Gauntlet: Slayer Edition

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

I downloaded this yesterday and played it for a few hours today. Its pretty fun, but some of the controls are kinda poor for some of the classes.

 

The free edition gives you access to the full game and every character except necromancer.

 

I started off with the Wizard just to be different for once. He has slow powerful attacks, the main one being a fireball. The wizard has many issues. Swapping between Fire, Ice, and Lightning is a pain in the ass, You have to DOUBLE tap square, triangle, and circle to move to a new element... this is frustrating in high pressure situations. The ice beam makes you stationary, so its pretty useless if you aren't in an area where enemies can't get to you... the lightning shield would be the perfect combo with it, but double tapping makes the timing more difficult than it should be. I think the Wizard can be really strong once you upgrade his attacks. I was able to get enough gold to upgrade lightning to do an invisible spell, but the wizard is too slow and low HP at its core for my liking. His potion power does a nice explosion that is really only good for basic enemies, and doesn't do much to stronger foes and spawn towers.

 

The Valkyrie is probably the most well rounded character with the best controls. She is the only character that can block and she has lightning fast regular attacks. Her special attacks are a spear dash and a Captain America type shield throw.  Ranged classes like the wizard and elf use the dual stick method, while Valk and Warrior use square/triangle/circle for their different attacks. Left stick blocks in the direction you choose, while L2 also blocks but in the direction you are currently facing... its a nice backup for a panic block. She has medium health so you can take some hits and her potion power is the most OP, sending a huge cone wave of destruction that wipes everything except stronger foes. Its useful for instantly taking down spawn towers, which are the most annoying thing in the entire game when you cant take them out fast enough.

 

Warrior is generally my favorite type of character for this genre, but I don't really care for him. He has heavy health, but his lumbering movements sorta cancels it out. He wields two handed weapon that cleaves for regular attacks. His smash attack is crap and makes him open for punishment, and his starting special attack does the classic barbarian whirlwind. His potion power is sorta like the wizards but more ranged, same effect though. Left stick does a dash attack that knocks everyone down... its not very useful when the crowd is too big and you stop in the middle of it. It doesn't even kill low level baddies. Without means to block, this character suffers a lot in high pressure situations.

 

Elf is definitely my favorite character despite its problems. Its the most agile character in the game and his starting bow seems to be the best of the 4. (sadly I wasted 40k upgrading to something that wasn't anywhere near as good). The elf has the second best control set up. Of course left stick shoots arrows where you point it, circle does a dodge dash, L2 does a bomb arrow, and R2 drops a magic bomb that does the same damage that the wizard and warrior's potion power does. L2/R2 change with what type of bow you choose (its just not worth giving up the magic bomb). The basic arrow attack fires fast and takes down regular enemies no problem... you can stay mobile, kiting huge mobs around a room until they are all dead. My biggest issue with elf is how clumsy the stick accuracy is, this becomes a big problem for his potion power. Its as powerful as the Valkyrie's but instead of a large hit box, its a precision piercing shot... so even though you think you are pointing towards a spawn tower, you may miss it by a hair a lot of the times. Potions are pretty scarce, and you learn to save them up for bad situations pretty fast. So wasting them feels frustrating when the room is flooding endlessly from spawn towers that have moderate HP.  I'll def be changing his potion power to something else when i save up the gold to do so. Elf upgrades seem to cost the most of anyone's. The class is low HP, but he seems to be able to take a hit better than the wizard.

 

Im sure Wizard and Warrior become great once you get them decked out, but damn its hard to not use the Elf when it seems so good from the get go, I'm judging these classes on a solo experience basis.... but even then, one of the Elf's potion power upgrades heals allies and makes you invisible for a period so yeah....

[Sledgstone 8,672]

Elf or valkyrie definitely sound like the best options. I downloaded this but haven't tried it yet. My brothers are also planning on playing it at some point. I read that shortly after the beginning of the game the mobs that spawn don't scale well for solo play and its a more enjoyable game with at least 2 or more ppl in the party.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

Yeah rooms fill up fast so wizard gets destroyed so easily. You start with 1 continue called a skull coin. You can gain more by filling up a kill meter and finding them in secret spots. Generally there is only 1 findable one sometimes. It resets every level so you can't stack them up. The most I ever got was 4 with finding one. Without dying 3 seems to be the most you can build.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

Oh yeah, the later levels are impossible to solo. I beat it tonight with some friends... even with 3 players the last boss is an asshole. It was down to the wire gaining another skull coin while someone was dead waiting for it to pop. After each vulnerablity phase he only drops 1 turkey for someone to regain HP. The thing about this game is that you can destroy potions and food by attacking them... it is an issue with ranged characters spamming attacks, or using potions too close to food when pure chaos is going on... it adds a challenge for sure.

 

I was Elf and my friends were Valk and Warrior... honestly you need a Valk on the team to reflect the projectiles. This is an great multiplayer game... I wish it was longer like Champions of Norrath or Balder's Gate.