Great game. I had the mouse lag problem, this worked for me if this doesn't work for you please don't ask. I have Alienware m14xR2 with NVidia 765 GTXm w/Optimus so I have an integrated Intel switcheable graphics card with a Razer Hex mouse. 1.) Downloaded the game from GoG, install, had mouse lag (unplayable). 2.) I set my mouse to poll at 125Mhz, sensitivity to 1800, helped a tiny bit. 3.) I downloaded and installed the "Heuristic Park's unofficial Wizards and Warriors Patch v1.0 from Jeffludwig" do google for that (patch near bottom of page). The download took forever (only 1MB and it took over 30 minutes). Afterward the game asks for CD-ROM Disc 2. 4.) I downloaded and installed Ludmeister's Wizards and Warriors Mod v1.1, rev. 1 from Jeffludwig site. It stops it from asking for CD-ROM2 if you have the full game installed (like GoG provides). And be warned it mods the game for bugs and balance you won't be playing vanilla. Read the README. 5.) I right clicked the shortcut in Win7 and set it to compatibility mode, Windows 2000. 6.) I went into the game and changed the video settings to D3D and set it to maximum resolution. The mouse lag is practically gone, definitely playable. Jeffludwig has many downloads I recommend sticking to those 2 (Heuristic Parks unofficial, and Ludmeister's Mod). I tried the higher resolution (ATI) and it brought back the mouse lag. If I had to guess, it's a balance between mouse polling/sensitivity, Heuristics patch, and making sure game graphic settings are set to D3D and not software, and resolution. If it doesn't work, I can only say try changing mouse polling and sensitivity it took me a lot of attempts to come up with 125Mhz polling and 1800 sensitivity pretty much eliminated it, other values not so much. Your system may need different mouse settings.
I haven't played Titan's Quest which this team comes, but one of my fav games of the past was Neverwinter Nights w/Expansions. Multi-class, pick skills/abilities, get enchanted weapons, plan out my build to synergize, I had fun. I feel GD is a whole different level. The game allows multiclassing, at level 10 you can choose another class if you wish. You get 3 skill points/level which won't be near enough to max out everything of the two classes. Do you get a lot of skills to low level, or pick a few and get them to high, or somewhere in between? This means a Soldier/Arcanist (battlemage) made by 1 person is not likely to have the same skills/abilities and play the same of others. The equipment gives a ton of abilities and synergy, you can get eq that summons creatures, converts damage, gives you more exp, throws lightning at enemies, gives you a chance of a retaliation strike, poisons, stuns, the list goes on and on. You collect ingredients for crafting too, feel you're struggling against cold creatures? Create a cold resistance improvement and put it on your armor pieces (it remains perm). Or if your focus is fire, craft items that increases your fire damage. Often times, if you apply it 3 or 4 times to the same piece each application improves it and when maxed often gives an additional ability (like maximized shield blocking chance and grants a shield slam ability to slam your shield into up to 3 opponents, do damage, and stun). There's devotion, which are skills/abilities granted to any character but points are very few and far between. It's been a long time I had this much fun at a game. After hundreds of hours I still can't wait to keep playing it. You have to play it 3 times, each time is more difficult to maximize your character. I can't wait to replay it to try a new character, one of the best games I've played.
I rate this 5 stars, I think Orion 2 is so much further than Orion 1 I personally don't play Orion 1 anymore. I'm not sure those who haven't played it before could get into it vs. the graphics, as for gameplay I still haven't seen another game like it. Think of anything you'd be interested in pursuing in a space game, this is the only one that has it. You can pick a customizeable race and focus on production, or stealing, or attack, etc. Some planets have bonuses to science or production or population. You choose what to build on each planet and the order (you can queue up to 5 structures/ships or choose auto), you can transport... so that planet that benefits population you can transport excess to less populated planets you own. You can design each ship (shields, engine, fuel distance, speed). Want one cruiser to have cloaking, auto-repair, 2 missile launchers, and 4 heavy lasers while the next cruiser you want it to have extra pods for transferring/capturing military ships and defensive lasers? Have at it. Then there's heroes that give bonuses to planets or ships and they level. Your ships level as well. You can refit your current ships with newer computers, weapons, and tech as you come across them. You can capture enemy ships, and salvage them to gain new tech or use them against the enemy. You can steal tech, build alliances, defend against stealing, invade planets. There's so much you can do I've yet come across another game with as much capability and I found the AI to be satisfying. There's a super race that periodically attacks random players as an option and I find few things more rewarding than sending in ships specifically designed for capture and capturing one of their advanced fleets it's like getting a tank in the age of knights, if you salvage it you can sometimes get some really good tech (like death ray) centuries before your opponents and cause havoc... so much fun. My favorite game of all time.
