The Codex of Roguelikes

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Path of Achra is fucking crack of roguelikes and I removed it from my whistlist and life to protect my sanity.

 

[Serus]

Some rogulikes (and even worse: some diablo-clones) are two of the most dangerous type of games. Thousands of hours wasted spent on TOME4, DCSS, SotS:The Pit, Cataclysm and other (also D2, PoE and TQ) for me. And they say MMOs are the most addictive... i wish.



Playing Cataclysm BN, I had a funny bug that created of an item called "none" - it had no description as well. Unfortunately it disappeared somehow later (when loading?) without me taking a screenshot.

Otherwise all goes pretty normal. Most of the old method and tricks work. Reach weapons are still great if you don't wan't to sneak at night. So is bicycle (with some additional space for loot). I probably need to restart, take a bit harder options. 50% item spawn, perhaps slightly higher zeds spawn/evolution and certainly a more interesting character: Quick + 2 traits for faster move on flat and through obstacles gives you the ability to outrun even some of the fast enemies without running. It is effective but arguably OP and dull.

I never played with "stylish" trait, just for fun. However playing as a man and using earrings and other jewelry, i don't know... OTOH a woman with a monocle and bow tie? Or i can larp and only wear what is appropriate. or ? Fighting zeds wearing a monocle, using a fencing sword or sabre. Using this as an additional self-enforced difficulty - forced to use every "fancy" item that make sense and doesn't detract from looks. Can't use any items that does. A gentleman must be elegant, no matter what. Going to kill zombies or to a funeral it's all the same. Armor, if not concealed under clothing, is not prestigious. And so is a helmet, etc...

 

[Kabas]

Finally!

Now i can finally hit the uninstall button. I need some time to restore my sanity.

My stats

Got stumped so i decided to check the steam forums for some suggestions and stumbled upon this build.
This combination of race/class/god proved to rather fun and insanely effective. After getting a beast visage helmet i was oneshotting those hungry ghosts.
The only weakness of this build is that you got no healing. Like, none whatsoever. Praying to Eris does nothing, she is here to boost the damage of your starting Javelins to the high heavens.
Coward mindset and corner camping is required for survival.

 

[Kabas]

Okay, i lied. Just managed to pull another win on the next difficulty level.
Apostle who gains permament stat boosts by triggering divine interventions is pretty fun too. Nowhere near as strong as my previous one but still.

By the way this game has it's own equivalent of Tales of Maj'eyal rares called "Pretas".
Tend to be vastly stronger than bosses, the best course of action is often to simply ignore them and run towards the exit.
Anyway, now i am hitting that uninstall button. For real this time.

 

[Serus]

Okay, i lied. Just managed to pull another win on the next difficulty level.
Apostle who gains permament stat boosts by triggering divine interventions is pretty fun too. Nowhere near as strong as my previous one but still.

By the way this game has it's own equivalent of Tales of Maj'eyal rares called "Pretas".
Tend to be vastly stronger than bosses, the best course of action is often to simply ignore them and run towards the exit.
Anyway, now i am hitting that uninstall button. For real this time.

Too late for me. I'm already hooked... because of you. Curse you Perry the Platypus Kabas!

If you don't recognise the reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4Mj0TkMhhk

 

[Aemar]

Digging the art style. It looks really promising.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

yeah PoA is like heroin for buildfags

it has one more stage, one more run, shit that's you usually get from playing a 4X and suddenly you spend the afternoon playing it

 

[Serus]

People are too harsh when comparing it to a "TB Vampire Survivors" too. There is some strategy involved - the game doesn't play itself even outside character build as some suggested. Unless perhaps with a good build on the easiest (first) difficulty. The second difficulty on the other hand, requires a bit of manual driving. At least for me it is challenging still.

 

[buffalo bill]

Just got the marksman angelic badge in DoomRL again (angel of marksmanship and angel of darkness on nightmare), just to see if I could (afaik I am the only person to have claimed this badge except for one guy who seeems to be lying, going by the chaosforge forum). It was way easier this time than last time I did it, I think because I fucked with some of the game settings in the config file

The relevant changes were to make the MaxWait = 10000 (I always make this change btw), RunDelay = 0, RunOverItems = true, and MorePrompt = false.

Basically this means that if I run in place, the game cycles almost instantly to the next time an enemy appears. This makes waiting near a doorway to snipe enemies much, much, much less tedious, and also meant that my runs were much, much, much faster and shorter. Even though nothing in the core gameplay actually changes with these settings, I think it basically makes Nightmare trivial if you are careful, unless you are playing a particularly rng-reliant challenge (angel of berserk on nightmare, maybe), or a challenge where you have to clear/leave a level quickly (angel/archangel of red alert, obviously)

I highly recommend these settings for anyone trying to get nightmare-level doomrl badges.

 

[Dadd]

There were about 15-20 ghouls in that medium-sized room. I got lucky with Cataclysm (an AoE spell that hits random areas), which killed about 7 at once; without this I would've certainly died. I had to kill them all, spending a lot of resources, to get to the staircase. The long narrow path was blocked by mind worms. There must've been about 30 ghouls total on that floor, in addition to elemental projectile dogs. One of the worst floors I've ever explored.

 

[Serus]

Buffallo Bill, you are a god of DoomRL. I was only able to do something on hard. Granted, i didn't try much, i got bored of DoomRL - as good as a RL it is.

Path of Achra:
The closest i got to win in the second circle with my own build, I was one shot by Agni Idol, even divine intervention didn't help. I didn't know he can do so much fire damage at once. No fire resist didn't help. Oh, well, that's roguelikes for you. And it was going so well.
I won once in the second circle but that was with the build Kabas posted (Skeleton Apostle of Humbaba - early game is hard but after that it's almost OP).

 

[Serus]

There were about 15-20 ghouls in that medium-sized room. I got lucky with Cataclysm (an AoE spell that hits random areas), which killed about 7 at once; without this I would've certainly died. I had to kill them all, spending a lot of resources, to get to the staircase. The long narrow path was blocked by mind worms. There must've been about 30 ghouls total on that floor, in addition to elemental projectile dogs. One of the worst floors I've ever explored.

What game is this, i don't recognize it.

 

[Dadd]

What game is this, i don't recognize it.

Infra Arcana

 

[Serus]

Ok, i officially broke Paths of Achra. I made a build that require only to press one button at the start of a level (action of "stand still") and watch the fireworks. That includes the final level and the final boss. It worked only in second half of the run after some point. I don't even know what makes it run other than it is a loop: starting action triggers a teleport (+damage) then trigger other teleport and then another, etc... Fortunately it's not an infinite loop but there were moments where i was worried - it continues even after all enemies are dead for some time.
Rotfl. I think I should report that to the author. Or perhaps it is intended. I'm pretty sure it is only doable with teleport/astral build. Race/God/Prestige Class have all teleport triggers.

This is the culprit, One Button Build. Some skills aren't even necessary, the poison ones didn't trigger at all iirc. Staff of Chaos can be replaced by a weaker earlier weapon.

 

[Kabas]

Funny, i made the exact same character before. Main difference being i didn't invest in astrohunting as hard as you, probably should have.
Mentioned it in this thread already but i ended up running into a nasty rare i couldn't escape from because Starjumper makes it so that your steps trigger teleports too. Teleport to the nearest enemy to be exact.

Fortunately it's not an infinite loop but there were moments where i was worried - it continues even after all enemies are dead for some time.

The moment this happened i was very confused too.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I digging those epic looking sprites.

 

[Arthandas]

What game is this, i don't recognize it.

Try it, one of the best roguelikes. Heavy Lovecraftian vibes, enemies don't respawn and you don't get exp simply by killing enemies.

 

[Serus]

What game is this, i don't recognize it.

Try it, one of the best roguelikes. Heavy Lovecraftian vibes, enemies don't respawn and you don't get exp simply by killing enemies.

I know what it is, i didn't recognize it because a couple of years ago when i played (only a little) i didn't use a tileset iirc. But thanks. I have it in my "roguelikes to play" list, this time to play it more than a few hours.

 

[Aemar]

I digging those epic looking sprites.

Heavy Dominions vibes, which is great.

Can't find any info whether the game is available for Linux as well.

 

[AdolfSatan]

If anyone fancies a lighter RL experience, I can wholly recommend Die in the Dungeon.
They just released a prologue demo for free that works as a lite version of the full game that will be released next year.


It’s nicely balanced and allows a good margin of creativity in builds, it’s fun to come up with ways to cheese the game as much as possible.
The demo is very promising. If they can keep up the quality while scaling the variation, the full game is going to be great.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2428770/Die_in_the_Dungeon_Origins/

 

[VHS9000]

What game is this, i don't recognize it.

Try it, one of the best roguelikes. Heavy Lovecraftian vibes, enemies don't respawn and you don't get exp simply by killing enemies.

I would say it have Clark Ashton Smith’s vibes first of all:

"I have dreamt of an unknown land—a land remote in ulterior time, and alien space not ascertainable; the desert of a long-completed past, upon which has settled the bleak, irrevocable silence of infinitude; where all is ruined save the stone of tombs and cenotaphs; and where the sole peoples are the kingless, uncounted tribes of the subterranean dead.

Above this land of my dream, citied with tombs and cenotaphs, a red and smouldering sun maintains a spectral day, in alternation with an ashen moon through the black ether where the stars have long since perished. And through the hush of the consummation of time, above the riven monuments and crumbled records of alien history, flit in the final twilight the mysterious wings of seraphim, sent to fill ineffable errands, or confer with demons of the abyss; and black, gigantic angels, newly returned from missions of destruction, pause amid the sepulchers to sift from their gloomy and tremendous vans the pale ashes of annihilated stars."

On the twelfth cycle now, it’s pure heroin, yes.

 

[VHS9000]

Аpparently, the author has somehow changed the difficulty so my full DEX Shantih with whom I finished the cycles form 2 to 11 was thrashed at the 12-th one. Perhaps from this point on, speed becomes the most important stat but I don't want to bother yet with self-damage stacks and forms.

So here is my don't-give-a-single-fuck Champion of Eris with suboptimal shield and helm.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Ah, itchio version is like steam demo only. Damn!

Path of Achra
rat-slaying and florid gods

This version is equivalent to the steam demo

A turn-based roguelike with an emphasis on hero customization and powerful items.



Fight through the dangerous lands of Achra to reach the horrors of the Obelisk, and discover what lies beyond...

 

[Kabas]

Reinstalled it again and and see that there is already a few new skills and prestige classes to play with.

Won two more games

Pretty tough and tanky but the damage was way too low for my tastes and overall this guy takes too long to kill anything.
Dorok as a god was chosen mainly for the sake of his third prayer, Eris would have been a better choice probably.

This one i liked a lot better. Mura is a new Frost/Astral prestige class that can summon mirrors.
Mirrors are not tough but they essentially reflect damage back at the attacker. Meaning that bosses who could tear through my gilded skeletons and frost familliar all ended up suiciding against my wall of mirrors. Pretty cool.

Also noticed some changes to the way rares(aka Pretas) work. Now they appear only if you equip an item with a "tinted" mark. Feels a bit easier without them. Edit: Dev already changed this, no more tinted equipment and pretas for now.
Got my fill for now, unistalled it again.

 

[buffalo bill]

What game is this, i don't recognize it.

enemies don't respawn

I love the game—perhaps the finest game of all time imo—but new enemies definitely spawn on levels if you hang around long enough

Frowm an old changelog:

* The monster spawn rate on explored levels (spawning due to passage of time) is now lower