More LotR

[Dang]

"Chose the Gnome Graphic of the white haired fellow smoking a pipe naturally." Yeah, that's of course what I used for my Mookie Gandalf.

Well, my newest party just got 86'ed, so let's (i.e., please let me) talk about some of my parties who haven't been (or haven't yet) been killed.

The only actual party that I imported from W7 (apart from the parties that I created and partially ran in W Gold just to import them--yes, you can import a lvl1 party and they get to level up to 5; nevertheless, they're not as good as a genuine imported party), was the last party that I had run on my parent's computer. It took a lot for this party to get imported; it took me a couple of tries to import them by disk, and when I did import them they didn't show up in my import screen!

I was perplexed, I figured I must have messed something up when I installed an editor, until I realized that I had downloaded all the new files into my backup save folder.

Anyway, here is the story of my import party of hybrids and elites (with some exceptions).

#1 Likme, after whom the IM game was named, the Lizardman Fighter. "Me Fight." In W7, this guy had been a Ninja, a Lord, and probably several other things before reverting to a fighter, which is what he was throughout W8. He used a Bipennis, until I got the Staff of Doom. Normally this goes to a magic user, but this was a party of hybrids and non-m.u.s. I looked at the dmg bp did and sod did, and suddenly Likme became a staff master. Planted in the middle of the party, he was able to attack anywhere, doing about a 100+ dmg per strike, with multiple status effects. That formed the later party setup. Likme died twice, once from a death cloud.

Moomoo was my Faerie Ninja. "Ze great 'unter." Not bad til he got the CoC, then, well you guys know how that goes.

Holly was my Ranger (Human, wi' th' awrite mate, I know wut's wut). Despite being in the rear, she had the max deaths, 8-10. She might also have had the max crits, and she was the one kidnapped by Crock. (Usually my Samurais get kidnapped, so I considered this a mark of honor for her.)

Pherra was my Felpurr Samurai. "I am allergic to blindness!" In her middle career she wielded s St. Batard and after the Likme Enlightenment 2nded a Bo (then Hayai Bo, then Flame Staff). She was part of the central staff-bashing group.

Fenris was my Rawulf Lord. He played around with an imported Bec de Corbin, which he surrendered to Vi when he took up Bloodlust. He became the foremost spellcaster in the group.

Last, #a##ie, his name is a curse and can not decently be printed, he started out as a Faerie Monk, but since I never had used the Faerie armor, he became a Rogue and then a Samurai. This was one case where triple role-change worked out pretty well; however, he had the 2nd greatest number of deaths.

There were two highlights about this party. The first was trying to take the elevator from the Rattkin tree to the Trynnie forest and having it fail. 5 out of 8 party members dead. Ouch.

The second was forming the Extended death center. More on this later.

--

One of my extant parties that I haven't played in a while is the "Weapon Club," 6 Dracon Fighters each specializing in a weapon proficiency. I did this because I wanted to have someone who would use every class of cool weapon.

Another is the "Loser Crew." I started this before I saw the contest on Lanastashia's site; basically I wanted to run a crew of characters who were really unsuited to their jobs. I have a Faerie Lord, Dracon Monk, Dwarf Ninja and Lizardman Bishop. So far they are doing OK, but somebody dies in almost every fight. I also chose the voice for them which I would never use normally. Annoying, but when I hear, "This'll be rough. BRING IT ON!" it makes me smile.

[Legolas73]

Hi folks, this is my first message to this great forum. I am actually still awaiting the arrival of my Wiz8 copy so I haven't played it yet, but the more I read here the more excited I get about finally receiving it! Anyway, I wonder whether any of you people has actually tried a Lord of the Rings party as it shown in the second movie, i.e. a party consisting of Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli (whatever classes you end up giving them). No Gandalf in there! Any chance that this party would make it?

[Sinteuil]

If it's your first time through the game, I would strongly suggest a full party rather than a small one, both because it's difficult the first time through, and because you'll want to experience as many of the different class/race combinations as you can early on... but your trio idea would definitely make it! I know Krull thought that in his party, Aragorn should have been a ranger, but I actually think making him lord is closer to his character in both the books and the films, even if it's not technically the correct title for him. I also think Krull had the right idea making Gimli a dwarf fighter and Legolas of course an elf ranger! This would be an extremely difficult party to ascend your first game, because with your casters being hybrids you'll be very slow to gain healing spells and magic protections, so you'd definitely be better off imagining that it's a bit later in the story when Gandalf arrives at Helm's Deep. Although Gandalf appears in human form, he's really an Istari, but I guess you can still make him human anyway, and probably a bishop would be most appropriate. I might try this myself!!! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Krull]

I know this is heresy but I thought Lord of the Rings turgid. Read it while I was at school and again when I heard it was being filmed, but still didn't enjoy it.

Couple of years ago, in the UK, it was voted the greatest book of the 20th Century so what do I know?

Anyway, the Istari were, I believe, immortal wizards? So they weren't men as we know men? Checked a LotR website but it isn't clear what they are.

From the same website, under the subject heading of Strider (Aragorn): "A nickname given to Aragorn II Elessar by the people of northern Middle-earth (as for example at Bree) during his time as a Ranger."

Mind you he did become: "King of the Reunited Kingdom from 1 May III 3019" so he could be a Lord.

Anyway, how are people's LotR parties going?

[Sinteuil]

Back when The Two Towers came out in theatres, Salman Rushdie published an article describing Tolkien's language as "stilted... with deliberate archaisms..." so you're in good company with that opinion, Krull, though Rushdie does remain a fan of the books, and the films as well nonetheless... Most definitely, I wouldn't vote it best book of the 20th Century (that honour should probably go to either Joyce's Ulysses or Nabokov's Pale Fire, if you ask me).

Anyway, The Silmarillion gives only a limited account of the origins of the Istari, so I would imagine you'd have to go pretty deep into the histories that Tolkien wrote to find the kind of detail that's provided in the online Encyclopedia of Arda:

http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/g/gandalf.html

Here, you'll see that Gandalf is one of the ancient Ainur race, and is very, very old (he arrived in Middle Earth in the year 1000, and didn't even meet up with Bilbo until the year 2941!!!). Probably a good thing the Gandalf you'll play in Wiz 8 won't suffer from the old Wiz 7 aging system, eh? I'm sure this is more than anyone needs to know about this stuff, but couldn't resist... Cheers all!

[ 02-08-2005, 02:35 AM: Message edited by: Sinteuil ]

[Krull]

Thanks Sinteuil

That's the same website I used. Yes, I enjoyed the films and have both the videos and extended versions of the films. As for the Silmarillon I found it unreadable becuase of the style it was written in.

Here's the link to the 'Big Read' where people voted their Greatest Books of the 20th Century.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml

Ulysses in 78th place? I think not.

Here's an alternative list with Ulysses in 4th place, much better.

http://www.hylandmadrid.com/libros/en/20th_Century.htm

(Edit: typos)

[ 02-08-2005, 07:56 AM: Message edited by: Krull ]