Hi,

I've found the first black box, in the crashed ship in Arnika. I've put it into the flight recorder reader thing and it says it is damaged.

I know there is another black box later in the game, but can i do anything with this one? I don't really want to get rid of it if it has any use at all.

Thanks in advance,
Charkus

Nope, it has no use at all and is just extra weight. I'd suggest dumping it in an empty chest. There's quite a few items you'll want to do that with throughout the game - old keys and special items that you'll need once or twice but that never disappear from your inventory. If you choose one chest (say in Arnika) and dump all your useless stuff there then if for some reason you need it later you will be able to retrieve it without racking your brain as to where you might have left it. I do the same thing for items I want to save but don't want to carry around - extra ammo, items for the custom armor, books and gadgets or instruments my characters can't use yet, etc. Different chests, obviously. ;)

I never played Wiz 7 - but apparently it's like the legendary Lodestone - it's biggest use is to clutter up much needed inventory space and increase encumberance :D .

[ 02-01-2002: Message edited by: Davros ]</p>

Actually, there weren't that many items that you can't drop in Wiz7. And unlike in Wiz8 you never ended up with keys or other special items once you had used them for their special purpose. Sure, there were some items you carried around for long periods of time until you got to where you could use them (things that spring to mind are the Bone Comb & Brushes you get in the Gorn Castle and use on the Isle of Crypts or the Munk Innards from the Gorn Castle that you use in the Tower of Dane) but it was rare for me to get all six of my characters filled up to the point I had to start leaving stuff behind because it wouldn't fit in my inventory. And most special items you got close enough to where you needed to use them that it was no big deal to carry them for awhile.

Like I said Jem, I never played Wiz 7 - but I have seen an awful lot of posts leading into Wiz 8 that said "Is this the game where we find out what the Lodestone is for - I humped that F***ing thing all over Guardia, and I WANNA KNOW" :D . People on another forum have labelled that black box the new Lodestone of Wiz 8.

IMHO, it only shows how the reader in the spaceport works and lets you guess you should find a whole one latter.
L.

Just goes to show you they never tried to drop it. ;)

Wiz7, like 8, wouldn't let you drop items if you really needed them. And I always tried to drop heavy items (though I noted where I left them) so I didn't encumber my characters. I remember when I went through the Rattkin Ruins there was this 200 lb weight that I found and I immediately dropped it where I found it and when I located where it needed to be used (about two game-hours later), I went back and retrieved it so I didn't risk it weighing me down during combat.

I remember the lodestone too but I quickly decided it was just dead weight and got rid of it and never gave it another thought. Unlike Wiz8, Wiz7 did have a number of useless items you could find that served no purpose whatsoever and were total red herrings - magnetic boots, white rubber bear, etc.

White rubber bear increased your swimming skill when invoked.