There is a Roguelike Megathread here, open it? [ynq]

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > There is a Roguelike Megathread here, open it? [ynq]

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Espilae posted:

A Carebear Plays A Roguelike Suggestion Box

Okay folks, here's the deal. I love this thread, I really do, and I love the *idea* of roguelikes - procedurally generated slaughterhouses that are equally punishing and entertaining. I get how that might be thrilling for some people.. but it ain't my cup of tea, not normally. I enjoy watching other people die horribly from their stupid mistakes - but I'm a total carebear. I'm the kind of schmuck that always plays on easiest difficulty even in notoriously easy games. I'm the kind of dickhead who has even resorted to cheating a few times to experience the story at the expense of gameplay. I'm the kind of arsehole who looks at ASCII graphics and can barely keep it together while his brain melts into a puddle of hashes and ampersands.

I'm exactly the kind of person who should not be playing roguelikes.

So, with that in mind, I'm going to play one completely blind. There will be carnage, there will be screaming and frustration, there will probably be threats of mortal injury leveled at not just the people who designed said game but everyone who gave them their cup of coffee in the morning or cuts their grass. It's hopefully going to be entertaining, though even if it isn't particularly entertaining for ME.
Please suggest to me some roguelikes for me to die horribly in, I'll pick one, play it until I really can't take it anymore (there is absolutely zero likelihood of me actually winning), and I'll pick another one. Maybe I'll put it in a different thread to stop me from making GBS threads all over this one if you guys prefer.

Be gentle.

Dungeonmans!

# ¿ Jun 13, 2015 16:24

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 10:46

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

KillHour posted:

Don't worry, we've got those, too!

Part 5: Getting our hands dirty.

Spasm of the Void!

# ¿ Jun 15, 2015 11:52

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Lets play cards!

The Occult Chronicles Basic Gameplay

# ¿ Jun 24, 2015 03:36

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

uPen posted:

Oh man I own that game and haven't played it since early early access. Is it actually a game now or is it still being developed?

Fully released, I think it's been like that for at least a couple of years now.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2015 06:16

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

JamieTheD posted:

Not only fully released, the developer finished two more games after it (Solium Infernum and Six Gun Saga), and then realised he really wanted to make actual board games. Wishing them luck on that one!

Also, nice to see Occult Chronicles here, wish I'd thought of it, because there's a reason a physical run is very different to a Wands/Pentacles run. It's easier to talk to monsters, who give quests. The Head can talk. Sometimes it gives a quest. But Wands/Pentacles folk have a harder time with traps.

Yeah, I am interested in seeing the boardgame he makes especially as he is just thinking about a space based one too now.

Yeah physical is very different, although it does make me laugh that instead of trying to investigate anything you just trash the house. At the end of the day while you may miss out on perks from quests you can still get loads of XP and items from doing so.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2015 15:05

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Off to great start!*

1. Boffo - Tears of a ~~circus performer~~ Clown

* _{for selected values of great.}

# ¿ Jun 24, 2015 15:59

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

2. I ain't afraid of no ~~ghosts~~ boxing managers.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2015 18:44

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

wiegieman posted:

It looks like nearly every encounter has a horror check. Is that basically a time limit on characters who don't have high wands or pentacles?

Every encounter (well not normal doors and traps) has one so you can't neglect wands, however once you've faced it once that game you don't have to again, so once you've face one wandering imps/whatever you just get the fight or flee option later rather than a new horror check. If you are buff enough to smash the imps/whatever you could be winning back sanity as one of the rewards. Also a Swords/Cups character will have a much easier time with traps and fighting the more physical enemies and those can be just as deadly.

Boffo would be great if we'd have run into any traps by now, as we'd evade them easily an probably get something good, but ughh.

FairyNuff fucked around with this message at 18:52 on Jun 24, 2015

# ¿ Jun 24, 2015 18:48

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

JamieTheD posted:

No, although there is an actual time limit to the game. Until GeoKinesis mentions it, though, I won't.

This is, as an aside, the second shittiest luck I've seen in an Occult Chronicles run. The first was that of the reviewer for Rock Paper Shotgun, whose character actually lost his sanity to trying to pick the lock on a door. (There is one event there that is slightly spoiled at the beginning, even though it's not one that I've found occurs often.)

That event is the best for new players though :allears:

# ¿ Jun 24, 2015 20:45

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

3. From Cradle to ~~grave~~ Asylum.

RIP Boffo. So yeah a magic focussed character next to show off quests, spells and hopefully more than like 6 rooms!

# ¿ Jun 24, 2015 21:31

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

JamieTheD posted:

It's a little more complicated than that. The higher the card's denomination, the higher the points you get for beating it. So half the reason court cards are so drat powerful is because they're worth more. Not helping is the fact that horror checks get nasty early. I've won checks with entirely numbered cards. Complicating this is that you can bank the court card's points, plus the 1 point for a numbered card by beating a numbered card with a court card (And sometimes win the check there and then), or you can save the court card in the hope that another court card comes up, for big money.

Essentially, here's the points. Top is the cards you have to beat, and they start unrevealed unless you have some ability that reveals them. Beating a card nets you the points from both the card you played and the card you beat. You have to play a card if you have the same suit.

Numbered cards - 1 pt.
Pages - 2 pts.
Knights - 3 pts.
Queens - 4 pts.
Kings - 5 pts.
(SPOILER) Major Arcana - 7 Pts.

So, for example, numbered beaten by a Page is 3 Pts toward the check, and Queen beaten by a King is a whopping 9 points. Court cards are powerful, but you can beat early checks with just numbered. Hand size is important in a check.

EDIT: Essentially, it's risk management. If something has a lovely Trick or Hand size, it might not be worth trying if the difficulty is over 3xTrick/Hand size. And that's a thing that'll happen a fair bit if you have a lovely stat, as they're often paired in the sense of, for example, Wands determines the difficulty, but Pentacles determines the Trick/Hand size.

This is a good explanation.

Although another major factor is the order in which your turn the cards over, you might be feeling safe due to a face card in your hand but you reveal a king of the same suit before any other number card and it is wasted. ( Assuming you don't have a lesser value card to play.)

# ¿ Jun 24, 2015 23:41

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Tendales posted:

Hey Caves of Qud is a really cool game, here's something that's basically the same, right?

AlphaMan, the New Beginning

A forgotten footnote in the history of roguelikes, but it has its charm!

It's magical :allears:

# ¿ Jun 25, 2015 12:09

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

wiegieman posted:

You basically want to back away from all the quest component objects until you're sure that they're out of your reach or aren't being used in a quest chain for this mission, because the rewards you can get from completed quests are the absolute best things in the game.

Or just smash 'em up if you character isn't built for it. You'll still gain in general as much XP, you may miss out on questline perks but otherwise you'd be ok. Also depending on how fast the story is progressing you might find it better to do so than to backtrack a fair distance to complete the quest.

FairyNuff fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Jun 26, 2015

# ¿ Jun 26, 2015 09:07

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

4. Ursula - Magic and spellcasting, almost.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2015 11:52

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

5. Cast spells, melt bears.

# ¿ Jun 28, 2015 21:46

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Myron posted:

Part 03

Haha, Amazing.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2015 15:16

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

6. The house activates it's trap cards.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2015 20:54

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Galaga Galaxian posted:

Competent Fisherman

Stupid question, are my updates ok so far? The last few I've pretty much been writing as I play, because I tend to forget what exactly I did when I try to write them after the fact (even with screenshots to remind me). I guess I'm just worried its coming out a bit too rambling/stream of conciousnessy.

Really loving this Lp, URW is a lovely game.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2015 17:15

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Niggurath posted:

Let's Play The Swindle- Part 2: Every little pound counts

So while things started out easily enough, we see now just how easily we can lose our cash and how easily early on it is to be locked out of getting money. Thankfully we do get a few upgrades to help us in our nefarious endeavor, the question becomes now...do we upgrade further or continue into the next zone?

The most recent patch has apparently lowered a lot of 'basic skill' costs, also there are enemies later than ruined me financially.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2015 18:03

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Niggurath posted:

Yeah, I think part 2 was made on the latest patch (1.01) but I really didn't notice a price decrease in the moves. And so far, what's ruined me the most money wise was when I suddenly started to get my bank hacked while I was in the middle of a heist. This game is just full of unexpected dickery.

Oh I'm, talking about patch 1.03 that was today: http://steamcommunity.com/games/theswindle/announcements/detail/88170241299909807.

Yeah that is the enemy I was talking about, I was hacked 3 different times on a level and lost so much.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2015 18:15

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Niggurath posted:

gently caress, I couldn't imagine having that happen that many times, but I didn't even know there was a newer patch. It makes me super excited though; I do have to agree that some of the starting upgrades were unnecessarily expensive (like $5,000 for bombs was a bit much and took so many days).

Bombs is still 5k afaik, the cheaper stuff is the stuff like double jump, movespeed and wallhanging though.

FairyNuff fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Aug 5, 2015

# ¿ Aug 5, 2015 20:39

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Niggurath posted:

I'll try to keep that in mind, though I've never had much luck running from mines (and boy howdy have I tried cause when I'm not recording my brain seems to shut down in regards to simple directions). I am kinda bummed they fixed the spikes though, I remember falling into some before and being fine, but then dying when I tried to jump out and being super confused.

But I think for my next update I'm going to start from scratch to bum through the slums and save myself some days.

Captain Bravo posted:

Can you hit the jump button while you're hacking a mine? Double jump seems like it would be the fastest and easiest way to get you out of the explosion radius.

Often you can just jump in/over just close enough and then make use of your double jump/momentum to get away in time, I did that when I didn't have time to avoid enemies but needed the hack.

Alternatively buy the detonator, it can be super useful to be able to set them off even at closeish range.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2015 06:02

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Niggurath posted:

The bad news, and I'm not sure if it's just me, but something is super hosed up with wall grabbing. Sometimes my guy wouldn't grab onto walls, sometimes about half way up a wall it would decide to stop jumping or gripping onto walls, and just any number of problems. Seriously just had to scrap like four different recordings because I kept dying over and over to some unexplained wall shenanigans. I've seen a few people on the steam forums mention weird issues with blown up spike blocks still existing or like blown up blocks in general existing, so I'm hoping to get some feedback from the devs with what I ran into....though at this point it's kinda deterred me from playing more until it's fixed cause it just makes the game super frustrating.

Huh, I've not run into this, really weird that yoiu were unable to grab stuff.

Also please buy the remote detonator so you don't have to be scared of mines anymore!

# ¿ Aug 6, 2015 18:48

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Niggurath posted:

This is great advice that I show off in:

Let's Play The Swindle- Part 3: Patchwork Orange (version 2)

Now normally I don't like to scrap things that are at least passable, but in retrospect I feel like this paints the game is a super negative light and honestly in the end I think I'll chalk this up to just human error and not an issue with the game. So humbly I offer a new and improved part 3 where good things happen and positivity reigns supreme.

Also the uber good news is that I do end this update with more than enough to get to the next area finally and while we could immediately go there, we're also doing massively good time wise and getting some upgrades might definitely help in the long run (especially if we can keep up these successful runs). So, do you guys want me to press forward or try to spend some more time getting powerful?

Also I hope Floodkiller doesn't mind updating the part 3 in the OP to this new video; I would greatly appreciate it

I vote Press on you'll surely get enough money (or die trying) in the next area with the XP bonus. You're doing exceptionally well, 90s and soon to be in the new area!

Also a tip for door hacking, if there is a patrolling enemy behind a hackable door just don't input anything on the last bad sector until they've patrolled far enough away. There is no penalty (as far as I've seen) for just waiting at the button prompt for door hacking.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2015 11:32

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Niggurath posted:

Really I've been thinking about some new stuff that I personally haven't tried yet, like the EMP bomb thing seems possibly super useful or maybe the confusion. Cause the remote detonation proved to be amazingly useful.

I kind of feel that confusion and the EMP are more useful in the Casino area onwards, although if you have troubles with too many enemies in the Belgravia area then confusion helps even the odds.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2015 04:04

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Niggurath posted:

Let's Play The Swindle- Part 4: Fargin bastages

I had to look up an exact spelling of this. Also bugs are amazing and super useful; the question becomes what do I do with all my new found wealth?

The hacking upgrade and the associated security goggle display. Disabling all the cameras/locked computers/drones in a level is totally worth it.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2015 10:55

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Niggurath posted:

Both those sound pretty reasonable to get; and I think that'll still leave me with like 40K. So I'm wondering if I should just save up for other high tier stuff or try to get some of the cheaper stuff, like melee damage increase and 'action hero' (since apparently that's super useful for smashing through windows).

Melee damage makes everything more bearable especially when hitting the next area so go for it!

Another thing to save up for is the hacking level that allows you to activate downed drones. Some of them can be helpful.

Niggurath posted:

Also I was reading through the Steam thread and it's odd to me that the overall response in there is pretty negative for The Swindle. A lot of complaints about the level design getting them locked into 'unwinnable' situations and I'm not sure I totally understand. Like I've gone through level after level and played for like 8 hours at this point, and the only time I've ever ran into a situation like this is because I've bombed myself into a hole. I don't know; for you guys in here that have played the game, have you run into similar situations? Or just run into a situation where you just have no other choice than to go into a purposely bad situation (like a guard next to a window on a single tile facing outside). Maybe it's just cause I'm having fun with it that these complaints are lost on me.

I've never gotten into an unwinnable position, I play pretty recklessly but I don't think theres been anything I've been unable to get out of.

FairyNuff fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Aug 10, 2015

# ¿ Aug 10, 2015 19:40

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Mraagvpeine posted:

I was watching the Swindle videos and the game looks interesting. I was wondering: does this game have some sort of boss enemy or levels?

Not really, the only level that you could describe as a boss level is the last one but that is due to difficulty/escape rather than a giant enemy you can beat.

FairyNuff fucked around with this message at 11:55 on Aug 11, 2015

# ¿ Aug 11, 2015 09:57

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Niggurath posted:

Let's Play The Swindle- Part 5: Hacking friends for fun and profit

So good news! Things continue to go mostly well for me as I get a few upgrades and head into the casino zone. Sadly not everything goes as plan and we lose an honored member of the team....

Please hack more drones even if they only kill 1 enemy it is better than nothing, the only friendly fire you have to worry about is when the flying flaming one explodes and even then it gives you warning.

Also the golden guys just have high health and a long recovery time, not pure invincibility. As far as I remember with full melee damage it took 4ish hits to kill one?

FairyNuff fucked around with this message at 17:57 on Aug 13, 2015

# ¿ Aug 13, 2015 17:53

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Niggurath posted:

That's still so many hit though, cause that means at this time it'll probably take six hit? And I'd rather knock them into a pit instead. And are you for certain they won't fly into mines that I haven't hacked and blow them up? I'd assume if they are marked as friendly then they'll have a chance to do that and cause problems. Also there are the ones that are just mini nukes and those could definitely be a problem.

Yeah, there is no real reason to actually bonk them to death just that if you ever had to you could kill one :shobon:

.

Hacked drones don't set off mines or lights or even get shot at by enemy bots (unless confused). The only issues are as you mention the firey one explodes after 3 attacks and a couple of the other types (the Zeppelin and another unseen one) just become bombs when hacked. Otherwise the others all just fly, shoot and then deactivate after using up their shots.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2015 19:27

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Niggurath posted:

Eh, it's more that the failures weren't entertaining to watch, my commentary was crap (and yeah, this has all been live commentary, so it's just being mixed and not being recorded separately). It turned out not to be that big of a deal; I buckled down tonight and got relatively to where I was. I'm at like 66 days left and enough money to unlock the bank area. I just watch other people's stuff in here and I don't want to waste too much time with messing up and sounded confused when I die to something dumb. I think more than anything, at least for me, it just goes to show how fun this game is because I'm still not tired of it. I appreciate the developer is still constantly releasing patches and improving things, and it's nice to try out live commentary for once. And in the end, I'm having fun showing it off and learning.

Dying to something dumb is the whole point of the roguelike thread!

Also regarding days once you unlock the banks it doesn't really matter how many days you have left, just as long as you have more than 2.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2015 16:50

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

MrNekomata posted:

I've got good news and bad news.

DUNGEONS OF DREDMOR: How I learned to stop caring and love the Diggle.

The first run was... Rather quick. Good news it wasn't a blade trap.
DUNGEONS OF DREDMOR: EPISODE ONE - NALESH THE DIVINE DIGGLER

You should use your skills, it may have saved you.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2015 18:17

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 10:46

FairyNuff: Jan 22, 2012

Niggurath posted:

Let's Play The Swindle- Part 7: I fought the law...

I promise that I'm not always bad at games.

Congrats!

The swindle is definitely where the confusebot thing shines just due to the high amount you can catch in one use.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2015 10:02

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > There is a Roguelike Megathread here, open it? [ynq]