Snake Sneak
Posts: 124
Joined: Monday, 14th March 2011, 11:14
Rogue (the roguelike game)
These days you can play it in browser, no registration or other crap:
https://archive.org/details/msdos_Rogue_1983
(You can use arrows by just throwing them, but it's more accurate if you wield a bow)
My impressions:
DCSS has many, many superficial similarities to Rogue, including:
(Early) enemies:
Hobgoblins, bats(confused), snakes(weaker), kestrels (kobolds), orcs, centaurs as major early threat, Ice monsters(you lose turns), trolls (big threat), wraiths(drain levels), zombies, griffins.
Scrolls of paper (blank), teleportation, enchant weapon, enchant armour, vorpalize weapon, identify, magic mapping, remove curse
Potions: confusion, haste, healing, extra healing, paralysis, poison, raise level, restore strength,
Rings: strength, dexterity, increase damage, maintain armor, protection, regeneration, see invisible, slow digestion, stealth, sustain strength, teleportation.
Wands: cold, drain life, fire, haste, lightning, magic missile, teleport, polymorph...
Armors sound familiar: leather, ring mail, chain mail, banded mail, plate mail.
That's a LOT of familiar names, even though some have since been removed from DCSS. Rogue also has some stuff DCSS doesn't, like scrolls of find food, potion of detect monster.
Equipment damage is very much there. Nymphs steal items, leprechauns - gold, Aquator is a jelly ancestor.
Separate to-hit and to-damage bonuses, like Crawl used to have.
There are traps, including shaft traps.
Notable absences:
- levelling is very rudimentary. You get some more HP and perhaps hidden stats like better chance to hit or damage.
- no skills!
- no spells other than from wands!
- no backtracking. There are only down staircases.
- No shops whatsover. Gold is only for score.
- No gods.
- few stats
- no branches
Dungeon levels are small and extremely simple. Level generation is very straightforward, up to 9 rooms per level. Very few items to pick up.
At this point it should be clear what Rogue is about. Rogue is using what you find. There's little long-term strategy other than what items to use-id, what to figure out with scrolls of id, what armor to enchant (one is immune to aquator). It's a very tactical game, a game of exploration and resource management. There are no builds in Rogue. You can use stuff you find right away, there are no skill gates. If you find plate mail early, great! A 2-handed sword? Great!
Food clock is real and feels like a pressure.
Aside from figuring out potion/wand/scroll types, there's meta-knowledge. What special abilities do monsters have, how to use room entrances to your advantage, where to search for hidden doors and when to press forward, when to run away (monsters never follow you downstairs).
You can wield and throw any item, so this is clearly where Nethack obscurity came from. Elbereth came from a scroll that is used by... dropping it. You can throw harmful potions on enemies. Rogue is open-ended in this sense, it doesn't restrict you from using items however you like.
Aside from stat drain and equipment damage, a big annoyance is very common dark rooms which restrict the use of ranged weapons and make you bump into monsters.