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If you like rougelikes like NetHack, you should love Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup. Decently hard, but what I like about it instead of NetHack is that doesn't requi

If you like rougelikes like NetHack, you should love Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup. Decently hard, but what I like about it instead of NetHack is that doesn't require the level of rote memorization that NetHack requires. (Or Wiki hand-holding.) The game does a good job of killing you, and making you feel that, "yep… I did not play my hand right there." whereas NetHack will kill you for looking at it funny. (Usually in DCSS, I find that I should have retreated much sooner than I did.) The game will generally warn you outright if you try to do something considerably dangerous. (Aside from, notably, running headlong into combat when you shouldn't. But, for example, it will warn you if you try to eat a mutagenic corpse, or wield something that will royally peeve your deity.) The artwork is beautiful, and I'm especially fond of the dungeon generator: it's a mix of random layouts and human design, and the result feels a lot more natural and interesting. On some levels, large parts of the level will be random, but a human designed piece might get integrated into it (randomly). You can play online, too: https://crawl.develz.org/ https://crawl.develz.org/ (and I prefer this myself, as you can also spectate other players, and chat w/ them. Occasionally, I learn a thing or two.) The point of the game is to get the Orb of Zot and get out, much like NetHack. Somewhat unlike NetHack, you need 3 runes to get the orb, but there are 15 in the game, making all of them considerably optional, and it's much more difficult to get all. The game has a few challenges beyond that, as well. (I've only escaped w/ the Orb once, as a Gargoyle Fighter.)

thefalcon 10y ago
Spectate mode is fantastic. Watching someone play now: http://crawl.berotato.org:8080/#watch-Scypho http://crawl.berotato.org:8080/#watch-Scypho Scypho: brb spectators its dinner time Scypho: also i am mad fucked Scypho: so i need to think
pmarreck 10y ago
Nice, I knew you could play Nethack in a browser, but not DCSS! Might have to dungeon-dive a bit! Do you know which version I should play? (is "trunk" generally safe? Is there a test suite in the code?) Any tips for noobs?
- kibwen 10y ago
  No test suite, but trunk is usually quite playable, especially since the devs are considerate enough that a specific player's savegame won't update to a new version of trunk if that new version breaks save compatibility. But do be prepared to deal with any goofy/unbalanced/unpolished features that the devs might be trying out. :) Tips for noobs: press "?" for in-game help (especially useful are the list of keyboard shortcuts and the searchable in-game database of monsters/items/etc.), join ##crawl on irc.freenode.net, inspect every enemy that you're seeing for the first time, press "o" judiciously, and always be willing and capable of running from a fight!
JoshTriplett 10y ago
Note that you can play online either via webtiles or via ssh for the text-based mode. I love how the game helps avoid tedium and memorization. For instance, you can find items via Ctrl-F (including on other floors, such as in your stash on a safe level), safely wander around unexplored parts of the level via 'o', or do long-distance travel to other branches of the dungeon. The developers make a conscious effort to avoid any gameplay elements that would make players who do tedious actions better than players not willing to do tedious actions. For instance, you can't sell items, so you don't need to lug around piles of items you don't need to sell them. Certain buffing spells became so valuable to have constantly enabled that you'd benefit from re-casting them every time they ran out, so the developers rebalanced those spells so they could stay enabled all the time without a time limit, and you only have to re-cast them when the effect gets "used" by helping you. You don't need to keep separate notes about where you left items; the game has a search function (including by item property, such as finding items that grant fire resistance). You don't need to make notes about where you've avoided a dangerous monster to avoid walking into its line of sight again; you can make those notes in-game and the 'o' exploration function will avoid those areas.

thefalcon 10y ago

Spectate mode is fantastic. Watching someone play now: http://crawl.berotato.org:8080/#watch-Scypho http://crawl.berotato.org:8080/#watch-Scypho Scypho: brb spectators its dinner time Scypho: also i am mad fucked Scypho: so i need to think

pmarreck 10y ago

Nice, I knew you could play Nethack in a browser, but not DCSS! Might have to dungeon-dive a bit! Do you know which version I should play? (is "trunk" generally safe? Is there a test suite in the code?) Any tips for noobs?

kibwen 10y ago
No test suite, but trunk is usually quite playable, especially since the devs are considerate enough that a specific player's savegame won't update to a new version of trunk if that new version breaks save compatibility. But do be prepared to deal with any goofy/unbalanced/unpolished features that the devs might be trying out. :) Tips for noobs: press "?" for in-game help (especially useful are the list of keyboard shortcuts and the searchable in-game database of monsters/items/etc.), join ##crawl on irc.freenode.net, inspect every enemy that you're seeing for the first time, press "o" judiciously, and always be willing and capable of running from a fight!

JoshTriplett 10y ago

Note that you can play online either via webtiles or via ssh for the text-based mode. I love how the game helps avoid tedium and memorization. For instance, you can find items via Ctrl-F (including on other floors, such as in your stash on a safe level), safely wander around unexplored parts of the level via 'o', or do long-distance travel to other branches of the dungeon. The developers make a conscious effort to avoid any gameplay elements that would make players who do tedious actions better than players not willing to do tedious actions. For instance, you can't sell items, so you don't need to lug around piles of items you don't need to sell them. Certain buffing spells became so valuable to have constantly enabled that you'd benefit from re-casting them every time they ran out, so the developers rebalanced those spells so they could stay enabled all the time without a time limit, and you only have to re-cast them when the effect gets "used" by helping you. You don't need to keep separate notes about where you left items; the game has a search function (including by item property, such as finding items that grant fire resistance). You don't need to make notes about where you've avoided a dangerous monster to avoid walking into its line of sight again; you can make those notes in-game and the 'o' exploration function will avoid those areas.