Something I think would be an interesting sociology research topic is what the difference is between the sort of person who prefers Moria/Angband, and the sort of person who prefers NetHack.
Maybe many like them both, but once I discovered NetHack, I thought it was obviously far superior, yet I have a sibling who was totally in the other camp no matter what I said.
To be clear, I never came anywhere near ascending or anything. But basically, I felt like each game of NetHack was a unique story, and even dying was usually interesting, while Angband amounted to just grinding until some bad luck happens.
On modern roguelikes, I like Shattered Pixel Dungeon to play on a crowded subway, as I only use the smartphone to chat with gf/family over Telegram, books with FBReader, background music and such.
I prefer Angband to NetHack because NetHack is "silly." Permadeath makes every decision serious, and I want the game to match that. But I get why other players may want something else. They're both amazing games.
Angband it's a bit dumb for me, a promising town but then just a dungeon with very repetitive gameplay.
Nethack' s dungeon with the philosphy The Dev Team Thinks On Everything (even more in Slashem) makes each gameplay unique as people stated.
On each decision being serious, Slashem it's the reverse: the first levels are a breeze, then you'll have to think twice a lot in order to fight and/or escape or even safely move.
Maybe many like them both, but once I discovered NetHack, I thought it was obviously far superior, yet I have a sibling who was totally in the other camp no matter what I said.
To be clear, I never came anywhere near ascending or anything. But basically, I felt like each game of NetHack was a unique story, and even dying was usually interesting, while Angband amounted to just grinding until some bad luck happens.