ToME and Angband Newbie

[sethosayher]

Hello,

I'm a relative newbie to the world of ToME and Angband. I've decided to once again brave the perils of Middle Earth - but perhaps with a bit of help this time. Some questions:

1) What's the most recent and stable version of ToME? Should I try the alphas at all?

2) I remember a cheat option that allowed you to use a more normal death system then the one employed by most roguelikes - i.e, you die in-game but you don't lose your character. How can I get to that option? Anything I should know about using it?

[pav]

No, stay away from 3.X for now. Get the latest 2.3.x version.

As for cheating death - why would you want to do that? What thrill it is if you can just resurrect?

[sethosayher]

I'll use 2.3.4 for now.

As for cheating death, I understand that winning a roguelike the traditional way (after countless character deaths and the development of a slow but complete mastery of the game) must be incredibly satisfying, but I don't feel any desire to pursue the game that way. I have played that way already for Nethack and ADOM and other titles, and while it's fun in it's own way, it's just too frustrating for me right now. I'd prefer to have a more casual, less punch-my-fist-into-the-screen gaming experience =P

I guess I could save scumm, but I was sure there was an option in ToME that basically did that.

[aeneas]

Originally Posted by sethosayher

I understand that winning a roguelike the traditional way (after countless character deaths and the development of a slow but complete mastery of the game) must be incredibly satisfying, but I don't feel any desire to pursue the game that way.

Then I'd suggest Final Fantasy. I mean, I don't really care what you do with Angband, but cheating death completely misses the point of Angband. The game is based on the assumption that you care about rare but possible events. If you don't have to it isn't worth playing, IMHOtep.

[Variaz]

As for cheating death, I understand that winning a roguelike the traditional way (after countless character deaths and the development of a slow but complete mastery of the game) must be incredibly satisfying, but I don't feel any desire to pursue the game that way.

Try Portralis then! My variant allows you to keep your character after death, although there's still some consequences:

- You lose all items, except the "eternal" ones or those in your home.
- Your Death Count is increased, so if you die 100 times, a death count of 100 will show up in your character screen. Not something you should be proud of, obviously.

My variant is more of a RPG/Roguelike hybrid, with a story, quests and overworld, etc... And a complex class system. Well...give it a shot anyway! You can learn more at: http://variaz.proboards3.com, my official forum.

As for cheating in Vanilla, it's a big NO! Permanent death is one of the things that makes Vanilla fun! Playing Vanilla without permanent death is like playing Final Fantasy without reading the story.

[Therem Harth]

To cheat death, go to the options screen, select cheat options, and activate the "Cheat death" option (= -> C -> "Cheat death" or something like that). This will resurrect your character in town whenever you die.

[Pete Mack]

Originally Posted by sethosayher

I'll use 2.3.4 for now.

As for cheating death, I understand that winning a roguelike the traditional way (after countless character deaths and the development of a slow but complete mastery of the game) must be incredibly satisfying, but I don't feel any desire to pursue the game that way. I have played that way already for Nethack and ADOM and other titles, and while it's fun in it's own way, it's just too frustrating for me right now. I'd prefer to have a more casual, less punch-my-fist-into-the-screen gaming experience =P

I guess I could save scumm, but I was sure there was an option in ToME that basically did that.

Save scumming is much less of a cheat than cheat-death. If you restrict your saves to (say) every ~30 levels, you can get pretty good at the game. But if you save often, your game will only get worse. (I learned to play that way--1st save at dl 40, then try to get to speed-ring depth without dying.)

[Shadow Knight]

I save scummed in Frozen Depths it kinda beat the whole point of the game, as in Rogue likes are different to other games like diablo for an example its a nice experiance to curse after being surrounded but after a while it will feel natural see my other thread "I pulled a dumb one" to see how I died many stupid ways lol but each time I see a little more and get a little better =)

[Dragonboneman]

Originally Posted by sethosayher

As for cheating death, I understand that winning a roguelike the traditional way (after countless character deaths and the development of a slow but complete mastery of the game...

"Complete mastery of the game"?
Surely I'm not the only multiple winner who still loses characters to Farmer Maggot's dogs on Level 2?

[Seany C]

Farmer Maggot's dogs? I lost two (count'em) characters in a row to Battle-Scarred Veterans on Tuesday night (that'll teach me to roll a Petty-Dwarf Necromancer*)...

*FAA, before you go looking for that in V...