The level 4

[Deityfierezy]

I wanted to ask if someone else reminds dwarf ruins of skyrim and / or the first dungeon of Divine Divinity?

Sorry for my english.

 

[TURBOBRUH]

It does. Question is -on what those two were based?

 

[Hedgehog-of-Fog]

My associations were related to the Baldur's Gate and Pillars of Eternity dungeons, and the armor is very similar to the Dwemer or the Elven one in Skyrim, yeah.

 

[konggary]

It's all the brass and metal objects that is indicative of the style.

 

[Bobob]

It reminds me of dwarven ruins.

 

[TURBOBRUH]

Spoiler

My associations were related to the Baldur's Gate and Pillars of Eternity dungeons, and the armor is very similar to the Dwemer or the Elven one in Skyrim, yeah.

Hmm did not think about pillars of eternity at first :O
But this whole descend feels like the adra titan's (and its copper veins) mega-dungeon if you think about it. Which I like. Found poe to be alot of fun.
Not only it feels mysterious and shit, but also the difficulty and (for the most part) constant threat make it pretty intense.

On the other hand this whole brazen-like design looks like a common alternative for the typical "grey stone" dungeons in gaming.

Also I wonder if level 4 was built by those early humans or they just found it looking like that beyond the portal.
The skeletons wear fitting armor (and I think they are the remnants of those early human explorers' soldiers)

What do you think guys?

 

[Deityfierezy]

Spoiler

My associations were related to the Baldur's Gate and Pillars of Eternity dungeons, and the armor is very similar to the Dwemer or the Elven one in Skyrim, yeah.

Hmm did not think about pillars of eternity at first :O
But this whole descend feels like the adra titan's (and its copper veins) mega-dungeon if you think about it. Which I like. Found poe to be alot of fun.
Not only it feels mysterious and shit, but also the difficulty and (for the most part) constant threat make it pretty intense.

On the other hand this whole brazen-like design looks like a common alternative for the typical "grey stone" dungeons in gaming.

Also I wonder if level 4 was built by those early humans or they just found it looking like that beyond the portal.
The skeletons wear fitting armor (and I think they are the remnants of those early human explorers' soldiers)

What do you think guys?

1 of the skeletons have a parchement, is the one with the little axe I think.
Sorry for my english

 

[Hedgehog-of-Fog]

On the other hand this whole brazen-like design looks like a common alternative for the typical "grey stone" dungeons in gaming.

Also I wonder if level 4 was built by those early humans or they just found it looking like that beyond the portal.
The skeletons wear fitting armor (and I think they are the remnants of those early human explorers' soldiers)

What do you think guys?

Well, it could be another race or simply different culture, who knows? (ah, yes, we all know who knows it!)

BTW two races/cultures in comparison

Spoiler

 

[Don Kanaille]

My first association was also Dwemer architecture from Skyrim. However when having a look around, eveything in this dungeon seems to be fit for creatures of human size - every chair, table, closet and piece of equipment. The scrolls you find are also comprehensible to a contemporary human reader and grammar as well as choice of words also seems rather modern, so maybe this place isn´t that ancient after all...

 

[TURBOBRUH]

The pic doesnt load ;_;

Hmm the door seem slightly bigger (or maybe I just think so) as the troll gets through them easily. I still find it kinda puzzling.
I mean did the humans build that portal? Why not build it somewhere else/deeper?
And if they found the portal, how did they even find it? Also it must have been in some cave thingy. So basically they would 'upgrade" some cave intro an underground base. But the layout would make less sense then. Unless it was some cave-tunnel-complex thing.
And if they built level 4, how would they get the materials through the portal? I don't think its big enough for a cart. And if they were on their way to go deeper, why waste time creating all that detailed furnite?

Spoiler

1 of the skeletons have a parchement, is the one with the little axe I think.

u mean the 'new' parchement? Not the grey old one? What did it say ? I just have them all in my inventory, so I don't remember where I found each one.

EDIT: the scrolls are written by the 'second-time' dwellers, not the original ones

 

[Buggeroo]

The scroll from the skeleton suggests that

Spoiler

they are some sort of guardians, who in life volunteered to stay in that place for ever.

At least that is how I read it, in short. It does not seem like something from the more recent dwellers of the earlier levels to me.

 

[Hedgehog-of-Fog]

The pic doesnt load ;_;

And now?

u mean the 'new' parchement? Not the grey old one? What did it say ? I just have them all in my inventory, so I don't remember where I found each one.
EDIT: the scrolls are written by the 'second-time' dwellers, not the original ones

That's an 'old' one, grey.

Spoiler

It was on one of the skellies with one-handed axe, and it said:

"When I took this oath I told myself my life no longer mattered. Now that courage, that sense of purpose, is fading fast. I look to the others for strength, but I found the same doubt in their eyes. They mocked us and now I see the truth of it. This is senseless".

 

[TURBOBRUH]

Now i see it, thx.
As for the parchment , well its not written in some ancient, weird style, but it pretty much suggests that it belonged to one of the guys from the 'first time'; whose job was to stay down there and make sure none of the guardian's minions get through to their buddies on upper levels.
As for the forever aspect, looks like most of them fled/got taken by the monsters, as there are very few of them (maybe more deeper below). Those guards were probably meant to stay there for the rest of their lives, but I don't know whether those people were immortal, or the whole expedition was about attaining immortality.

And we can assume from one of the 'new' letters, that their remains were animated by the necromancer apprentice to distract the troll/demon.
There were also a few skellies on level 3, but theyre wearing different armor. Looks more like steel/iron and its covered in rust. I don't know. Maybe they had some forge beyond the portal, and alot of ore lying around.
I can't imagine them dragging those bigass brazen door all the way down and through the portal. So the skeletons in level 3 might be some of the regular soldiers from the first time, while the ones with brazen armor may be some sort of elite guards sworn to die defending the portal.

 

[Tyon]

It's safe to assume they're human, one of the skeletons has a scroll. It's interesting how their bodies have rotted to nothing but bone, but their armor remains spotless, this suggests while the brassy material might not be as protective or light as steel, it lasts much longer. The armor itself doesn't really look like something you'd wear into battle, so do the weapons, they must have been ceremonial items, level 4 also looks very much like some sort of ceremonial place where weird rituals would have been conducted.

The place they're defending seems to be something similar to a research center or a lab, the layout of some of the tables and chairs also makes me assume this place was where people might have come to meet some sort of doctor or scholar. It seems a lot like an office, since the hallway through which you enter the hostile area also has a huge table with chairs around it, kinda like some sort of a meeting table, though it could just be a dining room.

A scroll in level 2 also talks about how there was a war going on, maybe the skeletons in level 4 were soldiers of the "race" that created the dungeon first, and they lived in peace up until a bunch of settlers arrived, whom the skeletons with rusty armor in level 3 were part of. Perhaps this mystery race utilized the power of "The Guardian" and unleashed a powerful magic on the settlers, killing them all and bringing a swift end to the war, but the magic got out of control and also consumed them.

The undead were probably a 2nd wave of settlers, mostly civilians. They discovered the place and began living there, but then they unearthed the hidden evil, which turned them all into undead. The undead man in level 4 is still a mystery to me, he's using a steel sword so it's safe to assume he's not from level 4, possibly one of Hamon's thugs? I can't imagine a random lost person having access to a mid-tier sword like that. He was also near the scrolls written by Thaven's apprentice, and I'm pretty sure Hamon and him are working together somewhat, so Thaven's apprentice might have killed the thug and turned him into an undead to also help with distracting the big guy.

 

[burgzaza]

I wanted to ask if someone else reminds dwarf ruins of skyrim and / or the first dungeon of Divine Divinity?

Sorry for my english.

Yeah a bit of TES dwemer look. I loved Divine Divinity, but I don't remember the visuals enough.
For me the closest game I think of in term of ambience/feelings when in Exanima's dungeons, is Arx Fatalis. This old but great 3D rpg game takes place underground, all of it. The gameplay is still unique for what I know ( drawing runes for magic ) and I really loved this game back then

 

[JBlak]

My first impression was that it was very reminiscent of Dwemer architecture. On subsequent playthroughs I have concluded that level 4 is in fact spiderman's lair.

 

[Hedgehog-of-Fog]

It's interesting how their bodies have rotted to nothing but bone, but their armor remains spotless, this suggests while the brassy material might not be as protective or light as steel, it lasts much longer. The armor itself doesn't really look like something you'd wear into battle, so do the weapons, they must have been ceremonial items, level 4 also looks very much like some sort of ceremonial place where weird rituals would have been conducted.

Maybe this fantasy world has such stainless metals, why not? And, in comparison with plate "steel" cuirass, it has similar characteristics (but takes more encumbrance points, if I remember correctly).

The place they're defending seems to be something similar to a research center or a lab...

Some "office" or "college" (or any kind of secret magician's order (hall with round table)) - with labs, meeting/dining rooms, archive, etc.

A scroll in level 2 also talks about how there was a war going on, maybe the skeletons in level 4 were soldiers of the "race" that created the dungeon first, and they lived in peace up until a bunch of settlers arrived, whom the skeletons with rusty armor in level 3 were part of.

...On other hand, they could be lawgivers, who were persecuting those"cultists", who were executing illegal magician practics.

Perhaps this mystery race utilized the power of "The Guardian" and unleashed a powerful magic on the settlers, killing them all and bringing a swift end to the war, but the magic got out of control and also consumed them.

...Or it could be simply magical incident and as result - the malevolent presence (or vise versa - some kind of antimagic shield/aura)...

The undead were probably a 2nd wave of settlers, mostly civilians. They discovered the place and began living there...

...And performing a lot of nasty experiments on other civs, yeah.

 

[Sivi]

Yeah a bit of TES dwemer look. I loved Divine Divinity, but I don't remember the visuals enough.
For me the closest game I think of in term of ambience/feelings when in Exanima's dungeons, is Arx Fatalis. This old but great 3D rpg game takes place underground, all of it. The gameplay is still unique for what I know ( drawing runes for magic ) and I really loved this game back then

True, you also wake up half naked, don't know where or who you are and don't have too much of a clue what to do now. Along with the underground setting it does ring a bell
The encounter with the troll -which at first included me running and flailiing until I was safe behind a door- also brought back bad memories of a certain, by conventional means unkillable, boss from Arx fatalis (Luckily, we didn't need dwarven machinery to dispose of exanima's troll thing)
It would be really funny if the PC in Exanima had a similar background and you start remembering things with flashbacks or a creepy voice.
But damn, you bringing up Arx fatalis reminded me of that indicated sex scene along with the mindfuck accompaning it. That scene still gives me the creeps.

OT: I was also reminded of those two games when I saw the interior of the dungeon. Especially the chairs and chests reminded me of dwemer stuff.

 

[Gsprfdude]

While we're talking about Level 4, how was everyone's experiences with Sir? For me he was suprisingly easy, I barely got damaged at all. The only thing that made it sound like a rape story was that he followed me into the bathroom.

 

[Greenbrog]

The bathroom strat won't work as well next patch.