Why is extended still a thing?
- Code:
Major design goals
1) challenging and random gameplay, with skill making a real difference
2) meaningful decisions (no no-brainers)
3) avoidance of grinding (no scumming)
4) gameplay supporting painless interface and newbie support
Minor design goals
5) clarity (playability without need for spoilers)
6) internal consistency
7) replayability (using branches, species, playing styles and gods)
8) proper use of out of depth monsters
1 - Only randomness in extended comes from pointless randomness of the Abyss/Pandemonium and Hell effects.
2 - grab some 6-9th level spells or weapons of holy wrath or learn Apportation.
3 - ha ha
4 - extended is a slog, not using autoexplore in Hell is a no-brainer due to the nature of that place. Similary, but to a lesser degree, is in the Abyss and Pan.
5 - unspoiled players have to splat tens or even hundreds of late-game PCs, or savescum, to know what to do.
6 - that's a minor one, but extended (Hells, Pandemonium, the Abyss) exists in a totally different place than the rest.
7 - very little of that. Each branch of Hell, each Pandemonium Lord level and even Abyss is exactly. the. same.
8 - there's nothing out-of-depth at this point. Only danger comes from fighting multiple smiters/hellions/fiends at the same time.
My pet peeve is that extended allows virtually infinite experience. Thus, skill aptitutes do not matter when you reach this point. If the game was limited, skill aptitudes would actually start to matter a bit.
(I gave Ziggurats a pass because they don't contain any rune. Yet, I'm afraid)