Wizardry 8 Ditto

I’ll be honest. This news is a couple of days old. I know this is a complete shock to you but it’s definitely worthy for people who just can’t satiate their Wizardry 8 appetites with enough info about the press-only demo. One of the latest is Desslock’s Wizardry 8 Preview over at GameSpot, packed with 3 pages of purifying roleplaying power. Without further ado:

Another belated addition to the series is a capable automap, and the one included with Wizardry 8 lets you zoom the viewing distance in and out, scribble or erase notes, and highlight specific areas. The complexity of the 3D environments reduces the utility of the map, but the developers have done as well as anyone has using a 2D automap to depict a labyrinthine 3D gaming world. The game’s interface is reasonably customizable: It will let you view the gaming world in traditional Wizardry style with each of your party members’ portraits framing the screen, or it will let you opt for a much larger view of the gaming world.

It’s not quite as positive as GB’s own preview but that’s not a bad thing. I was mesmorized by the game, whereas it was apparent he wasn’t.

On an Automap Tangent:
One thing I’ve been wondering about with regard to Automaps in RPG’s. Doesn’t anyone remember the old Descent 3D Mapping System? It was wonderful at showing the numerous layers of the intricate 3D level. It had a wireframe of the level where you could smoothly zoom in and out and rotate etc. Just because using a traditional 2D automap in an RPG is conventional, doesn’t mean it’s better. They should probably start to switch to the 3D variant very soon.

As for my own opinion on Wiz 8’s automap, it was 50% functional, due to this very factor. Everything else in the game bedazzled me… to use a wonderful movie’s title. =)