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

[Matador]

I understand know, fighting games have no content,only tiny stages and fighting, and racing games linear levels and racing without any other interaction. What a scam artists.

What's next,a multiplayer game with only shooting and bomb defusing QTE?

Fucking casuals, they buy whatever they get showed.

 

[Roqua]

I understand know, fighting games have no content,only tiny stages and fighting, and racing games linear levels and racing without any other interaction. What a scam artists.

What's next,a multiplayer game with only shooting and bomb defusing QTE?

Fucking casuals, they buy whatever they get showed.

Correct. This is an rpg site and these games are labelled as rpgs and have rpg systems but no content. I play rpgs so I assume what you listed is true about other genres, but I wouldn't know since I have good taste and post on this site because I actually like rpgs. Most of the people here, like you, are like Bud Ultra drinkers that occasionally drinks some Strawberry Kiwi Boones wine posting on a website about fine wines. There is no reason for any of you to be here and your opinions are uninformed and not important.

 

[felipepepe]

Ok kids, enough bickering. Here's some good news:

My interview with Experience inc/ Team Muramasa was approved,I'll be sending questions to Motoya Ataka - director or Wizardry Xth, Generation Xth, Labyrinth Cross Blood, Operation Abyss, Students of the Round & Stranger in Sword City. This guy is basically THE Wizardry-like authority, made more of those games than anyone else.

So, any questions you would like to ask? aweigh Crooked Bee Courtier Siveon MrRichard999 Helly Viata H-K Machine

 

[Viata]

Any plans in doing a remake or port of Wizardry Xth 1 and 2 for PC?
What about bringing Generation Xth to Steam?
Does the new games are going to be like Ray Gigant(visual novel like, can view my character during battle) or it's going to be like old team muramasa/Experience Inc games(true to the wizardry formula)?
Are you guys working on a new game? Do you guys want to try a different genre or enjoy making wizardry-like ones?

Thanks for doing the interview, felipepepe.

 

[MrRichard999]

I got no questions but good luck with your interview! :D

 

[Siveon]

What is his favorite Wizardry game and why?
What does he feel is the difference between dungeon crawling fans in the west and the east? If any?
What is the most important part of a dungeon crawler, for him?
Should we expect any of their earlier titles on steam or anywhere else in the future (a sort of general version of Viatas question) for the west?

 

[Shackleton]

Were you happy with the reception to Stranger of Sword City on the PC and does that encourage you to localise the Gen XTH games?

Why did you choose not to include the crafting element from your previous games in Stranger of Sword City? It seemed like it would be a good fit with the 'explore, then return to base to save' gameplay.

Why did you choose to move away from the traditional (for example) 20x20 grid design into a more irregular and 'corridor style' map design in your more recent titles?

 

[Shackleton]

Also:

Is the market for turn based blobbers in Japan still strong?

What does he attribute the continued success of this genre in Japan to, considering how little it's represented in the West?

 

[Machine]

Not sure if he'll be willing to discuss it, but would be nice to know how they see reception of Sword City on Steam (i.e. is it a success?, also kinda ties in with further plans for bringing over other games etc), and how viable is western pc market compared to handhelds & stuff they do in Japan.

Do they have any plans for full sci-fi/cyberpunk/post apoc themed blobber considering japanese games of this type often have more contemporary setting than usual fantasy standard. Only "full" sci fi blobber im aware of is unfinished Star Crawlers, but most EXP games have lots of futuristic elements (Generation xth series for example).

Rest of things that come to mind were already asked by other people so thats it. Thanks for doing interview and good luck!

 

[Dorarnae]

So I just bought the first labyrinth of touhou. Crooked Bee will proud of me hehe.
been listening the music for a while and this is mostly what draw me to the game, will see if the rest is good, but it'll probably take a while to play, I am still playing etrian odyssey 5...
I was trying to find a physical version of the game but it was too expensive, at least the dl version is pretty cheap..

 

[aweigh]

Roqua

SHUUUUT UPPPP

 

[BlackGoat]

Wiz afficionados,

How would you rank the Wiz games, including Wiz (classic 80s American) and new-Wiz (Gaiden, Empire, Chronicles, misc Jap etc) and might-as-well-be-wiz (Elminage Gothic)? English-language only plz

Cause I'm just thinking of where to go next. I'm currently doing a slower play thru of E:Gothic, and the next classic Wiz on my list is Wiz3 (already played WizV, haven't played WizIV), but after that I dunno, just been thinking of moseying thru the SNES versions for giggles..

 

[aweigh]

BlackGoat

PREEMPTIVE-EDIT: I 100% recommend playing the SNES remakes of Wizzes 1-3 if only just to stare at the jaw-droppingly gorgeous 2D art on display. It looks beautiful. (The translated SNES rom with Wizzes 1-3, i mean, as Wiz 5 was actually developed 3 whole years before the Llylgamyn Saga SNES cartridge!).

#1. Elminage: Gothic (Windows PC / Steam / Officially localized by "Ghostlight Studios"; developed and published in its home country by Starfish Studios)

#2. Wizardry: Empire 2 (Windows PC / Localized by the RPGCodex's own Helly and MrRichard999). An absolutely amazing Wizardry game. Can't say enough about it. Changed my fucking life.

#3. Wizardry 5 (Loc- hehe, JK <3)

#4. Wizardry titles 1-3

#5. Wizardry 4 (PRETENTIOUS PLACEMENT ON MY PART AS I HAVE NEVER FINISHED WIZ 4) (!!!)

#6. Elminage: Original (PSP / Officially localized). Some prefer 'Original to 'Gothic but they are very different beasts. 'Original was Starfish Studio's first attempt to "begin anew" after losing the Wizardry license and it is a love letter to Wizardry, of course, but it is also very much a Fantasy RPG (in the best way possible!). At least... as much so as a pure Wiz-clone 'crawler can be a "Fantasy RPG" with well-known tropes/trappings/etc.

Dungeon design is a step back from the Wizardry Empire games but absolutely every-fucking-thing-else is a clear and elegant evolution of Wizardry (i.e. Wiz 5) blueprints. (Which, in my opinion, culminate in 'Gothic; Starfish Studio's attempt to once make a hard-core pure-as-fuck kult-ass Wiz-grinder with great dungeons and almost inarguably the most challenging challenge available in a mainstream Wiz-clone game. It is not hyperbolic to say Starfish literally perfected the Wiz-blueprint with Gothic and that calling it Wizardry 6 would not only be apropos but it would also be a goddamn compliment to the original series.)

#7. Wizardry: Gaiden 4 - Throb Of The Demon's Heart (SNES / Translated by MrRichard999 and Helly as well!). I have not finished this one yet but am 100% thoroughly enjoying it.

#8. Wizardry: Chronicle (Windows PC / Translated by MrRichard999 as well!). Have barely played it TBH but I just finished clearing the 3rd Maze floor and, i mean, it's fucking classic Wiz. Very enjoyable to play, a bit slow paced, but surprisingly incredibly "modern" in its menu-design and ease-of-use / ease-of-menu-navigation.

According to Shackleton he was quite impressed with the map designs the further into the Maze the player goes and his positive descriptions / accountings / anecdotes of his current playthrough of 'Chronicle have made me shuffle 'Gaiden 4 back on the play queue in order to continue 'Chronicle instead.

He can shed more light on this game than me.

#7. Every other Wiz-clone, etc. Generation XTH: Code Hazard (Fan-translated into English / Windows PC); the recently released Stranger in Sword City (Officially localized into English, albeit by 5th graders; Windows PC / Steam); etc.

#8. Etrian Odyssey 1 and 2, and maaaaybe 3. I have not finished any of the EO games but I have playthroughs going of the first 3, and I am enjoying title #2 (Lagaard) waaay more than 3 or 1.

Japanese-language mention: Wizardry: Empire 3 for PSP. It's good! But unbelievably average. You would not miss out on absolutely anything whatsoever if you never play it; but if you ever do play it you'll enjoy the fuck out of it as even though it features the blandest dungeons ever by Starfish Studios (which are still better than average, as even Starfish's mediocre efforts are better than the competition's best efforts); and it features the exact same gameplay mechanics of Wizardry Empire 1 and 2 so logically if you enjoyed playing the first 2 on Windows PC then you will enjoy playing the 3rd entry on PSP/PPSSPP.

In a rather curious turn of events apparently Starfish forsaw that 'Empire 3 would not receive a proper fan translation ever as it was only released on PSP (translating PSP/console games is a fucking nightmare) so completely opposite to the first 2 'Empire titles, 'Empire 3 features almost _no NPCs to talk to nor even a single "puzzle" that would require the act of understanding japanese text_.

Which sheds some light on why I consider it extremely average. It is very... "barren".

EDIT: BTW, I have on my Firedrop/Dropbox accounts the Windows PC "port" of the Llylgamyn Saga remakes that were released in Japan by Microsoft Studios. They are... hilariously awful and ugly compared to the sleek elegance of the SNES cartridge and fuck, even the PS1 versions of 1-3 with their PS1-era pixelated and blocky polygonal dungeons and how-in-the-world-is-it-possible-worse-enemy-sprites-than-the-SNES-remakes look and play and control better than the japanese PC port of the Wiz 1-3 remakes; (and 4-5, of which the remake of Wiz 4 is the only existing alternative version for players other than the DOS / Apple II original release).

 

[aweigh]

oh, and not a Wiz title but developed by ex-Wiz devs: the Nintendo DS title "The Dark Spire". Absolutely great Wiz-clone.

 

[Dorarnae]

Wiz afficionados,

How would you rank the Wiz games, including Wiz (classic 80s American) and new-Wiz (Gaiden, Empire, Chronicles, misc Jap etc) and might-as-well-be-wiz (Elminage Gothic)? English-language only plz

Cause I'm just thinking of where to go next. I'm currently doing a slower play thru of E:Gothic, and the next classic Wiz on my list is Wiz3 (already played WizV, haven't played WizIV), but after that I dunno, just been thinking of moseying thru the SNES versions for giggles..

1-2 Elminage Gothic/elminage original
3-Elminage 2
4-Elminage 3
5-Wizardry Prisoners of the battle
6-Wizardry 5
7-Wizardry alternative neo
8-Wizardry empire 1
9-Wizardry Dimguil
10-Wizardry empire 3
11-Wizardry Tales of forsaken land
12-Wizardry 1
13-Wizardry 3
14-Wizardry xth2
15-Wizardry empire 2(it's low because I just don't like those riddle door and the last main game dungeon is the same as the first game but reversed.)
16-Wizardry asterisk
17-Wizardry 2
18--19- the other 2 wizardry on ds
20-Wizardry xth



if you include other dungeon crawler title Iit'll maybe look like this.

1-2 Elminage Gothic/elminage original
3-Elminage 2
4-Elminage 3
5-Wizardry Prisoners of the battle
6-Labyrinth Cross blood infinity Ultimate
7-Stranger of sword city
8-Dungeon Travelers 2
8-Wizardry 5
9-Wizardry alternative neo
10-Wizardry empire 1
11-Wizardry Dimguil
12-ToHeart2 Dungeon travelers
13-Wizardry empire 3
14-Wizardry Tales of forsaken land
15-Etrian odyssey 5(so far it's good, only thing that is disappointing is the music)
16-Operation babel
17-Wizardry 1
18-Wizardry 3
19-Etrian odyssey 4
20-Etrian odyssey 3(I like the class in this game but after replaying the game a second time, I felt the dungeon were weak)
21-Wizardry xth2
22-Wizardry empire 2(it's low because I just don't like those riddle door and the last main game dungeon is the same as the first game but reversed.)
23-Operation abyss
24-Etrian odyssey 2 (dungeon were alright, but the quest system is so not rewarding and gave up on post game when I learned I had to complete the quest for the 6th stratum)
25-Wizardry asterisk
26-Wizardry 2
27--28- the other 2 wizardry on ds
29-Etrian Odyssey untold (fuck the grimoire stuff, I hate it!! I have the original game and will someday replay it, I'll probably prefer the original..)
30-Wizardry xth

and under all that you have the class of heroes game, then mind zeros, then moero chronicle and Elminage ibun.(I would avoid all these, except maybe the class of heroes if you're realllllly bored...)

 

[aweigh]

BlackGoat

Video of my abandoned attempt at translating into English language the game "Wizardry XTH 2: Unlimited Students" for PS2:


Video of "Wizardry: Gaiden 6 - The Prisoner of the Battles" for PS2. It is jap-language but it has options for "everything but the dialog" to appear in English (items, spells, enemies, etc); and, btw, I didn't include it in the list because it's not officially in English but it is a fantastic game. It is awesome.


Video of Windows PC port of the "Llylgamyn Saga" collection (Wiz 1-3):


Video of an Encounter Rate comparison between Wizardry 3 fixed encounter b1f (SNES version, PS1 version and japanese computer "NEC-PC 98" enhanced graphical port of the Apple II / DOS version):


Video of my creating a "maze" on the Wizardry Legacy Construction Kit, which is a fan-made "creation kit" for making Wizardry modules:

 

[Dorarnae]

oh, and not a Wiz title but developed by ex-Wiz devs: the Nintendo DS title "The Dark Spire". Absolutely great Wiz-clone.

true forgot about that game...the first time I played it I found it meh because I didn't really like the puzzle...but when I replayed the game it was better because I knew where I was going...

 

[aweigh]

Video of my currently-everything-looks-good english translation of the continuation of Wiz Gaiden 6: The Prisoner of the Battles, which is called "The Five Ordeals". It is basically an expansion pack with 5 Wiz modules using the same engine/assets as The Prisoner of the Battles:


Video of my abandoned (actually, it's ongoing but no plans for any sort of release of any kind) translation attempt of Elminage 2 for PSP:


Video of my struggling (it keeps crashing!) "everything-but-dialog" translation of Wizardry: Empire 3 for PSP:


Video of gameplay footage of Stranger of Sword City:


BTW, check out Dorarnae 's youtube channel as he has a metric fuck-ton way more videos (and much juicier gameplay videos) than I do.

 

[aweigh]

BTW, it's not a Wizardry title but I 10000% urge you to play Paper Sorcerer (Windows PC / Steam):


The Dark Spire, and I fully recommend it!




Here is a video of the NEC-PC 98 "enhanced" port of Wizardry 5 in action; I am using a NEC-PC 98 emulator obviously:


Video of gameplay footage of the recently completed translation of Wiz Gaiden 4 for the SNES:

 

[aweigh]

Video footage of the PS1 port/remake of Wizardry 4 in all of its bombastic glory:


Video footage of me playing the PS1 remake of Wizardry 1: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord but using classic Wireframe graphical display instead of the polygonal dungeons (they also included the option to utilize 8-bit and 16-bit sprites for the enemies):


And, yeah, man the orchestral scores for the PS1 remakes are just great. Some people hate the orchestral scores and/or simply prefer the SNES scores (two completely different scorings for the remakes, regardless of SNES/PS1 sound chip stuff!); I really like the strings/etc on the PS1 remakes of Wiz 1-5.

 

[aweigh]

Finally, look at the sweet sprite Art on the SNES remakes (Wiz 1-3):


Street fighter:

 

[BlackGoat]

I've messed around a bit with the SNES wiz's before just to take it easy and enjoy the graphics (and utilize my freshly painted maps from the DOS games) and I've been dipping my toes in Wiz Gaiden IV a little bit, but haven't fully committed. E:Gothic should keep me busy for awhile (and then Wiz3), but I think I'll follow up with GaidenIV and Empire2. Maybe Paper Sorcerer, but that's a Wiz 4 clone yeah? Should probably give Wiz4 a go first.

One disappointing thing about E:Gothic is that magic map (and the spell too) makes it so I can be more or less sloppy with my own graph mapping, which kills a lot of the excitement and danger for me, but it's still good. I just don't like that I can quickly wander about a map without paying attention and then just cast dumapic (or whatever) and start map-tracing.

 

[aweigh]

gothic will own your soul. i have like 600 hours clocked on that beast. unlike all other games i've clocked crazy hours on: not one single regret!

the game basically starts when you finish the "normal storyline". the story actually fully continues into the gigantic 3 post-game dungeons, so it never really "ends", which is unlike most japanese "post game" portions: they are usually very disconnected but that is not the case in 'Gothic.

The latter half of the game, i.e. the post-game, is the actual real game. heh.

 

[BlackGoat]

Is there anything comparable to Gothic's 90+ levels in Wiz-gaming? Or was that like an unheard of "Fuck you, have 90 levels" type of thing

Edit. 'Fuck you' in a good way

 

[aweigh]

starfish actually makes long ass games.

wiz empire 1 only features 3 dungeons, but it took me 25 hours to completely map out the 1st one!

wiz empire 2 easily took me upwards 75 hours (but i'm almost sure didn't reach 100) to reach the half-way point of the post-game dungeon before i shelved it (for other crawlers that were waiting).

empire 3, being as barren/empty as it is as i mentioned earlier, i reached its post game in less than 40 hours and do not plan to finish it. (i do plan to eventually finish the empire 2 post-game dungeon, though).

elminage: original right now i'm on my 2nd playthrough and in neither of my two playthroughs i have done the post-game dungeon: in my current, 2nd playthrough of Original, i'm currently clocked at 61 hours and am finishing up the final "normal dungeon" the dragon's fang. i have no idea how long the post-game dungeon is in 'Original.

gothic is nuts, you may have noticed i have been typing "the post-game dungeon"; well starfish decided 1 wasn't enough: there's 3, with the first two being bigger (each one, individually) than any of the "story dungeons" and then the 3rd post-game dungeon is the 20f Ibag's Tower which is basically... well, it's fucking gigantic.

to be fair to the classics though Wiz 5 and 6 are no slouches. I clocked 52 hours before seeing the credits roll on the PS1 remake of Wiz 5, and i also played through the SNES version of Wiz 5 but that one didn't have a clock: but it felt shorter than my ps1 playthrough.

i suspected it before but now i am quite certain: the SNES remakes (wiz 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6) don't necessarily feature FEWER encounters but they are definitely "easier". they are 100% wizardry faithful, but after i played the SNES remakes and then immediately afterwards played the PS1 remakes and THEN immediately afterwards started playing through the NEC-PC 98 port of the original Wiz 5 all i have to say is:

the snes versions "felt faster/easier". i can't really make a hard-facts list of the details but that's how they felt/played. the encounter rate comparison video of the Wiz 3 versions (snes/ps1/nec-pc 98) i recorded shows definite proof that the encounters are not the same in each version. the changes are all so integrated into the experience while playing though that i can't honestly say i ever felt a tangible difference.

as i said i only began suspecting the ps1 remakes were more accurate to the originals because i played them immediately after playing the snes versions. i absolutely had a way, way harder/tougher/longer time finishing wiz 5 on ps1 than on the snes.

the snes remake of wiz 6 is fantastic, btw, just remembered it has not been mentioned. it was fan-translated but the guy (guys, whatever) all they did was very smartly utilize the original game script of wiz 6 and they "translated" the japanese text into the original game script. So it's not a real translation they just switched the game scripts.

obviously there are differences like not being able to ask keywords to NPCs: in the snes version of wiz 5/6 what happens is the NPC simply tells you all of the critical story/puzzle script/dialog all at once in a huge info dump.

it's handled waaay better in the fan-translated Wiz 6 (snes), waaay better than the CAPCOM-localized Wiz 5 on snes. the snes wiz 5 features flat-out truncated NPC dialog and since that was the first version i played i always thought the game wasn't supposed to make a lick of sense.

it wasn't until i played the ps1 version of wiz 5 and suiddenly noticed every NPC in the game was talking in a much more normal manner and giving me much better "edited" text to read and not huge nonsense info-dumps that i realized: holy shit, wiz 5 actually does have a story! it's just that the snes version's game script was mutilated! heh.

no such script mutilation in the fan-translated snes wiz 6 tho. it plays fucking beautifully, looks gorgeous, and it is text-accurate to the original. Yes, for example in the original dos/apple ii versions you can engage in extraneous dialog with Quiggs asking him keywords that are not related to anything story/puzzle/critical, that is true: there is "less text", but everything that is important is elegantly edited and info-dumped on the player in snes wiz 6 unlike snes wiz 5, and using the original text to the letter.

(btw, it goes without saying that all versions, except obviously the primitive NES ports, are 100% gameplay-content / dungeon-content accurate to the originals; all of my previous observation that you've just read is exclusively and specifically about the text and the text only; oh, and of course, the previous talk of the encounter differences and whatnot).

i didn't finish wiz 5 NEC-PC 98 version but i played enough of it to feel satisfied that the experience i played through w/ the PS1 remake of wiz 5 is absolutely, 100% comparable to the original in every single meaningful way. the same could DEFINITELY not be said of the snes wiz 5.