NetHack About the game

aratak September 15, 2009 at 17:40

NetHack About the game

Many, I am sure, know this wonderful game and have killed more than one week of their life on it. In my humble opinion, this is one of the best games of the existing ones.
It appeared a long time ago - in 1987, seven years after the release of Roque , the progenitor of nethack and the founder of the genre of " rogue-like games ."
Nethack is her brightest representative.

And what is so interesting and exciting in this game? - you ask. And I will answer you - the capabilities of the game, graphics, gameplay, plot.
Yes Yes. You heard right. That is what is valuable in this game.

Graphics

The main problem of modern games with modern requirements is to draw everything that happens. I think that’s why in modern games you can’t take someone’s corpse and wield it like a weapon. Or take a grenade launcher and use it as a baton. Or freshen up a slain dragon and pull on its skin.
How to draw it? How should the character and surroundings behave in this case? They will not draw, and if they draw, then schematically.
Have to think it out :) In nethack, this problem was solved brilliantly - think it all out yourself. However, this is a common feature of all ASCII-art games.

“See, a percent symbol? This is food. Is she green? Then it’s either the corpse of leprechaun , or algae. ”Actually your imagination will act as a graphic adapter :)
After a while, you will be reflexively afraid of the magenta “L”, because for you this is already a scary Archie Lich monster that will curse your magic backpack (which if not death, then life at a high price) and pay almost no attention to newt crawling under your feet in the form of yellow colons.
Of course there are graphic versions of this game. I even heard about 3D. But that’s all - it just bothers. Try, of course, is worth it. For example, I tried and went back to my favorite ASCII-art.

At the request of readers. The graphic version looks like this:

By the way, there are still isometric graphic versions: the abandoned Falcon's Eye and the now living Vulture's Eye . ( Infernal suggested)

Plot

The plot is simple to disgrace. You, an adventurer, descend into a deep, deep dungeon in search of the amulet of Yendor . Go down, take, bring and receive eternal life as a gift. Happy end.
The plot does not distract from the gameplay and absolutely does not tell you what you need to do right away. And this is the most important thing.
And, as a bonus, you will have one single quest (unique to the type of character), at the end of which you get a wonderful artifact ... Which one? It depends
One game - one goal. Nothing extra.

Gameplay and Game Features

The mouse in the original version did not participate at all, because not all computers at the time of the release of the game were with a mouse. Later, of course, they made primitive mouse support, but I don’t even know why - it is not needed there at all. All control is carried out using the keyboard, and almost the entire keyboard (I think I was not surprised).
Unlike typical representatives of RPG, this game takes place in a step-by-step mode, which unwittingly causes an association with chess. Something happened - do not rush to press the buttons. Look at the current possibilities, reflect. Very tight - save and postpone the important decision until tomorrow (since it’s already four in the morning at the clock and you’ve been playing for eight hours without stopping :)

Typical situation: your character is three steps from death. There is an aggressively tuned fat troll next to it, which is not going to die. A typical RPG offers you a very meager set of actions: fight to death, a bottle of life and fight to death or run as fast as you can.
And in a net hack, the set of solutions to the situation is unlimited. You can, for example, take a wand of dig magic stick and cast under your feet. We fall to the floor below, but survive. Or take a marker and write the magic word “Elbereth” on the floor. No monster dares to step on this inscription. Or in general - use the polymorph spell on the monster and hope that it turns into something small and miserable. Or, get the basilisk corpse out of the nest egg and smear the troll with what is strength. A basilisk (сocatrice) turns into a stone all who it touches (I hope your character put on gloves?). Instead of a troll, you will have a troll statue. We live on. A teleportation scroll is also very effective in saving you from death. Teleport away. Wear an invisibility ring. And your character will quietly clean up to lick his wounds. Read the scroll of earth on the troll a huge boulder will fall. Read the scroll of genocide and destroy all the trolls. Pray finally to your deity (alt + p)! God will hear your prayers and restore your health as a miracle. Impressive?

Save more

All these attempts are justified, because the most powerful spell of all time save and load does not work, as in diablo, for example. Only "save and exit." And, like a diablo on hardcore, a character can die only once :) Think hard before you do anything. This can be fatal for your character!

English knowledge and translations

A lot of attempts have been made to Russify nethack in order to make it more popular among the Russian-speaking population. But a couple of nights and red eyes will allow you to freely navigate in the English version. I can only give advice to put immediately the English version, and translate everything that is not clear with the dictionary. Difficulties with language experience the first ten deaths.
For those who still decided on a Russian nethack - here's a link . Defective Russian, mixed with English, but still there. But, I beg you! Try it in English! :)