I have. I've ascended four times over about 18 years of (non-continuous) playing. And without resorting to the use of Elbereth. For those who don't know, you can engrave "Elbereth" on the ground, and most monsters will refrain from killing you. I considered it a cheat, so I never used it.
After a while, you tend to get really good at the game and it becomes much easier. The trick is not to do something stupid. If you can prevent yourself from doing that, all you need is a fair amount of luck and patience, and you'll make it to the end.
The problem is not doing anything stupid. For example, for me it was common to die while attacking an enemy, or usually multiple ones in a swarm, even though I had the items to escape them right there in my inventory. A simple zap with a wand of digging and you'll drop to the level below and make your escape.
After a while, if I got myself in a pickle, I'd just open the inventory screen, read through it a few times, go for a cup of tea or a good night's sleep. When I figured out a solution, I would continue the game. It is, after all, turn based so there is no hurry.
> The trick is not to do something stupid. If you can prevent yourself from doing that, all you need is a fair amount of luck and patience
This is why I never got that far in NH. It inevitably killed me, are there was just far too much tedium involved. I greatly prefer Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup[1] over it. DCSS felt like it didn't require you to have encyclopedia-level knowledge of the game, and most deaths, if they felt like stupid mistakes, were because I overestimated my character's abilities and did not retreat when I had the chance. But I had the chance.
(I've retrieved the Orb of Zot, but not ascended with the amulet, so there's that, too. Also DCSS has absolutely beautiful graphics.)
"“There has been some complaints about how we ‘broke’ the game when the Elbereth nerfing was found out," he says. "But I consider the old E behaviour to be the broken one -- it was just too strong and exploitable. Some people have even said they will not update to the newest version, which is of course their prerogative"
Sounds like playing Spelunky. "Of course throwing the rock upwards is a risky and stupid idea, why did I try to do it again?" But there, the time is working against you so no breaks... One day I'll stop throwing stuff, running near spikes, angering shop keepers, running into bones, and all the other stupid stuff and maybe finally win!
After a while, you tend to get really good at the game and it becomes much easier. The trick is not to do something stupid. If you can prevent yourself from doing that, all you need is a fair amount of luck and patience, and you'll make it to the end.
The problem is not doing anything stupid. For example, for me it was common to die while attacking an enemy, or usually multiple ones in a swarm, even though I had the items to escape them right there in my inventory. A simple zap with a wand of digging and you'll drop to the level below and make your escape.
After a while, if I got myself in a pickle, I'd just open the inventory screen, read through it a few times, go for a cup of tea or a good night's sleep. When I figured out a solution, I would continue the game. It is, after all, turn based so there is no hurry.
It's great fun.