Assertion of b38 status

[BasiC]

Balance is not THAT big an issue in a roguelikes IMO.
Think about it, Hardcore players can toughen out even with the least powerfull combinations while new players can always play adventurer on easy.
What sets 1.0 apart from beta is
#1 smoothing out of all major bugs and as much as possible of the smaller ones.
#2 a set of complete features without loose ends.

What the game needs to get to 1.0:

#1 more bug fixes(the devs know best how many game breaking bugs are in the code atm and thus are better suited to make this call).

#2 more content for low level areas and cities across the game...
Starting areas are played tons and start feeling very repetitive very fast and cities and villages usually feel very dead and dull.
Add more visual aesthetic stuff for cities like crowds of people talking saying stuff as u move near, houses, parks?
Something to make the villages and cities feel they are more than just a shop...
It really feels off and the neglect is obvious.

#3 encumbrance and the selling of items.
IMO encumbrance should go down a lot and strength should not add that much to it.
ATM the prices in the shops feel so ridiculous.
reducing encumbrance would allow to increase selling price so it will make more sense than the atmosphere breaking actions of selling things for 20x times less than their actual store costs(Oo)....
Lower encumbrance will also make useless weapon and armor gathering almost redundant.
If not reduce encumbrance that solve the mind boggling pricing in some other way just as long as it stops feeling so obviously silly.

If these glaring oddities are patched up and fixed in some way the game will feel 10x times more polished and IMO can and should be released as 1.0.

[Wombat]

I don't get much opportunity to play these days but I was able to download b38 at work and play some (any hope of b38 for OSX so I can play at home?). I was previously playing up to b31 so it's been some time.

My first impression is that the early game is actually harder (for me). I was able to consistently get characters of all types to Dreadfell and beyond. After a week of b38 I have yet to get a character there. I've noticed that defense and healing need a LOT more attention than before, even for berzerkers. Also, I've found it almost mandatory to kill every boss along the way in order to get enough experience to have any hope of handling the tougher zones/adventurer parties. Sooner or later though I find myself in situations where every promising character gets quickly slaughtered (being a Tome2 and Angband veteran, I generally play on Roguelike). Also, it's noticeable that although the gameplay has changed, the early game is almost exactly the same as before (the one new zone is a deathtrap for early characters). The combination of familiar content playing much harder is a bit frustrating.

I like the UI changes for the most part, and though I'm still learning the new talents I find them very promising. In general, I think the progress on the game has been excellent. Some attention to the early game at this point would be time well spent, I feel.

[Lord Estraven]

Not sure if this is a valid criticism, but I think the hardware requirements are an issue. As things stand, if the memory requirements cannot be reduced, there should be a warning to the effect that > 2 GB of physical RAM is required for this game.