From: wyman@rtsg.mot.com (Mark S. Wyman)
Subject: Re: Wizardry 7
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 13:35:25 GMT

>Someone writes:)
>)   Sorry, gang you can burn me if you want but I bought both wizardry 7 and
>)   Xeen...Xeen is the better game...Wiz is alright, but hardly worth the time delays
>)   and promises.....I guess I should have suspected when I heard it had only two
>)   disks...sniff..
>)   an old wizardry fan

Well, I have both and I think they both fall short in originality.  They are both
very similar to their predecessors.  Here is my observations so far :

	Graphics
		MM4 has the same "Nintendo Style" graphics as in its predecessor.  The
		bright colors and comical creatures that look like they belong in Mario Land
	  	instead of a D&D game.

		CODS has darker tones which I personally (others will dispute) like better.

		MM4 has a larger viewing window than CODS.

		MM4 does have the monsters walking around in the world while CODS encounters
		are either random popups or preset popups.  I must say that this is one part
		of CODS that I dislike.  They should have at least made it so the monsters
		were seen x number of locations away instead of always right next to you. Both
		do NOT handle the cases were you see them first and giving you the options
		to run, hide, attack, charge etc.  Too bad...

	Sound
		MM4 has good digitized sound but those Digitized voices have gotta go.  The dwarf 
		sounds like some guy slide into a telephone pole.  This is were alot of those megs
		are coming from since a fair number of the digitized voices are quite long.
		
		CODS has music plus the typical digitized sounds for the various monsters,
		creaking doors, birds in the woods, howling wind etc.  I do like the fact that
		CODS gives you alot of control of sound levels for background sounds, music,
		monster sounds etc.

	Plot
		Well, so far I think both of the plots are pretty weak.  Is it me or does it
		seem that CRPGs all have the same old stupid quest to collect x items to find the
		all mighty powerful item or kill a really ugly mean villian.  I think both of
		these lack concerning a main plot.  What they do with minor plots may be different.

	Originality
		In my book this is the most important factor in an RPG today since I feel that
		most CRPGs fall short of their potential.  

		CODS does attempt to bring in verbal interaction with the various NPCs in the
		world.  You can bribe, steal, give items, talk, ask questions etc but so far it
		still feels like the same ole thing that was done in the Ultima series.  Note
		that I have not gotten too far into the NPC interaction yet so my assessment may
		be off.
		CODS has a neat way of handling picking locks, forcing open doors, and disarming
		traps.  I can't remember if this was in Bane ( I think it was).
		Also, CODS has an automapping feature that relies on your character's ability
		to draw a map.  Less skill, less detailed maps.
		
		All in all, this is alot like Bane but with VGA graphics, better mouse support
		and more sound card support.  There may be more things that I haven't seen yet
		but so far it seems like it shouldn't have been delayed so long (and yes I
		a large scale software development project :) )

		MM4 is the same as MM3.  The engine is almost identical.  The few exceptions are
		the automapping and the auto note taking (which is an excellent new feature).

	Bottom Line
		I guess I would have to say that if you liked Bane then you will like CODS and
		if you liked MM3 then you will like MM4.  There are no real changes to either
		product that will cause alot of gamers to change their likes and dislikes concerning
		these games.

	What I would like to see
		CRPGs need :
			a) Better plots.  Why should we know what the goal is in the end?  Why not let
				us figure it out as we go along.  Why have one goal?  I want to be a bad
				character with his own goals which will not be the same as a priests.

			b) Better verbal interaction.  Each NPC should have a personality.  Likes,
				dislikes, attitudes towards others and yourselves.  There should be a wide
				range of choices provided when you encounter an NPC.  Maybe you will try to
				seduce the barmaid :), or threaten the old merchant, or beg for your
				life if you encounter a Demi-God....whatever.  Each NPC has different
				ways of handling the various verbal "attacks" you attempt.

			c) Ability to ambush a group of monsters or NPCs who have not yet seen you.
				Monsters are always ambushing you but only a few CRPGs allow you to do the
				same.

			d) Limited control of the members of your party.  No more stealing from another
				member of the party (raping is a better term).  Each member of the party
				has a loyalty factor.  This loyalty factor will determine whether or not
				the member listens to what you ask him/her to do.  Each member may have
				a goal which they joined your party in order to acheive.  Sometimes, these
				goals should not be known until later in time.
				Members should have their own fighting skills, weapon preferences, armor
				preferences, magic preferences, potion preferences, prayer preferences, etc
				As the leader you can limitly direct the party but you can't control them
				turn by turn.  As in real life, others may not do what you want them to do
				if you treat them like crap :)

			e) Multiple destinies. You wanna be evil...fine.  You wanna be a religous
				person...okay.  The player should have the ability to do what he/she wants.
				His/her actions will determine how the NPCs treat the player.  You just
				slaughtered a church full of nuns?  Well, you will probably have the local
				militia hounding you (unless of course they are all athiests :) )

CRPGs have a long way to go before they actually allow the player to role play rather than
follow a strict set of guidelines.  Super duper graphics and CD quality sound are just the
icing on the cake.  Take away the graphics from most of todays RPGs and you have the same
limited concepts as ten years ago. We need new ways of developing these games so that the
player writes his/her destiny rather than being stuck with the destiny the game developers
designed.

Mark Wyman 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games