Play FAangband part II

[Fendell Orcbane]

So after 4 tries I got a Hobbit Rogue to lvl 50 and I have reached Angband. For those of you that have never given FA a try; there are wilderness areas and 5 dungeon areas Amon Rudh,Nargothrond,Nan Dungortheb,Tol In Garhoth and Angband. Angband being the toughest one. Each dungeon has a guardian or rather boss at the lowest level, Sauron is at Tol In Garhoth at lvl85. I spent more time than I thought I would at T.I.G since Sauron is tougher than in V. Well actually I think that Sauron is smarter, more likely to summon and teleport away, he also makes you come to him. But I finally finished him off and made my way to Angband. Once at Angband I started diving like there was no tomorrow. I stopped if I got an interesting level feeling though. My character had been at LVL 50 before I finished Sauron off and I expected Angband to be a cake walk with me heading down to lvl99 fairly quickly, however I find that some of the uniques and the Winged Dragons( the FA version of Wyrms) are really tough. Like I could be killed tough. In V this usually isn't the case. But I find that this is a good thing because it keeps the game from devolving into scumming for healing potions. I find that FA although it isn't bug free it is the next step up from V. I know that I've used this analogy before but if V were D&D then FA is like AD&D. Having come close to finishing the game I feel like I have much more reason to sing its praises. One feature that I like is the Traveling Merchant. The Traveling Merchant is almost like a black Market that you can order potions and scrolls from, which frees you up from scumming for healing potions towards that end of the game.
So to sum things up I like how the difficulty keeps going up and the fact that I don't have to waste time scumming for potions or scrolls. Another thing worth mentioning is the fact that Dragon scale armor is actually worth using, although I know that V also fixed DSM in the nightly builds.

So if you are bored with V and feel that you can win at will give FA a try; I don't think you will be sorry.

[jihe]

I used to play Oangband, how much difference is there? Do mages still get the all powerful dimension door spell?

[Fendell Orcbane]

Originally Posted by jihe

I used to play Oangband, how much difference is there? Do mages still get the all powerful dimension door spell?

Honestly I've never played O but I do know that FA is based on O. As for Dimension Door? I don't know since I've only played a Rogue. But I can tell you this...FA is much harder than FA. Even a 50th lvl Rogue has to be very careful.

[Psi]

Originally Posted by jihe

I used to play Oangband, how much difference is there? Do mages still get the all powerful dimension door spell?

Yes they do (well at least when I last checked) and there is the Rod of Portals artifact that mere mortals can use for the same effect.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by jihe

I used to play Oangband, how much difference is there?

Well, there are the obvious changes - wilderness, multiple dungeons, changes to the playable races and artifact and unique sets.

Then there are a lot of object changes (different ego items, rings and amulets handled differently). Changes to archery to make it more balanced through the whole game. A minor overhaul of druids and a major overhaul of mages (they got to keep dimension door). New terrain types (spider webs and sand dunes). And a whole lot of smaller changes.

On the other hand, I chose to base FA on O because there were so many things I liked about it, which I've broadly kept - combat system, magic realms and classes, AI, specialties, randart generation.

[Seany C]

>>Play FAangband part II


Damnit, I thought Nick had released Second Age Angband* for a minute then...


* Or probably SAMordor, being pedantic...

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Seany C

Damnit, I thought Nick had released Second Age Angband* for a minute then...

Don't think it hasn't been discussed