Finally done, and....

[Bungleau]

...have a few thoughts after completing my first game. Don't worry, it's fairly balanced.

What I miss:

1. Keyboard control, for those times when I accidentally alt-tabbed and drove my video wild...

2. Some kind of score at the end to tell me how I did

3. Some way to speed up or skip the text/speeches from NPCs. A real pain in the asterisk when six characters complete the same quest, or when heading in to the bank to collect my stashed gold. Perhaps there's a way to do that that I've missed.

4. Some kind of quest list, so I could have an easy way to figure out who asked me to do what. Beats the snot out of having to (a) go talk to everyone in town or (b) try and remember which name belongs to which NPC in which town

5. At the end, magic became superfluous. Six characters armed with blessed nightblades or swords +2 (with the occasional wizard's blade), and I kept following the tank model: walk up, start swinging, pick up when they're dead. Even worked for Cet, even though only two characters could hit him.

6. Some kind of real conclusion. It felt a whole lot like a letdown after I completed the game. Whiff, you're back in BR and no one's the wiser.

What I liked:

1. Guild advancement for skills and abilities. Would also be nice to gain some advancement through practice (a la Wizardry 7).

2. Graphics, engine, interaction -- basic technical stuff. Nice...

3. Map logging -- wish I'd started marking significant points earlier, much earlier.

4. Hard level, spawning often. Nothing makes life more exciting...

5. Overall story line. Glad I got to face the baddie at the end. Based on things I was seeing on boards, it was sounding like one of those "retrieve the magic weapons for the revived superhero to do battle" where you just get to sit and watch at the end.

6. The choice: to join or defeat Cet

7. The second choice: to obey or flaunt Anephas

The only thing I miss at this point...

Is there any easy way to start a new game? I created a second party and reverted the game, but they're seeing the Gael Serran as scraps left over from the first party. I'd like to start them fresh and see how different it can be.

Anyway, a fun and enjoyable time. At least I have my evenings returned to me (for a little while...).

Enjoy.

*B*

[Sazerac]

Dear Bungleau,

First of all, congrats! [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

Secondly: everything you've said, I think we all concur on. [img]smile.gif[/img] It's a great game, and it could have been better with those points you brought up. (Especially the Alt-tab thing, that GALLED me!)

Thirdly: If you wish to play again, you have to Reset Adventures (do this from inside any town from the Options menu).

Cheers,
-Sazerac

[Wyvern]

Congrats Bungleau!!!!

4) - look in your journal - Quests are listed there.

I think most players found the ending a bit of a disappointment and considered the Mantraps tougher to handle than Cet. I suspect that the designers had planned a far better ending as well as enhancing other areas of the game but because they were forced to rush the game to markey (lack of development $) the game was streamlined for release. It's such a fun game - does make you wonder what it would have been like if they had been able to finish their original plans for the game.

Are you going to play again???

Wyv

[Jazzid]

I totally agree with all points! I don't know how many times I've alt-tabbed, or a program like the Window's program-speed-up-this-might-only-take-a-few-minutes thingy has started. I hope DW Bradley fixes these things if there is to be a release of a W&W2.

Some things in the game actually make me wonder if DW initially had thought to make it possible to play the game the evil way.

1) You can choose to resurrect anephas or not.
2) You can choose to join Cet.
3) You have the option to keep the Mavin Sword.
4) The staff of Death can also be used to defeat Cet.

Admittedly, I can't get the Oath of the Mavin to really fit into this theory... but it's worth a thought

//Jazzid

[Bungleau]

Thanks for the feedback, all.

I did reset adventures while in the inn (patched game, for reference), but after I started playing, I noticed little things, like the treasure chests were open from the first crew, boxes and crates were already smashed, and so on. Then I noticed that I didn't get some of the quests (like Mon the Sculz) and the lizard creepy didn't question me about Gareth when I left Valeia. Perhaps I did the reset wrong (and I did look in the manual, but couldn't find anything more than "reset adventure"), or perhaps I needed to remove all characters from the first party before creating a second party.

As for the quests, I know I can look in my journal, see who I talked to, and see if they've got an open quest for me. What I miss is something like MM6 through MM8, where there's a quest tab that shows me all open quests (and preferably with the quest givers, as well). The journal shows me that, but since it doesn't remove old quests, I had to sort through everyone I ever talked to and any quest they may have ever given me. That got irritating after a while... if there's a better way, pray enlighten me.

And I do plan on playing again, if I can find a way to play a full game (not replay, like it seems now). I've ruled out "cheating" by grabbing a character from the first party and have him or her do it all over again, and I'd rather have the new characters able to do everything, not just pick over the old remnants.

Like I meant to say, a fun game and an enjoyable way to spend a large number of hours. First time is always the hardest; they always get easier after you know the answers.