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Roguelikes

Started by Inkidu, November 29, 2013, 04:21:26 PM

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Inkidu

#125
Steam Marines is basically Space Hulk, but sheesh, they could have told you how shooting and range work. You can't hit something unless it's generally in the line of tiles ahead of the character. :P

Plus it's totally possible to be absolutely swarmed by bots. I broke open one wall and they came out like metal hornets.

EDIT: Dungeons of the Endless... I don't know... it really seems like a tower-defense game with perma-death. I hate the fact that "Roguelike" is becoming a term for any game with perma-death. :P

I mean it's fun. I just wish the tutorial was better. I guess I should have figured it out, but they could have told me all shit was going to break loose when I took up the crystal. What the hell.

EDIT: Cleared my first floor in Dungeons of the Endless. It's actually got a lot going for it, but I'm not sure Amplitude's love of their own FDIS system is that great, if you can't find a science spot how are you going to get better modules?

EDIT: Something that bugs me about Dungeons of the Endless, is that it gives you no ability to sell modules at all (a game like this really needs the ability to sell them at some kind of refund). It makes the game feel really luck driven? Hey got two divergent paths? Think that it might be good to spend resources here? PFFFT TOTALLY WRONG WAY! LOSER!

A lot of new roguelikes tend to think luck is the defining aspect of difficulty. Luck is important, but it's not the sole aspect of difficulty in a roguelike. If your failure comes down to rotten luck more than mistakes then it's not a roguelike. Roguelikes need to make you feel responsible for your mistakes. So many of the modern ones don't. :P

EDIT: Dungeons of the Endless is making me really doubt my gaming and roguelike skill. Their two difficulties are "too easy" and "Easy" and I have yet to make it above the third floor (of twelve). The game is just not as finely tuned as roguelikes need to be I think. Too... totally pooch-screwy.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Blythe

#126
Been a bit since I posted here, but I've bought a roguelike, so I thought it was high-time to return to this thread.

I bought Caves of Qud on Steam; there's a free ASCII version available from the devs. Personally, because of my vision problems, I prefer the tileset version from Steam. I suspect anyone who's marginally fond of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup will like Qud, although personally I feel Qud is a little harsher in terms of skill (but a bit easier when it comes to luck/chance). I think the Steam version is going to get more content than the ASCII free version, though.

It's a sci-fantasy roguelike; I really like it. You get the choice to play a Mutated Human or a True Kin (pure human, essentially). There are a lot of variations in skills, and there's a lot of skill there. You do need to regulate food/water to survive, but it's not too hard. What I really like about it is that depending on mental mutations, it's possible to customize ways to get past enemies in a non-combat manner, which was really fascinating.

My only advice for anyone trying it is to not take the Red Rock quest; it looks suspiciously like a newbie quest, but it isn't. Red Rock is a death trap for early levels. Early folks will want to talk to the tinkery fellow on the left side of the starter town and find him an artifact; that's a much easier thing to do--easier if you start as a True Kin, which get an artifact as part of character creation that you usually won't miss.

I'm still learning it, but I really like the breadth and depth of character generation a lot.

Inkidu

The only real roguelike I've been playing lately is Darkest Dungeon. It manages to be difficult without being punishing, which is awesome.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Blythe

Quote from: Inkidu on July 18, 2015, 02:28:15 PM
The only real roguelike I've been playing lately is Darkest Dungeon. It manages to be difficult without being punishing, which is awesome.

I've been playing that one, too! I think that it probably has the best atmosphere out of just about any roguelike I've played. And agreed--it's difficult but not overly punishing.

Inkidu

I got one that probably calls itself a roguelike, Interstellaria, but I haven't played it enough to see if it lives up to it yet.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Blythe

#130
Quote from: Inkidu on July 18, 2015, 02:45:39 PM
I got one that probably calls itself a roguelike, Interstellaria, but I haven't played it enough to see if it lives up to it yet.

I've seen that one around--I haven't heard that it was billed as a roguelike, though, just as a strategy game?



Update on Caves of Qud:

Oi. It's brutal and painfully unforgiving. There is a learning curve, but I'm finding the learning curve isn't as difficult as Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. That being said, a few techniques are helping me out reasonably. I can usually pinpoint where I go wrong when a character dies on a run, which is helpful. Usually (like 90% of the time) it's my fault when I die, so I don't get too discouraged.

'Sprint' is an ability that speeds you up for a few rounds specifically to run away; it's a godsend when a mob of enemies appears. I use it constantly.

I'm finding that mutants have some advantages that True Kin don't--the mutation Freezing Hands has been really handy early on; you can spam-kill stuff with that passably easily, but most mutations do have a cooldown, so some strategy needs to be employed to use it effectively around mobs.

There's a mental ability that's very useful for those who may struggle alone in combat--'Beguiling.'  It only works on one monster at a time, but if you succeed, that monster becomes an ally who will fight to the death for you--this can be ridiculously helpful early on.

Some of the defects you can take are pretty awesome--there's one called Evil Twin, and when you take that defect the game has a small percentage chance that an evil twin of yourself will spawn when you go to new areas.

Guess whose character named Kimet got killed by eeeevil Kimet? *laughs* Damn evil twin; he got me early on in one run. I should have run away, but I didn't. ^^;

Inkidu

If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Blythe

I"ll reiterate that Qud can be pretty unforgiving at times--sometimes ragequit levels of unforgiving. It's not a total slot machine, but there's enough randomness that you best keep on your toes. I like it, but I have to really be in the mood to play it nowadays. Oftentimes what looks like a 'newbie' quest is not remotely meant for starting characters, too. I've found that I sometimes have to do a little homework to get an idea of what quests to take and which ones not to. I hope the advice helps and I do hope that you like the game.

I really like the 'flavor' of Qud's world, though I wish I was better at playing the game. I may have to pick it up again some time.

Also, for some reason I can see the ASCII much clearer than I can their actual graphics. I thought tiles were supposed to make things easier to see, not harder. >_<

Inkidu

I got Dungeons of Dredmore. If you're looking to get into Roguelikes this is the one. It's funny, it's not too hard (actually has levels of difficulty) a good tutorial and a usable Diablo-like interface), but it still has lots of depth to discover. Also it has a god of lutefisk. XD
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.