Depths of Endor = Not For Me

This is another dungeon runner.  You make some PCs and start in the City where you have the usual choices.  Go into the Dungeon any time, where you are a small blue box moving through hallways and getting into fights.  I don't mind minimal graphics.  Sometimes, that's a charm.

The class system in this one is interesting: everyone starts as a Nomad with all stats set to 1, and each time you level up you get a "+" button to update one stat.  You change to a real class by leveling up to the required stats and going to the Guilds area to switch.

 

The City

My team made it to level 5, and now exploring level 1 is too easy, most of the foes can be taken out with two clicks.  You just have to keep an eye on your hp bars running low.  Bring lots of the red life potions to heal.  I've been to parts of level 2 and 3 and it's more of the same layout with some different foes.  Still no rhyme or reason.

I got one of my PCs up to Dexterity 7 so he could join the Thief Guild, which promptly ruled out some of the equipment he had already equipped.  Well, classes should start to feel different, so okay.  One of my PCs does slowly heal a point here and there while walking, so that's a nice racial bonus.  And I'm totally okay with racial bonuses -- there's no point saying that a gnome and a giant should be exactly the same: the giant can throw the gnome up to a third-floor window ... and the gnome has tiny fingers that are good with detailed crafting work.  I can't stand the changes to modern game rules that want everyone to start off the same so nobody's feelings ever get hurt.

I will probably not continue much further.  What really kills it for me is the lack of any NPCs or dialog or even personality blurbs.  The Store could have a storekeeper with something to say.  That wizard you bump into can at least taunt you some.  But in the end, the dungeon design is really repetitive, and almost every time you open a door, boom, badguy, click click, dead, maybe heal a bit and keep going.  

Thumbs up for having parts of the dungeon be wet or deep water (I think you start to drown after 3 blocks of deep water) or even anti-magic for some reason.  Suddenly I was fighting a piranha, why not.  I'm not sure I ever got to cast an actual spell.  The navigation of the character screens was a bit odd at first, but it all flows very well once you get the hang of it.

Thumbs down for having so many 3x3 rooms with pits right in the middle, and everyone takes 4 hp damage every time.  Come on, role-playing 101: make some DEX rolls and only some PCs are affected.  Why have stats and then not use them?  So, there are pits all over, and you can't see even one block ahead of you.  Meh.  Did I not see any place to buy torches?  Would it have mattered?  Also, I really can't stand it where you have to be level 6 or whatever just to wear padded boots.  There must be better ways to gate off the advancements.

It was okay for a while, but I can't invest so much time in so many games.  They really have to hit a lot of factors just right, or they will be uninstalled.

In the Dungeon