When comparing Tales of Maj'Eyal vs Rogue Legacy, the Slant community recommends Tales of Maj'Eyal for most people. In the question“What are the best roguelikes/roguelites on PC?” Tales of Maj'Eyal is ranked 10th while Rogue Legacy is ranked 18th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro A lot of depth through many character classes and quests
Pro Pretty polished compared to other open source games
Pro Easier to learn than some other roguelikes
The graphical menu system helps a lot.
Pro Built-in but optional chat system for bragging or when you get lost
Pro Lineage affects gameplay in an interesting way
Rogue Legacy has an interesting mechanic where each play-through is with a new descendant from the previous character, and they each have various traits and disabilities they inherit that effect how they play.
Pro Tons of replayability through procedurally generated levels
Rogue Legacy has procedurally generated levels, which means every time a player restarts the game it will be a different experience that plays out making for a ton of replayability.
Pro You don't lose purchased loot
The upgrade system in Rogue Legacy works by spending the money you gained in the last level (you lose all your money when you start a new one), with upgrades passing down through generations by being either upgrades to the family manor, or family heirlooms. This way even when the player dies (which happens a lot) the player will not loose their purchased items allowing them to continue without starting completely over.
Pro Lots of upgrades to buy
The upgrade system in Rogue Legacy works by spending the money you gained in the last level (you lose all your money when you start a new one), with upgrades passing down through generations by being either upgrades to the family manor, or family heirlooms.
Cons
Con Bad balancing
Not all classes are balanced. Some are clearly weaker. As an example, every class that can summon, cannot avoid their summons to waste their skills. This is not important, except if you only have 1 summon, like the alchemist, that often charges you.
Con LUA bugs
It depends on LUA for many (if not most) things, this could ease the development, but in the end, the result is several crashes which are hard to debug.
Con Heavy resource need
Lots of graphics effects, which may make the game run slower on older systems.
Con Graphics may not appeal to everyone
Mostly because they are a mix of styles assembled throughout the lifetime of the project instead of one consistent whole.
Con Repetitive gameplay
Upgraded monsters are just palette shifts of old monsters that throw more projectiles. Even with the upgrade tree and armor/runes, the game always feels the same.