Wizardry Empire 1 is, still, awaiting a script translation. I have no problem waiting for someone to translate the many NPC conversations in the game. Well, "many" may be an overstatement but each one is very important and I want the translation to be as good as it can possibly. I found out a while ago that in the later dungeons, including the post-game dungeon, there are riddles that have to be solved; similar to what Starfish did in the sequel, Empire 2, but not as overboard as they went in that one. (Empire 2 has 50 fucking riddles!!! But you get a cool prize for answering all 50 and you only need to answer around 25 to finish the game, and around 40 for post-game).
In comparison Empire 1 is most definitely its little brother; the dungeons are actually bigger than the ones in Empire 2 but they come with all of the good and bad things that design decision brings. In each Empire 1 dungeon there are always 1-3 story NPC's hanging around who tell you a ton of the game world's history and some very interesting Wizardry lore:
- The so-called "Ancient Princess" of Empire 1 is none other than Gnilda from Wizardry 2: The Knight of Diamonds!
- ...and lots of other cool stuff that you will only care about if you've played all of the Wizardry games and I won't spoil it anyway for when the translation's done.
They also give valuable hints on how to proceed. This is actually important because Starfish used to be a grimdark tough as fuck motherfucking motherfucker RPG company. They still are, of course, and the Elminage series is next to godliness... but the first two Empire games, released in 2001 and 2003 respectively (PC dates), were Starfish studios' first big-time games after years working as freelancers on random crap: the copmany founders are and i assume still are some of the biggest and most ardent lovers of Wizardry ever. It literally shines through every single pixel of Wizardry Empire 1, 2 and to a lesser extent 3.
I mean, for fuck's sake, in the Empire 2 post-game as soon as you enter the 1st floor of that dungeon there is a tile on the floor than when stepped on tells yout: "LONG LIVE WIZARDRY! CONGRATULATIONS ON MAKING IT THIS FAR!".
I damn near almost cried.
As I was saying, Starfish used to not fuck around with their dungeons. Empire 1 nad 2 are NOT EASY. But don't worry, they're so intelligently designed it's almost impossible to blame the games for your being stuck or getting wiped or whatever. Just to put it in perspective: right from the very 1st floor of the very first intro-dungeon (which is no intro-dungoen whatsoever) in Empire 1 AND 2 the player is presented with increasingly complex combinations of one-way hall-ways, one-way doors, forced-movement "currents" that block routes, chutes that WILL drop you into a much lower level of the dungeon and have you land in a no-magic zone surrounded by super high level enemies and no idea how to make your way back. (of course they always give you one; you just have to man up and not crumble under pressure).
Fuck, to this day Empire 1 and Empire 2 are still the only two dungeon crawlers I've ever played where the designers, probably while out of their minds on PCP, decided it would be AWESOME to include some Dark-Zone areas where almost half the walls inside the dark-area are mined with explosives and explode and kill you dead real quick if you bump into the walls while finding your way in the dark.
That is fucking diabolical. It's probably also one of the my fondest memories of Empire 2! The have maintained a basline level of challenge in the Elminage series thanks to the almost PERFECT sophistication they have achieved in the use of their Wiz-clone game mechanics. Elminage games are literally what Wizardry games would be today if they were still being released by the original creators and with a desire to continually polish and polish and polish, not revolutionize, but polish polish polish into a supreme shine all fo the mechanics. They also bring the pain with the excellently balanced Elminage enemies who will behead your entire party in the 1st turn without breaking a sweat.
However the dungeons are definitely, oooh most definitely not up to the level of the 3 Empire games, 1 and 2 being the real examples. What happened is that they were getting a lot of feedback from everywhere, consumers/media/etc, back when they were releasing the Empire games, and the feedback was universal: TOO. HARD.
that is (part) of the reason(s) that Empire 3 on PSP is so generic and boasts no good dungeon design. Only competent one. It is also EXTREMELY easy, especially if you're coming off the steroids-fueled rides that are empire 1 and 2.
And surprise surprise, empire 3 tanked (well mabye not that bad, it did get a psp port after all); and they lost the Wizardry license. Thus: Elminage.
in any case, meanwhile I've put elminage 2 PSP on the side (i.e. never gonna touch it again; riddled with too many technical issues that are beyond me), and am finishing up Empire 3 on PSP and have started feverishly translating Wizardry Gaiden 6: The Five Ordeals for Windows PC.
the Empire games actually do have WAAAY more a traditional narrative story threaded throughout the games than any of the classic Wizardries. Although the amount of NPCs is low, every floor of every single dungeon is JAM PACKED with stuff for you to read or iteract with that will sometimes give you good advice on how to proceed, and sometimes will intentionally lie to you; this "dungeon texts" thing is also where the player will learn about the history of the game's world and all of the interconnectedness that it features. All 3 of the Wizardry Empire games take place decades and decades, and in the case of Empire 3 HUNDREDS of years after the canonical ending of Wizardry 5.
(Wizardry 6-8 do not exist in the eyes of the japanese; and I concur ^_^)
one of the many ways Starfish accomplished getting some story in the Empire games was through what are basically the equivalents of finding an audiolog in a AAA fps game like bioshop or whatever and listening to it as the recording (hopefully) expounds on the game world, on what your situation is comprised of and its many facets and with evne just average-to-competent writing these kinds of interactions are great and seem specifically tailor made for games where you spend the majority of your play time in an anxious progression throguh ever increasing odds and where the way back to town is not guaranteed. It just works. In the case of empire 1, 2 and 3 (1 and 2 much more so) Starfish utilized a veritable huge ole stack of shit that you find inside dungeon rooms and reading them is usually optional but, finding the scattered journal pages of a doomed infantry squad's last mission into the belly of the beast, each page describing the state of the empire, how fucked up the war was, and how committed they were to dying for their country; it's not WOW but it's very much appreciated of starfish.
uh, basically I guess what I wanted to say is that this isn't vapor ware basically.
r00fles!
* the Faust dialog is place-holder text!
)))~~
