26th March 2010, 8:26 PM
Wizards & Warriors has turn-based combat, not real-time... when you're within range of enemies it's all turn-based. It is true that you can kind of "break" it by backing off, because from range it's all realtime, but when you're next to the enemies your characters take turns. Unless that's an option you missed, perhaps? Really though, if there was a realtime/turnbased option I'm forgetting, definitely play on turn-based. It's much better that way.
The game does have issues, a lot of them. It's buggy and incomplete, and the patch only fixes some of the bugs and none of the incomplete nature of the game. Some sidequests never go anywhere though you'd expect them to, like the Vampirism one for example. The game was just released unfinished, unfortunately. The controls are a hassle because there are no hotkey shortcuts for any button on the interface. The interface for how you get quests and go through the guilds is a massive headache, as you have to back in and out of the guild menus with every character, listen to the whole spiel of information for your current guild quest every time you switch characters, etc, etc. Also never alt-tab while running the game, you won't get back in. The minimap only shows the current floor of the dungeon you are in, and the dungeons all have multiple floors. The story's generic at best. Skills and spells are not defined in that game -- keep that manual handy if you want to know what spells do or what your skills and abilities mean! And more.
(Oh, one thing...mouse button for forward? Why would you do that? Use the arrow keys! So much easier!)
What it does right though, it does so, so right... First, the music is fantastic, perfect looping atmospheric-ish stuff that I absolutely love. It's only 20-something minutes long, but I don't mind listening to it for hours. The story may be generic, but the writing is good, as you'd expect from a D.W. Bradley game (he did Wizardry V-VII...). The conversations are entirely voice acted too, or at least the people you are talking to are entirely voice acted, which is a pretty cool touch. The voice acting is solid. The graphics are also pretty good for a game from 2000, particularly in style. While overworlds are just okay, the game really shines in the dungeons. The dungeons really are the star of the game, and the main reason why it's such a fantastic game. They really are some of the best dungeons, in style, design, puzzles, gameplay, what have you, from any RPG I have ever played... outstanding, outstanding stuff! Wandering around those dungeons is really what made me love the game, above anything else.
The combat's fun too. Sure it's not super deep and complex, but it's got enough depth to keep me interested, and there's a good deal of customization as well with a bunch of different classes and races for your initial choices and several higher-level classes to upgrade to later in the game. There are also quite a few sidequests to do along the way, that mostly involve finding out-of-the-way places in the overworld or fighting some enemy in the overworld or something like that.
The premiere Wizards & Warriors resource forum, with lots of very helpful information: http://www.ironworksforum.com/forum/foru...y.php?f=14
The game does have issues, a lot of them. It's buggy and incomplete, and the patch only fixes some of the bugs and none of the incomplete nature of the game. Some sidequests never go anywhere though you'd expect them to, like the Vampirism one for example. The game was just released unfinished, unfortunately. The controls are a hassle because there are no hotkey shortcuts for any button on the interface. The interface for how you get quests and go through the guilds is a massive headache, as you have to back in and out of the guild menus with every character, listen to the whole spiel of information for your current guild quest every time you switch characters, etc, etc. Also never alt-tab while running the game, you won't get back in. The minimap only shows the current floor of the dungeon you are in, and the dungeons all have multiple floors. The story's generic at best. Skills and spells are not defined in that game -- keep that manual handy if you want to know what spells do or what your skills and abilities mean! And more.
(Oh, one thing...mouse button for forward? Why would you do that? Use the arrow keys! So much easier!)
What it does right though, it does so, so right... First, the music is fantastic, perfect looping atmospheric-ish stuff that I absolutely love. It's only 20-something minutes long, but I don't mind listening to it for hours. The story may be generic, but the writing is good, as you'd expect from a D.W. Bradley game (he did Wizardry V-VII...). The conversations are entirely voice acted too, or at least the people you are talking to are entirely voice acted, which is a pretty cool touch. The voice acting is solid. The graphics are also pretty good for a game from 2000, particularly in style. While overworlds are just okay, the game really shines in the dungeons. The dungeons really are the star of the game, and the main reason why it's such a fantastic game. They really are some of the best dungeons, in style, design, puzzles, gameplay, what have you, from any RPG I have ever played... outstanding, outstanding stuff! Wandering around those dungeons is really what made me love the game, above anything else.
The combat's fun too. Sure it's not super deep and complex, but it's got enough depth to keep me interested, and there's a good deal of customization as well with a bunch of different classes and races for your initial choices and several higher-level classes to upgrade to later in the game. There are also quite a few sidequests to do along the way, that mostly involve finding out-of-the-way places in the overworld or fighting some enemy in the overworld or something like that.
The premiere Wizards & Warriors resource forum, with lots of very helpful information: http://www.ironworksforum.com/forum/foru...y.php?f=14