suggestions for a "thematic" RL?

[Kneller]

So, I've been playing a bit of dredmor and TOME to get my feet wet. I'm going to keep on with these, but I'd also like to add another RL into the mix. I'm looking for something with a more solid theme. These other two just seem like generic fantasy to me. I'd like to find something a little less generic and a little more immersive. For example, I tried Cataclysm. It was closer, but there were a bazillion classes to choose from so it all felt pretty random (and it displayed way too small on my screen so I couldn't see anything anyway). I'm going to give Infra Arcana a shot, as that seems to stick to the Lovecraftian theme, but I'm looking for other suggestions for (completed/stable) RLs that fit this bill. It really doesn't even matter much what the theme is. I'd settle for another medieval fantasy, but I'd like to give something else a shot, as long as it's not just a mishmash of concepts. What do you suggest? Thanks.

[jim]

Sil.

http://www.amirrorclear.net/flowers/game/sil/

Tolkien. But whereas most fantasy RLs are Evan Williams, Wild Turkey, etc., this is the aged Makers Mark.

Infra Arcana.

http://infraarcana.wikispaces.com/

Yeeeaaaaaahhhh Lovecraft!

[AgingMinotaur]

Infra Arcana is very nice. I also come to think of Legerdemain (some kind of medieval fantasy, but far from bland) and Caves of Qud (post-apocalyptic mutant scifi/fantasy mix). Have fun.

As always,
Minotauros

[Kneller]

I've been playing Infra Arcana. I really like what they did here. The clever and accurate usage of the Lovecraftian setting makes it seem so much less like a random dungeon crawl.

It doesn't matter the setting, as long as it's well designed and doesn't try to be more than it is. I'm not a huge fan of medieval high fantasy (that genre is a little played out for me), but I'll give Sil a shot. Tolkien wasn't too over-the-top (based on the movies), so that might work. I checked out Legerdemain, but it seemed to generic to me.

Does CoQ have a stable release yet? I heard about it a couple years back, but everyone said that it was buggy, development stopped, and it was indefinitely in beta.

[Vanguard]

Sil's the best, but if you don't like Tolkien you're going to miss some of the appeal.  It's based on a story from The Silmarillion and even the mechanics were designed to feel appropriate for the setting.

[Avagart]

Does CoQ have a stable release yet? I heard about it a couple years back, but everyone said that it was buggy, development stopped, and it was indefinitely in beta.

Caves of Qud is still beta, of course, but CoQ hasn't a lot of bugs.

[AgingMinotaur]

I checked out Legerdemain, but it seemed to generic to me.

Oh, that surprises me. As I remember it, once you reach the first village, the game opens up to a world with a really unique feeling. All in the eye of the beholder, of course.

Does CoQ have a stable release yet? I heard about it a couple years back, but everyone said that it was buggy, development stopped, and it was indefinitely in beta.

It's officially in beta, but quite stable, and bigger than most RLs. I think the devs haven't finished implementing the main plot line yet, but I've never reached a sign saying: "The world ends here," there are still dozens of quests and places to visit.

Sil … I haven't played that one, but everyone is heaping praise on it, I should probably check it out some time.

As always,
Minotauros

[Kneller]

Sil's the best, but if you don't like Tolkien you're going to miss some of the appeal.

I noticed a total lack of hobbits, which was a little disappointing. Even though I'm not a super huge Tolkien fan, I like that it's not trying to be everything. And the "songs" for magic are a nice twist. What I don't like (and it's a minor nit) is the limited light resource. I burned through a torch on just the first floor (or was it two?) and have yet to find a replacement. I like to explore thoroughly, but this game seems to punish that a little.

In any event, it's hard for a fantasy medieval game to seem fresh. I mean, it's all been pretty much done.

Infra Arcana has a new version coming out in the next few days, according to the dev. He actually said to me (I posted on the forums) not to bother with this version, the next one was going to be tons better.

I went through RogueBasin to see if that could give me some leads, but it wasn't much help. They have tons there, but 95% of it are WIPs (from at least 5 years ago) or just flat out dead projects that were never finished. Someone should clean house there.

I used to do some python scripting many years back. I wonder how tough it would be to throw my own RL together. I'm guessing "very" if 95% of people on RogueBasin don't finish...

[jim]

Legerdemain, to me, was the least conventional roguelike setting I've ever played. It seemed like a giant crazy mishmash of psychedelia and decay, and was a mostly original piece (aside from the orcs... why on earth he decided to include orcs, I have no idea.)

Sil is based on Tolkien's, uh, obscure fairy tales surrounding the ancient times of gods and demons, back when the world was still young. Sort of a clash of the titans, Lud-in-the-Mist type of thing. It's nice and consistent, and come on, it recites poetry to you when you start up the game.

If you invest a little into smithing, you can create a lesser gem, which lasts forever and casts as much light as a torch. However, with Sil, the limited light resource is not your biggest concern, nor is food. If you check your character's stats, you will see your current dungeon depth next to the "minimum" dungeon depth. Morgoth's darkened halls sing out and draw heroes ever deeper...

Anyway, hope you like it. I love solid themes in my video games and think that Sil does a great job here.

[Kneller]

It seemed like a giant crazy mishmash...

I'm not a big fan off mishmash. I think the only setting to pull it off well was Shadowrun, but even that can be a little dodgy.

Sil is good, though. It's coherent. Like I said, I'm not a big fan of medieval fantasy these days, but it does it well. I'm giving it a shot.

Still looking for other suggestions, though. If I can't find a good fix, I might force myself to dust off my Python books.

[sokol815]

Still looking for other suggestions, though. If I can't find a good fix, I might force myself to dust off my Python books.

That's pretty much my problem. No one rogue-like does exactly what I want it to do, so I am making my own. =) This probably also stems from the fact that I am a programming addict.

[Kneller]

I'm really hesitant to take on a project like a RL, though, with everything else I have going on. I'd like to find at least one more game to round it out. Then, I think I'd be satisfied.

Sil is pretty good, especially considering it's medieval fantasy. I like the setting of InfraArcana, but the game itself is beyond brutal. I think ToME has run it's course with me. Dredmore doesn't even feel like a RL anymore, though I like the ingredients/crafting element. Now that I'm getting a hang of builds, it's starting to get a little easy. I'd like to find something like Cataclysm (mostly for the crafting and non-medieval setting), but a little less mishmashy and more visible (it all displays so tiny on my laptop).

[Stone Dog]

Some other very thematic RLs you might try:

• DoomRL
  The setting is, well, Doom. So very definite as a theme, while of course having almost no kind of in-depth lore. Gameplay is very fast-paced. You can do melee, but the focus is obviously ranged weapons, which to me makes it very different from other roguelikes.
• Unreal World
  Set in a mythical Iron Age Finland. Very survival centered. From my very limited play experience, it has somewhat awkward controls, but huge depth.
• Cogmind
  A 7DRL. You are a robot, and can, in lieu of character progression, attach a variety of parts (propulsion system, weapons, reactors, etc.) to yourself. I have to admit I've got zero playing experience with this, but it looks really good on paper.

[DaBeowulf]

Yup, there are only a few it seems, the two best for this already suggested to or tried by you:

I am sorry to tell you but Cataclysm:DDA is one of the best shots at this (and you can see to it that it displays better for you, adjust your terminal, heck maybe try them awful tiles).

Definitely UrW as was mentioned by Stone Dog. I would say this one takes the cake here.

GearHead1 (alas no permadeath and shops restock(ed?) too frequently to be believable/a challenge to get new equipment, also the random chat is, well, totally random hence not immersive)

Incursion: Halls of the Goblin King
is deep and immersive as well

[guest509]

Stop outside the box a bit. Doom has TONS of theme, and I have found AliensRL to be very thematic with great use of sound.

+1 to Infra Arcana.

Also Brogue, it's not heavy on the theme so much, it's more a mechanics game, but I always recommend it to just about everyone.

Dwarf Fortress as well. Man, that game is very unique. Standard fantasy theme perhaps but executed with tons of AWESOME.

I don't know if GEARHEAD is still around, but that game is totally different and puts theme way out front.

There are lots of smaller games as well that try for a different type of setting. Slash has a few games like Castlevania and Mt. Drash (did I spell that right?).

ADOM has a pretty nice take on theme and story as well. I've not played the updated version.

Dungeonmans is a newer game with an over the top ZOMG theme.

Approaching Infinity is space themed, pretty deep and complex though I've not been able to play much. Sadly.

Okay that's enough for now. I can go on and on.