Why Is This Called a Roguelike?

[Net]

I started playing this game a few days ago, and I have one question. Besides the battle system, Andor's Trail doesn't seem any different than a normal RPG, so why are we calling it a roguelike? Characters require some planning, but there doesn't otherwise seem to be a lot of skill involved. There is no permadeath and the only penalty for dying can (eventually) be cancelled out with perks. There aren't any traps, at least not in the first few dungeons, and enemies are usually pretty straight-forward. Gameplay seems more reliant on monster drops than simply "finding" good equipment. There even seems to be a pretty heavy grind, which I'm not accustomed to seeing in any game that proclaims to be a roguelike.

Basically, how is this really any different from playing something like Fallout 1? Most every RPG has dungeons, but not every dungeon-crawler is a roguelike.

EDIT: I also forgot to mention the on-the-spot save feature. Isn't this, at best, a roguelite?

[ctnbeh13]

While this is probably a question specifically for the author to field, I did find a lot of variance in what is considered roguelike, by different websites, groups, and organizations.

Thanks for submitting such a question, as the search to better understand the variance in interpretation yielded a handful of sites that Andor's Trail should probably be introduced to.

[Net]

While this is probably a question specifically for the author to field, I did find a lot of variance in what is considered roguelike, by different websites, groups, and organizations.

Thanks for submitting such a question, as the search to better understand the variance in interpretation yielded a handful of sites that Andor's Trail should probably be introduced to.

Heh, if I looked at other websites before making my post I would have been able to come up with a lot more reasons as to why I don't think this is a roguelike. After reading some of the entry for it on wikipedia, I found out that the term "roguelike" can have different interpretations. The one that most closely fits what I think of when I hear "roguelike" is the "Berlin interpretation".

What I originally thought of when writing the post was roguelike games I had played, most specifically Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (DS version). In comparison, you can see why I don't think Andor's Trail fits the description. Dungeons are static, death is a small setback, most of the game takes place above-ground, you can easily flee any fight that doesn't kill you in one hit, you can save anywhere, and there's more emphasis on weapons and armor rather than items such as scrolls or magic staffs.

The thing is, I'm still at the beginning of the game. That's why I came to the forums. Does Andor's Trail get more similar to a roguelike later in the game, somehow? Even modern "roguelike" games tend to at least have randomized dungeons and faster start-ups. Upon doing a forum search here, though, no one seems to have questioned this.

[valshaq]

Andor's Trail does not have permanent death and no random dungeons. I think the main rogue-likeness is that it depends on stats you can improve heavily while playing.
I don't think it matters that much, though. Andor's Trail is a great game.

[fiernaq]

Coming from roguelike games like ADOM and NetHack, I can see your point. I wouldn't consider AT to be a roguelike game. RPG, certainly, but not roguelike.

[Flaming]

AT is more of an RPG than a rouge like. No permadeath, no substantial penalty, and fully negatable losses.

For this game to be a rouge like it would have to get rid of failure mastery, have equipment loss or die altogether.