lulz

me either. fwiw ToM'E has a 'casual' setting that has infinite lives/respawns. Still, in my opinion I don't think the game is really that interesting/rewarding because the fear of perma-death of a character you've invested 10+ hours into is really what drives the game.

Without that tension the story/combat are pretty meh, but the game is cheap when on sale, so you could try it.

Curious if you played Dust: An Elysian Tale? Super fun combat, great story. Replayable? Ehhh...

I'd also recommend the Mount & Blade games, as well as Terraria (and, by extension, maybe Starbound, though I've never played it) and the Hotline Miami games. Maybe Spelunky?

It's certainly not mine. :P I've never understood why a player would prefer ASCII representation in a game in this day and age. I mean, I understand why a programmer might want to just make a system console version or something (it being a hell of a lot less work than having to also worry about art, UI, etc.), and I think there were likely things you could do in a pure ASCII version 30 years ago that would've been difficult or impossible to represent properly with "real" graphics -- but now? I just don't see much of an upshot, play-wise. Basically, if there is a proper graphical version, I will use it (and if there isn't, I probably won't bother with the game, unfortunately).

Games that use actual ASCII or ANSI art (such as Sanctuary RPG) are another matter, of course. It's a valid (though niche) art style; whereas the 1:1 character representation used in old-school roguelikes is the lack of an art style.
EDIT: Closed parenthesis.

It's actually free, though you won't get all the features or be able to get the paid DLC unless you have a paid version.

For me it was an ease of use thing. When I first got it I tried playing with tiles, but the large tiles mean you can't see as much of the map so you're not as informed, and also the sprites / tiles aren't always 100% clear and easy to interpret. Whereas I know a brown ] is armour or a ) is a missile weapon and $ is money instantly from playing other roguelikes.

For other games, where the same conventions aren't followed, yeah I wouldn't choose to play ASCII, but it's basically limited to the Roguelike genre anyway as far as I'm aware so I find it just works for me.

Plus without graphics to distract you it feels more... pure.

Spelunky is still in the rogue/roguelike camp.

Oh yeah, those are good suggestions.

Din's Curse is pretty dang hard unless you set the settings really low, but it's not technically a roguelike, since your character persists even if town eats an invasion when you're stuck in the dungeon with no exit.

I've never technically beaten it (though did beat DoP) but enjoyed it. And it's replayable to infinity, or until the format bores you.

There should also be a demo for both games on the Soldak website.
http://www.soldak.com/Depths-of-Peril/Demo.html


Edit - The irony with 'Depths of Peril' is that you can win without ever actually going into a dungeon, just questing in the above-ground zones.

Dins curse is shallow in story but it has gameplay mechanics I've never seen before. Basically, you have mana, health and time. The longer you take, you may find better gear but the baddies may get stronger or even invade your town at the surface and kill important people

I'm a huge fan of neverwinter nights. It's longer between levels, but the levels are more impactful. My favorite playthrough was with a shifter. Not the strongest, but it kept the gameplay more alive as I got to play new and different monsters

Titan quest and darkstone are also solid RPGs.

I really rlliked sacred 3 as well. But I'm in the minority. Sacred 2 is better and worse at the same time. I definitely played 2 longer though.

Of you get a chance to play divine Divinity, it has great action. But you can also use your mouse to move things. So you can make a fort of boxes around your character to funnel a swarm of baddies your way.

If you haven't tried Diablo 3, it's pretty good. It lacks in flavor but it's got solid mechanics.

The game of life is highly re-playable, however it comes with perma-death, and no second chances.

Diablo 3. Great visuals, punchy combat, nice end game

Sid Meier's Pirates?

Good game but has a serious flaw; it's too bloated.

• You need to eat (which maybe good if you have something to eat at all -- those who hate survival/ survival-horror games need to steer clear)
• You need to work (sometimes too much & if the job's boring or doesn't pay well, it sucks -- those who hate economic sims also steer clear)
• You need to do a thousand chores (those who hate micromanagement in games won't like it)

..but the biggest problem is sleep. You're supposed to sleep too much that, ultimately, the gameplay drags and becomes boring! And if you choose not to sleep, the game punishes you by throwing hallucinations at you, decreasing your health bar & perception skill and many more. Horrible mechanic, if you ask me!

As you see my friend, the game of life isn't for everyone since there are lots of stuff going on that won't appeal to the average gamer. So, to conclude this review; Hardcore gamers need apply -- as for the rest, approach with caution.

The fact that it has permadeath and is fairly unforgiving is why I said "maybe".
And I'd say it's about as close to being a true RL as click-'n'-loot games like Diablo are to being true RPGs. ;)

Fair enough, regarding the "view distance" in ToME (though I doubt that's a problem in every RL that has both console and tile versions). But regarding the ASCII characters being clearer than tiles: this only applies if you've already spent the time in another RL (that also used the same general representation conventions) to learn what every symbol/color combination means. Sure, that knowledge is somewhat more "portable" once you have it, but you still have to spend that initial learning period to begin with. Someone who's never played a roguelike before could jump into DCSS' tiles version and have a fair idea of what a lot of the sprites represented (especially specific weapons and armor), even if they didn't know what those things did. That same newbie player would have to climb a pretty steep learning curve to play the console version of the same game.

HIPSTERRRRR!!!
:P

soldak titles seen interesting enough .
wishlisted!

what about arcade shooter/fighter with little to no "rpg elements"?
but also random scenarios (no platformers....) sandboxy/user generated content
already own windward.

for fps , i installed hard reset, tower of guns, lovely planet, blood n bacon...but something more replayable / more content /editors

I agree too, best game of PC library.