Hi, DeeBye,
I spent over a month playing MW last September-Oct., and liked it a lot (though it runs a little slow at times on my computer, which just barely exceeds minimum specs in most regards). I've come to regard the FPS-optimizer as a necessity (though using it's not without some other drawbacks)
[quote=DeeBye,Feb 5 2005, 04:16 AM]
"...I always seem to get turned off by the overly-long and complicated beginning. By the time I'm free to roam around, I'm already bored and find another game."
I understand what you mean, though it doesn't bother me as much. However, I've seen at least two mods that let you bypass or speed up that intro part. I've used one of them a couple of times, but unfortunately, though it does nicely relieve the tedium, it also prevents you from using a couple of slightly cheesy exploits available in the excise (?) office, which I've come to like to do to jump-start the financial status of my characters. :blush:
"... I'm trying to stay away from the main storyline quest until I get familiar enough with this game. I've just been wandering around and looking at stuff."
Yeah, I sort of did the same thing with my first character, though I think I carried it too far. I think he was clvl 11-12 or so when I took a break from the game, and had only done the first few steps of the main quest. Some early parts of the main quest that would have been challenging or yielded useful booty early on were rather boring by the time I tackled them. You might start doing the first few steps, then take more detours, then do a few more main-quest steps, etc.
"... I've made it as far as Pelagiad, and even went to the Fields of Kummu to complete a quest I found along the way. The random dungeons along the way are a lot of fun to clear out."
Dungeons -- you found dungeons?? :whistling: I had heard that a lot of people complained that the dungeons in Daggerfall were too big, and that the dungeons in MW would be smaller, but I think they went too far. The bandit caves, etc., are fine for what they are, but I miss the real big dungeons... <sniff, sniff>. So far I've only found one area I would call a "real" dungeon - the dwemer ruins NNE (?) of Seyda Neen. However, I've really only explored the SW 1/4 of the map, so maybe there's some other "real" dungeons elsewhere. I hope so, anyway...
By the way, there's an interactive map available (that runs outside of the game) that can be useful to find locations, etc. I'm not sure what it's listed as on websites, but the program is "TES_map.exe"... I find it handy to have around.
"My question, I guess, is pretty vague. Is there any specific type of character that is more newbie-friendly than others? This time I started with a Redguard Warrior, but I don't want to handicap myself."
A warrior type might have been a good idea; I gravitate more to magic-users, myself (although, in Daggerfall, my characters had high magic ability, but due to the combat system, even they did a lot of their slaying with melee weapons, and MW seems to be the same way). I found it a struggle at times as a low-level magic user, since magic-regenerating potions were expensive and hard to come by at that stage. Fairly early on (clvl 3-4 or so?), I started following that volcanic gully that leads from NE of Seyda Neen towards the center of the island, and had to rest a LOT, because I kept running out of mana. I also started using magic rings, wands, etc., a lot more than I had planned, just to stay alive. Eventually, I installed a mod that very slowly regenerates mana. That is the only play-affecting mod I have installed so far. However, now that I am more familiar with the Alchemy system, I think I could somewhat overcome that problem of excessive resting at low char levels.
"Also, mods. The only mods I am using right now are Better Bodies and Better Heads. I don't want to run anything that has any effect on gameplay, but can you suggest anything as far as graphics and sounds go?"
Although I haven't used it yet, I installed an Inscription mod, that let's you create your own scrolls; it sounded interesting (this might be of more relevance for mage-types than warriors). Also, there are several mods that do some things (turn off global scripts, turn off some local graphic effects, etc), which lessen the demands on your system, if you are experiencing any slowdowns. I think the one that looked of most interest to me was called Morrowind_cities, IIRC, but it needed the first expansion pack installed to use, which I didn't have back then (I've since picked it up).
I want to get back to MW one of these days, but I've gotten caught up between NWN and working my way through a pile of old games (heh, had to grin when I saw Nystul's thread on the DSFC about older games - though the old ones I'm checking out are much older than the ones he cited!).
I hope you continue to enjoy MW. Overall, I think I like MW better than NWN (maybe just because of a little more freedom in MW; fewer rules about things; moreover the graphics tend to be more colorful; NWN seems drab by comparison*).However, I am enjoying NWN, too. Maybe I just haven't checked out the right types of MW mods, but there seem to be a lot more stand-alone-adventure type of user-developed mods for NWN than for MW, and I've found a few already that were fun to play.
Regards,
Dako-ta
*This sort of reminds me of the difference between Nox and Darkstone - although Darkstone was a more sophisticated game that probably appealed to more Diablo fans (and I liked it), I think I actually enjoyed playing Nox more, in part because the environment colors were brighter and more vibrant.
[edit only added the comment on Nox vs Darkstone]
from Odium (aka Gorky 17), © 1999, one of the games I'm currently playing:
Trantigne - "I don't understand; nothing I've studied can explain this."
Orvitz - "Listen, science boy. Explain less, shoot more!"
I spent over a month playing MW last September-Oct., and liked it a lot (though it runs a little slow at times on my computer, which just barely exceeds minimum specs in most regards). I've come to regard the FPS-optimizer as a necessity (though using it's not without some other drawbacks)
[quote=DeeBye,Feb 5 2005, 04:16 AM]
"...I always seem to get turned off by the overly-long and complicated beginning. By the time I'm free to roam around, I'm already bored and find another game."
I understand what you mean, though it doesn't bother me as much. However, I've seen at least two mods that let you bypass or speed up that intro part. I've used one of them a couple of times, but unfortunately, though it does nicely relieve the tedium, it also prevents you from using a couple of slightly cheesy exploits available in the excise (?) office, which I've come to like to do to jump-start the financial status of my characters. :blush:
"... I'm trying to stay away from the main storyline quest until I get familiar enough with this game. I've just been wandering around and looking at stuff."
Yeah, I sort of did the same thing with my first character, though I think I carried it too far. I think he was clvl 11-12 or so when I took a break from the game, and had only done the first few steps of the main quest. Some early parts of the main quest that would have been challenging or yielded useful booty early on were rather boring by the time I tackled them. You might start doing the first few steps, then take more detours, then do a few more main-quest steps, etc.
"... I've made it as far as Pelagiad, and even went to the Fields of Kummu to complete a quest I found along the way. The random dungeons along the way are a lot of fun to clear out."
Dungeons -- you found dungeons?? :whistling: I had heard that a lot of people complained that the dungeons in Daggerfall were too big, and that the dungeons in MW would be smaller, but I think they went too far. The bandit caves, etc., are fine for what they are, but I miss the real big dungeons... <sniff, sniff>. So far I've only found one area I would call a "real" dungeon - the dwemer ruins NNE (?) of Seyda Neen. However, I've really only explored the SW 1/4 of the map, so maybe there's some other "real" dungeons elsewhere. I hope so, anyway...
By the way, there's an interactive map available (that runs outside of the game) that can be useful to find locations, etc. I'm not sure what it's listed as on websites, but the program is "TES_map.exe"... I find it handy to have around.
"My question, I guess, is pretty vague. Is there any specific type of character that is more newbie-friendly than others? This time I started with a Redguard Warrior, but I don't want to handicap myself."
A warrior type might have been a good idea; I gravitate more to magic-users, myself (although, in Daggerfall, my characters had high magic ability, but due to the combat system, even they did a lot of their slaying with melee weapons, and MW seems to be the same way). I found it a struggle at times as a low-level magic user, since magic-regenerating potions were expensive and hard to come by at that stage. Fairly early on (clvl 3-4 or so?), I started following that volcanic gully that leads from NE of Seyda Neen towards the center of the island, and had to rest a LOT, because I kept running out of mana. I also started using magic rings, wands, etc., a lot more than I had planned, just to stay alive. Eventually, I installed a mod that very slowly regenerates mana. That is the only play-affecting mod I have installed so far. However, now that I am more familiar with the Alchemy system, I think I could somewhat overcome that problem of excessive resting at low char levels.
"Also, mods. The only mods I am using right now are Better Bodies and Better Heads. I don't want to run anything that has any effect on gameplay, but can you suggest anything as far as graphics and sounds go?"
Although I haven't used it yet, I installed an Inscription mod, that let's you create your own scrolls; it sounded interesting (this might be of more relevance for mage-types than warriors). Also, there are several mods that do some things (turn off global scripts, turn off some local graphic effects, etc), which lessen the demands on your system, if you are experiencing any slowdowns. I think the one that looked of most interest to me was called Morrowind_cities, IIRC, but it needed the first expansion pack installed to use, which I didn't have back then (I've since picked it up).
I want to get back to MW one of these days, but I've gotten caught up between NWN and working my way through a pile of old games (heh, had to grin when I saw Nystul's thread on the DSFC about older games - though the old ones I'm checking out are much older than the ones he cited!).
I hope you continue to enjoy MW. Overall, I think I like MW better than NWN (maybe just because of a little more freedom in MW; fewer rules about things; moreover the graphics tend to be more colorful; NWN seems drab by comparison*).However, I am enjoying NWN, too. Maybe I just haven't checked out the right types of MW mods, but there seem to be a lot more stand-alone-adventure type of user-developed mods for NWN than for MW, and I've found a few already that were fun to play.
Regards,
Dako-ta
*This sort of reminds me of the difference between Nox and Darkstone - although Darkstone was a more sophisticated game that probably appealed to more Diablo fans (and I liked it), I think I actually enjoyed playing Nox more, in part because the environment colors were brighter and more vibrant.
[edit only added the comment on Nox vs Darkstone]
from Odium (aka Gorky 17), © 1999, one of the games I'm currently playing:
Trantigne - "I don't understand; nothing I've studied can explain this."
Orvitz - "Listen, science boy. Explain less, shoot more!"