Survey: Portralis.

[Variaz]

Just want to know who tried my variant, because I don't see it mentionned here very often. My forum is quite active, but I want to know about this place too!

So the question is: Have you played Portralis? And if so, what do you think of it?

I'm currently working on the 0.3 version, and anyone willing to try it out is welcome to do so! I haven't made any official announcements yet, because I don't think it's ready for public release yet, but it's actually more playable than 0.2.1 now. It's available on my forum.

[Bandobras]

Great! Where's SVN? Where's the forum?

Good luck!

[Variaz]

Forum:

http://variaz.proboards3.com

Download:

http://www.assembla.com/spaces/files/Portralis

[Big Al]

Re: Have you played Portralis?

I tried it out and liked it a while ago, but really don't have time to play yet another variant. I'm trying to get a win in Vanilla and/or Unangband under my belt first...

Re: And if so, what do you think of it?

It's good - I like the quests and such, but IIRC, it seemed that a *lot* of the user interface hasn't kept up with the advancements of vanilla and other variants. I haven't tried it recently, but there's a lot of interface upgrades in 3.x vanilla that haven't been added in. That would be a big factor for me.

[Variaz]

Yes, I agree, I focused more on the game's content and features than on the user interface. Indeed, the user interface doesn't offer as much as Vanilla. I played Vanilla recently too, and I saw that little menu, 32x32 tiles and some new options that Portralis doesn't have. I did recently implement the center_player one though, as this particular one has been heavily requested. (and with good reason). But I agree that the interface feels old.

[Narvius]

I played it, but dumped it because it lacked center_player.
But even when it was added it I didn't play it too much - interesting spell stuff, though.

[Arendil]

Narvius,
Last version has "center_player" option.


As for Portralis, I think it is one of the most promising, and underrated Angband variants.
Variaz, if you keep up your work, you are clearly going to create one of the best variants ever, or maybe even one of the best roguelikes ever.
And I say that after playing Angband and most of its variants, Adom, Crawl, Gearhead and dozens of other roguelikes for fifteen years or so.

Obviously, there are some bugs here and there, or features I don't like, like physical immunity, damage returning, some balance issues, and...ah...must you use "damages" everywhere? It just hurts my eyes...
Still, this is a blast. I don't remember a roguelike with more engaging gameplay. For me at least.

Ok, enough praising.

[Variaz]

Thanks a lot!

If you like script editing, it's actually easy to comment out the returning abilities to make them ineffective. But I guess there could be some difficulty options in the future where you can disable the immunes/returning. They're challenging and they encourage players to explore multiple classes and become more versatile, but I understand that some players might not like them, especially newcomers who do not expect them.

[Narvius]

...uh, I wrote that I didn't play it although the last version had center_player?
[Edit: 'kay, it really seemed like "I wouldn't play it even if it had center_player", but I wanted to express "I played the last version, which had center_player, but not too much".]

I think it shouldn't have permadeath or at least contain some common way to avoid it. Y'know, it's a story-based game, not the full-random Angband.

[Variaz]

It doesn't have permadeath at all. You resurrect, though without items or gold(unless they have the "eternal" ability), and your death count is increased.

Other than that, you keep your character, levels, skills, abilities, etc... and everything you've accomplished remains accomplished. You also get to keep whatever gold or items you placed in your home. (you can make gold piles to store in your home)

[Narvius]

Oh... that was either implemented very lately or I played too short.

By the way, one of the main reasons why I don't play it: I don't want to spoil the story. I wait for the full release...

[Lipa]

Yes, I played it.

Yes, I LOVE it!!! Personally, I think this is the most promising and the most interesting variant out there. It has so many stuff implemented that it could basically keep you occupied forever, even at this early stage in development. Unfortunately, lately I'm so pressed for time that I can't seem to give it enough time, but it's for sure that once I come back to the RL world, I'll play Portralis first.

I said this a few times before and I'll say it again: To me, Portralis seems like a mix of Diablo and Baldur's Gate. 'Nuf said!

Thumbs up, Variaz!