<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\nThe attribute points are set with an interesting blend of dice roll and point-buy. You have eight attributes in all. Strength, Dexterity, Perception, Wisdom, etc. All attributes start with a random value between 7 and 14, and you are then given 15 extra points to spread around as you see fit. There’s nothing really wrong with this system if you’re a normal person, but if you’re like me the dice roll demands<\/i> that you sit there and pound away at it until you get a “good” set of initial values. There are 88<\/sup> possible combinations, so the odds of getting all 14’s is only 1 in 16,777,216. Assuming you click once every second, you should hit the magic combination in about 194 days, assuming you never stop to rest. I did manage to stop clicking after a while and live with something less than all 14’s, but you must understand that doing so required an act of willpower on my part. <\/p>\n There are five races (all human) for you to choose from, five outlooks (mostly dealing with religion and philosophy) and five character classes. This offers a nice variety of choices to serve as a starting point, although they don’t really restrict you in the long run. If you choose the “Nefarious” axiom you’re still free to run around helping NPC’s for altruistic reasons if you like. Fighters can acquire skills in magic if they want to. <\/p>\n Like Oblivion, Morrowwind, and Fallout, most of your success in the game is dependant not on your attributes, but on the skills you’ve mastered. There are 24 in all, from Swords to Elemental Magic to Lockpicking. Note that while you start out with certain skills, you’re free to pick up new ones any time you level up. This means that you’re pretty much free to make up your own character class if you want, although this freedom does mean it’s possible to cripple your character in the long run. On my first play-through I was a fighter with a bunch of rogue skills. These extra skills spread my skill points too thin, and I ended up with a guy who was mediocre at a lot of things instead of great at a few things. This made the game really<\/i> hard, and I was obliged to abandon that character and begin again. The game expects and even demands a little min-maxing, so if you want to explore all the different skills you’re going to have to play through the game more than once.<\/p>\n
<\/td><\/tr>I seem to have lost all of my memories! The only thing I can remember is… playing about a hundred other games that start out just like this one.<\/td><\/tr><\/table>The game begins in the old-school tradition of your character waking up in a strange place to find he has lost all of his memories. RPG players have been down this road many times in the past<\/a>, but if you’re going to play an old-school RPG you may as well embrace the old-school storytelling. The amnesia thing here is not a hindrance, not a crutch, and in fact it ends up being integral to the plot and not just a device to ease you into the gameworld. Right from the start you’ve got an anonymous benefactor leaving you cryptic notes and enough questions to compel you to get out there and find some answers. The answers come in time, although this wouldn’t be an RPG if finding the answers didn’t mean doing some sidequests for the locals. <\/p>\n