So I'm a bit confused on the term "Roguelike". I've heard it said that they are old-style western RPGS with randomly generated dungeons.
But then I've also heard people group PC-style action-RPGs like Diablo and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance into this category.
Can someone clarify this for me?
"Roguelike" comes from the game "Rogue"...
...it's origin & meaning are, quite literally, *that* simple (as in 'A Game That's Like ROGUE').
While it's true that the original game Rogue was developed in the West...over the years - it has lost that connotation of being strictly limited to Western games; as there are now also plenty of roguelikes that are developed, popular, and played in Japan/the East.
Mainly, some common elements shared by roguelikes would/could be:
- steep learning curves,
- Permadeath,
- dungeon crawling & randomly generated dungeons,
- losing all EXP, loot, money, and levels gained upon dying,
- starting over at level one when you die and/or leave / re-enter a dungeon, etc.
The game that I'm playing now (The Guided Fate Paradox) is a modern roguelike.
Some other better known roguelikes would include Azure Dreams & the Pokemon: Mystery Dungeon games.