How does this compare to classic DF?

[TaraTin]

I used to play df when I was a teen but it's been a couple years. I remember loving the game but I struggled with the ASCII graphics and controls. Wondering how this is different from the classic df other than graphic and qol features? Obviously no adventure mode (which sucks cuz I loved that) but any other differences that make you love it less/more?

[Dain_Ironfoot]

It's a lot easier and accessible, in my opinion. I've played a lot more since the steam version came out. There's still some issues, but the original was just way too archaic in comparison.

[Fel]

It lacks a few things but the fortress mode is mostly complete.

The UI is fully mouse-driven (with keyboard shortcuts if you want to use them, although not the same as before so it takes a while to get used to the change for players of the older versions) and makes a lot more sense than the older menus.

The stairs changed, they were weird before, they are now a different kind of weird (you designate/build them several z-levels at once or they don't designate/build at all).

[POWER WITHIN USER]

When you compare this version gameplay and management with the previous version, it's undoubtedly a downgrade.

Originally posted by Fel:

It lacks a few things

It lacks quite a lot of things and I haven't seem them be addressed whatsoever. Waiting on May for Toady to be "free to work on the game", maybe then he'll go over a list of all the missing features or outright asinine design choices they took for the "new and improved™" $30 release.

The UI is fully mouse-driven (with keyboard shortcuts if you want to use them, although not the same as before so it takes a while to get used to the change for players of the older versions) and makes a lot more sense than the older menus.

You're expected to either use the mouse for everything, or for some reason, to grow an extra hand thanks to being forced to use the mouse for most UI elements along with hotkeys placed across the entirety of the keyboard instead of everything being within reach of your left hand.

[Vuyek]

um

instead of seeing @ fighting with # in room %^&*, you will see actual dwarves, animals, with different clothes, equipment, with rooms that you can eyeball and immediately see what they are.

it makes a HUGE difference

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by TaraTin:

..but any other differences that make you love it less/more?

I couldn't get past the lack of a graphical U.I. in the now "Classic" version, even with tilesets. And, I grew up in the era of computer gaming when ASCII games were common and the mouse hadn't yet been applied to the P.C. And... I grew up even before P.C.s

So, I played my share of keyboard-only command scheme games long before DF. I paid my dues... I loaded tape-drives and even shuffled punch-cards in high-school. (The "computer" was the size of about three+ commercial copiers at the print-shop in an office-supply store.)

That being said...

This version of DF with "graphics" and a graphical U.I. is the only way I can play this game and be marginally satisfied with the experience.

I jumped at it entirely due to the GUI addition.

And, this GUI is more gooey that it should be... It's terrible. The game is loaded with bugs, too, which are also terrible. The production value here is extremely low. I've stopped playing it, but I am very eager to see some bug-patching and GUI-de-gooeying patches come our way Soon ™. My first plays were a lot of fun, but the ever-present quality issues became significant stressors...

(I don't know such patches would be "soon" and don't know they will be released in my lifetime. Maybe? If not, that's a shame and the game will become infamous. If so, it could make a true Hall-of-Fame icon.)

[Diarmuhnd]

Originally posted by TaraTin:

I used to play df when I was a teen but it's been a couple years. I remember loving the game but I struggled with the ASCII graphics and controls. Wondering how this is different from the classic df other than graphic and qol features? Obviously no adventure mode (which sucks cuz I loved that) but any other differences that make you love it less/more?

I'm liking Steam Dwarf Fortress, its cute now, and soon will be even cuter with babies!

There's some good reaction videos on youTube of oldschool classi DF fans/players talking about it If you want a more visual experience while they talk about it. As always, KRUGGSMASH is at the top of the list in that regard.

Oh, i saw you got the game huh. Cool. Go dig some holes!

[TaraTin]

Originally posted by Diarmuhnd:

Originally posted by TaraTin:

I used to play df when I was a teen but it's been a couple years. I remember loving the game but I struggled with the ASCII graphics and controls. Wondering how this is different from the classic df other than graphic and qol features? Obviously no adventure mode (which sucks cuz I loved that) but any other differences that make you love it less/more?

I'm liking Steam Dwarf Fortress, its cute now, and soon will be even cuter with babies!

There's some good reaction videos on youTube of oldschool classi DF fans/players talking about it If you want a more visual experience while they talk about it. As always, KRUGGSMASH is at the top of the list in that regard.

Oh, i saw you got the game huh. Cool. Go dig some holes! :mead::plumphelmet::mead:

Yeah! I got the game :). It's been a long time since I played it so I have to learn it all over again. I basically forgot how to have FUN. I'm not entire sure I prefer this version over classic DF, still I wanted to purchase to support them making more and more updates haha.

Originally posted by POWER WITHIN USER:

When you compare this version gameplay and management with the previous version, it's undoubtedly a downgrade.

Originally posted by Fel:

It lacks a few things

It lacks quite a lot of things and I haven't seem them be addressed whatsoever. Waiting on May for Toady to be "free to work on the game", maybe then he'll go over a list of all the missing features or outright asinine design choices they took for the "new and improved™" $30 release.

The UI is fully mouse-driven (with keyboard shortcuts if you want to use them, although not the same as before so it takes a while to get used to the change for players of the older versions) and makes a lot more sense than the older menus.

You're expected to either use the mouse for everything, or for some reason, to grow an extra hand thanks to being forced to use the mouse for most UI elements along with hotkeys placed across the entirety of the keyboard instead of everything being within reach of your left hand.

I think these are valid complaints though it's been so long I played I can't tell if it's missing a lot of features compared to classic DF. My biggest pet peeve so far is that logs seem to be an afterthought now that they appear as an out of the way bubble alert. I like the auto pause the classic df had and you also saw what was going on... But the graphics really do help and make things overall look less busy.

[Ranix]

a big thing I've noticed is that it's much harder to equip the military and much easier to designate fully grown trees to chop and not young ones. And it's much faster to identify animals

[UnderTow]

just download the version that gives you that gooey nostalgia feeling and keep playing that. problem solved

[zeeb]

If you have the Steam version, there is really no need to go back to Classic.

[Антон789]

I’ll say briefly, the steam version is what killed the whole atmosphere in the game, the new interface is the main problem for old DF players, especially if they loved playing the game without graphics, like me, they thought about the new players, but did they think about the old ones players? will they be comfortable playing this game? moving from the classics, the only solution I see to the problem is adding a transition from the new to the old interface

[Sneaky_Koala]

Originally posted by Morkonan:

Originally posted by TaraTin:

..but any other differences that make you love it less/more?

I couldn't get past the lack of a graphical U.I. in the now "Classic" version, even with tilesets. And, I grew up in the era of computer gaming when ASCII games were common and the mouse hadn't yet been applied to the P.C. And... I grew up even before P.C.s

OT but how old are you? Our 1983 286 had a mouse.

I'm guessing at least 60's because the mouse has been around a long time - and yes - we had the real 'PC' (an IBM - others were called 'PC clones' or 'PC compatible')

Edit to add: the OS had absolutely nothing to do with it, which is why Linux users laugh at Windoze users saying "PC" as though it's definitive. "PC" was IBM (and actually ran Unix lol). Even well into the 90's whether it ran OS/2, Windows, Unix or Linux if it wasn't an IBM it was a PC clone or compatible.

[Drude Fiegler]

I like this version a lot more than the previous ones. Sure the interface is not perfect, but it's much better and coherent than the previous ones. Also, a lot of things were stream-lined.

They entirely removed the "a room is defined from furniture" for example (like you needed to build a bed to create a room), which I found especially nonsensical, especially after the apparition of locations. Now, all rooms are locations, and you put furniture after.

The new labor system allows to manage a fortress "relatively well", without much of tweaking. Basically, everybody is working on mostly everything, and the "better dwarfs at doing X" are doing more of "X". I don't need Dwarf Therapist to play :) And you can manage it more.

Plus, i like the new work orders menu, which offers "Recommended conditions" to your orders.

Hope you like it!

[Flickmann]

It's impossible for the original to be a rip-off because it's free. This version is very much a rip-off.

[Sinclair]

I like this version, though there are some defficiencies in the new UI that drive me nuts, mostly relating to stairs.