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[Delioth]

(snip)

I'm on my dinky little netbook alone instead of plugging my hugeass screen into it. 12x12 all the way!)

Bu.. Bu.. Netbook can DF? How often do you die due to FPS Death?

[kidhedera]

I haven't been playing that long, and when I first started I fiddled around with various graphics packs, but didn't like them. I liked the ASCII, but wanted just a bit more information, so I tried out sprite packs and they didn't really work for me either.

I eventually settled on CLA's ASCII like graphics set. I think its really cute, and pretty, without being too far removed from the original ascii.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=105376.0

The tilesets are really nice (Although I've switched to Myne's to avoid the problem with door, bed and hatch icons looking out of place), and the little icons for humans, elves, gobbos, kobolds and the various critters provide enough more information that I can tell at a glance whether thats a goat or a goblin approaching my gates, but don't stick out weirdly like a lot of sprite packs do.

[noodle0117]

The default ASCII tileset just feels cleaner.

[varnish]

Like some other people, I learned the game using the ASCII. I've messed around with some of the graphic sets, and they just look... muddy. The default isn't perfect, but there's a clearer demarcation between various items on the screen, I think. To my eyes, at least.

I don't like change, also.

But people should use whatever they like. It's cool.

[geail]

There is an unspoken rule that you post in ASCII when on the forums because more people understand it than even the more common graphics packs (Phebeous & Ironhand).  This helps the dispersal of information maintain a high rate, allowing for higher response numbers and faster response times.

[doublestrafe]

The best graphics tileset you can install will still be crappy little pixel graphics. Going from an abstraction that allows you to substitute your imagination--or not, and just read what is there--to crappy little pixel graphics is not an upgrade.

Also: "I don't even see the code anymore. I just see blonde, brunette, redhead..."

[parlor_tricks]

I use ASCII because at least at work most people don't know wtf you are doing.

I can always try and palm it off as "economy modeling and analytics"

I'm surprised no one else has mentioned it. I doub't ASCII looks like a game at quick glance for most people.

IF anything, I want to make it look MORE LIKE EXCEL, than anything else.

------------

I can use both though, tilesets and ASCII, and have no problem switching between them. Right now I would prefer easier to read imagery, because my fort would be pretty cool to see in full colour. Otherwise though, I can see myself just using ASCII to get stuff done.

[sadron]

I thought this was my topic from a week ago the title was so similar >.> Of course I asked less pompously.

[Orange Wizard]

Every screenshot or video I see on these forums use it. I can't stand it, the newer graphics pack is so awesome grass is green, dirt is brown you can see what things are, everything is not weird symbols.

Grass is always green. Dirt is always brown. Graphics packs are not responsible for that.

Grass isn't green in Good or Evil biomes.

[Vattic]

I started with a graphics pack (Mike Mayday's DFG no less) but then switched to the default graphics and then my own custom 16x16 set based on the original.

The main reason I switched was that I ended up with lots of copies of DF with different mods installed and some without a graphics pack. I found it much clearer and enjoyed using my imagination more. Places seemed larger somehow and more epic. I made a 16x16 pack because the default is a bit small on my monitor and I'm no fan of non-square tilesets or the default square one (all squashed as it is).

[xoseph]

Yeah, definitely had something to do with symbols getting mixed up.  I mean, adventure mode for some packs is horrendous, the symbol for male shows up as a bag 

I used to play with Mayday's tileset, which is awesome, don't get me wrong, but I guess after a while you learn to read the ASCII.  Just another part of the learning curve?

By the way, I've never used Dwarven Therapist.  Am I doing something wrong?

[nopil3os]

(snip)

I'm on my dinky little netbook alone instead of plugging my hugeass screen into it. 12x12 all the way!)

Bu.. Bu.. Netbook can DF? How often do you die due to FPS Death?

i play df almost exclusively on a (3y old) netbook. with a little adjustments and tweaks you can manage a 20 year old fort with 120 dwarves at 15-20 fps. it's too slow for megaprojects, i admit, but it's enough for normal play and you can play without haste. (of course, when 200 gobbos show up it goes down to 3 fps)

on topic: as many have said already: having only a simple ascii representation gives the ability to a) quickly see what is going on, b) zoom out a lot and still see what is going on and c) imagine what the things look like that are going on.

i always considered playing df to be like reading a randomly generated interactive fantasy book. i wouldn't want to play it any different.

[scriver]

Started out with a pack, Mayday's I believe, but when new versions started to be released again I went over to vanilla. And yeah, like others said, it's just easier to see what's going on, plus once you're used to it and learn to read it, there really isn't any difference in viewability. A smiley face is no less a picture of a dwarf than an image, and a brown "d" is just as easily recognised as a dog as a drawing of one would be. In the end, you still have to use your imagination to paint a full picture of what's going on, because images doesn't really tell you any more of what's happening than letters would do.

[Sinistar]

My 5c:  I've used default ASCII from the very beginning. I LIKE default graphics. Why? They fascinate me. When I started playing back in 2D age, for the first few seconds I did not understand a thing. I went to DF wiki to get some "how to start" input. After that everything went smoothly. And as for graphics, I quickly just...visualized things. When I found out about custom graphics packs, I've never found any that really attracting. I mean, why should it? I can perfectly understand what's going on when I play DF.

Take this for example:

...‼? Cages.

Up till today, it never occurred to me that cages are actually two exclamation marks. NO KIDDING. I've always seen brown/gray/dark cyan/something box with two vertical bars in it.

It's actually a bit shocking. 

Which is a bit strange, also. See, I've been playing roguelikes ZangbandTK and DungeonCrawl: Stone Soup. And since first time I played any of them, I've used graphical sets, not default ASCII.
And I can't bring myself to play them with ASCII.
I've tried other roguelikes, but none pure-ASCII held my attention for long.
Except DF Adventurer, but even that I've played almost zero..
So here I am, thinking why. And I think it's not so much what graphics you experience first, I think it's how they are used.
It's hard to explain but let me try.

In DF, everything is so full. I see a field, a forest, a tunnel...everything. But at the same time, also this:

The default ASCII tileset just feels cleaner.

I don't know, common dungeon hacks just fell to...empty to me. But that said, I have no problem with DF adventurer...Ok, maybe I'm starting to sound silly.
One thing is also that DF is real-time as opposed to turn-based roguelikes. My very personal opinion is that graphics, that very clearly represent CREATURES - just don't feel right moving in real-time if they are not fully animated. Turn-based is ok though, I think.
As said, I've never even tried any graphic packs, just changed default ASCII to 16x16 in ini. But still just feels more appropriate for a real-time moving character to be as minimalistic as possible...or on the other hand, as animated as possible.
And I like to think graphic packs are for newbs.
But that's just slight teasing, not mockery, so no offense please.

This might be a mess of a read, but I think I've cleared things at least to myself. A bit.

Also - I've never ever used any DF utility, never even thought of it. So, what, DF therapist or-what-you-call-it is a common thing now, or what?

[Rallan]

2) My computer would have a heart attack if ever I were to use anything else.

Is that really a problem? I've never tried any of the graphical tilesets yet, but I always assumed even the fanciest of them would be dwarfed by the amount of system resources the rest of the game chews up.