knowledge of level layout and going back to better optimize your road. The DROD series is user content friendly and DROD RPG is no exception: if you liked the game, you can get more ! I highly suggests you visit the official website caravelgames for additional content... including FREE games !