Do You Want Your Possessions Identified? Let's Play NetHack

I figured it out. This isn't an LP but a social experiment to see if Talking Time can be so polarized as to ultimately destroy the boards. It's basically a destruction test of our little internet utopia.

I'm onto you, Netbrian.

First, the current ASCII/Tiles count --

ASCII -

Brickroad
Elfir
ravinoff
Matchstick
Stiv
VorpalEdge
Loki
RAi

Tiles -

LilSpriteX
Ample Vigour
Lucas
PapillonReel

So it looks like, barring a major upset, I'll be stuck with ASCII. I'm going to be spending the rest of the night registering sock puppets.

(Honestly, if it didn't have to be done manually, I'd just use both. Unfortunately, Nethack doesn't exactly have extensive screenshot capability to begin with.)

I'm going to play a Wizard anyhow. However, with combat classes, I've actually found the Gnomish Mines to be most rewarding with hostile monsters. That way, it's easier to kill them, eat them, and take their armor. For instance, it's much harder to get a pick axe (without a pet) if Dwarves are peaceful. Gnomes are also a good source of early nutrition.

On the other hand, for your average Healer or Priest, peaceful mines are a godsend.

Oh, and just for you, one of the names for the character will be "Lyll", with her pet cat, "Pochi".

If you do an Angband LP, it had better be a video LP. And you better play the legendary bookless, artifactless, Hobbit Mage.

I tried Angband without spoilers.

"It breathes poison. You die."

Even with spoilers, I've never gotten past stat-gain. I do like Angband though.

Yes. Nethack's identity is the merciless game design, the incredible variety, and the awesome number of interactions present. I will agree with you that in general, tiles versus ASCII doesn't improve the accessibility all that much. I play with tiles because they're adorable and distinctive, not because it makes an already very dense game any easier. I cut my Roguelike teeth on Alphaman (of all games), and you get used to ASCII fast.

I will add that I haven't found any big difference in situation assessment when playing with ASCII versus tiles. I also use ASCII when playing Angband or ADOM (for any ADOM players out there, the furthest I've gotten in that game is the Mana Temple, so YMMV). Nethack just seems to have tiles unusually well suited for the game.

Sure. Just for you, the outtakes will include "Fun With Unicorns!".

I've never played Ivan, unfortunately. However, if anyone wants to do another Roguelike LP, more power to them!

I'm naming the main character Aerith (not Aereis you stupid American plot destroyers), based on a wonderful female role-model in the objectively good game Final Fantasy 7.

Name vote: Aeaireiathssea

Hold on a sec. It's a roguelike. Couldn't you just switch between tiles and ASCII in each subsequent playthrough?
I'm not actually suggesting this.

Also, you forgot the most important part: what are you going to name the cat?

I cut my Roguelike teeth on Rogue, you damn whipper snappers. I've also always posited that Diablo is just Nethack on steroids.

Put me down as another vote for ASCII, that's what I came to this thread to see!

I wish to propose a compromise: use this tileset.

Name the cat Garfield so you don't feel as bad when it dies.

That's no secret... though it's more like Nethack is Diablo on steroids. Except the timeline doesn't work out.

I have never heard of this character build, but if I do an LP, I promise you that I will have an epilogue where I play just that character and see how far I can take it.

I'm okay with Angband's system of "try and die" as opposed to Nethack just because the system is so much more limited. Maybe I'd finish a game if I knew a bit more about where the most frequent stat-gain drops are, but other than that after about floor 25 you have a pretty good understanding of where the game's going.

Looking forward to this one! I know a lot about Nethack thanks to the @play column at GSW, but just not enough to actually play it.

I vote for Falcon's Eye, if only to thoroughly enrage the ascii purists.

Also name the girl Cat and the cat Girl.

As if this wasn't going to be confusing enough already.

It's... beautiful...

1. ASCII - The tileset just gets annoying after awhile.

2. Main Character: Irene.

3. Cat: Ryu.

Tiles, man. LPs need to appeal to those of us without the means/skills to play these games, and I for one don't know that I could take several pages of the adventures of "@." Though I do look forward to multiple deaths.

In that spirit, I don't care what name you use, but like the Hydlide LP, I think we should keep the adventurers in the family.

Does ... it make me a bad person to like that?

No, it just doesn't live up to the levels of snobbiness TT requires. We won't hate you if you like it, we'll just shun you for life.

But Nethack 3.4.3 has been released since that was updated! Us snobs have to insist upon the latest version being played because otherwise Netbrian is going against the wishes of the dev team, and maybe missing out on some really hilarious deaths.

Meanwhile I am actually seconding a vote for the Geoduck tileset because it is (a) adorable and (b) retains the clean, sterile, hospital-like sheen of ASCII while adding some graphical touches for our TTY-impaired friends. Everyone can be happy!

Actually it's also been a long time since we've had a character named PANTS. Let's name the cat PANTS, in homage to days gone by.

Even as a ASCII religious zealot I have to admit that that tileset is pretty great. Not great enough to cause me to change my vote though.

This thread has got me in a roguelike mood, I've been playing Nethack (and a little Crawl) off and on throughout the day.

Both ASCII and the tileset I've seen are rather generic, so I say just split the difference and go with Geoduck.

i'm looking forward to learning about nethack. don't let me down.

Is Nethack still being produced? Because if it is it just became that much cooler.

Also, what shivam said.

Assuming I'm not misreading this, do you mean to say that YOU of all people know nothing of Nethack?

Seriously?

well, i know the tenuous outline of what nethack is, but i've never actually delved it myself.

I don't think you'll have to worry about this. Anything Netbrian doesn't cover, I'm sure other Nethack players around here (see also: me) will be more than happy to pick up.

ASCII is relentlessly confusing to me. I'm voting tiles.

Don't forget that I voted tiles. I didn't see my name on the vote tally list above, for whatever reason.

Tiles plz.

I'm also for the tiles, since then I can easily tell what is going on.

Tiles ahoy!

Unfortunately, I didn't actually expect a turnaround in favor of tiles, and have started LPing the game with ASCII. I might try tiles after the first death, but we'll have to see.

This game takes longer to process for LPs than Legacy of the Wizard does. More writing, and I have to crop all the bloody images.

Oh, and I rediscovered EO2. Legacy of the Wizard, Nethack EO -- I'm feeling my favorite games aren't returning my feelings of love.

Mmm, ASCII.

Now I want to play some Linley's. Sigh.