Mostly played Vanilla until now but recently downloaded the new version of Quickband. Definitely a good move!
It's not V of course but *very* entertaining due to the intensity of the game.
I chose a Maia since I wanted to play Ironman anyway. I chose Druid to get great offensive magic, but at the price of having nearly no escapes for most of the adventure. Spent most character points on INT and WIS which I believe was a good choice even though STR=11 was slightly problematic. With fewer manapoints I'd never come very far.
* Went down after town scumming enough to afford the db1...4 books, a lantern and a few ?Phase door
* Level 1-2 - Immediately found out that every level counts and has high potential to kill you. There is no such thing as "clearing" a level in Quick
* Level 3 - Had gained some levels and manapoints and did very well against single or small groups of monsters as long as at full hp and mana before the fight.
* Level ~4 – I soon came under continuous attack from a seemingly never ending string of Ogre's. Certain that I'd die (no escape or healing items/consumables left) I still decided to give them hell and chose an attack-only mode. Max mana was enough to allow a number of fire/cold beams and I decided to get as many O's before it was my turn. But hey – guess if I was surprised when the first time below 25 hp, after killing another string of O's and making a level-up, I also got an immediate HP boost! I survived to kill a few more O's but also to take more damage. When again close to death, I was saved by another level up. And again. And I think again. Bug or not, it was a great moment! Instead of dying I came out several levels stronger.
* Level ~6. Uniques are tough in this game since it's hard to disengage from a figh as Ironman Druid. I did fight several U's, surviving only through a fortunate combo of wands of slow/confuse monster and the Life draining bursts spell. The latter does lot's of damage, but only after a while and not all in the same burst. Also not easy to understand aiming.
* Level 9 – Came to a vast cavern with much water. Crept on the outskirts throwing cold balls on groups of monsters far away. Took some damage but thought I would be able to clear it from here when some bastard monster teleported me right into the middle of the cavern! Meleed by Ice Ogres and breathed and spelled upon from some distance at the same time. NOT good. But I had 80 or so mana points and "regeneration. Zap _Speed, throw a few dispel life and cold balls to get the one's far away. Then multiple life draining bursts and frost balls on the Ogres cleared the cavern enough to get me to a side. After that the remaining monsters were mostly ice Ogres. My mana was all out and hp low, but these I could stab effecively since my short sword had fire branding. Long and very intense but also fun fight.
* Level 10 – Many new foes who all quickly would take me down to 50-60 hp so I started using the very limited, druid portal spell (natural escape) since on this level it finally worked (mostly nature in there). Reached cLvl 27 / dLvl 10 before being killed by a Dark knight but I think I was rather killed by abandoning the careful playstyle I had kept until then. Suddenly playing "Engage with everything and then escape with a spell if it seems tough" is such a bad idea I can't understand what got into me. Now Saruman will live to spread his malice!
It's not V of course but *very* entertaining due to the intensity of the game.
I chose a Maia since I wanted to play Ironman anyway. I chose Druid to get great offensive magic, but at the price of having nearly no escapes for most of the adventure. Spent most character points on INT and WIS which I believe was a good choice even though STR=11 was slightly problematic. With fewer manapoints I'd never come very far.
* Went down after town scumming enough to afford the db1...4 books, a lantern and a few ?Phase door
* Level 1-2 - Immediately found out that every level counts and has high potential to kill you. There is no such thing as "clearing" a level in Quick
* Level 3 - Had gained some levels and manapoints and did very well against single or small groups of monsters as long as at full hp and mana before the fight.
* Level ~4 – I soon came under continuous attack from a seemingly never ending string of Ogre's. Certain that I'd die (no escape or healing items/consumables left) I still decided to give them hell and chose an attack-only mode. Max mana was enough to allow a number of fire/cold beams and I decided to get as many O's before it was my turn. But hey – guess if I was surprised when the first time below 25 hp, after killing another string of O's and making a level-up, I also got an immediate HP boost! I survived to kill a few more O's but also to take more damage. When again close to death, I was saved by another level up. And again. And I think again. Bug or not, it was a great moment! Instead of dying I came out several levels stronger.
* Level ~6. Uniques are tough in this game since it's hard to disengage from a figh as Ironman Druid. I did fight several U's, surviving only through a fortunate combo of wands of slow/confuse monster and the Life draining bursts spell. The latter does lot's of damage, but only after a while and not all in the same burst. Also not easy to understand aiming.
* Level 9 – Came to a vast cavern with much water. Crept on the outskirts throwing cold balls on groups of monsters far away. Took some damage but thought I would be able to clear it from here when some bastard monster teleported me right into the middle of the cavern! Meleed by Ice Ogres and breathed and spelled upon from some distance at the same time. NOT good. But I had 80 or so mana points and "regeneration. Zap _Speed, throw a few dispel life and cold balls to get the one's far away. Then multiple life draining bursts and frost balls on the Ogres cleared the cavern enough to get me to a side. After that the remaining monsters were mostly ice Ogres. My mana was all out and hp low, but these I could stab effecively since my short sword had fire branding. Long and very intense but also fun fight.
* Level 10 – Many new foes who all quickly would take me down to 50-60 hp so I started using the very limited, druid portal spell (natural escape) since on this level it finally worked (mostly nature in there). Reached cLvl 27 / dLvl 10 before being killed by a Dark knight but I think I was rather killed by abandoning the careful playstyle I had kept until then. Suddenly playing "Engage with everything and then escape with a spell if it seems tough" is such a bad idea I can't understand what got into me. Now Saruman will live to spread his malice!