Damn, you guys, this game:
Has completely sucked me in. Hopefully I’ll be able to tear away from it in order to try the just-released Cogmind alpha.
For anyone too lazy to click (or people in the future trying to search for mentions of it), the game’s name is Chronicon, here’s a screenshot:
Maybe picking the most boring-looking screenshot was a ploy to get someone who had actually played it to post a representative one…
Well played, nym. Well. Played.
That’s a lot of loot alright. :-)
How does loot work? Only stats and dots/procs, or they also grant new skills and change mechanics?
They add to stats plus can have abilities of their own, like “Sometimes this thing might set off a small explosion.” or “Sometimes this thing might fire chain lightning.”
Is that a roguelike or an ARPG? I guess the line is a bit blurry, but in my mind roguelike = turn-based.
Sorry to be pedantic… this looks much more like an action-RPG than a roguelike. What makes this rogue-like-y? (I’m asking out of interest, not pedantism)
I thought it was from random dungeons and possible permadeath (which I believe is an option) but hell, you guys might be right. Maybe the line is so blurry now I can’t even keep it straight…
yeah, there’s definitely a gradient, as there is with anything. I am pretty sure that Diablo is not a roguelike. I don’t think Terraria is. I think FTL is, even though there’s some real-time aspect to combat, because a lot of it is turn-based and hit/damage calculations are just math, not the player’s agility in dodging, but that’s a really hazy line.
Wasn’t the original Diablo labeled as a Rogue-like? IIRC it was the first time I’d heard that phrase, back when Diablo was either just about to drop or right after, I recall having to find out what the heck “Rogue” was.
It was not labeled as such, but the devs certainly mentioned Rogue as a major inspiration behind the project, IIRC.
The term certainly predates Diablo and I mostly remember the devs citing Moria as an inspiration and games journalists, at least in Germany, referring to Dungeon Hack (of all thing) as an antecedent of the idea.
Classic Roguelikes emphasize permadeath, turn-based, grid-based, non-modal movement/combat, resource management, exploration, random/procedural generation, and inventory management.
Contemporary rogue-likes, rogue-lites, and rogueish games take a few of those principles and mix it with other approaches or genres.
It’s been a pleasure to see the genre expand and be reinterpreted so widely in recent years while also having some major classic roguelikes release on Steam.
-Todd
Well, there was Rogue, then Hack, then Moria and all the *bands, and and and…
But yeah, Rogue is (unless I am terribly mistaken) generally considered the first of its kind.
Seriously, this box art. Speaks to my soul.
To my mind, a rogue like is any game like the game rogue. So FTL doesn’t count.
Re: diablo. It originally started as a turn based game, but when the developers got blizzard on board to publish it, the blizzard guys felt turn based was too ‘old’ feeling and asked them to make it real time. And thus the action RPG was born. It’s also on of the reasons the guy walks do damn slowly.
I would look up the link for you all, but I can’t be bothered. In fact I think it was actually a book.
There was a little-known game called Beneath Apple Manor that predated (but probably didn’t influence) Rogue, but it’s certainly true that the later games all draw their inspiration from Rogue or a game inspired by it or game inspired by a game inspired by it, many already before the commercial release by Epyx.
Diablo’s turn-based origins, back when Blizzard North was Condor, are also documented online, but the book you’re thinking of is probably Stay Awhile and Listen by David Braddock, here’s a relevant snippet: http://www.shacknews.com/article/76406/chapter-8-finale-condor-and-blizzard-lock-horns-over-diablo
And FWIW, any dungeon crawler with randomly generated levels, including Diablo, counts as a rogue-like for me.
I thought Rogue was so awesome back in the day as a kid, but it didn’t take me long to abandon it for Wizardry and then Might & Magic and The Bard’s Tale.
Man, I love classic western RPGs. So great.