Roguelikes - the RPGs that want you dead

[*Alice]

Roguelikes are fun games with randomly generated worlds that can be as large as Minecraft's, permadeath, huge amounts of cryptic game mechanics nobody understands and completely overpowered enemies and items.

Ascension reports, memorial files, YASDs and opinions about these games go here.

Games of this RPG sub-genre include:

Nethack
Dwarf Fortress
DCSS
DoomRL
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon

And many more!

[Isaac940]

Oh yeah, I heard DCSS updated to 0.14. I should try that again since I haven't in a few versions.

Some other roguelikes not on that list I've tried and liked were Dungeons of Dredmore and TOME4. Personally I like Dredmore's brand of humor and since Dredmore works by picking 7 ability trees for your character, I have fun just hitting the random button and seeing how well I do. Sometimes it works, other times it blows up horribly on floor 1. Meanwhile I also like TOME4's big selection of classes and races and the fact that it basically eliminated consumables, though since the campaign is so long it sometimes turns into a slog. Also both would be a decent jumping in point since both have ways to mitigate permadeath. In Dredmore, you can just turn it off and have normal saves if you want and in TOME4, there's a mode where your character gains lives as they level up and one with infinite lives for donators (if you buy it on Steam you automatically get the donator bonuses, and you can get TOME4 for free on the main site for it). Both also have really good modding support, both with and without Steam Workshop.

I've also played a couple of "roguelites" or "roguelike-likes" or whatever they're called and enjoyed them. Spelunky is a platformer that has a randomly generated layout each time and you start from scratch when you die, and Rogue Legacy is a platformer with rpg elements that persist through characters that has a different map every time you die also. One of my favorite games currently though, is FTL. In it you pick a ship (each of the 28 ships has a different layout, starting armament, starting crew and sometimes unique aspects) and get a randomly generated map of points to jump to, and each point has a random encounter based on the sector you're in (and the order of sectors and map of what sectors you can access changes each playthrough). The point of the game is to upgrade your ship and weapons as much as possible for the boss at the end of sector 8 while being on the run from the Rebel fleet. If you end up in a Rebel fleet controlled part of the sector you end up in a battle with a Rebel ship with the fleet taking potshots at you that do a large amount of damage when they hit and go through all shields. Also the only reward for those fights is a single unit of fuel. In a nutshell, you need to manage your health, position in terms of the Rebel fleet and exit beacon, ammunition, and scrap to reach the final boss in the best possible condition to fight it in.

As a final note, has anyone ever tried Elona? It seems interesting and I've heard hilarious stories of things that happened in the game.

[Swordkirby]

ADOM Fucking made me paranoid.

[*Alice]

A very nice but failed attempt at beating nLarn:

(click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

Niigi Gorgeous Blue (f), killed on level V2 with -12 and a maximum of 103 hp
  by a water lord. She has scored 221760 points, with the difficulty set to 0.

  * 1)  221760 Niigi Gorgeous Blue (f), killed by a water lord.
               [exp. level 15, dungeon lvl. V2, -12/103 hp, difficulty 0]
    2)   72610 Ran Yakumo (f), killed by a platinum dragon.
               [exp. level 13, dungeon lvl. D6, -38/90 hp, difficulty 0]
    3)   39808 juynfurnheemie (m), killed by a hell hound.
               [exp. level 12, dungeon lvl. D5, -13/93 hp, difficulty 0]
    4)   39405 Toma Levine (m), killed by a hell hound.
               [exp. level 13, dungeon lvl. D5, -1/78 hp, difficulty 0]

She died after searching for the potion for 191 mobuls. She cast 141 spells,
  quaffed eleven potions, and read 25 books and six scrolls.
She wasted seven weapons in combat.
She committed five acts of vandalism.
She had 7131 gp on her bank account when she died.
She found 18128 gold in the dungeon, sold no gem for 0 and 46 non-gem items
  for 852 gold, and earned 281 gold as bank interest.
She bought six items for 1650 gold, spent 560 on item identification or
  repair, donated 545 gold to charitable causes, and invested 8000 gold in
  personal education.

-- The current level ------------------

###################################################################
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#.#####.#.#.#.#.#.###.#.#####.###D#...#######.#.###N#.#####.#.###.#
#.....#.#<#...#...#...#.......#.#...w.#.#...#...#...#...#...#.#.#.#
#.#.#.#.###########|####.x#####.#######.#.#.#####.###.#.#w###.#.#.#
#.#.#D#........P...D#.....#...#.....N...##.#.....#y#.#.#@#...#.#.#
#.#.#################U###.#.#.#.###.#####.#.#.#####.#.#.#.###.#.#.#
#.#.......#...#...#...#.#...#...#.#.^.....#.#.#....D..#.#.....#.#.#
#.#####.###.#.#.#.#.###.#########.#########.#N#########.#######.#.#
#...#.#...#.#.#.#...#..................x..#.#........x..#...#.D.#.#
###.#.D.#.#.#.#.#####.###.#############...#.#############.###.#.#.#
#.P.#...#...#.#...#.#.#.#.#.......#...#.N.#...#.....D...#.....#.#.#
#.#####.#####.###.#.#D#.#.###.###.#.#.###.###.#.#####.#.#^#####.#.#
#q#.....#.#...#...#.....#...#.#.#.#.#...#.#.#.#.#.....#.#...#.#.#.#
#.###U#.#.#.###.###########.#.#.#D#.###.#.#.#.#.#.#########.#.#.#.#
#...D.#...#...............D.#...#.....#.....#...#.............#...#
###################################################################


-- Attributes -------------------------

Strength:     26 (+6)
Intelligence: 19 (+7)
Wisdom:       14 (+2)
Constitution: 19 (+3)
Dexterity:    17 (+2)


-- Effects ----------------------------

fast


-- Known Spells -----------------------

Fireball                 (lvl.  4):  50
Cure Blindness           (lvl.  3):   0
Charm Monster            (lvl.  2):   6
Cone Of Cold             (lvl.  2):  23
Cure Poison              (lvl.  3):   3
Dexterity                (lvl.  2):   1
Dehydration              (lvl.  2):  14
Flood                    (lvl.  1):   1
Haste Self               (lvl.  3):   5
Healing                  (lvl.  3):   2
Phantasmal Forces        (lvl.  2):   0
Protection               (lvl.  2):   0
Sleep                    (lvl.  2):   0
Sonic Spear              (lvl.  2):  34
Teleport Away            (lvl.  2):   2


-- Equipment --------------------------

Main weapon: a blessed elven spear +1
Sec. weapon: an uncursed sword of slashing +0
Helmet:      a blessed plate helmet +1
Shield:      a blessed wooden shield +2
Body armour: an uncursed splint mail +0
Left ring:   an uncursed ring of increase damage +0
Right ring:  an uncursed ring of regeneration +0


-- Items in pack ----------------------

an uncursed potion of monster detection
1667 uncursed gold pieces
an uncursed two-handed sword +0
an uncursed ring of strength +0
an uncursed 4 carats diamond
an uncursed ring of increase damage +0


-- Creatures vanquished ---------------

 13 Giant Bats
 16 Gnomes
 19 Hobgoblins
 15 Jackals
 14 Kobolds
 18 Orcs
 12 Snakes
 12 Giant Centipedes
 21 Jaculi
 11 Troglodytes
  4 Giant Ants
  4 Floating Eyes
  5 Leprechauns
 11 Nymphs
  9 Quasits
  1 Rust Monster
  4 Zombies
  4 Assassin Bugs
  5 Bugbears
  4 Hell Hounds
  5 Ice Lizards
  4 Centaurs
  6 Trolls
  3 Yetis
  3 Elves
  2 Gelatinous Cubes
  3 White Dragons
  3 Metamorphs
  2 Vortexes
  3 Zillers
  4 Violet Fungi
  4 Wraiths
  1 Forvalaka
  1 Vampire
  1 Yellow Mold
  1 Mimic
  2 Water Lords
  2 Purple Worms
  3 Xvarts
  1 Bronze Dragon
  2 Green Dragons
  4 Silver Dragons
  1 Platinum Dragon
  1 Red Dragon

264 total


-- Genocided creatures ---------------


She genocided no monster.


-- Last messages ----------------------

The red dragon claws you. Your armour protects you.
You cast dehydration. The red dragon shrivels up. The red dragon dies! You
  pick up 810 gold pieces.
You pick up a ring of strength.
You pick up a 4 carats diamond.
Your strength returns to normal.
You feel yourself slow down.
You pick up a ring of increase damage.
You cast haste self. You are suddenly moving much faster.
You cast dehydration. The water lord shrivels up. The water lord hits you.
  Ouch, that REALLY hurt!
You hit the water lord. The water lord hits you. Ouch!
You cast dehydration. The water lord shrivels up. The water lord hits you.
  Ouch, that REALLY hurt! You die...

I should try not to be careless. Such dumb deaths happen much too often to me.