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The Codex of Roguelikes

Renegen

Arcane
Joined
Jun 5, 2011
Messages
4,064
The latest patches are starting to look like League of Legends patch notes or something:

"We found that the old gameplay patterns of the Mindslayer were too simple and didn't offer much choice to the player or his enemies, as such we're emphasizing his volatile psychic identity and want players to synergize his conventional melee skills with his psychic skills for full results. We wanted to tone down the early game strength of his shields and provide some windows of opportunity for foes to get through them while also simultaneously addressing the Mindslayer's dependence on them late game and vulnerability when they are down. Also, although Conduit provided a lot of power, most of it was hidden and so we've removed the skill from the game."

I'm having fun comparing the old Mindslayer to the new one and really feel like the new one will be more fun and better at all stages of the game, but oh boy has he removed some of the things he was known for. It's actually really remarkable what the creator has done, he consistently shows a great understanding of how to make cooldown/tactical based combat interesting while balancing it for turn based gameplay. It turns out that one of the biggest problems is how OP ranged damage dealers are in this type of combat and having played most of the melee classes the latest Mindslayer is something really exciting. When I first played it, it took me several hours to get my head around what he even did and how 40+ skills synergized. It's just like every other class I guess, everyone knows what a Rogue can do, but what the hell is a Mindslayer? How does his gameplay differ from the 10 other melee classes? The question is just as important for the player as it was for the creator, because these classes are all crafted with so much care. And the patch adds a new class, the Skirmisher, cool stuff.

The big stuff many of the players are waiting for is the Orc expansion, coming Soon™, that lets you play as an orc. It also promises 5 new classes and one has been unintentionally revealed, the Demonologist.
 
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Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
15,866
Figured I'd give this yet another try. Level 1: smoked by an orc with a 70 damage melee weapon. Not an elite or anything mind you, just a regular soldier. Easier early game my ass. Level 4: normal enemies hitting for 90+ with ranged attacks. Very balanced, that leaves almost half my hp left! Level 7: Level 5 (6.5 really) Stunning blow gets resisted by an enemy with about 20 less physical save as my power. Must be a fluke right? Happens again 2 stuns later to a different enemy with an even lower save. Oh, and finishing the dungeon nets me like 1 fucking level, so I'm on track to fight the master (or Urkis AKA 'I-hit-for-300-every-turn-for-12-turns-from-off-screen-after-landing-a-single-spell-wizard' if I want more xp, such choices!) at like level 14 or some shit.

Fuck you game. Just fuck you.
 

subotaiy

Cipher
Joined
Aug 8, 2012
Messages
524
Location
Romania
The game is not that hard. Git gud:).
edit: forget that, tried a sun paladin and it seems indeed harder now for some reason.
 
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Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
15,866
Well my reasoning is that shops are worthless and most of my deaths occur due to stupid amounts of status effects, so using gold for high saves seems like a good idea.
 

Renegen

Arcane
Joined
Jun 5, 2011
Messages
4,064
I mean dwarves are nice and all, but their annoying start because of the boss and their specialized role doesn't make them very popular. You really want to pick the right class for the dwarf. Although they don't refresh, shops are ok for preparing to challenges ahead and for specific items. For example, Zigur almost always has a teleportation torque available, great for the non-magic users to grab. Infusions and runes found in stores are also frequently better than your own, and those 2 new items alone increase survivability a lot. Then you can get lucky with item effects, you're mostly looking at buying specific +stat items, or resistance items, and every single shop has a chance of having unique items in them. This current Mindslayer run, I found a really nice unique ring in a jewelry shop, now I'm saving for it. Finally late game you can spend 2000 gold to get the best type of item in the game, an orange item, so gold has its use.. eventually.

edit: oh yeah, they nerfed Stun lol. My rogues shriek in pain but that's definitively a buff to melee classes.
 
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Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
15,866
Usually anything worth wearing costs like 500+ gold, which is like all you gold at level 20. And even then, it'll be like a cloak or gloves or something, when what you really need is a tier 4 weapon to double your damage.

In theory you can get a bunch of lightning or whatever resist items for specific bosses/areas for around 100 gold each, but in practice shops don't carry anything but 50 prismatic items and other totally useless shit. Game has too many awful affixes.

Generally if I'm not playing dwarf I pick cornac. Free talent point is very useful. Mostly because movement/heal infusions and damage shields are incredibly useful.
 

Answermancer

Educated
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Messages
67
Location
Seattle, WA
I've been playing ToME 4 again after first giving it a try a year ago and man... I really like this game.

Playing an Archer currently and I haven't died yet at level 14 which is pretty good for me. Though I've gotten really lucky on items I think, and the only reason I survived some things is a coat I found that shields me whenever I take more than 20% of my life in damage.
 

Deuce Traveler

2012 Newfag
Patron
Joined
May 11, 2012
Messages
2,920
Location
Stuttgart, Germany
Grab the Codex by the pussy Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
I like the original TOME a lot, and have the DOS version that I run via DOSBox. I tried the newer TOME and it didn't really grab me as I felt the game is quite different (much easier) from the original. For instance, my 1st level halfling rogue was owning an ogre right at the get-go. But maybe I am wrong and was just lucky. What is the Codex hive mind consensus? Are they so different that they are two completely different games, or did I miss something in the beginning of playing the new one and this is really old TOME with a new paint job and some character variations?
 

Nathair

Educated
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Messages
55
Well its certainly very different from the original, long distant beginnings as a loopily unbalanced Zangband variant ;) (Which then evolved rather fast itself.).

Doubt you meant that of course :)
 

Answermancer

Educated
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Messages
67
Location
Seattle, WA
I can't say much because I've never played the older versions, I'm honestly a roguelike noob, but I like 4 a lot and I don't feel like it's particularly easy (especially after this latest patch) and there are multiple difficulties also if you want more of a challenge.
 

TOME

Cuckmaster General
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
1,820
Since when did the TOME4 become just TOME? Anyone playing TOME 2.3 anymore?
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
15,866
Since when did the TOME4 become just TOME? Anyone playing TOME 2.3 anymore?
I take it for a spin again once in a while, though I usually stop around the end of lothlorien. After that enemies start dropping relevant loot, which means you need to ID a ton of shit and set up the automizer. Also traps are infinitely more annoying when they're buried amongst a carpet of loot.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
15,866
Wow, I just tried out the corruptor (which I hadn't done in forever, I dunno if I even played him beyond just loading the char to look at the skill tree) and have discovered that it is easy mode. Also, apparently one of the recent changes was to making healing infusions massively overpowered, making them instant AND cure some status effects.

But seriously, I've no idea how the corruptor is this OP given the creator's obssession with balancing everything deemed OP. This fucker has like 5 skills with a range of 10, and they all do massive damage and have essentially no travel time (fuck, one of them is a physical damage beam with 10 range, WTF) and on top of that, theres a ton of utility with dots, life stealing, debuffs, a very strong shield, an intstant cast disease spell (so you can literally just backpedal from some enemies endlessly while diseasing them and they're utterly fucked because you never stop moving) a spell to walk through walls (though not cave walls apparently?) and fearscape may as well just say "Kill target non demon enemy." Oh, and heal to full and bring all your shit off cooldown too, if they're strong enough to live for a few rounds while you sit in a corner and let them burn.

Did I mention you're not reliant on items at all because you don't need mana or weapon damage? Oh, and you get that 'corrupted negation' bullshit the boss of the fortress has, which basically dispels fucking everything off of a target, including shit like shield wall or berserking where it makes no sense.

Edit:
sanP6D0.jpg

Ok game, I'll beat you this time, you can stop begging me.
 
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getter77

Augur
Joined
Oct 12, 2008
Messages
871
Location
GA, USA
The creator isn't actually obsessed with balancing everything that is on the OP side---rather, he's always been overt about Archmages being intentionally far more robustly capable than other classes even. The Corruptor shares in this, as it is certainly a powerful class with few weaknesses---like nigh-certain death if you come across the many foes immune to Blight damage outright and haven't spec'd a certain way/gotten certain gear. The main issue stems from the era of development....groups large and small of the various classes were implemented as the development chugged along, things evolved/changed especially with the shift from the game from a Tolkien'ish flare harkening back to the ToME 2 days, with newer classes tending to first pop out of the kiln far more "interesting", like Oozemancers, than the much older ones especially that haven't seen much in the way of sprucing up on account of all the growth in other areas the game has experienced.
 

Essegi

Cipher
Joined
Nov 21, 2012
Messages
396
Just spotted that:
INT
IndieDB page
I've still not really checked background (that is longer than most other rls), but from description it seems nice:
INT is a roguelike turn-based Sci-Fi RPG with a heavy focus on exploration, dungeon crawling, character customization and story, brought to you by indie enthusiasts. The focus is on the character’s journey through a war-torn world through randomized and pre-set levels with fast-paced combat against hordes of enemies. The player must accomplish quests like a traditional RPG, complete objectives, and meet crew members which will aid in survival. Throughout the game you can side and complete missions through criminal cartels, and the two major combatants, the UCE and ACP, of the Interstellar Civil War.

Before playing the actual game we plan on giving away a free, public, demo. This demo will be hosted on this page and our main web-page. The demo will showcase game assets, the world, environments, and characters that you will journey with during the main quest. While we are still developing the demo it is our hope that you will begin interacting with us and giving us your thoughts on our universe.

Throughout our public demo, you will journey through a horrific warzone on the planet Bastion in an attempt to escape the world. At the end of the demo you may find a starship which will allow you to escape the planet, if you are so lucky. The main game will pit you against the forces of two warring factions, numerous criminal cartels, and rogue agents. You will have to keep flying to survive in this dastardly universe.

It will be up to you to explore roguelike worlds which are randomly generated or journey to the warzones that make up the Interstellar Civil War. During your journey you will find numerous companions some random, others placed for you. It will be up to you to trust them because in INT everyone has a secret and some have a dagger aimed for your back.

We currently plan to support Mac, Windows, and Linux. More information will follow on demo release and system requirements so please stay tuned.
I've not really understood if it will be more of a roguelike or a classic rpg (wathever that means...), but it seems potentially interesting.
 

Deuce Traveler

2012 Newfag
Patron
Joined
May 11, 2012
Messages
2,920
Location
Stuttgart, Germany
Grab the Codex by the pussy Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture

Thanks for this! There are many roguelikes I have yet to try and after reading this list I am now attempted to give Caves of Qud, Mages Guild, and the briefly mentioned Omega (which crpgaddict enjoyed).

I have played, liked, and still need to beat original ADOM, Rogue, original NetHack, original TOME, Angband and Zangband. I still very much enjoy playing these today, even though my characters almost never survive to a respectfully high level.

Of course Dwarf Fortress is also awesome, though it can never be really "beat".

I defeated Castle of the Winds, and it was just an ok game. An alright time waster.

I tried Unreal World, and it seems well put together and that it would be fun for some, but is more of a wilderness survival game and I'm not big into that genre.

I played a demo of Dungeons of Dredmor a few years back, and I can't recommend it.

I also played Sword of the Stars: The Pit. Another casual RPG that I liked more than Dungeons of Dredmor due to its different sci-fi setting, but there are better roguelikes out there. If you have DOSBox, many of those older, better games are also free.

The SewerJacks rogulike game reminded me a little of the 3.5 edition D&D campaign called Sewer Rats:
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Sewer_Rats_(3.5e_Campaign_Setting)

And if you haven't yet, go down to the comment section for some fun quotes:

Every time you call a game like Binding of Isaac (or Spelunky, frankly) a roguelike, a kitten dies.

I would so totally play a game where you delve into dungeons to seduce a harem of monster girls and use their individual abilities and skills to eventually build a city-state while occasionally giving them lots of love.

How the fuck would one even work? Like I don't get how these are a thing?

Take Dwarf Fortress' damage model and add dildos
lots and lots and lots of dildos


Am I the only one who loves classic ASCII but hates Unicode in rogulikes?
I can easily understand what is happening in nethack, but I can't understand a single thing in Dwarf Fortess and Caves Of Qud

Yeah, most look ugly, but there are people who act like playing graphical roguelikes makes you a dribbling retard. It's fucking annoying.
It's like "Hey look, we haven't advanced our genre in 30 years, we're fucking awesome." I know most expand on the gameplay, but it's been 30 years. Every other genre has had huge advancements compared to ASCII all day every day.

In later pages they also mention some other roguelikes that aren't in the OP, for those curious.
 

Essegi

Cipher
Joined
Nov 21, 2012
Messages
396
prospector is abandoned ??? isnt it???
Well, last download is from 1st June 2014...

Btw, i hope to see soon an update of Frozen Depths, i played a bit current version and was very enjoyable...

Has anyone tried Ultima Ratio Regum? I'm slightly following updates, amazing concepts, it's on the road to become something legendary...
 

Zdzisiu

Arcane
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
3,523
prospector is abandoned ??? isnt it???

Has anyone tried Ultima Ratio Regum? I'm slightly following updates, amazing concepts, it's on the road to become something legendary...

If we manage to live that long :(

But yeah, it looks majestic as fuck, and I love to just look at the screenshots the guy puts on the website, being all amazed by how great he manages to make ASCII look.
 

Essegi

Cipher
Joined
Nov 21, 2012
Messages
396
prospector is abandoned ??? isnt it???

Has anyone tried Ultima Ratio Regum? I'm slightly following updates, amazing concepts, it's on the road to become something legendary...

If we manage to live that long :(

But yeah, it looks majestic as fuck, and I love to just look at the screenshots the guy puts on the website, being all amazed by how great he manages to make ASCII look.
Eh he u'r right:
I have been developing it for over three years, and anticipate that at least a good decade remains until I’m happy with it.
But at least he's a swiss clockwork on updates.. I dig too ASCII look, really excellent!
 

almondblight

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Messages
2,629
Did the guy change the premise? A blog post from a couple years ago showed a 3x3 ascii dragon. Now the site says it's about politics in the 17th century?
 

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