ID:154220
 
What do you look for in a dungeon crawl RPG? I'm not talking fancy-pants uber-realistic fantasy worlds where you can interact with every blade of grass and leaf; I just mean games whose goal is to kill things and get loot and have as much fun doing it as possible. Would you rather have a rich, random world with detailed interactions that would rival the most complex Roguelike, or are you the sort of person who can keep entertained playing Wizardry I fifty times in a row? (Trick question. I fully consider qualifying for the latter a prerequisite for humanity, though not exclusive with regards to the former.)
Delve! is fun. Just make the levels randomized and maybe storyline twists or something. Action Packed is my way.
In response to Sariat
Delve! is, never has been, and never will be, in any way, a dungeon crawling RPG. Notice that I'm using Roguelikes and the Wizardry games for comparison.

(For an example of extremely simple dungeon crawl games, substitute 'Wizardry I' in the original post for 'Ultima I', although that wasn't all dungeon activity).
I prefer complexity, simply because I like having lots and lots of numbers to fiddle with.

But that's just me.
Leftley wrote:
What do you look for in a dungeon crawl RPG? I'm not talking fancy-pants uber-realistic fantasy worlds where you can interact with every blade of grass and leaf;

now that would be one game i would play for quite awhile. sorry, i would have said something funny but i couldn't think of anything =/.

I just mean games whose goal is to kill things and get loot and have as much fun doing it as possible.

I am oddly reminded of dbz games...... oh and a small sense of Diablo 2

wuld you rather have a rich, random world with detailed interactions that would rival the most complex Roguelike

Aye or Nay!?!?..... which one means yes? AYE!!!!

or are you the sort of person who can keep entertained playing Wizardry I fifty times in a row? (Trick question. I fully consider qualifying for the latter a prerequisite for humanity, though not exclusive with regards to the former.)

considering there is a wizardry 8, i could not imagine what the first is like..... and i couldn't play a game i've beaten over 15 times unless it was that good.....
Leftley wrote:
Would you rather have a rich, random world with detailed interactions that would rival the most complex Roguelike, or are you the sort of person who can keep entertained playing Wizardry I fifty times in a row?

I'm not sure, since I only tried a bit of a roguelike game, and I haven't tried Wizardry I. I think I like lots of random things happening, but don't require complexity on my character's side. In fact having 10 different stats and 100 spells to keep track of tends to scare me off.

Z
In response to Zilal
I'm not sure, since I only tried a bit of a roguelike game, and I haven't tried Wizardry I. I think I like lots of random things happening, but don't require complexity on my character's side. In fact having 10 different stats and 100 spells to keep track of tends to scare me off.

One of the best and most popular Roguelike games is ADOM. Try it; you might like it.

Roguelikes are all about making things random and letting players discover what the random things actually are. If you get really down to the mathematics of it all, it's essentially a good model of Chaos Theory -- it's impossible to predict the outcome of any situation because there are so many little intricate details that can affect you.

All roguelikes do have a steep learning curve, though, and they generally make it a point not to show the keyboard layout in any easily accessible position, forcing you to browse through documentation just to figure out how to control the game, let alone play.

Nonetheless, roguelikes are a good thing to just fire up once in a while and get lost in.
Glory Mountain (my TextMUD dungeon crawl game) is pretty simple. It's got a very nice map with lots to explore, but the game systems are all very crude. There is great beuty in simplicity.
Leftley wrote:
What do you look for in a dungeon crawl RPG? I'm not talking fancy-pants uber-realistic fantasy worlds where you can interact with every blade of grass and leaf; I just mean games whose goal is to kill things and get loot and have as much fun doing it as possible. Would you rather have a rich, random world with detailed interactions that would rival the most complex Roguelike, or are you the sort of person who can keep entertained playing Wizardry I fifty times in a row? (Trick question. I fully consider qualifying for the latter a prerequisite for humanity, though not exclusive with regards to the former.)

Spuzzum makes a good point about the keyboard structure of Roguelikes--they usually have so many different commands that the keyboard layout has to be convoluted to support them all. However, as most items could only support at most a few actions anyway, other methods of control could be available; also BYOND's command interface allows things to be typed out without memorizing an arcane keyboard layout. So sticking your nose in the manual shouldn't be mandatory.

In general I would look for a complex world with a simple interface. I'd prefer the sort of game where you can do and find all kinds of interesting things, but don't have to be an expert on how to identify a +3 flame sword or what, exactly, such and such a message might mean.

Lummox JR