How I found Roguelikes

[Twiddle]

I just felt compelled to share how I got trapped in the Rogelike World, as a person born too late to discover the Roguelike sub-genre.

I was looking at iPod Touch game reviews, and I came across a remake of the Sword of Fargoal. It had a lot of high reviews, and as I was born into the RPG era, it seemed interesting enough. I downloaded it with an Action-RPG in mind. Now, don't hate me for my next decision I made, as I was used to the games of my time all being packed with action. I played this game and, well. I thought it was crap so I deleted it. A few months later, as I saw so many positive posts about this remake of Sword of Fargoal, I decided to give it another try, but I was in a different state of mind. I found I loved this game.

After I played this game, I wanted more. I found a free Rogue app for my iPod and started playing it. I absolutely hated the ASCII graphics. I still can't stand the graphics, maybe it's because I'm expecting the cutting edge graphics of now-a-day games. Regardless, after I deleted Rogue, I picked up a little known app in the iPod app store called Cavern. I absolutely loved it. I still do. But it's too easy and doesn't quench my thirst for more. I was looking around these forums, and I found Splunky. It's basically the exact game I was looking for, as it's not ASCII graphics, and it sneaks action in there, which I'm used to.

I come here asking for more. What are some roguelikes and dungeon crawlers with at least 8-bit graphics and sprites big enough to see, action (but not just some shallow hack-n-slash), and a good amount of difficulty? I've been looking around and just can't seem to find anything, so I've decided to ask the experts, you guys.

[getter77]

Roguelikes with graphical tiles eh?  You've come to the right place!   

Surely forgetting some:

CastlevaniaRL, Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup, Elona, TileRogue, Triangle Wizard(special case), Lost Labyrinth, POWDER, DoomRL later this  year, Mage Guild, LambdaRogue, anything in the Mystery Dungeon franchise for Consoles/Handhelds---especially Shiren the Wanderer, Labyrinthica(maybe), Egoboo, Deliantra, Crossfire...

[Etinarg]

I think I found roguelikes when I had my first Linux installed and was looking for games. I found Moria and later Angband on some Linux CDs, and was playing them for a while. I had no internet (well internet in private households was very uncommon those days over here, and modem dial-in BBS were the way to be online), so these CD were my primary source of software, and I could get monthly snapshots of big linux/unix ftp servers this way fairly cheap.

Before that time I had Larn on my old Amiga, but didn't know anything about roguelikes, so it was just a curiosity game for me.

With Angband I realized that these are a group of games with a bigger community around. Also I got better online access so that I actually could get in touch

[Z]

On the other hand, maybe you could see completely through the presentation layer (afterall, chess is the same game, no matter how beautiful or ugly pieces do you use) and just get used to ASCII, just as you already got used to non-fashionable graphic styles. Otherwise, you will miss some great games like DoomRL or ADOM. (Although, with newer operating systems, it's harder and harder to play them in their full ASCII beauty. Windows XP got colors messed up in ASCII mode, and Vista does not allow full screen ASCII, or so I have heard. It would be really hard for a new person to play ADOM in the same graphical way as I like. DoomRL has a shortcut for that, but does it still work in Vista?)

[elwin]

I'd recommend starting off with Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, good graphics and plenty of difficulty.

For real-time action instead of turn-based play, there's Crossfire, which is basically an MMO, though the graphics are a little old.

I've heard good things about POWDER as well.

Also, ASCII graphics often grow on you.  Or maybe they mind-control you.  I hated them at first too.

[Fenrir]

I might just be wired incorrectly, but I've always loved ASCII, and had a great distaste for tiles. My first exposure to roguelikes was a browser-based remake of the original rogue. I wouldn't actually become aware of the genre until I discovered ADoM and Dwarf Fortress much later. The only entirely graphical roguelikes I've ever downloaded and played are Ragnarok and IVAN, but I don't play IVAN anymore.

[Twiddle]

I might just be wired incorrectly, but I've always loved ASCII, and had a great distaste for tiles. My first exposure to roguelikes was a browser-based remake of the original rogue. I wouldn't actually become aware of the genre until I discovered ADoM and Dwarf Fortress much later. The only entirely graphical roguelikes I've ever downloaded and played are Ragnarok and IVAN, but I don't play IVAN anymore.

I wouldn't say you're wired incorrectly, I would more so say you were probably born into lower graphics. I was born and raised into 8-bit graphics, which I love. I'm very interested in the Triangle Wizard and Crossfire. If anyone could get my gameplay videos of either, I would be grateful.

[corremn]

Hmm, I found moria for the Mac Classic while snooping around my schools disk library and "borrowing" them.

SewerJacks FTW!

[Fenrir]

I wouldn't say you're wired incorrectly, I would more so say you were probably born into lower graphics.

I don't think I'm quite that old. Hardly matters either way. I don't like chocolate cake either, but I don't look down on the people that do.

Anyway, there's enough graphical goodness in Brian's post to last you years. Welcome to our little corner of the Internet!

[getter77]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE0HfFBdbZY  2nd, newer trailer for Triangle Wizard...though the first one is a decent indicator as well despite a MASSIVE amount of version upgrades in such a relatively short timeframe.

Also, 3069 and Transcendence might also appeal to you.

[Twiddle]

I wouldn't say you're wired incorrectly, I would more so say you were probably born into lower graphics.

I don't think I'm quite that old. Hardly matters either way. I don't like chocolate cake either, but I don't look down on the people that do.

Anyway, there's enough graphical goodness in Brian's post to last you years. Welcome to our little corner of the Internet!

Ahh! Sorry, I wasn't implying that you were old! 

[Fenrir]

Ahh! Sorry, I wasn't implying that you were old! 

No big deal. When you're nineteen, such remarks don't cause much injury.

Now, go! Play graphical roguelikes and eat chocolate cake!

[Slash]

Ahh! Sorry, I wasn't implying that you were old! 

No big deal. When you're nineteen, such remarks don't cause much injury.

Now, go! Play graphical roguelikes and eat chocolate cake!

Fenrir should play CastlevaniaRL. even wolfs can play it

[Sithun]

I started of some 10 years ago (must have been 13-something), when i first heard of Nethack. I downloaded and played both the ascii-version and the graphical isometrical-3d version with a different name that i cant remember. Liked both of them. Then i got into ADOM. And i still play it to this day. I have STILL not beaten that game.
Damn, now i feel like playing adom again. I think ill have a moment with adom and radio rivendell when i get home.

Now, i await the coming. The coming of JADE.

[ywgdana]

@Fenrir -- I prefer ASCII graphics for roguelikes most of the time, too.  Don't get me wrong, I like pretty graphics in some games, but in an RL game, I find it a better presentation of all the tactical information you need.  I'm probably biased, though, because I'm a programmer who sucks at art.  So I can still develop roguelikes without having to beg/borrow/steal tiles.

I think I'm the old man of the thread so far.  I played a few rogueish games on my Commodore 64 (Temple of Apshai and one called, uh, the Valley or something).  Later, on my 286 I found Moria and some version of Hack.  I've tried to figure out which version of Hack it was.  It had speleologists but no Gehennom.  You had to kill a minotaur in a maze level at the very bottom.  And it was the first roguelike I won.  It would be about 15 years later that I won Nethack for the first time