Re: What Have You Been Playing... IN FEBRUARY 2025?

On Thu, 6 Mar 2025 21:00:04 -0000 (UTC), in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
candycanearter07 wrote:

Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote at 19:28 this Thursday (GMT):

On Wed, 05 Mar 2025 10:55:43 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>

On Tue, 4 Mar 2025 17:57:14 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
>

The Planet Crafter.
>
I've been playing this for a while.  You are a prisoner dropped on an
airless rock in space with minimal tools.  Terraform it or die.
>
Some call it a "cozy" game since in regular mode you can't actually die.

>
I mean... if that's the definition of a cozy game then "Dark Souls" is
cozy. You can't die there either; you just respawn back at the last
firepit. ;-)
>
But it got me to thinking... there really aren't MANY games left where
death has any lasting consequences. Long gone are the days when your
character would snuff it and you'd have to restart the level (or, if
the game was particularly malicious, the game entire!). Even the
meanest just let you reload a save-game (and most of those autosave
for you).
>

Now it's an *option* in some games like an "Ironman" mode. It never
should have been the *default*.
>
Excepting Nethack, of course. One save file, deleted on death. Level
where you died is saved as "bones" to be randomly inserted into a future
game. It's awfully nice to pick up an Ascension kit from a previous run
and slay your own ghost. That's the way to do it! It's also fun to
finally give that freaking gnome that spawned with a Wand of Death his
comeuppance, since you might just remember how you died.
>
Rogue Legacy does a good job with it too. A long lineage of genetically
deficient ancestors gradually improving the family line.
>
Some people truly enjoy the high stakes, but that's not a majority of
players, so it shouldn't be by design.
>
I most often see permadeath as an option in RPG games. Survival modes
too. Weapon degradation is another thing that should always be optional.
>
The point is to have fun. If something has the potential to not be fun,
and removing it doesn't break the game, it should be optional.

>
>
I love, love, LOVE rougelikes that include things from your last runs
(tho the only thing i can think of is the deathcards from Inscryption)
but I just cannot understand Nethack.

The first rule of Nethack is you do not understand Nethack.
The second rule of Nethack is you. DO. NOT. UNDERSTAND. Nethack.

It's got a learning curve like the White Cliffs of Dover. I have managed
ascension runs in most versions. The latest one is just.... mean.

--
Zag

This is csipg.rpg - reality is off topic. ...G. Quinn ('08)