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Nethack 3.4.0
Dark_Nova writes "Nethack 3.4.0 - the latest version of the greatest game ever created - has just been released. See the release notes for details about what's new, or go here to download it."
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The game is amazingly deep. There's just so much you can do in it. There are tons of easter-eggs buried in there and lots of references to other works of fiction
I'm sure others who have more knowledge in Nethack will provide more info. I myself am not an expert on the subject.
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
I have just finished playing nethack and started browsing the web to find something interesting. Looks like I will be going back to playing nethack again!
I've been playing nethack for many years now, and is the ONLY game I keep coming back to. For those that enjoy it, I would recommend slashem - a game based on the nethack code with add'on - though I am sure that there are many purists who will flame that!
I'll just wave godbye to my weekend now!
nethack is a nice game, but it still falls short when compared to Elite
What ? Me, worry ?
Tell me they've got rid of the horrible "configure the thing by editting config.h" and replaced it with autoconf or somesuch. I don't mind picking out the game options by hand, but making sure it uses the right term\(cap|lin\)/ncurses library is a pain in the ass.
(Anyway, I'm a slashem addict myself)
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
I think Nethack has a large following because it is a well-balanced, difficult, and elaborate game.
If you look at something like Diablo... One could argue that Nethack is a more elaborate game. You can be sure though that the Diable developers played Nethack before.
Sure, you don't have fancy graphics... even though some people got good results on that...
http://slashem.sourceforge.net
It is still turn-based... so what? A lot of recent RPGs are turned-based at least in part (Might and Magic, Wizardry...).
BBS games that are still available on Telnet BBSs nowadays, Arrowbridge immediatly comes to mind, not to mention DoorMud...
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
Heres a game that has real playability. You could play nethack for 100 hours+ and still not "master" it. I consider this to be more entertaining than playing some shoot-em-up that can be solved in 10 hours or less. Other games may be pretty, but this game has SOUL.
... many hours of playability. If new game authors would make games with the same appeal and infinite replayability as nethack, I might *never* go outside again! :D
The infocom games were similar
[sig]you really dont want the answers, trust me[/sig]
Nethack isn't perfect though. I think the Monk could use some tweaking (perhaps a slight improvement in fighting ability or the ability to advance beyond the basic skill level in attack spells in exchange for a stricter penalty for eating meat).
My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
Other fun character based games:
Omega
Moria
Larn (particularly 12.0b(?) on the Amiga)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Nethack is great for at least 2 reasons (that I can think of in 2 minutes):
1: Interface, even without fancy graphics, There are a huge number of functions easily accessable with 1 keystroke, and a whole bunch more with 2 keystrokes.
2: Bones files/difficulty of game. After playing for years I think that I've only beaten the game 3 times without cheating. If I don't win, I have a chance to recover the previous character's stuff (if I have a blessed scroll of remove curse).
Ah yes, how many years did I play it before actually finding the amulet for the first time.. :)
There used to be some really great threads on what to add to the game on rec.games.hack It seems as much as players hacked to win the game, authors hacked to put more into the game to figure out.
Mostly I played it on the Amiga, a few versions put out by the Software Distillery, who were kind enough to created little 8x8 pixel drawings of things.
Then there was that Amiga version of Moria with Large Lavender Leprechauns, brrr..
@-/&=
d[=!
*!^.
Marvin picks up a glowing potion-more-
You fall through a pit trap-more-
You leave the store without paying Manlobbi-more-
An alarm sounds throughout the dungeon-more
(as for errors, yeah, I haven't played in a while, but that will no change :)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Has anyone checked out Falcon's Eye? It's a frontend for NetHack that has 3D isometric graphics and background music, and it's available for Linux, DOS and Windows. It looks fabulous, and I think it's a great way to get new people interested in the game.
Yes, I use Windows. I have to because of work.
What I really, REALLY like in this release of the windows port is the following.
1. It no longer takes 100% of my cpu!!!! I can play longer on my laptop now!!! YIPPIE!!!!
2. It finally has some half-decent graphics, (for nethack) and I can easily switch between text-graphics and the new graphics.
3. It still has the great playability of Nethack!!! I love it!!
A lot of you were asking why Nethack is so playable and enjoyable. Here's my theory for anybody who wants to read it.
Nethack and all of the other text-based games (Infocom, ZZT, etc...) force the user to READ. By reading what's going on, it allows the brain to use it's imagination. Your imagination (well, mine at least) is far more interesting than anything Blizzard or Hollywood could come up with. The images in my head really out-beat anything else.
That's why Nethack (and other similar games) have so many return players.
The second reason, is that Nethack doesn't have a single goal. If you want to get the amulet of Yendor, go ahead! If you just want to see how far your character develops, you can do that too! It's a really flexible game.
Just my 2c worth.
Gerald.
A few months back I listed by top three games of all time in regards to how much time I spent on them. (No indication if they were the "best" games I played, just the ones with the most hours logged.
#3 was the Diablo series and expansion.
#2 was the Civ series. Each one grabs me and doesn't let go. I've played for 24 hour blocks of time.
#1 was Nethack. It's so incredible, so in depth. And so easy to die and have to start again.
If you haven't tried this yet, and you have enough imagination not to need fancy graphics, give this a try. Then go read some strategies on the web, get completely overwhelmed by possibilities, and try again. 8) "Hmm, if I engrave Elbereth on the floor with this unidentified wand, what will that do..."
=Blue(23) a/k/a iamBLUEhearmeroar
LITTLE GIRL: But which cookie will you eat FIRST? C. MONSTER: Me think you have misconception of cookie-eating process.
It takes far longer to get into and appreciate the wonder that is nethack. You can turn off autopick up and the game becaomes incredibly more complex as you go. I finished nethack a few times, my shortest overall time was around 19 hours. The first time it took me about 45 hours of playtime.
:)
How many other games can you do this?
Run from a pack of monsters you can't possible beat. So as you approach an open stretch of water you fire a wand of cold, or spell and freeze the top of the water. You skoot across the water (possibly slipping if wearing metal shoes) to the other side. Then you wait on the other side for the monster's to approach. After they are over the water, on the ice, you send them so fire. Okay boom it hits them. Maybe it hurts them a lot... but that doesn't matter because the fire melts the ice and if they can't swim then you can watch 'em drown. This is just one of dozens of cool things you can do in nethack.
My favourite nethack memory was wearing a ring of conflict and watching the four horseman of the apocolypse kill each other over and over again as I sacrificed the Amulet on the wrong alter and laughed as my god tried in vain to kill me for this blasphemy.
Nethack R00lz!@#!E
--- I do not moderate.
Things I like about Nethack:
:) Want to play a clueless Tourist (perhaps named Twoflower), stumbling through the dungeon with nothing but a credit card and an annoying camera? Or how about dungeon-hacking with a fightin' archaeologist (perhaps named after the dog)? Stop a few monsters dead in their tracks by scribbling "Elbereth" in the dust...
- It's complex. there are myriad commands (The DevTeam thought of everything), more weapon, item and monster types than most CRPGs, way more types of player-item interaction than any other non-roguelike CRPGs, and the random number generator keeps each game different and interesting. The number of unique predicaments you can find yourself is astoundingly high.
- It's turn-based. You are (quite often) forced to think before you act.
- It doesn't aspire to be what it can't. It is purely hack-and-slash dungeon crawling, without the pretense of linear dialogue trees and "role-playing" (which has yet to be achieved in a CRPG, according to me and Steve Jackson).
- The game is small, and will fit on a 1.44M disk. Playing Nethack on my Psion handheld while on the BART is an unparalleled joy.
- It's challenging. No coddling in Nethack. Death is permanent - unless you cheat. You have one save-game per character, and when you save, you exit the game.
- There's always something to come back to. Even if you manage to ascend with every character class, there are still lots of challenges - can you ascend without genociding any races? Can you win as an atheist, without the help of the gods? Can you win adhering to the strictest of monk conduct rules? Can you win as a pacifist? Et cetera.
- It's open-source, and there are versions for a *lot* of OSes. It also has the most active user/dev community of all the roguelikes.
- Lots of catering to geekdom, ostensibly due to its having been designed by geeks
If you're having problems advancing, then don't try to tough it out alone- it's okay to ask for help. There are a host of people in the rec.games.roguelike.nethack (r.g.r.h) newsgroup who would love to help you!
I dare to call myself an experienced player, and honestly, many of my characters don't survive much longer than yours do. I have a piece of advice if you like: don't go into the Gnomish Mines so quickly! Wait till your level seven or eight, and even then, don't necessarily press your luck and visit any deeper than Minetown until your character has the equipment to do so.
The more you play, the more you'll gradually learn and you'll really start to appreciate the depth of nethack. I certainly haven't mastered everything there is to know, and I've been going on nethack binges for over four years now.
Happy hacking!