Descent Into the Depths - Torchlight Dynasty

[hoopsguy]

Push-ups broken into 10/10/5. I'm thinking I should have pushed myself and done 15/10. I was not as sore doing these as I was with the sit-ups.

There is another Shrine of Enchantment and this time I put the Chest Armor to the test. Result - 10% chance to reflect 50% of Missile Damage. These are not game changers but I won't complain about free upgrades.

Squid knocks out yet another one of the Bards target boss monsters and accumulates some more fame. The next one is ten levels deep, so it will be awhile until I find this one.

I'm on the brink of Level 10. I'm just about certain I'll invest another spell point into the Ember Bolt at that point even though new spells come available at that time. That spell has been my go-to option for the last 4-5 levels and I'll welcome doing additional damage with it. Squid is also at Level 4 in the (always active) spell that buffs the pet. As a result, I have not seen Dola fleeing the scene quite as often. Dola actually has some value between his increased fortitude and his summoned archers.

[hoopsguy]

I'm having some issues with Imageshack at the moment, but SorcerySquid dinged Level 10 a couple of minutes ago. SS is still blazing through the last bits of the Tomb of the Awakened (Level 7), lashing away at undead with Ember Bolts.

There was an option to switch out the current wand for a really lethal pistol, but while the pistol does more ranged damage the magic damage dropped by a larger percentage. Considering how much Squid relies on the Ember Bolt, this did not seem like a good play.

Sit-ups. 100 of them ... this just is not a lot of fun right now as I'm damn sore from the first day of this endeavor. But, tonight was a little easier than the 90 the other day. Did them in sets of 40/35/25 spaced across commercial breaks in the NCAA basketball games.

[hoopsguy]

The next level is called the "Overseer's Chamber". Hmm, I wonder what is awaiting me here ...

There are a pair of braziers that need to be lit to open up a gate. Beyond the gate is a Spectre boss, but nothing that SorcerySquid has not seen before.

More undead, another Boss Spectre - ho hum. At last, SorcerySquid sees six more braziers. Once these are lit the Overlord emerges, upset that we have invaded his quarters.

He summons hordes and hordes of undead, and SorcerySquid is overwhelmed once when a healing potion does not go down quickly enough. But on the return engagement, it is taking more mana potions to keep firing Ember Bolts than it is healing potions to sustain health. This guy just is not that dangerous and dying to him initially is a bit embarrassing. He falls, leaving one interesting item behind.

"Overlords Eye" - +25 Health (permanent).

Upon vanquishing the Overlord we encounter Syl. Just in the nick of time, Syl ...

[hoopsguy]

From the mouth of Syl ...

"You've released the Overseer from his madness, now we can investigate his library. Ah, here are his notes ...
He mentions searching for an Ember forge in a Dwarven fortress much deeper in this mountain. He believed it would cleanse the corruption from his awakened ancestors. I will return here another time to learn more, but this Ember forge sounds promising. Come, let's go further down, we may not have much time."


And, after following Syl down the stairs we get another "Remnant from Alric's Journal":

"The beauty of these sunken gardens shines through an age of dusy and decay. Why did they fall to ruin? Could the same corruption that affects me now be responsible for this centuries old destruction?
The thought that this blight could be so ancient unnerves me, but if it consumes me I must go deep enough that I can never escape to do harm.
And, there is still hope. A fool's hope, but I cling to it."

[hoopsguy]

At the bottom of the chamber we see a vastly different landscape. The land seems lush; these are clearly the gardens alluded to by Alric's journal.

Syl has more to say to us:
"These ruins, I've read of them! This is Estheria, their discoveries are the foundation of my art. I wish Brink could see this.
I have reactivated these three rune gates, but it is the fourth that leads deeper. Some thread must have caused the Estherians to disable it, the destination glyphs are missing.
We'll need ot find those missing glyphs to continue, search the active gates while I study this chamber. Hurry, there are many obstacles between us and the Ember forge below."

This part will take awhile to complete. I'm going to try and bang out one of Hatch's missions to pick up Level 11 before calling it an evening.

[hoopsguy]

Hatch's dungeon features more undead; at least I'm familiar with the opponents. However, these ones are a few levels higher that what SorcerySquid has been facing and the terrain is challenging. There were several spots where the foes were coming in waves downhill on a stairway, and the ranged attacks do not do as well in this spot.

Also, I really need to find an item that delivers more damage. I've been scouring shops looking for something but come up empty.

SorcerySquid does bite the dust near the end of the map. These missions do not allow you to use a town portal; you either walk back to the start or push ahead to the end. I choose poorly, ending up in a room where gates closed behind me and with relatively few potions to face down waves of undead in close combat.

Upon death, I choose to return to town and found an item that SorcerySquid immediately equipped.

Gorgon Gloves (set)
9 Armor
+3 Elec Resist
+5 Poison Resist
+6 Strength
Increased fire damage by 3%

This is a big upgrade over the previous gloves. But still no weapons upgrade ... need to find a wand ASAP.

Also, hit Level 11 and am closing on another Fame level. Does anyone have an alternate image site besides Imageshack that I should consider?

[hoopsguy]

Two more deaths before clearing out the level, one of which was embarrassing ... SorcerySquid fell to a freaking Mimic. That tells me that I'm just not as locked in as I need to be, and also that I'm underpowered for what I'm facing.

I find a pretty minor upgrade for the weapon:

Plague Wand of the Savage:
82 DPS (up from 69)
1-handed, slow attack speed
18-36 Poison
18-36 Elec
7 Armor degraded per hit
+1 Critical Hit

Hopefully this helps when moving into the Estherian areas when I resume play tomorrow.

Sit- ups - 40/30/20/20. This is now four straight days of 100+ sit-ups. Shock to system, no doubt about it. Although the gut really has only been sore when I try to do more sit-ups.

Push-ups - I'll do those 30 tomorrow before I start playing again. I'm going to bed.

[hoopsguy]

30 push-ups. I would like to say that I did 15/15 but I was soft and did 15/10/5. I should have pushed myself on the first set and tried to do 18/12.

I take a mission from Hatch to find a "Coral Hairpin", and this leads me to "Detached Estheria" where SorcerySquid encounters a number of small pygmy fighters as well as some large walking tree creatures that hit hard. Mix in some spiders that slow with their webs and do poison damage and this is a challenging area. SorcerySquid falls once early when I just can't heal fast enough.

It (death) happens again pretty quickly. Those pygmies just seem to avoid my spells and get in close and stab ... this level is pretty darn hard. I also feel like I need to upgrade armor.

There are some good drops, as SorcerySquid is able to upgrade both a ring and a necklace. There should be a pretty big jump from level to level in the Electricity resistance.

Normally I just try to push through these levels, but this time I think discretion is the better part of valor. SorcerySquid heads back out the portal to reload on potions before giving this one another run.

[hoopsguy]

This "mini-dungeon" that Hatch sent SorcerySquid to is pretty massive. I would like to think I'm most of the way through it at this point but I honestly have no idea. But it is time to retreat for yet another round of potions and I'll try to finish this tomorrow. The battle against the pygmies goes better, as I've adjusted my tactics to using a wider mixture of spells together to stay alive longer. And I'll have another level to post when I return to this tomorrow.

[hoopsguy]

[hoopsguy]

Good news - Electricity defense is, relatively speaking, through the roof.
Bad news - nothing else that really jumps out. I need to get SorcerySquid a new wand ASAP.

I said this place was huge, and I had no idea. Just sprawling rooms full of lush vegetation that seemed to go on forever. This is as at least as big as the Lair of the Three Sisters. But eventually SorcerySquid makes his way down to the second level, albeit short on health potions.

That does not end up mattering against a boss spider, but it is costly in battle against about 15 swarming pygmies. Another death in this one; hopefully the main area is not this daunting.

It turns out that the Pygmies were the last inhabitants of the level. Kind of galling to die in that spot, but there were a ton of them. Maybe 25, after further review.

After rolling through that area it is back to the main mission. There are three separate portals that are going to lead to different areas in the Estherian Ruins. The first takes me to "Floor 10" and there are a slew of spider bosses and pygmies here, but they are lower level than the last batch. All in all, this is pretty easy. Sorcery Squid picks up both a standard level and a fame level. I've got some sit-ups and push-ups to get done.

I also added another item with my latest level - Casting chain Shoes of Protection:
7 Armor
+2 vs Electricity
+4 vs Fire and Poison
+10 Defense

The jump in defense is a huge leap.

[hoopsguy]

[hoopsguy]

Changes from L12 to L13:
+17 Health
+7 Mana
+3565 Fame
-352 Gold (bought the boots)
+1 Dex
+12 Defense (needed to allocate 4 points at level to equip boots)
+5 vs Poison, +8 vs Elec, +4 vs Fire, +2 vs Cold
+7-15 Armor

I absolutely, positively need to enhance the wand ASAP.

[hoopsguy]

Time to pay the piper on the exercise. My wife had a friend over last night and I did not do my exercise while she was downstairs. So I had 250 sit-ups and 35 push-ups staring me in the face. I started them before going to bed last night and knocked off 185 sit-ups in sets of 50/45/50/35. I finished them this morning with 45/20. I'm happy to see that I got past the 40 sit-up barrier from when I had started this dynasty ... figured that was just a matter of time and recovering a bit from my initial soreness.

That brings the sit-up total to 900 since I started this last week. I'm pretty pleased with how this is working out in terms of getting me some exercise. Maybe I need to put some thought into a game condition that gets me on the treadmill as well?

Push-ups: 35 of them, I do 20 on the first set although the form suffered a bit on the last couple. But I was thrilled to do 15 good push-ups for the second set. I will be stunned if I'm not spreading next level's push-ups across three sets.

In game-related matters, I have found enough "pure ember" shards to put together a Discolored Pure Ember. This gives either +14 Damage or +9 Armor. I would slot this in my wand right now, but unfortunately the wand does not slot. I do have two defensive items that could use this, but I'm not hugely motivated to use this for defense right now. This is an area of the game that I do not really take advantage of enough. I sacrifice the short-term gains to assemble the powerful item for the long-term that never arrives.

[hoopsguy]

The first Estheria Rune Gate leads me to a dungeon that is a mirror image of the one that I just completed for Hatch. That is disappointing; first time I have seen the maps repeat like this. But SorcerySquid pretty much dominates while gathering the first of the three glyphs required by Syl to open the fourth gate.

SorcerySquid locates the Shimmering Ember while making his way through the second portal/region. That, coupled with bagging one of the bard's quest monsters, has Squid closing in on both Experience and Fame levels.

Finally, a new item to help out with the defense - Blue Talon Shield:
9 Armor
9% Block
+5 Fire Resist
+2 Mana
+5% Ice Damage
+3 Strength
+30 Health

[hoopsguy]

The Bard in town takes a few liberties with his renditions of our work. Here is his latest effort:

"I can see it now. You weary from battle, your sword wavering in your hands. Spormazar the Accursed, cackling with vile laughter, wielding a giant flaming club. For a moment, you thought all was lost - but then, a rush of inspiration!

You remembered your mother, no, your love! Yes, your far away love, and your promise to return! In a rush of righteous fury, you strike down the field, and return here victorious!

Ha, I will make you the hero of our age!"

Hmm, for starters SorcerySquid uses a wand. Second, the creature was a spider and certainly did not have a flaming club. Third, I don't recall any promise to a far-away love. Oh well, as long as he keeps providing rewards for the battles I'll let him do his thing.

Also, the Ember Scholar hints at more concerns with the quality of the Ember we have recovered. By quality, I mean the characteristics of the Ember, and that it seems to be more than just pretty jewelry. I'll post his next write-up after I complete his next quest.

Level 14 arrives, and Fame Level 8 should arrive when the next boss-monster falls.

[hoopsguy]

[hoopsguy]

Changes from L13 to L14:
+70 Health
+4 Mana
+5284 Fame
+1324 Gold
+4 Strength
+1 Dexterity
+3 Magic
-1 Elec
+7 Fire
+3-7 Damage
+4-8 Armor

[hoopsguy]

Workouts:
Sit-ups: 50/45/45
Push-ups: 16/14/10

Those are the last ones I'll be doing tonight. 225 sit-ups and 75 push-ups in a day is a lot more than I'm accustomed to doing and I don't feel like testing my limits with another 150 sit-ups tonight. I'll save that for tomorrow or later this week.

[hoopsguy]

The second of the glyph portals/regions is equally expansive as the first. The second level is filled with a number of energy-based creatures that fire from long range. I find them hard to target on the screen and rely on SorcerySquid's range-based attacks to locate them for me. But in the meantime, they chew up quite a few potions - both health and mana.

After the initial barrage of energy creatures the second level of this dungeon is a letdown. There is not anything worth noting guarding the second glyph, and upon gathering it SorcerySquid heads through the portal to return to Syl and the third gate.

I have picked up a couple of items that have substantially improved SorcerySquid's defense.

#1 - Beryl Chain Haubergen (chest armor)
31 Armor (double previous armor)
+18 Fire Resist
+10 Poison Resist
+8% Poison Damage
+1% Increased Gold

#2 Serpent Solleret (Boots)
22 Armor (13 points better than previous)
1 Socket
Increased Elec Damage by 25%
Phy/Elec -2 Damage received
2 Damage Reflected
+3 Poison Resist

I purchased the chest armor, but the boots were a find. Swapping out boots took away the +10 Defense bonus associated with the old pair, but the overall Armor rating still went up enough to justify it.

[gi]

I like the physical fitness requirements. Might have to add these to all my games. Wish this game was multi-player.

[hoopsguy]

Yep, no multi-player is a serious, serious drawback for a game in this day and age. Probably a deal-breaker for a lot of players, especially with as many games as there are out right now.

For me, the $20 price-tag versus $50-60 for Dragon Age: Origins (one example, I could probably think of 5-10 other games that would be appealing right now) was a deciding factor. I know that I've got somewhat limited time to play during the week and I wasn't sure if I wanted to make the 80-100+ hour commitment to a single-player campaign plus whatever I put into multi-player.

[hoopsguy]

[hoopsguy]

Changes from L14 to L15:
+11 Health
+12 Mana
+8333 Fame
+959 Gold
+1 Strength
+1 Dexterity
+2 Magic
-9 Defense
+6 Poison
-12 Electricity
+25 Fire
-3 Ice
+16-32 Damage
+17-34 Armor

The fireball spell is pretty useless. I may take a look at it again at a higher level, but for now it stinks and I'm looking forward to learning a new spell in its place. Battles now are usually starting with Ember Bolts, with some of the Electric Shock mixed in. If I'm smart, I use the shield power before battles. The heal is too slow to be of great value in battle (potions heal more and faster) but is nice after battle to help save on potions.

Sit-ups: 60/45/45. And it felt like death. At some point very soon I'm going to give in and do four sets. But I'm happy to have gotten up to 60 in that first set. Definitely not something I would have been able to do ten days ago.

[hoopsguy]

Dinged another Fame level, which means 45 push-ups: 20/17/8. Had to go three sets here, not getting to 25 push-ups in a set for a little while yet, based on how hard 20 was both today and over the weekend.

Also, SorcerySquid has now finished the third of the glyph/portal areas and will be ready to push into the mysterious fourth portal. I'll likely get around to posting that content tomorrow.

One last note - the last update showed a pretty big update in damage. That was because I switched out wands, but the replacement wand was non-magical. I haven't had to use a standard weapon since about Level 5 but I can't find a magical wand to save my life. So I ended up picking up a non-magic item off the floor and it delivers about 20 more DPS than the magic one I've been using forever.

I've made a purchase for a new wand that adds about 80 DPS, but won't be able to use it until Level 16. That set me back about 2500, which is roughly 30% of SorcerySquid's wealth. But it should definitely be worth it in terms of standing up to stronger foes. I feel like I'm reaching a point of diminishing returns on this one, instead relying heavily on spells to deliver 80-90% of my damage.

[hoopsguy]

Syl sends us hunting for an Ember Forge.

"You recovered the glyphs so quickly! Your power is growing, my friend.

I will open the last rune gate, but please be cautious. The blighted Ember creates abominations, there is no telling what monstrosities lay on the other side.

I can't bear to stay in these corrupted tunnels much longer, find me in Torchlight when you have finished."

[hoopsguy]

The portal takes SorcerySquid to yet more Estherian ruins. There are some horned devil creatures here that hit pretty darn hard, the most damaging being a charging attack that delivered critical hits in the 300 health range. Ouch - that is a pretty fair percentage of the overall health and it is suicide to get into close combat with more than one at a time. There are also elementals here, which force SorcerySquid to be cognizant of the type of spells used against them since they are highly resistant to one type of damage. Finally, there is a monstrous boss tree creature who falls in an epic battle that drains all of SorcerySquid's primary potions (had a couple of spares in the backpack). The boss yielded a very nice treasure:

Fassia's Band (unique ring)
+8% damage to all four types of elemental damage
2% chance target flees
1 socket

There is a great shaking after I cross a bridge just beyond the boss encounter. Syl teleports in and shares her take on the event:

"If this shaking continues it will destroy the twon and collapse the tunnels! Something massive must be stirring below, but I can't imagine what could do this.

Go, fine the source of these quakes, and put an end to them. Something is trying to slow us down. It feats us. I take heart in that."

Very, very close to getting Level 16. Which is sorely needed, so I can equip the new cattle prod (er, wand).

[hoopsguy]

As SorcerySquid heads down into the next level, we are treated to yet another Remnant from Alric's Journal:

"Water pours from the ruins above and falls down to oblivion. These caverns are lost to time, primal. The Ember veins change as I descend - shifting colors, first hidden, then gleaming and glittering. It fascinates me now as it did when I was young.

Even the blight seems more pure here. My experiment may have succeeded if I had used Ember from deeper in the mountain, closer to the source. There is still corruption of course, but with endless life that becomes a small matter.

Perhaps I will gain more her than I ever imagined."

So it sounds like our buddy Alric has gone the route of the Overseer, but is a little more actively involved. The Overseer seems to have raised a bunch of dead and hunkered down in their homes, but Alric seems to still be actively involved in the affairs of Torchlight. He sent for Syl, he transformed Brink earlier, and we keep finding his journal info.

[hoopsguy]

[hoopsguy]

Changes from L15 to L16:
Health +40
Mana +3
Fame: +7292
Gold: -1019
+2 Strength
+1 Dexterity
+2 Magic
-8 Ice Resist
+33-66 Damage

So the big story here is the leap in damage with the new wand. It is about 66% better than the damage with the old magic wand that SorcerySquid had equipped two levels ago. I've also got a helm stashed away that is a big improvement but SorcerySquid needs quite a bit more Strength to use it. I'll see if it is worth pouring points into Strength for that item at the conclusion of this level.

[hoopsguy]

Sit-ups: 45/45/45/25. I realized fairly early in the first set that wasn't going to go deep enough in that set to allow me to do this in three sets. So I eased into the four sets, and hope that I'll won't stray into five sets for several levels yet.

Also, I'm at a point now where the fitness stuff is starting to significantly curtail my playing time. It takes a pretty decent amount of time for me to bang out this exercise ... it is not just a five minute break anymore. I'm usually doing one set per round of commercials on TV, as opposed to something like a one minute break between sets like I might do at a gym. If I had my sets that close together I would certainly require more sets to complete the effort.

The next level is called Tu'tara Caverns - Floor 17. The landscape is kind of like a group of scenic views from mountains connected by wobbly wood bridges. There are not any new denizens so far, but the demon creatures are fierce. The often come in packs of 3-5 streaming out of huts, and one such group laid SorcerySquid low.

I'm starting to feel a pinch on the cash flow with the cost of potions. The current health/mana potions each run 68 gold, which is pretty close to the cost of a sold magic item. If I'm not able to preserve health/mana a bit more efficiently then it may begin to impact the purchases I've made for SorcerySquid throughout the game. New items are generally costing about 2K apiece ... I may have to live off what I find for a couple of levels.

Speaking of finds, here is a nice item that is equipped immediately:

Tu'taran Venom Shield of Resistance
8 Armor
8% Block
+22 Poison Resist
+16 Ice Resist
+15 Fire Resist
+14 Elec Resist
+10% Knockback Resist

[hoopsguy]

SorcerySquid is finding the going pretty tough in Tu'tara. The deaths are starting to come a bit more frequently, although rarely to the bosses. Instead, it is the rank-and-file members that are able to hit for such a significant portion of the overall health that the margin for error is pretty small. I'm dumping points into a "Damage Absorb" spell but really need a Plan B.

There is a stairway down to Level 18 and SorcerySquid has found more of the same on that level so far:
- majority are demons, with archers, spell-casters (ice, primarily), and charging spearmen.
- some of the tree creatures
- a few pygmies
- lots of pteradactyl-type creatures
- throw in a few spiders for diversity

Fame Level 10 arrives. 50 push-ups, split out into 20/17/13.

So does Level 17, although I'm going to wimp out on doing those sit-ups until my next gaming session. I'll post the screenshot after I've paid my dues, likely post-Thanksgiving.

[hoopsguy]

[hoopsguy]

Hmm, I did not realize that the ImageShack stuff goes away this quickly - anyone know what the retention time is? Turn of month? A week?

Anyway, I'm guessing that the biggest change between levels is the upwards trend on all of the resists. Ice has been a big pain point for a couple of levels, but it is at 36 now. This means that I won't have to worry as much about ranged spell attacks on SorcerySquid. However, the Health is still very low and probably needs to be addressed at some point, either by spending points on Strength or with items.

Sit-ups: 50/45/40/35. Back to the grind after putting on 2-3 pounds over the Thanksgiving holiday.

[hoopsguy]

The map for Level 18 appears to be very, very similar - if not identical - to the one for Level 17. This is not very much fun for SorcerySquid, as the close quarters don't set up well for any kind of straight-up fighting. Instead, the battle tactics turn into bomb from afar, retreat when the absorb spell is broken (350 damage or so), recast absorb spell, continue bombing from afar on approaching foes. While it is effective, it is not aesthetically pleasing to me.

Level 18 does hold the Rune Ember fragment, which SorcerySquid brings back to the city. Here is the response from the Ember collector:
"Primal Ember? Incredible!
The Ember blight is growing stronger as we obtain samples from deeper in the mountain. I would say something in the depths was influencing the entire Ember vein, but of course that's absurd. Nothing is powerful enough to do that, perhaps its just the spirits of the lost clinging to the veins."

He also mentions that he needs to separate the Ember that we've collected for him. It is pretty clear that there is indeed some kind of malevolent force that is influencing the Ember and that it is capable of corrupting good men who seek it. That does not bode well for our hero.

Level 18 arrives, I'll be doing the sit-ups this afternoon. Still quite a bit of work to get to Fame 11.

[Eilim]

Nice dynasty hoops, will certainly be following along. Just ran across the game myself and was contemplating starting a dynsaty to track my failures..err. progress in attempts at VH/HC runs.

Did put a smile on my face to see the man responsible for my TitanQuest addiction also found this gem of a game. It definitely has its hooks in me, but not too surprising as I was also hooked on the game "Fate", which it shares much with.