In a fairly recent post Nick said the magic words "NPPMoria". Classical Moria is almost unplayable after Angband, thanks to the vast UI improvements. NPPMoria is. I dug it out and played through with most of the classes. It was fun. I was afraid it wouldn't be, but it was.
So here is a list of things I found better in Angband (marked with +s) than in Moria (marked with -s). Make what you will of it.
+++++ User interface - customisable shortcut keys, squelch.
+++ No selling option - selling adds atmosphere for the first few games, but then becomes a pointless chore. Having the option to switch it off is ideal. I wish I had a couple more such options...
+++ Artifacts and equipment variety - these add variety to equipment choices and add significant replay value; in Moria, all my characters wore pretty much the same equipment.
++ Basic gear in shops - availability of Cure light wounds, Word of Recall, Phase door, etc means it's not necessary to go to 50' and rest for 5000 turns to restock shops.
++ Stat gain - this has a better balance: I never harvest oozes in Angband for potions, but did every time in NPPMoria.
+ Id - rune id is better than classical id; but, as for selling, after a few games I prefer to switch on the "known runes/flavours" option.
+ Monster Uniques - they add variety to the game, though they would probably be more fun if they were much more rare and more "unique", that is genuinely different from each other and from other monsters.
+ Asymmetric LoS - creates interesting tactical options, though overpowered as it stands (maybe due to abundance of Stone-to-Mud).
+ Bows - shooting is much more viable in Angband.
+ Item drops - improvement on Moria, where a lot of important gear ends up being bought rather than found in the dungeon.
- Vaults - yes, finding a vault is always exciting in Angband, but my impression is that is seriously messes with the game balance and might be a negative overall.
- Treasure veins (Moria) - finding and mining large treasure veins is quite fun in Moria.
- The Balrog (Moria) - the Balrog is a nutcase in Moria, but you pretty much have to go down to his depths in order to find a ring of speed (essential); this results in a change of playstyle and a healthy injection of excitement. (And fear... "They are coming. We cannot get out.")
- Ego weapons - useless in Angband, critical in Moria; Angband's artifact weapons make all the FT, FB, SU, SA, SD, HA, DF stuff pretty much irrelevant, which is a shame.
- Fractional stats - Moria has none of the 3.3 blows/turn nonsense, and feels much more pleasant as a result.
- Adventure feeling - I found that Moria had more of an adventure feeling to it than Angband; not sure why precisely.
- Resistances clutter - fire, acid, cold, lightning and poison is plenty.
- Damage balance - no tediously long fights in Moria.
-- Monster packs and high monster density - did not miss them at all in Moria; gameplay feels smoother and faster with fewer monsters and no packs.
-- Speed - Moria basically doesn't have a permanent speed stat, and that works great (rings of speed are only relevant to about 5% of the game, and in effect play a different role).
-- Teleport Other - Moria has it, but I did not need to use it in any of the playthroughs , and that felt great; not TO's fault, but probably that of other issues.
--- One shot deaths - far too may in Angband, and annoying for such a long game; Moria only has two notorious D's (who both tend to be asleep) and the Balrog to watch out for.
--- Monsters not worth fighting - none, or next to none in Moria, and I didn't miss them. At all.
So here is a list of things I found better in Angband (marked with +s) than in Moria (marked with -s). Make what you will of it.
+++++ User interface - customisable shortcut keys, squelch.
+++ No selling option - selling adds atmosphere for the first few games, but then becomes a pointless chore. Having the option to switch it off is ideal. I wish I had a couple more such options...
+++ Artifacts and equipment variety - these add variety to equipment choices and add significant replay value; in Moria, all my characters wore pretty much the same equipment.
++ Basic gear in shops - availability of Cure light wounds, Word of Recall, Phase door, etc means it's not necessary to go to 50' and rest for 5000 turns to restock shops.
++ Stat gain - this has a better balance: I never harvest oozes in Angband for potions, but did every time in NPPMoria.
+ Id - rune id is better than classical id; but, as for selling, after a few games I prefer to switch on the "known runes/flavours" option.
+ Monster Uniques - they add variety to the game, though they would probably be more fun if they were much more rare and more "unique", that is genuinely different from each other and from other monsters.
+ Asymmetric LoS - creates interesting tactical options, though overpowered as it stands (maybe due to abundance of Stone-to-Mud).
+ Bows - shooting is much more viable in Angband.
+ Item drops - improvement on Moria, where a lot of important gear ends up being bought rather than found in the dungeon.
- Vaults - yes, finding a vault is always exciting in Angband, but my impression is that is seriously messes with the game balance and might be a negative overall.
- Treasure veins (Moria) - finding and mining large treasure veins is quite fun in Moria.
- The Balrog (Moria) - the Balrog is a nutcase in Moria, but you pretty much have to go down to his depths in order to find a ring of speed (essential); this results in a change of playstyle and a healthy injection of excitement. (And fear... "They are coming. We cannot get out.")
- Ego weapons - useless in Angband, critical in Moria; Angband's artifact weapons make all the FT, FB, SU, SA, SD, HA, DF stuff pretty much irrelevant, which is a shame.
- Fractional stats - Moria has none of the 3.3 blows/turn nonsense, and feels much more pleasant as a result.
- Adventure feeling - I found that Moria had more of an adventure feeling to it than Angband; not sure why precisely.
- Resistances clutter - fire, acid, cold, lightning and poison is plenty.
- Damage balance - no tediously long fights in Moria.
-- Monster packs and high monster density - did not miss them at all in Moria; gameplay feels smoother and faster with fewer monsters and no packs.
-- Speed - Moria basically doesn't have a permanent speed stat, and that works great (rings of speed are only relevant to about 5% of the game, and in effect play a different role).
-- Teleport Other - Moria has it, but I did not need to use it in any of the playthroughs , and that felt great; not TO's fault, but probably that of other issues.
--- One shot deaths - far too may in Angband, and annoying for such a long game; Moria only has two notorious D's (who both tend to be asleep) and the Balrog to watch out for.
--- Monsters not worth fighting - none, or next to none in Moria, and I didn't miss them. At all.
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