New old guy

sponkly · 01-15-2004, 04:04 AM

Recently while browsing through Media Play looking for a way to spend my extra Xmas bread, I saw this non-descript box with an eerily familiar logo tucked away on the bottom shelf of the PC-games section. I have this rule about an inverse correlation between box-art and game-play, and that combined with the deja-vu made me buy it and take it home ... imagine my surprise when I realized it was the latest incarnation of the legendary (to me) Wizardry, the first CRPG I ever played (on my (dad's) spankin' new 286 with fancy 10 MB hard-drive!) and the reason why I very nearly had to repeat my senior year of high-school. "Mohraim casts TILTOWAIT on Vampire Lords for 89 damage" .. who needs English Lit!

Well ... history repeats itself and I am once again hopelessly hooked, endangering my job, health and marriage .. (the last only because my wife steals the CD to play it and then won't give it back). This game is by far the best CRPG I have played to date ... I liked the Baldur's Gate series well enough, but I found them too confined to the story-line to be truly challenging and fun from an role-play point of view. I liked the Samurai "Throne of Darkness" game better, although it suffers from the same problem to a lesser extent. I find Wiz 8 more complex, flexible and challenging in virtually every facet ... especially since I am an incessant "optimizer" of my characters, and I love to have lots of stats/skills/abilities/gadgets to tweak.

Thinking myself a veteran gamer I decided to just "wing-it" for my first party and go with my "gut" role-playing ideas rather than carefully reading the manual and designing the perfect party ... I was in a hurry to start hacking and blasting! The result was the following:

Dracon Lord/ Dwarf Valk/ Hobbit Ninja/ Elf Bard/ Human Ranger/ Mook Gadg (didn't know what the hell a Mook was, but they are spacefaring race that is seven feet tall and completely covered with hair (Chewbacca anyone?), so a rifle-slinging Gadgeteer seemed an absolute must from a role-play perspective)

After a long weekend I had them up to lev 11 and was ready to leave Arnika, but I was frustrated with my gadgeteer ... he had beaucoup parts and I couldn't figure out how to put them together. I had "read" the manual carefully and it didn't seem to say anything about it ... also it mentioned using the alchemy skill to mix potions, what was up with that? Having no experience with Wiz 2-7 I didn't know how to use these skills, although it seemed like it was supposed to be "obvious". Anyway, that led me to the internet, which brings me to this site and the present day. After only a few minutes on this site I had my engineering/alchemy question answered and I had read like 80 more spoiler-free tips that improved my understanding of the game by a huge amount. I was so inspired that I threw in the towel on the old party (bye Chewie - *sniff*) and started a new one based on AtlusSeven's "Spotlight" posts (archived on Jandrall's site http://www.geocities.com/jandrall/).

So .. I just wanted to say 'Thanks' to acknowledge the help, and also join up so I can put my 2 coppers in when the urge strikes me in the future.

[ 01-15-2004, 04:23 AM: Message edited by: sponkly ]

Starfire · 01-15-2004, 08:29 AM

Welcome to Ironworks! great game eh? [img]smile.gif[/img]

Nightowl2 · 01-15-2004, 09:34 AM

Hey, if you made it down the terrible road to Arnika with your very first party, and without even reading the manual, consider yourself skilled. Plenty ended up dumping their first groups and restarting, based on painful experience. I mention no names

Anyway, you came to the right place for Wizardry (but you already know that). One thing: if you have the original release of the game, you will need to patch it. That's mainly because of a huge gaffe where the game crashes if you try to reach Ascension Peak by any means. How that slipped by them I don't know.

The downside is that the latest fix (whatever that is) also nerfs pickpocketing terribly. Then again, PP isn't vital, so you can do without it and not suffer.

Nightowl2

Ragash · 01-15-2004, 11:52 AM

An easy way (among others) to find out if your game is patched is to check the CD and see if the version number is 1.2.4. If it is, you're patched, if not, download it [img]smile.gif[/img]

dplax · 01-15-2004, 12:54 PM

Welcome to Ironworks!
[img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]
[img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]
Hope you enjoy the game!

Solomon · 01-15-2004, 04:51 PM

Welcome to Ironworks. Anyone who's a fan of the original Wizardry is fine by me.

01-15-2004, 04:04 AM	#1
sponkly Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: January 12, 2004 Location: Netherlands Age: 54 Posts: 16	Recently while browsing through Media Play looking for a way to spend my extra Xmas bread, I saw this non-descript box with an eerily familiar logo tucked away on the bottom shelf of the PC-games section. I have this rule about an inverse correlation between box-art and game-play, and that combined with the deja-vu made me buy it and take it home ... imagine my surprise when I realized it was the latest incarnation of the legendary (to me) Wizardry, the first CRPG I ever played (on my (dad's) spankin' new 286 with fancy 10 MB hard-drive!) and the reason why I very nearly had to repeat my senior year of high-school. "Mohraim casts TILTOWAIT on Vampire Lords for 89 damage" .. who needs English Lit! Well ... history repeats itself and I am once again hopelessly hooked, endangering my job, health and marriage .. (the last only because my wife steals the CD to play it and then won't give it back). This game is by far the best CRPG I have played to date ... I liked the Baldur's Gate series well enough, but I found them too confined to the story-line to be truly challenging and fun from an role-play point of view. I liked the Samurai "Throne of Darkness" game better, although it suffers from the same problem to a lesser extent. I find Wiz 8 more complex, flexible and challenging in virtually every facet ... especially since I am an incessant "optimizer" of my characters, and I love to have lots of stats/skills/abilities/gadgets to tweak. Thinking myself a veteran gamer I decided to just "wing-it" for my first party and go with my "gut" role-playing ideas rather than carefully reading the manual and designing the perfect party ... I was in a hurry to start hacking and blasting! The result was the following: Dracon Lord/ Dwarf Valk/ Hobbit Ninja/ Elf Bard/ Human Ranger/ Mook Gadg (didn't know what the hell a Mook was, but they are spacefaring race that is seven feet tall and completely covered with hair (Chewbacca anyone?), so a rifle-slinging Gadgeteer seemed an absolute must from a role-play perspective) After a long weekend I had them up to lev 11 and was ready to leave Arnika, but I was frustrated with my gadgeteer ... he had beaucoup parts and I couldn't figure out how to put them together. I had "read" the manual carefully and it didn't seem to say anything about it ... also it mentioned using the alchemy skill to mix potions, what was up with that? Having no experience with Wiz 2-7 I didn't know how to use these skills, although it seemed like it was supposed to be "obvious". Anyway, that led me to the internet, which brings me to this site and the present day. After only a few minutes on this site I had my engineering/alchemy question answered and I had read like 80 more spoiler-free tips that improved my understanding of the game by a huge amount. I was so inspired that I threw in the towel on the old party (bye Chewie - sniff) and started a new one based on AtlusSeven's "Spotlight" posts (archived on Jandrall's site http://www.geocities.com/jandrall/). So .. I just wanted to say 'Thanks' to acknowledge the help, and also join up so I can put my 2 coppers in when the urge strikes me in the future. [ 01-15-2004, 04:23 AM: Message edited by: sponkly ] __________________ \"Why are you so unpopular with the Chicago police department?\"

01-15-2004, 12:54 PM	#5
dplax Jack Burton Join Date: July 19, 2003 Location: an expat living in France Age: 39 Posts: 5,577	Welcome to Ironworks! [img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] Hope you enjoy the game! __________________

01-15-2004, 04:51 PM	#6
Solomon The Magister Join Date: January 15, 2002 Location: Boston Age: 56 Posts: 126	Welcome to Ironworks. Anyone who's a fan of the original Wizardry is fine by me. __________________ When in doubt, cut it in half.

01-15-2004, 08:29 AM	#2
Starfire The Magister Join Date: September 18, 2003 Location: West Virginia Age: 61 Posts: 108	Welcome to Ironworks! great game eh? [img]smile.gif[/img]

01-15-2004, 09:34 AM	#3
Nightowl2 Galvatron Join Date: December 11, 2001 Location: Plateau of Leng Age: 47 Posts: 2,190	Hey, if you made it down the terrible road to Arnika with your very first party, and without even reading the manual, consider yourself skilled. Plenty ended up dumping their first groups and restarting, based on painful experience. I mention no names Anyway, you came to the right place for Wizardry (but you already know that). One thing: if you have the original release of the game, you will need to patch it. That's mainly because of a huge gaffe where the game crashes if you try to reach Ascension Peak by any means. How that slipped by them I don't know. The downside is that the latest fix (whatever that is) also nerfs pickpocketing terribly. Then again, PP isn't vital, so you can do without it and not suffer. Nightowl2

01-15-2004, 11:52 AM	#4
Ragash The Magister Join Date: April 29, 2003 Location: Dominus Age: 43 Posts: 100	An easy way (among others) to find out if your game is patched is to check the CD and see if the version number is 1.2.4. If it is, you're patched, if not, download it [img]smile.gif[/img]

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