Old School vs New School: RPG Edition

[A Black Falcon]

Well, I'm partially wrong about W&W. Some of the controls are configurable, and some of the buttons do have hotkeys. Here's a list:



Options - Graphics

Only ever use the Software graphics driver. Direct3D graphics do not work properly anymore due to changes in DirectX.

All other options should be set to High/On, etc. (apart from brightness and such, which should be set to your liking)



Options - Gameplay

I use the defaults here... though note that there is an option for on-screen movement arrow buttons, if you want them (for move forward/back, turn left/right, strafe left/right, and look up/down). I do not, myself.

I'm not sure what turning on or off the Mouse Move/Look setting does... either way it seems to work the same, for me... hold down the left button to look around, hold down the right button to move forward. Both work the same with that setting on or off.



Options - Keyboard

Configurable Commands

Movement (forward/backward, turn left/right)
Jump/Climb/Swim (all on one button)
Strafing left/right
Run
Pass Turn (in combat) / Switch Character (otherwise) (switches to next character, ending that character's turn if you are in battle)
Realtime/Turnbased Toggle button (for combat -- better off!)
Zoom in/out
View Resolution
Safe mode toggle
Y Axis Toggle
Pause
Text Window Resize (shrink/expand the text window at the bottom of the screen)

Run and Jump are important gameplay commands, and do not have interface buttons for them. You need to use the keyboard buttons for those. Note that each character has different run and jump characteristics -- so for instance to get through a very small passage you may need to have a small character like a Dwarf in your party. Crawling Dwarves are smaller than larger people so they fit through smaller passages. Similarly characters with higher jumping-related skills will jump better. That much makes sense. How the rest of the party somehow follows those people through/over those places, though... that I don't quite get. :D Oh well... it works. Just a little silly. :)


Unconfigurable Commands - these are preset

Hold Right Mouse to look around
Hold Left Mouse to walk forwards

F1-F6 replicate the functions of six of the eight interface buttons on the center left side. Oddly enough the Dragon Breath/Vampire Bite button does not have a hotkey, and neither does the Talk button.
F1 - Switch to Weapon / Open Inventory Screen
F2 - Open Cast Spell Window
F3 - switch to Steal cursor
F4 - Switch to Use/Give cursor
F5 - Switch to Carry cursor
F6 - Switch to Minimap / Automap Screen (press once to switch the lower left display to the area map, and again to open the fullscreen automap)



A list of some good points about the game...

- Good graphics
- Exceptional music
- Exceptional dungeon designs
- Good combat
- Good writing and quests
- Great voice acting

The game is far too good for the various issues I mentioned earlier to get me to mark it down much. Sure there are some little frustrations, but it's such a good game that I don't care much.