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Author Topic: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension  (Read 5625 times)

TheMyohani

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Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« on: May 01, 2013, 02:19:03 pm »

Hey guys!   I wanted to play this game and I wanted to share my experiences with it.   I have been playing the game for a while now but I am still not close to my first Ascension so I will share my failed attempts to get the Amulet of Yendor and to get the hell out!

For those who do not know, NetHack is a roguelike game featuring dungeon crawling, perma-death, an ASCII interface (with graphics option) and a lot of depth.

The way I am going to do this lets play is i an going to write up my experiences and post pictures to go along with it.   I will generate characters randomly (I will take requests for characters though) and I might name them in a system like: Myohani I, Myohani II, Myohani III and so forth so we'll know which Myohani we meet when a bones file is loaded (dead characters graves can be found in later games) but I will take suggestions for names if you prefer.

Before I start I want to see what people think and ask a few questions:

1. Should I play the game in ASCII or graphic tiles.   I personally play Dwarf Fortress with ASCII but I usually play NetHack with the tiles, either way I don't mind playing either of them.

2. What should we call our pets.  There is a dog, a cat and a horse.

So what do you guys think.  :)

-------
Extra Note

The game is free and is available at http://www.nethack.org/
« Last Edit: May 06, 2013, 12:32:32 pm by TheMyohani »
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Zrk2

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2013, 02:39:53 pm »

Oh, this looks Fun. Name the cat "Sir Fluffington." Bonus points if the cat's a dick. We could name the horse "Is Amazaing" for giggles. Whatever for the poor dog.
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CognitiveDissonance

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2013, 02:44:07 pm »

Whatever for the poor dog.

May I suggest Moon Moon? (google it)

Also PTW. I don't know NetHack, but I've heard of it. And, I have recently fallen in love with Roguelikes so this may be next on my discovery trail!
Will you do videos or writeups or both?
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Zrk2

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2013, 03:01:41 pm »

Moon Moon! Perfect!
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Sheb

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2013, 05:12:41 pm »

Oooooh, haven't played in a looooong time. Will watch with interest.
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TomatoWalrus

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2013, 06:29:20 pm »

Posting to watch. Love Nethack, but I'm awful at it. I think the 12th floor is the farthest I've ever made it.
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Geen

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #6 on: May 01, 2013, 06:52:06 pm »

Sadly, pet species is based on class.
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Sheb

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #7 on: May 01, 2013, 06:54:17 pm »

Not entirely, horses are only for Knights, but most of the other classes can choose their pets in the options. Anyway, we can grab better pets later on.
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USEC_OFFICER

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #8 on: May 02, 2013, 11:19:09 am »

Posting to watch, because I've been playing NetHack recently and can never seem to get past the Gnomish Mines. I usually get ganked in/around Minetown (which is much better than before, when I was getting ganked in the first few levels).
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Stworca

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #9 on: May 02, 2013, 12:31:12 pm »

I've never played, or even SEEN nethack, so i shall be watching this.

Go with tiles. ASCII is not a requirement at all, and will make the game less friendly to the newcomers.
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AlmightyOne

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #10 on: May 02, 2013, 01:56:40 pm »

Hey guys!   I wanted to play this game and I wanted to share my experiences with it.   I have been playing the game for a while now but I am still not close to my first Ascension so I will share my failed attempts to get the Amulet of Yendor and to get the hell out!

For those who do not know, NetHack is a roguelike game featuring dungeon crawling, perma-death, an ASCII interface (with graphics option) and a lot of depth.

The way I am going to do this lets play is i an going to write up my experiences and post pictures to go along with it.   I will generate characters randomly (I will take requests for characters though) and I might name them in a system like: Myohani I, Myohani II, Myohani III and so forth so we'll know which Myohani we meet when a bones file is loaded (dead characters graves can be found in later games) but I will take suggestions for names if you prefer.

Before I start I want to see what people think and ask a few questions:

1. Should I play the game in ASCII or graphic tiles.   I personally play Dwarf Fortress with ASCII but I usually play NetHack with the tiles, either way I don't mind playing either of them.

2. What should we call our pets.  There is a dog, a cat and a horse.

So what do you guys think.  :)
Wow at last nethack!. It doesn't seem to be popular with people though compared to other games maybe because its less player friendly.
I think I stopped playing a year ago...I'll be humble and say I ascended only 3 times :). And it's not that great, because I really regret reading some spoilers  :-\.
1.If you play vanilla DF then play AScii nethack.
2.I used to always call my horse Brego (from LOTR?), Dogs and cats I used to keep the defaults...Slinky and Rex.
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Sheb

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #11 on: May 02, 2013, 02:35:13 pm »

Nah, go with the tiles. I play vanilla DF, but I still play NetHack with tiles. Being able to play without having to farsee everything is a godsend, and it'll be easier for us to watch.
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Alkhemia

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #12 on: May 02, 2013, 07:17:40 pm »

Nah, go with the tiles. I play vanilla DF, but I still play NetHack with tiles. Being able to play without having to farsee everything is a godsend, and it'll be easier for us to watch.
I 2nd this and ptw
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TomatoWalrus

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #13 on: May 03, 2013, 07:25:44 am »

Nah, go with the tiles. I play vanilla DF, but I still play NetHack with tiles. Being able to play without having to farsee everything is a godsend, and it'll be easier for us to watch.
I 2nd this and ptw

I 3rd this.
Or you could go with Vulture's Claw for the isometric view.
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TheMyohani

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Re: Let's Play NetHack! The quest for Ascension
« Reply #14 on: May 03, 2013, 03:59:05 pm »

Thanks for showing interest guys!   :D

Will you do videos or writeups or both?

I am planning to do write ups at the moment but I don't see why I could not record videos later as I have a headset microphone and the game is easy to record since there are no sounds.

I am going to use the tiles for my playthroughs and I picked the pet names as well.   I went with Moon Moon (dog), Sir Fluffington (cat) and Brego (horse).

This is my first time doing this type of thing so tips are well appreciated.  I will not try to spoil the game too much through telling things straight out but will tell them as I encounter them in the game. If I get say something that is grossly incorrect then feel free to correct me.

Let us begin with my first character!   :)
--------------------

I type Myohani I as my name and leave all the options (Role, Race, Gender and Alignment) random.  I wonder what I will get.

Here is a quick rundown of the options

Role:
Archaeologist
Barbarian
Caveman
Healer
Knight
Monk
Priest
Rogue
Ranger
Samurai
Tourist
Valkyrie
Wizard

Race:
Human
Elf
Dwarf
Gnome
Orc

Alignment:
Lawful
Neutral
Chaotic

Not every combination is possible however.

(The story)



(Tyr is my deity.   Each role/alignment combo has its own deity)

I have started as lawful human Valkyrie (this role is always female) in a room with a lichen monster, some gold and my pet cat Sir Fluffington.



STATS - HP:16/16
Pw:2/2 (Power. This is basically mana)
AC:6 (This is how difficult you are to hit; lower the better)
ST:14 (Strength: Determines how hard you hit and how much you can carry)
DX:13 (Dexterity: Determines how likely you are to hit opponents with attacks)
CO:18 (Constitution: Determines HP gain (when leveling) and recovery aswell as how much you can carry. )
IN:9 (Intelligence: Determine spell-casting success rates)
WI:10 (Wisdom: Determines power recovery rates. Some classes use this to determine spell-casting success)
CH:11 (Charisma: Main use is that is determines prices at shops)

This is great!  My best ever run in this game came as a Valkyrie but that character was a dwarf which might be important when I reach the Gnomish Mines.  Valkyries are very good warriors, have frost resistance and have good HP and strength/constitution when they level up.

Some inventory is random generated at character creation (although each role has items they will spawn). I start with a +1 long sword, +0 dagger, a +3 small shield and a food ration. I need to find some armor and a cloak at some point.

Anyway let's go!

I kill the lichen then eat its corpse for tasty nutrition and start looking about the dungeon.  What luck! I find a oilskin cloak in the first room I look in, although I won't wear it until I get it identified (a big aspect of the game is that the items are not identified immediately so it can be difficult to tell what they do) as it may be cursed and those cursed items fuse to you and are difficult to remove.

I wander about some more and fight some easy monsters. I find a chest, however it was empty. I walk around and then suddenly fall down a trap door and appear in a room with a stair way down and a couple of delicious pies.  I quickly find a hidden door by using the search command then walk down a corridor to a dead end.  I find the secret door at the dead end then open it. I find a room with 2 jackals, a kobold zombie, some armor and an altar.



I fight them one at a time and win quite comfortably. I pick up the armor and approach the altar.  The altar is useful for many things but I use it here to bless/curse identify my items by dropping them on the altar.  None of my items are cursed or blessed so I put on the banded mail and the cloak. Wow, this is pretty good, I have an AC of -1 now. With that combo, I'll be quite difficult to hit for the low level monsters.
 
I find a chest, I try to force the lock but I break my dagger, I try again with my sword and succeed this time.  Inside I find a scroll labeled VE FORBRYDERNE and leave. (This is one the random names given to each type of scroll at each character gen. Every VE FORBRYDERNE scroll will be the same for that character but not necessarily the same for the next character) I find some food items on the floor, an egg and a tin of god knows what. I discover the entrance back up to the level above and reunite with my cat.

We continue exploring Dungeon Level 2 and find a potion shop.

Oooh... Pretty colours!



The chests in the shop were what I suspected, mimics (notice the small red eyes peering out compared to the other chest).  These creatures, alothough they are slow they hit real hard so they could catch you out and kill you if you have low HP and AC.  Thankfully I can just get 3 attacks into them, move away then repeat. These guys are good for experience each one I killed gave me level up.



I have my first tickle with death.   I eat a large mimic corpse out of curiosity (corpses of some creatures grant you powers such as fire resist or teleport control) but it is tainted and I am fatally poisoned.  This means I will die in the next few turns unless I think of something quick. 



I pray to my god Tyr and he saves me from my fate.  Phew! That was close.



I wander about then go back to the shop in which I find a kobold zombie. I kill him. Level up! :D



Sir Fluffington helps me amass a small stash of potions by stealing borrowing them from the shop. The shopkeeper doesn't seem to notice. I go back to the altar and curse test them.  Everything seems fine.



My cat and I move to the next Dungeon Level. I find a couple of fountains and then I fight a creature called a shrieker.  Unfortunately I cannot stop him from shrieking before I kill him. That is not too bad but I think it will attract monsters.

Oh, wait what's this...



...

...

...

DAMN IT! I forgot to feed my cat and he starved to death.   Whyy! Whyyy! Whyyyy! Could I not have been paying attention and fed my honorable and fantastic Sir Fluffington.  :'(






End of Part 1
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