Warning to new players

[Hommnom]

If you saw "roguelike" in the description, and the permadeath option when starting a save, and were like "ah, that's clearly how the game is meant to be played"...don't. Don't do it.

I thought that even if I died pretty early, I'd be excited to roll a new character, try a new build, or find some new loot that might make my next run play differently, but it's not really that type of game. The opening few hours are very linear, with tons of lore dumping, and no character customization. Having died to a bandit ambush right after thoroughly exploring the first major city and talking to everyone, I'm now staring down the barrel of having to do it all over again, and I can't imagine any of it's going to be different the second time around.

Don't be like me. Just make a normal save, so that you won't have to replay what's basically a lengthy tutorial chapter all over again right after you did it the first time.

Cool game btw, I'm just dumb.

[Count Sessine]

Agree. So much.

[TakeMyLunch]

Honestly the Permadeath mode should be like... password locked or something.
Like you find it out in the world or from an ending.
Those that *really* want to do that to themselves will just look it up or something and those that complete the game will be like "I already know a lot... Sure why not. Could be fun."

[Rithrin]

Would have to agree here. Moonring is a great game, very fun, but it only superficially looks like something along the lines of ADOM, Caves of Qud, etc, which has a myriad of variables to create unique characters and their starting circumstances. In Moonring you'll be doing essentially the same grind for the first few hours with the same playstyle.

There's basically only the choice of which god to dedicate yourself to which will ultimately determine how your run feels.

[Coffee]

Yeah. I like roguelikes. This is not one and shouldn't be played with permadeath. Not sure why that's even an option.

[Fluttermind]

Originally posted by Coffee:

Yeah. I like roguelikes. This is not one and shouldn't be played with permadeath. Not sure why that's even an option.

Honestly, I did it because a bunch of people wanted it. Those same people play it like that regularly because they are insane.

[Your weakness is your own]

I learned the game in hardcore and played enough to get burned out, but don't recommend it. I appreciate its existence, and it does ward off the inevitable judgement I would cast upon such a game presenting itself in Rogue-ish fashion in all ways except perma death. Even though it's not the "correct" way to play, it's better than not having it. Just for posterity.

The dialogue system is a major problem, as pointed out.

I suspect it'd be a lot of work to fix, and probably won't change, but as a "what if" I can think of three methods of operation, which would be selectable per-character:

Insular characters. What we have now. Fresh start.

Shared knowledge. Anything in the category of 'knowledge' instead of 'accomplishment' is sourced from a global pool (or maybe more specifically, the other global characters). This probably should have been the default, with how tedious the system is. I never liked text-adventure games.

Speedrunner, or "grug bash" mode: Insular progression per-character, but touching a character instantly and seamlessly grants all the knowledge you can get. Same gameplay route, no tedium, omniscience assumed. If you wanted to get really fancy, limit it to the shared system to answer the question of "when should it be available".

Again, I don't expect anything to change, I just like talking about design and wanted to support the inclusion of hardcore.

[bozance]

The dialog system seems great to me, love the way you can select words instead of having to both remember and type them. Much easier than in the old Ultimas (showing my age).

[Dracoco OwO]

Permadeath is definitely something you can actually complete in this game, but some dungeons will be though.

No one should start with it though.

[Fluttermind]

Originally posted by Your weakness is your own:

I learned the game in hardcore and played enough to get burned out, but don't recommend it. I appreciate its existence, and it does ward off the inevitable judgement I would cast upon such a game presenting itself in Rogue-ish fashion in all ways except perma death. Even though it's not the "correct" way to play, it's better than not having it. Just for posterity.

The dialogue system is a major problem, as pointed out.

I suspect it'd be a lot of work to fix, and probably won't change, but as a "what if" I can think of three methods of operation, which would be selectable per-character:

Insular characters. What we have now. Fresh start.

Shared knowledge. Anything in the category of 'knowledge' instead of 'accomplishment' is sourced from a global pool (or maybe more specifically, the other global characters). This probably should have been the default, with how tedious the system is. I never liked text-adventure games.

Speedrunner, or "grug bash" mode: Insular progression per-character, but touching a character instantly and seamlessly grants all the knowledge you can get. Same gameplay route, no tedium, omniscience assumed. If you wanted to get really fancy, limit it to the shared system to answer the question of "when should it be available".

Again, I don't expect anything to change, I just like talking about design and wanted to support the inclusion of hardcore.

I’ll add to this that the game has been written so you can complete the entire thing without talking to anyone.

[Magical8ball]

yeah I wouldn't consider it a roguelike but the perma-death is fine. In fact I prefer it because in the past dying had some other annoyances (not sure if it has been changed) that would make me rather roll a new character than deal with.

Dialogue system is annoying if you want the notes after a new death, but isn't too essential.

[HippieJesus]

I was actually wondering how many people played with permadeath vs not. Kinda wondered if the game was a 'real' roguelike or just an odd tag because it didnt give me rogue vibes. Was wondering what the 'intended' style is. Nice to know permadeath is just an option for silly people (like me, because I'm silly and like doing silly things).