Things I like (and dislike) about the new(er) versions of ..

I just thought I'd jot down a few observations of SS Dungeon Crawl
that don't belong in the "Bugs" reporting web site.

Things I like:
========

*the Bazaar is way cool. Who would pass up such an opportunity?
Although, perhaps there should be an element of danger or uncertainty
in the shops.

*there is a new area, the Shoals, that I have not seen before, and
it's fun! In fact I would rate it even higher than the wonderful Slime
Pits.

*there are New monsters, New spells, New races, New classes
(artificer), and New items! All of this adds spice to the game.

*the maps have new design features, and hostile statues are handled
better in the Tiles version. You can know for sure the range of the
statue's influence.

Last but most certainly not least--in fact this shoulda been first:

*the alpha Tiles version of 0.5, build made on 12-21 now accomodates a
much wider screen. We are no longer limited to the old screen that
dates back to MS-DOS days! I think they have some clever code that
detects the screen resolution and automatically adjusts the screen
accordingly. this is a total revolution in game play and makes the
game twice as good, in fact instead of .5 this could be version 1.0,
because the difference is like night and day.

Now there are just a few things I don't care for so much.
==================================

1. Last time I tried the Labyrinth,back in .43, it was next to
impossible. Unless you plan on graphing the maze with a piece of paper
and a pen, forget it. Even if you are a Mummy you will eventually get
bored of going around and around and not having any action. I have not
been tempted to try the Labyrinth ever again.

2. Don't dare draw a card you don't know. A deck of cards will KILL
you or render your character next to unplayable. Examples: deck of
changes turns you into a bat, you weigh too much, you're dead! Or
deck of changes turns up a Shuffle card, and your Hill Orc Beserker
now has a strength of 6 (formerly it was 27). Still worth continuing?
Probably not. Forcing a character to suicide is kind of dark.

3. I still believe that magic users seem most unlikely to get the Orb
of Zot. They have too few hit points, too little armor, etc. Crawl is
an intensely mellee combat oriented game. I have tried magic users
many, many times, but I don't see any future in them at all. Also, the
Intelligence attribute, essential for spellcasters, is an almost
useless attribute in Crawl, as far as defense and practical things
like carrying a bunch of stuff. Almost every detail in the game's
design conspires against spellcasters. Even the God of Magic users,
Sif Muna, is good for nothing except massaging the spellcasting
ability. Only hybrids seem worth trying, and even they are greatly
inferior to pure warrior types.

On 2008-12-26, high fructose corn syrup <hfcs.DeleteThis@ubeijing.edu> wrote:
> 1. Last time I tried the Labyrinth,back in .43, it was next to
> impossible. Unless you plan on graphing the maze with a piece of paper
> and a pen, forget it. Even if you are a Mummy you will eventually get
> bored of going around and around and not having any action. I have not
> been tempted to try the Labyrinth ever again.

I don't know, they never seem at all bad for me, I've never had a huge
problem in one and the loot is very much worth it. You know about
wall colors, right?

> 2. Don't dare draw a card you don't know. A deck of cards will KILL
> you or render your character next to unplayable. Examples: deck of
> changes turns you into a bat, you weigh too much, you're dead!

Ahem. Batform is a temporary condition. Activate the "End
Transformation" (a)bility.

> Or deck of changes turns up a Shuffle card, and your Hill Orc Beserker
> now has a strength of 6 (formerly it was 27). Still worth continuing?

Yes, stats don't matter in Crawl especially not str and dex.

> Probably not. Forcing a character to suicide is kind of dark.
>
> 3. I still believe that magic users seem most unlikely to get the Orb
> of Zot. They have too few hit points, too little armor, etc. Crawl is
> an intensely mellee combat oriented game. I have tried magic users
> many, many times, but I don't see any future in them at all. Also, the
> Intelligence attribute, essential for spellcasters, is an almost
> useless attribute in Crawl, as far as defense and practical things
> like carrying a bunch of stuff. Almost every detail in the game's
> design conspires against spellcasters. Even the God of Magic users,
> Sif Muna, is good for nothing except massaging the spellcasting
> ability. Only hybrids seem worth trying, and even they are greatly
> inferior to pure warrior types.

Personally I find casters far, far, far easier that melee types. I
wonder what I'm doing wrong?