nostr:npub1pt6l3a97fvywrxdlr7j0q8j2klwntng35c40cuhj2xmsxmz696uqfr6mf6 nostr:npub1jacntdqvalt27vngj9hwhjyqzppeayq7hnm2xmf7747t84yz32as4czppv Back in the day it was much easier to distribute copied discs of games than to distribute the manual you had to read to play the game, so to stop piracy devs would ask you to enter information that was only found in the manual. So for example when you open Wizardry 6 it shows you magical runes and asks you what each one symbolises, the only way to figure that out is reading the magic section of the manual. If you answer wrong the game assumes you’re a pirate and makes all enemies immune to attacks. Funnily enough some people still pirated the game and beat it by exclusively using mages since spells still worked. Fun challenge run.
nostr:npub1g0uss0sjsgxwmhqxgnvlj0zv9ru89xwfyktkcjc0kgy8syxj79ss383vfw nostr:npub1jacntdqvalt27vngj9hwhjyqzppeayq7hnm2xmf7747t84yz32as4czppv I am sitting here pondering what the hell "game manual DRM" means. Does it mean that you can't read paper unless you have physically bought the paper? Are books just nature's DRM?
Discussion
nostr:npub1g0uss0sjsgxwmhqxgnvlj0zv9ru89xwfyktkcjc0kgy8syxj79ss383vfw nostr:npub1jacntdqvalt27vngj9hwhjyqzppeayq7hnm2xmf7747t84yz32as4czppv Thank you for the explanation. I imagine the game manual DRM becomes useless the moment someone posts the rune code online (or just writes it on the top side of the ripped disc). Then again actual DRM is useless the moment it's cracked, so.
I'm curious if there was an in-universe explanation for why the enemies became immune to (physical) attacks? "You tried to summon the spirit of magic but you fucked up the incantation so you summoned Beelzebub and now he dwells in every enemy."
nostr:npub1g0uss0sjsgxwmhqxgnvlj0zv9ru89xwfyktkcjc0kgy8syxj79ss383vfw nostr:npub1pt6l3a97fvywrxdlr7j0q8j2klwntng35c40cuhj2xmsxmz696uqfr6mf6 nostr:npub1jacntdqvalt27vngj9hwhjyqzppeayq7hnm2xmf7747t84yz32as4czppv The Elder Scrolls: Arena did this too, you had to enter the correct mana cost of a spell from the manual when leaving the initial dungeon. with a wrong number, the game would shut down
the funny thing is that the 10th anniversary release for Windows still had that in and it didn't come with a manual, just a quick reference guide but that one still had the spell costs to bypass this. I got trolled by this because I didn't have it printed out and didn't know how to get out of DosBox, so I had to redo the dungeon