Roguelike?
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:18 pm
In what way, besides the permadeath, is this game at all roguelike?
Official Forum for FTL: Faster Than Light and Into the Breach
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boa13 wrote:Here's what I wrote when this question came up on Reddit, slightly edited to be up-to-date with the latest game patch:
The game can be paused at any time, and is fully controllable while paused. Unless you are Korean, I don't think you can progress meaningfully if you do not pause it. While paused, you have all the time in the world to consider the situation, plan your moves, just like in a roguelike. It would be good if the game had an auto-pause feature, currently you have to pay attention while a fight is in progress and press pause often (better safe than sorry).
There are several crew members, but they are not the main character of the game, you can lose a few and survive. They do improve over time, but you can consider them like equipment that gets better with use. The character you develop throughout the game is the ship. Like a roguelike character, it has a class (each ship you can unlock plays very differently), stats, equipment, several improvement paths, etc. You lose the game when you lose the ship. The map of the ship is indeed fixed, but since the ship is the protagonist of the game, this is like complaining that the map of your character is fixed (is there a roguelike that randomizes anatomy? ).
The roguelike map is the galaxy map, which is randomized for each play. It is less complex that in a classical roguelike, but you can liken it to an eight-depth, go-down-only dungeon. Each depth (so-called "sector") consists of many locations of initially-unknown content. Each travel costs fuel, which can be likened to the hunger-pressure many roguelikes feature. So, you try to explore locations as much as you can, with the pressure of locations becoming slowly unavailable as the enemy fleet advances towards the sector exit. You only have vague hints about what is in neighboring locations (you can get better sensors).
When you exit a sector, you are often given the choice of going to one of a couple of sector types (for example between a civilized sector belonging to a particular race and a wilder one). Think of it as a very branchy dungeon; this is also randomized. Each kind of sector has a different risk/reward ratio, and specific events, so you have to make a choice based on your current situation and what you hope to gain. You also have all the time in the world to make that choice.
It is true that there aren't "mystery items" to id for each game. That said, your game is pretty much defined by what you gain from encounters, and you will have to adapt your gameplay to what you are given. There is no winning formula as in some roguelikes (e.g. "go there to get a guaranteed blessed bag of holding"). In a sense, this is very much like Brogue (except there is no enchantment scrolls).
The major difference I find is in the combat system. In a roguelike, 2D tactics play a major role (corner enemies, retreat to a safe spot, zap spells from afar, etc.), you see enemies move on the map, and handle many of them at once. In this game, movement is only done out-of-combat, and more of a strategical nature: you can chose to avoid dangerous locations, and try to explore as many locations as you can before the enemy fleet becomes too close. Enemies do not really exist on the map, but only appear as random events when you explore a location. Combat is stationary (except when you board a ship or are boarded by enemies), and the core mechanics revolve around timing of weapons, choice of enemy systems to target (shields, engines, life support, etc.), crew micromanagement (improve your systems efficiency by manning them, or go handle repairs, fires, fights, etc.), energy management, and resource management. (It's all a lot of fun by the way, but very different from most roguelikes.)
So, while not quite a roguelike, I think it definitely qualifies as a roguelike-like (and quite close at that).
Kurt wrote:There is no concept of pausing and unpausing at all in Rogue, so I'm not sure how that translates to something that makes FTL roguelike.
Kurt wrote:The ship as the main character, and then staying that the grid on the ship is like Rogue's grid? Ok, you're really reaching now.
Kurt wrote:If you're looking at a dry definition of a "roguelike" and have never actually played Rogue, Nethack, Moria, etc, then I suppose, yes, some of those points might sound similar. But FTL has none of the feel of those games.
In fact, the constant "advancing wave" pressure actively discourages the sort of careful exploration that is the definitive Rogue-like game experience. That whole advancing wave, while an interesting plot device, feels more like a system to keep you from asking why there isn't more galaxy and exploration depth.