Class of Heroes is a Wizardry clone. There are a few things that differentiate it from standard Wizardry games, though.BoneSnapDeez wrote:So uh.......... what was Class of Heroes 1 like?
First, there are two new branches of magic and several more classes than the average Wizardry game. The new magics are psychic, which tends to be a mix of some support functions of cleric magic as well as several new magics, and summon, which spawns a 7th party member who persists through combat and costs a certain amount of gold. You also don't learn summon magic through leveling; you instead learn through finding summon nodes.
Second, while most Wizardry games have a single dungeon of N levels that you slowly progress through, Class of Heroes is based around nodes and paths. There is a world map which has several nodes on it, which are either full academies (think the Wizardry base town) or simple trading outposts. To get between two nodes you travel through a dungeon path, which is a series of floors. A typical path might have two levels, then a central level, then two more levels. The two levels on either side of the central level tend to be fairly linear; while they will have several little areas to explore for treasure or fixed encounters there is usually a fairly easy straight path to take. The central level tends to be more open. Additionally, the central level will have a summoning node (for learning a summon spell) and a path to a more traditional Wizardry dungeon (one or more floors, and more confusing floors). These dungeons feature prominently in quests.
Third, the paths are not static. The aforementioned dungeons you can access from a central level are fixed, but the levels to go from entrance to central, the central level, and the ones going from central to exit all pull from a selection of ~60 maps. If the game has picked a map you already have explored you will maintain that level of exploration, which means when you visit a particular level you might already know exactly how to proceed, while visiting it on a second visit will be completely new. It seems like different paths pull from different subsets of the 60 maps I mentioned.
Fourth, there is more emphasis on quests and story than most Wizardry games. As you proceed through the quests more of the game world gets opened up to you; this helps gate you and prevent you from getting too in over your head.
Fifth, there is a heavy emphasis on alchemy as a means to upgrading your gear. So in addition to the standard needing to hope monsters drop good stuff, you also need a ton of raw materials to add +'s or "effective against" effects to your gear.
