jp48+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jonathan Pace) (04/13/91)
Ok. I've had a day to fiddle with Bane. What I've seen so far is a let- down. The game is a blatant port from the IBM. Everything is bit-mapped, the graphics, the text - everything. The files you install into the game folder come with suce great names as: WFONT1.CGA, WPORT3.EGA, misc.hdr, etc. There are no pull-down menus. Everything is point and click or scoll using the arrow and return keys. If you demand the nice Mac format and stay away from anything IBMish - stay away, you'll be disappointed. HOWEVER, the game itself is very nice. All the aspects of the game have been carefully considered and balanced. I spent all day figuring out what races/professions I wanted for my characters. The adventure itself seems o be one of the best I've seen. Unlike previous Wizardry games, you don't bring your party back to the castle after an adventure. You can't. Once you leave the character creation level and enter the dungeon, you're there until you win. The game can be saved, so if you mess up and die you just start from the backup. This game is much closer to the AD&D game in setup. No more Boltac's, no hotel, no more anything having to do with the castle. You go up in level immediately upon getting the point required. You then make decisions on what skills each character will practice and what spells they will learn. If you ignore something and don't allocate points, you don't become good at it. Overall, the game is worth buying if you appreciate fantasy role playing games. If you demand the Mac look-and-feel, stay away. But buy this game if you liked the other ones in the series. Full color (16 color) and digitized sound make it worth it. Jon P.S. - I've been running it under 7b4 without a problem.
duga@merlin.cvs.rochester.edu (Brady Duga) (04/13/91)
In article <Yc1SrK600WB3QMelIk@andrew.cmu.edu> jp48+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jonathan Pace) writes: >you liked the other ones in the series. Full color (16 color) and digitized >sound make it worth it. Does it work in B&W? Some of us are still in the stone age... --Brady
jp48+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jonathan Pace) (04/13/91)
Bane of the cosmic forge WILL WORK in b/w. The graphics get a little less readable, and the caharacter faces are really weak, but the memory requirements go down a lot. You only need 800k free to run in b/w. You still get digital sound and a great game. Do it. Jon