Noob question, got to the end of daily climb but then... died?

[urbanriot]

I just started playing this game this week and I've been struggling to enhance my skills, typically getting no further than the end of the second map...

However today playing the daily climb I was seriously unbeatable and it was so much fun. I made it to the last guy on the fourth map and killed him moderately easily...

But then there's this grey heart and there are a few messages I didn't quite understand and my hero fell to the ground.

Did I lose? What was that all about? I don't get it. I thought I did awesome...

[Zu]

Yes you did. Play more vanilla to get a better ending there, eventually.

[urbanriot]

Originally posted by Zu:

Yes you did. Play more vanilla to get a better ending there, eventually.

What influences the ending? Are there different choices I need to make leading up to that point?

[Fluffy Bunny]

Originally posted by urbanriot:

Originally posted by Zu:

Yes you did. Play more vanilla to get a better ending there, eventually.

What influences the ending? Are there different choices I need to make leading up to that point?

You have to beat the game with all 3 characters. After that, your next game you have to collect 3 keys. 1 you get from a rest site, 1 from an elite which will appear as a flaming elite on the map and one from a treasure chest. That will unlock a new level where you actually get to battle the heart without dying.

[Nibbie]

To be clear, beating the boss of act 3 and seeing The Heart means you won the run. You got your score, it tallied as a win in your run history, and you can go again. What the other people mentioned is an optional challenge you can undertake for a "true ending" that requires beating two additional difficult encounters, and gives a short cutscene resolution for that character.

[BitterSwede]

The Heart is a bonus boss, the "real" ending is the one you saw.
The "lore" of the game is that you do die at the end, everyone does. When you repeat the game, the message changes to "Have I been here before" and it will start telling you the total "damage" (score) you've dealt to the Heart with that character.
If you paid attention, you saw a message telling you the total worldwide "damage" dealt to the Heart as well, with that character.

Basically, the Spire is on an endless loop, people come into the Spire to end the madness going on in the lands, climbing up to defeat whatever evil is up there. But instead of killing it, they end up killing themselves and then magically ending up at the very moment they entered the spire. Things are slightly different every time, but they won't know that, because they don't remember the last time they were there... or do they? They vaguely remember... something.

The lore is a bit meta, but basically, YOU are the character, and the fragments of memories are the times YOU played the game. The time loop is YOU replaying it.

Or at least that's as much of the lore I've managed to glean from what bits and pieces of flavour text I've seen in the game so far.

[Terrarius]

Originally posted by BitterSwede:

The Heart is a bonus boss, the "real" ending is the one you saw.
The "lore" of the game is that you do die at the end, everyone does. When you repeat the game, the message changes to "Have I been here before" and it will start telling you the total "damage" (score) you've dealt to the Heart with that character.
If you paid attention, you saw a message telling you the total worldwide "damage" dealt to the Heart as well, with that character.

Basically, the Spire is on an endless loop, people come into the Spire to end the madness going on in the lands, climbing up to defeat whatever evil is up there. But instead of killing it, they end up killing themselves and then magically ending up at the very moment they entered the spire. Things are slightly different every time, but they won't know that, because they don't remember the last time they were there... or do they? They vaguely remember... something.

The lore is a bit meta, but basically, YOU are the character, and the fragments of memories are the times YOU played the game. The time loop is YOU replaying it.

Or at least that's as much of the lore I've managed to glean from what bits and pieces of flavour text I've seen in the game so far.

About "damage dealt"
How does that factor in if you go for a heartrun?
Do you do "unseen" damage to it?
If so is that damage equal to
-score when you meet the heart?
-score when you beat the heart?
-flat 750(800 on ascension) because you did that much during the actual fight?

[Zu]

Don't quote me on this but the game just keeps track of the score you had when a run ended. Act 4 gives you the opportunity to reach thresholds for miscellaneous bonuses, it comes with an elite for the champion bonus, the heart itself gives you 250 for beating it, and it counts as a boss so you can get beyond perfect without actually perfecting all bosses.

[DuckSonata]

Hoo boy, you people do NOT want to open the whole "optional" can of worms again.

Originally posted by Terrarius:

About "damage dealt"
How does that factor in if you go for a heartrun?
Do you do "unseen" damage to it?
If so is that damage equal to
-score when you meet the heart?
-score when you beat the heart?
-flat 750(800 on ascension) because you did that much during the actual fight?

If you're asking whether the "damage dealt" numbers have any effect on the Act 4 fight, then no. They're just flavor text, really, and you don't see that particular scene when you go for Act 4.

Originally posted by BitterSwede:

The lore is a bit meta, but basically, YOU are the character, and the fragments of memories are the times YOU played the game. The time loop is YOU replaying it.

I don't think it's necessarily a time loop. There are characters that remember you from past runs, like Ranwid, and the cleric posing as a beggar that tells you, "You won't make a difference. You never do." Although on the other hand, it would explain why unique enemies like the red mask gang keep appearing over and over.

[Terrarius]

Originally posted by faceplant712:

Hoo boy, you people do NOT want to open the whole "optional" can of worms again.

Originally posted by Terrarius:

About "damage dealt"
How does that factor in if you go for a heartrun?
Do you do "unseen" damage to it?
If so is that damage equal to
-score when you meet the heart?
-score when you beat the heart?
-flat 750(800 on ascension) because you did that much during the actual fight?

If you're asking whether the "damage dealt" numbers have any effect on the Act 4 fight, then no. They're just flavor text, really, and you don't see that particular scene when you go for Act 4.

Originally posted by BitterSwede:

The lore is a bit meta, but basically, YOU are the character, and the fragments of memories are the times YOU played the game. The time loop is YOU replaying it.

I don't think it's necessarily a time loop. There are characters that remember you from past runs, like Ranwid, and the cleric posing as a beggar that tells you, "You won't make a difference. You never do." Although on the other hand, it would explain why unique enemies like the red mask gang keep appearing over and over.

I am just talking about the "damage dealt" message at the end of an act3 run

[urbanriot]

Oh, interesting, thanks for the responses people!

Originally posted by BitterSwede:

The Heart is a bonus boss, the "real" ending is the one you saw.

As far as game endings go, it was crap!

Hopefully the other ending will be better... guess I better get those keys!

[DuckSonata]

Originally posted by Terrarius:

I am just talking about the "damage dealt" message at the end of an act3 run

Yeah, I still don't know what you want here, so I'll just do a full breakdown.

Originally posted by Terrarius:

About "damage dealt"
How does that factor in if you go for a heartrun?
Do you do "unseen" damage to it?
If so is that damage equal to
-score when you meet the heart?
-score when you beat the heart?
-flat 750(800 on ascension) because you did that much during the actual fight?

The "damage dealt" figures that you see at the end of an Act 3 victory do not factor into an Act 4 heart run at all because they are not really damage.

The first one is just your score for the run, the second is a tally of the scores of all your victories, and the third is a tally of everyone's victories (everyone that submits their data, that is). They're just stats stylized as "damage," i.e., flavor text.

When you go into Act 4 and face the heart for realz, it's just a normal fight. There's no special unseen damage, just whatever damage you do by playing your cards.

Alternately, if you were just wondering whether/how much those Act 3 tallies would grow from the additional Act 4 fights, then refer to Zu's answer because that's really just asking how your score can grow in Act 4.

[fractal9091]

Note that the Daily Climb won't give you the option of entering Act 4 regardless. The goals of the Daily Climb are either to "win" by completing Act 3 (if that is a challenge for you), or to get as high a score as possible, relative to the other players.

[BitterSwede]

Originally posted by fractal9091:

Note that the Daily Climb won't give you the option of entering Act 4 regardless. The goals of the Daily Climb are either to "win" by completing Act 3 (if that is a challenge for you), or to get as high a score as possible, relative to the other players.

Or explore modifier combinations, as the case is for me. It's a fun way to see what hand-crafted and semi-playtested modifier combinations can do for you.
Yesterday's Silent Curse Combo run was quite fun, for example.

[Watereaters]

The power of the three climber’s gems will let you surpass the inescapable death

[urbanriot]

Originally posted by BitterSwede:

Or explore modifier combinations, as the case is for me. It's a fun way to see what hand-crafted and semi-playtested modifier combinations can do for you.

Yea! I had no idea that you could proactively use curses.

It's funny, I can't get past the second act boss on a normal run through but the day before yesterday's climb I had no issue conquering it!