An idea for a roguelike
ShockFrost
I'm gonna step in the room, guns blazing. Duck.
I've been working on a concept for a new roguelike and would like to
post the central concepts here, so the players may respond with what
they think of the concepts. I don't want to spend a lot of time
developing something that no one will play, so I wanted to see if
there would be support for this type of variant.
The primary concept:
You start a new game. You are asked for a location name. (?) You
supply a city name, and then you are asked for the more familiar
character name. You are not given a choice of class; instead, you are
shown a statistic sheet which you can reroll or tweak or (unknown). A
little modifying (shooting for a wizard-class), and into the game you
go.
The city is a plane with borders (this would leave the city. Really
quit and leave this world?), trees, grass, and other naturey junk.
You call up your char sheet. You are an 'Adventurer'. You have some
rudimentary stuff. But, you didn't get any wizard equipment so now you
have a smart but weak character. A quick examination of your skills
reveals some broad but boring starting skills and no magical talent to
be seen.
After a bit of drifting the totally non-hostile surface, you find the
doorway to the lower world. Inside, it just looks like a dungeon
crawl. You get some gold, some little bits of junk, a weapon that is
probably poorer than the one you already have. You surf down 4 floors
and get killed by several dingbats, or whatever. You check out your
stats, and your possessions. You get your name recorded in the *city
name* high score board, and the overall scoreboard too.
-RIP CHARACTER 1
You start a new game. Your old city is available to be loaded. You
select it. This time you balance your character for solid combat. The
surface still looks generally the same. As you descend, the first
floor of the dungeon - in fact, all of it - has changed. As you sink,
you realize there are different level formats. The monster list has
been pretty nondescript. You collect goodies, drift around looking for
prizes, fight a couple of tough monsters.
Then it happens. On, say, the 15th floor, you run across a hostile
Ranger. Apparently you've been doing pretty good - you use the terrain
to get close and beat him to a pulp. He drops a Medal - a Ranger
medal. Upon examination, you discover the writing 'Take me to the
surface' or some such thing.
You do so. As you surface, the medal vanishes into thin air.
As you venture down into the pits again, you get 3 levels in and
decide to come up for air again. At the surface you issue a Quit
command. You get --
"Are you sure you want to Retire?" Hm. You agree.
"Would you like to oversee your retirement?" Hm. You agree again.
You are guided through a set of options. With 1300 gold, you are given
a 2x2 house and live out your life as a cheap goods merchant. Yay.
"See you again soon!"
--
Next day, you boot up the game. You select that same old city, and are
making away on your char, when before statistics, you are confronted
with a character choice-
"
a - Adventurer
r - Ranger
"
By attaining the proper medal, you have unlocked the Ranger class.
As you enter the game, you notice there is a building in town!
You enter the 2x2 building, and there is your retired character. He is
a cheap-goods merchant. Big surprise. :-)
Welcome to my roguelike variation. You unlock classes, retire
characters when you are bored of them, build a city, and just plain
have fun.
You start out with the Adventurer class. As you descend you can attain
Medals, and resurface with them to unlock new classes. If you keep
trying to get medals but can't they will slowly float to the surface
until eventually they will be found as shallow as 3rd level. Some
medals can only be obtained through certain classes. In addition to
class medals, there are also race medals.
Potential classes include Adventurer, Fighter, Rogue, Barbarian,
Centurion, Knight, Paladin, Ranger, Necromancer, Summoner, Wizard,
Sorcerer, Conjuerer, Elementalists in Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Poison,
and Electricity, Magi, Warlock, Thief, Assassin, Huskarl, Viking,
Monk, Priest, Cleric, Antipaladin, Death Knight, Alchemist, Runist,
the popular Tourist, Blacksmith, Archer, Soldier, Miner, Tailor,
Bartender, Shopkeep, Captain, Mercenary, Swordsman, Axeman, Slinger,
Pikeman, Farmer, Beastkeeper, Chronomancer, Chef, Weaponsmith,
Tinsmith, Armorer, Artificer, Sage, Scribe, Glassblower, Carpenter,
Warmonger, Mason, Enchanter, Sheriff, Gladiator, Druid, Shaman, Ghost
Hunter, Runist, Chanter, the highly elusive King, and so on.
But rather than all these choices getting bombarded on the player all
at once, they are revealed one at a time.
Races ... ah, gimme some time on that. Or place requests.
Races alter base statistics, while classes instead alter starting
skills and equipment. Hence, almost any combination can be struck
although some combinations will be highly ineffective. Hidden will be
race Medals which let you play as monsters and more.
Skills have a chance to appear anytime you perform the associated
action, and include Armor, various Weapons, Dodging, Stealth,
Generalship, Spellcasting, SpellWielding, Necromancy, Healing,
Summoning, Animal Training, Conjuration, Illusion, Enchantment,
Altercation, Transmutation, Transmogrification, Runistry, Alchemy,
Abjuration, Mining, Dissection, Harvesting, Poisons,
Traps/Ensnarement, Corruption, Cursing, Faith, Pioneering,
Enlightenment, Blacksmithing, Armorsmithing, Tinsmithing, Artificery,
Specific-item-smithing, Scribing, Chanting, Glassblowing, Sprinting,
Jumping, Unarmed Combat, Gladiatorial Combat, Spiritual Combat,
Animalistic Combat, Holy/Unholy Combat, Distillation, Carpentry,
Masonry, Gemcutting, specific-monster-slaying, Appraisal, Balance,
Learning, Education (Teaching) . . .
The skills you have grant a bonus to learn associated skills, and some
are only connected to a couple others while some have skills spidering
all about them, like Spellcasting. Learning out-of-class is difficult
but possible, and it's POSSIBLE to change your class if - A. You have
the class you want to change to and B. have moderate skills in the
field, or A. You DON'T have that class and B. You are a general MASTER
of those skills. SO, yes, you could change class. There's more, such
as books which you can use to boost your chance of unlocking the skill
(once you have rudimentary knowledge of the skill, you may focus upon
it), but that's the gist of it.
On top of all this, Charisma comes into play. You see, people in your
town have opinions of one another, and a full town of low charisma and
incompatible char. builds will mean fighting and death of parts of
your town. In addition, you can request your old players to ACCOMPANY
YOU into the dungeon. Yes, take a party! Dependent upon your charisma
+ the target's charisma, your level, and who you are traveling with,
he may refuse, or he may follow you into the depths for some distance.
*I am aware of the potential cheese and memory intensity - suffice to
say I am working on it*
As the town grows, the game becomes more difficult. The enemy may
launch an attack upon the village at some point, and kill parts of it
off if you do not protect them/they do not protect themselves. The
town has a small economy -- if you are rich while your laboring
Retirees are poor, the prices will skyrocket. On the other hand, if
everyone is rich, all prices may plummet!
--On a developer's note, I feel obligated to say that I have been
working on more substantial things than this fluff. Please, wait for
next message for further details, but post with responses and other
things right away.
R. Alan Monroe
>By attaining the proper medal, you have unlocked the Ranger class.
>characters when you are bored of them, build a city, and just plain
>have fun.
Hmm I thought at first it might be a little masochistic, slogging
through and dying repeatedly just to unlock stuff, until I saw the
"retire" part. Whew!
>Specific-item-smithing, Scribing, Chanting, Glassblowing, Sprinting,
Glassblowing caught my eye. That's one thing lacking from every
Roguelike I've ever seen. We have potions by the wagonload, but they
must be stored in SOMETHING :^) Could be cool.
Alan
Greg McIntyre
roguelike and The Sims.
--
Greg McIntyre
gr...@puyo.cjb.net
http://puyo.cjb.net
copx
"ShockFrost" <Deane...@hotmail.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:cb8231c1.02101...@posting.google.com...
> Hi. I'm new here.
>
> I'm gonna step in the room, guns blazing. Duck.
>
> I've been working on a concept for a new roguelike and would like to
> post the central concepts here, so the players may respond with what
> they think of the concepts. I don't want to spend a lot of time
> developing something that no one will play, so I wanted to see if
> there would be support for this type of variant.
>
> The primary concept:
Sounds quite interesting.
BTW, a hell lot of classes. I'm still waiting for a RL where
I can play a demicanadian voodoo princess, a gyrognome
robot-monk or a double wookiee tongueblade, though *g
Daniel Lowenstein
>
> As you enter the game, you notice there is a building in town!
> You enter the 2x2 building, and there is your retired character. He is
> a cheap-goods merchant. Big surprise. :-)
D: Good idea.
>
> Welcome to my roguelike variation. You unlock classes, retire
> characters when you are bored of them, build a city, and just plain
> have fun.
>
D: Plain have fun rules.
>
> You start out with the Adventurer class. As you descend you can attain
> Medals, and resurface with them to unlock new classes. If you keep
> trying to get medals but can't they will slowly float to the surface
> until eventually they will be found as shallow as 3rd level.
D: I would personaly vote against this.
Because it would destroy the "standard" status of being able to play
Wizard class.
So you can't show off to your friends because you can't prove if you did
it the "hardcore" way or the "1000 death's" way.
> Some
> medals can only be obtained through certain classes. In addition to
> class medals, there are also race medals.
>
D: Isn't that racist?
> Races ... ah, gimme some time on that. Or place requests.
>
D:
Request : A totaly new race no roguelike player has ever heard of.
(with proper story/background culture)
>
> On top of all this, Charisma comes into play. You see, people in your
> town have opinions of one another, and a full town of low charisma and
> incompatible char. builds will mean fighting and death of parts of
> your town. In addition, you can request your old players to ACCOMPANY
> YOU into the dungeon. Yes, take a party! Dependent upon your charisma
> + the target's charisma, your level, and who you are traveling with,
> he may refuse, or he may follow you into the depths for some distance.
> *I am aware of the potential cheese and memory intensity - suffice to
> say I am working on it*
>
D: Memory intensity?
> --On a developer's note, I feel obligated to say that I have been
> working on more substantial things than this fluff. Please, wait for
> next message for further details, but post with responses and other
> things right away.
D: Can't wait! (We want more, we want more!)
Groetend,
Daniel "www.vorkinjelinkeroog.nl/DRAAK" Lowenstein.
NN
Sign me up for betatesting. Depending on the language and platform (and
amount of work) I could help too. Reply to this if you're interested and
I'll supply my email.
ShockFrost
I'm glad to see my ideas are at least moderately well recieved. :-)
IN RESPONSES:
TO DANIEL:
On the note of the wizard class- that would be an ultra-common medal.
You could probably scrounge it up on 1:4-5 level 15's (or as
previously mentioned, eventually the tame level 3) but that's NOT the
only way.
To learn MANY various types of skills (spellcraft) you just pick up a
spellbook with an Adventurer, soak some of your skill XP into it by
trying to study it, and when you get lucky, BAM - you unlock
Conjuration I or some other skill.
Succeed in actually casting a spell a few times and you unlock
SpellCasting I.
And master general spellcasting, and you can just CHANGE to wizard.
Whether or not you have the medal, if you develop a char. with mastery
over the arts described, you'll gain the option to switch class. (And
thereby unlock the char. type, if your hero survives to retirement.)
Having the wizard class spares you the labor and XP loss of trying to
train a total novice and lets you jump right into niche character
development. BUT the novice could theoretically do anything the wizard
could, if he learned how and was engineered properly.
- BUT - It's not that way with EVERY class. Some classes can't be
obtained through osmosis learning as listed above. Some medals will
only be discovered very deep. And SOME classes can only be wished for
with the Amulet of Yendor (grab it, surface with it, and spend it
unlocking an ultra-rare class -- for example, the King class with
super-high charisma and persuasion bonuses for leading your entire
village into the dungeon, plus high sword skills and inherent medium
armor skills etc. ALSO, monster races will only be unlockable with
either the amulet or TOTAL GENOCIDE. Sick, eh? Slay all the dung rats
and you unlock the DUNG RAT MEDAL to be found! Then you can BE a dung
rat! What a glorious waste of time!)
BTW, that genocide thing holds true from game to game. Aw, kill all
the hobgoblins? TOO BAD. They ain't coming back (unless you go into
game options and discard the appropriate monster medal -- then they
will respawn). This also would hold true for some unique bosses, but a
few uniques will keep coming back for more...
And by memory strain, I meant having a dungeon filled with over
100x100 monsters each trying to move after you take your turn. Better
go get a cup of coffee. Well, I'm working on it. The village will
control its own size -- too many crappy level 2-3 retirees will cause
the game difficulty to mount, the townsfolk will try to kill each
other if there is any diversity (or charisma levels are just too low -
Jed jist got diss-grunteled for thuh last tiyme) and after too many
attempts, the monsters from floor 1 will attack the town - then floor
2 - and so on, as the dungeon levels mysteriously 'rise', the next
level is found underground. Townspeople too weak to fend off the
attacks, randomly get attacked and DIE. Simple enough.
Greg - I don't know if there will be THAT much interaction, just a
general tolerance level that drops with the increasing population and
is dependant upon own charisma, charisma of target, and relative type.
It's just a matter of time until your two most deranged hermits, a
stable-fed monk and an endbringing necromancer, each decide they're
fed up with the other and duke it out, turn-time in the town streets.
Not a total loss - one will kill the other and gain XP. The other,
well... it's a good idea to keep your characters at least GENERALLY
social.
NN - Yah, ok. Beta tester #1, you shall be.
Alan - I wanted to make glassblowing a generally easy skill to attain,
but still wanted to include it so alchemists could go about making
their own potions and adventurers could take water and other
substances into the dungeon with them, with out that mysterious
container-appearing thing. Plus, it's another shtick for players to
develop. The glassblowing book (there may be just one, I don't know)
will have multiple types of containers indicating various amounts of
contained potion (THAT'S RIGHT, no more one-size-fits-all. You wanna
levitate for an hour? Chug that gallon pitcher of potion, but watch
for nasty side effects of OD... Need to get over a pit? Better use
your vial instead. Much safer, and more potion-efficient, because the
more potion you drink, the more the effect seems to diminish per ounce
drunk. Figure the minimal limit out and work with it to make many
effective, very temporary levitation potions, a perfect solution to
nasty traps that you see.) and also different tensile strengths for
the really volatile stuff. BUT I am going to omit corks. Sorry, no
system is split-strand perfect. :-P
To Copx: Yeah, there's a lot of classes, but I have a theory I am
gonna share with everybody now. It explains the othercaste. Plus,
remember, you start with just 1. To see the overwhelming list of races
and classes from which to make your final selection, you've gotta get
the amulet or play your life away. It's ... Perfect.
ShockFrost
Enchanter - Specializing in the subtler arts of magic, the Enchanter
specializes in Transmutation, Altercation, and other quiet tricks.
Shapeshifter - Self-explanatory. Transmogrification is the only skill.
NOT a wimp in combat, of course. Very rare class. Very specific class.
Do funny things to complexify the situation - turn into a Vampire and
bite somebody, then turn into a gargoyle and use the surge of strength
to CRUSH your enemies. Other funny tweaks. Use beholder stare to
freeze, then shift to a serpent and poison, then to a young dragon and
do a little flamethrowing to finish the job. Uses minimal mana to
shift, but if killed as a monster, you stay dead! Shift with care!
Chronomancer - Another ultra rare. This one has spells that play with
time. Involves a common fetish- an hourglass. More details soon. (OR,
give ME the details.)
Artificer - A very rare side tree of blacksmithing. MANY arts to
learn. Glassblowing, Tinsmithing, Blacksmithing, Tailoring,
Enchanting, Runistry, Scribing, Gemcutting, Alchemy and other skills
will all increase what you can actually MAKE with your 'Artificery'.
(Fortunately, all these skills come easily). Use glassblowing,
gemcutting, blacksmithing, tinsmithing, and tailoring to get base
equipment. Use special Runistry, Enchanting, and alchemy 'soaking'
(using potions on artifacts) to raise the overall power level of the
object. Then use your Artificic skill to release the power and the
object will gain specific, powerful abilities. The art is not fully
controllable, but as your skill increases, you can start making REALLY
strong stuff. Artificery only adds the final skill needed to make the
artifact work, 'binding'. Artificers also can make rods, staves, and
wands. You bind a scroll/potion/spellbook/reagent/etc. to the
wand/rod/staff you engineered (with hopefully a nice high base power)
and the bound ingredient is destroyed, and you have generated a
special rod/staff/wand! As I said, a highly rare character class,
POSSIBLY only accessible through the amulet and POSSIBLY obtainable by
unlocking EVERY ASSOCIATED SKILL.
Sage - The sage is a very special class that gets XP for exploring(it
uses the rare pioneering skill that you might get if you explore a
level 100%). If you can tell me the name of the game where this class
came from, you get to be beta tester #2. Rare.
Scribe - Can generate maps, copy spellbooks and scrolls, etc. His
abilities all revolve around the pen. It's amazing what a little
writing can accomplish. If he learns runistry, he can write brand new,
working magic scrolls (and vice versa - a runist who learns to scribe
will be able to write scrolls as well) A common class but nothing
amazing without additional components. There is something missing from
this guy. Tell me what, I don't know.
AntiPaladin - Bordering mage and warrior, much like a paladin, the
antipaladin wears little but some armor. He specializes in whips/chain
weapons and axes though. His magical techniques are violent in nature.
He is a good fusion of warrior and wizard. He is also decidedly evil.
DeathKnight - The distinctly different DeathKnight has a special
weapon, a SoulBlade, which he uses to no end. The SoulBlade is a part
of the Death Knight - he must feed it, or he will slowly be destroyed
by it. Killing will increase the SoulBlade's power. When you level up,
your SoulBlade's power is then returned to you. This cursed weapon can
become very good if you kill everything in sight, but as you use it,
you weaken, and do not regain your might until you level and the sword
'bursts', returning all the power you gave it and then some.
Viking - These burly warriors like shields and axes. They heal VERY
fast. They too can perform battle rage, but unlike the Barbarian, they
START the GAME with this art and can perform it at will. Battle rage
causes defenses to drop and attack power to ramp up. An angry viking
could crush the world. There IS a limit to a Viking's strength, but
you'll be straining the reins well into floor 60-75 before you hit it.
Tourist - By popular demand. Rare class. A camera, plenty of food,
plenty of money, no skill with weapons, magic, or armor. Take photos
of the monsters and then surface, and your findings will be recorded
in town log books. The same goes for any objects you discover. If you
get the Amulet of Yendor, there is a special tourist trap waiting for
you. Good luck!
Blacksmith - Forging weapons is the big draw to a blacksmith. There
are many subclasses including Tinsmithing, Weaponsmithing, Armoring,
etc. There is an increase to strength, and a decrease to constitution,
but for the most part he is kept neutral so you may develop him
however you wish.
Tinsmith, Weaponsmith, Armorer, etc. - Rarer classes. All can be
reached from the smith, and each has special creation talents. They
are all variations on a normal blacksmith.
Archer - A marksman. Specialist in ranged attacks. High dexterity and
such, with great accuracy. Has the special ability to snowball damage
onto attacks with his levels, both with ranged weapon and precision
skills. He is fatal but generally frail up close. Some of the 'harder'
monsters may give him cause to fret.
Soldier - A trained soldier. Starts with combat bonuses and reasonable
equipment. The first half of the dungeon is a cake walk, but all his
skills are retarded so it is unlikely he will get past halfway down.
Miner - Capable of *mining*, the miner can dig holes in the walls and
floor too. This offers special access to riches -- and also to
dangers, such as gas pockets and some things that should not have been
forgotten. He learns mercantile and appraisal, and gemcutting, and
masonry, and other associated skills faster. His pick is a unique
weapon that is not exceptional in combat, but he can pick up a bonus
with it.
Tailor - A soft armor maker. Capable of skinning a monster and making
tailored armor from it. Dragon scales make excellent armor - and now
you can prove it. Will occasionally venture down to get more skins if
retired, and can die in this manner, unless you bring him
corpses/skins when you buy up his stock.
Also, bring him a VERY nice monster and he'll make some fine armor
(albeit a little stale - fresh kills make for the best armor, so use
up a recall...)
Thief - Common class. Capable of sneaking, pickpocketing, and more
sneaky things. Thief has dagger-class skills and easily picks up
poison skills. He is best when using hit-and-run tactics. He is a
variation of possibly the greatest challenge of the game, but he is a
little better balanced, with extra speed.
Assassin - This balance of thief already has knowledge of poisons. He
is not as fast and not as resourceful as the thief. But he excels at
one-on-one combat. He can use dagger, sword, axe, polearm, any edged
weapon. He is especially skilled at throwing things. Surround an
assassin and he will be dead in an instant. Also, being an assassin,
it is best to never be surprised, lest you meet your fate. You have
been warned...
ROGUE - This ultra-rare class must be unlocked with the Amulet of
Yendor. (Out of respect) It is very hard to win with the rogue, as the
townsfolk shun you and will sell you nothing. Your skills are few and
far between. You have no great strengths to draw upon. Only your wits
can support you, and that won't get you far... will it? Winning the
game with the Rogue is the toughest thing to accomplish in the entire
game. You'll have to use EVERY trick to pull it off, but if you can,
there is a great reward waiting for you...
...more IS on the way. I am still typing, just need a momentary break.
Karl St-Jacques
> NOT a wimp in combat, of course. Very rare class. Very specific class.
> Do funny things to complexify the situation - turn into a Vampire and
> bite somebody, then turn into a gargoyle and use the surge of strength
> to CRUSH your enemies. Other funny tweaks. Use beholder stare to
> freeze, then shift to a serpent and poison, then to a young dragon and
> do a little flamethrowing to finish the job. Uses minimal mana to
> shift, but if killed as a monster, you stay dead! Shift with care!
Sound like a Doppleganger. In my little head, shapeshifter are Were
creature. Like WereWolf. But this is only my opinion and other might have
divergents one
--
Karl St-Jacques.
*A healthy sensitivity to both moral and environmental standards forbids the
practicing of aluminum foil fetishism.*
ShockFrost
Beastkeeper - This type of character raises animals and monsters. He
has the art of beast empathy, and animal-type creatures can be
atrtracted with proper supplies to join him. Afterward, they function
just like summoned beasts. Rare class.
Sheriff - When retired, tries to prevent fights, lowers the likelihood
of them. Protects the town. Possibly to be cut.
Bartender - capable of distilling, harvesting mold, etc. Rare class.
Main reason to raise one is the boost in charisma score your town gets
for his presence, so it is easier to form a large group. Possibly to
be cut.
Shopkeep - Possibly to be cut.
Captain - A watered down version of a King, with command skills.
Possibly to be cut.
Mercenary - Possibly to be cut.
Farmer - Droll class. Possibly to be cut.
Chef - Possibly to be cut.
Warmonger - Possibly to be cut.
Carpenter - Possibly to be cut.
Mason - Possibly to be cut.
I need to eat. When I come back, a few words on floor styles, and also
play style concepts, and tempo control (*key concept*)
Archor
<snipped a lot of good ideas for a very good game>
This seems like the perfect roguelike to me. I can imagine
everything... A town with some people living in it, working
in it and even dieing in it...
An entrance to a mysterious dungeon which allows adventurers
to enter the dungeon, slay some monsters, become stronger
and even save town (for a little while, at least.)
I've got some ideas you might like:
Have you though about religion? It's a standard thing, i
know, but can be brought in a new way, like atheists who are
immune to godly magic, monotheist, polytheist, elementalists
(those who believe in gods of elements or essences of
elements,) spiritualists (voodoo) and more...
Maybe guilds can be used; once a character is unlocked,
he/she/it can start a guild, which allows other characters
to join and learn specific skills, find companions and have
some friends (most adventurers seem to be lonely - always
saving the world by themselves...)
Currently, I can't think of more, but when I do, I'll post
it...
Greetz,
Archor
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Archor Ver 3.1 2K2 ArchorTheN...@HotMail.Com
GC/GED/GL/>GCS>$ d-(---) s: a--- C++>$ UL++(++++) P+ L+(++)>++++
E W(++) N++ a? K-- w++(--) O? !M- V? PS+ !PE Y+ PGP(-) t--- 5(+)
X- R>+++ tv-- b++ DI(+) D- G>G+++ e->e++++ h!>h--- r++>+++ !y+++
-----END GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
-----= Posted via Newsfeed.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeed.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== 100,000 Groups! - 19 Servers! - Unlimited Download! =-----
ShockFrost
POST #2: more details and justifications
THE NUMBER 1 GRIPE I EXPECT TO SEE IS-
"Those extra classes are just filler junk. They're a waste of time and
they disgust me."
Well, actually, I'm founding each class on a different play style.
That's the big reason you change classes - a different play style. You
want a different feel to your game. You don't want to go in, sword
drawn, stomping everything with the same old sword swings every TIME.
So here are some classes and the things that make them feel unique:
Adventurer - Your first hero. Ultra-generic. He has no great
strengths, but no major weaknesses - in fact, he is statistically more
efficient than most classes. He is perfect for beginners, and in fact
he is the only options beginners are confronted with.
Fighter - Ultra common. Enough general combat skill unlocks him. He is
equipment-heavy. He gets bonuses to learning weapons. (Possible
schools are Throwing, Chain, Bludgeon, Sword, Axe, and Unarmed Combat)
He is very easy to play early on, but in the end he is quite limited.
Barbarian - Freakishly strong, the Barbarian has tendencies to
Bludgeons, Axes, and Swords. He has a bonus to learning berserk, and a
bonus to learning Battle Rage. He starts quickly, and doesn't have it
QUITE as soft as the Fighter due to a slight mortality thing, but his
strength doesn't have the same bounds, and he can reach new depths of
power. Most impressive his perhaps his pain resistance.
Centurion - Highly dependent on armor and shield, with talents in
Polearms and the capability for Swords. He has high stun and force
resistance. He does a better job of surviving the mid levels, because
it's hard to shake him up. Although he excels up close, he can be
proficient with a small shield at some distance, and easily develops
spear-throwing.
Knight - Innate armor capabilities and massive armor bonuses-to-learn
and usefulness make the knight an eventual Tin Can. He earns bonuses
for Sword and Chain weapons. Getting excellent equipment is key to a
Knight. They tend to be slow, but have very high constitution, and
coupled with their armor they can mow down lesser foes with good
equipment. Their only problem is they tend to get rattled in their
heavy armor rather easily, so force and stun attacks can be difficult
to overcome.
Paladin - Like the Knight, but magic-capable, the Paladin starts with
Faith as a skill and should spend a lot of time enhancing it. He is a
bit more nimble than the Knight which is good because he won't get as
much from his armor. He is sword and bludgeon-exclusive, and perhaps
is awarded his greatest abilities with a hammer. Faith can apply
resistance to many things, including pain, stun, force, and magic.
Looser and quicker with occasional support, the Paladin must be played
in a Lawful manner for his advantages -- he must not attack the
neutral fauna that has not attacked him first. Exceptions include
obvious demonic apparitions.
Ranger - Fast, with inherent skills in all weaponry, a ranger lives
'on the edge of a knife'. With his weapon advantages, he has high
bonuses against natural creatures and fauna, and high tendencies to
develop slaying skills against all monsters. He is deadly accurate and
precise, and learns stealth and balance easily. On the flipside, he
does poorly with armor and can take a long time to learn heavy armor
skills, so he should stick to lighter equipment. Neither his strength
nor constitution is overwhelming, so he must rely on finesse in combat
- besting opponents with swift, skillful weaponplay - to stay alive.
Wizard - The most mystic of fun ideas, a wizard is a generally
physically weak guy with tremendous spiritual powers to make up for
it. The wizard is a jack-of-all-trades, with good knowledge in
SpellCasting and SpellWielding and a step up on Education skills. This
can rapidly unlock many mystical arts to a resourceful Wizard. A
fairly trained wizard will dabble in many magic arts, like
Conjuration, Illusion, Enchantment, Corruption, Elementalism,
Necromancy, Summoning, Altercation, Runistry, Alchemy, and more. But a
TRULY smart one will never focus too long on any one thing... else the
power of diversity be lost to a more mundane trade... The wizard is
classically weak early on but more powerful later. He can be used as a
stepping stone to reach the majority of the magical classes, if you
are too lazy to just get the proper medal. By combining various arts,
the Wizard is the most exploitable class in the game, as it should be.
Necromancer - One of the more popular wizard classes, the necromancer
specializes in controlling life and death. His party-favor trick is
resurrecting the recently or long dead to serve his will. Learning the
necromantic arts is exhausting study, but using them seems to have an
even more draining effect. Due to this, necromancers are commonly very
frail. They tend to have fair advantages against holy monsters, but
since such creatures are commonly benign to divers (Although not
magical chars) this is very little help. To play and win, you must
turn the tide of the battle to your favor by returning your dead
opponents to life on your side, while avoiding getting slain. You are
never safe, early or late-game. However, it is rumored that truly
powerful Necromancers have turned themselves into the similar but much
less frail LICH. (Can obtain Monster Race medal)
Sorcerer - This is the school of book-learned magic. To cast any
spells, a sorcerer must obtain the proper sorceric book for the skill.
These books contain random assortments of spells, and some spells
(from certain arts in particular) are quite rare. A lucky sorcerer may
locate a perfect blank book and, if he learns scribing, which comes
naturally, he may record his spells from other books into a private
spellbook that he has advantages with. He has no need for spell
points. Instead, he spends his 'energy' memorizing spells. When he
casts them, he forgets them again. What a miracle! Each time he levels
up, a sorcerer is given an allocation of memory. When he spends it all
memorizing this spell or that, no more magic for Mr. Sorcerer until
next level, although it grows exponentially. More critically, a
Sorcerer may invest his precious memory in ANY LEVEL of spell,
spending 10 'memorizes' on a single level-10 spell while being only
level 2-3 himself. Hence the reason he is played at all - the ability
to instantly memorize any spell with enough effort, and cast it with
reasonable consistancy. Explosive magic abilities. Spooky, eh?
Conjurer - This art focuses on nothing but obliteration. If it is
intended to harm, damage, agonize, castrate, indemnify, or otherwise
harm a target, the conjurer can perform it. He excels in the violent
magical arts, and as such, his spells tend to be a bit MORE violent
than usual. He can also shoot various TYPES of damage, sneaking around
resistances. This class is just for those who love to splash monsters
with 4000 damage-spells and nothing else. However there is no variety
to his casting, and if he comes up against a more subtle situation,
such as *extremely FAST* monsters, he may be in big trouble.
Elementalist - Each element has its own pivotal theories. Air, earth,
fire, water, Poison, Electricity. Any questions? No? Good. There is a
class for each element to be had, and don't think you can get one to
get them all - changing elements would be harder than taking a neutral
character and teaching him.
Druid - Here, the neutral elementalist. As a restriction, he must have
a reagent to make his spells work. This can be difficult for some
elements, and it always gets kind of expensive - you run out fast. He
serves a MUCH better platform to obtain all the elementalists. He also
tends to be a little less combat-incompetent than most wizards, as
druids tend to have excellent constitution, and has some talent with
Swords.
Shaman - Once again, not combat-incompetent, although faster than
stronger. And rather skilled with chain-style weapons. The shaman's
power is dependent upon tidal forces of nature. By slightly shifting
position a bit, a shaman's power changes dramatically. In fact, her
'spell points' actually serve as a potency guage as to a cast from
your current location - she has no mana. Spell power is dependent upon
a cycle of time, location power, and whether the energy in the area
has been drained already. She needs no mana and starts with a PHAT
spellbook, although there are a few more spells to be had for her. Her
spells tend to be indirect in nature.
Summoner - The summoner actually is not the same as the expected norm.
With 2 distinct types of spells, a summoner has a record to uphold.
'Calling' a monster will make it appear, and fight, then vanish.
Attacking it may cause it to retaliate, but not much else. However,
the caster may also 'SUMMON' a monster. This is no temporary deal -
summons are till' death do you part, one way or another. They don't
fail much. However, they may be REFUSED... You have a track record as
a Summoner of how you treat summoned companions. Feed them, heal them,
keep them around a long time, and your rating will rise - which will
convince more powerful creatures to come to your aid. Also, if you
have too many creatures summoned already, a new one may not join you.
Summoned creatures can grow in strength. If you attack them, they will
assume you are training them, and retaliate, until you '.' rest. Then
the monster will assume training is over (and likely rest too) a
monster's XP and skill will rise slowly from sparring, but yours will
not. Your monster can hurt you can even accidentally kill you in
training, so be careful what you train! But if you accidentally kill a
summoned creature in training, though, your rating will DIVE. Get high
ratings and start summoning something you can ride, like an Ancient
Red Dragon!
Mage - The art of the magi is veiled in secrecy. (I haven't finished
this system just yet. Suggestions are welcome but they may/will likely
get ignored)
Warlock - The darker side of Magic, the Warlock has the distinct
ability to cast from HP instead of XP. HP is very powerful as magical
fuel, but a Warlock never seems to have too much of it -- leveling
will drive the value of your HP up, but as you cast too often and
drain your life away, your consitution will slowly drop. . . Warlocks
gain access to strong magic very early, since HP is such a potent
power source. Use your magical power wisely and sparingly to dominate
enemies with near endless power. A rare and unique class or magician.
Priest - The lighter side of magic, the Priest excels in healing and
restorative abilities. If it is hurt, a priest can heal it. Raising a
high-level, lawful priest can be quite difficult, but it pays off big
time when he retires and opens a temple that will heal your most
severe wounds, sell powerful blessings to ward off the most unpleasant
of creature effects, create medicine and rejuvenators, and even create
a pact that will restore you to life if you've been good. A
high-charisma priest makes an excellent party leader. He has negatives
to all weapons save bludgeons which he has an innate advantage with.
Cleric - The more vengeant side of light, a militant priest who uses
his faith as a weapon. Like a paladin, but slower, and dependant
against magic granted from his deity to survive. Good performance
(high skill) before leveling will improve your deity's opinion of you.
Pray for help if you dare. While Priests are always vanilla, Clerics
have the additional choice of which deity to serve (The pantheon has
not been written yet)
Alchemist - Potions and mixes and wonders galore! Alchemists only
IMITATE magicians! Instead, they are given a base book of alchemy,
which lets you study core skills like glassblowing, monster
dissection, distillation, and other talents. Then, carve up corpses
and see what base elements you can identify. Create powerful mixes
using the core components. Alchemical potions tend to be imprecise and
slurred in effect. Master the art of refining a perfect potion!
Discover a book of lore to uncover a formula for a super-potion, or
break such a potion down for a hint. (Strangely, these working
super-formulas change from town to town!) Write the formula for a
potion onto a scroll or book and when you retire, the alchemist
merchant will continue to produce and sell that potion upon request.
Truly, a unique class. And generally uncommon too.
Runist - The art of runistry is scribing glyphs for an effect - onto
the ground, onto parchment, and onto weapons and armor. A form of
enchanting, you must create glyphs based on your level. As you apply
them to a piece of equipment, the eeffect will increase, but the
stress on the object also increases. Too many glyphs and not enough
skill, and *SMASH* no more item. Too bad. Don't push it so far next
time. Runists tend to (obviously) have excellent equipment, with
subpar skills to use them. In town, they tend to be invaluable as they
scratch magic onto any equipment. This is a pretty rare class.
Monk - Their unarmed combat skills may seem magical, but there's
nothing really mystic about these warriors. They become fatal with a
sword, chain, polearm, or throwing weapon, but they abhor armor and
dislike axes for some reason. They tend to seem fragile, but
meditation can cause their wounds to heal really fast, their
statistics to improve, and even their LEVELS INCREASE (!)Monks have
excellent chances to gain skills in gladiatorial (anti-person),
animalistic(anti-beast), Spiritual (anti-mystic) or
Holy(anti-evil)/Unholy(anti-good) combat, but they have trouble
getting individual monster-slaying skills as a tradeoff.
Read the next post for a continuation.
ABCGi NewsMonkey
UNLOCKING CLASSES
ShockFrost I like the idea of unlocking classes. I would probably like it in
a different way. A few general classes first, once you reach a high enough
level in that class, a more specialised class becomes available. Perhaps
even the option for the general classed character to change to the
specialised class from level 1. But whatever it's still a good variation. I
wouldn't lock down races that much as that doesn't make as much sense in
terms of "learning a new more specialised and useful class". A silly
example;
Magician
---- Sorcerer
------ Necromancer
---- Wizard
----- Protection Wizard
----- Physics Wizard
----- Combat Wizard
------- Fire Wizard
------- Cold Wizard
------- Death Wizard
PERSISTENT GAME WORLDS:
I particularly like the idea of building up the town to make life easier for
future adventurers. Perhaps one adventurer may build a morgue in the town
where you can view dead heroes retrieved from the dungeon and look at their
death file. Perhaps another adventurer might start a retrieval shop where
items from dead characters can be sold (for high prices of course). Maybe
some of the retired adventurers would also set sub-quests (one retires as
the mayor). The higher the level of the retired character the higher level
position (and thus more useful to following characters) available - also
their stats could be used to influence what jobs they might be doing. A
warrior of INT 9 won't be able to run a very good magic lab!
AND IN THE MAKING WAY TOO MUCH WORK FOR YOU CATEGORY!:
Perhaps a wilderness where multiple towns can be set up so that you can
travel between them and create a whole mini-world. The player decides which
town they want to build up and the character created is of "that town".
Allowing say crusade *against* another town (the mayor might give a mission
to steal another town's supplies). Perhaps a town has a general alignment
and only good characters can be created in good towns and only evil
characters in evil towns (and make necromancer and some other classes
restricted to only evil to force some evil towns to be created). And of
course Orcs would get their own "settlement" and get attacked by humans all
the time!
Keep up the good work, await to hear more - perhaps a web site to keep my
eye on it :-)
--
ABCGi (geekcode) ab...@codemonkey.com.au S14 D15 C13 I17 W9 c12
GCS/IT$/L/B$ d+(-) s: a? C++ ULUSU-- P+ L+>++ E- W++$ N+ o+ K--
w+++(--)$ O- !M- V PS++(+) PE-@ Y+(++) PGP>++ t++ 5+ X R(+++) tv
b++(+) DI++++ D+++ G e++>+++ h++(home office!) r++ y++* BAS-----
- http://users.bigpond.net.au/abcgi/ - http://www.geekcode.com -
Rick C
> BTW, a hell lot of classes. I'm still waiting for a RL where
> I can play a demicanadian voodoo princess, a gyrognome
> robot-monk or a double wookiee tongueblade, though *g
What makes you say PQ isn't a roguelike? You don't have any idea what the
underlying gameplay is...
:)
Rick C
news:kLIr9.31925$334....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
[I snipped a few hundred lines one of y'all should've done.]
> UNLOCKING CLASSES
> ShockFrost I like the idea of unlocking classes. I would probably like it
in
> a different way. A few general classes first, once you reach a high enough
> level in that class, a more specialised class becomes available.
One real-world example of this techique (sort of) is Heroes of Might and
Magic IV. Starting heroes are one of 11 classes. Skills are grouped into
about a dozen small trees; each of the starting 11 classes has one point in
the base skill for the appropriate tree. The first non-base skill you learn
in a different tree will alter your class to one of the 30 or so "advanced"
classes.
Hmm, that doesn't sound very descriptive, does it? Lemme give a specific
example. There are 9 skill trees (5 schools of magic, 2 combat, and 2
other). You start off as one of the 11 base classes (one for each of 7 of
the trees, and the two combat skills have 2 classes each.) Let's take a
Sorcerer (starts with Chaos Magic.) He can learn any of the other 8 base
skills and remain a sorcerer. So let's say he picks up Life Magic. THe
three advanced Life Magic skills are Healing, Spirituality, and
Resurrection. Learning any of those skills will convert the Sorcerer to a
Heretic. If you then learn Tactics and an advanced Tactics skill, you stay
a Heretic. (Chaos + Tact = Pyromancer, Life + Tact = Priest).
Rick C
> > Some
> > medals can only be obtained through certain classes. In addition to
> > class medals, there are also race medals.
> D: Isn't that racist?
*thwack*
> > Races ... ah, gimme some time on that. Or place requests.
> D:
> Request : A totaly new race no roguelike player has ever heard of.
> (with proper story/background culture)
*cough* Demicanadian. Double Wookie. Half Halfling. Double Hobbit.
Enchanted Motorcycle (my personal favorite.)
copx
"Rick C" <pixe...@hotmail.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:aoo792$o6jfv$1...@ID-80100.news.dfncis.de...
Finally someone who got the joke :)
Daniel Lowenstein
> > > Races ... ah, gimme some time on that. Or place requests.
>
> > D:
> > Request : A totaly new race no roguelike player has ever heard of.
> > (with proper story/background culture)
>
> *cough* Demicanadian. Double Wookie. Half Halfling. Double Hobbit.
> Enchanted Motorcycle (my personal favorite.)
D:
And now for the proper background culture of those .................
Hansjörg Malthaner
... Motorcycles like to live in groups. They are loud and fast. Known
not to care much about the slower species.
They are affected by bad weather, more than usual. On sunny days they
appear in large groups. They usually prefer the open plains, but some
live in rough mountaneous regions, too.
During winter many of them hibernate ...
c.u.
Hajo
DarkGod
>> D:
>> And now for the proper background culture of those .................
>
> ... Motorcycles like to live in groups. They are loud and fast. Known
> not to care much about the slower species.
>
> They are affected by bad weather, more than usual. On sunny days they
> appear in large groups. They usually prefer the open plains, but some
> live in rough mountaneous regions, too.
>
> During winter many of them hibernate ...
AHAHHA great ! :)
--
-----------------------+----------------------------------------------
DarkGod comes from | Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards
the hells for YOU ! :) | because they are subtle and quick to anger.
-----------------------+----------------------------------------------
Pe W Olorin YSo L:50 DL:696 A+++ R+++ Sp++ w:Mage Staff of Mana(240%)
Pe*/PM*(Cr) D H- D c++ f- PV s- TT- d++ P++ M+ C- S++ I+++ So++ B/-
ac- GHB- SQ+ RQ V+++ F:Mage playing Mage-like(see Pernangband Sorcerors)
Mika-Petri Lauronen
>> > Request : A totaly new race no roguelike player has ever heard of.
>> > (with proper story/background culture)
>>
>> *cough* Demicanadian. Double Wookie. Half Halfling. Double Hobbit.
>> Enchanted Motorcycle (my personal favorite.)
>
Hmm... half halfling would be... a quarterling?
Double hobbit is dobbit, and double wookie is dookie.
Some more: Powerpuff. Teletubbie. Yoda. Osama (the ultimate evil race, good
in disappearing).
How about a Shonen Knife patch? Monsters like jackalopes, conrete animals,
tomato heads, cannibal papayas, flying jellies, neon zebras, banana fish,
punk animals; items like red krosses, lazybones, white flags, brown
mushrooms, wonder wine, buddha's faces, people traps, and, of course,
shonen knives; places like elmer elevator, burning farm, parrot polynesia,
ice cream city, music square, tower of the sun, mysterious drugstore;
character classes like parallel woman, twist barbie, insect collector,
faith healer, and butterfly boy. Yum!
--
-- Ala mua, elä sottaa!
-- Make love, not war!
-- Mixu Lauronen, mpla...@paju.oulu.fi
Timo Viitanen
"Daniel Lowenstein" <dlo...@xs4all.nl> wrote in message
news:3DAE8CAC...@xs4all.nl...
> > By attaining the proper medal, you have unlocked the Ranger class.
> >
>
> D:
> Request : A totaly new race no roguelike player has ever heard of.
> (with proper story/background culture)
Poll : how many here have heard of the Nephilim and the
Slithzeriskai?
Timo Viitanen
"ShockFrost" <Deane...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:cb8231c1.02101...@posting.google.com...
> Hi. I'm new here.
>
> I'm gonna step in the room, guns blazing. Duck.
>
> I've been working on a concept for a new roguelike and would like to
I just got a weird idea for unlocking classes. First off, you
have access to a handful of general classes - say, Warrior,
Rogue, Sorcerer, Cleric. Each one of these has a handful of
quests. When you complete the first quest, you get an Apprentice
medallion of that class and some cool special abilities, a title
and some loot, the second quest gives you the Journeyman
medallion, Master, Adept, Grand Master, until finally the sixth
quest nets you the Grand Medallion of foo.
Each one of these medallions opens up to three new classes when
brought to the Pedestal of Power amidst the town. For example,
the Rogue Journeyman medallion might open the Assassin and the
Swashbuckler classes while the Grand Master would open the all-
mighty Ninja class. (www.realultimatepower.net)
But wait, now it gets fun. Each character you start starts with
all the previous medals you have placed on the runestone (or
something similar, this part of the idea is a bit unclear. Perhaps
he can choose one medallion at the start of the game, bringing
some of the warrior skills to a cleric or something like that.)
Anyway, you can then drop, say, the Warrior and the Sorcerer
Master medals on the stone and unlock the Spellsword class.
For this stuff, an assassin you start is concidered to be a
rogue that has already completed the journeyman quest. At the
start of the game he is given high enough level and enough
equipment and goal to be that far in the game. A spellsword
(fighter/mage) could do both warrior and sorcerer quests and
thus such multiclasses would be highly desirable.
To get an ultimate goal to the game : the goal is to attain the
six Grand Medallions. This unlocks the Avatar class that can,
through a special quest, open the entrance to the Final Gauntlet
where he faces the Big Baddy.
I hope this is helpful, or at least fun. Reply if you didn't
understand a word of my confused ramblings, i'll try to clarify
them a bit ;).
Mika-Petri Lauronen
> Poll : how many here have heard of the Nephilim and the
> Slithzeriskai?
>
I've even played them.
Daniel Lowenstein
D:
Yes, half human half angel.
> and the
> Slithzeriskai?
D:
No, enlighten us!
Groetend,
Daniel Lowenstein
DRAAK , a roguelike project : http://www.vorkinjelinkeroog.nl/DRAAK/
Timo Viitanen
> Timo Viitanen wrote:
>
> > "Daniel Lowenstein" <dlo...@xs4all.nl> wrote in message
> > news:3DAE8CAC...@xs4all.nl...
> > > > By attaining the proper medal, you have unlocked the Ranger class.
> > > > Races ... ah, gimme some time on that. Or place requests.
> > > >
> > >
> > > D:
> > > Request : A totaly new race no roguelike player has ever heard of.
> > > (with proper story/background culture)
> >
> > Poll : how many here have heard of the Nephilim
>
> D:
> Yes, half human half angel.
>
> > and the
> > Slithzeriskai?
>
> D:
> No, enlighten us!
From the Exile and the Avernum series from Spiderweb Software,
which i concider to be perhaps the best CRPG's of the world.
(For the curious around here, they are based in an immense
underground warren of caverns where all who dare to oppose
the dictators above are banished. Each of the games had three
main quests which could be completed in any order and lots
of sidequests (except for exile 3 and the remake avernum 3).
Exile/avernum I had destroying the evil demon lord that terrorized
the underworld, finding a way to escape it, and slaying the
emperor of the Great Empire above. E/A 2 had the empire invading
the underworld because of the emperor's assassination and
involved enlisting the aid of an alien race, destroying the
imperial mass teleporter which would surely bring victory to
the empire and slaying the mighty wizard leader of the imperial
armies. The coolest games ever.)
The Nephilim are a race of furry cat-people, mostly primitive
and savage, agile and good with missile weapons. They were
hunted into near extinction by the empire and the rest were
banished below.
The Slithzeriskai are lizard people of great strenght and
intelligence. Outcasts from the deeper caverns, they were
banished to Avernum by their own race. Most of the Sliths
are evil and savage - the reason for their banishment - but
some are intelligent and friends of the human race. These
long to return to their homeland below.
Hmm... i gave all the surprise away ;). Now, a cookie to the
one who can quess the nature of the Vahnatai without having
played Avernum 2 ;).
Shadow Wolf
I got it too -- My own character (Liorna, Half-man Voodoo Princess) is
currently level 156 on Expodrine (she was 52 yesterday :-(
--
Shadow Wolf
shado...@softhome.net
Stories at http://www.asstr.org/~Shadow_Wolf
-----------== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Uncensored Usenet News ==----------
http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----= Over 100,000 Newsgroups - Unlimited Fast Downloads - 19 Servers =-----
Greg McIntyre
Sounds reminiscent of Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis. In that game
you collect medals by doing certain things in battle, and the medals
unlock further classes. e.g. If you spear two enemies at once, you get
the Lancer medal and can become a Valkyrie if you have the other
requisites (female soldier, I think).
ABCGi NewsMonkey
>
> Sounds reminiscent of Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis. In that game
> you collect medals by doing certain things in battle, and the medals
> unlock further classes. e.g. If you spear two enemies at once, you get
> the Lancer medal and can become a Valkyrie if you have the other
> requisites (female soldier, I think).
>
Hey multiple "medals" or pre-requisites to unlock - that's even cooler!
Especially if some of them overlap.
Was the game Tactics Ogre any good Puyo?
Greg McIntyre
> Was the game Tactics Ogre any good Puyo?
Yes. It is one of my all time favourites. :)
ABCGi NewsMonkey
>
> > Was the game Tactics Ogre any good Puyo?
>
> Yes. It is one of my all time favourites. :)
Is it still available anywhere?
Greg McIntyre
> > > Was the game Tactics Ogre any good Puyo?
> >
> > Yes. It is one of my all time favourites. :)
>
> Is it still available anywhere?
It's a new game. :) Well... there was Tactics Ogre for the SNES but
AFAIK it was never translated from Japanese. I'm speaking of the Gameboy
Advance game Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis, which is a recent
release.
ShockFrost
definitely. If I didn't already have such a clear idea of this, I
probably would have included more of these.
But I don't think I will include most of them. Here's why.
#1. Medals vanish when you surface with them. Otherwise it seems too
much like Monster Rancher or Pokemon.
#2. No quests. Too far from the grass roots of having just one goal -
dive deep, grab the cash, get the goodies, nab the Amulet of Yendor.
Quests are fun, but in my opinion they have no respectable place in a
pure roguelike. A plot has no business in a testosterone-based hack
and slash dungeon dive.
#3. The tree is cool but I will base the diversity of available medals
on a better measure of achievement: Depth. Deep divers get the rare
ones, that simple. Sticking to the heart of rogue, you don't get to
just engineer which one you want - it's random. In addition, you have
to fight a special nastie - in particular, a char of the class you are
trying to unlock. :-)
And for heaven's sake--
THANK YOU for reminding me to include the ever