Tips on easy-to-learn roguelikes?

[kraflab]

If you're playing without permadeath than you are playing a completely different game, a completely different genre even.  Thus you can't really ask for a roguelike without permadeath.  What you want is just a different game entirely.

I think you can get extra lives in tome4 if you are a donater...not sure though.

[deathknight1728]

Ive actually taken a different turn in my perspective on these games. After realizing that its somewhat normal to die (Am I right?), Ive come to believe that these are some of the best games out there. Right now I am currently enjoying Cardinal Quest my 2nd time as my first char only made it to lvl 6 of 12. What is cool is that the risks are doubly there and you have to make some serious close calls in order to survive. I havent gotten close to finishing the game but I want to play it even more with that knowledge.

What I like about Cardinal Quest 1 is that there still is a story attached to the game. I hope that there are other games of that same vein out there if I eventually finish this game.

[guest509]

  Yeah man. Now you are getting it. One of the goals of the designer of a roguelike is to make sure you learn something each time you die so you can do better next time, and also to make death a very scary thing. That tension, the high stakes, the progression of your game skill (not your game character), those are the things this genre is super good at.

  Grinding a character up to a high level, feeling tons of attachment for your character, that's more of an RPG thing. Roguelikes are RPG's in many ways, but not in the 'attachment' way.

  Some would argue that in old school paper and pencil Dungeons and Dragons you died A TON! So in that vein maybe Roguelikes are very RPG-like, just not in the more modern sense.

EDIT: http://roguetemple.com/forums/index.php?topic=2710.0

Here is a thread where I ascend on Cardinal Quest, it's considered one of the easier Roguelikes, but it sure gave me trouble. :-)

[deathknight1728]

Oh don't worry. That was the thread I read over 3 times before it dawned on me-This is normal. I just hope that in the future there are more rogue-likes almost exactly like Cardinal Quest. I know there is a sequel in the works. I just like a lot of what the game has-an actual game story, the class system where each character plays differently. If you know of any other ones in the future, throw me a bone and I will do the same

[guest509]

  Dude have you checked out ToME4? It has the click interface style of Cardinal Quest, tons of story too that Darren Grey wrote. It's like Cardinal Quest on meth'roids with all the nasty side effects. Tons of character classes, solid graphics. It's considered the top game now for a few years running (it keeps winning the annual poll).

http://te4.org/

That's the site for the game.

[deathknight1728]

Yeah I actually have that. Im trying to find out the basics of the game as its a little complicated but fun nonetheless.

Theres another game I want to try out seriously before I go to TOME. The last time I played it was when I wasn't into the whole permadeath. The games called: LambdaRogue. I donated $10 bucks to the maker as he was really a cool dude. Said something about my name will appear in the game. If you haven't played it, you might like it. Its got an awesome stat/skill system but the interface isn't as easy to use as TOME. Probably the best story Ive read though so far for these games.

Im telling ya, story is so important for me for these games. If a roguelike doesn't have any story I might as well be playing an action/rpg. Even if the story is like Cardinal Quest, you gotta have some kind of story.

[deathknight1728]

 Dude have you checked out ToME4? It has the click interface style of Cardinal Quest, tons of story too that Darren Grey wrote. It's like Cardinal Quest on meth'roids with all the nasty side effects. Tons of character classes, solid graphics. It's considered the top game now for a few years running (it keeps winning the annual poll).

http://te4.org/

That's the site for the game.

Is Tome as brutal as the other roguelikes out there ? I tried playing through Cardinal Quest but with no luck. Once I get to lvl 5, I find that my fighter just dies horribly due to the powerful and devious enemies. I happen to like Dungeons of Dredmor but even that game is brutal in permadeath mode, even moreso than CQ.

Is TOme worth trying or should I forget it?

[Nymphaea]

Is Tome as brutal as the other roguelikes out there ? I tried playing through Cardinal Quest but with no luck. Once I get to lvl 5, I find that my fighter just dies horribly due to the powerful and devious enemies. I happen to like Dungeons of Dredmor but even that game is brutal in permadeath mode, even moreso than CQ.

Is TOme worth trying or should I forget it?

It depends on the person I suppose, I kind of liked the game, but some parts I didnt. It takes longer than most roguelikes(Similar to angband and its variants, I supposed) but it has a mode that gives you extra lives every few levels. It's not enough to make the game super easy, but makes it easier to learn before you take the dive into full permadeath.

Just be aware it has some mechanics very different from other games. There are little totems and such that will lower or raise stats around dungeons within a radius of them.(You can see a glowing circle) One that threw me off though, is enemies with very specific teleporting skills. Don't remember the name of the skill, but early in the game I ran into wolves that could teleport to an adjacent square, even if they couldn't possible walk there, and attack you, which lost me lives in hallways as it was impossible to retreat.

[deathknight1728]

I found that TOME was way too technical. I first started playing once after printing out sheets of all the stats and skills that the game had. I thought after a while that maybe too technical of a game to just get into.

I hope that someday I can eventually get to complete Cardinal Quest as that game is really a lot of fun. Its hard as anything, but something brings me back to it all the time.

They should make more roguelikes like that.

[guest509]

  Hey Deathknight you still trippin' on what's the game for you?

  Most people dig Brogue. It's great. DoomRL as well. Check out those two, then check out their forums. Lambda is good as well, it recently hit completion. ToME4 is great but it's not for me, many MANY people call it the best. The graphic version of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is good, as is powder.
 
  Soon the 7DRL challenge will commence. I recommend checking out the top 10 rated games, and any others that get good buzz/discussion.

  Peace.

[TheCreator]

ToME4 is great but it's not for me, many MANY people call it the best.

Recent history proves that it is very easy to lure MANY people, and some make a good use of this experience, so that it often turns out that MANY people are wrong. It should be obvious for RL players, as RL itself is a niche (although it's quickly drifting towards mainstream nowadays). Otherwise we would all end up playing FarmVille.

[Nymphaea]

Recent history proves that it is very easy to lure MANY people, and some make a good use of this experience, so that it often turns out that MANY people are wrong. It should be obvious for RL players, as RL itself is a niche (although it's quickly drifting towards mainstream nowadays). Otherwise we would all end up playing FarmVille.

* Writes down idea: "Farming roguelike" *

[stelzernbianca]

This is a must read for newbies like me. Roguelike rules!

[Avagart]

Hi. I don't want to create a new topic, so I write this. Thematically fits.

I search dungeon-crawler:
- with choice of race and class
- single-screen levels (important)
- without weirdness like sokoban in NetHack
- with ascii-look
- not sci-fiction background

um, I think that the best will be ADoM's Infinity Dungeon, without corrupt effects

can you recommend me something?

[Vanguard]

Mage Guild has all of that except for your choice of race.

Angband and Dungeon Crawl should meet your criteria as well.  They're popular, but I don't like them.