Nox (PC) - Guest Post

And now, rpg specialist Ocean says a lot of words about this classic Diablo style hack 'em up.

Nox! It is comparable to Diablo 2, especially the graphical style and clicking to attack/move. Right click to move, left click to attack and pick up stuff. How it differs, is mainly in the single player play. Nox has a story, and it is different for each class you take.

The overall story is similar: You are a man who lives in a trailer with his girlfriend, who gets pulled into a fantasy world and has to figure out how to get home. Always helped by a man with an airship, he has to consult the rulers of the three lands for their assistance.

Let's pick our class! There's only 3, but they're all different. They may go in similar lands, but have different obstacles/dungeon layouts/puzzles and all. I think the Field of Valor is the only one that really remains the same for all 3. So each class has their own weapons/armor, spell list, and starting positions.

Warriors have High HP, Speed, Defense, but can't use magic. They can use throwing stars, 5 abilities (Charging into an enemy, Hooking an enemy to you, stuff like that), Swords, Maces and more. With their armor and high HP they are easiest to keep alive.

Conjurers have Average stats all around. They can use some limited equipment, like Leather armor, Staves, and Bow/Arrows. I'm pretty sure they can use Magical staves too so they can use that to cast spells instead of using Mana. Then they have Healing spells, some lower level attack spells, and can either create bombs with 3 spells set in it to explode on an enemy, or summon creatures to help you.

Wizards have poor stats except Magical ones. They have high Mana and MP. They can only use Robes and Staves pretty much, along with Magical ones. They have the greatest spell list, and can create traps with 3 spells in them that enemies can fall in. They can teleport around and cast spells to be invisible. Careful though, Warriors have an ability that can see hidden Wizards, and one that can disable their spellcasting and stun them. However, they have a cooldown period and Wizards can exploit armors weakness against Lightning.

I picked the Warrior, so I'm here. The gauntlet weeds out the weak, so that's why I'll go in at Level 1. To be weeded out.

Gonna take a look at my inventory and stuff while I'm here. Lots of lava around! Yeah you travel in your real world clothes at the start, but you can sell them for a pretty good price! Medieval clothes have more defense anyway.

Some walls are crumbly, so you can hit them and find a secret area! Sometimes you can find some enchanted equipment, or a small amount of gold and Experience.

Not sure how much a Sword of Embers is gonna help me here in a Fire area. I did however pick up some Flimsy Leather Boots of the Dragons Scale (For Fire Defense) in a secret area.

Knights don't like Wizards. Conjurers tend to be the neutral group, but Knights are not welcome in Wizards area, and Wizards are not welcome in the Knights area.

Time to break everything in search of items.

You can check your items condition. Unless they're indestructible, then they're breakable after using it or being hit enough. You'll know when the weapon is starting to wear out, as the circle in the bottom left will turn bright yellow, then red if it's bad enough. A shopkeeper can repair it at least.

Yeah yeah, not like I have much other choice. I'll do it! Urchins have 8 HP, how hard can it be?

While we're comparing the game to Diablo 2, the inventory carrying works a bit differently. The items weight is a factor in how much you can hold, but of each item type, you can have 9. 9 Potions, 9 apples, and they take up one slot rather than one slot each in Diablo 2. I really preferred it this way. The Warrior is actually the one most likely to run out of inventory room because of the heavy armor.

When you get one of these scrolls, you'll do more damage against that opponent. If you are a Conjurer however, you will be able to summon that creature.

Level 1 still. Well, there's only 10 levels so you should probably end at Level 8-9 if you're casually going through. Plus enemies give less EXP each time you kill it, until you stop getting EXP for it. Then you have to seek out new enemies so you can get EXP.

Here's a guy without any armor, a flimsy sword, and just got here. He totally wants to run the Gauntlet.

So these bones here? They're of the last guy who we saw going through the hall. Haha, I bet he died to some spiders or an urchin.

Oh. Can I back out like the last guy did?

Somehow this got me thinking of barbecue and how hungry I am.

A troll comes! Quick, I need to either fight back, or use the environment to my advantage. There's spikes here, maybe I can lure him there...

It worked! And he smells. Those green clouds aren't just for show, you get poisoned if you're close by when it dies.

You don't need 2 rows of spikes to get rid of me! One will do just fine.

But I made it through okay and beat the Gauntlet! I levelled up and learned a new ability. This one charges straight until he hits an enemy... or the wall. Don't charge into a wall, it hurts and leaves you stunned. Otherwise, it will do good damage to an enemy if it hits.

Good doggie... well I passed the Gauntlet, I'm sure I can take them on!

Pretty pricey. Well I have a Flimsy sword of Spark, which isn't all that bad really. At least I have some armor on now.

Didn't get fast enough to save the guy. I could have sworn he gave me a sidequest about finding his glasses from the Thieves hideout. Maybe that's as another class.

This is quite a mess. Is this a house FULL of items to plunder? Nope, I died, and dropped all my belongings. I figured I'd screen it to show you. If you're playing multiplayer, someone else can pick them up. I think a Wizards spell can make someone drop their weapons/armor too, I forget.

Welcome, blah blah blah quest, go here and slay everything. Wait, why does HE have a scepter?

I bought my own doggie!

The guy I was also sent in to see what happened to him died so I took his stuff. I'm almost starting to look like a real warrior!

Like this. (This is at Level 10, at the final stage)

Yeah this is what I was talking about before. I have equipment in the yellow and red section. They're about to break. This weapon I have on (the sword in blue there is just a backup weapon) is actually pretty neat. It does a continual stream of damage as long as the enemy is in view and if you have enough charges. There's one place before the last battle where you can try it out. You're killing groups of enemies and all with ease. Was pretty fun to use!

If you were a fan of Diablo, you might just want to check this out if you haven't already.