Wizardry 7 vs Wizardry Gold

[Higher Game]

I just now beat Wizardry 6, one of the best dungeon crawlers I've played yet, and I don't know which one of these I should take on. I did play 7 some when I was a kid, but don't remember much of anything. Although it pushes my computer to the limit, I can play 7 in DOXBOX very well.

Gold isn't working, though. It won't load a video or something. I have Windows XP and an Athlon 2200+ processor, and onboard graphics.

By the way, how the hell did Wizardry gold get low reviews on the sites I saw looking for troubleshooting help? I've always heard it described as a classic.

 

[Jasede]

Seven. Seven. Seven.
Gold is buggy and sucks. It's basically the same game anyway.
Seven. Seven. Seven.

And I'm glad you enjoyed 6. When I played it 3 years ago [for the first time] I couldn't help but feel annoyed that I waited so long to finally play this great game.

 

[claudius the god]

Are they up on hotu?

 

[Jasede]

Fuck you. Buy the game on Ebay or something. Why would Wizardry Seven be on Hotu? It's not an underdog, ffs. You could always get it from Abandonia or something, but why the hell would you? You can get the Wizardry Archives from Ebay for a dollar here; which is much better.

However, I approve of people playing old games more than I hate piracy, so, eh:
http://www.abandonia.com/games/247/download/WizardryVIICrusadersofDarkSavant.htm

[My stance on Abandonware is highly hypocritical. You don't need to call me out on it, I'm well aware.]

 

[Circuitbreaker]

Although it pushes my computer to the limit, I can play 7 in DOXBOX very well.

Gold isn't working, though. It won't load a video or something. I have Windows XP and an Athlon 2200+ processor, and onboard graphics.

On my retro gaming rig, AMD K6-3 @400Mhz with Win98 I cannot get Wiz7 to work at all. It will always bail out at the very start with some "illegal instruction" type of error. Wizardry 7 gold runs fine though (I think I actually have L2 cache disabled for speed compensation). Just hit Escape when the error "Can't load video" comes up and W7 Gold will continue to load.

 

[Higher Game]

Seven. Seven. Seven.
Gold is buggy and sucks. It's basically the same game anyway.
Seven. Seven. Seven.

And I'm glad you enjoyed 6. When I played it 3 years ago [for the first time] I couldn't help but feel annoyed that I waited so long to finally play this great game.

6 took a bit to get in to. I was REALLY pissed at having to grind for the first 3-4 levels, and the end game was ridiculously difficult (the priests of Ramm with death wish are insane), but it was mostly entertaining, especially the middle part. I did have to use an online guide for the dwarf mines though, that insane maze. And it was weird how the leather goods I got at the beginning lasted 80% of the game, and you only buy the plate mail and stuff at the very end with all the gold you save up. Overall, I give it 8/10. It was fun.

According to Wikipedia, diplomacy didn't matter much in 7, but was improved a lot in Gold. Since I would like more role playing to go with dungeon crawling, this makes Gold seem a bit more appealing to me. What are the bugs and such that make it so bad? Also, the graphics look nice to me, and remind me of Star Control 2 some. Is Gold really that bad?

Finally, do 7 or Gold characters transfer to 8? I swore I would play that game some day.

 

[Jasede]

I remember how in awe I was when I saw a 400Mhz processor for the first time while I was using 486 processor with, I can't remember, 40 Mhz. My classmates used to play Descent II on it; I was entirely in awe, especially when I saw their 300$ joysticks.

But that's a different story.

HG:

AFAIK, 7 & Gold characters both transfer, but don't quote me on that. The diplomacy skill is [mostly] useless and in no way makes up for the game-stopping bugs Gold has. If you don't want to encounter any bugs, play 7. And play it with your party from 6. I hope you got the Diamond Ring! [Almost impossible to get without an online guide in 6. I only got it because my brother typed in a special phrase at a special occasion to make a joke. We were in awe at the reaction.]

The mines, a maze? See! Modern games have pussified you! I remember sleepwalking through them without using the map, ever. [I've played Wizardry-like RPGs all my life, so I can basically keep the map in my head all the time and "feel" my way around a dungeon without needing a map.]

Did you solve the bridge puzzle without help? I remember it took me at least some hours...

 

[Higher Game]

http://osel.sk/oldgames/en/games.php?article=216

There's Wizardry 6; I haven't tested it, but it looks right to me. Nice trick there, Jasede. :D

 

[Higher Game]

I hope you got the Diamond Ring! [Almost impossible to get without an online guide in 6. I only got it because my brother typed in a special phrase at a special occasion to make a joke. We were in awe at the reaction.]

That's amazing. I did look up how to get it, but only because the last part of the game was so difficult, and I needed help in other areas.

The mines, a maze? See! Modern games have pussified you! I remember sleepwalking through them without using the map, ever. [I've played Wizardry-like RPGs all my life, so I can basically keep the map in my head all the time and "feel" my way around a dungeon without needing a map.]

I played Ultima 3 for the nes when I was 5, and I STILL got lost all the time, even with such a young, flexible memory. I have always been terrible at navigating mazes and such, all my life. And damn, Wizard's eye fucking sucks. I expected a 7x7 map, at least, from a 6x casting, but nooooo...

Did you solve the bridge puzzle without help? I remember it took me at least some hours...

I was highly spoiled in the endgame area, because it's insanely difficult. The fights themselves usually weren't THAT bad (except the priests), but I couldn't find a healing fountain, and even 250-400 magic reserved for healing alone was beginning to run dry by the end. Magic cookies saved me. I had class changed with each character so much that I had a total of about 1500 mana, JUST for healing, and my priest had over 400 alone! I wanted to make sure every character could hide, since it's so broken and awesome. Ninjas own.

If you mean using the rope with the captain's hook at the beginning, I figured that one out myself.

 

[claudius the god]

I hope you got the Diamond Ring! [Almost impossible to get without an online guide in 6. I only got it because my brother typed in a special phrase at a special occasion to make a joke. We were in awe at the reaction.]

That's amazing. I did look up how to get it, but only because the last part of the game was so difficult, and I needed help in other areas.

The mines, a maze? See! Modern games have pussified you! I remember sleepwalking through them without using the map, ever. [I've played Wizardry-like RPGs all my life, so I can basically keep the map in my head all the time and "feel" my way around a dungeon without needing a map.]

I played Ultima 3 for the nes when I was 5, and I STILL got lost all the time, even with such a young, flexible memory. I have always been terrible at navigating mazes and such, all my life. And damn, Wizard's eye fucking sucks. I expected a 7x7 map, at least, from a 6x casting, but nooooo...

Did you solve the bridge puzzle without help? I remember it took me at least some hours...

I was highly spoiled in the endgame area, because it's insanely difficult. The fights themselves usually weren't THAT bad (except the priests), but I couldn't find a healing fountain, and even 250-400 magic reserved for healing alone was beginning to run dry by the end. Magic cookies saved me. I had class changed with each character so much that I had a total of about 1500 mana, JUST for healing, and my priest had over 400 alone! I wanted to make sure every character could hide, since it's so broken and awesome. Ninjas own.

If you mean using the rope with the captain's hook at the beginning, I figured that one out myself.

The lifesteal spell is very handy towards the end. Not so much for the damage, but to heal your insanely high hitpoints.

 

[Higher Game]

Yeah, my weakest character had 90 hit points, and my best had over 200. :D I avoided lifesteal because it's a gamble that rarely connects. Nuclear blast was a great goblin blaster, but its inadequacy was its tendency to miss. Of all spells, iceball was one of the most helpful, since it seemed to connect a lot, and same with magic missile, but I didn't use magic missile because I needed healing.

 

[claudius the god]

Yeah, my weakest character had 90 hit points, and my best had over 200. :D I avoided lifesteal because it's a gamble that rarely connects. Nuclear blast was a great goblin blaster, but its inadequacy was its tendency to miss. Of all spells, iceball was one of the most helpful, since it seemed to connect a lot, and same with magic missile, but I didn't use magic missile because I needed healing.

If you do a 3-4 power lifesteal on any sort of fighter type like guardian of ram it will connect and heal you about 144 hitpoints.

Thanks for the link, btw.

 

[Saeru]

AFAIK, 7 & Gold characters both transfer, but don't quote me on that.

Yes, they do. :D

The diplomacy skill is [mostly] useless

Why do you think so ? Back in 1992, Wiz 7 introduced those wandering NPCs, and every time your party meets one of them for the first time, diplomacy is very usefull to establish friendship. And when you have to kill one of them, his friends will become quite upset, and once again with a high diplomacy skill it is possible to improve their opinion about you.

And play it with your party from 6.

Importing a Party from Wiz 6 to Wiz 7 is a nice experience. Although sometimes the transfered weapons can make Wiz 7 perhaps a bit too easy.

 

[Jasede]

Not if your party consists completely of elite classes.... boy was that a slow beginning.

 

[Elwro]

I just tried Wizardry 6 with DosBox 0.70; any tips on getting sound not to be garbled?

 

[Higher Game]

I think those PC speaker sounds are SUPPOSED to sound like shit. I simply turn off sound and put on background music.

Any tips on getting Wizardry Gold to run and how to avoid bugs? I really would like to check it out.

 

[Sarvis]

Fuck you. Buy the game on Ebay or something. Why would Wizardry Seven be on Hotu? It's not an underdog, ffs. You could always get it from Abandonia or something, but why the hell would you? You can get the Wizardry Archives from Ebay for a dollar here; which is much better.

However, I approve of people playing old games more than I hate piracy, so, eh:
http://www.abandonia.com/games/247/download/WizardryVIICrusadersofDarkSavant.htm

[My stance on Abandonware is highly hypocritical. You don't need to call me out on it, I'm well aware.]

Dude, it's not exactly piracy if the company isn't selling the game anymore. Why should Johnny Ebay get to make money by selling someone elses work? That's _more_ piratical* than just downloading it for free...


*Yes, I know piratical isn't a word.

 

[Fez]

"Piratical" is.

 

[Flux_Capacitor]

Gold isn't working, though. It won't load a video or something. I have Windows XP and an Athlon 2200+ processor, and onboard graphics.

I had the same problems. A 'Movie won't open' error, I believe. Take a look at the install log, which should have been created in the Wizardry Gold folder. There will probably be a message along the lines of 'Installation Failed' or 'Installation Aborted'. The only way I found to get it up and running is to remove everything, and try installing again. After a couple tries, it finally took.

 

[Julio]

Sarvis, I suppose it's more of a code of ethics issue.

 

[Higher Game]

I can't play Wizardry 7 or Wizardry Gold, at least not without terrible eyestrain. My graphics card doesn't support certain shades of gray, which are displayed as black. I use a Sis 651_661FX_741_760_M661MX_M741_M760 as my onboard graphics, and this is the FINAL time I buy a computer that comes with that shit...

Just google that piece of shit. I only got 3 results for it.














......







The Bane savefile goes to my USB drive, along with the furry porn and biology papers. Maybe, sometime, when I have a real job and a decent computer, I will have a use for it...

 

[Sarvis]

"Piratical" is.

Ah, well good then.

 

[Dpayne]

Also, 70 bucks for a used copy of Wizardry 8 is just ridiculous. This is why I don't feel guilty about pirating games that are no longer in production. It's outrageous that some asshole should be able to charge that much for a used game because it's a cult classic. And yet in the end I'll be the asshole even though either way the company isn't makng any money and some dickface (who probably already burned the game onto cd) is just taking advantage to rape my wallet because I want to try out an older game that has been pretty highly recommended.

 

[sportforredneck]

Also, 70 bucks for a used copy of Wizardry 8 is just ridiculous.

Horse shit, you should have to pay even more for it since you didn't know to get it the day it came out.

 

[kingcomrade]

You meant "piratic."