Yet Another Game Thread- Nethack
So, I'm not sure how many of you would be interested in a game that features ASCII graphics but I figured there's no harm in posting about this quirky and yet brutal game and a plus side is that this game's entirely free! To start off, here's a short introduction and those of you who have played Kingdom of Loathing will recognize some of the mechanics of this game:
Quote:
You are [Insert name here], a [Insert alignment, gender, race, class]. You are entering the Dungeons of Doom to retrieve the Amulet of Yendor from the deepest depths of Gehennom (Hell) and sacrifice it to your deity for untold rewards. Will you succeed or die trying?
I won't be going through all of the basics as the guidebook that comes with the download tells you plenty but here's a few tips to go by:
1) Dwarf Valkyrie is by far the easiest role, but Wizards get very powerful if you can keep them alive. Incidentally, unlike in most games the beginning of the game is by far the hardest part of it all as almost anything can kill you (A centipede got me just now, do NOT take poison resistance lightly, for instance). Other good roles for learning may include Barbarians and Healers (More towards the former though) since you get automatic poison resistance.
2) Try not to be burdened or worse. If you see boxes around you could always stash the stuff you don't need first.
3) If you've never read LOTR, at least learn the name of Elbereth. Writing this in the dust will save you a lot of times at the beginning of the game but try not to do this with your weapon...
4) Do not try on or read random things until you're sure it's not cursed! As in Dragon Quest, cursed items will bring you down and unlike in Dragon Quest they pretty much have no good effects...unless you've chanced across a bones file. The entire game is randomly generated level to level except in the case of a bones file, which captures the entire level as it was before along with the goodies of the poor adventurer that died in it. If you're playing on an online server you have a higher chance of seeing it but you might also get your own bones files if you play on your own computer for long enough.
CAUTION: Think twice before you put anything on from a bones pile! The ghost is naturally not happy with you and hence everything in the pile has up to an 80% chance of getting cursed.
5) Some things are your friends:
- This will tell you pretty much anything you need to know, along with mechanics. Be aware though that this is not enough to win the game and the only guy that supposedly beat the game without using any spoilers took ten years to do it.
- Scrolls of identify. Almost everything in this game has a random appearance and some can be lethal if used; this nifty scroll will help you to identify things you might not want to chance and blessing this may identify everything you're carrying!
- Pets will help you out a lot especially if you're an extremely wimpy class at the beginning.
- Altars will help you check if an item is blessed, uncursed or cursed. There's also something special you can get from them if you find a way to please your deity...
6) Beware the YASDs! This stands for Yet Another Stupid Death which is basically what happens when you charge into everything or neglect to check your status, both of which will result in your ass being handed to you if you have one left after the monster's done.
7) Learn the commands! The ones you'll be using most are:
- Shift+@: Turns auto-pickup off.
- W: Wield (Your weapon)
- e: Eat
- E: Engrave
- :: Tells you what item/monster it is. A " symbol for instance could be an amulet or a web and beware of letters such as 'L' (Lich) 'c' (Cockatrice family; one of this is fairly harmless) or even 'h' (Usually dwarfs and other fun stuff, but they share this symbol with a terror known as the mind flayer.
I promise this isn't as hard as it seems, really and it gets really fun when you have to improvise lots of times to get out of tricky situations. The question now is if you too dare to challenge the Dungeons of Doom!
