Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[Jasede]

I had fun playing it on an Apple ][ emulator when I was fourteen or something, just to see what all the fuzz was about. The best part was drawing the maps and just surviving and seeing how (relatively) advanced the game was for its time. Also, getting loot and killing dudes. Still, I think it's mostly worth it for scholastic reasons. You too can be an RPG archaeologist!

 

[Bruma Hobo]

IMHO Wizardry 1 is a really fun maze and a mediocre CRPG (for today standards, back then was the best of the genre). Just roll a party, try to survive for a while, and make your own conclusion. Also, do not play the console ports.

 

[eric__s]

It's the other way around. There are better mazes in blobber RPGs but the character and progression system remains one of the best. Building up your group in Wizardry is one of the most enjoyable experiences in an RPG (it's better in 6-8 though ; ) ). I do think you should try a console port, probably the SNES or PSX versions, because they have way better graphics than the Apple II and it's probably easier for people not as familiar with the series to connect with them.

 

[Saxon1974]

Well I may give it a try at some point. It's probably the only real RPG classic I have not played....at least I dont remember playing the first 3 or 4 but its possible I mess with it a bit on my Dad's C64 in the early 80's. I started really playing RPGs in 1984 or 1985 and I think that was right when the Bards tale I came out so that game and the Ultima games got all my attention.

 

[Fowyr]

Just try it, it's pretty short. Not in the league even with Wiz6.

 

[DemonKing]

I enjoyed it back in the day - I used to do "raids" where my guys would rush to the elevator on level 1 and then ride down to level 8, fight one encounter, and run back up to the tavern with the loot and rest/save!

I also remember when you died you had to quickly snatch the disk out of the drive otherwise your character deaths would be recorded and you'ld have to start from scratch again.

 

[BLOBERT]

I HAVE READ ALOT ABOT WIZARDY 8 BUT NOT ALOT ABOT 7

BASICALLY I HAVE READ OVER AND OVER THAT 8 HAS REPEATED HALF HOUR LONG RANDOM ENCOUNTERS AND SHIT

IS SEVEN LIKE THAT BROS IT LOOKS KINDA COOL ALTHOUGH IT SEEMS LIKE 8 COMES UP IN ALOT OF THE BEST GAME DISCUSSIONS

 

[Jaesun]

To be honest BRO, if you are thinking of a Wizardry run, Play VI (AND GET A CERTAIN ITEM!), VII and VIII. All the characters import to each game and it is a FANTASTIC run playing all 3. They all have their strengths and weaknesses as games, but those weakness are few IMHO.

I know you are married and have kids, and time is precious, so if that isnt an option well then we can discuss further.

Though since you are a cRPG BRO, you owe it to your LITTLE BRO'S to show them what good fucking cRPGs were. Though Mr. LITTLE BRO might get a bit of education about BOOBIES with Wizardry VI.....

 

[Wyrmlord]

I HAVE READ ALOT ABOT WIZARDY 8 BUT NOT ALOT ABOT 7

BASICALLY I HAVE READ OVER AND OVER THAT 8 HAS REPEATED HALF HOUR LONG RANDOM ENCOUNTERS AND SHIT

IS SEVEN LIKE THAT BROS IT LOOKS KINDA COOL ALTHOUGH IT SEEMS LIKE 8 COMES UP IN ALOT OF THE BEST GAME DISCUSSIONS

Wizardry 6 and 7 are very fast, or at least as fast as you the combat text to display.

Wizardry 8 is slow, because it is fully animated and has long, slow, walking animations for each enemy.

The slowness is not a typical thing of the series.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

BASICALLY I HAVE READ OVER AND OVER THAT 8 HAS REPEATED HALF HOUR LONG RANDOM ENCOUNTERS AND SHIT

This helps a little

http://wolfie.wiz8.de/Wiz8Fast.html

 

[BLOBERT]

THANKS BROS APPRECIATE THE ADVICES I MIGHT NOT PLAY THIS RIGHT AWAY BUT I AM DEBATING WHETHER TO CONSIDER IT LOLLOLOL I HAVE GOT WAY TO MANY GAMES BUT I AT THIS POINT I AM JUST CURIOUS IF IT IS EVER WORTH MY TIME AND I TRUST YOU BROS ABOVE

BRO JAESON LOLLOLOL THE ONLY REASON I WAS AVOIDING 6 WAS BECAUSE I HEARD THE CHEESE THAT YOU NEEDED SOME ITEM OR SOMETHING I FORGET OR YOU WERE FUCKED MAYBE I WILL PICK THAT UP TOO

THE LAST WIZARDRY I PLAYED WAS 5 FOR THE SNES LIKE A MILLION YEARS AGO

 

[Jaesun]

Naw BRO! Play 6. It's fucking solid and you will love it. The "item" you can carry over into the other 2 games is more or lease "neat". Not required.

For 7 PLAY THE DOS VERSION.

For 8 GET WIZFAST that CK linked above. I once cooked AN ENTIRE DINNER while waiting for combat to resolve in Wiz 8. True Story (this was before wizfast).

 

[Wyrmlord]

For 7 PLAY THE DOS VERSION.

Out of idle curiosity, why not the Windows one (Wizardry Gold)? I have played only the DOS one, but I wonder what is so bad about the 1996 Wizardry Gold.

 

[Jaesun]

For 7 PLAY THE DOS VERSION.

Out of idle curiosity, why not the Windows one (Wizardry Gold)? I have played only the DOS one, but I wonder what is so bad about the 1996 Wizardry Gold.

On current computers ALL THE NPC TEXT SCROLLB by in .01 seconds.

ALL of the NPC texts. This has not been fix by fans yet. Though the DOS version (with DOSBox) runs just fine.

 

[BLOBERT]

THANKS AGAIN FOR THE ADVICES AGAIN SOMETHING I MIGHT NOT PLAY TODAY BUT SOMETHING ELSE TO PLACE ON MY LIST

JAESUN YOU HAD ME AT HELLO I WILL DOWNLOARD 6 TOO

 

[Kylearan]

Maybe this is sacrilege, but I would recommend saving yourself the blistering, soul-sucking agony of rolling up characters with high starting bonus points and utilizing a character editor to set some high attributes at the beginning. I've never tried this one but it looks polished enough: http://mad-god.webs.com/cosmicforge.htm

6 and 7 are both great fun, although 6 has some odd bugs that make things not work as well as they should (encumberance, high-level magic). I'm jealous that you get to play them for the first time now!

 

[Jaesun]

Maybe this is sacrilege, but I would recommend saving yourself the blistering, soul-sucking agony of rolling up characters with high starting bonus points and utilizing a character editor to set some high attributes at the beginning. I've never tried this one but it looks polished enough: http://mad-god.webs.com/cosmicforge.htm

6 and 7 are both great fun, although 6 has some odd bugs that make things not work as well as they should (encumberance, high-level magic). I'm jealous that you get to play them for the first time now!

We don't like your kind here.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Maybe this is sacrilege, but I would recommend saving yourself the blistering, soul-sucking agony of rolling up characters with high starting bonus points and utilizing a character editor to set some high attributes at the beginning. I've never tried this one but it looks polished enough: http://mad-god.webs.com/cosmicforge.htm

6 and 7 are both great fun, although 6 has some odd bugs that make things not work as well as they should (encumberance, high-level magic). I'm jealous that you get to play them for the first time now!

Well, in my experience, the stats went up faster than I expected.

The implications are that one should ordinarily take the first roll no matter what (unless it produces a REALLY bad party) and wait until the stats are raised in order to multiclass.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

There's an option in Cosmic Forge to make starting rolls generally higher without setting them yourself, I found that a good middle ground - rolling characters in 6 was just painful, but I don't want to gimp out and make them entirely by myself.

Also echoing the recommendation of a 6-8 playthrough. Made a thread about it myself last year, have a look for some tips and such. http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/wizardry-6-8-single-party-playthrough.58494/

 

[ghostdog]

With wizfast wizardry 8 is the best game in the series imo, it just manages an almost perfect combination of party creation, skill advancement and exploration. Add to that combat with more tactics than the usual wiz-blob, some nice puzzles and the refreshing text-parser dialog system and you've got a winner. 7 is a close second.

 

[groke]

For 7 PLAY THE DOS VERSION.

Out of idle curiosity, why not the Windows one (Wizardry Gold)? I have played only the DOS one, but I wonder what is so bad about the 1996 Wizardry Gold.

On current computers ALL THE NPC TEXT SCROLLB by in .01 seconds.

ALL of the NPC texts. This has not been fix by fans yet. Though the DOS version (with DOSBox) runs just fine.

It also had nauseatingly hideous character portraits.

 

[mondblut]

On current computers ALL THE NPC TEXT SCROLLB by in .01 seconds.

ALL of the NPC texts. This has not been fix by fans yet. Though the DOS version (with DOSBox) runs just fine.

It also had nauseatingly hideous character portraits.

And nauseatingly shit music. And a lockup during levelup if all skills of a given group were at 100 and you still had points to spend, although that might have been patched out later.

Since the graphics are just rescaled, there really is no point in playing Wizgold nowadays, except maybe for the onscreen automap.

 

[mondblut]

I became something of a six man/furry/scaly meatgrinder. In fact, the final boss posed no challenge. Normally this would be a problem, but I had endured so much up until that point that I received the same satisfaction from easily killing him than I would have for enduring some hour long contest of quickloading skill. Start out peons, and a few hundred frustrating deaths later, end up gods.

This is what the RPG genre is all about. These words of wisdom should be carved on the face of every larper, with a rusty knife.

 

[Kylearan]

We don't like your kind here.

You must REALLY hate Pool of Radiance then, eh?

Rolling up characters in Wizardry 6 is like playing solitaire Yahtzee, except you have to run up and down three flights of stairs to grab a new bag of dice before each roll.

The implications are that one should ordinarily take the first roll no matter what (unless it produces a REALLY bad party) and wait until the stats are raised in order to multiclass.

I'll have to go back and try this and see how well it works out. The game is definitely hard enough even with good stats and planned class changes, but hey, I've already beat it once, so why not?

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

Hm... Never played Wiz 6, could as well start a 6-8 run, maybe I can play them on laptop at some boring lectures...

I'm thinking start everyone as Ninja and when their stealth is good enough, go whatever classes from there. Is sneaking as good in Wiz 6 as it is in 7?