Ah yes, getting the mix of characters right in the party... To me, that was one of the great parts among many in these games, the multi-character user-created parties. I would read through the manual, plot out a strategy and work out ahead of time what type of mix I wanted in my adventuring group. You rarely get it right the first time out, but I would genuinely try to make it with my first party, unless there were significant nuances of the game that I felt would be best left to a different group.

I found it delightfully frustrating that the only way to make it through a certain part of the first "Phantasie" game was to have a minotaur in your party. I of course didn't have one when I reached that point, so I had to add one, removing a favorite member, and quickly trying to level him up. By "Phantasie II", I actually found it even more necessary to swap out party members in town to get the right mix of spellcasters and fighters. In essence, one type of party was best for a certain part of the game, while another was good for the last part (with there being at least a few core characters at all times). Interesting stuff and something I do rather miss in today's games.

Going back to the Gold Box games, one thing I found particularly frustrating were those times when you'd get poisoned or other related nasties, particularly when fighting the undead. At the same time, it did create tension in many of the later battles that might not have been there. Of course nothing quite matched losing whole limbs in "Phantasie III" and not always being able to regenerate them!

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Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
[ My collection ]
[ http://www.MythCore.com ]