I'm about 75% through the game and for the most part it has been a joyful and satisfying experience. But as I play I keep thinking how close D. W. Bradley came in designing a real classic role playing game instead of what we actually have; i.e. a pretty good game that we will enjoy and then forget about.
It wouldn't have taken much to take this game to the next level. Without meaning to be exhaustive, some shortfalls are:
1. the quirky, cluncky interface
2. the instability (for example, on my machine it screws up my disply properties almost every time I quit the game)
3. the endless character lists ( who was that character who sent me on this quest and whom did he talk to?)
4. the need to quit your game before you can load another etc.
Of course, most of the shortfalls could have been fixed in a patch and still could for those yet to play the game. It seems, however, that a patch is not forthcoming (something about a dispute between Heuristic Park and Activision). I find this hard to swallow. All complex role playing games today even with the best quality assurance programs in place need some sort of patching. Almost certainly the responsibility and distribution of patches for this game was covered in the contract between the developer and the disributor. Probably (and this is pure speculation on my part) what happened in this case was the clause had a minimum sales number built into it before a patch would be produced and W&W has not reached this sales goal. If this is true it is self defeating because a proper patch, as I have already stated, would make this game a real gem and the game's reputation would skyrocket, equating to vastly increased sales.
Ah, what could have been!
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