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Wizardry What's the best non Sir-Tech Wizardry?

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d1r

Busin 0 Wizardry Alternative Neo fanatic
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Almost everything but most of the library texts have been translated. It's no rom hack though. Still better than nothing, especially if you're a fan of this series. It also looks nice and is easy to read along whiile playing the game.
 

unseeingeye

Cleric/Mage
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Strap Yourselves In
I don't know about best, since I've only played two Japanese Wizardries, but I thought both Wizardry Gaiden IV and Wizardry Chronicle were pretty solid, anime free games. Gaiden is rather uneven in difficulty and level design, while Chronicle is the only RPG in my 30+ years of gaming that I've actually grinded.

Oh wow, thank you for this, I've not heard of Chronicle, it looks very interesting! I'm just getting into checking out the extra Wizardry games myself and don't know where to begin.
 

Ysaye

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Wizardry: Tales of the Forsaken Lands for the PS2. that was a great game

This is a pretty good game but Arthandas already said he didn't like closed dungeon games. Busin 0 is arguably a better version.

In terms of design, the Wizardry Xth scenarios are not IMO "open world" (some people say they are) but it does have inside and outside areas and opens up as a hub and spoke with interconnections design. Some of the maps are pretty hard core convoluted. This set of games got remade as Operation Abyss (2/3rds of the scenarios) and Operation Babel, and the Steam versions are the easiest way to play it, although the graphical revisions nd new portraits that are not all that sympathetic to the gritty setting and loses the inventories / portraits showing the characters wearing the equipment that they equip (the enemy designs remain mostly the same). Of course you have to be able to put up with the setting being "super enhanced japanese school kids fighting drug ridden zombies and robots crawling out of abandoned hospitals / sewers on behalf of questionable secret agencies etc - but I am sure for Robert Woodhead's interpretation of Wizardry aligns well with it (I believe he was pretty big on Bubblegum Crisis, which this feels like a similar vibe?).

Whilst I have never played them, I am pretty sure aweigh would argue for one of the Wizardry Empire / Gaiden games - for those looking for stuff from 6-7 game four adds back in some of the anthromorphic classes and also Psionics. Some of them I believe also have inside and outside exploration.
 

Shackleton

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
Get yourself PSP emulator, preferably PPSSPP and find on the net PSP roms and play Elminage Original, Class of Heroes 1, Class of Heroes 2. These games are made by Wizardry developers. Also this thread> https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...rdry-developers-updated-march-07-2016.105918/

Elminage Original is also available on PC and Class of Heroes 1 is an awful recommendation. Boring copy/paste dungeons with nothing in them, autistic crafting and mundane combat. CoH 2 is a lot better but I wouldn't put it as one of the best 'non wizardry' wizardies by any stretch of the imagination.
 

Arthandas

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This is a pretty good game but Arthandas already said he didn't like closed dungeon games.
Yeah, I know nothing about "unofficial" Wizardry games (that's why I'm asking about them), apart from the fact Japs love to copy them and I thought they were copying the best one - Wiz 7, not the older ones, what a waste.

And it's not like I hate closed dungeons, I just played so many dungeon crawlers that I'm sick of them. I want to explore weird shit like in Grimoire.
 

Darth Canoli

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I don't know about best, since I've only played two Japanese Wizardries, but I thought both Wizardry Gaiden IV and Wizardry Chronicle were pretty solid, anime free games. Gaiden is rather uneven in difficulty and level design, while Chronicle is the only RPG in my 30+ years of gaming that I've actually grinded.

I'm midly interested as well but i guess none of these jap devs ever even thought about improving upon the wizardry formula.

Is there something like Grimoire out there?
I've tried to play some of them, the early wiz system is pretty annoying and the UI is not very good either, most of the time, worse than Elminage.
And then, most of them don't even play in full screen.
 

Fluent

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Stranger Of Sword City is amazing, having a lot of fun with it.

Wizardry Labyrinth Of Lost Souls is also excellent, anime portraits but the enemy design is on point. Very good game for 50+ hours of content.

Hope these 2 can help someone looking for interesting and very good dungeon crawlers. Enjoy! :)
 

KafkaBot

Scholar
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May 4, 2016
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I really liked Elminage Gothic.

If it MUST have Wizardry in the title, probably Labyrinth of Lost Souls, but that's also the only one from Japan that I've played, admittedly.
 

octavius

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I don't know about best, since I've only played two Japanese Wizardries, but I thought both Wizardry Gaiden IV and Wizardry Chronicle were pretty solid, anime free games. Gaiden is rather uneven in difficulty and level design, while Chronicle is the only RPG in my 30+ years of gaming that I've actually grinded.

Oh wow, thank you for this, I've not heard of Chronicle, it looks very interesting! I'm just getting into checking out the extra Wizardry games myself and don't know where to begin.

Well, if you can stand anime there's a shit load to choose from. Aweig has a thread with a good overview in the JRPG sub-forum.
If not the options are more limited, and Gaiden IV is a good place to start.
 

unseeingeye

Cleric/Mage
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Strap Yourselves In
I don't know about best, since I've only played two Japanese Wizardries, but I thought both Wizardry Gaiden IV and Wizardry Chronicle were pretty solid, anime free games. Gaiden is rather uneven in difficulty and level design, while Chronicle is the only RPG in my 30+ years of gaming that I've actually grinded.

Oh wow, thank you for this, I've not heard of Chronicle, it looks very interesting! I'm just getting into checking out the extra Wizardry games myself and don't know where to begin.

Well, if you can stand anime there's a shit load to choose from. Aweig has a thread with a good overview in the JRPG sub-forum.
If not the options are more limited, and Gaiden IV is a good place to start.
I'll start with Gaiden IV in that case, thank you very much for the information. I was fond of anime in my adolescence, and now have children who enjoy some of it, but it largely lost most of its appeal for me in the late 90's and early 00's so I am somewhat conflicted on these games. Growing up I played both Western and JRPGs without discrimination but came to realize in retrospect that I prefer the Western style games and with few exceptions (such as Tactics Ogre) they are almost invariably what I've been playing in recent years. However, I retain such a strong attraction for the actual mechanics and gameplay of the Wizardry series that I've developed a genuine interest in discovering the Japanese iterations and derivatives of the games, and am willing to indulge an otherwise unappealing presentation which perhaps may even grow on me.

It isn't only the anime style of the characters and monsters that I find off-putting but the interface itself tends to be bland and generic looking in much of the JRPGs I've played, and in games for which the interface serves an integral function thus occupying a majority of the visual aspect of our engaging with it, the uninspired, utilitarian minimalism of this approach feels discouraging. Certainly I recognize that my own disposition is an obstacle to appreciating games that many other people thoroughly enjoy but its just something I can't easily dismiss. Yesterday I bought Elminage Gothic and Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls on some of the recommendations I've read in this thread and others, and look forward to trying them out this coming weekend. I will also be trying Gaiden IV once I download a copy and get it running; I haven't messed with SNES roms since I was about 16 (so almost exactly 20 years ago, hard to believe..) but have setup Amiga and Apple II emulators so I'm sure it won't be difficult to get caught back up. I've read such great enthusiasm for Elminage Gothic though that I got sort of caught up in excitement! I also bought Grimoire earlier this summer and am just getting around to it now, so the upcoming holiday weekend is going to be awesome!
 

KeighnMcDeath

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I did a casual Wizardry Search on moby and hit this odd series Wizard's Harmony I have no clue what it is.
cQwJjg1.jpg
 

Darth Canoli

Arcane
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I did a casual Wizardry Search on moby and hit this odd series Wizard's Harmony I have no clue what it is.
cQwJjg1.jpg


543139-wizard-s-symphony-playstation-4-front-cover.png


The latest one dropped the wizardry title.
Looking at the picture, at best, it looks like children labor and at worst ...

And look at that thing on the top left corner.

Edit: Bring your reclamations to the poster above, the picture is from his links.
 
Last edited:

Ysaye

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Wizard's Symphony has never had anything to do with Wizardry apart from being a dungeon crawler; it didn't originally have a Wizardry title and it's creators Arc Systems never had access to the name.

Didn't they remake the Gaiden series with a more modern look?

lordy... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizardry

That page looks as confusing as hell the further down you get. I did notice entries for Wizardry Online. How many games have English support or translation?

Wizardry Games
Wizardry Gaiden (moby seems incomplete here)
Wizardry Xseries (???)

The only ones with official english translations that I can think of are:
  • Wizardry: Tales of a Forsaken Land (PS2 game);
  • Wizardry: Labyrinth of Souls (Available on Steam);
Wizardry in nature but not in name
  • Elminage Original (if you count Elminage despite it never having the name but improved version of the Starfish Wizardry engine, Steam);
  • Elminage Gothic (ditto, Steam); and
  • Operation Abyss and Babel (English translation and remake of Wizardry Xth, available on Steam)
Wizardry in name but not in nature
  • Wizrouge: Labyrinth of Wizardry (Not an actual wizardry game but a rogue-like gacha game, Available on Steam); and
  • Wizardry Online (Also not an actual wizardry game and also now discontinued).
There are also unofficial translations of a number of the Wizardry Gaiden / Empire series
 

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