The Gamer's Quarter

[bleak]

I am playing this game again! It's the best out of all the Wizardry series, in my opinion, and the SNES version has some graphical overhauls that make it fairly more enjoyable to play. For those of you not in the know about the Wizardry series, it's a first person, no-map dungeon crawling RPG with puzzle solving elements, a high difficulty curve, and an experience system in which you only level up by sleeping. It makes sense if you think about it!


Make no bones about it, if you haven't played any Wizardry games before, this game will kick your ass. Hell, even if you've played Wizardry games before, this game will still probably kick your ass.

The combat system is simple, but it is tactical, and definitely not mindless. You have six party members, and only the front three can attack without magic or special items. Naturally, the back row also can't be damaged as easily by the foes that you fight, so you keep the fragile heroes in the rear. If you're facing weak foes, however, veteran Wizardry players recite the six word mantra, "Fight Fight Fight Parry Parry Parry." This has been a mainstay in the Wizardry series since day one, and for some reason that I'm unable to grasp, it is quite endearing.


That's not the only thing endearing about the game, though. Wizardry V practically oozes charm and atmosphere from every orifice, from the way that the music changes from slightly sinister to cheerful when you move from the castle to the edge of town, to the * Just what you needed * that the game happily informs you whenever you buy an item from Boltac. It's the juxtaposition of this upbeat appearance coupled with the seething brutality that lies just underneath the delicious candy shell that keeps me coming back.

The magic system in this game is tremendous. Your characters have points per level with which to cast spells, not unlike the original Final Fantasy. However instead of buying spells, your magic users learn new spells or prayers at level up, depending on your stats. Using magic is essential to the game, but figuring out the effects of spells with names like Desto, Katu, and Mogref without the aid of a manual is refamiliarizing yourself with the concept of hatred. But enough about that. Let's talk about the story!

Actually, let's not. The story contains just about as much substance as your typical hack 'n' slash game. That is to say, the story goes about this far: "Wickedness has befallen Llylgamyn yet again! Hurry and vanquish the villian... for a fifth time. In the dungeon. Again." But we're not playing Wizardry for the story, right?


Sadly, this is the last installment of the Wizardry series that is actually good. The first four games had Andrew Greenberg and Robert Woodhead behind them, and then David Bradley took the series over starting from this game.



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[sediment]

Oh come now, I quite enjoyed Wizardry VII!

Though it was the first I played, to be fair.
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[bleak]

Please try V.
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[sediment]

I absolutely will.
...soon. I have a couple games I need to finish, first.

Does V have rival factions competing for the same ultimate goal as you, with them moving within the gameworld and collecting all the crap you need so you need to sprint through as fast as you can to prevent your enemies from becoming ridiculously overpowered?
Because on a certain level, I liked that. And at the same time it meant me getting utterly pounded by halloweeches every single time because you need that damn bonsai plant ASAP.

VIII was kind of bad, I think. I don't remember it too well, which may mean it was bad.
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[bleak]

No, the plot of V is what you see contained above. Wizardry V is all about you vs. the dungeon. The dungeon may chew you up and spit you out, or you may chew the dungeon up and spit it out.
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[parkbench]

How does it compare to, say...Ultima Underworld? I'd be interested in this game if you suggested it over the Underworld series, which is on my "near future" list.
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ich bin aber eine mensch maschine

[bleak]

Well, honestly, I'd say that they're pretty much on par with each other in terms of uh, being unforgiving. Although, I think that ultima underworld takes the cake in terms of being really obtuse.

While both games are first person dungeon crawling games with a heavy bent towards puzzle solving, ultimately they're pretty radically different games, that's mostly because of the combat and character management. Overall I'd say I had tons more fun with Wizardry, especially since UU mostly just pissed me off, though I did have fun with it as well.

\So yeah, you're probably going to want Wizardry over UU.
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[sediment]

although I can totally see Wizardry sending you back up five floors of the dungeon just to find one small thing you missed..!

because that totally happened to me in UU and Wiz 7 both.
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[bleak]

Maybe, but fortunately it is a hell of a lot easier to get up and down the dungeon in Wizardry V.
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