Realmz
 

Really having a lot of fun with a Mac Classic from '94 called Realmz. This is a real basic hack and slash game with horrendous graphics, but the loot is so varied and there are so many types of monsters, that it doesn't really get old. I just finished the first scenario and there appear to be several that were released later. In fact, someone released a mod for this as recently as 2005…amazing!

I vaguely remember trying to get this to run on an emulator many years ago and it just crashed constantly. Now, there is a fairly stable Windows version; I've bombed out of the game about once an evening, so you still need to save pretty often.

Here's the link if anyone else is a glutton for eye pain :)

http://fantasoft.powweb.com/HTML/Rea…/PC_Realmz.htm

Enjoy!

Nice - I vaguely remember this game from my brief stint as a Mac user back in the mid-late 90s. The Mac was starved for good RPGs back then - I remember this one and Exile mainly. Cool to see there is a Windows version still out there.

Hmm…download link is not working. 404.
Game looks interesting.

Checked out a few gameplay vids on YouTube. It looks like it has some strategy to it. I certainly wouldn't label it as a hack and slash game, but I'm only judging from what I've seen.

And yeah… that download link is gone.

I remember being interested in this game some time back. But iirc the asking price for the full version was slightly unreasonable. The site isn't displaying for me properly so I can't tell how much it is now.

Pooey, I probably grabbed the wrong link, let me go grab it again…..

https://fantasoft.powweb.com/Files/Realmz%20PC.zip

Okay, that one will get you the Windows version. If anyone wants the Mac version, I'll point to a helpful thread:

http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showthread.php?t=28575

Also, if anyone plays let me know. I'll give some tips based on n00b mistakes I made with characters :)

Somebody over at the Codex has a great "Let's Play" that takes you through the first several quests.

Thanks for the updated link crpgnut - I'll probably try it out sometime though not sure when.

Downloading now. I'll give it a shot later on tonight and report back.

Thanks for the link, nut.

Edit - Wow, you weren't kidding about the graphics, man. Looks, umm, primitive. I will still give it a shot if I can figure out what the hell is going on.

Whoa, that's definitely a jolt from the way-back machine. Yeah it was a decent system for its time. I got tired of waiting for games to come out on the Mac though and eventually switched.

Wow.

CRPGNut, you're the man! I really like this game (surprise surprise!). Once you get past the graphics and get a handle of what's going on, it's quite fun.

I'm definitely interested in any tips you can give me, I plan on playing this more. Going to start the first scenario and work from there (I unlocked the full game I guess? By using the registration code I found online). Do I need to download any of those other scenarios? They seem to work when I start adventures with them.

Is the background stuff such as coffins or urns able to be searched? I click both search and area search and they don't seem to do anything.

Anything else I need to know?

In the middle 90'ies I didn't have a better computer than Amiga but I actually had a mac emulator. I couldn't run many games on it but Realmz and Exile were perfect. This is one of my early greatest experiences with RPG's. The Mac version probably work well with the PC version of Basilisk II.

Been playing the past few hours. Really cool game. However, I'm dying a LOT. Seems everywhere I go death is waiting for me. Not really sure how to proceed. I guess just grind a little in the catacombs under the graveyard and fight a bunch of zombies.

My Pixie Rogue is useless though. She can only move two squares at a time max. Plus she can only carry 500 which is basically the starter equipment and nothing more. I hope she proves to be useful at some point.

Still getting used to things. It's a fun little game though. Even on Easy though it's hard. Just gotta keep at it I guess.

I gave it a quick try. Seems like a neat game, but is there any way to increase the size of the game window? The graphics are too small for me to play this comfortably for any length of time.

I see this is actually a trial version. Do they really expect people to pay $20 for a 19 year old game?

It's free now but apparently the in-game text was never changed to say that. The official website has the registration info you need to unlock it in a PDF. It's kind of fiddly though - first you have to reset it to enter in the matching serial number. After the serial number is reset you can enter the registration code.

Thanks Myrkrel. I might mess around with this some more in my spare time.

Are there recruitable characters in the game world or should I assemble a full party at the start?

There are two NPC's that will join you on your adventures. One is a wizard that will be found as a random encounter as you wander the town. The second is a warrior that is in the bordello. Just go into his room and walk over his sprite. He'll start a brief battle with you but will end it when you do enough damage to him. He'll realize the hooker robbed him. When you have the wizard, you'll want to avoid a certain inn that caters to goblins as it will trigger a battle you can't win at low levels. One you hit level 4 or so, go back.

Ok, general tips:

Create the full party of 6 unless you want a harder game. You'll need two fighter types and a priest. The rest is up to you. Rogues are not really required in the first scenario, at least for lock picking duties. After messing around with several parties, I ended up with a Crusader (Paladin), Fighter, Sorcerer, Enchanter, Cardinal (more magical priest), and Priest. The Crusader will be a nice healing backup in the latter part of the game, so you could easily swap out the Cardinal for a rogue, minstrel, assassin, or whatever. A party of 5 warriors and a priest to heal them would also work okay. I like mages :)

Rolling characters: Vitality and Brawn are important for everyone! Brawn regulates how much you carry and whether you can hit at all with melee weapons. I wouldn't accept any roll that has less than 15 Brawn for anyone. For me, this limited me from taking the small races. My party is heavily dwarven because they make good warriors and priests. They are slow and get only one attack at low levels, but it nearly always hits. Many races will have more than one attack but if they never connect what good is it? If you're planning on playing all scenarios humans can max all stats at 25 eventually. They're the only race that can. Both my enchanter and my sorcerer have Brawn in the teens. This allows them to carry more loot and actually hit with weapons when they're out of mana. Vitality is hit points. Anything over 15 gets added 1 hp/level/point at level up. A wimpy mage with 20 vitality will average 6-8 hitpoints on levelup versus 1-4. Knowledge for your mages should be as high as you can roll, same with Judgement for Priest-types. Agility determines when you'll attack in a round. You'll want good agility for melee types and perhaps poor agility for your priest, so they can heal whoever took the worst beating in the round.

Save often. Why? When you level up the stats are random. You might get 4 spell points on one roll and 27 the next. You'll want to be able to go back and refight any battle. You can look at xp to see when you should save. XP goes from a negative to zero each level. You might start with -5000 and at zero you will level up and then go to -7500 for the next level, etc.

Go to the general store and buy rope. It'll be useful very early in the game. I'd buy two as there is one other place in the game where a rope is an option. Oil flasks can be thrown by characters who can't use other ranged weapons. You can see who can use what in the description of an item. At the bottom is a "who can use this" type of button.

There is a hidden book somewhere. You will need to use discover magic and the encounter button to find it. This book will raise judgement for one priest. Here is a cheat for this encounter

If you want easier fights, get someone who can summon creatures and summon away. Unlike most games, summoned creatures stay with you till they're killed! They're just like any other NPC.

Unless there is a spell casting enemy, stay grouped together in the early battle. This allows the cleric, who should be in the middle of your group, to reach anyone who is wounded badly. It also stops you from being flanked as badly. Put your tanks on the corners, not necessarily spots 1 and 6 in the party order.

Here is a great place to level up for weak, beginning parties:



Once you've fought there till you level at least once, you can move on to local dungeons. I finished this scenario at level 8-9. The perfect spot to stop is level 6, if you want to maximize experience in all of the scenarios. I don't care about this and just played till I finished all that I could find.

Great tips, man. I was able to gain some much needed experience fighting in the places you recommended. I will be going back there to hopefully level up everyone to level 2 and then tackling the other areas.

What do you think of my party?
Orc Beserker
Human Battlemage
Human Warlock
Dwarf Priest
Pixie Rogue

My Pixie Rogue is pretty useless, but I'm keeping her around for picking locks and stuff. I'm wondering if I shouldn't ditch her, though. She can't carry anything and her attacks always miss. My Battlemage misses a lot too. Seems like my Beserker is the only one who can kill stuff efficiently, along with the Warlock.

I'm thinking of adding a 6th party member, an Elf Fencer. What do you think of the experience bonus, though? Having 6 party members will mean the EXP bonus goes to something like 66%. Does that make a big difference or should I not worry about that?

I was trying to ignore this game due to an already extensive backlog but the more I read the better it sounds.

I will download and add to my backlog. I think if they stopped making video games tomorrow I could play for another 5 yrs and not finish all my games.

Is there a manual or is it pretty standard d20?