Hi DAD,
If it was up to me, I would have sacrificed half of the silly weapons and armour to give space.
I would have made plates, spoons, dirks, water mugs and stone pots as well as flower pots all non selectable and inseparable from the background as much as many other scene objects to reduce item space.
Game interaction was another important goal of the game designers. That's why they included so much.
I would have forsaken the silly Shrimpo ‘quest’ if we may call it a quest at all.
Personally, I thought the Shrimpo quest was fine. I'm thinking that it was similar to the Easter Egg because the game designers wanted their names to be a part of the game. It adds a personal touch for them and as a player, I think it makes the game more interesting once you realize this.
The only reason I can think of that prevents Zandalor from casting spells and getting imprisoned is to investigate the sword of lies to the depth of finding where it should have been and getting trapped behind the magical door and within the magical walls that imprisoned the fragment of the soul of chaos all those years. The quest to free him should include finding a very tricky point to click on the wall after removing an item to reveal it to bypass the magic password. I did not invent this but rather concluded it from the written story that came with the game. There was a young mage called Ralph who died inside that magic chamber after being possessed by the demon of the sword. There was a wall section that was a heavy stone door that was locked by the duke Ferol at the request of his possessed childhood friend.
Some other possible reasons why Zandalor is prevented from casting spells is because he is so powerful and also because of evil's very nature. The Black Ring likes to assert itself as being more powerful by disabling Zandalor's magic but the group would rather torture Zandalor at the right moment first before killing him as a way of mocking him to the extreme. I don't think Zandalor would have been foolish enough to get himself trapped within the magical walls.
In Iona’s dungeon there was no need for the white cat to save my a.s.s. I could kill the two Orcs by magic spells and get the key by telekinesis.
While saving Gameou, there was no need to get frozen and get saved by Zandalor altogether as it makes no sense and no difference. I should have been able to find the morphing wand and the key and figure out how to restore him.
In that way, there was never a good reason to cripple the hero as it had been done and prevent the magic spells unfoundedly.
In that way of remedy the rules could have been set in a formidable manner.
What if someone doesn't have the poison cloud spell? I don't think it was the original intention of the game designers for you to be able to use poison cloud to kill the black dragon. Poison cloud was never meant to be a required spell. If it was, I don't think Arhu would have saved you. As a larger point, the game was designed to create a lot of freedom in my opinion. If you didn't have the means to escape because you were lacking certain skills or spells, then it was okay. Telekinesis is not required either. Again, there's no way for you to escape that special freeze spell. That spell was meant to show you that the Black Ring and evil forces at work in the game were as powerful or maybe even more powerful than the good forces. If evil does lose a war, it is almost always due to an excessive amount of ego rather than a lack of power. This is the theme in many stories where good and evil clash. These are just some more of my theories.
Thanks for the discussion, <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />
