[Fixed for V0.45] DMII difficulty

Kain · Post by **Kain** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:47 am

I compared to the Amiga (emulated) version and the RTC versions seems to be several times easier to play. For example, the bats are stupider, easier to hit and do far less damage (1-2 per hit vs. 8-15 on the Amiga) and the other monsters seem to be slower than their Amiga counterparts.

Is there a way to fiddle around with the difficulty to bring it up to par?

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:54 am

You can set the player difficulty in the config file, this makes monsters hit harder and be faster. It will also speed up one or two other elements, but shouldn't be that noticeable for the tweak you want

Edit: Remember that monsters behave slightly differetly in RTC so have a ew advantages to balance out what you are seeing. Monsters can group and ungroup in RTC, they didn't in DM2 (you woulnd't get multiple wolvf attacks, for example) so bal;ance the slowness, and nothing can be pushed or walked through - bats are no longerthe easily ignoreable threat you can walk straight through

Post by **linflas** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 10:31 am

are monsters really faster (i mean when attacking, not moving) ?
i tried with difficulty=5 and yes, food depreciation, damages are higher but monsters attack the same way and speed.
i did a small comparison test between RTC, CSBwin and DSB by puching/kicking one alone worm and turning around (the famous dance, you know) : RTC is wayyyyy to easy comparing to other clones.
i remember George modified monsters AI in previous versions so that they don't attack you immediately after you get in front of them but maybe this could be tweaked by the difficulty setting ?

Kain · Post by **Kain** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:00 am

I also notice another thing:

Casting spells seem to float over low-creatures in DMII-RTC. They always hit in DMII Amiga.

The difficulty setting says it only applies to starting a new game. I've already gone too far to start over now.
Besides, DMII is not as appealing as DM original or even CSB.

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:15 am

As Beowuuf alludes to, RTC was written without reference to the source code for the original game; I did it purely on "feel" and what I remember the difficulty was like.

It may well be that one monster stat is a bit too high and another a bit too low (e.g. a monster takes more damage from the player, but also deals more) but the difficulty experienced by the player is about the same. That said, because it's an entirely subjective thing, the more peoples opinions the better; if you feel that any one particular monster isn't right, then just let me know which one and how and I'll fix it.

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 7:08 pm

OK - I've increased the damage done by the bats for V0.45

As I mentioned above, if there's anything else that you notice that doesn't "feel" right, just let me know.

Kain · Post by **Kain** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 6:22 am

The movement speed of the horned demons? (the ones that drop steak) also seem way too slow in RTC. In the Amiga version, I get frustrated by the number of fireballs they can dodge!
I suspect I might be able to increase their speed by increasing the difficulty, but I don't also want to make everything else stronger!

PS: Thanks GG! I prefer the classic DM layout over the DMII layout. You've taken classic DM to the next level.

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:09 am

How did you play DMII Amiga? IF it's through an emulator there could be speed issues compared to the original, and if it was on your Amiga a while ago then you could jjust be remembering slightly off.

I just mention this as I played PC DM and RTC DM side by side (literally, laptop and desktop) and didn't notice significant movement differences - of cours,e that was just my perception!

Post by **Lunever** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:48 am

Well, the problem is, at high difficulty the thorn demons are pretty fast. If their basic speed would be increased, they'd be ridiculously fast at high level. So to avoid that George would have to change their basic speed and the speed increase algorithm.

George Gilbert · Post by **George Gilbert** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 10:11 am

The problem with all of these kinds of issues are that they're largely subjective and dependent on people's memories.

In general, people's memories are based on playing the games when they were much younger and (human!) skill levels lower so people generally tend to think that RTC is too easy, whereas those who have played the original game more recently tend to think it's about right!

On the whole, when there are about as many people thinking that it's too difficult as there are thinking that it's too easy, it's probably pretty close to being right

Post by **Lunever** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 4:56 pm

Isn't Beo currently playing both side by side? He should know best then.

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:10 pm

No, that was a while ago, I haven't touched it in a few revisions time

Kain · Post by **Kain** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 11:56 pm

beowuuf wrote:How did you play DMII Amiga? IF it's through an emulator there could be speed issues compared to the original, and if it was on your Amiga a while ago then you could jjust be remembering slightly off.

It's on the emulator. I never played DMII on my original Amiga (it's been toast for over 15 years), though I did play DM and CSB on the original as well as on the emulator recently and speed issues don't seem to be a problem between RTC-DM/CSB vs Emulated-DM/CSB.

I just mention this as I played PC DM and RTC DM side by side (literally, laptop and desktop) and didn't notice significant movement differences - of cours,e that was just my perception!

It all boils down to perception. I can just talk about my end of the experience. It doesn't take away from the great product GG has given us. I actually like all the extras that are going into the engine... I'll probably stop playing the emulated versions altogether.