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Wizardry 6, 7, and 8 come to GOG.
- Thread starter Archie
- Start date
Ingueferroque
Banned
ZombieSupaStar
Member
I feel the need to post this once again:
they're just jealous!
voodoopanda
Member
I've decided to give Wizardry 6 a try. Any tips for someone completely new to the series? The game appears pretty complex and deep, but is there anything I should know first before diving in? Maybe balance things like classes/spells/skills/whatever that are broken, practically required or which make the game nearly impossible if chosen?
I tend to like going into games more or less blind, but with games this old and complex, I know there's often issues its best to know before hand.
I tend to like going into games more or less blind, but with games this old and complex, I know there's often issues its best to know before hand.
There were a few big bugs in 6 but I'm not sure what GoG has done about them. I remember there were patches I downloaded from the net.
Balance is really pretty good for the classes, that's always been a Wizardry hallmark. The basic classes, fighter/thief/cleric/magic make it much easier in the beginning but tend to not be the best for the end game, while the reverse is true for more advanced classes like ninja/monk/samurai/bishop/lord. They are much tougher starting out since they have higher exp requirements for level and don't gain spells as fast but they pay off in the end game.
You can obviously make it really hard on yourself by picking a party of all fighters but other than that just go with the classes that appeal to you as long as you have at least 1 to fill to fill the fight/heal/thief/magic roles. From what I recall the only one that is possibly broken is fairy ninja but considering the amount of effort it takes to roll one in the first place plus level it up to the point where it is useful I don't really consider that to be broken.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
I made a ninja fairy in Wizardry 8.
So awesome.
So awesome.
Angelus Errare
Banned
Glanced at the thread title and read it as "Windows 6, 7, 8 come to GOG"
Install your DRM-free Windows on as many machines as you like. No activation requirements or limits?
The Return of
Banned
Crazy, I've been waiting for Wizardry 8 to be available on GoG for the longest. I almost made a separate thread too cause of too much excitement when I went to gog today. Never played it before, but I have been in a dungeon crawler mood
You need to do that in Wizardry 7.
Because the weapon is Cane of Corpus
Ok i what to replay those games
It's sad you lost many good think when you import from game to game, but it's cool.
King Mystery
Member
I tried Wizardry 8 once. All I remember is that every encounter was overly long and I kept getting my ass handed to me by like groups of 10 bats and giant ants?
There's a crack to speed up the fight.
Way to speed things up in the old games too? Guess I need to adjust cycles or something.
I don't know, are the encounter are slow in Wiz7?
For folks going deep and diving into Wizardry 6 check out GridMapper. Great tool for making maps if you don't have any gridpaper around.
Joseph Merrick
Member
NICE
voodoopanda
Member
I was just about to begin Wizardry 6 and was wondering what to do about maps earlier today. Thanks!
Do people recommend going into Wizardy 7 Gold or the original Wizardry 7 if/when I get to it?
Do people recommend going into Wizardy 7 Gold or the original Wizardry 7 if/when I get to it?
Johnny Dazzle
Member
Oh man, I remember playing the Wizardry 8 demo all the time years ago. I could never find a copy of the game though, but it was so damn good.
The differences are pretty minor. There is some voicework in gold that isn't in the DOS version and they changed the portraits. I think there were some minor gameplay tweaks as well, but I could be wrong.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
Sold cash monies. I've wanted these for a while what with my gnawing lust for DCs.
These are strong words. I will soon see if they're true!
These are strong words. I will soon see if they're true!
Thank you!
UncleSporky
Member
So I have been playing Wizardry 6, my first Wizardry game.
Actually I've read someone playing through the first 5 (CRPG Addict) and they don't sound like they were all that great...but this one was from a new generation, it should be better, right?
But man. These old games made some crazy weird decisions.
Mana regeneration is set at character creation based on your initial class, so it can be a good idea to start everyone in caster classes and then immediately switch to your real class.
You can put points in any skill, but many of them level up naturally with use and thus invested points would be wasted...and some of the most important skills never level up with use and have to be manually invested in. And many skills are totally useless or behave in unintuitive ways. Some let you use them only after investing at least one point, even after changing classes, so it can be good to switch to another class for just one level to pick up certain skills.
And then every class has "primary" skills that it automatically puts some of your points into, including pointless weapon skills, but only if the skill is less than 51. This means that optimally, you will wander around the dungeon at level 1 getting into fights, exercising skills, but not finishing off the last monster so you never gain XP, just to raise your primary skills to 51 so you aren't forced to spend valuable points there on level up.
Plus you gain stats completely at random on level up, so you have to save and reload to make sure you don't get screwed by the random number generator. This also means you want to switch characters between classes in a staggered way, so each of them levels up by themselves and you only have to reload levels for one character at a time.
Some classes are just bad. Some races are just bad. Overall it's just full of weird caveats and "gotchas."
But I'll deal with it, it's still an interesting game.
Actually I've read someone playing through the first 5 (CRPG Addict) and they don't sound like they were all that great...but this one was from a new generation, it should be better, right?
But man. These old games made some crazy weird decisions.
Mana regeneration is set at character creation based on your initial class, so it can be a good idea to start everyone in caster classes and then immediately switch to your real class.
You can put points in any skill, but many of them level up naturally with use and thus invested points would be wasted...and some of the most important skills never level up with use and have to be manually invested in. And many skills are totally useless or behave in unintuitive ways. Some let you use them only after investing at least one point, even after changing classes, so it can be good to switch to another class for just one level to pick up certain skills.
And then every class has "primary" skills that it automatically puts some of your points into, including pointless weapon skills, but only if the skill is less than 51. This means that optimally, you will wander around the dungeon at level 1 getting into fights, exercising skills, but not finishing off the last monster so you never gain XP, just to raise your primary skills to 51 so you aren't forced to spend valuable points there on level up.
Plus you gain stats completely at random on level up, so you have to save and reload to make sure you don't get screwed by the random number generator. This also means you want to switch characters between classes in a staggered way, so each of them levels up by themselves and you only have to reload levels for one character at a time.
Some classes are just bad. Some races are just bad. Overall it's just full of weird caveats and "gotchas."
But I'll deal with it, it's still an interesting game.
Sgt.Pepper
Banned
Never tried any Wizardry games, which one is more newcomer friendly of those?
Isn't this series rather popular in Japan btw?
Isn't this series rather popular in Japan btw?
Cute Dragon Here
Member
Seems like this might be a good time for me to dive into the game. Hmm... Good idea? If yes, where should I start?
(is playing through EO4, though he's put that aside for a while)
(is playing through EO4, though he's put that aside for a while)
UncleSporky
Member
The other weird thing I'm discovering...
I used to think the PC was a haven of serious/gritty/realistic RPGs. JRPGs were the colorful, playful weird ones, and PCs had the dark fantasy simulations.
Except the first NPC you meet in Wizardry 6 is a dude named Queequeg, with references to a sea captain and treasure. You go from a castle to a pyramid to the River Styx. In the pyramid you have to fight a boss named Amen-Tut-Butt. It's completely random and goofy. And from what I've seen on CRPG Addict, so were many PC RPGs of the era. Alice in Wonderland references, in-jokes, weird out-of-place modern day stuff.
To be honest I guess it's not all that different from JRPGs, which are just as full of Japanese myth references that a lot of us don't notice.
But it's really made me question this air of seriousness I always had from the PC RPG scene. I guess that only started in the mid-90s with stuff like Diablo and Morrowind.
Well, maybe not seriousness...but at least not the complete silliness I'm seeing.
I used to think the PC was a haven of serious/gritty/realistic RPGs. JRPGs were the colorful, playful weird ones, and PCs had the dark fantasy simulations.
Except the first NPC you meet in Wizardry 6 is a dude named Queequeg, with references to a sea captain and treasure. You go from a castle to a pyramid to the River Styx. In the pyramid you have to fight a boss named Amen-Tut-Butt. It's completely random and goofy. And from what I've seen on CRPG Addict, so were many PC RPGs of the era. Alice in Wonderland references, in-jokes, weird out-of-place modern day stuff.
To be honest I guess it's not all that different from JRPGs, which are just as full of Japanese myth references that a lot of us don't notice.
But it's really made me question this air of seriousness I always had from the PC RPG scene. I guess that only started in the mid-90s with stuff like Diablo and Morrowind.
Well, maybe not seriousness...but at least not the complete silliness I'm seeing.
Actually, I think it's possible in that context to argue some JRPGs were actually the SERIOUS ones, or at least had less of a "we don't give a damn" sense of humor.
Though there is Dragon Quest, even if the puns in localization are basically just taking the original script and cranking it to 11 there's still the fact many of the designs are goofy, have silly names, etc. The likes of Wizardry likely DO look pretty dark and grim compared to that.
Though there is Dragon Quest, even if the puns in localization are basically just taking the original script and cranking it to 11 there's still the fact many of the designs are goofy, have silly names, etc. The likes of Wizardry likely DO look pretty dark and grim compared to that.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
Yep. The library of Japanese Wizardry games is insane.
Aside from ports of 1-7 to many platforms, there have been numerous exclusive titles. In the west we've only seen a tiny fraction of them: Tale of the Forsaken Land, Labyrinth of Lost Souls, the MMO, and might-as-well-bes like Class of Heroes 1 & 2.
Cyberquake
Member
Excellent news! I'll definitely buy them later.
Japanese Wizard <> US Sir-Tech Wizardry
As for a good starting point, it's really hard to say. Wizardry are not easy games and they don't hold hands. In fact Wizardry 7(Gold), NPC can beat you to quest items and you will have to buy/kill them for it.
I suggest to start off in W7 so you can import your characters to 8. 6 is good too but it might be too archaic for you.
I prefer gold, some tweaks and some re balancing like how mapping is done.
The biggest knock on gold was technical back in the day (cd drive speed, etc). This is all resolved now unless you are using a system from the early 1990's
The Return of
Banned
wait a minute, you are telling me that 7 and 8 are almost 10 years apart from each other and you can import your characters from 7 into 8? Crazy. I will start on 8 anyway though, I am more in a mood for a bit more modern dungeon crawler.
Yup, you can take the same party from 6 - 8.
Now on special, 50% off each, or 60% off when purchased together.
http://www.gog.com/promo/gem_promo_wizardry_series_stacking_260813
http://www.gog.com/game/wizardry_6_7
http://www.gog.com/game/wizardry_8
http://www.gog.com/promo/gem_promo_wizardry_series_stacking_260813
http://www.gog.com/game/wizardry_6_7
http://www.gog.com/game/wizardry_8
SatelliteOfLove
Member
So good to see people realize this, no matter the way it came to pass.
Hell, Wizardry was HUGE influence on DQ and Megaten, (although it's probably best to say their lineage is less adapted and changed like say, FF, PS, or Falcom's crazily tangled RPG line).
Now it's sold cash money.
Kind of a necro bump, but I imagine a new thread on this would get like -5 replies.
Someone made an Automap mod for Wizardry 6.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/wizardry-6-automap-mod
Someone made an Automap mod for Wizardry 6.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/wizardry-6-automap-mod