Grim Misadventures #6: Of Rats and Zombies

[Zantai]

Greetings to the overpowered monster extravaganza! This is Zantai reporting from my own personal monster boot camp, where creatures enter and hero monsters emerge.

Welcome to the monster factory.

It goes on and on and on and on…


Here is where brand new hero monsters are first tested against real human opponents for bugs (oops, he’s casting invisible fields of death), damage (oops, he just killed me in two shots), and fun (oops, he just killed me in two shots using an invisible field of death). Depending on your level of masochism, the aforementioned scenario might have fit your definition of fun. In that case, we apologize in advance for a lack of invisible death fields.

After this phase is complete, the 100% genuine awesome seal of approval coolness stamped hero monster is added to the spawn pools (this is about when the other devs at Crate start asking who put the ******** monsters into the game).

Let’s meet some of our heroes, shall we?

Disclaimer: the following names, models, textures, mechanics, concepts, otherworldly beings, and brain children are work in progress and may not reflect the final product.

You will recognize hero monsters easily thanks to several defining factors:
1) They are usually bigger
2) They are usually of a different appearance
3) They cast unique skills
4) They probably hurt…a lot
5) They have an icon over their head denoting them as a hero (art TBD)

We are here to own you…or to summon Captain Planet.


Who better to start off with than a traitor to our race? Meet Leander Greene, the Saboteur! This mean fellow prefers explosives, fire, and ballistics to walks on the beach and generally being nice to others. Forum sleuths may recognize his abilities from the Demolitionist mastery. The Saboteur’s skill set includes:

Molotov: hurls a projectile that explodes on impact, creating a field of fire that persists for several seconds.

Mortar Trap: creates a stationary pet that hurls exploding projectiles at nearby enemies.

Thermite Mines: creates a stationary pet that explodes when an enemy comes near.

The Saboteur is chaotic and never lets you sit still. Ranged characters will find themselves in a particularly dangerous situation as Leander prefers to hurl his Molotovs at range. Rumor has it that Leander occasionally carries a powerful gun that has as vile a reputation as he does.

You know what you need? More explosions.


Up next, we have Baldim, the Chaosbringer. Baldim comes with the standard Raptor repertoire, along with the addition of two chaos-based spells:

Chaos Wave: unleashes a wave of chaos damage in a tight cone. This skill has a wide damage range.

Chaos Barrage: unleashes a barrage of projectiles throughout the area which explode into chaotic fragments. Evading all of these projectiles is nearly impossible.

Baldim is relentless in his attacks, leaving neither ranged or melee fighters in a state of comfort for long. Should you be unfortunate enough to find him in a pack of his lesser broodlings, it would be wise to play it safe.

Baldim and his brother Aragonax, the Undying. Meeting two heroes in one battle? Great way to leave a gravestone.


This is just a small sample. There is a grand total of 66 hero monsters in the game at this time, awaiting the arrival of foolhardy adventurers who would test their mettle against the unique skill set.

That’s all we have for today. Curious readers are encouraged to vote in the poll as I would like to take things in a new direction next time (9/16/12): In addition to your usual discussion, please vote on whether you wish to see more hero monsters, or some low level epic items. Til next time!

[Dri]

I very, VERY much like the fact that they all have custom skills and skill animations! Awesome! Do they spawn in certain areas as well or can they appear wherever?

Seems hero monsters are shaping up to be exactly what I was hoping for! Also, here's to hoping you can continue to think up cool abilities for even more hero monsters!

These type of hero monsters put the D3 elites/champs/uniques to shame - those ones don't have unique skills... just a pool of random affixes that all of them share. =/

[i.n.s.a.n.e]

This is absolutely fantastic, Zantai!! I can't wait to face them! =)

I have to agree with Dri, D3 champions are fail...just fail...they are in no way unique, their abilities are fu-ked up and in no way balanced, nor clever-crafted to be a challenge, etc.

[Dobster]

Thanks so much for the update, that is looking awesome

Just what I needed to wake me up on a Monday morning.

[Mall Ninja]

Well, these look splendiferous. Even better than I had hoped. And to think there are sixty plus hero monsters.... *drool*

Any chance of some of these unique monster skills being granted to the player by Items?

[Josho]

First of all, I am glad you are working for Crate Zantai. I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts, and especially these updates.

Secondly, I love things getting hairy, sitting there testing my mettle and wondering what will come out of the world of Cairn next. You guys will have failed if I finish the game with less than 50 deaths, okay?

[donkey]

Who do I see there? John Wayne or Chuck Norris. Great update.
Aaa.... demolition. My first mastery to play. Molotov sounds cool. Is grenado still present in demolition skill tree?
Release game now!

[Jyndal]

Wow. Just wow.

GDFTW!

[Executioneer]

Great work Zantai! some fine looking monsters you got there. looking forward to the next post!

[Chameleon]

Monsters are just a problem to the solution. Bring on the epics.

Epics?

Do you mean items or more monsters?

If you mean items...then I am really looking forward to the epic dual wielding bowguns.