I dunno if it’ll disappoint you or not but DCSS isn’t really a text-based game. It looks like this:

I just had to consult the log (at the bottom left part of the screenshot) to recreate the turn of events.

It’s still a very fun game!

You don’t. Instead, you recommend a specific community/instance that they’d like to participate in. And if Fediverse doesn’t have such a community your friend wouldn’t stick with it anyway.

For most people the advantages of federation doesn’t matter at all. What matters is their ability to connect with their fellow human beings on topics they care about.

The “holy” element is extraordinarily powerful against most foes, so your weapon choices are effectively limited.

At my first playthough, I was so tired of using Lightning all the time. It’s such an obnoxious spell (thanks to its sound) but it’s very efficient because Light = Good.

It’s really sad that all the dark weapons are just useless. Many of them look so badass!

It’s also quite easy on default settings, while the difficulty slider seems to do nothing but inflate or deflate monster HP and damage.

Yep. Difficulty slider only changes enemies’ damage, up to 500% of the initial value. I always keep it at ~300% because otherwise enemies deal such a negligible damage. But it won’t make the game hard because all you need to heal up to full health is to just press one button.

Lost in Vivo is great. It’s all about claustrophobia and psychological horror. Plenty of secrets too!

Of games that aren’t pure survival horrors (as in, they aren’t shooters): NO-SKIN, Infra Arcana and House of Necrosis.

NO-SKIN is a very weird, moody turn-based roguelite focused on resource management and figuring out secret interactions. It leans heavily into psychological horror side of genre.

Infra Arcana is a mix of survival horror and traditional roguelike. It’s lovecraftian horror with weird cults and things from distant stars and all that vibe. Unlike everything else I recommended this game is BRUTAL!

House of Necrosis is a roguelike that takes ‘survival horror’ more literally: aesthetically, it’s pretty much just Resident Evil. Zombies, labs, evil plants, Jill… it’s much easier than IA too.

This is why I always avoid even learning about how to cheat in any game. It’s a strong temptation that can ruin your experience in one poorly thought-out decision.

Even if sometimes games like CoQ really can ruin your game with one unexpected mechanic lol

I don’t think I’d emotionally survive permadeath 20 hours into a run.

For me even 3-6 hours needed for DCSS runs is too much. I can’t imagine going for hours and hours in a permadeath game - especially a game as unfair as CoQ!

LOL I see I see

It will take me many months to complete CoQ in Classic mode - at least that’s how long it took me to beat DCSS. I’m not very well-suited to winning roguelikes but I enjoy them nonetheless.

I just learned that you can be really cruel to the NPC who asks you to reach Six Days Stilt. Poor guy didn’t know who accepted his quest…

At least he may be at peace after the Machines slayed Ulaad in Grit Gate (the idiot forgot to find Droid Scrambler).

My current main build has Photosynthetic Skin so I’m basically always under its effect. It’s combined with Fasting Way (from Pilgrim start) so I just never run out!

My build is kinda a jack-of-all-trades: cudgels in melee, light manipulation and pyrokinesis at range. Trees help a bit but sometimes I really struggle with breaking the groups. It doesn’t help that my character isn’t up to level for this challenge and I’m too impatient to just leave it be for a bit.

Especially if you’re a mutant, you may have some “escape key” abilities already

I got Teleport from my buckler. Fantastic spell, it helps me a lot!

But iirc siphon vim is on use and not like damage over time so that seems weird the puma kept dying after beguiling.

Nah it’s DOT:

But it shouldn’t last for so many turns! I literally managed to get to Kyakukya before it died.

Unrelated, you should play a run as an office chair, its fun.

Dominate is on my list of stuff to try. But at first I want to figure some basic stuff like companions (this run), cooking and tinkering.

It took me many hours to get used to the game! It felt almost uncomfortable to play at times, maybe because I didn’t utilize autoexplore in my first hours.

Good luck with Red Rock! It is a hard first quest but it teaches very important lessons, especially if you’re new to the genre.

The only constant of every roguelike is that when your run seems to go well prepare for the worst.

“I have rPois, demon whip and solid armor, I will handle Swamp just fine” - the last words of an unnamed DCSS player

Well, my goal for this character was to make the archetypal vampire so I don’t mind him being evil. Ulaad the Beguiler can be cruel as a treat.

On my Roleplay run (my main) I beat Golgotha first try without any problems but I just can’t reach the soulsucker’s village because the goatfolk just keep killing me on my way.

And on my current Classic run I was going precariously through jungle (in hope the quest there is easy) and the game was like “waow a new village!” and excitedly made me enter a goatfolk village lmao.

The bears thought of everything!

Ah okay! Makes me feel a less bad about losing that run to two turrets and a chameleon.

I found it much better when played in Roleplay mode. It becomes a very solid open-world RPG. I generally don’t like when permadeath games have runs that last for hours and hours. NetHack, Angband, CoQ… Never could understand their appeal because of that.

I transitioned from playing games with guides and wikis to not using outside help unless I really have no idea what the game expects me to do. The joy of knowing what to do that guides give you can be replicated by a second playthrough but that first experience full of mystery is something you can only have once for a given game. Not to mention how much outside sources ruin immersion!