My thoughts on ToME

[PhoenixToME]

I'm playing again ToME after almost a year. I played mostly with a dwarf warrior reaching lvl 20-30, don't remember exactly, and died of soffucation (in the most obvious place), although I triead also the elven archer. Now I tried the Alchemist and died by folgoration (in the most obvious place) at about lvl 13, and I'm trying the Arcane thief or something, I don't rembember the exact name. As for other roguelikes, I've played mainly nethack.

I like runes & infusions and I'm not sure that I miss scrolls & potions, although perhaps they would be still nice (but not avaible in towns). I think that the change of world from middleearth to maj'eyal is for the better.

Finally the game has some graphics that gives a little of atmosphere, although I still miss the pics of heroes. Atmospherical effects like rain & clouds gives it a nice touch.

The songs aren't too bad, but they are too short and gets very repetitive, so I had to change them (especially for the dungeon and the forest).

I hate the wilder.

I'd like to deactivate the chat being online, since I fear spoilers, but I'd like being online for the achievements.

I like the talent system. I'd love to see this game completely random, but I think it's a design's choice. Lots of class & random maps gives the game replayability if you don't bore too much with the same areas, same sequence of quests etc...

I like those lore scrolls.

It's still pretty simple compared to nethack in many ways (and more complex in other aspects). Perhaps it becomes more complex after lvl 30, I dunno. Traps are a bit monotonous, there's no close/open door strategy, and enemies don't use wands (there aren't many wands anyway). And you can't steal I think. I like that there's the pickaxe even if I'm not sure that it's useful.

I don't like the complete respawn of monsters, I prefer the nethack formula which is you can kill all monsters but a small part of them respawns. If i remember correctly those that respawn are more dependant on your level than on that of the floor/area.

Those paladins/seers/thiefs who get lost are morons, but I guess makes it challenging, if they were smart it would be no fun. Most of the time it's pretty hard to save them, but it's worth the reward.

So I like this game, it's not perfect for my tastes, but it's still the only roguelike that I'm playing now. You can see that there's a lot of work behind it, especially with all those classes & races.

Perhaps I'll try an elven mage this time.