Knowing, perhaps, that we're all about the Mystery Dungeon (or, alternately, that we write about DS games), Sega just sent along a partial list of monster descriptions and tactics for dealing with them. This is, of course, welcome; we've talked about Shiren's difficulty a lot, but we haven't mentioned as much that there are many monster types to be found in this game, all with unique properties. So you'll die in an interesting variety of ways.Along with the tips, we got a bunch of new screenshots, which we invite you to enjoy in our gallery. We've posted the list of tips after the break!
- Purple Slime: Beware of the Purple Slime! They can rust your equipment if you get too close and multiply when you attack them.
- Master Hen: Drop the Master Hen's hit points low enough and it'll turn chicken.
- Chainheads: Watch out for the Chainheads, they attack by throwing their spiked heads at you.
- Minotaur: Be ready for some powerful moves by Minotaurs who can deliver critical attacks.
- Polygon Jive: Watch out for the Polygon Jive, it can drain your hunger meter just by being next to you.
- Infernos: Infernos are fire monsters that multiply when hit by explosions. Get too close and you'll get burned.
- Dragon Head: The Dragon Head is cunning and fast. It can burrow beneath the ground and pop up somewhere else for a sneak attack.
- Cell Armor: The Cell Armor can send Shiren's equipment flying, regardless of whether it's cursed or not.
- Evil General: Evil Generals only strike with melee attacks, but they will return as Dead Generals after being defeated.
[Via press release]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-28-2008 @ 8:28PM
LordGek said...
The Master Hen is one of my favorite concepts in the game. Picture a big hulking bruiser with a chicken head. These gals (I guess if hens) can smack you around pretty hard in their normal form but if you do damage them enough they'll suddenly turn into a chicken (a harmless little double speed 1hp chicken). If you don't kill the little chicken when you have the chance it will come back at you as a Master Hen once its healed up a bit! Also, to add insult to injury, killing a Master Hen is worth a whopping 400 exp...but if you kill it in its chicken form its only worth 1 exp.
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1-29-2008 @ 11:53AM
Nuki said...
Another note about weak chickens: if you get this monster's meat, your hunger meter will recover by 100 (master hen and other monsters' meat only fills by 10), every time you eat it.
1-29-2008 @ 3:14PM
chispito said...
I'm really starting to look forward to this. Sure, I can play Powder or the Nethack port, but the graphics on Shiren are really quite nice looking.
I wonder how the pacing compares to a classic roguelike. How long is a game supposed to last? Is it a game you can reasonably expect to complete, or do you just play a lot of shorter games with a few longer games, like in a traditional roguelike?
Is there an identify scroll, which must itself be first identified? Player classes?
1-29-2008 @ 3:42PM
LordGek said...
I think the pace is pretty close to something like Rogue/Nethack (a full run not being more than a couple of hours, if I recall correctly).
There is a main 30 level storyline dungeon (Table Mountain) that will keep you busy for some time but once conquered 5 additional much tougher areas are opened up (some as deep as 99 levels!).
I can't recall if the ID scrolls in the main dungeon are pre-identified or not. But I do know that in the game's HUGE post story dungeon (Fei's Final Problem) NOTHING is pre-identified for you.
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1-31-2008 @ 8:17AM
Nuki said...
Herbs and food are the only things pre-identified in table mountain. But, everytime you enter a village (after floor 4, 7, 14 and 22) you get all your items identified automatically.
Also, when you have items in your depots, if you get the same item in your run to the top of table mountain, they will be identified.
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2-01-2008 @ 10:30AM
LordGek said...
Doh! I never made that connection! Here I only thought it mattered if I brought the item along with me on a run.