Sil screencasting / let's play

[half]

Debo,

It would be pretty cool if you uploaded this character to the ladder and then respond to any ladder-comments in the next session. That might be a neat way of tying things together.

[debo]

Originally Posted by half

Debo,

It would be pretty cool if you uploaded this character to the ladder and then respond to any ladder-comments in the next session. That might be a neat way of tying things together.

Great suggestion. I'm actually frontloading the videos right now -- I'm 4 episodes ahead of what is already posted. That means I already lost the chance to chardump this most recent character

I will post the dump for the next character I record and find some way of tying it back to the videos -- possibly by recording a "postmortem" or something after all the ladder discussion has cooled down!

[fizzix]

Nothing wrong with save-scumming for let's plays (or test-playing...). Especially the first few let's plays that exist for a specific game. The main issue with save-scumming is passing off a "cheated" win as real, which you obviously aren't doing if you post your death for all the world to see.

[Derakon]

While I agree with that philosophy -- it's generally better to provide a "clean" playthrough that doesn't waste time in bumbling about -- I do think that when it comes to roguelikes you should show off at least a few deaths, even if you back out from them afterwards. Otherwise people might get the wrong idea about how difficult the game is.

...I wonder if an undo button would be a reasonable wizard-mode feature for Pyrel...

[fizzix]

Originally Posted by Derakon

While I agree with that philosophy -- it's generally better to provide a "clean" playthrough that doesn't waste time in bumbling about -- I do think that when it comes to roguelikes you should show off at least a few deaths, even if you back out from them afterwards. Otherwise people might get the wrong idea about how difficult the game is.

...I wonder if an undo button would be a reasonable wizard-mode feature for Pyrel...

There's clearly a balance between the two perspectives. I'm pretty sure debo will be able to find a middle point that is satisfactory to him, and entertaining for everyone else. So far the videos have indeed been entertaining, and I'm sure they will continue to be so.

It doesn't seem like he has any interest in "wiz-moding" through the game, so I wouldn't be too worried about it. On the other hand a bevy of characters who don't make it more than 50% deep in the dungeon will get tiring even if it's much more similar to the true roguelike experience. The argument that he should cast all the characters and only post the winners would pass the authenticity test, but isn't fair to him, and probably would make a less entertaining video for the character who did make it due to player-fatigue.

One last thing. Save-scumming is great for eliminating "negative" luck, but isn't really ideal for positive luck (like a 4-forge floor). I'm not familiar enough with Sil to know whether or not positive luck is necessary for a victory.

[debo]

I think savescumming probably won't work because I'll just get bored of it. I hate playing a character after it dies.

If I can't get any characters past a certain depth on the vids, I'll probably just play to like 700' or something offline and then _start_ a video series there -- called "Sil lategame" or something.

Feanor stealth/archer series up next!

[debo]

Originally Posted by fizzix

One last thing. Save-scumming is great for eliminating "negative" luck, but isn't really ideal for positive luck (like a 4-forge floor). I'm not familiar enough with Sil to know whether or not positive luck is necessary for a victory.

I think elimination of bad luck is much more useful than generation of good luck. Someone who makes fewer mistakes than me could probably benefit more from the latter, but I still make a lot of bad decisions. Thus, the fewer tense situations I get into, the better

For example, if I'm playing a stealth character and I find a sharpness weapon earlier, that could potentially help a LOT. But I'd much rather have fewer floors with a lot of cat assassins on them, since they're just bad news no matter what for a stealthy stabber.

There was a while where I'd savescum the same character over and over again from 700' onwards just to become accustomed to the monsters at those depths. It's really amazing how, upon entering a new floor, leaving out of the starting room from one door instead of another can make a HUGE difference in difficulty!

[debo]

New video up! This series is a stealth/archer run, which I've personally never done before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u71JS9lgg80

[Psi]

Entertaining videos - its interesting to see how others play! Love the line about the orcs choosing the wrong forge.

You make a comment about rings not having sticky curses, however you can certainly get =Damage(-1) {cursed} which is a right pain when you wield it! Likewise I think I've seen =Str(-1) and =Dex(-1).

I could not believe it when you stumbled on that 4th forge at 350'! You then made a =Perception(+2) when scrounging for experience for a net loss of 100xp...

I assume someone has explained the difference between shafts and staircases. Shafts are a darker shade and take you two floors. They are a godsend when diving or on the ascent.

[debo]

Originally Posted by Psi

You make a comment about rings not having sticky curses, however you can certainly get =Damage(-1) {cursed} which is a right pain when you wield it! Likewise I think I've seen =Str(-1) and =Dex(-1).

Good call. The funny thing is that I think I mentioned cursed rings of damage in a different video I'll clear that up in a subsequent posting.

Originally Posted by Psi

I could not believe it when you stumbled on that 4th forge at 350'! You then made a =Perception(+2) when scrounging for experience for a net loss of 100xp...

I saw that too! One of the fun things about these videos is seeing how many mistakes I make without even realizing it. I think I got confused because =Accuracy and =Evasion don't cost experience (or do they?), so I assumed all the skill-boosting rings were the same :|

Originally Posted by Psi

I assume someone has explained the difference between shafts and staircases. Shafts are a darker shade and take you two floors. They are a godsend when diving or on the ascent.

Someone has, in a comment on the video. I find it astonishing that I have never once noticed this :/

Thanks for the feedback. One of my selfish reasons for posting these videos was the hope that people who are better than me at the game would help point out my mistakes. Please continue to do so!