Seilroom (2): The Luck of the Draw

The Long Terror is fundamentally a turn-based roguelike game. Even if you assemble the same class composition every run, the heroes' names change each time, the dungeon layout shifts, and the dropped treasures (items) or artifacts vary. Even if you're insanely lucky and recruit a hero with the exact same class and name, the four basic skills they come with have different compositions. That's why it's called a luck-based shitfest game.

In truth, whether you clear it or not boils down to your class composition, hero positioning, proper use of skills and consumables, and how well you manage and carry items.

The maximum party size for a hero squad is four. The standard composition is tank, dealer, healer, plus alpha. Of course, on low difficulty, none of that matters—you can just steamroll with pure DPS or some freakish four-tank muscle combo, and as long as you're not hit with ridiculous bad luck, no-death runs to the final boss are feasible.

But even on normal difficulty, garbage comps like four tanks or four dealers make no-death runs nearly impossible, let alone hard mode. In other words, in this situation—higher than hard difficulty—three out of four slots are mandatory: one tank, one dealer, one healer.

The fourth slot depends on player preference. For someone like me, who leans stable, I'd slot in a dealer-tank or sub-healer there. But there's one crucial difference here. I'm not some player clicking a mouse from behind the fourth wall—I'm a hero who has to fight myself.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Which means I have to pick my class before recruiting companions.

Whatever this is—a dream or not—I've gotta push forward. That three-day time limit is nagging at me hard. After that... I'll think about it then.

The game itself is hardcore, so I couldn't gloss over even minor details, especially with a blatant time limit staring me down. Ignoring it would be straight-up retarded. For at least the next three days, I'd focus solely on the tutorial and this world.

"What'll it be for your hero squad name? Best to avoid duplicates."

"HAT."

"Hm. No duplicates. Approved. Submit this paper at the hero recruitment office, and they'll hook you up with one free companion hero."

"Thanks."

Single-player game, and duplicates are a thing? What the fuck.

Asshole difficulty. In the game, you just scribble a team name, but here it cost me a whopping five silver coins in registration fees. Meaningless outside of signup, too. My funds plummeted from three gold to three gold and nine silver in an instant. Plenty for sundries right now, but thinking ahead, it was razor-thin.

Just think of it as the first companion fee.

But first, my class.

"Hero training hall. What brings you here?"

"Picking a class."

"I can give a quick rundown if you want."

"Please do."

I had all thirteen original classes memorized down to their modifiers, but with three new ones added in the DLC, I decided to listen up.

The three new DLC classes were at the bottom in special. Just in case, I checked for changes to the originals too—nope, unchanged.

No tanks for me. A wimp like me up front? Nah.

Tanks stand in row one (frontline) over 80% of the time. Not every monster attacks front-to-back sequentially, but most hit row one or two often. If aggro was pure random, tanks would be pointless. So tanks: rejected.

Healer: rejected too. Double-healer keeps sustain up but guts combat power. Bad luck with chain crits, and frontliners wipe before heals land. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Even on hard, that happened constantly—let alone here.

Pure max healing? Imprecator tops it, but all its skills root in "curse," so heals count as curses too. Minimum heal can dip below zero to negative. Worst case: curse lands, heal fails, you waste a full turn—lottery character.

Steady heals from Curing Vestal... but that's women only.

This game even tweaks same-class stats by gender, plus racial modifiers. (That's the real luck factor.) Anyway, for stable one-healer parties, Curing Vestal is mandatory—but both Curing and Battle Vestals are women-only. I'm a guy, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so no dice. Rearguard healer: rejected.

Left with rows two and three. Assuming one-healer party, it's main dealer + sub-dealer, or main dealer + dealer-tank. Combat-wise, latter's superior, but...

As difficulty ramps, rogue-class necessity skyrockets. Mapping (scouting), trap detection, ranged support, weak DPS but utility galore. In high-end, tiny slips kill—so rogues prevent risks upfront.

Rogues essential. And in-game rogue treatment...

"No main dealers here."

No matter how scary frontline is, I ain't living as a slave.

Assume rogue as Treasure Hunter, then two-dealer with me as Crossbowman ain't bad.

Crossbowman: steady damage strength, but "steady" weakness—no burst skills.

Assassin? Paper armor body.

Berserker? God-tier DPS, zero utility, trash accuracy.

Eliminating one by one, narrowed to Bounty Hunter / Werewolf / Reinforced Human.

Oh right. Werewolves hard-counter nuns.

Wolf form boasts top max HP and attack, but nuns outright refuse teaming. Party one, dungeon entry denied—one randomly quits. No clue how it's implemented here, but no need to risk.

Whoa. Reinforced Human penalty's insane?

Missed trait: Mentality decay halved, but healing effects halved too. In a sustain-crucial game, that's massive penalty despite base stats.

Tch. Double Bounty Hunter on highest difficulty, huh.

Of course, plans mean jack if desired class doesn't appear. Pushing that aside.

"Decided?"

"Yes. Bounty Hunter."

"Done. Complete Bounty Hunter skills, grab starter gear from equipment support."

Hendrick ‘Yujin’ TerrorHunter

Whoa... stats are trash.

Level 10 felt miles away, but that wasn't the point now. Time for the first companion draw—maybe the biggest fork in this game.

Recruitment shows ten candidates, all random gender/class/traits/race. Guides say if first sucks, delete save and reroll till good. That pivotal.

I couldn't loop artificially.

"Welcome. Applying?"

"No. Recruiting."

"Squad proof... Hm. Browse and tell me. No holds—choose carefully."

Recruiter was rougher than polite trainer, burly build with thin voice—unbalanced. I scanned the hero info he handed over.

First companion: not tank, not healer.

Plan A: Sturdy tank up front, bull to rest spot for HP/mentality recovery. Plan B: Eat hits myself, grab healer heals, recruit tank later.

A: I take less damage, stable DPS. B: Level healer early, boost sustain ahead of progress.

Double dealer: out.

Pass.

First hero filtered on class sight.

Ah. So damn close.

Second filtered on class... almost. Dark elves max Assassin modifiers. HP/attack/defense nerfed by female mods hurt, but racial covers it—unique.

Third to ninth: all class-filtered, bad race-class synergy, or trash negative traits. On hard, three usable—but highest difficulty. No flaws allowed, even minor.

Hiding anxiety, checked tenth.

"What...? Half-elf nun?"

And I witnessed the first race-class combo since starting. How does this even work?