Hopefully this time.

[Loudhy]

For alchemists I usually use Fairies. IMO magicians with high speed at the beginning makes the gaming easier

I have 2 suggestions :

1 Position : Bard and Monk front, the mages with the most HP's ( usually priest and alchemist ) left and right , and mage and psionic in the back.

2 Position : one left, one in the middle, one right side, the rest in the back.

Of course, this should be changed after you hired NPC's ( whoever it is )

[img]graemlins/monster5.gif[/img]

[ 06-23-2004, 06:01 AM: Message edited by: Loudhy ]

[Target]

That's a good idea.
I don't normally hire NPCs might do this time.
Everyone says the Monk Android is good so I'll get him...at some point, and who else will be good at protecting my magic users?

[Kylospylon]

Kinda goin off-topic with this, but...

If you plan on having a team with a few magic users, try making one of them (alchemist/priest/bishop) very slow. Not only will this allow you to concentrate on other attributes, but you'll always cast at the end of the combat round, thereby having the last word. This is very handy later in the game against some of the worst spell casters that cast cloud spells etc.

Don't get me wrong, speed is very important for spellcasters, but ever since my third game or so, I always take one slow caster. Because sometimes you do want to go last. Of couse you could 'fake-walk', but then your fast-casters become less effective. Basically, having a slow caster able to cast Purify Air, means that your party will be immune to any and all cloud spells from the time you get it, till the end of the game.

Also you can 'cloud' your opponents and know that they cannot purify the air (though very few opponents can actually use that spell).

There are other uses for slow casters, but to use them effectively requires a lot of prior knowledge of what certain enemies will do, for you'll have to have to know approximately where they will be at the end of the combat round.

To change a slow caster into a fast caster requires only a Superman spell (Haste will work too but doesn't raise senses), but there is no real way to change a fast caster into a slow caster. So you won't lose anything with one slow caster, but you'll gain a whole lot.

Mages and especially Psionics NEED to be fast however.

[Uthgard]

Back to the original post... Incidently, I never seem finish any of my RPG's. Why is that?

NWN (all add-ons) unfinished
ESIII (all add-ons) unfinished
Dungeon Siege unfinished
Baldurs Gate I & II unfinished
Wiz8 unfinished

Seems like I always spend so much time with character development, that I get bored. Additionally, like those perfectionists out there, I like to do what ever I can before I finish the game which inevitably never happens.

Bugginess can also be a pain. You get all the way through a game and realize that a there was a bug, something didn't drop, etc. that ruined your gaming experience.

Here is my rant... skip if you like!
--------------------------------------------
Ideally there will be an RPG that would be designed so that only so many quests can be offered at a time, leaving the rest to be time dependent, quests dependent on other quests and many quests which are not even offered if a particular path is made. Time for Character development/training should be intentionally designed in the game

So far the RPG that comes closeest to this in my experience is ESIII, but its lack of puzzles (ie. Monkey Island style) takes the the fun out.
Wiz8 makes a good stab at bringing back puzzles and the gadgeteer concept is great. One of these days game producers will combine all great concepts from great games we all know and love and make an RPG with no ending (The is one but its on the internet and you pay for your play time... bit pricy)
-------------------------------------------------

[Target]

I agree Uthgard, I spend ages planning my parties or single char, that I forget to actually play the dam game!!
ANd I've started lots of games and never quite finished, like wiz 8, W&W, Baldurs Gate, I think sometime I'll get round to it but never have the time.

[MasterPooBaa]

Im a bit like that too.
Creating a character and nurturing it till he/she is high level seems to be more rewarding than actually finishing the game!

And its not just RPG's... i do it with a space sim called Freelancer too.

Develope money slowly, kill heaps of baddies, dont do easy missions for fast cash, visit all systems, planets, bases, jumpholes etc.

[Target]

That's what I liked about Elite, started with nothing, and had to build up your money, status and kills!

[Target]

As I was creating my party I noticed an import from wiz 7 option. If you have a wiz 7 party and import them, where do you start that game and what happens thats different?

[Scatter]

Biggest difference is you get up to 20 more Attribute points, but not to distribute yourself. Plus enough XP (13000) to make L5, but don't do that until you've entered the game. And you get 20% of the Skill points you developed in W7, in every category but Magic. And some rather nice equipment imports. And 2500 bux.

Where you start depends upon how you finished W-7: "Girl" finish goes to the same place, but Vi has some different lines; T'rang finish starts you at the front gate of Marten's Bluff; Umpani finish just outside the fort in thier Camp. The "Globe" finish doesn't let you in, as the Universe has turned to dark space.

There is very little continuity for imports. All the alliances that were on Guardia seem to forget you, except Kunar.

[MasterPooBaa]

Using Wiz7 characters is good.
You get exp to level up to lev5 automatically, extra skill points, possible different starting areas depending on how u finished the game and probably most importantly, you can bring along SOME decent weapons.

Including things like the enchanted broadsword and mystic spear and decent bows.
Makes quite a difference at the start.

Good equipment + 1 lev of stealth