Vote for your favourite Major roguelike ;)

[Adral]

I've recently tried Angband (or one of the variants or something) and hated it. If anyone could point out it's finer parts, maybe I might enjoy it. The maps I ran across were absolutely horrible.

Hm... Angband...

I have got a love/hate relationship with Angband. It is one of the simpler roguelikes out there, easy to pick up and play (and now even more in the 3.0.8 betas, with friendlier menus and interface), so easy in fact even my girlfriend started liking it. It also has a certain action-game feel to it, since you get more and more stupidly powerful items, maps are rearranged (so you focus on tactics and inventory management much more than long term strategy) and the feel there are no puzzles to solve, like Nethack, nor it is extremely cruel against the new player, like Crawl. You have that urge to collect nice items, resistances, etc, which I find fun. Mindless fun, basically.

On the other hand, though, there is a *huge* dungeon (100 levels? It's just absurd), the rainbow monster problem, where you have hundreds of silly variations of a same monster, and the overall grindiness of it all. I think Angband would gain a lot if the dungeon was shorter without reducing its difficulty, since it would put a bit of more pressure into the player. Oh, and yes, the maps are horrible , but at least you get to tunnel all the way to find treasure! .

Yeah, it's a very personal opinion, but I am sometimes in an Angband mood. I find it fun.

For a variant with (much) cooler maps, try Unangband. Lots of flavor in the dungeon, really!

[corremn]

Hm... Angband...

I have got a love/hate relationship with Angband.

I have never got into Angband because I spent most of my earlier years playing Moria instead, which has only 50 necessary levels.  For those you think angband is to big try Quickband. You get to experience everything angband has to offer in only ten levels (although i cant remember what variant it is based on, NPP?).

I played ADOM for the first time in years the other day and suddenly realised how dull it is, compared to Crawl and more recently IVAN.  THis is I guess that once you have mastered it there are no suprises anymore .  Although to my amazment my last adom game I got sacrificed on a neutral altar by an invisible stalker just as I was thinking this game was to predictable! I think IVAN has some amazing features that really bring a roguelike to life. You will have to overcome its graphics and limb system first before you find it fun though, once you do, wow!

If I could not vote on these four RLs  though, because they each have a different meaning to me.
Moria/Angband because it introduced me to roguelikes in the first place and taught me the meaning of patience.
ADOM  because it was the game that revolutionised RLs for me.
Crawl because it injected new life into genre.
And nethack... well I dont think I have got past level 5, sorry I just dont like it.

[averin]

Pros and cons:
Angband:
Pros -- simple.  The interface is probably the easiest to learn out of all the roguelikes.  You don't need to spend two months reading spoilers to win.  Has a reasonably large fanbase.  Many variants.  Open-source.  Easily customized.
Cons -- mindnumbingly tedious.  Akin to "ID-scumming" in ADOM.

ADOM:
Pros -- I love the alignment system, and how it actually means something.  Quests are interesting, and there are many of them.  Good role-playing -- the game feels "real."  The game is difficult, and well-balanced.  Because of corruption, most types of farming have negative consequences.
Cons -- It takes two months of spoiler-reading before you actually know what you need to do to win the game.  You have to know who to talk to, and if you talk to certain people before or after a certain time, certain opportunities can be lost forever.  It takes forever to figure out the game without spoilers.  Heck, it takes forever to even figure out the interface.  No wizard-mode, explore mode, or source code.

NetHack:
Pros -- Large fanbase, so you will have shoulders to cry on if you're drowned by an eel or whatever.  Can be played online.  Active IRC channel.  Many spoilers available -- anything you need to know about the game can be easily discovered through Wikia, or tested in wizard mode.  The game has a clear objective, and the objects required to retrieve the Amulet of Yendor can be easily discovered using the "encyclopedia" feature.  Easiest roguelike I have played, but can be made as difficult as you want with the proper conducts.  Guaranteed wand of wishing.  Developers have a sense of humor.
Cons -- Still very hard to ascend unspoiled.  The setting feels rather artificial -- the dungeon doesn't feel like a real *dungeon*.  Too many goddamn maze levels.  Rewards excessive patience/farming (like Angband).  You can choke.  Eels should be permanently removed from the game.

Crawl: I played this for about five minutes.  The most memorable part of it for me was dissecting food before you could eat it.

For the record, my vote went to NetHack.

[mpa]

Its ADOM for me.

It has real storyline and quests that make sense. Multiple endings and scores of NPCs    with a resemblance of personality. It's probably somewhat closer to a "real" RPG than being roguelike.

[Maelstrom]

1. Crawl. This game looks like quintessence of roguelike - pure gameplay. With using of auto-explore 99% time goes into battle, and most battles are deadly. If you just start mindlessly hitting arrow keys, you will instantly die. Also, crawl has good skill, magic and religion system.

2. ADOM. First roguelike with not-tending-to-zero plot, though it is still not worth a copper coin.  Adom has a great diversity in race/class, but lacks in magic and religion.

3. Nethack. Pile of incoherent rubbish. Photographing a dragon sitting on a toilet may be fun, but I think the game must be more serious. Also, there is little information inside the game, you just can't say (without reading spoilers) which weapon is better in accuracy/damage statistic. Situation is saved by really interesting situations like eating your sword, petrifying enemy with cockatrice corpse, laying eggs, polymorphing into pudding and squeezing under a door, etc.

4. Angband. Boooring and empty. Non-persistent dungeons. ZAngband and Entroband are even worse pile of rubbish than Nethack.