Newbie to Rogue-Like Games

[Nemesis]

will_asher: I was talking about the storylines of Angband and Nethack, and there I don't think Angband is any worse. The NetHack story remains the very same as Rogue, only you have to bring the amulet to the elemental planes as soon as you've ascended the dungeon. Ok, the quest levels perhaps have a wee bit of story too (but still it's "kill bad guy, bring back item" without a single twist). Not that I think Angband's story is any better, but it does perhaps have less random quirky stuff thrown into it. Sure it deviates from the Tolkien world quite a bit, but not quite as much as NetHack deviates from D&D (which could be the closest resemblance of any speciffic theme of the NetHack world).

Then of course, the mechanics of the NetHack world are much more complex, I won't disagree with you on that. It's a matter of preference, though, and I'd sum it up like this:

Angband has an infinite generation of stuff within a finite set of rules
NetHack has a finite generation of stuff within an infinite set of rules

I prefer Angband, but as I said it's a matter of taste!

[buzzkill]

Angband's story: <snip>

Nethack's story: <snip>

This thread, and this post in particular makes me want to play Nethack... and at the same time, not play NetHack. I now carry the uninformed opinion that NetHack is roughly the equivalent of every Angband variant rolled into one.

So when do we get persistent levels as an option?

[jsv]

I now carry the uninformed opinion that NetHack is roughly the equivalent of every Angband variant rolled into one.

No, it's more like all rogue-like games (including those not yet written) rolled into one with kitchen sinks added on top of it.

Personally, I prefer DCSS to it. Nethack is just too weird for my taste. Even with spoilers I'm unable to get its crazy rules.

[Donald Jonker]

NetHack is basically a point-and-click adventure game with an annoying ID system, and where you can also kill stuff and die. You get a super epic feeling when you hit the special levels and finally ascend. Like with adventure games, you have to spoil yourself rotten because nothing makes any sense, but in the end it's still very fun the first (few) times you beat it. Anyone who plays roguelikes should play it for at least a while.

DCSS and Angband are just not the same kinds of games. The only thing comparable is ADOM, which has the same sort of deep-set problems and the same sort of peculiar awesomeness.

[djwid]

I started with Moria and uMoria and have advanced down the line as each varient got popular etc, on rgra. I played nethack only sporatically, the big problem for me was the different key strokes for controls. After getting the basic angband key map burned into my fingertips I find it hard to switch.

Heck even after a 7 year haitus I found my fingers still remembered bands keymap.

[dreamician]

So here's a little update.

After playing rogue quite a bit (just about every day) I began to realize that a large amount of what constitutes a decent or successful run is based a lot on luck. Will you find enough food? Will you run into a room packed full of monsters? Will you get a surprise attack while you're trying to rest to recover hp's and will you be able to stop resting in time to handle it before certain death?

And these kinds of questions go on to cover many aspects of the game. So I've set rogue aside and have been playing moria (actually a color-enhanced version of umoria). I really fell in love with it.

There are so many things I like about it. Starting off with basic equipment is a big plus, then being able to purchase equipment and supplies before you head to the dungeon is even better. Well, let's face it, being able to buy things with your gold is a HUGE improvement over rogue.

One very cool feature of the shops is that you can sell stuff to them, and if you sell something you haven't identified, the shop identifies it for you. And that's what I've been doing--I wait until I have a full inventory of mystery items then make my way back to town and sell everything. Now granted I miss out on some good stuff that way, but in the long run, I think id'ing stuff that way is worth it, much better than trying everything you get.

Plus, on the other side of the coin, if you have an item that is counter-productive (like a wand of haste monster) and it's identified, the shop won't buy it. So selling un-identified stuff also gets you at least a little bit of gold for bad items.

And then we have race, class, and stats to play with. I've tried a few different combos. Elf ranger, Elf mage, halfling rogue, half-orc warrior, and plain human paladin. Mage and rogue were extremely difficult for me, especially mage. It came down to A)cast magic missile, B)rest for mana. Repeat. The ranger was also hard. I was doing quite well the warrior, but I was making frequent trips to town for potions and scrolls.

With the paladin, I think I've found a good combo. He's a decent fighter (nearly as good as a warrior) and he has some spells for backup--doesn't have to rely on potions/scrolls so much.

Haggling. Well, at first I thought it was neat, even a little fun. But after getting kicked out of shops a few times for not dropping or lowering my price quickly enough, and having to haggle every time I bought something, I turned it off with the -h option. Now it just goes straight to a final offer, which is roughly half of the original cost. It saves a lot of time and I'm happy with that price.

As far as the monsters go, the ones that give me grief are red naga (saps strength), rogue (steals gold), and bandit (steals from your backpack). The bandit is pretty much number one on my hate list because a couple of times he took my prayer books. So now, when I can afford it, I buy 3 copies of each book. I usually just run from the red naga (zap a wand of confuse monster if I have it, or sleep). But several times that didn't work out, even after running, closing doors behind me, he tracked me down later in the dungeon when I wasn't expecting it. Ugh!

The other problem monsters so far are anything that multiplies (louses, worm masses, and rats/mice, flies). The louses are the biggest threat because they seem to multiply the fastest. The first time I encountered them I died a few times when they surrounded me so fast I couldn't kill a path clear. Now my tactic is: if there's only a few in the room, I can usually kill them before it gets out of hand. If it's more than a few, however, I don't bother, I back out and close doors if I can.

So ya, so far I'm really enjoing moria. I've got a paladin now up to level twelve, and I found a 2-handed claymore (3d6) which I've used a few enchanting scrolls on to bump it up to (+4, +2).

I started a thread over at roguetemple and I got some good replies from one guy there, and it's helped me play a little more effectively. If you guys have any helpful tips, hints etc, please share them!

[buzzkill]

As far as the monsters go, the ones that give me grief are red naga (saps strength), rogue (steals gold), and bandit (steals from your backpack).

The other problem monsters so far are anything that multiplies (louses, worm masses, and rats/mice, flies).

Might as well get used to them now, they're not going anywhere.