Caverns of Xaskazien II Ver. 0.64.04 release

[Virtua Sinner]

Back from LA with a fresh release of Caverns of Xaskazien 2.  You can download Ver. 0.64.04 here:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/4qxq09y2teewwnr/Caverns%20of%20Xaskazien%202%20Ver%200.64.04.zip?dl=0

Game Features:
- A rich, graphical game, with loads of animation and dynamic, coloured per pixel lighting.
- An exclusive orchestral soundtrack created for the game by professional film scorer, Dave Coleman.
- A full sound environment with close to 1000 unique sound effects, volume keyed to the source’s distance from your character.
- An intuitive keyboard and mouse interface.
- An easy to understand UI that ensures all information any player could want on any topic is only a mouse hover away.
- 300 visually distinct monsters, each with a dozen+ variants (including named boss types), and robust AI that differs by monster intelligence level.  Summoning and Charm methods allow you to raise your own monstrous army to fight for you, too.
- Merchants and NPCs to deal with, as well, each of which can run afoul of the monsters, just like you.
- More than a hundred unique booby traps for the unwary, most of which may be set by players to ensnare monsters, too.
- 125 base weapons and 75 base armour pieces, each with thousands of possible enchantment combinations and legendary variants.
- Hundreds of unique magic items, mundane items, potions, scrolls, staves, wands, rods, food items, etc.
- Nearly a hundred unique spells.
- Play as either sex in any combination of 38 Classes and 13 Races, and customize your character as you see fit through the upgrading of both Attributes and Skills.
- Procedurally generated dungeons utilizing multiple methods of generation to create caves, structured areas, labyrinths and even forests, supplemented by occasional pre-generated dungeons called Legendary Lands.
- Hundreds of unique environmental features to interact with and use to your tactical advantage (or detriment).
- Both random and scheduled special Events to mix up gameplay.
- A comprehensive user's manual in the docs folder.
- All for the low, low price of free

Upgrades to Ver. 0.64.04 since last release (Ver. 0.63.69):

Minor Improvements:
- Made Dwarven Mithril Forges more distinct from regular Forges by further altering their colouration.
- Added notations to queries of Smugglers and Harsh Taskmasters, letting the player know how many more times those NPCs can be interacted with before departing.
- Added 3 new variations to Labyrinth style generated maps, to enable them to contain rooms and/or to have breaks in walls to allow for looping/imperfect labyrinths.
- Made invisible monsters queryable and visible (both in terms of graphic and health bars/status icons) as long as they’re in your square.
- Made Spreading Water, Spreading Lava and Raging Flames identify as such when you query them rather than just as “Water” or “Lava” or “Flame.”
- Added graphical distinctions between Mud/Shallow Mud/Deep Mud and Quicksand/Shallow Quicksand/Deep Quicksand.
- Added graphical distinctions between Gently Sloping Chasm/Chasm/Treacherous Chasm.
- Changed the way Holidays work by removing them as randomly generated Events, and instead having an internal calendar keeping track of the days, and generating the Event only on the associated day.  It should prevent immersion breakers, like back to back Holiday celebrations.
- Made Swarming Bats an automatic Event when you enter the Bat Caves.
- Added red text displaying the value of Gems to be gained when querying an Idol.
- Made appropriate disease name scroll by when you contract a random disease.

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed typo in query of Tavern Tales event.
- Fixed text overwrite in query of Apollothenian Shrine for characters with Expert Piety.
- Fixed text overwrite in query of Ancient Runes.
- Fixed errors causing Bourgat’s Servant and Lembanar’s Servant to have excess resistances that they shouldn’t have.
- Fixed errors causing Paladins, Warriors and Militiamen to begin the game with their Breastplates or Shields unequipped.
- Fixed error causing automatic detection of Secret Doors and Buried Objects, regardless of your Secret Detection Skill level.
- Fixed errors where detected Secret Doors and Buried Objects remained detected, even after your map had been erased.
- Fixed error where Quicksand of any kind remained labeled as such, even after your map had been erased.
- Fixed errors sometimes waiting for a key press to correct new lighting conditions after your map had been erased.
- Fixed error not revealing Secret Doors and Buried Objects after you’ve died.
- Fixed error causing Warlock characters to begin the game without Botrom’s Salve in their Inventory.
- Fixed text spacing errors on queries of multiple Orc variants.
- Fixed outdated info in query of Yorick’s Dimension Hopping Trunk.
- Fixed errors that were sometimes messing up Events generated after a Holiday.
- Fixed error preventing Scavenging Rats from picking up Treasure.
- Fixed error that could occasionally cause Horde event to spawn inappropriate monsters.
- Fixed error preventing ESP from functioning when you’re Blind.
- Fixed error omitting some text when you query an Idol after you’ve already determined it to be trapped.
- Fixed errors causing Smugglers to depart after buying 5 items, instead of 6 (and Vorduvian Merchants to leave after buying 11 items instead of 12).
- Fixed error giving Doppelgangers only a 1% chance of Distance Strike if you fight them using a Missile weapon.
- Fixed text spacing error in query of special Doppelganger variants when you have a Missile weapon equipped.

Due to save file changes, previous saved games may or may not have trouble with the current version.  You're best off finishing any game in progress before downloading the updated version.

[getter77]

The hype is immense and everlasting---like a brisket smoker that just won't quit.     Well done on the update and keep at it!

[jim]

Just 3 quick thoughts.
-Stuff's hard to read
-It's hard to tell what's happening (I'm used to a marquee display of some sort.)
-Seems like there is a lot of awesome stuff here

[Virtua Sinner]

Can you elaborate on marquee display?  Not sure what that means.

[Virtua Sinner]

If anyone is having trouble following what's happening in the game, there are two remedies.  If you click on the Options tab (the little brown square with the wrench), you'll see two options in particular that can help:  Text Prompts and Combat Output.  Each can be set to the Basic, Intermediate or Expert levels, though default to Expert.  To lower them back toward Basic, left click on the corresponding option (and right click to raise again).

For Text Prompts, at the Expert level, the game conveys most information to the player only through the little scrolling text that appears above your character's head.  The bottom of the screen is called the Situation Panel, and in Expert mode, it only gives information down there when there's no other way to convey it.  At the Basic level, every bit of information (including information during combat about hits and misses, for instance) is outputted to the Situation Panel as well, requiring a key press ("o" for OK, or else space bar or Enter if you prefer), to dismiss it.  The intermediate level is sort of a happy medium. 

For Combat Output, at the Expert level it only textually scrolls damage and special circumstances above the character's head during combat.  At the Intermediate level it also reports "Miss" when players or monsters miss, rather than just relying on the sound effect and absence of scrolling damage to report this.  At the Basic level it also reports the word "Hit" when you or the monster hit.  In combat, all scrolling text is colour coded - green for effects pertaining to the player and red for effects pertaining to the monster.  A scrolling green "Miss" means you missed, while a scrolling red "Hit" means the monster hit.  A scrolling green "-2" means you took 2 damage, whereas a scrolling red "-5" would mean the monster took 5 damage.

There is a manual in the docs folder for anyone confused, and I'd also be thrilled to answer any questions (here or in a more appropriate forum if there is one), if anyone has them.

[jim]

Ah, I see, you are going for a kind of parsimony here with your text display. Marquee was the best I could come up with to describe "You attack the Orc! You miss. The Orc attacks! He hits." Especially since the both of you occupy the same square during combat, I had trouble determining who was doing what to whom without checking back on my character sheet to determine whether I'd been damaged.

I will check the manual and give it a few more plays - those were just my first impressions. For a game with so much detail, I was surprised at how hard it was to tell what was going on.