How long did it take you to win ADOM?

[ivoryknight]

I'm a newbie to this game, and have had many frustrating deaths so far. I was wondering if I'm just really bad at this game, or if it does take an eternity to win it? Could everyone tell me how many characters they went through before winning, how game turns it took, and how long (in real-time) it took to complete the game?

[psy_wombats]

Ugh... This is certainly a tough game to get into, but it's very rewarding once you do. I'd estimate I burned through about 50 characters before really getting started (into the CoC a few levels) and then another fifty until the ToEF. But the first to clear the tower made it all the way. Elven priest. They're pretty awesome.

The guidebook helps a lot if you don't mind spoilers. Or just read the "Whole-game issues" section.

[Silfir]

I probably had about 1500 dead PCs until I won. So yes, it can take a while. I've lost a lot of those PCs trying to get through the game unspoiled. I did have roguelike experience - the first roguelike I ever played was Castle of the Winds, and I finished the first part of that before I even heard of ADOM, but that one is a) a lot easier b) allowed saving. At that point I had never even heard of the term roguelike - I hadn't even had English in school.

[Laukku]

how long (in real-time) it took to complete the game?

With one particular character or "How long you had played ADOM before winning" ?

Well, it takes maybe a week to get a PC from start to YAPV, and I had played ADOM seriously only for a year (not counting a couple of months of no play) before finally winning.

[DeSt]

Well, it takes maybe a week to get a PC from start to YAPV, and I had played ADOM seriously only for a year (not counting a couple of months of no play) before finally winning.

Only one(ULE) of mine victories taken more than 2 days.

4 mouths and >400 PCs 'till first victory - HE archer, no luck, just freaking powerful.

[gut]

I stayed away from spoilers for a very long time, but save scummed
from the very start. I was actually young (dumb) enough to think that
I had discovered something quite clever unique : ) I don't recall how
many PC's I killed before getting a win, but if you count save-scum
deaths... it was probably > 1000 : ) Don't be in a rush, as far as PC
deaths are concerned. You are MEANT to kill lots of elve- I mean
characters : ) There are some, OK 1, location in the game that is only
available AFTER you kill off 100 elv- I mean PC's.

Playing the game with no knowledge of herbs was the biggest handicap
of staying unspoiled. If you want to stay unspoiled and yet have a
decent chance of winning, I say discovering the uses of herbs is the best
way.

These days, I can beat a game of ADOM in ~9 hours of game play. That's
only with spellcasters though (mainly wizards), melee classes naturally take
longer. As for game turns, well, the whole game CAN be beaten in ~16,000
moves, but it ain't easy : )

[Grey]

8 years it took me to get my first victory. 8 painful years. Was worth it in the end though Admittedly I wasn't constantly playing during those years, and much of the time I was playing challenge games instead of the real thing, and I did have some very close calls (including one PC that killed the Elder Chaos God but died straight after). Taking part more in the online forums gave me more motivation to actually take the game more seriously, as well as giving me more useful info on the game.

[Molach]

Agreed. Do not consider all your deaths "Bad luck that made me not win" but rather "Learning experiences which will make me a better player, so I will win later".

I filled at least one high-score list with hapless adventurers before getting close to winning anything.
Now, given proper care and loving to my new characters, I'd say I can win well over 50% of all games I start. That is without illegal tactics or bug-abuse.

So keep dying, get better, and then rule the world.

There really is no such thing as bad luck. Just ....*very* bad luck can kill you.

[Silfir]

Skill is about increasing the badness level of luck that will lead to your death.

In other words, you learn from mistakes in ADOM. Savescumming takes away the need to learn from mistakes, and will thus encourage an unsafe playstyle - repeatedly headbutting into obstacles until you by some stroke of luck break through them, instead of building up the strength and acquiring the tools to remove or circumvent the obstacle. Savescumming is fine if you want to see places so you are better prepared if you visit them with a non-savescum character, but personally I think it's never too early to stop doing it. As long as you stay motivated to try and try over again...

[tapi]

I started playing in 1999 and won for the first time without savescumming in 2005. I was only 12 when I started so it took quite a lot time to learn the basic stuff, when i found the guidebook it obviously sped up the process quite a lot.