Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

[ARedLetterDay]

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (http://crawl.develz.org/wordpress/)

Anyone ever play this game, or the original?

I've yet to give the original Dungeon Crawl a go, but from what I've played of DCSS, it's so much fun, and I realize how unprofessional that sounds, aha.

For those who don't know, DC/DCSS is a roguelike,

a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by level randomization, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Most roguelikes feature ASCII graphics, with newer ones increasingly offering tile-based graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many monsters, items, and environmental features. Computer roguelikes usually employ the majority of the keyboard to facilitate interaction with items and the environment. The name of the genre comes from the 1980 game Rogue.

and is one of the most popular ones still being played today. I believe the others are NetHack, Dwarf Fortress and the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games.

For those who have played any roguelikes, what are your thoughts on them? Like, dislike? Hate, love? I, for one, love the concept, the overall gameplay and amount of things to do in them, but find it hard to get into most of the earlier, ASCII based ones. DCSS is the only one I've played extensively, almost religiously, you might say.

[Slime Slayer]

This ones fun:
Retro Uprising - Arcade - Taloon's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon (http://www.retrouprising.com/game-menu/game/7772/)

[ARedLetterDay]

Funny thing is, I was just looking at that. I think that's the only game in the Mysterious Dungeon series I've yet to play. Well, better now than never :D

[Dudebro]

I love these games but that one you linked looks too old school for me to enjoy. Shamefully I have to admit I need some kind of graphics to keep me interested.

Besides Taloons we got a couple more on RU you might like-

Retro Uprising - Arcade - Azure Dreams (http://www.retrouprising.com/game-menu/game/11043/)
The dungeon is huge, like 130 or so floors. It has a pet system where you find eggs and choose which ones to bring with you. You can even fuse them together to make stronger pets.

Retro Uprising - Arcade - Dragon Crystal (http://www.retrouprising.com/game-menu/game/1135/)
Retro Uprising - Arcade - Dragon Crystal (http://www.retrouprising.com/game-menu/game/1136/)
Very minimal and brutal. I love it but it's not very popular with anyone else on RU. It's score enabled though.

[ARedLetterDay]

I love these games but that one you linked looks too old school for me to enjoy. Shamefully I have to admit I need some kind of graphics to keep me interested.

Besides Taloons we got a couple more on RU you might like-

Retro Uprising - Arcade - Azure Dreams (http://www.retrouprising.com/game-menu/game/11043/)
The dungeon is huge, like 130 or so floors. It has a pet system where you find eggs and choose which ones to bring with you. You can even fuse them together to make stronger pets.

Retro Uprising - Arcade - Dragon Crystal (http://www.retrouprising.com/game-menu/game/1135/)
Retro Uprising - Arcade - Dragon Crystal (http://www.retrouprising.com/game-menu/game/1136/)
Very minimal and brutal. I love it but it's not very popular with anyone else on RU. It's score enabled though.

DCSS has tilesets / graphics. You probably read up on DC, which is the original ASCII based one.

Azure Dreams is amazing. I remember playing it on the PSX often as a kid.

Dragon Crystal. .

:pissed-off:

That's all I have to say about that game.

Love it, but good lord is it frustrating.

[Dudebro]

I followed your link but I only looked at the first set of pics which were old school looking, my bad. I see the improved look now and it looks a lot more interesting.
http://www.retrouprising.com/img/2012_04/270.png

So now I'm really interested, downloaded. The graphics are still kinda awkward but that kind of thing is trivial if this game is as good as it sounds.


I also have fond memories of Azure Dreams on PSX. The version we have on RU is GBC so it's uglier and lacking the romance subplots. Still awesome though, very under appreciated.

Dragon Crystal is one of my favorite retro games. It's simple and challenging. You seem like someone who could give me a run for my high scores, give it a shot.

Btw have you ever heard of Dungeons of Dredmor? I got it on sale on Steam a few months ago and it's pretty cool too. It's got a quirky sense of humor and it looks a little silly but it's really hard. It's also got a rpg system where you choose skills and level them up. It's worth the few bucks it's selling for.

[ARedLetterDay]

Yeah, it takes a little bit getting used to, but, once you get into the hang of things, it becomes the quickest time waster ever.

Oh, yes, definitely. I think I'll give the GBC Azure Dreams another shot once I'm finished with The 7th Saga (another underrated game. Music, graphics, gameplay, all quite amazing).

Aha. I saw your high score and thought "Ah, that doesn't seem so bad. Maybe I'll - - " and died within the first two minutes. Stupid scorpions, ridiculous. But I'll give it a shot. Definitely gonna aim for beating your high scores, DB ;)

I've heard of it. Seen some gameplay and some screens of it, looks awesome, unfortunately, money hasn't been my strong suit lately, so I'll have to get a job and start raking in the sweet cash, lol!

Have you ever played Fatal Labyrinth, DB? It's for the Genesis, and it's a lot like Dragon Crystal, in that it's brutal, and simple. Another rogue like, of course. Neat little feature where, the further you get in the game, the more people attend your funeral should you die. I've only gotten two people to attend mine, and I've been playing that game on and off for a few years now.

Also, Spelunky is another treasure hidden among rubble.

Spelunky World (http://spelunkyworld.com/)

Rogue like sidescroller that draws inspiration from Spelunker, Indiana Jones, and Cave Story (graphics wise). Unlike most rogue likes, this one starts out rather easy, for the first three or four levels, and then the difficulty shoots up. Though, that might just be me talking. :P Best of all, it's free!

Sorry if I went on a little tangent there, aha. You're like the only person I know that enjoys rogue likes. I think I need to get out more.

[Dudebro]

I just did the whole tutorial and I understand it a lot better now. I'm still a little confused about the magic system but I'm sure I'll figure it out by brute forcing my way through it. I gotta say I really liked the necromancy thing, can't wait to use that in a real dungeon. Btw no sound or music?

7Th Saga is another one of my favorites. I haven't played it in a long time though, it just takes so much effort to stick with it. It's pretty damn difficult at some points. What's his name Pison? That dude that keeps showing up with the whip, HATE.

Dragon Crystal is all about patience. For every score I put on the board I died at least 10 or more times and got frustrated. It's so luck based you can find yourself screwed at anytime because of the randomness. Starving is probably what kills me the most.

Dredmor is only 5 bucks or 7.50 for the package with the DLC. I haven't gotten far so I can't give a full report on how good it is but so far I think it's great.

I knew I was forgetting a game. I haven't play Fatal Labyrinth but I've been meaning too. Kong suggested it and now I notice he has a score in it, I'll have to get on that. A lot like DC? It looks just like it from looking at Kongs score screenshot.
[/URL][url]http://www.retrouprising.com/game-menu/game/6760/ (http://www.retrouprising.com/game-menu/game/6760/scores/)

I bookmarked Spelunky. You left out Terraria in your similar games list, or at least it reminds me of it.

Don't worry about rambling on, that's what the forum is for. The only other person I know who likes these kind of games as much as me is my brother and he barely logs into RU. He's got some scores on the DC page under sumostomp but he never put in a serious effort, yet. He's better than I am so that's a good thing. Kong is also a fan but I can't speak to the severity of his fandom. :)

[ARedLetterDay]

Nah. Most rogue likes don't have sound / music. I always just go to youtube / WMP / iTunes and throw on a playlist. :D

The bounty hunter? Yeah, that dude is ridiculous.

Really? Last few times I've played it, there's always been plenty of food for me to gather up. I've never starved as far as I can remember. o.o

Yeah, think of it like the Genesis' estranged cousin called Fatal Labyrinth. :P

By that logic, I should have put in Minecraft :P But, yeah, I suppose I did forget Terraria. There's also Miner Dig Deep for XBLA, which is 80 points, pretty fun. Similar playstyle to Terraria, just more minecraft without the building.

I should start up a social group for rogue like fans, just to see how many there are. I'll be sad if there's just me, you, Kong, and sumostomp. :(

[Dudebro]

No music is fine since I usually dislike most game music anyways. Having no sound effects kinda sucks though. I like to hear attack sounds and monster sounds at least. No biggie though just making sure it was working right.

Early on there's plenty of food but later levels it starts to get noticeable. Plus you start running into sand sharks that eat some food when they attack.

Yeah I don't think the social group would be worth it. Every time I bring up games like this there's very little interest. Maybe that will change though, nothing is impossible.

-----
About Dungeon Crawl-

Can you explain the training thing a little? It seems like it starts with the optimal ones set for your species/class but you can alter it. Is it good to leave it as is or mess with it?

How does stealth work?

I had a really great run last night with the Minotaur(berserker I think). I was running a train on the enemies and I got to like floor 9 but then all the sudden I died with full health. Starved and didn't notice. That hurt my pride.

[ARedLetterDay]

For the training, it's your own personal preference IIRC. You can mess with it, if you want, to try and branch out for the abilities; or you can simply let the game do it for you.

Stealth:

The Stealth skill denotes how good your character is at sneaking around and remaining unnoticed by monsters. In effect, monsters will continue to sleep or wander when your character is around, and they may be vulnerable to stabbing (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Stabbing). Some backgrounds (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Background) such as the Thief (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Thief) or the Assassin (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Assassin) are built around this skill, but it may benefit other backgrounds too, especially spellcasters who may want to avoid dangerous confrontations.

CrawlWiki (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=CrawlWiki)

In case you have any further questions I won't be able to answer. ;)

[Dudebro]

That does answer another question I had, where are the mountain dwarves. The in game help info lists them and shows how awesome they are but you can't pick them. When they removed them from the game they should've taken them out of the help text too. What a let down.

[ARedLetterDay]

Dwarves are one of the best races in any form of fantasy, in my opinion. So badass, gruff, and their wry / dry sense of humor always tickles my funny bone.

I also noticed you're a fan of Diablo, if I remember correctly, which is another rogue like. You never know how many there are in the gaming world until you check.

[Dudebro]

Dwarves are usually my favorite too. I see they removed gnomes, that's also sad.

I guess Diablo is kinda the same. It's not as random as it could be though and you'd have to play on Hardcore to get the same effect.

[ARedLetterDay]

True. It's almost like a beginner rogue like, in my eyes, anyways. Still difficult, but not as brutal as the typical one.

[Dudebro]

Maybe I've been playing Diablo too long but I don't see it as difficult. It's a matter of how much time you can put into it. Compared to these roguelikes it's super easy.

[ARedLetterDay]

Iunno. I guess it's just me, but sometimes I get so engrossed in the world that I really forget to save, and I die in the middle of a dungeon, and, bam! All my hard earned items, gone. :(

[Dudebro]

Are you talking about Diablo 1? In 2 and 3(I assume) when you die you don't drop your items just gold the potions you were carrying in your hotkeys.

[ARedLetterDay]

Yep. The only one I've ever played extensively was the 1st one. I played a little bit of the 2nd one, but I forgot what stopped me. Anyways, Diablo 1 was brutal to me. Lol.

[Dudebro]

Diablo 1 was brutal. It wasn't balanced very well so when you played online people usually just came in with their mage and murdered you, taking all your stuff. That's if they didn't just straight up cheat, the anti cheat stuff was new back then. It also had friendly fire. I remember playing locally with friends and their magic would routinely slaughter me by accident. They didn't steal my stuff but running back naked wasn't fun. Great game though.

[ARedLetterDay]

Definitely.

Have you ever played Dark Stone? It was released for the PC and PSX, and was remarkably similar to Diablo, straight down to the Red and Blue health and mana pools.

But it was soooo much fun. Hah. Maybe I'm just blinded by nostalgia, but, I played the hell out of it as a kid and loved it. Never got very far, maybe about eight or nine hours in, but still, it was fun as hell.

[Dudebro]

Nah never heard of it. I just looked it up and the first video result was something like "most awful game on PS1" or something. It looks kinda bad but if I played it then I might've enjoyed it.

[ARedLetterDay]

Lol, oh lord. Most people just pass it over as a Diablo clone without giving it a try, and that's kinda sad, considering I actually like it just a teensy bit more than Diablo.

[Dudebro]

I dunno. From looking at it for a few mins I gotta give it to Diablo.

[ARedLetterDay]

Don't hold it against you DB. Diablo is far superior than DS, but I dunno.. something about it just gives it that classic charm. Again, maybe I'm just blinded by nostalgia DB. I'm getting old :P

[Demon-Mask]

I like Rougelikes.
I downloaded Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, haven't played it yet.

Main Page - RogueBasin (http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php/Main_Page)

[Dudebro]

Nice link. I found the main page for this game on there-
Linley's Dungeon Crawl - RogueBasin (http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php/Linley%27s_Dungeon_Crawl)

@Redletter- I understand about nostalgia. I'm probably the only person in the world who thinks Record of the Lodoss War is a great Dreamcast game. It's kinda like Diablo too but more linear.

Record Of Lodoss War Gameplay Sega Dreamcast HD - YouTube

[ARedLetterDay]

Holy.

That game looks amazing. Reminds me a lot of (well, other way around, since this game came first :P) Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for the PS2.

That just makes me wish I had a Dreamcast now.

[Dudebro]

I still have a DC but at some point the games got lost. I hear that's a hard game to get a hold of but amazon has used copies for like 15-30 bucks.

Back when I was playing it I didn't have access to the internet and I got stuck at a spot near the end. I couldn't figure it out and never ended up beating it, still bugs me. Btw if you think the sound of those foot steps gets annoying you should've heard it with heavy metal boots. It was like CLANK CLANK every second :lol:

[ARedLetterDay]

I actually find the sound of footsteps in games very calming. Once you get completely immersed in the world, say, like, the Elder Scrolls games or Fallout 3 / New Vegas, you kinda start to feel like you're in the game. It's pretty relaxing late at night, though that might just be me. :P

[Dudebro]

Don't get me wrong I love that sound effect too. It's just so striking to hear the metal boots in that game. Amusingly enough I just checked several gameplay videos and none had metal boots on, jeez I wonder why? I remember wearing them because they were good and I just turned the TV down a little. They were kinda ridiculous to listen to when you have to run around so much. It's like sitting there listening to someone beat a pot with a metal spoon at a fast tempo.

[ARedLetterDay]

Hey, don't knock someone beating a pot with a metal spoon! That's modern music at its best! :P

I think the worst sound effect for walking I had to hear was some SNES game, but it was just "squish, squish, squish" all the time. -shudders-

[Kong]

Fatal Labyrinth was my first dungeon crawler. I beat it when I was about 13. Took forever.

Anyone played Heroquest - Amiga (http://www.retrouprising.com/game-menu/game/9618/) Most people will probably hate it, but I think it is fun. It isn't a rogue-like game but it is somewhat similar. It is based on an old dungeon board game.

[ARedLetterDay]

You actually beat Fatal Labyrinth? Holy carp, you're my new hero Kong!

Nope, haven't played it, but just about to. ;)

[Dudebro]

Hero Quest is ridiculous! It's so brutal I thought it was broken when I first played it.


About Dungeon Crawl. How do you manage a dwarf character when it has no natural health regen? I know it starts with a heal staff but unless I'm remembering wrong it said it takes a permanent -2 mp to recharge it?

[ARedLetterDay]

It takes a permanent -1 MP to recharge it.

Remember, though, Dwarves take less damage than all the other races, so you can't get poisoned either. Their lack of being able to regenerate (you can't use the regeneration spell either, IIRC) is made up for their strong resistance to damage.

You can regain all the MP lost after recharging a wand, but you don't regain MP if you're wearing an Amulet of Guardian Spirit. As difficult as the deep dwarves seem to play, they're actually one of the easier races.

Here's a strategy quote from the wiki:

Initially, you start with a wand of healing, and the ability to recharge at the cost of one max MP. Use it. You're not going to regain that lost health naturally, so whenever your HP is at least 20 points or so below maximum, heal. Don't be afraid to use the recharging ability - it is better to end with 45 max MP instead of 50, than it is to die. Once you've identified potions of heal wounds (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Potion_of_heal_wounds), you should use them before the wand, as they can break, and using them means you won't have to sacrifice as many MP to charge your wand. Save potions of healing (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Potion_of_healing) for situations where you have a negative status effect, such as rot (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Rot) or confusion (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Confusion) - using them simply to heal HP is wasteful. Use the wand instead, charging it if necessary.
Later on, you will need a source of renewable healing, in addition to the usual means of non-renewable (consumable) healing. Consumable healing will quickly be exhausted if you don't find another way to heal. There are only a few ways to go about this:
Healing Through Necromancy (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Necromancy)

Deep Dwarves cannot use the Regeneration (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Regeneration) spell, but they are quite able to use Vampiric Draining (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Vampiric_Draining). This spell requires a living target in melee range to be effective; luckily, the game provides plenty of these. It is only found in the Book of Necromancy (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Book_of_Necromancy), which can be obtained in three ways:


By starting as a Necromancer (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Necromancer)
By worshiping Kikubaaqudgha (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Kikubaaqudgha), who gifts it fairly early (at * piety (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Piety))
By finding it randomly, often in a shop (one might also find a randart (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Randart) spellbook containing the same spell)

Gifted necromancers can also use Borgnjor's Revivification (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Borgnjor%27s_Revivification) to heal, but this is as much of an emergency spell for Deep Dwarves as it is for any other character, given its cost in max HP.
Passive Divine Healing

Two gods passively give HP for kills:


Makhleb (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Makhleb) gives HP for killing most enemies. He is by far the more common choice, since his healing is useful everywhere, and his other abilities are useful to just about any character build.
The Shining One (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=The_Shining_One) gives HP on killing "evil" enemies, namely demons, undead, and many spellcasters. A Deep Dwarf doing the extended end game may well find TSO to be a better option than Makhleb, since virtually all of the enemies in Hell (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Hell) and Pandemonium (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Pandemonium) are evil, and TSO gives a variety of useful abilities in fighting them.

Active Divine Healing

Three gods have invocations which can heal Deep Dwarves. All of these abilities cost piety, although to varying degrees.


Elyvilon (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Elyvilon) gives two healing abilities, Lesser and Greater Self-Healing. Both cost piety, but they are gained fairly early on (at * and *** piety, respectively), so most players will be unlikely to lose them. It is fairly easy to gain piety with Elyvilon, by destroying weapons as well as by pacifying monsters. However, these abilities require Invocations (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Invocations) skill to be most effective, and they both have steep food costs.
Trog (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Trog) gives a regeneration ability at ** piety, Trog's Hand. Unlike all other forms of regeneration, this works on Deep Dwarves. The ability does not require Invocation skill to be effective - rather, it becomes more effective with increasing piety. One must be careful about using this as one's only means of healing - it can rapidly consume piety, making it and Trog's other abilities considerably less effective.
Yredelemnul (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Yredelemnul) gives worshipers the ability to drain ambient lifeforce at **** piety. This ability is quite expensive, requires considerable Invocations investment (the max it can heal you is Invocation*2), and only works on living monsters. Taking Yred explicitly for this ability is inadvisable.

Vampiric Weapons

Vampiric weapons will heal Deep Dwarves when they hit a living target. Unfortunately, they are quite rare, and there is no way to guarantee that they will be on a useful weapon. An early vampiric weapon may give a Deep Dwarf more flexibility in god choice, however.
Non-renewable healing

Deep Dwarves can also heal themselves through the following consumable means:


Quaffing a potion of healing (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Potion_of_healing) or heal wounds (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Potion_of_heal_wounds)
Zapping a wand of healing (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Wand_of_healing)
The Elixir card, found in the Deck of War. Unfortunately this is not gifted by Nemelex Xobeh (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Nemelex_Xobeh)
The Potion card at low power, found in Decks of Wonders. If you have a reasonable amount of piety with Nemelex, you will only get healing from a plain deck.
Xom will occasionally heal worshipers
Drinking from a sparkling fountain gives a random potion effect, possibly including healing. This is generally a Bad Idea, given that other effects include rotting (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Rot) and mutation (http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Mutation).

[Dudebro]

I skimmed that before. I guess I was just overreacting to the loss of permanent MP, that's a drastic cost. I read that dwarves are considered easy but that cost and finite amount of healing confused me. Finding potions isn't reliable so that didn't help. The god thing helps a lot though. It limits your choices but at least it's not just limited to one.

I'm glad I read that thing about Elyvilon. I was using that god for a healer I made but then all the sudden I had no more self heal when I desperately needed it and the god was mad at me. I didn't understand why and of course I died.

[ARedLetterDay]

Now you're getting me to want to start a new character on DCSS.

Think I'll do that later tonight. Mine will obliterate yours, DB ;)

[Dudebro]

I would hope so I've only played five times so far. So far I had my best luck with a minotaur.

[ARedLetterDay]

Stick with the minotaur, then.

Are you playing with the Deep Dwarf, right now?

[Dudebro]

I'm not playing anything right now but I will try the dwarf for my next run later. Why?

[ARedLetterDay]

Just asking, since you were curious about the dwarf's stunted regeneration.

Edit:

By the by, have you ever played DoomRL? Rogue like in the Doom universe. I've never played but, I just downloaded it today, and might give it a chance later after I come back from work.

[Dudebro]

I asked because I tried a dwarf and didn't do well.

That Doom game looks alright but it seems like it's too limited, I prefer classes and such.
DoomRL Graphical Release (P1) - YouTube

[Enemy Ace]

I played this indie game some time ago, Shoot First.
Lets Play Indie Games: Shoot First, #1, blue boulder maze - YouTube

Very fun and it's freeware.
http://teknopants.com/games/shootfirst/

[ARedLetterDay]

Dear lord, that video is horrible, lol!

[Dudebro]

I just beat Kongs score in Fatal Labyrinth. I had 120+ gold but those damn Shinobis steal gold randomly when they hit you so I ended up around 80. The weird part is I got most of my gold on like floor 5, the game is usually pretty cheap about it. Later on the gold seems to be all mimics.

Oh and eating too much hurts you? Gah that sucked hard.

[Kong]

Eating too much can kill you. And you can't tell how much food the meat will give you. I had a good run going just now. I had 150 gold. I had 70 food. I picked up a meat that gave me at least 30 food and it killed me.

I don't mind the slow effect that eating too much gives you but dying is too extreme.

[ARedLetterDay]

Realism? In MY rouge like? It's more likely than you think.

Aha. I've never had that problem. I'm just weird when I'm playing RPGs of any kind 'cuz I never heal / eat until I get close to zero health / hunger / whatever. I guess that's a good thing in Fatal Labyrinth?

[Dudebro]

I think the effect wears off when you change floors. I walked around the same floor for a while and it seemed to just stay with me.

Btw at the same time I had the full effect I had another that made me have half AC and half Power, is that related? If so it really messed me up.

@Redletter- In these versions you usually wanna pick up food because you might not get any on the next floor.

[ARedLetterDay]

True, true.
It's been a while since I've played Fatal Labyrinth. I think I'll play some today. Thank goodness for Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection!

[Kong]

This is from an old memory but here is how I remember food working in Fatal Labyrinth.

If you pick it up you automatically eat it. You can not save it for later.
Each piece of meat ranges randomly from 10-30 points of food.
If you have 70-80 food then you get a food warning.
If you have 80-99 then you are slowed. You take two turns for every move/action.
If you have over 99 then you die.

I think that is a design flaw in an otherwise pretty cool game.

[Dudebro]

Another flaw is the bows, they remove 1 AC every time you equip them. If you go below zero it goes to 99, a cheat. I'll add it to the mod notes.

[ARedLetterDay]

Wow. I had no idea FL was so..

well, flawed. Guess that's why they call it Fatal Labyrinth.

In other news, just got done playing a round of DCSS.

Died on Level 2. Sigmund came and slayed me. I was a level four Merfolk with a ring of Levitation, a Crystal Plate armor, and an uncursed hand axe.

Damn uniques. :(

[Kong]

Another flaw is the bows, they remove 1 AC every time you equip them. If you go below zero it goes to 99, a cheat. I'll add it to the mod notes.
...

You are allowed to use any glitches that were included in the original game. By glitches we mean bugs that the programmers left in the original game such as walking through walls. There may be exceptions in a few games if there is an extreme glitch.

[Dudebro]

I think this is an exception to that rule. You shouldn't lose armor for using a bow and you shouldn't be able to get 99 AC on level 1 and walk through the game naked. Right?

@Red Letter- Besides the bow glitch I don't see the game as flawed. The food thing just makes you have to choose very carefully when you eat. It's just another layer of difficulty.

[ARedLetterDay]

That's true.
Iunno. I agree with Kong in the fact that the food thing is a design flaw. You can't really tell which piece of meat will give you X amount of food, so it's all just random. Not so much a choosing carefully thing, in my eyes.

[Dudebro]

Maybe it's an oversight but I can see why they decided to do it. They wanted to make the game very hostile so making even the food dangerous accomplishes that. I only encountered the problem on floor 11 so it's not that common anyways unless you get a lot of food for some reason.

[ARedLetterDay]

I guess.

It's all really dependent on the level layout you get, I suppose, lol. Food in FL is like a double-edged sword, I swear.

[Dudebro]

It is a double edged sword, that's the point. When I was playing I tried to leave it for as long as I could before going up a level if I was close to full. The one time it hurt me was because I didn't wanna kill anymore time and I just ate it. I could certainly do without the food thing but I'm not too bothered by it either.

[ARedLetterDay]

Now that I look back on it, it isn't too much of a nuisance -- so long as you keep your eye on everything, it shouldn't be too much of a hindrance. It's still a difficult design choice either way. :(

[Dudebro]

Update- Dungeons of Dredmor is an awesome dungeon crawler. So far it's been very challenging for me but despite getting my ass handed to me regularly I'm enjoying it a lot. My most successful build had Golemancy(mustache golem for the win!) and Hand to Hand combat(I'm cheap and lazy so it suits me). I had other skills of course but those were those two had the biggest impact.

It has an option to turn off permadeath though. Clicking that makes it incredibly easy since you can just retry and run past any enemies that might be too difficult. I might use it to beat the game once and see what it's like, maybe not.

I also played more Stone Soup and got much better at it. I still die stupidly but at least I understand it and I don't die from not noticing I'm starving.

[Kong]

Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (http://www.retrouprising.com/game-menu/game/7741/) » Super Nintendo (http://www.retrouprising.com/game-menu/super-nintendo/) is amazing. Easily the best dungeon crawler I've played. It's the newest one I've played too though.

[ARedLetterDay]

Has anyone here played the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games? They are really,

really,

really good. In my eyes, anyways, and I am not particular to Pokemon.

[ARedLetterDay]

Bumping this thread for old times!

[Dudebro]

I still play this but I'm not getting much better at it.

[Dudebro]

I played a mummy necromancer and it was pretty cool. You don't have to eat and you can get pets to help you kill stuff. The downside of course is mummies are weak to fire. I forget what enemy it was but it hit me with some fire and slaughtered me.

If this game had snes graphics I think it would be really popular. As it is I like it but I can see why it might turn off a lot of people.

[friedtako]

you people are making me want to crack open DCSS again! thanks!

---------- Post added at 07:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:41 AM ----------

I just started a Draconian Berserker, I'll see how far I get before I get creamed.

---------- Post added at 07:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:05 AM ----------

Varos died against a group of gnolls. He was a Draconian Berserker, prayed to Trog nearly incessantly. might remake him.

---------- Post added at 08:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:48 AM ----------

made myself an iTunes track mix of these songs: 'cruel angel's thesis', 'flying in the sky' , 'the arena(naked mix)'

[Dudebro]

Anyone tried this game?
Tales of Maj'Eyal and T-Engine4 | Topdown tactical RPG roguelike game and game engine (http://te4.org/)


I've been playing a lot of Dungeons of Dredmor recently and it's tons of fun. Lots of skills to customize your character and the difficulty keeps you on your toes. It's only 5 bucks on Steam, 10 for the complete pack with the three DLCs.

---------- Post added 02-15-2013 at 10:53 PM ---------- Previous post was 02-13-2013 at 10:50 AM ----------

Now is a great time to buy Dungeons of Dredmor if anyone is interested. It's a well made roguelike with lots of personality. The difficulty is good, punishing but fair, but it also allows you to remove the permadeath if it's too much.

It's $2.50 until the 21st on Steam. Dudebro highly recommends it.

[ARedLetterDay]

If DB recs it, I'm def. buying it.

[Dudebro]

I just hope it's not too easy for you. I say that because you seem to have more experience with this genre than I do. But I did read that it's highly regarded in the roguelike community, besides some minor issues people inevitably have. Let me know if you like it.

[ARedLetterDay]

Chances are it's a graphical roguelike (more often than not), and I do infinitely better in those than the ASCII based ones like NetHack or any other one.
I'll check it out tonight, God willing.

[Dudebro]

I hope god is willing to let you play this game. Personally I think he should just mind his own business but that's just me.

[ARedLetterDay]

I'm downloading Tales of Maj'Eyal right now, then I'm gonna play that for an hour or two, then get DoD.
Roguelike-night tonight.

[Dudebro]

I'm playing Conquest of Elysium atm and it's pretty fun. It's described as a strategy roguelike. You choose your class(which is more like your Civ or Race) and you explore a randomly generated map. There's no micromanaging it's strictly explore and combat. Its depth comes from making different combination of troops and finding places that improve your civ. It's also 2.50 on Steam right now. The only bad thing I can say about it is the graphics but that's not a big deal since the gameplay is fun.

Let me know how that Tales game is.

[ARedLetterDay]

It is. . .very deep.
Every icon has like this huge textbox with an endless information pool. :P There's a lot of choices at the start, and it's actually fairly easy on Normal mode, but difficult enough to keep you interested.
Best of all, it's free.

[Dudebro]

I heard something about more content if you bought stuff or donated, notice any of that?

[ARedLetterDay]

I think I saw a donate button somewhere on there but I didn't really pay attention. There's plenty of features in the game as it is.

Also, it has a neat thing where you can link your account / character to the website, so people can check your progress and achievements and stuff. Also gives you a neat little congratulations message if you beat the game.

[Dudebro]

You already beat it?

[ARedLetterDay]

Ha, no.
It pops up when you start the game for the first time.

[ARedLetterDay]

Started a new, fresh game on ToME as a Higher Human Archer.
Character sheet is located here:
by sfertheunwise | Tales of Maj'Eyal and T-Engine4 (http://te4.org/characters/34856/tome/1420749d-46a0-4c09-8083-f2e88ff68395)
Here's to hoping I'm good. Playing on normal difficulty, Adventure rules (get a limited number of lives, and you get one more life every few levels I think).

[Dudebro]

That character sheet thing is really cool. How does it update?

[ARedLetterDay]

I think it updates every time you save the game logged into the online server.

[Dudebro]

I'm gonna have to try that game really soon. It's a shame we're the only people on RU cool enough to like these games.

[ARedLetterDay]

Well, it's free, and already has provided hours of funstration for me. :P
Plus, there's a chat system in-game once you log in. Neat. Can ask for help on a quest or what an item is used for or something something.

I know.
We need to start a roguelike support group, get people into them. :P

[Dudebro]

Just keep talking about it here, people are bound to get interested and check it out. It's hard to not try it when the best ones we're playing are totally free.

[Wolf]

fun game just pissed my character of 23 mins was killed by another mage

---------- Post added at 12:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 AM ----------

Lupo the level 5 Higher Alchemist by wolfman24 | Tales of Maj'Eyal and T-Engine4 (http://te4.org/characters/37272/tome/ee6c35eb-388b-42f7-8361-77013ba480e1)

[Dudebro]

Man this game is hard. I started off with five enemies just about surrounding me and I died. :(

[Wolf]

lol I was playing a hour opened a door and mages were all around and I died, I am playing adventure mode now and only died twice my character has about 400 hp and deals about 100 damage

[Dudebro]

This game is great. This is easily one of the best roguelikes I've ever tried. The second time I played I made it to level 11 on the adventure setting. It's sorta a roguelike RPG until you run out of lives. I was really bummed when I finally lost it all. Everything was going great until I entered a slaver camp. The creatures controlling the slaves hit me hard with magic and took 3 of my lives in a row. I should've just got out of there but I was so close to the end. On the last floor, I think, I came across an enemy 5 levels ahead of me and got smoked before I could run. :(

bro the level 11 Dwarf Bulwark by dudebro | Tales of Maj'Eyal and T-Engine4 (http://te4.org/characters/37645/tome/320e5ecb-faad-4a69-a998-9dcb9fb24152)

[ARedLetterDay]

New version of ToME!

Tales of Maj'Eyal 1.0.1 aka "Nature's Wrath" | Tales of Maj'Eyal and T-Engine4 (http://www.te4.org/blogs/darkgod/2013/03/news/tales-majeyal-101-aka-natures-wrath)

[DrunkN]

Just downloaded this game to my tablet. Chalk me up for being tardy to three parties in the last two weeks 'cause I'm lovin' it.

[Dudebro]

It is pretty awesome huh?

[DrunkN]

It is pretty awesome huh?
I don't know if I could sit down and play it on a PC, but it's made for a very enjoyable mobile RPG that leaves plenty to the imagination rather than cramming some crummy visuals down your throat.

[Dudebro]

Well sit down and play it on a PC, you'll still like it I promise.

[DrunkN]

Well sit down and play it on a PC, you'll still like it I promise.
I have too many games I'm already playing on the PC. I don't have a particular abundance that I have on mobile.

[Dudebro]

I tried an alchemist and it's awesome. You start with the ability to throw bombs(using gems in your inventory) and make a golem. The golem is what makes it so good. It's got good AI, you level it like would with your own character and you can equip it with gear. You can even give it quest rewards like bonus stats or abilities. I suggest you guys give it a whirl. I started as a halfling to try it but it's not the best magic race if you're looking for an ideal build.

So I went into a forest and found an NPC who needed an escort to his portal nearby. No problem, these quests are always worth it for the stat/ability bonuses. The NPC forgot to tell me about the horde of insects around the corner.

I died later :( I was doing really good but I met up with a powerful mage that crippled me. I accidentally clicked to restart in that same fight and died again to lose my last life. Pretty big fail.
http://te4.org/characters/37645/tome/6993ffff-a2a5-473b-baa8-43745f9100ea

[Dudebro]

TankBro the level 17 Cornac Bulwark by dudebro | Tales of Maj'Eyal and T-Engine4 (http://te4.org/characters/37645/tome/5c541b0a-dc4a-4c3d-92e5-a187763db82e)

That's the furthest I've made it so far in both levels and storyline. This game is addicting.

[Dudebro]

Brickhouse the level 22 Cornac Bulwark by dudebro | Tales of Maj'Eyal and T-Engine4 (http://te4.org/characters/37645/tome/a974df8a-f37a-437a-a341-327672f17e41)

This is the furthest I've made it. Got stuck on two dungeons because the bosses are super strong magically. Anyone else get this far?

[ARedLetterDay]

The farthest I got was the first time I posted about my character. I've gotten distracted with DCSS instead lol, but I haven't done much better in there than in ToME. For as much as I love the rougelikes, I'm not very good at them :/

[Dudebro]

I tend to fail a lot in them too. It's easy to get complacent and blow all your hard work. I lost like 4 lives being dumb, still stings.