ducape and boomclap:
Stop acting so entitled. Not every game in the world is going to cater to you, especially ductape who has admitted he hasn't even played the game.
Different people have different tastes, and if you don't like the challenge level of a game, you can go play a different game. Some of us HAVE fun with games like this that we can treat like puzzles, where it is possible to do things wrong and make mistakes because you don't bother to think things through. Where you actually need to push your mental abilities to understand all the factors at work and how to turn them to your advantage, and exploit every discovery if you want a chance to make it through. That can be pretty exhilarating and enjoyable! Some of us just enjoy getting the crap beat out of us over and over again.
To each their own, you know, if you don't like it, don't play, but don't be a jerk and start accusing those who do of not wanting to have "fun".
In essence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNIThat said, I think this game has avoided a lot of traps that make other rogue-likes less fun, specifically things that kill you not because you did something dumb, but because the game got bored or some shit, and I think you'd like it, so do give it a try!
One of the best things about good "hardcore" games is, if you find yourself constantly dying, it is not because the game is hard so much as it is because you are doing something wrong. Not every strategy will lead to victory, so when you restart, trying something else and try to really understand how the interlocking pieces fit.
Also, Hard varies. Super-hard to one person is trivial to another. "progressive" games are generally capable of offering a target player the ability to be challenged throughout the game, but only ever rarely manage to make the game hard for a more skilled player. No matter which audience a game targets, its going to leave some players incapable of handling its challenges or unwilling to sit through what they consider a trivially easy waste of time.
But I've found most of the 'difficulty' is brought about because I was going about things like an idiot,
This, so much this, is one of the things I've enjoyed most about this game. The vast majority of tricky situations I've gotten myself into (still haven't died, but I've actually come close now) were because I made poor decisions.
I really don't understand why we have to generalize that ALL roguelikes must be impossible to win without devoting your life to it...
I'm pretty sure being a sandbox makes it even more impossible to ever win at it, actually.
And its not about winning, anyways. You should be able to enjoy the game without winning.
That way, hardcore players could brag about how awesome they are ("Dude, I got to the bottom of the Science Lab and killed everything!"), and those typical gamers can still have an enjoyable experience without dying in day one every game.
One: Many 'hardcore' gamers have no desire to brag about it. Two: Putting yourself in a situation that will get you killed goes against everything that makes a hard game fun. Three: If the rest of the game is that easy, you'll have enough time to prepare to probably make anything else easy too. Finally: I don't think I've ever actually seen a game that pulled off having hard sections, without being hard, that was enjoyable for people who enjoy doing stuff that is hard. It usually devolves to a situation where the game is only hard if a player actively sabotages themselves, and that sucks all the fun right out of the "hardness" of it.
Also I made a thread for the more general non-this-game-in-particular discussion:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=87989.0