Wizardry Series - Have you tried it out?

[WesternYokai]

You guys should try Undernauts. It's very Wizardry-ish, but has a bit of different vibe that differentiates itself from the Medieval setting.

 

[Deleted member 420614]

Yes

 

[99nereids]

i've been making on & off attempts to get into the last 3 of the mainline series (6-8), i think they add a lot to the wizardry formula & world (esp 7 & 8) and i love felpurrs
i've tried all of the console ports of 6 & 7 that i could find and i don't really recommend any of them for a full playthrough, either due to menu navigation hell or awkwardly translated spell names

wizardry 8 is my favorite wiz game period, soo much fun & i love how they translated the combat system to an open world 3D environment.
6 & 7 took a lot of warming up to for me to like them, consulting the manual pdfs for both games helped a lot (as is the way for 90s crpgs)

the gaiden series is also interesting & i've been meaning to get into it, mostly just need to find a mapper online that i like lol

 

[χKai]

I've played a little on these since the old computer versions, and judging based on the PS2 one I saw uploaded some days ago, they look just as dry as they always have.

That's why I call them Wizard-Dry

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

No, but I always wanted to.

I heard it was the inspiration behind Sword Art Online.

 

[DanCalibur]

I got the SNES version, the psone version and the remake since forever in my backlog, but I always end picking up something else to play. Btw dog kobolds are the best kobolds

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

I enjoyed the already mentioned ps2 titles, tried the Llilgamyn saga at various points in my life, but always ended up abandoning it mid course.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin]

Never tried the series but I have some interest in the PC Engine ports. Does anyone know if they're any good? The graphics and music in this version make me want to try it out.

 

[gekiganwing]

No. I don't tend to like dungeon crawlers. Even though I've enjoyed some sedate simulation games and strategy games.

I had quite a few opportunities to rent one of the NES Wizardry games from New Wave Video, or maybe New Video Releases. I kept passing on them. And I was the nerd who rented Ghost Lion.

I'm sure there's at least one Wizardry game that will work on my Steam Deck without having to make any adjustments. Unfortunately, I already have five games in my Steam library which I enjoy. There's a dozen others which I bought, and which I'm trying to like, since they have colorful graphics, comedy, or both.

 

[514lorn]

Never tried the series but I have some interest in the PC Engine ports. Does anyone know if they're any good? The graphics and music in this version make me want to try it out.
View attachment 73892View attachment 73893

All I know about this port is that the music goes crazy

 

[Badseed]

I've really enjoyed the Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord Remake

 

[Fergoose]

I haven't really got the time and patience for a pure dungeon crawler - unless the combat is really addictive. Even if looking at maps on a walkthrough (I can't even handle dungeons in the early Ultimas). However, I do like dipping my toe into different game series (decent ones) and seeing how they evolve over time. Especially with retro games you can buy for very little, so you aren't too much out of pocket if it doesn't chime with you.

I'll try Wizardry on the NES then leap on to 6, 7 & 8 on GoG. I suspect I'll only give the first three games 2 or 3hrs each at most, but I'm cautiously optimistic I might then make a full assault on Wizardry 8.

 

[BigNerdSam]

I tried the Super Famicom version not too long ago and quickly realized two things:

1) I need to have the Strategy Wiki page and archived manuals open for character creation and combat so I know what the spells do.

2) I need to have Aseprite open to make the map.

3) I probably shouldn't name the characters after my friends if they're gonna die like that.

 

[Pjira]

I have played a bit of the Wizardry game on PS3, I believe there was only one in the west.
And I tried to play Wizardry 8 years back but it kept crashing on startup and none of the fixes seemed to work for me.
I may try to get into the series again at some point, but I'll have to research and decide which game to play since there are so many games and different versions

 

[ThirteeTooBeets]

As an avid RPG fan I've heard of it, however I am yet to try any game in the series. I've heard very good things about the first game and it being a must play even

 

[Fergoose]

I'm enjoying 'Wizardry 1: Proving Grounds' on the NES far, far more than I expected, albeit:

1) I am playing it as casual as can be by looking at maps (recommended).
2) my 'light' spell 'milwas' not seemingly working and having to blunder around in the dark combined with doors intermittently seeming to refuse to exist (a recipe for save scumming sadly).

The game seems far superior to comparable games like Bard's Tale on the NES, which I grew bored of very quickly. This has a good sense of exploration, balanced combat and after about 3hrs play has avoided a sense of massive enforced grinding. It has got its hooks into me despite having very little on the presentation front.

I reached somewhere seemingly impossible on level 4. So it seems I may have to delve deeper into the dungeon and come back to this area later. Kind of neat to see non-linear progression being encouraged in that way.

A funny mechanic is that if I bump into a friendly band of monsters and don't fight them, I seem to risk a character shifting to good alignment. The evil thief (aiming to become a ninja) on my 'team evil' has become good aligned, then got paralysed. On going back to town this meant he was kicked out of my party and when he was healed they would not let back to the party. Seemingly, he was cramping Team Evil's style! Such hypocrites, the whole party sang campfire songs with zombies, not just the thief, so I don't know why he was singled out for an alignment shift.

 

[Bump'n'Ys]

I'm enjoying 'Wizardry 1: Proving Grounds' on the NES far, far more than I expected, albeit:

1) I am playing it as casual as can be by looking at maps (recommended).
2) my 'light' spell 'milwas' not seemingly working and having to blunder around in the dark combined with doors intermittently seeming to refuse to exist (a recipe for save scumming sadly).

The game seems far superior to comparable games like Bard's Tale on the NES, which I grew bored of very quickly. This has a good sense of exploration, balanced combat and after about 3hrs play has avoided a sense of massive enforced grinding. It has got its hooks into me despite having very little on the presentation front.

I reached somewhere seemingly impossible on level 4. So it seems I may have to delve deeper into the dungeon and come back to this area later. Kind of neat to see non-linear progression being encouraged in that way.

A funny mechanic is that if I bump into a friendly band of monsters and don't fight them, I seem to risk a character shifting to good alignment. The evil thief (aiming to become a ninja) on my 'team evil' has become good aligned, then got paralysed. On going back to town this meant he was kicked out of my party and when he was healed they would not let back to the party. Seemingly, he was cramping Team Evil's style! Such hypocrites, the whole party sang campfire songs with zombies, not just the thief, so I don't know why he was singled out for an alignment shift.

Alignment shifts are just a random chance applied to each character. You can add your thief back to your party still, you just do it in a roundabout way.
1) Send everyone but your thief into the dungeon and just let them park at the entrance.
2) Send your thief alone into the dungeon.
3) Have your thief search for party members on that same space you parked the rest of the team on.
4) Now you can have all your other party members join them.

 

[Fergoose]

Thanks a lot. I feared this would ruin my game if I had to keep making new characters.

Alignment shifts are just a random chance applied to each character. You can add your thief back to your party still, you just do it in a roundabout way.
1) Send everyone but your thief into the dungeon and just let them park at the entrance.
2) Send your thief alone into the dungeon.
3) Have your thief search for party members on that same space you parked the rest of the team on.
4) Now you can have all your other party members join them.

 

[LastValsion]

I think I tried one of the SNES games back then but I completely forgot anything and everything about it. Might have to give the series another try someday because I never really got into it at all.

 

[Deleted member 13897]

I wish I liked it :-( it’s too hard :-((

 

[job32]

Difficult to find an accessible game in the series. Maybe I'm just too old at this stage to put the effort in. Downloaded Wizardry Gaiden 2 & 3. Hopefully will get into them. Finding it hard to stick to any game these days.

 

[99nereids]

Difficult to find an accessible game in the series. Maybe I'm just too old at this stage to put the effort in. Downloaded Wizardry Gaiden 2 & 3. Hopefully will get into them. Finding it hard to stick to any game these days.

i found wizardry 8 to be the easiest to get into, & the only in the series that explains its systems in-game (as opposed to an external manual like the others in the series) the only thing is don't expect any of the other games to feel like wiz 8, its kind of its own unique flavor of wizardry (7 comes close to this)

haven't gotten too far into gaiden but i'd recommend making your own maps (or googling them) since there's no mapping system in those ones iirc

 

[Bump'n'Ys]

i found wizardry 8 to be the easiest to get into, & the only in the series that explains its systems in-game (as opposed to an external manual like the others in the series) the only thing is don't expect any of the other games to feel like wiz 8, its kind of its own unique flavor of wizardry (7 comes close to this)

haven't gotten too far into gaiden but i'd recommend making your own maps (or googling them) since there's no mapping system in those ones iirc

I played through Gaiden 1, and it does actually have auto-mapping. However it's tied to you casting Dumapic. Normally that spell just gives you coordinates and what direction you're facing, but in Gaiden it does display an automap. Of course because your map is tied to a resource I still recommend drawing your map too, but it's a bit friendlier in that regard than older Wizardry games (unless you're playing the PS1 ports, those just actually have a normal auto-map you can whip out whenever).

 

[job32]

Cheers, I'll give Wizardry 8 a go. See how that goes.

Post automatically merged: Jun 6, 2025

Actually, I won't, It's windows only. My last pc died long ago.

 

[Fergoose]

So in addition to the light spell not working in NES Wizardry 1, apparently that version also has an armor class bug where your AC doesn't matter. No point playing a buggy mess but I will revisit Wiz1 later on SNES. Wizardry 2 on the NES will be my next RPG.