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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 02-Sep-09, 21:12:33 | ||||
| Yes. I am extremely verbose. -NOVA |
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Author: bbKing (arsnova30 [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 02-Sep-09, 16:57:21 | ||||
| As far as I can remember, in ROM1 the scrolls don't stack in your inventory and there are no hotkays to make life easier. So that means you have to click on each and every scroll to activate it. I have no recollection of the menu going off and on. And BTW, everything NOVA says is both extensive and true ..... most of the time LOL. |
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 02-Sep-09, 11:23:21 | ||||
| That's fine, interpret my comments as you wish. But I think you'll find that BBKing and I do in fact pretty much have the same opinion of the two games (ROM1 & ROM2). We've been playing ROM2 online together for at least 6 years (perhaps closer to 7 maybe even 8 years). We were part of a rather tight online community ranging from about 60 players about 10 years ago dwindling down to only about 8 of us just a few years ago. Aside from Lord Atton, I think I may be the oldest ROM player left online (I think Lord Atton predates me by perhaps 6 months). As to the issue of multiplayer, that's the only thing that makes the ROM game worth having in my opinion. If not for multiplayer, I and basically every other player would have cast the ROM game series (1 and 2) aside after at most a few months of play. Instead, I've played ROM2 since early 1999 when the game was released (though I switched over to NWN for good about a year ago). Multiplayer is at least 10x better than the solo player game. Without multiplayer, ROM is basically worthless for anything but killing time for a week or two. In particular, the ROM2 version of online gaming with it's dedicated server application was what made it possible for the game to last for almost a decade online. Without that (and the included game map editor), even ROM2 would have suffered a rapid death after at most 6 months to a year. As to your issues... The last time I played ROM1 was in mid to late 1998 (a few months after the game was released), so my memory is a tad foggy on any details. But if it follows the ROM2 scheme (which I'm betting it does), then you can set spells for autocasting by opening your spell book, left clicking once to select the spell, then holding down the CONTROL key and simultaneously hitting the "A" key. You should see a tiny "A" show up in the spell icon signifying that spell is now set for autocast. If it's an attack spell, your character will continuously attack any foe you give an attack command (until you change that command or run out of mana). If it's a heal spell, you will heal the target until countermanded or run out of mana. You turn autocasting of that spell off by either setting autocast on another spell....or by setting it again on the same spell which will turn autocasting off altogether. You can also set spells to hotkeys similar to how you set hotkeys for items in your inventory. If you open your spell book, left click a spell to select it, and then hold the CONTROL key and simultaneously hit a FUNCTION KEY (for example F8) you should see a tiny "F8" show up in the spell icon indicating that hotkey now selects that spell. The only difference between setting either inventory items or spells to a hotkey is the HOLD key you are using (SHIFT for inventory, CONTROL for spells). I have no recollection what the active Function key range is for ROM1. For ROM2 it is F4 thru F12 (for a total of 9 available hotkeys). Hopefully that helps you. -NOVA |
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Author: truepurple (myemail) | |||
| Date: 02-Sep-09, 02:34:54 | ||||
| [quote]I would echo BBKing's comments. ROM2 is essentially ROM1 with some minor gameplay improvemt[/quote] That is not at all echoing BBk's comments. That is instead saying something completely different then BBK. BBK says the control interface for RoM1 is terrible and RoM2 improves alot on it. You say there is a minor difference in that area, and the only real difference is multiplayer (I haven't even asked anything about multiplayer) So none of you can help me with any of the issues I have mentioned so far? |
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 01-Sep-09, 20:03:57 | ||||
| I would echo BBKing's comments. ROM2 is essentially ROM1 with some minor gameplay improvements and a different single-player campaign. I personally recall very few of the specific differences, but the biggest is that with ROM2 the multiplayer (online) gaming is MUCH improved with the release of the MULTIPLAYER PATCH and the release of the dedicated (HAT) server system. If it came down to a choice between the two, I would ALWAYS pick ROM2. Though personally I play neither anymore. Instead, I've switched to NWN (NeverWinter Nights). Much better game (though admittedly far from perfect) much greater flexibility, much better game engine. As always, I strongly urge any ROM player to try NWN. I think you'll like it. And though the graphics and a few gameplay items are better in NWN2, I still prefer NWN1 (as do a LOT of other players). -NOVA |
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Author: bbKing (arsnova30 [at] hotmail [dot] com) | |||
| Date: 31-Aug-09, 16:50:29 | ||||
| Sadly I can't be of much help, if any. I started with rom2, much later I did the rom1 sp campaign. All I can say is that rom1 isn't particularly user-friendly. The use of hotkeys is underdevelopped in rom1, in fact rom2 is generally way better and therefore much more fun than rom1. Just my 2 cents :) |
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Author: truepurple (myemail) | |||
| Date: 31-Aug-09, 00:11:05 | ||||
| Hmmm, I hope you guys haven't gotten bored with helping me. Is there a way to get a mage to cast a attack spell (not a staff attack, which has alot shorter range) till the target is dead or the mage is out of mana?(or in the case of healing, till the target is at full health) Why is it that sometimes when I have the spell menu up, every click causes that spell to cast. Yet other times, every time I cast the spell, the spell menu goes down and I have to bring it back up again to cast the spell? Are f5 to f7 or f8 the only spell hotkeys available? |
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Author: truepurple (myemail) | |||
| Date: 27-Aug-09, 20:13:22 | ||||
| Ok, even though it says to destroy ogre lairs, I only need to destroy all the ogres on the map and there was one hidden in the back. Ok, now I am on a map where I need to help a ogre get back his magic club from a thief who ran off into the forest and died. Then the ogre will help me get past some traps. But the only thing I found in the forest above the ogre village is a pile of mage cloths. No magic club. I think I've explored as much of the map as I can without getting blasted by spells that I assume are coming from "traps", I could find no magic club. I have tried searching online, but this game seems to lack any guides at all. |
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Author: truepurple (myemail) | |||
| Date: 27-Aug-09, 07:05:10 | ||||
| Can you destroy houses? I figured you could since they have HP. But ordering units to attack a house causes them to stand next to it and do nothing. So I figured I would eventually get the means to destroy houses in the future, or something. But now I have a quest where I am to destory ogre lairs, and there are a number of lairs with no ogres around them. So I assume I am meant to destoy these structures. Which means its possible to destroy them. But how do I do that? Is there a special technic or could this be some kind of bug? |
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Author: truepurple (myemail) | |||
| Date: 27-Aug-09, 03:20:02 | ||||
| BTW, thank you all kindly for the help and information. | ||||
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Author: truepurple (myemail) | |||
| Date: 27-Aug-09, 03:09:16 | ||||
| So defense reduces the chance of being hit and absorb reduced damage done? Its strange that you could avoid being hit more in heavy armor then nothing or light armor. I was wondering what the absorb on my knights armor was for.(an absorb I lose with many of the more expensive upgrades) This absorb is different then magic absorbing ability of items? This enchanting of items happens more then once? (multiple quests can lead to multiple enchantments?) But only if the item had a enchantment to begin with? Please explain the formation options and what they do, also what are the best uses for them in what situations. |
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 27-Aug-09, 02:52:48 | ||||
| There are underlying qualities, or I suppose it would be more accurate to say there is ONE single underlying quality. But that quality is neither visible nor will it actually do you any real good in any of the examples you cited. That "hidden" quality is the item's maximum magic holding capacity. Since none of the items you listed has any magical bonuses, you would derive zero benefit from paying for that extra potential. So buy the cheapest item. Each base item (be it a hat, gauntlets, a shield, etc) has a maximum amount of magical add-ons that can legally be attached to that base item. All such magical abilities are assigned a gold piece valve behind the scenes (if memory serves these values are all defined and encrypted in the game's world.res resource file). This difference in item potential for holding magic primarily comes into play when you attempt to UPGRADE your magical gear. Perhaps an example would illustrate this more clearly.... Let's say you have a mage hat with the base ability of DEFENCE=4 and a magical adder of ABSORB=+2. The key is a MAGICAL ADDER not a base item ability of absorbing damage. That magical absorb ability +2 has an associated gold value (let's say it costs 100 gp per ABSORB point). Though the values were never published and are largely irrelevant when playing the game, each base mage hat will have the capacity to hold only so many gold pieces worth of magical abilities which translates to different amounts of ABSORB BONUS. So the 800 gp hat would be capable of holding perhaps up to ABSORB +4 while the 500 gpm hat may only be able to hold up to ABSORB +3. Don't take any of these numbers as gospel, I'm just inventing them right now in order to illustrate the general point. The real values in the game will likely be totally different. That extra magical POTENTIAL is what you are paying extra for. Now you no doubt are wondering what the heck is UPGRADING GEAR? Once you reach a certain number of pre-requisites, if memory serves you must have at least one skill of 91 or higher and at least 4 skills of 75 or higher AND you perform a quest at an INN which offers a reward with a gold value of at least 1 million gold pieces or more AND be wearing a magically enhanced item which still has remaining magic capacity then the innkeeper will offer to raise one random magical stat on one item you are wearing or holding in your hands at the moment when you first entered the inn to claim your reward. Always the first line of magic will be upgraded. If the item has multiple magical bonus lines, only the first line will ever be upgraded (so if an item had body +1 AND ABSORB +3 AND Fire Resistance +15, only the body +1 would ever be offered to be raised). So perhaps they might offer to raise the hat's ABSORB from +3 up to +4 in the above example I gave. In answer to your original question, that's the only real benefit (other than pure style as you pointed out) to one item versus another when there are cost differences. For the record, the maximum individual item cost I believe is pegged at 20 million gold and no item will be found or can be raised in value any higher than that. That mage hat from the previous example, once you accept the magical boost as your quest reward, you will find the value of that item has risen now and shops will offer to buy it from you for more money now that it is more powerful. And not all magical abilities even though they may have equal gold costs are in truth of equal value from a gameplay standpoint. In the early levels, for instance, ABSORB is highly valuable. The lower level monsters (EASY and MEDIUM) tend to do no more than 5-50 points of damage per hit. If you can accumulate an ABSORB of 40 or 50, you become essentially undamageable to them. They may hit you constantly, but your absorb bonuses will take the damage not you. You are essentially immortal to them. But at higher levels, you will find such things as added defense, added body and spirit, added earth magic resistance, and health regeneration to be almost a necessity just to survive let alone thrive. ABSORB at these levels becomes useless because even a grand total of 40-60 damage points (if you add up all your gear's ABSORB bonuses) becomes essentially worthless when the HORROR level monsters you encounter do 900 or more damage to you per strike. You really want them to never hit you at all at these levels of gameplay (or kill them very fast before they can hit you or kill them from a long distance). Welcome to the world of Rage of Mages. -NOVA |
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Author: truepurple (myemail) | |||
| Date: 26-Aug-09, 22:59:58 | ||||
| Ah, thank goodness someone still visits this forum. I figured out the double clicking thing after posting(it took my awhile though, kept dropping the scroll on the ground instead), but I still have some other questions. Why do two different items with identical names and defenses cost different? Like for example (exact numbers I am not sure of) there are two low mage hats that both have 4 def. Except one costs 400, and another 500. They have different graphics. Is it just paying for fashion or something? Or are there real differences between the two? Some kind of hidden quality? How would I view that hidden quality? Another more extreme example, one low mage hat that offers 5 defense that costs 800 gold. Another mage hat (minus the word "low") that also offers 5 defense, costs 1600.(graphics are of a more traditional mage hat) So am I to take it that "low" means low quality or something? What exactly does "low" indicate if anything? |
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 26-Aug-09, 22:06:22 | ||||
| After I hit send....I thought perhaps I could have explained that better. Scrolls are single-use items which cast a spell that can be used by ANYONE (mage or fighter). Spell Books are used by a mage to learn a new spell which they can then cast over and over and over forever as long as they have enough mana points to cast it. A mage's Mana points refresh slowly over time. |
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Author: NOVA (KINGKOTA666 [at] HOTMAIL [dot] COM) | |||
| Date: 26-Aug-09, 22:04:04 | ||||
| To add a spell to your "spellbook", you have to have the book version of the spell in your inventory (not a scroll). Just double click your left mouse button on the book for the spell (example: Magic book of Fireball). To use scrolls, you can also double click your left mouse button on them in your inventory. Similar to using potions, you can also set them up as HOTKEYs. Open your inventory. Left single click on the scroll or potion you want to assign (this selects it). Now hold down the SHIFT key and push down one of your Function keys F4 thru F12. Do not use F1 F2 or F3, these are reserved by the game for such things as HELP and EXIT GAME. A small F# should show up in the inventory box for that scroll or potion stack. From now on, you just have to push that Function Key to activate that potion or scroll. As to other instructions, I know someone a long time ago had scanned in the entire user manual that came with the game and had it available for download. It's been a long time and I cannot remember who that was. So long ago it was likely on the original (and now dead) Monolith game company web site. But perhaps someone reading this forum will remember or happen to have saved a copy of that booklet. If all else fails, I could possibly scan it in, but I only have access to a black & white scanner (which will suck). Rage of Mages is very very very similar to the Russian Allods game. If you can read russian, it's also possible that someone playing the russian game may have an electronic copy of the game manual or some alternate game instructions. I know the only real help the manual provided was a list of standard keyboard shortcuts. If you can't find anything and still want something, let me know and I'll see what I can cobble together for you. I still have the game manuals (for ROM1, ROM2 and Evil Islands), the Game CDs, and I evne still have all of the original game boxes. -NOVA |
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Author: truepurple (myemail) | |||
| Date: 26-Aug-09, 21:07:30 | ||||
| My mom bought me this game cheap at a garage sale, but it didn't come with instructions. Where can I find instructions? The two questions right now for how to play are... How do you use scrolls? How do you add spells to your spellbook? I hope this forum is alive enough that I might get a answer. |
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