A brief guide to Sil (video walkthrough)

[Blinkhog]

Hi all, I've seen a few posts on r/roguelikes from people wanting to get into Sil, but concerned about it's steep learning curve and complicated mechanics, and there was no video guide I could find, so I've made one.

It's a long video but in it I make a complete playthrough with commentary and gradually explain pretty much all of the mechanics, important monsters and items and also talk about Middle Earth, the history of Sil, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl3seYmV8H4

Enjoy and I hope this helps some people get into the game.

[Quirk]

Good video. Have only got 15 minutes in so far, and going to break off to go to bed as it's quite late here, but you do a nice job of explaining what's happening in the game while keeping the action going.

[wobbly]

I've only watched the start too, which seems decent. I do find the sound of your keyboard a bit distracting. If you've got some way to filter it out or can move your mic might be a good thing.

[Quirk]

An hour in.

Originally Posted by The Lay of Leithian

And when one climbed to her she prayed
that he would in the dark pools wade
of cold Esgalduin, water clear,
the clearest water cold and sheer
to draw for her. 'At middle night,' (235)
she said, 'in bowl of silver white
it must be drawn and brought to me
with no word spoken, silently.'

Major river of Middle-Earth, the water of which Luthien uses in the enchantment of her cloak with spells of sleep. Hence the restoration of Voice.

Perception helps you spot traps, but is not so good at getting you out of them. It does help you spot invisible enemies, and many of the skills on the Perception tree scale with your perception, so you can boost Focused Attack, Concentrate, Forewarned or Master Hunter significantly with the potion.

[Quirk]

So now we're into proper Tolkien trivia, and perhaps more questionable denizens of Angband.

Nan and the sword Glend are mentioned in the Lay of Leithian, which I've already mentioned, and which is the main inspiration of Sil, telling as it does the tale of Beren and Luthien's descent into Angband to cut loose a Silmaril with Angrist:

Originally Posted by The Lay of Leithian, Canto VI

Names she sought, (290)
and sang of Glend, the sword of Nan;
of Gilim, the giant of Eruman;
and last and longest named she then
the endless hair of Uinen,
the Lady of the Sea, that lies (295)
through all the waters under skies

I believe Nan is also mentioned in the Book of Lost Tales, which I sadly lack:
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Giant

The cats, though!
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Tevildo

The cats stem from an earlier draft of Tolkien's tale of the quest for the Silmaril before being replaced by the werewolves who served Sauron in his guise as Thu. Arguably it's a bit cheap to keep round creatures from an earlier draft, but as these are authentically Tolkien-penned I didn't purge them when I got rid of deathblades, and this is the first I've heard someone expressing a desire to lose them.

I think I would only really be prepared to get rid of them if I had something at least equally interesting to put in their place. One thing I have considered as a template is the "fell beasts" on which the Nazgûl rode:

Originally Posted by The Lord of the Rings

A creature of an older world maybe it was, whose kind, lingering in forgotten mountains cold beneath the Moon, outstayed their day, and in hideous eyrie bred this last untimely brood, apt to evil.

Sadly, while hints of "fell creatures" and "fell beasts" lurk round the edges of the stories of Utumno and Angband, pretty much everything that has even a small part to play in the works touching Morgoth's story corresponds to a type of some sort e.g. dragon, or Easterling, or wolf, etc. Tolkien clearly was not so constrained when creating the Watcher in the Water or the Nazgûl's steeds, but Sil keeps mostly to things more directly mentioned in Tolkien's work, and if it embroiders a little on topics such as spiders, the brood of Ungoliant leaves plenty of room for such embroidery.

In some ways I find the idea of Dwarf Fortress's "forgotten beasts" seems more Tolkienesque to me than the escapees of early Tolkien drafts of the Silmaril tale, though the manner of procedural generation makes the results rather less than Tolkienesque much of the time.

[Blinkhog]

Originally Posted by wobbly

I've only watched the start too, which seems decent. I do find the sound of your keyboard a bit distracting. If you've got some way to filter it out or can move your mic might be a good thing.

Yeah, I have a clacketty mechanical keyboard, I'll sort this problem out if I ever make more videos.

Originally Posted by Quirk

An hour in.



Major river of Middle-Earth, the water of which Luthien uses in the enchantment of her cloak with spells of sleep. Hence the restoration of Voice.

Perception helps you spot traps, but is not so good at getting you out of them. It does help you spot invisible enemies, and many of the skills on the Perception tree scale with your perception, so you can boost Focused Attack, Concentrate, Forewarned or Master Hunter significantly with the potion.

I see, that's cool, I might try a more perception heavy style at some point. Focused attack with the potion buff could be killer.

Originally Posted by Quirk

So now we're into proper Tolkien trivia, and perhaps more questionable denizens of Angband.

Nan and the sword Glend are mentioned in the Lay of Leithian, which I've already mentioned, and which is the main inspiration of Sil, telling as it does the tale of Beren and Luthien's descent into Angband to cut loose a Silmaril with Angrist:


I believe Nan is also mentioned in the Book of Lost Tales, which I sadly lack:
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Giant

The cats, though!
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Tevildo

The cats stem from an earlier draft of Tolkien's tale of the quest for the Silmaril before being replaced by the werewolves who served Sauron in his guise as Thu. Arguably it's a bit cheap to keep round creatures from an earlier draft, but as these are authentically Tolkien-penned I didn't purge them when I got rid of deathblades, and this is the first I've heard someone expressing a desire to lose them.

I think I would only really be prepared to get rid of them if I had something at least equally interesting to put in their place. One thing I have considered as a template is the "fell beasts" on which the Nazgûl rode:


Sadly, while hints of "fell creatures" and "fell beasts" lurk round the edges of the stories of Utumno and Angband, pretty much everything that has even a small part to play in the works touching Morgoth's story corresponds to a type of some sort e.g. dragon, or Easterling, or wolf, etc. Tolkien clearly was not so constrained when creating the Watcher in the Water or the Nazgûl's steeds, but Sil keeps mostly to things more directly mentioned in Tolkien's work, and if it embroiders a little on topics such as spiders, the brood of Ungoliant leaves plenty of room for such embroidery.

In some ways I find the idea of Dwarf Fortress's "forgotten beasts" seems more Tolkienesque to me than the escapees of early Tolkien drafts of the Silmaril tale, though the manner of procedural generation makes the results rather less than Tolkienesque much of the time.

I don't have any bright ideas but the cats just seemed out of place to me. I wasn't thinking of them as Beorn-type shapeshifters though, just mutant catbeasts.

[Quirk]

Other things that may or may not be useful:

Mattocks will shatter quartz assuming you have the strength to do so, which is the main reason for taking one over a shovel. In Sil-Q, Song of Delving reduces digging difficulty so a shovel can make it through quartz also.

Grotesques are less harmless in the dark. In the light, you can take advantage of blunt weapons now doing some damage through armour to disassemble them.

[wobbly]

Originally Posted by Quirk

Other things that may or may not be useful:
Mattocks will shatter quartz assuming you have the strength to do so, which is the main reason for taking one over a shovel. In Sil-Q, Song of Delving reduces digging difficulty so a shovel can make it through quartz also.

It's also usable as a weapon if you're desperate. Either disarmed or on an assassin where your main weapon may not deal with Grotesques. I've had to use mattocks before, so I tend to preference them over shovels.