Poll: Normal races vs Monster race.

[Variaz]

Since Monsters are now fun and actually playable, how do you think they fare compared to normal races? And which do you prefer?

[grindorin]

Monsters are indeed much more playable now, but I prefer the versitility of a 'normal' player. They have access to all the classes and by extension, many more abilities (and more varied abilities at that). Monsters are fun though, and more than just the dragons are playable.

[sekira]

I pretty much stick with player races instead of monster races for the reasons that Grindorin gave. I have a limited amount of playing time and so I don't really experiment as much as I would like to.

[Gando]

To me playing monsters is much more interesting right now. The player races seem uninspired by comparison....(this is a compliment even if it doesn't sound like it.) Also part of that is that I got pretty burned out on the player race/class combos...if the Lizardmen ever get their day in the sun or perhaps if the Bard ever gets given a chance I might see things differently.

Ive actually not been playing Portralis as of late because other games have lured me away (incursion mostly) and so perhaps I shouldn't have voted. But I did.

[Variaz]

Ive actually not been playing Portralis as of late because other games have lured me away (incursion mostly) and so perhaps I shouldn't have voted. But I did.

It's all right, thanks for the vote! Better not overplay if you don't want too, you'll just get tired. Sometimes I had to take a break and play other games a bit too, and then come back with a fresh mind.

Although I am a bit curious about the "uninspired" races, though I suppose most of them aren't really original. (actually, everything besides Zulgors is pretty much a common thing).

[Frumple]

*blinks* I... started typing this over an hour ago, heh. Distractions for the lose...

Anyway, I generally prefer monsters, but with my posts around the forum, that's probably not much of a surprise. I still like normal critters, but monsters are just... beefier, especially early on. If I keep dying before level 10 or so, I'll probably say 'screw it' and go on to something that won't die quite so often or as easily -- after all, all the really neat stuff starts showing up near the tail end of the mid-game, as it is now. Monsters tend to fit that beef-bill better than normal PCs. I also generally like the whole stat progression thing monsters've got going for them -- even with the lesser progression of non-essence critters and low-level monsters, it's still a seriously major boon, especially early-mid game. That free point of speed (along with whatever the base might be. Even +5 is a pretty impressive survival aid...) doesn't hurt either.

Of course, a lot of it depends on the mood -- if I just want to rampage, I'll go monster. As an example, I just mucked around with a ghost that dropped itself into the thingyatrice dungeon at level 13. It's now level 26, and obtained that in a pretty impressively short amount of time. When I want to, yanno', actually test mah skillz (Which is rare, heh.), I'll run a normal character. They've still got a lot more to do, most of the time... it just takes (a lot) longer to get it, and I want my gratification now (without resorting to debug mode, yeh), heh.

[Variaz]

With normal races, it's more about finding a good combo of abilities, while monsters are more about choosing the right monster for the type of character you want to play. But the tough part of the Monster race is actually finding a "bad" monster to play with because although some are more powerful, none of them are totally unplayable.

It's true that many monsters are easier early on, and while normal races do catch up, monsters are still strong in their own right. Their high stats makes it easier for them to play as "Warrior-Mages" too, especially with the new spells improvements introduced in 006. And in 006, the essences got a bit more balanced, and the race has lost some of it's overpowering feel, making it a more balanced race later on.

Also, as of now, if you want to play a ranged weapons character, Monster is pretty much the best way to go, and the ONLY way to go if you want bows/crossbows. Playing a ranged weapon Young Angel has revived my faith in bows!

[Gando]

"Although I am a bit curious about the "uninspired" races, though I suppose most of them aren't really original. (actually, everything besides Zulgors is pretty much a common thing)"

My comment wasn't aimed at how original or unoriginal the races we have now are. Portralis is it's own world and as such has some unique features and some features you might find elsewhere...nothing bizarre or wrong about that. Nor is it expected that all content be unique to Portralis...too unique leads to player alientation and a lack of empathy (I think so anyway.)

I was just saying that after playing Monsters for a bit player race/classes seem a bit done already. I've been playing Port for about 9 months now and I guess I have burned out on it a bit. I like being a part of the creative process but here the process seems stilted and slow. No one's fault there but my own. I am really just an unmotivated game designer with a lazy streak a mile long. Otherwise Id have contributed my own roguelike long ago.

Anyway thanks for asking.

[divinefistoka]

Monsters... Hands down. Sure i love my celestials (I'm a sucker for things with wings.) but the monsters offer SO much more variety. (though there is more flexibility with a human player, the Monster race has all those wonderful choice of species...) Indeed more then just dragons are playable (i like Elementals.) but i've recently been thinking of trying a humanoid race (h) just to see what a regular set of equipment could do with the monster-race abilities, which are certainly nothing to sneer at. (half-damage from elder paragon powers anyone? Couple that with an elementals physical resistance of 75, and a 100% block rate on magic, and you can decimate your opponents! immune to magic, 1/8th normal damage from physical... (75% reduction from resistance, and 50% reductino of the result from half damage elite trait) and thats to say nothing of the stats you can gain from greater evolution (or small but deadly) piled on top of the stats you can gain from elder paragon monster ability. Additionally, now that we have essences, monsters hardly have to worry about equipment, since with just a few essences, i have a AC of almost 20000, and none of my humans came anywhere NEAR that. No human I've seen can rival that! (at least not without a hell of a lot of crafting and use of the flow...) I'd even go so far as to say that monsters are easier for a beginner then humanoids... (or at least the right kind of monsters are.)

[Variaz]

One thing that helps monsters is that the new Monster race was made with the new enemies in mind, while the normal races still have many things that were good in NewAngband time, but are now obsolete. (see the "HORROR SHOW" thread). For example, non-gunner normal ranged characters pale in comparison to what ranged monsters can do, because Marksman is currently obsolete. And even with guns, monsters are still very good, perhaps just as good now that you can use conjuration to summon bullets.

And for beginners, it IS easier, monsters have the advantage in the early game that's for sure.

However, normal races do somewhat catch up later on(for melee and magic, not ranged), and it's actually not too difficult to get AC of 20000 with the right armors. You don't really need crafting either, a levelable armor will work too. And if you build them right, you can come up with some pretty mean combos with the many abilities.

In the end, normal races is more about multi-classing and combining the right abilities, while Monsters is more about choosing the right specie that suits your character's strategy. But the problem is that right now, many abilities of normal races needs to be changed, especially for ranged characters. While gunners are good, bow and crossbow users pale in comparison to their monster counterparts.

[kipar]

Hi all, I'm back to portralis - got the the new version few days away...
Monsters are funny now, but after trying new class abilities I'm choosing normal races.
Most monster builds have a weak point. -100 resist to something or troubles with physical immune monsters with imuunity to some elements.