Hey,

Edited my first post that was here, because I did some searching and found out I want a genre like Dwarf Fortress. I liked MineCraft, but it's just not the full package.. Dwarf Fortress seems very complesx, but I can't get past the graphics.

What is a good alternative? I've seen Towns, is it somewhat compareable?

Greets

Get a job and play a casual game

You'll thank me later

Stay ontopic, I don't need comments as yours.

Already following college and have a job in the weekends.

Because the majority does it. When you join a random internet game, the chances are big you come across someone that has immense stats and rushes through content.

I know the game can be played singleplayer, but I prefer some multiplayer action.

Vendetta Online can be pretty Hard(tm) if you go looking for it.  I've heard it described as "hardcore" in a couple reviews, although from this gamer's perspective it feels just about right.

Of the three examples you gave, it probably falls along the lines of "Quake" more than anything else.  Some of the alpha players used to refer to Vendetta as SpaceQuake, affectionately.  It requires twitch skills: moderate reflexes combined with applied knowledge of weaponry and spatial awareness.  Developing a proficiency in combat takes about a month, mastery takes years (kind of like a martial art).  However, the first few ships you go up against shouldn't be very difficult at all.

There is a learning curve, and the game requires a subscription after the initial free download and trial (8 hours, accretionary, after leaving the training sector).  After that, the subscription rate is quite cheap... at the increments I buy in it costs me slightly less than 7 USD per month, it is 10 USD per month at its most expensive.  There is no cash shop.

To give you an idea of how intense combat can get, here is a video of myself attempting the mission "Corvus System Reconnaissance".  I am very proud of finishing this with ~17% health.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smsnwW3S_ZI

Check out the action after about the 6 minute or the 12 minute mark if you get anxious.  I am using a gamepad to control the ship.

I recommend giving the free trial a shot... and say hi if you see me in game.

MMOs: RIFT is like WoW and has hard modes - if you enjoyed WoW, chances are that you'll like this game too.  It even gets 3-faction PVP if you're into that.

Hack/slash: I strongly suggest sticking with TL2.  I agree that the whole console access thing can get a little crazy, but if you get friends to come in with you, you'll enjoy it a lot more.  You can always see if someone's willing to play with you on the runic games forum.  Diablo 3, IMO, still needs a lot of work (like the devs said).  TL2 is the first recent hack/slash that I actually got close to death quite a few times on.

Shooters:  Most of the difficulty from a shooter comes from other players.  Counter-Strike is known to be a fairly competitive game that's also easy to pick up - but then again, Team Fortress 2 also has a competitive scene (usually 6v6, sometimes 9v9).  In a shooter, you'll want to pick a game that's popular and that has some sort of competitive scene.  If you're really, REALLY into the e-sports shooter thing, ShootMania is basically tailored for competitive e-sports - when it comes out sometime this year.

If you wanted to put all the possibilities on the table, most games allow you to make your own difficulty depending on how many restrictions you put on yourself.

I'm sure you're aware of the Ironman challenge in WoW.  There's others like it - DDO has a few 'hardcore' communities where they delete their characters after they die.

You may want to consider Dead Island. It isn't an MMO per-se, but you can join with up to three other people to do stuff co-op. It has hack-slash, FPS and RPG elements, and if you aren't careful about what you're doing you could easily get mobbed and curb-stomped. Very atmospheric too. You'll need a bit of a beefy graphics card to play it on full detail though.

As for a true MMO that is hard, ever tried Eve Online? Believe me, if you push yourself to get into the more difficult areas of that (such as Nullsec), you'll be in for a level of tactical and logistical challenge unlike anything else.

Bump

Looking for a Dwarf Fortress alternative. Towns seems okay, but is it compareable?

Or perhaps someone has a very basic guide for Dwarf Fortress, but I find it hard to get along with the graphics :)

DF will never have "great" graphics, but there are plenty of texture packs that can bring it to like 8-bit NES level.  Check these out: 

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/v0.31:Graphics_set_repository

Also, there is a great program called Dwarf Therapist that is like the ultimate UI enhancement for DF.  It lets you see what all your dwarves are doing, what they want, etc. etc.  Here it is:

http://code.google.com/p/dwarftherapist/

Finally...I don't know how into graphics you are, but if you want a deep strategy game with lots of options to explore, there is Dominions 3.  It isn't good graphics, it's like 8-bit level as well:

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/DOM3/DOM3_page.html

Finally, you may want to give either Minecraft with mods (I know you didn't like vanilla, but mods can do a lot for the game) or Terrarria.

Enjoy!

if you want a dwarffortress game there are 2 that i have tried (they are single player buy now games with trials)

www.townsgame.com  and www.gnomoria.com

gnomoria is more of a DF style then towns, but towns is alot more advanced along patch wise so a tad more balanced/stable. both are indie games and fairly cheap. 

Originally posted by TisLars

Hey,

Edited my first post that was here, because I did some searching and found out I want a genre like Dwarf Fortress. I liked MineCraft, but it's just not the full package.. Dwarf Fortress seems very complesx, but I can't get past the graphics.

 

What is a good alternative? I've seen Towns, is it somewhat compareable?

 

Greets

hmm have you looked into the forums for D-Fortress?  there are graphic enhancements that make it kinda make it look like a nintendo-ish game.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php#c3

and the wiki?

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Main_Page

(EdiT:  sorry, just saw the current replies, nevermind then, nothing to see here)

:)

If you're looking for a good up-to-date tutorial for DF, there's a book out called "Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress". I honestly couldn't get more then an hour into playing without losing track of everything, but just got the book and haven't stopped playing in a good while. The book pretty much covers every little aspect of the game from hospitals to how to raise an army of war dogs.. Either way it's like $8 or you could just go online and get it a bit cheaper>.>

There's also Gnomoria, which is pretty much DF with better UI and controls. Just gotta wait for it to update to a point where it's not completely unplayable.

I see you already know about Towns, and Gnomoria has been suggested.

Besides that you could look into "A Game of Dwarves"

It should release in about 2 weeks by Paradox, i think i heard It'll be around 10$

It might not be as complex, I'm assuming it won't be, but It'll probably be a similar genre.