Wizardry Long Live Wizardry! (And The All-New Games By Ex-Wizardry Developers)

[aweigh]

thanks

 

[aweigh]

Dorarnae

added CoH 2g and CoH 4 Final - The Freshman Is A Princess, and i also added the most recent Elminage game titled "Elminage: Ibun Ame No Mahashira". originally I thought it wasn't a dungeon-crawler game and an attempt by Starfish to grab some casuals but apparently it's a proper dungeon crawler except it features a completely different artstyle (think brighter colors and less d&d) and your party is comprised of cute monsters you can capture.

sounds like a good game actually. obviously it's in moon runes only.

 

[Dorarnae]

Dorarnae

added CoH 2g and CoH 4 Final - The Freshman Is A Princess, and i also added the most recent Elminage game titled "Elminage: Ibun Ame No Mahashira". originally I thought it wasn't a dungeon-crawler game and an attempt by Starfish to grab some casuals but apparently it's a proper dungeon crawler except it features a completely different artstyle (think brighter colors and less d&d) and your party is comprised of cute monsters you can capture.

sounds like a good game actually. obviously it's in moon runes only.

I tried to play elminage Ibun on psp but I just can't hehe. it's more story focus. I can't speak for the story but the gameplay sucks.
maybe the 3ds version is better considering elminage gothic on 3ds had many change.

 

[aweigh]

i kinda doubt they would change the core gameplay in a port to 3ds... your assessment rings true however as the title itself is explicitly meant to draw in a more casual audience, what with the heavy emphasis on story and lots of cutesey anime characters. (apparently badly written from what i read in a review).

 

[Dorarnae]

I have no idea why many keep trying to put a story, instead of focusing on gameplay. Well I don't mind if they put an interesting story but as long as they don't dumb down the gameplay...
and yeah cutesey anime is....Dungeon travelers is an exception because while there's fan service, the actual game is good. but game like moero chronicle is a fan service game first, the gameplay suck.
it feels like playing Class of heroes 2-3-final (for map exploration) but the rest of the gameplay is worst than class of heroes.

 

[Dorarnae]

there's this game too:


I haven't played much of it yet.

and lost heroes 1&2

this seemed popular but I tried the first game a little and didn't like it.

 

[Dorarnae]

nippon ichi is also making one:

 

[aweigh]

awesome! thanks for the heads up. I'll add them soon. and yeah i agree about story and dungeon crawling: i mean wizardry didn't even have interactive NPC's until wizardry 5 !!! there's absolutely nothing wrong with having them to further the plot or to provide a service though; wizardry empire 2 and 3 (haven't yet played 1) and elminage series, Gothic in particular, do an EXEMPLARY job of integrating NPC's inside the actual GAMEPLAY.

btw, while searching for wizardry inspired dungeon crawler titles on google just now i came across an Android game that looks promising called "Dungoneer". i added it to the list. the creator explicitly states his aim was to recreate a Wizardry game.

 

[Siveon]

Lost Heroes is another one of those games we'll never get because of the culture difference (because Bamco). I want a dungeon crawler with gundams dammit!

 

[aweigh]

there are rumblings of a fan-translation for Lost Heroes; but i need to double-check that statement

 

[aweigh]

added links to gbatemp threads about burgeoning translation attempts for all the titles that i could find that have at least prelimenary results to show and files to download: beyond the labyrinth and wizardry: wedge of life.

mmm, looks delicious doesn't it. hell, an interface translation is really all a true wizardry game needs! the last posting on that GBATemp thread was in october 2015 so there is hope.

the Beyond the Labyrinth translation is basically done and the game is playable but of course there is no working 3ds emulator as of yet so for those with a 3ds and who own the japanese cartridge of the game go ahead and follow the instructions in the OP link in the game's entry and enjoy it in English.

i also added the romhacking translation patch links for the nintendo version of wizardry 3: legacy of llylgamyn and the game boy color ports of wizardries 1, 2 and 3. (btw, those GBC ports appear to be ported from the SNES 'story of llylgamyn' cartridge and look pretty fucking good in terms of graphics!)

unfortunately lost heroes' gbatemp translation thread has not been active in 5 years. :\

this is the next thing i wish to add to each title: links to active translation discussion threads. if anybody can help me out with links i would greatly appreciate it!

i'm also going to add youtube links to gameplay videos of each title. i'll probably be linking to your videos for a lot of the japanese titles Dorarnae hope that's o.k.

 

[CryptRat]

This thread is awesome because of the old titles I still have to play. But it's also a little depressing, regarding the future : there are several dungeon crawlers recently released or to be released soon but so few which I would actually play because most of them are fan service crap or at best moe or waifus shit.
Lost Heroes 2 looks awesome.

 

[Siveon]

I would actually play because most of them are fan service crap or at best moe or waifus shit.

For most games it's just an art-style. Only Dungeon Travelers 2 is muddled with it, and is actually a game worth playing. Everything else (in English) that has those traits aren't usually all that good. Example: Demon Gaze, Moero Chronicles, some other third thing.

 

[aweigh]

hey, don't overlook Success's "The Dark Spire". that's as hard-core Wizardry as you can get and it's in English and it is GREAT. it was developed by the same team behind the wizardry 4 remake, the wizardry 4 "japanese arrangement" remix and the wizardry 5 remake for ps1 and sega saturn.

they literally got the band back together after years of working on mobile crap in japan just so they could make a true dungeon crawler again in the spirit of wizardry.

that reminds me: i should google what success is up to...

 

[Dorarnae]

dungeon travelers 2-2 is supposed to be coming this year but I really don't know what's going on with it now. they seem to be more focused with utawarerumono... Dt2-2 website no longer exist it seem.

 

[aweigh]

HUGE improvement in readability. i put the pictures on top of the game information and added additional line breaks between a game's different platform releases.

on an unrelated note i found the most perfect elminage 2 picture ever, hehe:

japanese guy who loves his dungeon crawler and loves his gears of war.

 

[aweigh]

added Densetsu no Yuushu no Densetsu: Legendary Saga (psp), lost heroes 1 (psp/3ds) (along with the link to the GBATemp translation thread) and also added lost heroes 1 and 2 (psp/3ds).

removed erroneous PS3 entry for class of heroes 4 final: the freshman is a princess! as it is only available on PSP and playstation NETWORK, which is what threw me off. the only PS3 entries for CoH are the remake of 2, titled CoH 2G and a CoH 3 (which I guess didn't do well on the console, hence coh 4 final going back to psp only).

there's a new CoH out called Chrono Academy but it's not a dungeon crawler it's a JRPG. it actually looks better than their dungeon crawlers (never really got into the CoH games to be honest). someone should add CoH: Chrono Academy to the pinned JRPG master list thread.

still need to add:

- DLC for labyrinth of lost souls
- the two new chapters continuing the labyrinth of lost souls "storyline" that were released in japan recently. i forget their names, need to google them.
- links to youtube videos for each game.
- for the sake of completion the DoCoMo wizardry mobile games that were released in japan. they're mostly remakes of the first 5 wizardry scenarios but they did get around to making entirely new scenarios.
- expand list to include every single turn-based dungeon crawler released since 1987.

 

[aweigh]

i added dates to all of the Wizardry-titled entries. i'll add the rest of the stuff i said i'll add on monday and tuesday.

also gonna do the MegaTen compilation thread starting monday.

it's pretty fucking amazing that the Story of Llylgamyn cartridge for the SNES was produced in 1999 (!)

it was actually made AFTER the PS1/Saturn remakes which explains why the SNES versions are more graphically advanced. it really must have been one of the very last SNES cartridges ever produced! it also came out SEVEN YEARS AFTER wiz 5 for the snes, which came out in 1992.

 

[Dorarnae]

two new chapter continuing labyrinth of souls? I don't think there's anything new with these other than it was released on ps vita recently.
with Wizardry complete on ps3, you have both game with all dlc.

 

[aweigh]

some japanese links you might find interesting Dorarnae:

- walkthroughs (and blogged playthroughs) of several wizardry games but specifically a focus on playing through all of the available wizardry: five ordeals user-created scenarios: http://blog.zaq.ne.jp/pickaxe/article/92/

- one of the biggest and longest-running wizardry blogs SandStorm. interestingly enough his second most recent blog entry is about him playing Heroes of a Broken Land! http://blog.livedoor.jp/jzunkodj4y/

- an UNBELIEVABLY CUUUTE KAAWAAAI DESU DESU wizardry fan site from a japanese man-child filled with quizzes about the game and "interactive browsing experiences" such as clicking a link... and being teleported into stone! http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Domino/6006/wiz_top.htm

- probably the first link I should've mentioned... this one is another blog by Eruaki absolutely chock-full of "play diaries" of most wizardry titles along with other games like the games in the Culdcept series; more importantly though he has written several hint guides and walkthroughs for a lot of the titles such as a hint guide for prisoners of the battles that i haven't found anywhere else: http://eruaki.ninpou.jp/

in any case, according to EMONOYA, the word of god in the world of wizardry:

- Wizardry: War of the Magic Tower for iOS by Bandai-Namco
- Tokyo Labyrinth: Wizardry 0 for Windows PC by Game Pot

those were the two i was referring to but you were correct in that the Renaissance series has ended for the moment with the most recent release being the NDS wizardry: boukyaku. the Gaiden series is also over for the moment with the last releases being user-created scenarios by japanese players.

 

[aweigh]

Dorarnae Courtier Deuce Traveler Siveon Comte MrRichard999 Helly

- Sanctuary: Black Edition by Black Shell Media. It combines the plethoria of interactive choices and consequences that can emerge through gameplay found in traditional roguelikes while front-loading the game play experience with a traditional Wizardry-style experience. Optional perma-death setting is included for those wanting a more hard-core experience and classes involve the classic Wizardry archetypes to choose from. The Music and the sound FX are AWESOME as well. also features a detailed crafting system. I can't stress enough just how cool this game looks.

- Verlis 2. It is a real-time dungeon crawler with dedicated buttons for blocking and attacking; when not in combat you utilize WASD + mouse-look to inspect hand-painted scenes.


- Wizardry: War Of The Magic Tower for iOS and for Android. There's an extensive review in the japanese blog I pulled these images from but truthfully i didn't feel like investing myself too much into the game since I don't own either device and probably won't ever own one. Still the dude writes some very positive things about the game.

- Labyrinth Search: Dragon Princess. I know absolutely nothing about it except that the wizardry blogger SandStorm likes it.

I'll be adding these to the main list on monday (with the exception of Verlis 2). If you guys find more dungeon crawlers please post them here!

 

[aweigh]

- Death Under The Labyrinth for PS Vita by Compile Heart.

 

[Siveon]

Jesus Christ man, putting all the imports on the main page (especially a crappy looking phone game) is just gonna muddle everything up. Maybe divide the list by two sections, English and Non-english (Regular and Import)?

...Also, real-time?

At that point just add all the Dungeon Master clones, Ultima Underworld, etc.

 

[aweigh]

i explicitely wrote that i wouldn't add the real-time game.

as for the "crappy looking phone game" i agree, it looks crappy. it's also an official wizardry game. Wiz 7 and 8 are crappy games and they're in the list. what's the problem?

also i'm planning on adding every single turn-based blobber with Wizardry-inspired design eventually.

did you even look at Sanctuary? i also never wrote that i was going to add the obviously eroge 'crawler to the list, i only posted it for the persual of crawler aficionados such as yourself and the others, like dorar, that i listed.

please read posts in completion before writing some asinine response.

 

[Siveon]

I indeed missed that last part, but I will not stop being asinine (though I do apologize). It's the whole point on being on the Codex.

I have Sanctuary RPG, I'll have you know. I wouldn't call it Wizardry like, since most I've ever done in that game is look for encounters to kill and then go on a dungeon or two. But hell, it deserves a bit more exposure so I'd give that pass. It's sorta a crawler anyway.

i also never wrote that i was going to add the obviously eroge 'crawler to the list, i only posted it for the persual of crawler aficionados such as yourself and the others, like dorar, that i listed.

My comment on the imports wasn't directed at the eroge crawler (which I believe you're responding to), more just a statement on the fact that because Japan puts out dungeon crawlers like nobody's business, every other game on the list will require a thorough knowledge of moonrunes.

what's the problem?

I didn't have a problem with it in particular (just that it looks crappy), just the fact that now the list includes non-translated imports, it'll be harder to find ones that are playable to the average English-speaking person. However, now that it's been brought up, I have to wonder if it's even a crawler. Some phone games look like a crawler but actually move in one linear path, like Puzzle & Dragons. Can't find a gameplay video, but, gotta be careful with those.

Hmm. Are there import friendly crawlers? With riddles and the like you'd have to play them to actually know.