OK, I've got the media and the cd keys, time to make some ISOs.
In the meanwhile I've been reading up; there's a lot to know before you can play this simple twitch game. I only play Sorcerer, but there are many possible builds (based around the 3 elements). If you want to advance in the later levels, you need a plan, or you won't be able to get to the highest difficulty level. And I think I might go a bit further this time than I did with Diablo, so I'd like to get this right.
OK, made the ISOs, got it installed, did some tests and made adjustments to get the video working - looks like its ready to go. Now I have to finish the research and decide on build. I also have to get another machine running so I can start managing the mule team. I don't normally like cheating in games because it ruins it, but having mules seems more like a bend than a break. Mules are dummy characters you create so you can have them carry far more stuff than you could normally. And this game is largely about acquiring better stuff, so its worth it. I justify it to myself that your character is so powerful, surely they could afford to purchase some more storage space, and you are correcting this oversight in the game.
I want to do a lightning/cold sorc, and I'm pretty sure for cold I want to master frozen orb, but I'm not sure what to master for lightning - chain or nova. OK, some builds seem to depend on having certain equipment - and on my first (and possibly last) character build I may not be able to collect all the equipment. There's a lot of random factor in what equipment you can get and when.
Reading more about the finer points of how to allocate skill points, what equipment to use to max which attributes, etc. I an surprised at how technical this old game is. You need a certain mind-set to take joy in this kind of technical mastery, much like tabletop gaming, or computers.
More reading... looks like Nova requires getting too close to enemies, so I'll go with Lightning or Chain Lightning - but which? Looks like Lightning gives more bang for the buck; now to figure out what order to go in, what to max out, what to just put one skill point. I don't understand the effect of Synergies, it was added after I played the last time. Other than the obvious (putting skill points in a some skills boosts another skill), what I'm really asking is what should I invest in just for the synergy effect?
More reading, more reading... here are the conclusions:
* don't spend skills on fire magic; the later levels are mostly fire immune, so focus on cold and lightning
* don't spend skill points on Warmth (regenerate mana), because you will find equipment to do that later; live off mana potions until you get there
* a highly effective Frozen Orb can be done with few pre-requisites and no need for mastery or synergies; most people don't seem to spend more than 10-15 skill points on it; a few points of Cold Mastery might help a bit
* Lightning skills will take care of most things that are cold immune; if you need extra help your merc can provide it, if you have chosen the right merc and equipped it properly (that's so far down the line I'm not even going to research it further for a while)
* Fast Cast equipment is useful and needed, but I'm not going to worry about that much until I start collecting some good equipment; there's also something really technical about framerates, and frames per cast, but that can wait too
I think this is enough research to at least get me started. I can focus on Frozen Orb and Lightning for a while, see how that's working out, then start putting more points in Chain Lightning and Lightning Mastery (and a little Cold Mastery) later, see how that works out.
