http://cdn.alltheragefaces.com/img/faces/large/misc-got-a-badass-over-here-l.png

I want to ask how much time you spend collecting <Not_a_poker_face>.png all over the web ... are you a former pokemon trainer investigating a new line of work ? you seem to have quite a ... facedex (?)
;)

Not downloading them, but browsing 4chan from time to time gets you acquainted with memes :P

Being restricted to the default storyline, the game does feel pretty limited, pretty fast. But once I defeated the final boss once, I quickly hunted down a mod to make the game more... open-ended.

Infinite Space basically gets rid of the Rebel story and adds more content (events, weapons, quests).

Overall, it's a refreshing breeze to face new events you don't already know all the possible outcomes.

I was a bit disappointed with FTL myself. I agree it's too repetitive, especially compared to some roguelikes (though to be fair a lot of them have been in continuous development for years)

I've only played it a few times so far but it seems like the type of game that works well if you go into it as if it's a board game that you play on your PC, with the encounters and paths basically being drawn from a stack of cards you can't see.

It suffers from the same issue that I find a lot of RLs suffer from, repetitive and boring starts after being killed the 100th time. I find that when I play MOST modern RLs, I'm playing what amounts to the exact same thing over and over again. You build up a character (or ship or whatever) with skills/equipment/etc and then you inevitably die, only to start over with nothing again and play the same basic thing over again.

Yes, it's randomized, but that only goes so far. The encounters may be different, but I'm still back to playing a similar build an indefinite number of times.

Personally, I found both FTL and SotS:TP fall into that same category. I loved both games, but both were 8 hour games for me, after that I got sick of doing the same things over and over again. I found Dungeons of Dredmore to be the closest modern RL that addresses that problem simply by allowing so many varieties of character builds at the start.

I believe that's precisely the problem - a lot of them have been in continuous development for years and none of them needed kickstarter. At first I thought that there's so little content because creators wanted to have a good foundation and the continue building upon it, but there has been no content patches since the release, at least none that I'm aware of.

Don't give up til you've tried TOME4:
http://te4.org/

Here is an image containing the icons for all the available talents (skills) as of a year ago:
http://te4.org/images/tmp/alltalents.final.png

I agree that the game has too little content.

The genre has been done to death. Anytime the name of the genre references another game, IE Roguelike, or Doomlike, and you are disappointed, it's your own fault.

^this

I love FTL, wouldn't change a thing.

Yeah, it was boring after I'd beaten the boss a few times. Even with different ships it still felt too samey.

FTL is brilliant. It's the first game where I really feel like I'm controlling a ship as a captain, including power management.

The main problem is that there isn't enough to mix up the action. Most encounters are the same because you generally target the enemy's weapons or shield and then proceed from there if need be. Also, the enemy doesn't play intelligently -- instead of focusing their shots on your weapon/shields, they shoot randomly, which is stupid. The game needs some more elements to make the fights more interesting, but is generally great nonetheless.