Tenebrous Depths Review Build 2.0.8

[thelebk]

These reflections are based on playing five times in rogue-like (stand alone) mode. Five very different parties were used in each trial. Average dungeon level reached per trial was 30. Maximum dungeon level reached was 51 on the final trial. Difficulty level was normal with saving enabled throughout.

Things I appreciated:

1) Tenebrous Depths adds considerable additional replay value to the game.
2) Addition of the Tenebrous Depths in the main campaign might allow the party to reach level 20 prior to the end of game (untested).
3) Existing resources and objects from the main campaign are recycled in a clever way to keep production costs down for this DLC.
4) Tenebrous Depths provides a mechanical sandbox where players can quickly test new builds in various combat scenarios.
5) The topside ruins have the potential for considerable expansion.
6) New items have been added to the game making loot drops more interesting.
7) Limited vendor inventory increases the satisfaction from loot drops.
8) Expanding vendor inventory for future games based on dungeon level reached in prior runs is a clever mechanic.
9) The retirement mechanic which provides a reward on future play throughs is enjoyable.
10) Revelation of plot through lore items accumulated over multiple runs is satisfying.

Opportunities for Improvement:

1) The levels are fairly small, so having the party gain an experience level upon completion of every single dungeon level early on seems a bit fast for progression. An average of every other dungeon level would be more reasonable.
2) While there was nothing wrong with the music, I do not feel it added to the playing experience. I would recommend orchestral style music such as that created by Jeremy Soule: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Soule or even old school Diablo I catacombs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrK90XJfqRs I suspect we will see a music upgrade in Wrath of the Righteous, which I am happily backing on Kickstarter.
3) Expanded vendor inventories by killing the mini boss every 5th dungeon level does not appear to be working as intended, and/or the expanded inventory is so minor that a player cannot tell there are new items based on previous dungeon progression.
4) There are still some annoying technical bugs. While a previous patch claims to have fixed the impassable doorways, unfortunately they still occasionally spawn, making it difficult to progress at times.
5) There is no role-playing in this DLC, and no NPCs that the player can interact with save for limited interaction with the topside vendors.
6) The rather elegant alignment tracking system in PKM is not used in this DLC. Alignment only matters for class access and use of alignment restricted items.
7) The economy is broken. Players will quickly find there are no items or services worth buying as millions of unspent gold pile up. Vendor inventories should expand as players level, or perhaps new vendors can be unlocked/rescued from deeper dungeon levels.
8) There are no quests of any kind in the game. Diablo was good at injecting randomized mini-quests. Tenebrous Depths should do the same.
9) As all vendor inventory and item drops are completely random, it is difficult to play classes that are dependent on specific gear such as the Knife Master. It is entirely possible that not a single magical dagger will drop in 50 dungeon levels-- even from high level goblin rogues, wererats, etc.
10) There is insufficient monster variety. Circa level 30+ I faced many levels composed almost exclusively of packs of Golden Golems. Besides wrecking dungeon ecology suspension of disbelief (golems are usually solitary creatures but the player encounters hundreds of them) it bogs the game down in a mechanical grind. Golden Golems are immune to magic, so you casters can’t harm them, and since they SPAM multiple prismatic sprays (which don’t affect them) every few rounds, your melee types with low will saves frequently insta die from violet ray strikes. The process of ressing the melees who can harm the golden golems, and then pumping another 12 buffs into them to make them useful, is rather tedious. As the Pathfinder 1st edition rules on the violet ray are to transport the victim to another plane, it would be fun if this launched a short teaser for Wrath of the Righteous where the one transported character finds himself in a small section of the WorldWound. They would have to battle/sneak/persuade their way through a couple of waves of demons and crusaders to get to a small town where they can pay a spell caster to planeshift them back to the Tenebrous Depths. If they die on the other plane then the party in the Tenbrous will need to hire another mercenary…
11) The Tenebrous Ruins (topside) are an interesting area that could contain various secrets, mysteries, hidden areas, quests etc, but they do not. It would also be nice if upon eating the feast at the banquet table the players gained (or could buy) the benefits of the Hero’s Feast spell.

[Veganleader1]

# 10 on challenges is a big one, kinda requires you play with a paladin/cleric team unless you can do ground aoe kineticist from the adjacent room. Buffing is paramount.

[thelebk]

@veganleader1 Concur. While 5th edition D&D only allows one "concentration" effect to be in effect on a character at any one time, 3rd ed on which Pathfinder is based encourages max stacking of effects cast in reverse order of duration. Wind up sequences are big.

One other issue I should probably mention, though it is not the direct result of the DLC, is the problems stemming from the inability of the player to que actions. In Pathfinder PnP it is a key strategy to make sure every character uses every action every melee round (standard/move/swift/free/Quick). Without action queing, the real time engine in the game makes this virtually impossible. Since Tenebrous Depths is entirely combat, this engine shortcoming is exacerbated. It also has the effect of further harming the economy. Since players are likely to get little utility out of some of the action based metamagic rods, they are not worth buying. Let's hope they address this in Wrath of the Righteous!