Devil Whiskey impressions?

peterb

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Hi. Has anyone here bought Devil Whiskey, and what did you think of it? Is it an adequate fix for someone interested in a Wizardry type game, but without the time to sink into a super-difficult and unforgiving RPG?
 
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I bought it last week but havent tried it yet. Theres a demo however so you can try it yourself. If you want traditional wizardry ps2 "Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land" should be pretty good. Thers several wiz games that were released in japan for consoles but they were never translated. The ps2 forsaken is the only one that was sold outside japan.

You want to play wizardry but dislike unforgiving? Sounds like a bad mix. Im currently playing through the series on nro3 and just hour ago the blasted game game drained levels from me - 25min of levelling lost. This game series teaches you to not make mistakes. Punishment is always severe.
 
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I always viewed the "ridiculously unforgiving" aspect of Wizardry to be just a character flaw of the game. Sort of like your nice cousin who is good with kids but who, when he drinks too much, pukes on your rug.
 
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I bought Devil's Whiskey when it was still in beta. It's very Bard's Tale like and is quite a lot of fun it's worth the money. Unfortunately Support is almost non-existant, I haven't seen a new patch in almost 2 years.

The last time I checked the Forums there was no news on the proposed Sequel.

Shaf
 
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I agree with shaf, it's a lot of fun and worth the money. Get ready for some bugs though, but there are a few regulars at the forums that can help you with any real problems you come up with.

As far as I know Devil Whiskey was bought awhile back and it seems like the guy who bought it has some plans for the future of the game. I'm unsure what those plans are.

There are a couple of mods for the game as well. There is the Bards Tale mod and last time I checked, a couple of months ago, there was some activity on another mod as well.

So if you liked The Bards Tale (original) you will probably like this one as well.
 
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Check back over at the Dot. I wrote a detailed review of the game several years ago when it first came out.
 
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It's mostly a graphically updated Bard's Tale. If you buy it, make sure to update to the latest patch, which adds in things which should have never been left out, such as mouse support (my old DOS copy of BT1 had mouse support!) as well as fixes some severe balance issues.

It's still poorly balanced, but fairly solid otherwise; I can't ever recall a glitch with it (though it's been a couple of years since I played).

I had issues with the devs, but that's a tale for another time. If someone else owns the rights to it, then I may consider a sequel again. If it's still Shifting Suns, then I will not in any circumstances consider buying anything at all.
 
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Ive heard that there is a sequal in works but thats abt it. They site which is selling the game is active though. They answered my purchace mail instantly and delivered the game fast too.
 
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There was a "sequel" in the works to start with, which took a backburner to the @D DW that was released shortly afterwards. Initially, development had split into two camps; one for a modern, 3D RPG and the other for the retro-2D BT clone.

Did I mention I was among the original ones who started it, back in the day when it was Bard's Tale IV?
 
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I used to be quite active on the SS forums, then they sent me a bill to 'renew' my subscription for DW!!!! It was equal to what I paid for the game. I sent them a 'strongly' worded email and never went back!!
 
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Imho too bad that the action game got the "real name" and the "real game" got a nondescript name ...

("Bard's Tale" vs. "Devil Whiskey")
 
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I used to be quite active on the SS forums, then they sent me a bill to 'renew' my subscription for DW!!!! It was equal to what I paid for the game. I sent them a 'strongly' worded email and never went back!!

What ? Subscription? I thought DW was a normal game.
 
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No they charge a yearly subscription rate, if you pay via. Paypal they'll automatically renew it every year. needless to say I cancelled it.

Shaf

When I bought the game via paypal few weeks ago there was no email about any subscription. The game simply arrived to local post week later.

As subscription you propably mean access to renhall - all the contents of that place is currently available on a fansite so you dont even need the access anymore.
 
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It was every two years, Corwin, but they must have changed it.

Another issue I have with the Devs. Though they seem to be dead and gone; good riddance.

The most recent news was from '07, when they managed to rebuild the forums again. The livejournal's latest is from '05! Where they again lie about releasing the source code.

I couldn't find anywhere that offered the patched for the full game, only the demo. Legitimate developers publish patches on a myriad of sites dedicated to that sort of thing, and don't charge for the things. I actually backed mine up, thankfully, but haven't bothered to reinstall it since building this computer. I might dig them out and see about posting them freely. My account is long since deactivated; and I couldn't care less if they 'ban' me from their forums. I don't go there, nor will I buy anything from SSS again.

*edit* Found it. v2.01a. This added a few features, and changed a troublesome picture or two. Now that I think about it, early versions had some memory leaks, and were resource hogs for such a design. Slowdowns and lockups became common.
 
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I couldn't find anywhere that offered the patched for the full game, only the demo.

Icestorm was nice to host all the files:

Since the Devil Whiskey Renhall Log-in Page has been down for a while now and no one has access to the Devil Whiskey Toolkit, Patches, + some mods any longer, I have made them accessible on my personal website. If registered members of the Devil Whiskey can no longer access them from the main Devil Whiskey site, people wouldn't be able to use vital patches or make their own mods thus continuing / extending the life of the Devil Whiskey. I have the toolkit, patches, + mods available on this page.
http://www.icestorm9999.com/dw.html

In the official forums somone claimed to be doing a remake of all three bards tale games with the devil whiskey. So theres atleast som action going on.
 
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It was every two years, Corwin, but they must have changed it.

Another issue I have with the Devs. Though they seem to be dead and gone; good riddance.

Technically they haven't changed it, it's just someone else bought the game. As far as I know SS is dead and gone. From my understanding Decklin bought the rights to the game. You can buy the boxed set over at his site http://www.decklinsdomain.com/games/gameindex.htm#DevilWhiskey

As for the devs I don't know what happened but they just gave up on the game. So I'm glad that someone else has it now. What they do with the game is uncertain but there is still a little bit of activity over at the forums. Mainly if you have any questions Growler, Dragonbait, Chaney and origen seem to visit the site the most and will answer any questions you have.http://forums.devilwhiskey.com/index.php

@corwin I think it is safe to go back to the forums now since the devs haven't been heard from in a long time and someone else owns the game now :)
 
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Origen was the one who did BT1, and was planning on BT2 and 3. I can't claim to know how well they've progressed, as again i haven't been there for over two years. I'm well out of the loop.

I'm glad SSS is gone. Looks like Decklin also hosted the 2.0 patch on his site, though icestorm hosted 2.01, 2.01a, and 2.01b as well. I won't hold him/her/it to SSS promises, though. I may dig out my account there at the forums or start a new one. Can't recall what my old account was, however.

*edit*
I remember another aggravating issue with the game now, since I've been playing with a 4 person party. Night time.
 
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