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[Mejilan]

Angband was probably the first Rogue-like game I ever took seriously, and Zangband remains, to this date, my favorite RL ever. Admittedly, I haven't played it in years, but now that the newest version of Angband (3.0.6) was rather successfully ported to the PSP, I'm hooked again!

I figured this game was worthy of more than just a couple of mentions in that 1.50 sticky thread. So discuss. Favorite race/class combos, favorite strategies (particularly early game, since I'm a bit rusty), etc.

I know there's a rather strong Nethack presence here at GAF, so it's time for the Angbanders to come out of the woodwork and show those Nethacker twats what a real RL is like. (j/k)

 

[Drinky Crow]

Link to PSP version NOW or BAN

 

[Wario64]

http://files.pspupdates.com/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,12,793

 

[White Man]

Nethack > Angband

 

[Zensetsu]

Graphics were invented for a reason.






Haha ok, ok (j\k) But seriously I have trouble bringing myself to play roguelike's these days. ASCII interfaces are pretty fugly.

 

[iapetus]

Your graphics whoreism is not our problem.

In vanilla angband it's all about the dwarven priests IMO. Rock hard in combat right from the start, but with great magical ability. Once you get the offensive spells and the mana to use them right, you've got a killer combination right there - especially since your basic combat spell is orb of draining, with its double damage to evil and neat cursed-item-identification feature. At higher levels, Glyph of Warding is one of the most obscene spells in the game, especially in combination with dispel evil. There's nothing quite like sitting untouchable in the entry to a graveyard watching the undead melt around you...

 

[Danj]

Nethack > Angband

Nethack is certainly more difficult than Angband, because in Angband you have a town you can portal up to and buy stuff (including food, one of the biggest causes of death in inexperienced Nethack players). I wouldn't necessarily say that makes Nethack better though, just different.

 

[User 406]

Nethack is certainly more difficult than Angband, because in Angband you have a town you can portal up to and buy stuff (including food, one of the biggest causes of death in inexperienced Nethack players). I wouldn't necessarily say that makes Nethack better though, just different.

It's not just that, it's also that the difficulty in the dungeons of Angband ramps up way too slowly. The dungeon levels are enormous and the level of enemies stays really low for far too long. It feels too much like a slow easy leveling grind in comparison. In Nethack, you're faced with lots of dangerous stuff far more quickly, as well as finding a much wider variety of useful loot to use right away. Because of this, in addition to being forced to be clever with your inventory for lack of a town to escape to, interesting situations happen a lot more frequently in Nethack, not least among them YASD's.

SO WHERE'S THAT NETHACK PSP PORT?

 

[iapetus]

It's not just that, it's also that the difficulty in the dungeons of Angband ramps up way too slowly. The dungeon levels are enormous and the level of enemies stays really low for far too long.

So dive more quickly, then. There's no reason to stay on a given dungeon level any longer than it takes to find the stairs.

My complaint with Nethack is that the difficulty is just so arbitrary, and random factors play too large a role in the game. For a quest-driven roguelike I greatly prefer something like ADOM.

 

[Xenon]

Is there a graphic tile sets for Angband PSP? I can't stand the trying to remember all the characters.

 

[Mejilan]

My first character class ever was an Elven Mage. Man, did I get pwned again and again with that one. Since it's been a few years, I figured a Dwarven Fighter would be a good start. Still alive so far!

 

[iapetus]

Wow. Didn't think the interface would be up to it, but I've been putting a lot of time into PSP Angband lately. Been playing a lot more aggressively than I normally would, so I keep losing characters (mostly to Bullroarer the Hobbit, who's obscenely strong and fast, and next to impossible to kill without ranged weaponry and a lot of warning as far as I can tell). The latest (full-screen) release is particularly good, even though there are a few glitches left in. Most of them are being addressed, though, from the discussion on the DCEmu boards...

 

[Mejilan]

The only thing that I miss are the customizable terminal windows. Well, the macros are a bit clunky too.

 

[iapetus]

I'm getting to like the macros - they're a strange selection to start with, but once you've customised them for your character class (especially a magic using class) they're pretty neat.

 

[White Man]

My complaint with Nethack is that the difficulty is just so arbitrary, and random factors play too large a role in the game. For a quest-driven roguelike I greatly prefer something like ADOM.

Is there a tileset for ADOM? I'm pretty spoiled these days. Last time I went to check out ADOM, there was no available tileset, I believe. The description sounded cool, but I guess I'm a graphics whore when it comes to roguelikes these days.

Nethack == US's involvement in WW2. Concise, important, world-changing, focused.

Angband == US's involvement in Vietnam. Long, drawn-out, slow, questionable.

 

[iapetus]

Nethack == US's involvement in WW2. Concise, important, world-changing, focused.

Your use of the highlighted words in the same sentence leads me to question your sanity. Nethack is anything but concise and focused.

 

[Squirrel Killer]

Nethack is anything but concise and focused.

Compared to Angband?

 

[iapetus]

Compared to Angband?

Absolutely. Angband is far more focussed, with a single mission and a single gameplay style as compared to Nethack's 'everything including the kitchen sink' approach and copious backtracking.

 

[Mejilan]

Absolutely. Angband is far more focussed, with a single mission and a single gameplay style as compared to Nethack's 'everything including the kitchen sink' approach and copious backtracking.

I agree. Nethack was the very definition of unfocused, arbitrary, and just plain silly.

 

[Mejilan]

Angband PSP v.3.0.6 .4b1 is out. Seems to be optimized quite nicely.