Edit: Welp, I kept the old review below all this but it's so messy I figured I'd vaguely make a clearer review up top. Sorry! It's been a journey lol. (both reviews are for the "Larn Javascript 12.5.0" version available at larn.org

Play: 9/10 Welp, I couldn't resist. I'm back playing it again lol. Haven't been this addicted to a chronology project game since the PLATO RPGs for sure. Some things to add: lol the College of Larn class titles are hilarious, contemporary dance lmao!

And ahhh I finally have the Lance of Death! I got lucky with escaping the Volcano, plus I've learned a lot about diagonal movement, how to avoid aggravating monsters, what the symbols mean etc.

Feel: 9/10 Omg I love the Lance of Death! Feeling so confident as I go down, my only worry is whether Rust Monsters have any effect on it. I wouldn't think so since Lance of Death isn't really about Weapon Class, it's about the one hit kill. Hm. Let us pray haha because this is by far the farthest I've gotten. Now, since I don't really need Gold, I am reading all Books hoping to learn Permanence... That'd be nice... (Welp, confirmed Rust Monsters do dull the Lance of Death ,but not the Stainless Steel Plate Armor, wish I had known that when I took it off and died to the White Dragon in that previous playthrough haha, but since Lance of Death is a one shotter anyway, not sure if it mattes. Let's see... I pray not)

Wait bahaha, the bank has branches deep in the Dungeon? Love it.. And ooo an Orb of Dragon Slaying, basically a one hitter for dragons, but I assume the Lance of Death suffices anyway.

Attachment: 9/10 Y'all should see all my handwritten notes and my notepad with where I dropped certain Scrolls to make room etc lol. (what a sloppy review, sorry, this really should have been status updates haha)

Hmmm, so weapon class does still matter for lance of death because you need to be able to hit the enemies... it's down to -7... if only I had more enchant weapon scrolls... and water lords suck!!! (well maybe it's not due to weapon class, but just something with water lords that makes me keep missing) BUT OMG IT WAS WORTH IT, pushing through that hellish room full of water lords, using all my Potions of Healing, the Book in there taught me Permanence! and lol welp, I Genocided the water lords. sick of them. "there will be no more water lords" -- sounds good to me. Oh derp right after using that I learned dehydration :-p how much you wanna bet that would've worked wonders on water lords haha

Mwahaha Invulnerability + Permanence has to equal greatness, right? Gonna save a Stealth too to see if that sticks. Welp, I think I'm about to be OP as hell going into the Volcano to end the game: I cast haste, invisibility, invulnerability, cancellation, walk through walls, and enlightenment. I used a Heroism Pot, Giant Str Pot, Wisdom Pot, Fire Resistance Pot. I read Stealth Scroll, Expanded Awareness scroll. Then I cast Permanence. I think we gonna be set lol. And just for fun Imma spend as much as I can on Raise Level Pots, use the Scroll of Enchant Weapon I had stored in town way back, and thus it's time to end the game! Almost 20 hours spent on this game!! I think I deserve it after 21 attempts loll

Holy shit bahahaha I'm so OP I almost wish I hadn't been lucky and got Permanence. But I suppose I got plenty of the harsher part of the game in my other attempts and when venturing through the 10 dungeon levels. With Stealth, enemies don't attack me before me. With the Lance of Death, that means I win lol. And with walk through walls.... Tho maybe it's worth killing things to level up before the final fight cuz I don't think this stuff helps for it, plus it's all perm'd anyway lol. Hm, I read that genociding gives you the exp just not the loot, so I did spirit nagas since they give a lot of exp... Didn't seem like much tho maybe there just weren't many? Uff, V3. So ridiculous that there are still Pits /someone the Larn Discord warned me about those tho, and with 2 Scrolls of Enlightenment + walkthroughwalls I could avoid them but sheesh I can't imagine building a character and getting this far then falling to your death. So ridiculous that the Demon Lord is invisible, but I eventually found him. So ridiculous how hard he is to hit, thank goodness I had 2 Hold Monster Scrolls saved just for this plus all those perm'd buffs. I can't imagine beating this without crazy luck, but I suppose that's the way of a roguelike. And if I'm going to do a roguelike, this is the one--addictive, with a difficulty progression that encourages replays not just celebrates permadeath, not just because you can choose difficulty which is great (this was all on difficulty 0 lmao!!!) but also by having the mechanics very learnable.

Anyway, the fact I returned to this to beat it despite the difficulty and 20 attempts at that time; the fact, despite having so much to do today or like when I prolonged naptime etc., I kept purposefully prolonging my gameplay like I was set to just head to the end but convinced myself I needed to level up lol and wander around and see what Scrolls I find...; and the fact I did all this without thinking about other games or hobbies..... Yep, this deserves to be a favorite. This journey was a lot like Moon Patrol becoming a favorite. But bahaha, after all this, the ending is certainly a disappointing

Completion: Victory at Level 0 Playtime: ~17 hours

Preliminary: Wow, this is the most forgiving roguelike yet... like normally it's not even worth reading scrolls or potions cuz they're all randomized allegedly, yet seemingly randomized to hurt you lol. In this, it was different...

I mean I did wind up getting screwed by foul water in a fountain, but the rate was far more positive than negative compared to other early roguelikes (that seem built to kill you and be replayed over and over, not enjoyed). Plus, I wound up gaining a level soon after that (it was worth the risk fighting the next enemy despite my low health!) and unlike other roguelikes, leveling up heals you! Yes! This... this was supposed to be a quick playtest (it's playable in browser here), but this is really solid so far. I usually don't like roguelikes cuz the randomized elements but... this will be worth exploring. It has the Rogue ACII graphics, but this was open-source and UNIX related... hm

oh wait lol I just realized why it's being so forgiving: I chose lowest difficulty level lol >.< Turns out it is not... at all. (tho still better in terms of progression and difficulty level selection than any of the other Rogue-inspired games I've played so far) Just hoping there's a way to save...

Like with any RPG, there's a lot to explore here. There's an actual town, unlike in the original Rogue, and it seems I got enough from my first dungeon trip to sell and prep for another foray. If only I could save! I will have to properly play it soon.

Omg omg omg! I can save on the browser version! I love open-source games that are kept alive! (capital S saves). Looks like I will def be returning to this file and completing the game. We are going to see beyonce tomorrow so I can't tonight

Look: -/- (tho browser version would get an 8/10) Ah! Such a good feeling seeing a dungeon level (or volcano level) fully mapped out, with the nice color differentiation. As this is purely ASCII like Rogue, I don't think it's fair really to give a true Look rating. But specific to this browser version, I gotta give it credit for its usability, prettiness, and UI aspects. I dunno, they really did this well! It's sort of like how PLATO RPGs have been kept alive and they did such a good job with that too! People can be awesome sometimes.

After playing it for over 10 hours lol, I can say there are some lackings: as nice as the UI is, the repeated use of certain letters gets tacky without some sort of resource to reference. And when I saw the true original 1986 version, it was even less decipherable (this browser version adds colors and a better UI and lots of niceties). So I just wont rate the Look since it's ASCII, but the browser version would get an 8 despite the frustrations.

Play: 9/10 This is absolutely fascinating. So much to learn about this game. My excitement when I realized I could teleport with Shift+Z once I hit Level 10 :-p To think I normally don't like rogue-likes, but this has such a good progression to it (though you could start at high difficulty right away) and if I had the time (tho some day I hope to return to this with that extra time), I could keep replaying it and it forces higher difficulty as it goes (from what I've read, I only played through the one time). I love that this is turn-based, but the movement and interactions are SO immediate and fast-paced. It's immediate almost to a fault, like there's no confirmation when buying an item (which I love, cuz early RPGs obsesssss with confirmations and doublechecks and menus upon menus), but I could certainly see how that could cause a woopsie lol.

You would think that going down stairs would, well, land you on the stairs to go back up. But no such luck/logic >.< Still, this is the most fast-paced, responsive, playable RPG since the PLATO RPGs so I gotta give it credit, despite eventually giving up haha.

Feel: 9/10 The basic premise. I was hoping Home could be used as somewhere to store items in between trips into the dungeon but, as far as I've learned so far (and I love that this game, with its difficulty settings, allows for you to learn over time and makes it fun doing so), there is no such place to drop off items, tho of course Gold can be deposited in Bank (and accrue interest!) (pro-tip: you can drop stuff around town as a sort of storage for items) Oh, another pro-tip I learned the hard way on my second playthrough harshly: don't forget to use your Scroll of Stealth before going down the Volcanic Shaft at a low level lol. Instantly killed by a Green Dragon derp.

Glad it can save even on the browser and at first was disappointed it deletes save when you Load to avoid savescumming, but in the end, it felt right. Especially with the online leaderboard. This is so well-balanced and cool. If I weren't so close to maxing on OldSchool Runescape I could see myself delving really deep into this as an online world, especially with the multiple versions and open-source basis. Holy shit apparently I was really lucky with finding a Sword of Slashing on Level 1 (or was it Level 2... still), since it's Weapon class 35! Higher than the Lance of Death, but the Lance of Death has... a special one-shooter perk basically.

Ayyy it worked, I pulverized the naga and jumped to Level 12!

Took me a while to figure out how you get back out of the Volcano--it isn't the spot you came in at. Pro-tip: it's the capital V lol. And phew, barely made it out alive at Level 12 and with a Book to sell! welp shit, i learned a lot with this playthrough (the volcano stays the same, I thought maybe it's randomly generated each time you enter... i should've just gone to the dungeon since i was level 12 already)... RIP

The fact I immediately was eager to try again with a fresh character says so much. This hasn't happened yet with an RPG since the PLATO ones! Ah! I'm so excited. Here goes nothing... Annnnd after dying again, on my third try I'm over here like how do I get out of here? there's a pit and a trap that drops me down a level the 2 routes I can take back to the entrance lol

Ok phew we made it out

Darn after mapping the Volcanic Shaft this time, it's quite clear how lucky I was that first playthrough to get the Sword of Slashing and to be next to a naga I can pulverize... there aint even any books or chests on this first level this time argh

Finally about 7 tries later, I am level 12 again! and this time there are some Books on the first level of the Volcano ahhhh (edit: yes, I died soon after this writing lol)

Attachment: 9/10 Lol I just found out people can watch my game from the LarnTV :-p aka watch me slowly learning

Damn those Rust Monsters. Also, tacky that there are repeat symbols. Like I had to learn through trial and error which capital D's were doors and which were Dragons (big difference), or which capital P's were Purple Worms and which were Pits... Anyway, I said this would be my last try. This was about 13 attempts later (on Difficulty 0 lol). I didn't always try the Volcano Lottery method, I also tried just slowly moving down Dungeon levels (the slower way) but came upon Rust Monsters, or traps that dropped me to a lower level and got wrecked. This setup seems good to get to Level 12, tho it sucks for Books/Chests (so I'm not really doing the volcano lottery technique), but the good thing is this time I think I will leave at Level 12 and then just do the traditional/slow dungeon method. That's what I'm thinking. And luckily the exit (V) seems to have a path to it. Let's see if this works out for once after 22 attempts! (not using the shift+z teleport depsite level 12, just using that to be powerful lol, cuz uh, that's a scam. don't believe the hype always getting trapped in rock)

I sure wish I knew whether the gold D is... well what it is... despite claiming this will be my last one, as I get one step near a Red Dragon 9(still haven't discerned if they can see you no matter what while in Stealth and one step away), I'm already thinking "hm maybe next time I save up another 6k and buy 2 pulverization scrolls cuz that always seems to be the factor. Lol ugh. Why am I torturing myself. Welp I made it past that and that Book was looking very alluring... since I was able to senak past the Dragon shouldn't I be able to get that Book? lol this could be a mistake but hre goes nothing... (ohhh just read that opening doors can cause aggravate monster... here goes nothing) Phew! I made it out! Only one Book is like... well that's losing the Lottery lol but I made it out alive for once and at Level 12 and have one Book at least... not enough for the Lance of Death but... (oh wait, now i remember you can't buy multiple Scrolls of Pulverization anyway)

Ahhhh another Rust Monster and I have the stainless steal armorrrr the best in the game. Dumb you can't specify which Amour you want to Take off (T). Ahhh I just want to get back to the top of the world but I keep falling down traps and pits lol and running into Rust Monsters, I just wanna be done and nappp

6 rust monsters in one level (this wound up being the level I died on despite beign quite highly elveled and returning later).... bahaha then i get excited thinking i found the steps back up... nope the steps down... along with 3 pits... thanks... and welp I got up but... I thought I was trapped

But I made it out by going diagonal direction. Omg I'm almost past naptime but back to Level 2! I suppose I could quit amid this but nah. Omg made it out alive! To think that was only to Level 4 oo the dungeon.... albeit via pits/traps... I hope the time aspect of the game doesn't screw me, let me explore and struggle ha.

Welp, my character was very well-developed. I knew a lot of scrolls and potions, had a decent build yada yada.

I saw the Rust Monsters and prepped by taking off my very valuable Steel Armor (they eat your armor) and Spear. I open the door, little did I know the petty seeming lowercase d is a White Dragon soooo OP for Level 4 (in fact, according to the wiki they're not supposed to start appearing until Level 5)... tried to flee to my equipment, the Rust Monster and White Dragon followed, but alas dead again. And as addicting as this was, this time, I think it's time to move on :-p The fact I tried almost 20 times, played for hours and hours, says a lot. And tho I didn't beat it, it's a great Roguelike, the best I've seen so far, and motivated me to revisit Rogue.

Completion: Level 13 character with stainless steel plate armor Playtime: ~10 hours not sure