I may be well off line here, but what is the point of creating / equiping uber weapons then going out and killing everything in the game? Imho, the designers of the game put the weapons/stats/abilities into the game to ensure it has balance and represents a challenge to all playstyles.

To equip a +5 weapon and hack the game so there is no challenge any more just does not float my boat ;)

Now, Mouse, I didn't hack it, I found it in a module that my son, Piestrider created. Anyway, <font color=lavender>Galadria's cleric, Viconia DeVir</font> is going around with the Mace of Disruption +5 that she got in the smithy at Beorunna's Well. Piestrider really wanted me to use it, and my 19th level Paladin was the only one with high enough Level to use it. (Level 19 required) You should see the Carsomyr that he made, so tough that you had to be Level 23 to use it. :D

Fair enough. It's just a thought that I have in relation to games and their longevity. My basic rule of thumb is that if I feel I want to hack a game to get enjoyment out of it, then the game has a basic deficiency.

To elaborate, original Diablo and the Hellfire expansion were, imho, perfectly balanced in so far as they had an enduring balance between the player and his stats and the difficulty of the game. Darkstone was another example of a game where the challenge of the game matched the experience of the player.

However, I never connected with D2 the same way and had no problem using an item extractor to get me the equipment I wanted.

In short I would say this - a truly classic game is one where you can play it time and time again within the parameters of the designers. If you have to go outwith these limits via third party programmes, them it's an indication that the original product was lacking.

Just my [img]graemlins/twocents.gif[/img]

[ 10-11-2002, 05:49 PM: Message edited by: Mouse ]

Yes, you were the Moderator of the Darkstone forum, weren't you? That was the first 3-D game that I ever played. I played it some, good combat, but IMHO the graphics were kind of Disnyfied for my tastes. I have noticed that NWN changes as your character progreses. Whe my pally first started, second level, all of the prisoners in the Peninsula were like 10 HP max, and when I went through again, at eighth level, to buff up for a MP where I needed a 10th level character, they were a lot tougher.

Dammit - my past catches up with me again [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img]

Seriously though, Darkstone was one of those rare games which managed to scale up the difficulty of the quests/opposition at the same rate as you advanced. Therefore, you never really felt totally over or under powered when you played it.

Aaaaah - nostalgia ;)