I don't know about anyone else, but having to constantly reload in order to get such weapons as Excalibur and *Light Sword* got real old real fast. I found myself longing for the good old days of the Proving Grounds, when I could go to the 10th floor and slog through hundreds of monsters before finally coming upon the coveted Muramasa Blade, all the while watching my characters become uberpowerful. So I got to thinking, why not bring that back? As such, I'm currently working on creating all the most powerful monsters from the Proving Grounds (you know, Poison Giants, Flacks, Will O'Wisps), and I'll be sticking them on Ascension Peak with the same level threshold as Quetzacoatl. Wickedly powerful, they all have a small chance of dropping the best stuff (everything from Blade Cuisinart to the *Light Shield*). So this way, rather than testing my resistance to boredom (which a video game should NEVER do) I'll be testing myself against deadly monsters in order to get the best stuff.
Anyone else interested? Please note this will take a while since I need to create the monsters, get a party up to that point in the game and that level so that I can make sure the monsters are properly balanced, test them, and then figure out how to make these files transferable from one computer to another. So far, I've got the preliminary forms of the Poison Giant, Will O'Wisp and Flack done.
P.S. Also, I'm thinking of giving the Savant a major overhaul so that he's still a challenge after slogging through these monsters, and if you pass a certain threshold of power, then you'll be visited by an old friend ;)
Yep...me too.I'm simply modding the game with Mad God's editor as I go along now on the chests that contain the better random items -- now they contain most of the good random items as fixed and I left a few duds as random. This allows for weak/small teams to survive more without reloading a hundred times. One example is that I replaced the Shillelah in the Upper Monastery (behind the glass) with a Hayai Bo - now my Samurai that is focusing on speed/dexterity/magic instead of strength/vitality/fighting - is more doable.
Great idea with the monsters though. I might consider playing with your monsters when you're done. I also beefed up the Savant with HP/Stamina/and a nastier punch. I am trying to reasonably balance along the way, so I may continue to jack the competition up as I go along : )