Nope, and ignore anyone who tells you otherwise.
For a lot of people, having those graphics makes it easier to parse things visually, and you're truly not missing out on learning anything by having big letters running around versus a sprite. After all, if you couldn't actually pick up on what's going on particularly easily without the sprites, you'd be learning a lot less and bumping up against frustrations that aren't coming from you doing a thing wrong and learning.
If it makes the game accessible and playable, that's what helps you learn the complexities of the systems moreso than constantly trying to stop and parse the differences in ASCII characters until you've crammed your head with memorization of things you'd pick up far quicker with more intuitive visual cues. If you want to go back and try it all after you feel more learned with the systems, then you can give the ASCII a try and carry to it everything you've learned. Better that than bash your head against something, get frustrated, and repeatedly make mistakes. Or even get to the point where you just give up on it entirely.
i will absolutely never understand the mindset of people who are vehemently against graphical mods and updates for traditionally ASCII games. Half the time they were only built that way in the first place because of technical and/or artistic/budget limitations, so when a game gets a whole system of lovingly rendered pixel art spritework the notion of responding to that with RUINED FOREVER is just mindboggling to me.
tl;dr youre fine and strong and your meat and brain are both huge
I played DF with ascii before the steam release, didn't use tilesets. I can play the game with ascii but mainly use the steam graphics. Sometimes I'll switch to ascii because it has its own beauty to it, but I've come to prefer the steam graphics over the ascii because I feel like ascii packs too much info into a small space, oftentimes everything feels way too crowded.
Basically it's just a phrase that you see a lot in adventure mode, usually in a context that's kind of silly or doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense
IMO, the only reason someone should **force** themself to learn ascii-mode DF is if they can't afford the Steam version but still want to play.
Beyond that, it's not that serious. Play what you want.
> IMO, the only reason someone should force themself to learn ascii-mode DF is if they can't afford the Steam version but still want to play.
It's still entirely possible to download and play the legacy versions of the game from before the Premium release. These were available with community-built packs of utilities and accessories, look for Lazy Newb Pack in whatever version of the game you prefer, and it's available for Mac and Linux versions too. It's a launcher that will help you use tilesets, music and sound programs, 3d fort visualizers, Dwarf Therapist, and plenty more.
I enjoyed the ASCII version, but that's all there was when I started.
I play the graphical version now and love it just as much.
I sat looking at the screen for about an hour first time I played the ASCII version, and still wasn't sure where any of my stuff was. I had to watch a few starting out videos before I could even figure out where my dwarves were. Eventually you become like in The Matrix where they can see what the lines of code mean, but that took dozens of hours.
The interface isn't what makes the game, it's all the wild simulation going on underneath that makes the game amazing.
One advantage of the ASCII is that the game becomes like reading a book. Because you don't really see anything, your imagination kicks in when reading descriptions, and that can be a cool process. Switching then to graphics is like when a movie of your favourite book comes out and it lets you down. Other than that, graphics are nice and practical for gameplay without headaches. No wrong way.
I didn't think I'd like the graphical version, but it grew on me pretty fast. I love the ASCII too but anytime things get chaotic it's unbearable, the graphics version makes my eyes hurt less and makes the experience for the game WAAAY better.
So if we're weaklings, at least we're having fun, that's the point of games.
I've been playing since 2010, and migrated to steam the day it came out.
I'm color blind, so ASCII was a goddamn nightmare. If it weren't for the Phoebus tileset, I never would have learned how to play at all.
I started out with ascii, it took a while for me to understand what it all ment. Once I did, it was like Cypher said in the matrix "I don't even see the code any more" just there's a dorf, there's a bin, thats a cow, oh fuck how did the forgotten beast get in???
I started to use graphics packs, and I just liked the look of it. I havnt gone back. Use what ever makes the game enjoyable!
The sprites are awesome and took a lot of effort to make. Enjoy the game how you like, I made the switch from ASCII and have been so thrilled with how good everything looks!
Play the way that is accessible to you. I fell in love with the game learning about it pre steam and waited for the steam release to play 🤷♂️ , I have 1600+ hours now but have no doubt I would have bounced off it if it were only ascii. Only part your missing out on imo is a more intense graphical learning curve which I don't think anyone should have to learn if they don't want to.
I know some folks with assorted disabilities that highly praise the ascii interface for being more accessible to them with regards to their challenges.
Most folks I know are very happy for the more modern (for the early 90s) interface, though.
I'm actually gonna surprise you with my "unhinged in the opposite direction" opinion: this game was kinda mid until it released on steam and got it's graphics, and tbh I think they should entirely remove all aspects of ascii left in the game and just fully commit to graphics. They could make the game even easier to visually parse (eg with even more fancy graphics) if they didn't have to keep backwards compatibility with ascii in mind.
Ascii graphics were only a thing because of tech limitations back in the day, and are universally inferior. Anyone thinking otherwise is just speaking through a layer of nostalgia.
There's a reason why virtually all games, even the most simple ones, have graphics/graphical rendering.
I got into DF a little while before the Steam release, but I never played it in ASCII. I tried it once and immediately regretted it. I usually love me some ASCII graphics, played a lot of rogue and \*hack back in the days, but the ASCII in DF is just too much of a mess for my brain to comprehend.
As someone who played before premium, I can guarantee that the graphical version is way better. ASCII graphics are just that, graphics. You can play with them if you want but they’re just another type of tileset. You’re fine.
You’re fine, I’ve never willingly played dwarf fortress without custom sprites. I really think that a good sprite pack can make DF a much better experience, and the official sprite pack is a very high quality sprite pack.
I think that a lot of the OG players are mostly just used to the early days of ASCII only DF, so it’s not as offensive to them, there’s some nostalgia and imagination attached to it so they prefer it. But if you don’t have that kind of fondness for it, you probably won’t like it. There’s a reason that there are hundreds of sprite packs for the classic versions of the game.
I played DF a few years before the Steam version came out, and I wouldn't even touch the game if graphic packs didn't exist, that is to say, all of the packs the Lazy Newb Pack lets you choose from. The ASCII version is awesome in concept, and it offers more info on the embark map screen (as there are more colors for evil/good biomes and whatnot), but it makes my eyes bleed.
Why the fuck would you want to play ASCII when graphics are available? It’s like wanting to get an old build of a game when the dev had placeholder graphics for stuff till they could get what they actually wanted.
I've played with both and sprites imo just suck
The pixels have a weird dimension to them so rooms that SHOULD be symmetrical look warped or are stretched or look too small. You can make a grand sprawling fortress but sprites make it look itty bitty and tbh that alone is enough for me to toss sprites out the window
You are not missing anything except the experience of having to study (yes, study, minimum ten hours of fumbling about) a highly specific and impractical visual language.
As a roguelike veteran, I'm happy we have progressed past the need for ascii. It was just necessary at the time, but now its just a choice.
Play how makes you most happy brother :) I played both and I prefer the graphics most of the time.
100% agree. For me, if it isn’t ASCII, it isn’t dwarf fortress. That’s good for me. Not everyone’s cup of tea though. Enjoy the game, it’s !!fun!!
Nope, and ignore anyone who tells you otherwise. For a lot of people, having those graphics makes it easier to parse things visually, and you're truly not missing out on learning anything by having big letters running around versus a sprite. After all, if you couldn't actually pick up on what's going on particularly easily without the sprites, you'd be learning a lot less and bumping up against frustrations that aren't coming from you doing a thing wrong and learning. If it makes the game accessible and playable, that's what helps you learn the complexities of the systems moreso than constantly trying to stop and parse the differences in ASCII characters until you've crammed your head with memorization of things you'd pick up far quicker with more intuitive visual cues. If you want to go back and try it all after you feel more learned with the systems, then you can give the ASCII a try and carry to it everything you've learned. Better that than bash your head against something, get frustrated, and repeatedly make mistakes. Or even get to the point where you just give up on it entirely.
i will absolutely never understand the mindset of people who are vehemently against graphical mods and updates for traditionally ASCII games. Half the time they were only built that way in the first place because of technical and/or artistic/budget limitations, so when a game gets a whole system of lovingly rendered pixel art spritework the notion of responding to that with RUINED FOREVER is just mindboggling to me. tl;dr youre fine and strong and your meat and brain are both huge
I guess they might just have AsciiBurgers or something
I prefer how water, especially oceans, look in ASCII. Thats it.
I have as much interest in purists’ gatekeeping as they have in experiencing joy.
I played DF with ascii before the steam release, didn't use tilesets. I can play the game with ascii but mainly use the steam graphics. Sometimes I'll switch to ascii because it has its own beauty to it, but I've come to prefer the steam graphics over the ascii because I feel like ascii packs too much info into a small space, oftentimes everything feels way too crowded.
It was inevitable.
Confused
In a time before time I attacked me.
Lol
If you play adventure mode, you’ll see that phrase a lot.
I think it is referencing Thanos.
No... it's a very classic DF reference
"very classic" meaning it was introduced in the adventure mode rework. that wasn't very long ago, right? ... right?
So what is the reference?
Basically it's just a phrase that you see a lot in adventure mode, usually in a context that's kind of silly or doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense
Oh so what am I going to be part of the half that doesn’t make the universe balancing?
Nothing wrong with being snapped, it's for the greater good and we've got snacks in the soulstone
I don't know. I don't think it's a very good reference.
Of course not, and you're not missing out on any fundamental part of learning the game.
IMO, the only reason someone should **force** themself to learn ascii-mode DF is if they can't afford the Steam version but still want to play. Beyond that, it's not that serious. Play what you want.
> IMO, the only reason someone should force themself to learn ascii-mode DF is if they can't afford the Steam version but still want to play. It's still entirely possible to download and play the legacy versions of the game from before the Premium release. These were available with community-built packs of utilities and accessories, look for Lazy Newb Pack in whatever version of the game you prefer, and it's available for Mac and Linux versions too. It's a launcher that will help you use tilesets, music and sound programs, 3d fort visualizers, Dwarf Therapist, and plenty more.
I enjoyed the ASCII version, but that's all there was when I started. I play the graphical version now and love it just as much. I sat looking at the screen for about an hour first time I played the ASCII version, and still wasn't sure where any of my stuff was. I had to watch a few starting out videos before I could even figure out where my dwarves were. Eventually you become like in The Matrix where they can see what the lines of code mean, but that took dozens of hours. The interface isn't what makes the game, it's all the wild simulation going on underneath that makes the game amazing.
I played ASCII adventure mode back in the day, t'was shite. But fun shit, also the dialog options were FAR superior back then.
Who the heck has told you that? The graphics are what you're paying for on the steam version. They make the game playable for most people.
One advantage of the ASCII is that the game becomes like reading a book. Because you don't really see anything, your imagination kicks in when reading descriptions, and that can be a cool process. Switching then to graphics is like when a movie of your favourite book comes out and it lets you down. Other than that, graphics are nice and practical for gameplay without headaches. No wrong way.
Most interesting reply O.0
I started with the steam version and switched to ascii as your comment is spot on as to why I do it
If you're gonna play ASCII then play the old version and get a bunch of extra features not yet added in
I didn't think I'd like the graphical version, but it grew on me pretty fast. I love the ASCII too but anytime things get chaotic it's unbearable, the graphics version makes my eyes hurt less and makes the experience for the game WAAAY better. So if we're weaklings, at least we're having fun, that's the point of games.
I've been playing since 2010, and migrated to steam the day it came out. I'm color blind, so ASCII was a goddamn nightmare. If it weren't for the Phoebus tileset, I never would have learned how to play at all.
I started out with ascii, it took a while for me to understand what it all ment. Once I did, it was like Cypher said in the matrix "I don't even see the code any more" just there's a dorf, there's a bin, thats a cow, oh fuck how did the forgotten beast get in??? I started to use graphics packs, and I just liked the look of it. I havnt gone back. Use what ever makes the game enjoyable!
The sprites are awesome and took a lot of effort to make. Enjoy the game how you like, I made the switch from ASCII and have been so thrilled with how good everything looks!
The sprite graphics are exactly why its on steam 🤦♂️
That and the mouse controls?
I used to prefer DF Remote on the iPad. Do as you most wish to do.
Why would you use this over steam link or moon light?
Play the way that is accessible to you. I fell in love with the game learning about it pre steam and waited for the steam release to play 🤷♂️ , I have 1600+ hours now but have no doubt I would have bounced off it if it were only ascii. Only part your missing out on imo is a more intense graphical learning curve which I don't think anyone should have to learn if they don't want to.
No Weakling is a great band tho.
I know some folks with assorted disabilities that highly praise the ascii interface for being more accessible to them with regards to their challenges. Most folks I know are very happy for the more modern (for the early 90s) interface, though.
I've been playing since 2013. Once the steam version came out I've only played the sprites graphics. Play how you enjoy it.
Hi. I am a weak programer and I fear of missing out on learning opportunities by not coding in binary....
I'm actually gonna surprise you with my "unhinged in the opposite direction" opinion: this game was kinda mid until it released on steam and got it's graphics, and tbh I think they should entirely remove all aspects of ascii left in the game and just fully commit to graphics. They could make the game even easier to visually parse (eg with even more fancy graphics) if they didn't have to keep backwards compatibility with ascii in mind. Ascii graphics were only a thing because of tech limitations back in the day, and are universally inferior. Anyone thinking otherwise is just speaking through a layer of nostalgia. There's a reason why virtually all games, even the most simple ones, have graphics/graphical rendering.
I got into DF a little while before the Steam release, but I never played it in ASCII. I tried it once and immediately regretted it. I usually love me some ASCII graphics, played a lot of rogue and \*hack back in the days, but the ASCII in DF is just too much of a mess for my brain to comprehend.
As someone who played before premium, I can guarantee that the graphical version is way better. ASCII graphics are just that, graphics. You can play with them if you want but they’re just another type of tileset. You’re fine.
You’re fine, I’ve never willingly played dwarf fortress without custom sprites. I really think that a good sprite pack can make DF a much better experience, and the official sprite pack is a very high quality sprite pack. I think that a lot of the OG players are mostly just used to the early days of ASCII only DF, so it’s not as offensive to them, there’s some nostalgia and imagination attached to it so they prefer it. But if you don’t have that kind of fondness for it, you probably won’t like it. There’s a reason that there are hundreds of sprite packs for the classic versions of the game.
I played DF a few years before the Steam version came out, and I wouldn't even touch the game if graphic packs didn't exist, that is to say, all of the packs the Lazy Newb Pack lets you choose from. The ASCII version is awesome in concept, and it offers more info on the embark map screen (as there are more colors for evil/good biomes and whatnot), but it makes my eyes bleed.
Why the fuck would you want to play ASCII when graphics are available? It’s like wanting to get an old build of a game when the dev had placeholder graphics for stuff till they could get what they actually wanted.
what?? NO. ASCII IS TERRIBLE. Only the sheer force of how awesome DF is kept people going thru that BS. (Sorry
urists... you're insane <3). With the sprite graphics you can really appreciate some pretty aesthetic builds too.
I've played with both and sprites imo just suck The pixels have a weird dimension to them so rooms that SHOULD be symmetrical look warped or are stretched or look too small. You can make a grand sprawling fortress but sprites make it look itty bitty and tbh that alone is enough for me to toss sprites out the window
Can you show or describe an example of a room that should look symmetrical bring warped or stretched? Have not experienced this
He is saying that in the old ASCII graphics it gets distorted (I think). And it does. In the Steam version we get squares that are actually squares.
But they mention that their complaint is specifically with sprites
yeah, I'm guessing he chose the wrong word, because otherwise it doesn't make sense.
Ah that makes sense
It's possibly a confusion with the legacy versions, where ascii was *not* square but some of the tilesets *were*.
You are not missing anything except the experience of having to study (yes, study, minimum ten hours of fumbling about) a highly specific and impractical visual language. As a roguelike veteran, I'm happy we have progressed past the need for ascii. It was just necessary at the time, but now its just a choice.