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/vr/ - Retro Games

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1284663 No.1284663[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Hello /vr/.

Wizardry 6,7 & 8 are on sale on Steam right now (at a really atractive price, too). Should I purchase them, or are there another versions that are better (I read about a remake for Wizardry 7).

On a related note, should I play the series in order or not? What are the best versions for each game? I have the SNES 1-3 trilogy but I don't know if it is the best version of the games.

Thanks for your time.

>> No.1284818

>>1284663
People argue that 8 is the best in the original series,but would recommend you to start on the japanese fan made games.You must have eyes of steel if you want to handle wizardry 1 stone age UI,just remember it was innovative for it's time.Can't tell about the SNES port,i didn't even knew there was one

>> No.1284832

>remake of Wizardry 7

You mean Gold?

Wizardry 7 Gold and DOS come with the package on both Steam as well as GOG.

Gold is full of bugs, especially Diplomacy check mechanism which is crucial to getting certain map pieces unless you want to grind to ungodly levels to acquire those pieces from the NPCs who hold them. Play the DOS version.

The only remake of 6 is the Super Famicom version which, of course, is entirely in moon runes.

>> No.1284837

>>1284832 here

Also, for 1-3 I recommend the PlayStation version ("Llylgamyn Saga", which contains all 3 games). Released only in Japan, but it has an English option in the menu. Same for Wiz 4, which was on another Japanese PS1 CD that included 5 on it. However for 5 I recommend the SNES version.

>> No.1284839

>>1284818
>Japanese fan made games
Such as?

>> No.1284845

>>1284839

not him... only one I'm aware of is http://thu.sakura.ne.jp/games/javardry.htm

And it's mostly in 'runes

>> No.1284851

>>1284837
>>1284832
Thank you. Do you recommend any specific order to get into the series? My experience with these types of games comes mostly from Etrian Odyssey (which I didn't play a lot) and some of the First Person Megaten games.

>>1284818
I looked a little and there seems to be a gazillion of those. Any recommendations?

>> No.1285005

>>1284851

1-3 are pure, dungeon crawler games in a connected series (think of it as one game in 3 episodes, because you can't start 2 without a party from 1, and likewise with 3 -- need a party from a won game of 2 to begin). If you play them honestly (no savescumming, no resetting the computer when your party is about to die, etc), make no expectation to beat the game with the same party you started it with. You WILL lose people, and resurrection doesn't always work. The idea is you make a few strides of progress with one party until something bad happens and they all die... then you make characters for a new party, do the same leveling up, and go back to where your last party died to pick up the quest-specific items from their scattered corpses and continue on where they left off.

Wizardry 4 is an entirely different beast, and to the best of my knowledge there still is no other game like it. It's also one of the most difficult games ever made. You play the villainous defeated wizard from the first game, and escape a massive prison, with a menagerie monsters at your side. RPG mechanics are minimal, and a time limit means you're chased by the vengeful ghost of King Trebor. The battles aren't too hard, but the dungeons are deadlier than any Wizardry game I've played. I've never gotten to the third floor except once.

Wizardry 5 had very similar gameplay to 1-3 with a few improvements, and was the beginning of David Bradley's work in the franchise.

6, 7, and 8 are another trilogy, but you're not required to play from the previous game to start the next (it is recommended, though). Bradley fully picked up all the design slack for 6 and 7, and Brenda Romero for 8 (not sure why they didn't keep Bradley). Instead of slogging through a massive dungeon under a castle through many parties you create, you play through each game generally with one party who goes on an adventure. They're more true RPGs than they are dungeon crawlers, if that makes sense.

>> No.1285009

>>1285005

That said, I easily recommend playing 6-7-8 (known as the "Dark Savant trilogy"). If you must pick one classic Wizardry, play 5. 1-3 are still good, but they haven't aged quite as well.

>> No.1285028

Use Grid Cartographer. Especially if you plan to play 6, don't use the maps that come with the game. Exploring and mapping is the fun of it. Use this program to make your own maps.

http://www.davidwaltersdevelopment.com/tools/gridcart/

Also: Free version works just fine. No need to shell out any cash.

>> No.1285035

This is going to be out of left field, but believe it or not, the Wonderswan port is the best port of Wizardry 1 because it has an auto mapping system built in like 5 on the SNES did instead of just giving your coords when you cast Dumapic to match up to your hand drawn maps. Not even the NES ports do that.

>> No.1285048

>>1285035

But the Llylgamyn Saga remakes also have the enhanced-with-map Dumapic, and you don't have to play it on a system with shitty battery life and no backlighting and with actual music.

>> No.1285283

>>1284832
The SNES version of 6 has been translated

>> No.1285372

>>1285035
>instead of just giving your coords when you cast Dumapic
>implying this is a good thing
Actually, the GBC ports are the best. Because they allow you to reroll characters without having to select the name, race and alignment every single fucking time.

>> No.1285395

>>1285028
Oh hey, I'd been looking for something solid like this for ages. Thanks for the link.

>> No.1285459

>>1285372
>He re-rolls his characters

Ha! Ha! Ha! I bet he also reloads a previoous when his character is killed in an Elder Scrolls Game!!

>> No.1285490

>>1285005
To be fair, the world in Wizardry 6-8 is still built like a dungeon.

>> No.1285508

>>1285028
picking up a graph paper notebook is more fun

>> No.1285768

>>1285459
Good luck not getting anywhere within the first 100 hours chum

>> No.1286006

>>1285490

The difference is your characters aren't just expendable people in those games, but you stick through them and they experience a common story that's a lot more fleshed out in the Dark Savant trilogy than in past games where story was about as detailed as Doom's story was.

As for semantics, though...Wizardry 6 maybe that's true, but despite every location looking the same due to programming/budget limitations of the time, they did a good job at giving each part of the game a different "feel". The mines were maze-like and confusing. The pyramid felt like a pyramid. The mountains were treacherous and risky to climb. The river styx was exactly that. Etc.

In past Wizardry games, the layouts weren't very thematic. Sometimes they were (the beginning temple in Wizardry 2, and the fortress of nobles in Wizardry 5 for example), but usually not.

But 7 and 8 are even less strict on being "dungeon" crawlers. Those games were structured like overworlds with a bunch of dungeons to explore... more like Ultima if it were first-person.