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In FRUA it's up to the design author whether you can rest everywhere or only in specific places and whether there are random encounters or not, and at what frequency. My guess is that it might not have been possible to re-create the random encounters of the original gold box games 1:1 or that it would have used up too much space, and that the author thought it would be the lesser evil to do it like this (unfortunately the number of dungeons/areas is limited in FRUA, and there is also a limit in events and texts per dungeon/area).

There are definitely designs that allow you to rest anywhere, I think lots of them do, actually, but off the top of my head, I can't tell you which design uses which system. I suspect that you will find resting restrictions more often in the classic conversions of AD&D modules than elsewhere (in many it's also considered part of the challenge - often the dungeons have safe resting rooms somewhere, and the challenge is to survive and use your spells sparingly until you find shelter). I think the FRUA community as a whole is not that fond of random encounters in FRUA, as they can become very tedious if overdone by less thoughtful authors, but quite a few of the gold box style fans still use them occasionally.

I'd understand if you don't care enough to create another account elsewhere, but if you'd really like to know more details and give it another try, I'm sure the folks at the FRUA community forum would be glad to help you and provide more helpful answers than I can at the moment. The author of many classic conversions and probably also the ones you have issues with, Ray Dyer, still visits those forums himself occasionally, so you might be able to talk to him directly. (He is a very nice and helpful guy.)

Btw, if you have some rudimentary knowledge of the FRUA editor's basics, you could also "cheat" by manually toggling off the resting restrictions in the designs you play, although you'd have to do it in each dungeon/area separately.
Post edited May 07, 2018 by Leroux
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Leroux: <snip>
Thank you very much for the additional information about FRUA. It's encouraging to know that some/many designs do allow RESTing.

I think my best bet at this point will be to try asking for further recommendations on the FRUA forum, so I'll head over there and see what I can find.
A few titles from long-list of freebies and some strange titles from my Steam library:

Retro City Rampage DX
This one is quite interesting. It has it's charm as a retro arcade game with nice story and a lot of gameplay diversity. Reminds me first GTA (that 2d one), but extremely fast-paced. Well - not for me.

English Country Tune
Looks like 3D sokoban + physics (gravity). I like this kind of games, but somehow not this one in particular. Perhaps I'm just not smart enough. I recommend to people, who like puzzles and does not afraid of really challenging gameplay.

Woodle Tree Adventure
3D platformer with sweet graphics designed for kids probably, but seems too hard for an old guy like me ;) I've grown on 2D platformers and even in 2 dimentions I was never very good at it - additional one knocks me out ;)

Space Farmers
Looks like something for Minecraft fans. For me - totally incompatible with my preferences.
Not sure if I've "quit" it for good, but more on long-term hiatus since January of this year: Pillars of Eternity.

Me buying up and loving this game should have been a shoe-in for such a hardcore, isometric cRPG fan such as myself. Big fan of the original Fallout 1/2, Baldur's Gate 1/2, PS:T, IWD 1/2, Arcanum, Lionheart Legacy of the Crusader, basically the cRPG "Renaissance" that went on from 1997-2004, so-to-speak, that was defined by old Bioware, Black Isle Studios, and Troika Games. For me that isometric graphic perspective, aesthetic, and the typical UI that goes along with it is paramount to these games, and I favor it in other genres too, like Robin Hood: Legend of Sherwood, the old Stronghold and older pre-Civ IV games, and well as older Diablo-esque action RPGs.

People seem seem to be in excessive love-it-or-hate-it camps with PoE, with maybe 85%-90% "love" and 10-15% "hate", with those dissensions coming from the caustic, critical eye of sites like "No Mutants Allowed" and "RPG Codex." For me it's more in the middle. I liked Pillars of Eternity, It was good. BUT... for me it was never awesome, nor did it ever engross me wholeheartedly that way those (now-classic) cRPG titles did.

It looked like a duck and quacked like a duck. This duck even had those same designers involved in it; Chris Avellone, Tim Cain, and J. E. Sawyer. So wasn't it the same duck from my beloved Black Isle Studios and Bioware yore?

Well.... not quite. It's hard to put my finger on the pulse of it, exactly. Aesthetically the game is gorgeous, and it has all the mechanics and 2D art that I know, love, and appreciate. The writing is adequate, and pretty decent in spots, but is pretty long-winded much of the time. Names, tribes, nations, gods, political intrigue washed over me in mostly forgettable waves, and I found I retained very little of it. "Lore-dump," seems to be a term bandied about. Of course, when I originally played Baldur's Gate I had the advantage of already being familiar with the AD&D world, but I didn't have that familiarity when I played Arcanum or Fallout for the first time, and I adore those games.

Under the hood, but mechanics and stats running things in combat is very different from Baldur's Gate, and that's totally fine. It took a little getting used to but it's a polished, effective system. J.E. Sawyer clearly made a very detailed, original fantasy world out of whole-cloth. But... I almost feel like all the classes are a little too balanced. I think part of the charm of older titles is that some of the character classes were widely unbalanced, but even underpowered ones like a druid or thief or bard-like character had their use and place. That also went for "underpowered" fantasy races like halflings and gnomes.

There were other things, like not being awarded XP for combats, even if those combats were very hard-fought affairs and not some random bandits your party just rolled over, which bothered me. I guess I'm old-fashioned in some respects. Also, the Kickstarter backer "ghost" NPCs littering the landscape like department store mannequins bothered the hell out of me, and I wish I could have turned them off. All of them had self-aggrandizing back-stories not worth the bytes the text took up. The joinable NPCs for your party, in general, I also found to be a little bland, and I had trouble bonding with most of them.

Maybe I haven't given the game a proper chance. I feel like I'm about 1/3 of the way through the main game (I just picked up the base game on a sale last autumn). Maybe one day I'll return to it.
Post edited May 21, 2018 by MaridAudran
I guess I'm quitting House of 1,000 Doors - Palm of Zoroaster.

It's actually a pretty good HOG - trouble is I discovered very quickly that I'd played it before (either 2016 or 2017) as part of the 'Hidden Object Games 4 in 1' set, which explains why I couldn't find it in my library by name.

From the opening scene I was like "Man, this is either deja vu or they ripped off another game." About 30 min in I stopped and actually scrutinized and realized, yes, this was more than just deja vu, but I had really truly played this exact game before, and not just another HOG kinda like it.

Oops.

Not sure mechanically how to request a steam refund of the key so that I could pass it to someone who hasn't played it, much less if they'd grant such a request.
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MaridAudran: Maybe I haven't given the game a proper chance. I feel like I'm about 1/3 of the way through the main game (I just picked up the base game on a sale last autumn). Maybe one day I'll return to it.
I've finished the game and its expansions but I had very similar thoughts and mixed feelings about it. I liked the graphics and mechanics a lot, but I was unimpressed with the plot, long-winded writing, lore dumps, kickstarter NPCs and companions (I've almost forgotten about the companions already, except for the two written by Chris Avellone, and I mostly remember those for their even more long-winded, flowery and most annoying monologues). And while I'm aware that the traditional XP and level up systems aren't exactly the bee's knees, I still had to find that getting no XP for combat in a combat-heavy game and hitting a level cap several hours before the end seriously reduced my motivation in playing. Like I wrote in my review at the time, I didn't love or hate PoE nor did I feel lukewarm about it, I actually both loved and hated it at the same time, depending on what aspects I focused on. And because it could have been so glorious and fun if they hadn't ruined it with all the blandness of the writing ...
Looks like real to me also..!
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MaridAudran: Maybe I haven't given the game a proper chance. I feel like I'm about 1/3 of the way through the main game (I just picked up the base game on a sale last autumn). Maybe one day I'll return to it.
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Leroux: I've finished the game and its expansions but I had very similar thoughts and mixed feelings about it. I liked the graphics and mechanics a lot, but I was unimpressed with the plot, long-winded writing, lore dumps, kickstarter NPCs and companions (I've almost forgotten about the companions already, except for the two written by Chris Avellone, and I mostly remember those for their even more long-winded, flowery and most annoying monologues). And while I'm aware that the traditional XP and level up systems aren't exactly the bee's knees, I still had to find that getting no XP for combat in a combat-heavy game and hitting a level cap several hours before the end seriously reduced my motivation in playing. Like I wrote in my review at the time, I didn't love or hate PoE nor did I feel lukewarm about it, I actually both loved and hated it at the same time, depending on what aspects I focused on. And because it could have been so glorious and fun if they hadn't ruined it with all the blandness of the writing ...
Glad I'm not the only one. Your own thoughts mirror mine quite a bit. Like I said, I didn't hate the game at all. It was...a decent approximation of the old-school isometric cRPG experience, which may be damning with faint-praise, when I think of it.

I wonder if the newly released sequel and its sister cRPG Tyranny are an improvement or more of the same.
For me, it's rogue legacy and windforge, I'm putting them both into hiatus until I can find a mod to nerf the one-shotters which is quite irritating, especially if you multiply that frustration with the shit controls and you have a chore of a game that I lack any patience for...

Speaking of no patience, snore legacy is another dull repetitious title for me, as the lack of healing drops and two-shotters make short work of my level exploration which sends me right back to the nerfing spawn machine, I might have stuck with it when I was in my twenties, but not now as I have lost too much patience for looping repetition in my old age...

But never say never, as I may give it another go as I am a true sucker for pixel art styled games!
Post edited May 24, 2018 by takezodunmer2005
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Leroux: I've finished the game and its expansions but I had very similar thoughts and mixed feelings about it. I liked the graphics and mechanics a lot, but I was unimpressed with the plot, long-winded writing, lore dumps, kickstarter NPCs and companions (I've almost forgotten about the companions already, except for the two written by Chris Avellone, and I mostly remember those for their even more long-winded, flowery and most annoying monologues). And while I'm aware that the traditional XP and level up systems aren't exactly the bee's knees, I still had to find that getting no XP for combat in a combat-heavy game and hitting a level cap several hours before the end seriously reduced my motivation in playing. Like I wrote in my review at the time, I didn't love or hate PoE nor did I feel lukewarm about it, I actually both loved and hated it at the same time, depending on what aspects I focused on. And because it could have been so glorious and fun if they hadn't ruined it with all the blandness of the writing ...
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MaridAudran: Glad I'm not the only one. Your own thoughts mirror mine quite a bit. Like I said, I didn't hate the game at all. It was...a decent approximation of the old-school isometric cRPG experience, which may be damning with faint-praise, when I think of it.

I wonder if the newly released sequel and its sister cRPG Tyranny are an improvement or more of the same.
I felt very much the same as you did, although I'd categorize my feelings toward the game as a very solid 'meh'. I didn't hate (although I did - and do still - hate the engagement system), and I didn't love it either. I finished the game and backed at a level where I got the White March expansions, but haven't played that content yet. I keep telling myself I'll replay the game to get through that content as well and to get a refresher for the second game (I backed that one as well, hoping for improvement - maybe I'm crazy), but the thought of slogging through the game again just makes me shudder and I end up starting playing something else instead.

It's funny how all the elements I love about the old games that this one is a nod to (and all the things you say you loved about them) should be/are there in PoE and yet it just didn't work for me.
Oxenfree - Most games start you off with something that grabs your attention, a hook of sorts. Oxenfree has teenagers talking about their acquaintances and taking photos. I don't think I'm the target audience for this.

Dragon Age - Generic monster horde as the villain, utterly unremarkable fantasy setting, drab environments, boring combat. And the Grey Warden intiation thing had me quitting in disgust, what a crock that was. Overall, one of the games that killed fantasy settings for me. Okay, I will give it one thing - the dwarf intro was pretty well done. Just everything that followed sapped my will to carry on.

The Saboteur - For some godforsaken reason, they were really intent on piling on the TnA and innuendo in this. It's on the unskippable pre-game logos. It's in the cutscenes. It's in the chatter between characters. The protagonist lives in a cabaret. This is the game with the infamous $5 pastie-removal DLC for the cabaret dancers. Forshame. I don't need this *filth* in my wholesome murder simulator. Given the developer, I expected something closer to Mercenaries in tone.
Post edited May 24, 2018 by TentacleMayor
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TentacleMayor: Dragon Age - Generic monster horde as the villain, utterly unremarkable fantasy setting, drab environments, boring combat. And the Grey Warden intiation thing had me quitting in disgust, what a crock that was. Overall, one of the games that killed fantasy settings for me. Okay, I will give it one thing - the dwarf intro was pretty well done. Just everything that followed sapped my will to carry on.
I love this game. Too bad it didn't mesh with you, although the story and setting is - as you noted - pretty bog-standard fantasy. NOt much new there, but I thought they actually made a damned good game. Further into it when you get to see smoe of the aspects of Dwarf society as well as the somewhat different take on the elves... it's not bad at all. Anyway, it's a pretty big and long game, so no sense wasting your time if you're not liking it.

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TentacleMayor: The Saboteur - For some godforsaken reason, they were really intent on piling on the TnA and innuendo in this. It's on the unskippable pre-game logos. It's in the cutscenes. It's in the chatter between characters. The protagonist lives in a cabaret. This is the game with the infamous $5 pastie-removal DLC for the cabaret dancers. Forshame. I don't need this *filth* in my wholesome murder simulator. Given the developer, I expected something closer to Mercenaries in tone.
I bought this one on a whim and didn't expect much of it. But I had a blast with it. The TnA you noted is really only in your face (pun intended) right at the beginning. After you get rolling in the story it really isn't a factor at all. I had a great time blowing up, running over, and shooting Nazis as well as all the climbing, sneaking, stealing vehicles and tanks, and just causing general mayhem.
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TentacleMayor: The Saboteur - For some godforsaken reason, they were really intent on piling on the TnA and innuendo in this. It's on the unskippable pre-game logos. It's in the cutscenes. It's in the chatter between characters. The protagonist lives in a cabaret. This is the game with the infamous $5 pastie-removal DLC for the cabaret dancers. Forshame. I don't need this *filth* in my wholesome murder simulator. Given the developer, I expected something closer to Mercenaries in tone.
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GR00T: I bought this one on a whim and didn't expect much of it. But I had a blast with it. The TnA you noted is really only in your face (pun intended) right at the beginning. After you get rolling in the story it really isn't a factor at all. I had a great time blowing up, running over, and shooting Nazis as well as all the climbing, sneaking, stealing vehicles and tanks, and just causing general mayhem.
I quit it a while ago due to game-breaking bugs that forced me to replay a whole mission without any guarantees that the same bugs won't occur again halfway through (and the worst is that half of the mission is just cutscenes, waiting and slow sneaking, not something you'd want to repeat again and again). Anyway, I've been meaning to get back into it some day and give it another try. Before I bought it, I was told that it's completely unremarkable, just your run-of-the-mill open world game, and in a way it's true, but I still had lots of fun with it. The TnA thing is something you roll your eyes at once or twice and then you just forget about it. IIRC there's nothing like that in the open world, it's just in your headquarter, a place you seldom visit anyway.
Post edited May 26, 2018 by Leroux
I'm tapping out on Urban Chaos after playing through...maybe about 2/3 of it? It's one of those games in which how you play doesn't evolve enough as you go along. Every time I saw a criminal, I would just rush them and either trip them with a slide attack, or grab them and judo toss them to the ground, at which point they're easily arrested and searched for weapons or health packs. If there were multiple enemies, I'd just pull a gun and blast them all.

Every level has stat-raising items and extra weapons/ammo scattered throughout, but the levels often repeat with a fresh selection of items placed in new locations. What this means is that if you want to make your character stronger, you have to constantly go Tomb Raider all over the same buildings over and over. This gets really tedious and I had quit doing it a while ago because I figured I had gotten plenty strong enough.

What really sinks the game, though, is that there's no in-level saving. I got on one level and planted an explosive on top of a very tall building that took a good while to scale, backed away to avoid the explosion but I wasn't quick enough, so I died. A half-hour down the drain. Played it again, redid the whole sequence, this time successfully avoided the explosion but caught in a small explosion that randomly appeared in my path as I was fleeing to safety, instantly died again, so that was another chunk of time wasted. I've been pretty busy lately, so I just don't have much interest in wasting my time on something like this. I feel like I've seen everything worth seeing in the game, so maybe I'll just check out the ending on Youtube or something.
Doki Doki Literature Club

OK, I've really tried. PaterAlf said is worth it. And I know I shoud wait at least for plot twist (part of fun has been unfortunately spoiled, because it's easy to add 2+2, if you heard something about the game or look at genre tags). But I can't. Never played visual novels, but it appears that the genre just turn me off. Nothing happens, you just stare at manga-girls, choose infantile dialogue options, feel no impact on a story, no animation, iritating music, still nothing happens and you're slowly dying of boredom...

I know that a lot of people likes these games. So - hey - I respect you, guys. Have fun! Just, well, without me.

On itch.io you can download free (and DRM-Free) Linux version of the game. And yes, Windows and Linux installers are in the same package there.