Final Fantasy XIII

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Rougelikes are not defined by a lack of towns. Many have towns full of NPCs, shops, and quest. They are actually about surviving randomized situations in turn based combat. And they are not unpopular because people hate dungeons; That can be blamed on the steep learning curves and perma-death.

The Western notion of roguelikes is actually based on death anyway. The goal is seldom to beat the game, because that's unlikely to happen, but to make it as far as you can and die in the most creative way possible. What the games do is give you a whole lot of options, with dozens of races and classes and weapons and skills, so that you can always find a new way to play. But yes, having steep learning curves and ascii graphics doesn't help with popularity, but since all the best ones are free anyway it's not that big of a deal.

 

[Jaxel]

The Western notion of roguelikes is actually based on death anyway. The goal is seldom to beat the game, because that's unlikely to happen, but to make it as far as you can and die in the most creative way possible. What the games do is give you a whole lot of options, with dozens of races and classes and weapons and skills, so that you can always find a new way to play. But yes, having steep learning curves and ascii graphics doesn't help with popularity, but since all the best ones are free anyway it's not that big of a deal.

I think you guys are too held up on the original Rogue game. Rouge-likes have changed over the years, they don't have ascii graphics anymore, and they don't generally have such a high learning curve. Not to mention, permadeath is no longer a staple of the genre. What generally defines a game as a rogue-like is the traversal of endless dungeons; while yes, in FFXIII the dungeons are not endless, I was simply stating that the game is MORE like a rogue-like than a traditional JRPG.

Examples of Roguelikes:
Torchlight
Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon
Final Fantasy Chocobo's Dungeon
Izuno: Legend of the Ninja
.hack Series
Tower of Druaga
Dark Cloud
Baroque
Shiren the Wanderer
Fatal Labrynth

 

[Kvasir]

I only consider a game a rougelike if it's randomized (at least as far as encountering enemies) and turn-based. Why do you think action rpgs belong to the genre?

 

[Dullyanna]

imho Diablo is a roguelite

SEE WHAT I DID THERE?

 

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Those are all Japanese interpretations of rougelikes. Traditional Western rouge-likes are still mostly ascii, with graphical tile mods available, but they're user created. Exceptions are popular ones like Stone Soup, but even that game has a traditional ascii mode. It's not like the Japanese have taken over and evolved the genre: Western roguelikes are still popular and they're being continually updated and supported. You can find a decent list here.

The most important parts of roguelikes, though, are randomization and permadeath, and 99% of them are turn-based dungeon crawls (but not endless dungeons). This is why a game like Spelunky should qualify, because even though it's a platformer, every part of the game is randomized each play, and it has permadeath.

The reason FFXIII wouldn't qualify is because it's NOT random. Every play is the same. Even Diablo is a better candidate because at least it has random map sets and mob types.