[EEWorzelle]

Descidado - sounds good!

It seems to me that we are 99% in agreement about things not style related.

I would rank Wizardry 8 tied for top of the line for categories 1, 5 and 6, and the very, very best for category #4. For every player who trashes a particular character type such as the Gadgeteer or Ninja, there is some other player that uses that one as the favorite cornerstone in their parties. Every character can range from lousy to superb, depending upon the rest of the party, style of play and whether short or longer term development goals are pursued. Replay is excellent.

Regarding 3, yeah there is an SF element. I do not mind that, but don't actually like it. The Might and Magic games contained just as much of that, IMO.

Regarding #2, I see now, much better than ever before, where you are coming from. If I remember your earlier posts, you didn't have the wizfast utility when you played.

After several games I do not find the combat the least bit slow, other than a few battles per game, less than five percent. Part of that might be because I go with magic-heavy parties, so have to set up which spell my characters cast, every round. There is a lot of strategy for this, depending on the opposing creatures range, position, status and natural resistances. The time after pressing the combat-start button is relatively a small portion of the battle time (except those few). However, magic is so powerful in this game that the opponents are essentially gone after two rounds of battle, which makes combat fast and decisive (usually). Also, I am very interested in the way monsters move, to be able to predict, in future battles, where they will actually be when my magic spells fire.

Regarding other veteran players, outside of this board, I would honestly call complaints about the combat speed rare. Some Wizardry 7 veterans have pointed out that there are longer and more involved battles in Wizardry 8, compared to 7, but fewer of them. On the other hand, Jersey is certainly an example of a very experienced player using that utility. I know that other experienced players here, such as Gimli, use it. Perhaps more of those posting on hother boards use it but never talk about it.

I will probably try the wizfast utility at some point to compare. The one game on your list I haven't played yet is MW. I can't afford a new computer right now and my current one doesn't qualify. I loved Daggerfall, even though I prefer choosing parties over single character or recruiting them.

The BG series was good, but out of your six criteria I felt 1 was impeded by story-imposed linearity and 4 and 5 were restricted somewhat by strictly following the DandD rules. I know and respect that others thought those things were great. It's not that these were bad, even in my opinion, more like good instead of excellent. I definitely prefer the role playing mode of first person, like Might and Magic, Wizardry, Daggerfall and Ultima. The feeling that you are actually there is... awesome! I also have trouble enjoying the little blobs on the screen, their movement foibles, and thinking of that as my party. I find the fact of having to worry about hitting your own party with spells or projectiles annoying, more realistic perhaps, but annoying nevertheless.

Happy gaming, whatever you play!!