Wizardry?

Vieo

Member
I've known about this series for a while but I've never really paid attention to it until now. Theres eight(?) games in the series, so I'm guessing it's as old as Ultima? How good were the games? Would they be worth tracking down to play?
 
It predates Ultima IIRC (it's among the earliest computer RPGs). The games are largely dungeon crawls, so if you like that genre you should like Wizardry. There is a big gap between Wizardry VII and VIII, so the older games may take too much effort to play nowadays (DOS and all), plus they're quite dated. Wizardry VIII came out a couple years ago though and plays fine on XP. It is a very good game that I still haven't finished yet. Lots and lots (and lots) of rather slow combat though, so be forewarned.
 
Wizardry (1981) came out the same year as Ultima (1981); though I'm not sure technically which came out first of those two, Wizardry does not predate Akalabeth (aka Ultima 0) (1980).
 
Damn. That's pretty old. I was born in 81! :D

I think I'll try to pick them up still. I enjoy a good dungeon hack.
 
Ah, Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.

Every blue moon I pull it out and play it, and I remind myself how much I suck at these games. I probably lack patience.
 
imo you're better off w/ the D&D Gold Box Series, but maybe that's just me; to me Wizardry has always been solid but lagged behind the great series (D&D, Ultima).
 
Wizardry is a pretty hardcore dungeon crawl type game... my favorite is VI, but most people consider VII the best. Never tried any of the Japanese Wizardry's...
 
Wizardry is mad-hardcore. Like when your characters die, they're DEAD. You have to start a new party and work your way back to where your first party got slaughtered, then drag the corpses back to town to get them revived (which has a chance of failing and incinerating the corpse).

There was a trick on the NES version to "save" your party--reset the NES before the battle was over. The game didn't "save" the death until combat was over, so you could rescue your party from obvlivion.

Nowadays you could just use a NES emulator and save states--Wizardry 1 & 2 came out for the NES.

Nathan
 
Bane of the Cosmic Forge, (Wizardry 6) is still IMO one of the best RPG game ever made. Man, I remember back in the day playing Proving Grounds and Knight of Diamonds...

There was another dungeon crawl game for Mac back in the day called "Citadel: Adventure of the Crystal Keep." That game was the shit.
 
AstroLad said:
Wizardry (1981) came out the same year as Ultima (1981); though I'm not sure technically which came out first of those two, Wizardry does not predate Akalabeth (aka Ultima 0) (1980).

If you want to consider Akalabeth an Ultima title, there is an equivalent to Akalabeth in the Wizardry world: Dungeons of Despair, which came out in 1980. It's basically the first Wizardry scenario, although it is not called Wizardry. So which came first? I don't know, that was a few years before my time. I started playing CRPGs with Ultima II :).
 
PC Gaijin said:
If you want to consider Akalabeth an Ultima title, there is an equivalent to Akalabeth in the Wizardry world: Dungeons of Despair, which came out in 1980. It's basically the first Wizardry scenario, although it is not called Wizardry. So which came first? I don't know, that was a few years before my time. I started playing CRPGs with Ultima II :).

True, though I've never played DoD, nor do I have any which technically came out first.

This is a pretty good, impressively comprehensive Wizardry site, though, if anyone's still interested-

http://www.tk421.net/wizardry/overview.shtml
 
Wizardry on the NES was my first taste of the franchise. I loved those games, but they are pretty unforgiving. Great stuff, though.
 
Ristamar said:
Wizardry on the NES was my first taste of the franchise. I loved those games, but they are pretty unforgiving. Great stuff, though.

Different franchises.. There was a western Wizardy and a Japanese one...
 
Blackace said:
Different franchises.. There was a western Wizardy and a Japanese one...

No, no the Nintendo Wizardry is the Sir-Tech computer Wizardry save for a few name changes in the Japanese versions.

NES-

Wizardry I & II

SNES-

Wizardry V & VI

AFAIK.

EDIT:

Oh, and no Wizardry thread should go by without posting of the god-awful Wizardry Gold cover:

wiz7vi.jpg


Jesus Christ, should have just stuck with the fucking dragons on this one, boys.
 
Wizardry Empire -
Wizardry Empire 2
Wizardry VII: Gadeia no Houshu FAQ --
Wizardry: Dimguil
Wizardry: Llylgamyn Saga
Wizardry: New Age of Llylgamyn -
PS2 Busin 0: Wizardry Alternative Neo
Wizardry Empire III --
Wizardry Summoner
Wizardry X: Zensen no Gakufu -
Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land

Different franchise I think...here in Japan...
 
Blackace said:
Wizardry Empire -
Wizardry Empire 2
Wizardry VII: Gadeia no Houshu FAQ --
Wizardry: Dimguil
Wizardry: Llylgamyn Saga
Wizardry: New Age of Llylgamyn -
PS2 Busin 0: Wizardry Alternative Neo
Wizardry Empire III --
Wizardry Summoner
Wizardry X: Zensen no Gakufu -
Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land

Different franchise I think...here in Japan...

Nope, same series (at least the ones I can make out). For example, Tale of the Forsaken Land was a really, really, really overlooked (and I don't mean that from a quality standpoint, but just a "who the fuck has ever heard of this game?" standpoint) PS2 release using the Wizardry license, but not developed by Sir-Tech. Same with those other games you have listed there, some are original Sir-Tech releases, others use the Sir-Tech license. Don't ask me how Wizardry caught on so much in Japan, but apparently those original Nintendo releases must have sparked someone's interest.
 
AstroLad said:
Nope, same series (at least the ones I can make out). For example, Tale of the Forsaken Land was a really, really, really overlooked (and I don't mean that from a quality standpoint, but just a "who the fuck has ever heard of this game?" standpoint) PS2 release using the Wizardry license, but not developed by Sir-Tech. Same with those other games you have listed there, some are original Sir-Tech releases, others use the Sir-Tech license. Don't ask me how Wizardry caught on so much in Japan, but apparently those original Nintendo releases must have sparked someone's interest.

Well I know that they now own the Wizardy License.. When Sir-Tech went belly up.
 
Blackace said:
Well I know that they now own the Wizardy License.. When Sir-Tech went belly up.

That's what the X-Box needs in Japan, a Wizardry title! Who knew?

As far as Sir-Tech, yeah, but I don't know wtf the status of the Wizardry license is now.
 
AstroLad said:
That's what the X-Box needs in Japan, a Wizardry title! Who knew?

As far as Sir-Tech, yeah, but I don't know wtf the status of the Wizardry license is now.

Yeah Atlus owns it...
 
shoplifter said:
I'm still pissed at Atlus for not localizing the 2nd PS2 Wizardry (Busin 0).

Agreed, I love Tale of the Forsaken Land, hey even if it only sells a little I'm sure than cover the costs involved with their other projects....
 
Wizardry is a great series on the PC. The Sir-Tech games are amazing.

I also very much loved the PS2 game, which is a different (Japanese) breed of Wizardry. I too am pissed that the GBA game and 2nd PS2 game were never released here.
 
Anyone want to part with there PS2 Wizardry game??
 
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