Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[Malignant Manor]

Hardcore Gaming 101 has done more Wizardry and they are up to Wizardry 7 and Nemesis: The Wizardry Adventure. The Playstation version of W7 has really shitty 3d graphics. Nemesis is an adventure game with real time first person hack and slash with only one character. Nemesis seems to have mostly passable 3d graphics which you would really hope so since it required 5 cds. Next up is Stones of Arnhem and Wizards & Warriors.

 

[TigerKnee]

I seriously can't wait for Stones of Arnhem write-up.

 

[QuestionMan]

Wow... the Saturn and Super Famicom versions of the older Wizardry titles look great! Much better than the PC versions in fact! How come?!?

Why aren't these versions available in this quality on PC? Are there no ports?

 

[Crooked Bee]

Wow... the Saturn and Super Famicom versions of the older Wizardry titles look great! Much better than the PC versions in fact! How come?!?

Why aren't these versions available in this quality on PC? Are there no ports?

You can just emulate the SNES version, you know, question man.

 

[QuestionMan]

I understand, didn't know there was Emus. Will look for further info on the internetz. Thank you!

 

[octavius]

So I started playing Wizardry 5 - Heart of the Maelstrom.

It's really mind boggling that Sir-Tech released a game with wireframe graphics in 1988, seven years after Wizardry 1. The games look very similar, and even have the same names for the starting town and its facilities. Playing the Archives version I have no idea what the plot or background of the game is; the manual describes in excrutiating detail everything someone who played Wiz 1-4 already knows by heart, but omits to mention why my party is heading down into the Maelstrom (still called The Maze from the Castle menu!).

I survived the first three encounters pretty easily, so difficulty wise it seems to be easier than 3 and 6, and on par with 1.

 

[TigerKnee]

It's really mind boggling that Sir-Tech released a game with wireframe graphics in 1988, seven years after Wizardry 1. The games look very similar, and even have the same names for the starting town and its facilities.

Probably because of

 

[octavius]

Heh, the graphics are actually even worse in Wiz 5! While Wiz 1-5 all have primitive wireframe graphics for the dungeon, at least the monster pics looked nice in Wiz 1-4. In Wiz 5 they are so blocky that is't sometimes hard to make out what they are supposed to be.

 

[Wizfall]

Heh, the graphics are actually even worse in Wiz 5! While Wiz 1-5 all have primitive wireframe graphics for the dungeon, at least the monster pics looked nice in Wiz 1-4. In Wiz 5 they are so blocky that is't sometimes hard to make out what they are supposed to be.

I played the snes version of Wiz 5 and enjoyed it greatly back then (Also has very nice graphix IMO).

 

[Lord Azlan]

Well, I bought Bane and Crusaders at the time many years ago. For some reason I could not get into them - maybe I preferred the Might and Magics instead. I remember giving Crusaders a go - but only a little one.

After having a decent run through with LoX and completing Fallout NV (finally) I was wondering what to do next. I did indeed purchase Elminage Gothic as the price was just criminal in the sale. Lots of recent goodness around. I can't decide where to go next. What to devote my time to next I asked myself.

Had a brief peek at Elminage and briefly thought about purchasing the NV DLC as they are all 50% sale.

In the end decided to have a look through my existing library and saw Wizardy 8. After I got it working a bit I found it was quite enjoyable.

The manual blew me away - about 50 pages just about characters, how to import them, make them, develop them - wow - quite impressive.

I like how there is a lot of choice - A LOT OF CHOICE.

So - this will be my baby for a while - and I need to read the 148 pages in this post.

Exploring the monastery and my party has leveled up about 3 times. I like the combat and the range of spells. Inventory management is good and the idea that any member of your party can be got at if enemies can surround you adds a little bit extra thought into combat. I like the little stupid voices - quite jolly.

Graphics are pretty good - I like the lock picking options.

Any thoughts or tips are welcome for beginners.

One question I have is how to identify items with a question mark - do they become visible once a skill has been developed higher, do you need a scroll or a merchant?

Thanks

 

[octavius]

Lord Azlan, you should read the 148 pages of this thread and play Wiz 1-7 first. Then play Wiz 8.

 

[Wizfall]

Any thoughts or tips are welcome for beginners.

One question I have is how to identify items with a question mark - do they become visible once a skill has been developed higher, do you need a scroll or a merchant?

Thanks

To identify you need a high artifact skill or a scroll or a spell.
Otherwise you absolutely must install the "faster combat" patch : http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/wizardry-8-enhancements.79581/
You don't need anything else except to prepare yourself to play an awesome game.

 

[Grauken]

I dunno, while I don't think you need to play Wiz 1-7 to really enjoy 8 (though it's pretty cool the play the entire series from the beginning to end), I think at least playing through 6 and 7 really makes 8 that much more impressive, despite Bradley's absence they managed to make a worthy sequel both mechanically as well as story-wise and it makes you really appreciate what they achieved with that trilogy and how far modern games miss the mark

 

[Lord Azlan]

Cheers - thanks for the link and advice. A bit worried how I missed this game first time around. It has me a bit excited- shussh.

I did go through a First Person phase where I preferred SS2 and Morrowind that came out at the same time.

For a while I left the M&M, Wizardrys. But now I want to come back.

 

[Lord Azlan]

I dunno, while I don't think you need to play Wiz 1-7 to really enjoy 8 (though it's pretty cool the play the entire series from the beginning to end), I think at least playing through 6 and 7 really makes 8 that much more impressive, despite Bradley's absence they managed to make a worthy sequel both mechanically as well as story-wise and it makes you really appreciate what they achieved with that trilogy and how far modern games miss the mark

Cool - I know you guys aren't joking - but I have a real problem playing some of these older games. My mistake for probably going Steam instead of GOG I suppose. Had a few games running alright in Steam that suddenly don't work anymore - it's incredibly frustrating. Gothic 2 comes to mind which does not work anymore.

My ICT skills are not that high so impressed Wiz 8 seems to work okay.

Well - anything is possible I suppose - I could always work backwards.

 

[Grauken]

Well, all the later Wizardy's have multiple endings, so if you end up liking the game, it's worthwhile to make a full play through from 6 to 8 and play a different route, even if you payed 8 first

 

[Malignant Manor]

The Siroteks really were cheap when it came to the early PC Wizardries.


Hardcore Gaming 101 has finished Stones of Arnhem and Wiz 8. Next up is the Japanese games.

 

[octavius]

Questions for the Wizardry experts:

1. Is it known who was the first person to complete the "Wizardry Grandmaster Adventurer" ending of Wiz 4? I wish J_C Matt Barton had asked that question when he had the chance, but I guess he can't think of everything.

2. What were the release dates for the SNES/Super Famicom versions of Wiz 1-3? They are strangely absent from MobyGames.

 

[octavius]

I can see some of things that were to come when playing Wiz 5, like talking and bartering with NPCs.

Also had a near party death experience, when 5/6 of my party was slaughtered by a Golem. I got overconfident and ignored the warning signs; the Golem was in one of the eyes of what looks like a skull on the map...
Also, I still have the Bard's Tale 3 reflexes - hitting A)attack instead of F)ight, and thinking "there are no special encounters, the Golem is just a generic monster I haven't encountered before".

 

[:Flash:]

So I started playing Wizardry 5 - Heart of the Maelstrom.

It's really mind boggling that Sir-Tech released a game with wireframe graphics in 1988, seven years after Wizardry 1. The games look very similar, and even have the same names for the starting town and its facilities. Playing the Archives version I have no idea what the plot or background of the game is; the manual describes in excrutiating detail everything someone who played Wiz 1-4 already knows by heart, but omits to mention why my party is heading down into the Maelstrom (still called The Maze from the Castle menu!).

According to the Matt Chat interviews, Bradley had sent in his own RPG, written in C++, and they forced him to rewrite it completely in the Wizardry engine.
It would really be interesting to know if his original version looked better.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Hardcore Gaming 101 has finished Stones of Arnhem and Wiz 8. Next up is the Japanese games.

Their SoA article is a bit too barebones. I expected a more detailed analysis from them, but whatever.

 

[TigerKnee]

I think they're trying to be family friendly here so I don't know if they can post concept art of and furry anal.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Is it possible to import Llylgamyn Saga PSX saves into New Age of Llylgamyn' Wiz5 (also PSX)?

 

[Grauken]

Questions for the Wizardry experts:

1. Is it known who was the first person to complete the "Wizardry Grandmaster Adventurer" ending of Wiz 4? I wish J_C Matt Barton had asked that question when he had the chance, but I guess he can't think of everything.

2. What were the release dates for the SNES/Super Famicom versions of Wiz 1-3? They are strangely absent from MobyGames.

The guy who translated the SNES release mentions the 1st January 1996 (http://agtp.romhack.net/project.php?id=wizardry), GameFaqs has the 1st June 1999 (http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/944492-wizardry-i-ii-iii-the-story-of-llylgamyn/data). A few years ago I compiled a list with all the release years for all SNES games from some website, and that list mentions 1995, so I guess the one from the translator is probably pretty close (and I don't really trust GameFaqs in these matters).

 

[Monstrous Bat]

What were the release dates for the SNES/Super Famicom versions of Wiz 1-3? They are strangely absent from MobyGames.

According to the Japanese Wikipedia, all three games were released in 1999 in a single cartridge.