Tales of Maj'eyal similarity to PoE?

To me, I felt a strong similarity between ToME and PoE, so I'm wondering if its just because I played them both fairly recently, or if its something real. I'm not entirely sure why I get a feeling of similarity between the two, and why PoE feels more similar to ToME than it does to Diablo2 for instance, or any of the other roguelikes I've played. At any rate, there are some particular things to note, even though they are found in many games:
Large amounts of trash mobs which you cut through effortlessly, interspersed with the occasional special one with a bunch of random bonuses that ends up very dangerous. Only bosses and specials are of any real consequence.

Tons of item drops (at least on higher difficulties in ToME); so-called 'rares' and such drop like candy. Takes awhile to sift through them, occasionally a useful improvement is found, but not often, at least at the higher levels.

Large and complicated trees for character development, lots and lots of character options.

but many of these things are found in a lot of games, which makes me wonder whether there really is a significant similarity or if its just my imagination. There are also I'm sure some other characteristics and similarities I haven't mentioned which could explain it.

what? They are two completely different style of games...

I know; yet they 'feel' so similar to me, so I'm wondering why. I also wouldn't say they're completely different styles of game; they're both PvE aimed rpgs focused on character builds and finding good items (as opposed to ones where the plot is more of a selling point). that's a fairly common genre I know; but they're not so dissimilar as say PoE and mario kart.

I have around 250hrs in ToME, and I spent some time with its predecessor Tales of Middle Earth as well. I've never found myself thinking how similar it is to PoE though. There are some surface similarities, sure, but that's just as true of plenty of other games as it is with PoE. Even more so in many cases.

I feel it has more in common with Diablo 1, which was very heavily inspired by the Rogue-likes that ToME is itself a direct descendant of. Some aspects of the game also give off some Ultima and SSI Gold Box vibes, particularly where combat is concerned.

But aside from a few semi-modern gameplay elements and a graphical interface rather than ASCII, it's still very much a Rogue-like at its core.

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aggromagnet wrote:

But aside from a few semi-modern gameplay elements and a graphical interface rather than ASCII, it's still very much a Rogue-like at its core.

Sometimes I miss the ASCII. It was easier on my eyes.

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FarmerTed wrote:

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aggromagnet wrote:

But aside from a few semi-modern gameplay elements and a graphical interface rather than ASCII, it's still very much a Rogue-like at its core.

Sometimes I miss the ASCII. It was easier on my eyes.

ToME can be changed to use ASCII somewhere in the options. At least the gameworld can be. Some UI elements retain their graphics, IIRC. There are even some mods to change the ASCII template the game uses, though I don't know if those are kept updated and working.

Actually, I have a copy of Zangband (or similar program) on each of my computers.

I was running the previous version of ToME on my phone until it died. I couldn't find a new phone with a QWERTY keyboard, so I had to give that up :(

I haven't played the new ToME, but I think the roguelikes are a little closer to POE than other ARPG's. Crafting in roguelikes was pretty nonexistent, and in POE, crafting anything that is much of an upgrade is beyond most players. So in both games, you're pretty much praying for something useful to drop, knowing it probably won't.