Future of W&W?

[Scronan]

Hi,

Its been a while but this thread caught my eye.
I was given Baldur's Gate for Christmas (the first one), and I finally can say I have some comments referring to the two systems (it and WW).

First off, Baldur's Gate reminds me a lot of Ultima 6, but with a lot more bells are whistles. I did really like Ultimas herbs and all that so it has a special place in my little black book of RPG's.

I didn't know that BG was from the genre of TSR games, hence where "RPG" started after the tales of Bilbo Baggins and all of that jolly good stuff. While I have played Eye of the Beholder and have some knowledge of the traditional DND, I will say it is so very hard to put that system into a video game!

Although I think BD is really fun and I've been playing it like mad, I also find it quite frusterating. The game does crash now and then, and though its fun and all, I still like and love the WW interface better. I do like the idea of seeing the world from the characters eyes and not watching from above. I have also noticed how many times I have to save and restart my game since the battles are so random and one fight you can slaughter the enemy, and another they'll toast you, or kill your characters permanently.

Without having any old time DND'ers flame me, I have to say in my opinion that there is a place for those DND rules. While I do like it, I find the rules to be very anal retentive, having to memorize spells, and having wimpy spell casters who just seem to die most of the time. The whole "Thaco" thing seems odd, for most of the times I have big burly knights clad in armor swinging at wolves and bears and missing 90% of the time. It just seems like others have said, that world belongs best on pen and paper.

I really do think games like Bard's Tale and Wizardry have caused a new path in RPG's, and for the better. Sticking to the safe and soggy gets worn out and stagnant after some time. Even some of the wacky RPG's on Nintendo and other systems have brought some fun into my gaming days here and there.

My point is, we can't measure up WW to Baldur's gate. They are like apples and oranges...WW is at the heart of its own sect of RPG, as is BG, Final Fantasy and all the other games out there.

WW is pretty damn good for its one sect, and so is BG. I think that Wizardry 8 will be a smash too, from the looks of it now, it seems to be one hell of a game.

Well, that's enough out of the ol' windbag for one evening!

Cheers and beers

Scronan

Scronan, do you still have a copy of Bard's Tale? I've been trying to get hold of it for years (I believe there's a PC friendly version).Wizardry 8 ? Where can I find out more about this (only just heard of it).W&W good points, the portraits: firstly they looked rather like those nice comfy AD&D 1st Edition friendly characters (hippy/biker , The Mullet is back in fashion) as opposed to the Planescapse/ 3rd Ed style punks/ manga rubish.The portraits (unlike the ghastly Forgotten Realm stuff) were also thankfully bereft of all nudity,impractical exploitica style armour, pointless body piercings (return of the punks- no!!!!!)and actually had beards (farewell to the crue cut clan of BG fame).Also the portraits are customisable (I thought "why are they on my hard drive?" and found this one out(I kept backup copies of th original))now if a character changes to a Barbarian I can apply beautifully toned warpaint and tribal markings (carefully so that they don't clash) but I don't rush it.Next the familiar Diablo/ Might and Magic inventory (I prefer the word "backpack" or "pack" or "packspace")was a bonus.I didn't like the way that the forest paths looked likt they had walls around them or that only the monsters that I was fighting were in turn based time so that others could easily surround and outflank me (this was probably done for copywrite reasons held by NWC but I could be wrong).I will not compare this to Baldur's Gate or Diablo (or theeir respective sequels) because I like them a lot (Diablo 2 is still my favourite computer game but fav CRPG has to go to MM7 or W&W).I don't like the AD&D rules system very much (1st and 2nd Ed's made the characters too hard, 3rd Ed (and 1st Ed Unearthed Arcana) were written for power gamers) rather prefering realistic systems like WFRP (careful, you only live once) and RQ(if it hit's you once-you're hurt,twice-you're dead (unless wearing armour)three times and if you're still standing then something is seriously wrong with you (like the bloke hasn't pulled his spear out of the wall that you're pinned too). An example of system differences. AD&D: The mighty fighter puts on his plate armour, vaults into the saddle and rides for eight hours after wich he comes to a narrow valley.Here he is ambushed by orcish archers hiding among the rocks and kills them because he has more HP's than Tom and Jerry and probably has a magic weapon too. RQ:The stupid fighter whilst wearing plate armour (please note if he's anywere civilised this might cause a fight) rides his horse for eight hours without stopping!He then comes upon a narrow valley and is ambushed by orcish archers hiding amonst the rocks.He now surrenders for three reasons.1:They are using bows and hiding, he doesn't have a bow.2: They know the area (what the footing's like etc).And finally (most important) 3: THEY HAVEN'T BEEN RINDING FOR THE LAST 8 HOURS! In fact if he doesn't fall from the saddle (all of that time bouncing around on top of a horse in 30-40 lb of heavy metal is very tiring) then the orcs will probably panic and run.