Best Variant Volume 2

[The Fury]

It has been a bit since this poll has been up.

Here is the new Best Variant Poll.

I (obviously) vote fo FuryBand/FuryMod.

[Falconis]

Errr, there are an awful lot more variants than those...

(like S, Dr, Cth, Heng, Gum, Kam to name but a few...)

[The Fury]

I was going by recent ones, with recent updates.

[Falconis]

Sang is still going IIRC...

[ISNorden]

I voted for ToME; it's got most of what I love to see in a *band. Wilderness, multiple dungeons, multiple towns, religions that actually care what a character does, quests that actually form part of a larger plot. Plus, of course, the potential to customize the game; I'm still waiting for ToME 3 to go stable.

If this poll allowed ranking variants instead of selecting just one, I'd rank the variants I've played like this:

ToME 2 (standard version): 10

ToME 1: 8 (Points off for Nazg?l behavior and for difficulty in playing characters with gods...)

Zangband 2.4.0 (unmodified): 8 (Points off for the silly quests and distracting virtue system that added nothing to the game. Otherwise, classic Z includes a lot of what I like about ToME; DarkGod made a great choice when he forked ToME from this variant!)

Multiband: 7.5 (Good: multiple character classes, talismans, customizable player file. Bad: Much fewer character powers--even levitation doesn't exist!)

Kangband: 6 (Good: arena in town and decent quest rewards. Bad: some quests broken, town shops low on basic supplies.)

Gumband: 6 (Good: unusual theme, multiple end-bosses, new items. Bad: Too many similar uniques at deeper levels, high character fatality.)

Oangband: 6 (Good: faithfulness to theme, making classes more distinct from one another. Bad: low-level spell casters have a hard time, high character fatality in general.)

Kamband: 5 (Good: Religions, ghost mode, unusual terrain, friendly creatures. Bad: Item materials and destruction; a character can die in an explosion if he destroys his oil flasks, or find wooden food which is completely inedible.)

Sangband: 5 (Good: no fixed character classes, customize-as-you-go. Bad: Learning skills is very difficult...)

Zangband (later versions, unmodified): 5 (Good: new shops, multiple towns and dungeons. Bad: too many mutations with penalties; higher-level dungeons hard to find; wilderness too confusing and full of deadly quest camps; stairs nonexistent in most towns.)

Vanilla Angband (without JLE modifications): Hard for me to rate fairly; when I've played so many variants, anything else feels deadly dull.

[Elliott]

I'd feel disloyal voting for anything but ToME, especially since it was the variant that really pulled me into 'banding. I had previously only played Vanilla and Moria before that, which were fun, but failed to conquer me the way ToME did.

So, given that ToME is #1, Steamband was my #2 for a long time. Its got some obviously broken parts (pet ranged attacks target you, Naturalists make ToME Thaumaturgists look like models of game balance), but the stat and skill gain systems are fun and the feel of the game is totally unique among bands, and in a good way.

However, Steamband has been bumped down to #3 by Entro/Hengband, my current #2. Seemingly endless race/class combo options, virtually all with unique and well thought through abilities, means extremely varied gameplay, allowing for replayability matched only by ToME. The game play of an Android Berserker, a Dark-Elf Ninja, and a Beastman Priest are so dramatically different that it feels like an entirely different game each time.

[The Fury]

So furyband is half as popular as tome.

[Gwai]

Well, this is, for the most part, a Tome forum.

[The Cosmic Gerbil]

FuryBand is the best, because it features

1) Spiders
2) Jedi
3) War Mages (I got into playing them because I am trying to play as a Lost Soul)

And just so much choice for races and classes

Cosmic Gerbil (r)

[hoshq]

I'd love to try Furyband, but there doesn't seem to be a mac version.

[The Fury]

I don't have access to a mac, so if someone wants to do a compile, feel free.