and still have very good memories of those time, even though I didn't finish the game. It is nice seeing somebody still plays it nowadays.
BTW nobody here mentioned yet that W7 Gold edition has voice narrative which IMO is very good addition, also graphics are greatly improved but that may do with its being version for Macintosh computers, games ported to Mac always had better graphics than PC versions (another example of better graphics is Prince of Persia II - Shadow and the Flame I think it was called - another great game and one of the few I did finish.
As for
swimming in W7 which most pple seem to ignore, I remember at the very start where you land on shore of some water, I somehow took liking to exploring water and wandered about in water there which helped me pick up some swimming skills. I think I trained them a bit someplace later and I recall vaguely that after I completed the town with carnival (was it Ratkin Ruins or maybe Nyctalinth town?), where you had to use the water slide... that was great fun. I did go as far as some witch (or was it Giant) forest or witch caves or something like that, then I went back to New City (I think) where later in the game you are supposed to get the boat (I did also get to do the New City sewers underground and found the puzzle there which I think unlocks the boat but I failed miserably at the puzzle) - then instead of trying for the boat I simply started wading into the water on the town waterfront and battled some sea monsters, I think I kept swimming back to shore to recuperate and to stock up on some swiming related supplies and then I went for it for real, we swam into the wide blue yonder, not knowing whither we went and finally after an epic swim we reached an island, not sure now how many of us reached the island shore, at least one or two of the party had drowned on that perilous journey and had to be left behind. But I felt like I did something in the game which maybe nobody was expected to do such crazy thing like swimming for it without the boat LOL (swimming was also needed in that town where that carnival was if I recall correctly). I think I also swam across that river crossing (that's also the place where you can go exploring upstream or is it downstream and you find some box with much needed fighting items I think, maybe some axe or hammer.... its been so long I have only smattering of memories
)
I did some exploration on the island in the dungeon (was that island where upon landing the sphinx guarding some entrance asked some funny question to be admitted? I must say the game developers put some humor into those riddles but I forgot what the question was, the sphinx basically answers it for you if you answer incorrectly, which was so funny I remember how I laughed at it for days on end when I remembered it
) but on that island either I didn't have the items I needed to have like keys for use in dungeon or I wasn't high enough level - I think the problem was I lost those chars in the swim and had incomplete party, I am not sure which it was, and I just abandoned the game then and there. I couldn't swim back but I suppose I could have loaded an older savegame but then I thought I knackered the whole game anyway
.
But I had great fun and don't quite understand negative reviews of this atmospheric game. I liked the turn based fights (first time ever for me, I mostly played real time fighting rpgs like DM II) and everything. After reading this forum here of W7 to page 25 I found with surprise that you guys do play it after all your initial misgivings (based among other on the wholly negative review on some external link given here in those early pages - before p25 here).
I never was one of those early hardy and geeky dungeon players who draw maps but this time I did draw them, I was pasting together maps of my progress in game and I think I could still find them somewhere, I have itching to return to this great game and play it properly and finish it this time. I still have the boxed gold edition which I got cheap when it went on sale (because I played in late nineties when the game was no longer new) and also have the old trusty mac to go with it, which I no longer use as I have long ago went the PC way, by the time of win98.
