Wizardry Wizardry V Heart of the Maelstrom on FM Towns

[Humanity has risen!]

I first made this thread about four years ago, but I remember that Jaesun deleted it for no apparent reason. Now that we have a dedicated forum and he isn't a mod here is the time to bring it up again, since I'm on a Wizardry binge.

I wonder if some people here have heard/played this port of the game. It was released for a Japanese computer system (Fujitsu's "FM Towns") in 1990 and I think it is the best version of the game. It has wireframe graphics, but it is distinguished by its great character art, and most of all by its incredible soundtrack. They went all out and gave it an excellent epic orchestral score, straight out of the golden age of Japanese orchestral anime soundtrack. I mean look at this:



And the final battle:



There is an FM Towns emulator for Windows where it is possible to play this, and there is an option for full English text as well.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Hmmm... I think this post should be joined with the Wizardry megathread.

Spoiler

 

[Machocruz]

I've been slowly working on the SNES version for years. I prefer its music (the compositions, not the sound quality) and dungeon graphics over this version

 

[Crooked Bee]

I think there was something that put me off the SNES version though... Was it something about the dialogue mechanics being different? No typing in keywords I guess? I don't really remember the details.

Humanity has risen! Do you know if you can input English keywords in the emulated FM Towns version?

 

[Wizfall]

I agree the soundtrak is very good but the snes version is still my favorite (and has better dungeon graphics).

 

[Ranselknulf]

There wasn't keyword typing that I can recall although there were a few situations where you would have to input passwords / phrases / words to solve a riddle and a keyboard would pop up.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

I think there was something that put me off the SNES version though... Was it something about the dialogue mechanics being different? No typing in keywords I guess? I don't really remember the details.

Humanity has risen! Do you know if you can input English keywords in the emulated FM Towns version?

I'm pretty sure. I'm probably going to fire it up. I remember I played the emulated version briefly five years ago or so, and that I saw a video with NPC interaction that included this.

This is a full-fledged computer version after all, you have to type all the spells etc.

The composer who made the music for the Wizardries on Nintendo platforms actually made the music for the Macross TV series and for the first Suikoden.

 

[Ranselknulf]

I know some of the dialogs you had to respond to with the popup keyboard in certain ways.. I don't think you had to key word everything though. I probably should play this again.. but too busy right now.

Protip... Kill the laughing kettle over and over to gain fast levels. You get a ridiculous amount of exp for how easy he is to kill.. I think the first time I killed him all my characters gained 2 levels.. and they were already decently leveled up.

You can charm him later for quest stuffs.

 

[aweigh]

snes versions of wiz 1-2-3-5-6 utilize wall-of-text spam when you select 'talk' with an npc. no typing or choosing of keywords. there are 1 or 2 isolated instances where you are prompted to use a virtual keyboard to type in a word, such as 'vampire' in wizardry 5, but it's hardly worth mentioning.

the snes versions of wiz 1-2-3 are nigh perfect in terms of reproducing the content of the originals, but the snes version of wiz 5 suffers from a lot of truncated npc dialog. thankfully it has no discernible mechanical difference in its gameplay systems.

the ps1 versions of wiz 1-2-3-4-5 (age of llylgamyn / new age of llylgamyn discs) feature the original english script without any changes whatsoever. interaction with npc's is done by choosing from the list of keywords provided. the keywords provided are all of the necessary ones to unlock their dialog. the ps1 version of wiz 5, while graphically inferior to the snes version, features the original english script and gear naming making it a much purer choice for a playthrough.

the FM Towns versions of the wizardry games are the only ones that boast original sprite art done by the japanese developers and an original musical score composed by them as well; unlike all other versions of all other wizardry games which utilize reworked sprites and reworked art assets and do not feature "original" sprites as such.

don't know about the playability of the FM Towns versions though as i haven't had a chance to try them out and i don't think they're in english anyway.

ah! i forgot about the ps1 version of wiz 4's enemy sprite art. unlike the wiz 5 ps1/snes/etc remakes which utilize reworked monster art (in terms of the design and look; they're reproductions) -- the wiz 4 remake for the ps1 features brand-new 2d art for the do-gooders mixed in with reproductions of the original designs as well.

the PC Engine version features "original art" as well sporting a distinctive anime look

 

[aweigh]

for pure graphics whoring there's no comparison to the snes versions tho, of any of the wizardry games:

*sploosh*

 

[Lucumo]

Speaking of PC Engine...I regularly import Japanese stuff and it looks like my proxy service ordered the wrong item (now I know why I paid more than I expected). Apparently, I'm now a not-so-proud owner of Wizardry V for the PC engine, which I can't play...

/edit: Looks like I can listen to the music/ambience and some random emulator does recognize the CD.