Has there ever been a dungeon crawler that doesn't rely on potions to keep your health up?

[Eric the Orange]

Dungeon crawlers, also known as Diablo clones, have always relied on potions to keep your life and mana filled (or "chugging pots" in the parlance of the locals). But in the demo for Dungeon siege 3 they put in other ways to keep your life and mana filled, and talked about doing similar things in Diablo 3. So my question is has there ever been a dungeon crawler that doesn't rely on potions to keep your health up?

I'll admit my pedigree with the genre is somewhat limited, so there may have been a ton of dungeon crawlers that do this and I'm just ignorant of them.

 

[Lukeje]

The title made me imagine a cover-based dungeon crawler with regenerating health for some reason. The mental image scares me. Anyway, in answer to the question, I unfortunately don't know.

 

[TheIronRuler]

I think that Dungeon Keeper could be one of them, but on the other hand you did have a spell to heal your creatures.
Nothing else comes to mind.

 

[GothmogII]

The various Dungeons and Dragons games have usually been pretty good about potions. Baldur's Gate and the like did have potions, but they weren't all that effective, mainly for a bit of a boost during combat. You could even buy knock-off health potions that actually hurt you, though the info. text would give you a little hint i.e. this potion looks oddly murky etc.

Added to which your Cleric (Or Druid or Paladin in a pinch) was expected to be your primary 'stop the party from dieing' guy.

Surprisingly World of Warcraft (in so much as it counts as a dungeon crawler) has moved away from potions being of any real use. Before, you could just chug away health and mana pots as fast as the cooldown allowed, now they're pretty much useless in high-level dungeons and raids, besides the off-chance that one might give you a few valuable seconds.

Also, I loved the way The Witcher handled potions. Having them harm you if you overdosed was just genius, and stopped the player from just spamming them in the middle of a fight.

 

[Pearwood]

Most dungeon crawlers I know have regenerating health. Doom: the Roguelike (which is much better than it sounds) doesn't but that's the exception not the rule. Dungeon crawlers are much older than Diablo too, the first one was Rogue, hence the name Rogue-like.

 

[wfpdk]

on the main page the title of this thread is,
Has there ever been a dungeon crawler that doesn't rely on pot...
for me no. but on the actual topic, I'm sure there is but i don't know it.

 

[Durananrananrananran]

Vagrant Story had slowly regenerating health and combo effects to keep health up. It did have a heal spell, but, as far as I can remember, no potions.

 

[BigDeadMushy]

I'm gonna avoiding naming specific examples (mainly due to having played a large number of them and forget exact titles :-S but I digress)
most crawlers and similar RPGs I've played regenerate health and mana over time,often with a rest and/or sleep command to speed gametime along until you are full.obviously this carries an amount of risk (gotta love wandering monsters) but it certainly does the trick.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Darkspore relies mainly on "health" and "mana" pickups ... being a sci fi game, they're not called that, but those words serve to get my point across.

There are some healing abilities, equipment can give you leeching of either type, but by and large you rely on those drops (and strategically switching "forms")

 

[Luke Cartner]

Dins Curse.
It has potions, but the recharge times and the high cost of them mean you dont use them much.

 

[Cogwheel]

Well, let's see... I'm fairly sure there were a couple that just made you use healing spells instead (or at least, you'd use them over potions if you have them), but I can't recall any at the moment.

I was about to mention Etrian Odyssey, but as dungeon crawl-y as the series may be, it's nothing like Diablo. I suppose roguelikes are out too?

Dins Curse.
It has potions, but the recharge times and the high cost of them mean you dont use them much.

Oh, thanks, that's the one I was thinking of.

 

[madwarper]

Etrian Odyssey 1, 2 & 3. Each game relies more on party abilities than on items.

 

[Eric the Orange]

Most dungeon crawlers I know have regenerating health. Doom: the Roguelike (which is much better than it sounds) doesn't but that's the exception not the rule. Dungeon crawlers are much older than Diablo too, the first one was Rogue, hence the name Rogue-like.

I never really equated dungeon crawlers with rogue likes. which I guess were the earliest form of dungeon crawlers. But I think of them more like the difference between Turn based strategy games, and real time strategy games.

 

[DevilWolf47]

Didn't Gauntlet, the classic dungeon crawler, rely on food?

 

[Pearwood]

I never really equated dungeon crawlers with rogue likes. which I guess were the earliest form of dungeon crawlers. But I think of them more like the difference between Turn based strategy games, and real time strategy games.

Ah ok, I just call them both Roguelikes, probably because one of my favourite Roguelikes is actually named Dungeon Crawl. I'm trying to think of a non-turn based dungeon crawler that isn't a carbon copy of Diablo, it's not easy. I guess the Elder Scrolls series would count? All I can think of is Morrowind, it has potions but they're more of a last resort thing to use in combat than just to heal normally. But I don't know if you'd even call that a dungeon crawler, you crawl through dungeons in it but it's by no means all you do.

 

[Akytalusia]

Dungeon crawlers, also known as Diablo clones, have always relied on potions to keep your life and mana filled (or "chugging pots" in the parlance of the locals). But in the demo for Dungeon siege 3 they put in other ways to keep your life and mana filled, and talked about doing similar things in Diablo 3. So my question is has there ever been a dungeon crawler that doesn't rely on potions to keep your health up?

I'll admit my pedigree with the genre is somewhat limited, so there may have been a ton of dungeon crawlers that do this and I'm just ignorant of them.

they're rogue-like, not diablo clones. and they originaly all had regenerating health systems. i've played alot of nethack and hengband, and i usualy never drank any of those nasty potions. they'd most likely poison you anyway. lol.

 

[Eric the Orange]

Didn't Gauntlet, the classic dungeon crawler, rely on food?

Yeah that was back in the old days when you had to be HARD CORE, to beat the game, or rich. Make it hard friends, or they wont keep pumping quarters into your machine.

But on the NES it was 3 continues, still HARD CORE.

Now that games have moved beyond there arcade roots, they make them something that your average person can beat. So imagine gauntlet with saves and about 10 times the food I guess. It wouldn't be potions admittedly.

 

[Dumori]

Most dungeon crawlers I know have regenerating health. Doom: the Roguelike (which is much better than it sounds) doesn't but that's the exception not the rule. Dungeon crawlers are much older than Diablo too, the first one was Rogue, hence the name Rogue-like.

Aye stonesoup ect you can run away a rest up eat some "food" ect. Not the speedyest way but it got you HP.

 

[Eric the Orange]

snip

copy-pasta GO!

I never really equated dungeon crawlers with rogue likes. which I guess were the earliest form of dungeon crawlers. But I think of them more like the difference between Turn based strategy games, and real time strategy games.