So, I like to play Ao100 and go for Malicious Blades. It's my favorite because I love being able to look at a Vile-Pack and be like, "only three Viles with those Mancubi?" with nothing more than a pair of not-even-fully-modded knives, nanofiber armor. and cerberus boots. Being able to charge right at a Revenant un-zerked without even blinking puts a wonderful feeling in my gut. 70 levels of pure, God-like bliss.
I'm even learning to like the game of getting there. It's just the pain of the stupid death that makes me think every time, "there's gotta be another way." Just today I was 70% to MMB bliss, just about to make the decision between a WhizKid detour or straight for the Blades. I was sitting in a cleared room reloading my Combat Shotty when a former commando comes in and wastes me while I'm busy pressing 'r', 'r', 'r', 'r', 'r'.
I know, I know, I'm supposed to not slam on the keyboard in a dangerous area like there isn't a care in the world. But DoomRL is fun precisely because I can get that feeling like I've merged with the '@' and I'm slaughtering those 'i's and 'M's and such personally. And it just really breaks that feeling when the game doesn't let me play like that, simply because of some silly interface wiggles.
DoomRL is not my first roguelike. I played Nethack and Angband before this. Angband is interesting because the interface, in its own way, can reward both playstyles. If you dive, then every keypress could be your last, so you don't make a single step you're not absolutely sure of. If you clear levels, well, you can march right through them like they were so many ants without a care in the world, within reason of course. Personally, I thought diving was more interesting. But that's Angband.
I never got good enough with Nethack to be able to really analyze playstyle.
There's gotta be a good way to make fast and furious play in DoomRL not so retardedly dangerous. I really think the game should stop me if I hold the right button down and a chaingunner shows up in the hallway. Or marching right into lava by accident when your guy has 10% health remaining or there's enemies present.
Please please don't just tell me to learn how to play more patiently. That's not why I play DoomRL. Ask yourself, do you really think it should be necessary to hit the button 20 times to get across a long hallway? Yes, I know there's the run command for that, I really wish I could make it shift and direction instead of comma, but shouldn't the interface work with the way your brain wants to work with it instead of forcing you to unlearn admittedly-bad habits? DoomRL is really about tactics, right? I never mind when I die to a bad tactical decision.
Doomguy would not keep loading his shotgun if a commando showed up in a doorway. I don't see why I need to be held hostage to a key buffer. I think 90% of the problem could be solved with sensible decisions to clear the key buffer and not let any more actions go through until the danger is acknowledged on certain criteria. Enemy present, you have to hit 'y' to move into acid. Or not even 'y'. It could be a remappable key close to where your fingers are where you wouldn't ordinarily hit. I like the space bar, I don't usually have to hit it ever since I turned off the more messages prompt. Call it "acknowledge danger". Certain events make you hit it before you can proceed.
I think, if the criteria are carefully selected, it will yield a much more playable game. Especially for newbies unused to roguelikes. That is the idea behind the graphical version, isn't it?
Any ideas?