[Frumple]

Feedback, from utterly random individual #503, presented in no particular order... though not neccisarily all pertaining to this particular version, as I've dabbled on and off with Un for a while now.

Firstly, the standard disclaimer -- when it comes to *band varients, in most cases, I utterly blow, skill-wise... I hate scumming, and have horridly little patience for it, as well as limited playing time (and even less will to drag out playing the same character/game over an extended period), and thus am missing the attributes that make most *bands playable for the mediocre gamer. Secondly, though I've spent some hours on Un, beyond cheating my way down to some lower dungeons (More on that fiasco later) I haven't really gotten too far into Un. Basically, I'm probably not the best of folks to give response, but whatever; I've got a few minutes.

Taking from the top:

Chargen.
It's got a few bugs, but the only ones I know of are reported elsewhere (I've checked, heh), so there's no complaints there -- beyond that, my current favorite roguelikes (Gearhead, Incursion, and, slightly distanced from the basis of the genre, Dwarf Fortress) are all in various beta/alpha stages, so I'm very used to instability, and in considerably larger amounts than I've ran into with Un. Basically, minor bugs aren't an issue, though if I run into repeatable ones, I mention it (after checking it's not already been reported).
*Races/classes/styles: You've distanced yourself from Ang. You've got more races, several of which add unique twists on normal game play. Classes are also expanded, and, with the inclusion of styles, can also expand upon the original. Listen not to any naysayers, this is a great thing... and could be made better with further documentation, yeah? Last time I rolled a fellow, there's nothing really said about a lot of the characters you can choose, beyond some middling words about the Shadow Faeries, and the other "unlockables" (or just flipping the option that lets you choose them) seem neat.

Overall for that aspect? Thumbs up, more or less.
Suggestions? Well, the bugs to be stamped out, always nice, but that's a middling thing. Updated documentation (Which, I suppose, may be there and I just missed it) would be nice, for me at least -- I like to have the story/world be a surprise, not what I'm playing through it with. Lastly, though I've little doubt it's at crosses with your design plan, it'd be nice to see the styles/classes do a bit more than what they do now... plusses and early access to spells is nice and all, but it'd be nicer if there were more... solid effects involved. Though I'm not saying copy the work or anything, I'd probably suggest to you (heck, any *band designer) to look at Incursion and the class variations between them, how extreme they can be, and how utterly fufilling those differences can be. Few of the bands manage this, and it's definately a worthy goal in my unworthy eyes. Of course, on a less extreme path, something like Gearhead's martial arts effects (Enhanced skill allows special attacks of sorts -- in Un's case, it'd be like a 10th level One-hander be able to occasional set its foe on fire on a successful strike, or a caster's fireball occasional stun/confuse/whatever the things it hits.) would be interesting to see.

In Game
The towns (read:campaign) are neat, though it'd be nice to see some more extreme variations on the standard 'square shop' designs -- some more flavor, yeah? Just having multiple ones is nice enough, and being able to control where you travel to, with some impact behind those decisions, is nice as well. I can't really recall anything similar in other roguelikes, though some of the stuff in ToME/Furyband has features along these lines. Hell, thinking on it, maybe even impliment a (perhaps optional) 'walk-in' design for buildings -- there's an old(er) *band that does this, and it's pretty neat... and would allow the implementation of greater "atmosphere" to the towns.

Item wise... I love the additional stuff, the spores, the coatings, etc, so forth, and their various interactions with the world they're in. All very nice. The downside is that it's a little opaque on how to use them, from time to time (not always, mind, but...), and that detracts from the overall effect... though not much. Basically documentation woes again, though that's not that big of a deal, especially with a WiP.

Combat! ... it's a band. There's some neat stuff added (charging, dual-weilding, etc. in melee, the multitude of added spells as far as magic goes (Heng/Entroband (and a few others) tells us this is a good thing, and it is.), and all in all it's an improvement in my eyes from vanillia... and many other varients. But, again, it's a band, and the combat tends to be more intellectual than visceral... not a bad thing, per se, but not quite as... meaty. Look again to Incursion, or Gearhead, or IVAN, or (within bands) Steamband, or Dwarf Fortress, for some combat with slightly more kick to it. It might not be a goal for you, but any of them may have some concepts within that could 'spice' things up a bit. Still, as with all WiPs it's, well, a WiP. I'll love to see the finished product regardless, heh.

Balance! Not the best of people to comment (by far), but whatever, some words: I'd like to see the early game compacted. It's an important part of the game, but the fact of the matter tends toward, well... you're wimpy. You don't have access to your class's defining features. You're facing the mighty threat of... rats. And starvation, 'cause yer dirt poor if you don't go slaughtering townspeople, which is kinda' unrighteous. Am I saying slap everyone with 10 mil xp and let 'em loose? No. But, among the bands, I look to Steamband for an example of an improvement -- it literally halves the game's length, in comparison to other bands... and is way more platable because of it. It's most definately a personal preference, but the sooner my class is fleshed out and doing neat stuff, aka 'mid-game' and still being challenged, the happier I tend to be... and however neat it is to take out Maggot's mutts with thrown dead fungus, a paladin death-machine that makes not... which, to be honest, Un doesn't have that much of a problem with it as most bands do, but the effect is still there.

Basically, the early-game is an improvement from vanillia and many of its ilk, but could use some more spicing up, either by reducing the amount of time one's stuck in it, or giving the various classes more defining low-level attributes. Perhaps starting to beat a dead horse, but... look, again, to Incursion. Pretty much all of its classes play considerably different early games, and in pretty much none of them is there a "grind" sensation. In short, there's a lessened "Alright. Kill the rat, so I can get to 10/20/30/w/e and hunt some Orc." effect. For me, that's a good thing.

Mid-game... eh. Haven't spent enough time there to comment, but what little I have done was promising, as things started to get more interesting as the classes expanded into their roles and neater critters were encountered... and then I died, or wanted to swith classes, or was enticed off by something else, or... well, you get the idea.

Late game... I've played around with it a bit, and signs point to it being horrifically difficult. To put it this way, at one point, I ran into a particular creature (Eye Hive Tyrant, or something like that.) that was litterally spreading (Summon kin and massive speed, I guess) faster than I could ctrl+A z it away, and even without that, my suped up cheated-to-the-nines Ubermench was having trouble denting various denizens in solo combat, to say nothing of when encountering groups... it was kinda' disheartening. Though, in some ways, perhaps not unacceptable... it would definately be a departure (in my experience, at least), where the endgame critters were your match, or even your better. Would make for interesting encounters, though probable frustrating for someone that didn't cheat their way there.

Conclusion
A little bit of negativity in my words, I suppose, but don't take it the wrong way -- I'm actually very impressed with the work you've done, and many of the features (I'm particularly impressed by the various terrain additions... and would be more so if I could make more sense of how to mess with them, heh. The work being done on 'ecologies' seems pretty neat, too.) are departures, improvements, and worthy additions to the hallowed halls of Angband varients. It doesn't suit my tastes in roguelikes as much as it would have a year or three ago, but Unangband is still carries many features that are both pleasing and impressive to me. Un's on my list o'roguelikes to keep an eye on, heh.

Few minutes up, and words said. May some of it be of use, good sir.