This is part of a "magic review" someone else wrote (yes, he finished the game). He really liked it, and if what he says is true, I think he has some very valid points. Hope W8 will not end up being yet another CRPG buggered up by bad end-game balancing. Just want to hear what you guys think."Finally, we arrive at the end game. This is where the Mage has limited usefulness, and offensive magic is near useless. Most monsters have resistances around eighty or one hundred and more, so most offensive magic usually does pitiful damage for the spell points spent, or is totally negated. Casting a level seven Blizzard for eighty-four spell points and doing around forty or so damage against six or eight enemies may seem great, but since you can only cast that spell at that power level maybe two or three times, and that more than likely there's more monsters around the corner, it won't help too much. And, to add to that, most monsters at this time have around three hundred or more hit points, and a forty hit point chunk isn't going to do much, as they're just as dangerous at full health as at near death. Also, most monsters also start off combat by casting Magic Screen, Soul Shield or Element Shield, making your spells do even less damage or absolutely nothing. Even casting a level seven Banish at a cost of seventy spell points against demons do zero damage. A Mage has very few choices left at this point: basically just cast Element Shield and attack with an extended weapon. Though, there are a couple of high levels spells that do stand out at the end game, Summon Elemental and sometimes Asphyxiation. A level seven Summon Elemental calls an Elemental Lord, capable of taking a lot of damage as well as smacking monsters around with one hundred plus damage attacks when they do connect. Asphyxiation is a wild card, sometimes it clears the room, and other times it does nothing. Though, despite its spell point cost, when you run into a group of twenty or so monsters, and leave only five or six after a level seven casting, you'll appreciate it nevertheless. But, this all balances out in the end. Monsters can cast Magic Screen, Soul Shield and Element Shield, but so can you. In fact, you'll probably have three or four party enchantments in effect before you go into battle, including Magic Screen. A casting of Soul Shield and Element Shield, your party will be pretty damn near immune to anything cast against them, except for a little bit of damage that makes it through their resistances. So magic goes both ways at the end game, you either do something or nothing to monsters, and they do something or nothing to you.
Again, this makes the game even more melee focused, and as I said above, I don't mind it at all. Now, I'm not saying that mages are bad (or for that matter, other spell casting professions), but they are very limited in their choices at the beginning and at the end. They only have two enchantments that are unique to them, Enchanted Blade and Missile Shield (very nice to have), whereas Alchemist's and Psionic's have more party enchantments or other helpful spells (such as Heal Wounds, Cure Lesser Cond., Sane Mind, etc.). Mages also have Freeze Flesh and Freeze All, which is unique to them, and are right alongside Psionic's with status afflicting spells. Which make Bishops all the more deadly if developed correctly, since they can cast from all four spell books."
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