Like a lot of roguelike players, I am captivated by the concept of random. I love the difficulty level and how whenever someone actually beats Rogue it is likely the biggest accomplishment in their gaming career. I also have this ideal of maximizing every run I make, even if that run has no chance at victory. I rarely live up to this, but when I feel I have done the best I can do with the hand I was dealt, I find it satisfying despite technically being a loss.
Maximizing every run. That's interesting aspect of replayability. I haven't really thought of it like that before. It's a very good point, and I see now that's why hi-score table is important part of the game.
But, don't you think it's unfair, that something is wrong with the game balance, when you really don't have even a theoretical chance to beat the game without 2hand-sword? I think if there is no good weapons in the dungeon the game should compensate by providing more enchant weapon scrolls. I think that's what "game-balance" ultimately needs to provide, to decrease the impact of random factors and make separate runs have similar chance for victory.
By the way, have you ever tried enchanting arrows?
Yes, the hi-score table is also important to me because it gives me a sense of community. I had the most fun when both Pertinax and I were playing regularly. Is it really that bad without a two handed sword? I've had at least a couple really good runs with a mace, but it did require a handful of enchantments. So I can see your point there.
But then again the unfair, unforgiving, and absolutely brutal nature of this game is what made it so satisfying to beat. As I realized I had a chance my hands were trembling and I actually felt emotional about finally defeating this game that has brutalized and abused me for over a year. Okay, that's a little melodramatic, but you get the idea.
No, I have never enchanted an arrow. I have accidentally enchanted a bow before, but I don't know that it did anything.
I also like how fast you can play a game, especially in version 5, without taking away from the skill of the game.
Then you will like Rogue+ with mouse support. I think with it the same game can be played in half the time than regular keyboard version even with its shortcuts. I'll upload new, now mostly complete, version later today.
I dunno - I can be pretty dang fast on a keyboard
I hesitate to say what I do not like or what changes I would make because I know so many people have already identified and changed these things in creating their own roguelikes, and I know more intelligent answers would come out of brainstorming with other gamers.
Having played it that much I think it is you who have the best perspective and can give the most valuable opinion about it. For example, don't you think the blindness effect takes too long? It's a good concept for a difficulty factor, but it's also annoying, and I think its long duration takes away from enjoyment, more than it contributes to the difficulty as a game mechanics.
By the way, have you noticed if the potion of haste actually works?
The more I play the better I get with dealing with and avoiding blindness:
1. I start quaffing potions immediately until a) I find a potion of gain strength; b) I poison myself (thus losing STR and wasting a potion of gain strength should I find one); or, c) I get to about Floor 4. That early in the dungeon you can usually explore at will and have a decent chance of surviving even when blind.
2. From about Floor 4 I just let my inventory build up until Floor 7. Then I go through most of my scrolls seeing if I can identify some potions. If that fails, and I blind myself by randomly quaffing, there's a pretty good chance I have a potion of healing, extra healing, or see invisible to cure my blindness somewhere in my built up inventory. Of course, if I have any of those blindness cures already identified and in inventory then I feel far more free to test my unidentified potions.
3. Sometimes you can almost figure out what unidentified scrolls and potions are just by process of elimination. Or at least know if it's a bad bet.
4. If you start a level in a room with no access points, only one access point, or a maze, then at least you can usually wait out blindness depending on your ration supply. Then again, all that running around means lots of monster spawning.
In this run I just completed I almost screwed it up. I had already identified quite a few potions and had 4-5 unidentified in inventory. I started quaffing and by the end was both blind and hallucinating. Fortunately, I was able to beat whatever unseen foes approached me. Some of them may have even been Trolls!
Yes, the potion of haste self works wonders. It just doesn't last very long. What I don't understand is when I use a scroll of monster confusion, confuse a monster, but then he is not at all confused and continues to chase me. I've seen this Trolls mostly.
