PC Wizardry Super Thread

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Im thinking of buying this and the DLC for PC
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Is it worth the $54?

It's on sale right now, currently $30 until the 5th.

It's also quite an interesting version. It's actually a Wizardry spinoff, part of the Wizardry Gaiden series, which primarily was on Gameboy.

 

[tryrushdeppy3]

I mentioned this in my last post about Wizardry since I had beaten Wizardry VII earlier in 2025 and it was a very engrossing adventure:

Wizardry Series - Have you tried it out?

As the thread name suggests, I'm curious what experience people here have with the franchise and how they feel about it. I've been playing through the PS1 ports of 1-3 (Llylgamyn Saga) and 5 (New Age of Llylgamyn) and it's been an absolute blast. The tight balance combined with the PS1 versions...

retrogametalk.com

but my favorite Wizardry I've played so far is Wizardry Empire II Plus:

since it is very similar to one of my all-time favorite games: Elminage Gothic (same developers):

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

I'm mostly interested in the story than gameplay!

This won't be the series for you. Wizardry is pure imagination fuel, the story is in your mind and the main characters are silent. Pure gameplay.

 

[JustLooking123]

This won't be the series for you. Wizardry is pure imagination fuel, the story is in your mind and the main characters are silent. Pure gameplay.

Really? But Forsaken Land seems to have a lot of dialogues!
Either way, i have started it... so there's no way back now!

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Really? But Forsaken Land seems to have a lot of dialogues!
Either way, i have started it... so there's no way back now!

Never took a look at Forsaken Land, so I don't know much about that one. Enjoy!

 

[tryrushdeppy3]

Really? But Forsaken Land seems to have a lot of dialogues!
Either way, i have started it... so there's no way back now!

It really just depends on the title. For example, I would consider Wizardry VII to have quite a bit of dialogue to set the scene (well 6-8):

 

[JustLooking123]

Hey @ZEGA ZONIC! How things are going in Wizardry 8?
Was it any good so far in your opinion?

 

[ZEGA ZONIC]

I got wayyyyyyyy to distracted with Christmas & other stuff for me to keep playing.

 

[JustLooking123]

I got wayyyyyyyy to distracted with Christmas & other stuff for me to keep playing.

Yeah... i'm busy with irl work too, and didn't have any time to play it for many days!

 

[χKai]

Well when you pioneer an entire genre because you accidentally became a pop culture icon on the other side of the ocean

What

AI Overview:
The first video game RPGs were non-commercial mainframe games from the mid-1970s, with Akalabeth: World of Doom being the first widely recognized commercial release.

What the fuck are you talking about

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

What

AI Overview:
The first video game RPGs were non-commercial mainframe games from the mid-1970s, with Akalabeth: World of Doom being the first widely recognized commercial release.

What the fuck are you talking about

Wizardry pioneered JRPGs, with a lot of its mechanics becoming staples. And there's a lot of staples.

 

[χKai]

Wizardry pioneered JRPGs, with a lot of its mechanics becoming staples. And there's a lot of staples.

How exactly do you think ot 'pioneered' anything when there were jrpgs before it?
Can you be more specific about what you're trying to say? Wrapping it all together in such a brief, non-descript summary doesn't really add any new information, and it's annoying to read the same explanation over and over again.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Wizardry pioneered JRPGs, with a lot of its mechanics becoming staples. And there's a lot of staples.

what out, Xkai's 2 seconds of google research might be to much for you to handle

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

How exactly do you think ot 'pioneered' anything when there were jrpgs before it?
Can you be more specific about what you're trying to say? Wrapping it all together in such a brief, non-descript summary doesn't really add any new information, and it's annoying to read the same explanation over and over again.

There weren’t. Wizardry was legit the first.
Akalabeth originally released for the Apple II, a PC that was mostly limited to the USA. It didn’t see a wider release than that until 1998 via the Ultima collection.
The earliest another JRPG was made was in 1982 (The Dragon & Princess), a year after Wizardry 1.

Also a few of the mechanics that ended up becoming a normality include permadeath, alignments, a party of four, leveling up, elemental weaknesses, spells becoming bigger, etc.

Extra info I should’ve put here, my bad.
Wizardry 1 was also being ported to a lot of different computers in Japan, the earliest one being for the FM-7 or Fujitsu Micro-7 in 1983. This was how it got such a following there. By original release dates, it’s the first but in terms of these ports not so much. Akalabeth didn’t get this type of treatment as I mentioned before.

 

[χKai]

There weren’t. Wizardry was legit the first.
Akalabeth originally released for the Apple II, a PC that was mostly limited to the USA. It didn’t see a wider release than that until 1998 via the Ultima collection.
The earliest another JRPG was made was in 1982 (The Dragon & Princess), a year after Wizardry 1.

Also a few of the mechanics that ended up becoming a normality include permadeath, alignments, a party of four, leveling up, elemental weaknesses, spells becoming bigger, etc.

Extra info I should’ve put here, my bad.
Wizardry 1 was also being ported to a lot of different computers in Japan, the earliest one being for the FM-7 or Fujitsu Micro-7 in 1983. This was how it got such a following there. By original release dates, it’s the first but in terms of these ports not so much. Akalabeth didn’t get this type of treatment as I mentioned before.

Alright but Google says otherwise. I had the feeling that statement was inaccurate when I read it, and it was; Wizardry was not 'the first jRPG', nor is it really a jrpg at all; It was released in North America originally by Andrew C. Greenberg and Robert Woodhead. (Hilarious fake-sounding names guys)

Earliest Video Game RPGs on the PC:

Unless you're just coping with the Mandela effect and come from a universe where Wizardry really was the first jRPG, and if so, I'm sorry. I know how difficult it can be to cope with the origin of things being different than what you know and remember, and is often not ideal in the new universe.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Alright but Google says otherwise. I had the feeling that statement was inaccurate when I read it, and it was; Wizardry was not 'the first jRPG', nor is it really a jrpg at all; It was released in North America originally by Andrew C. Greenberg and Robert Woodhead. (Hilarious fake-sounding names guys)
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Earliest Video Game RPGs on the PC:
View attachment 139840
View attachment 139841

Unless you're just coping with the Mandela effect and come from a universe where Wizardry really was the first jRPG, and if so, I'm sorry. I know how difficult it can be to cope with the origin of things being different than what you know and remember, and is often not ideal in the new universe.
View attachment 139843

Wizardry is very much a Western/American RPG, but it inspired a lot of JRPGs released after. Wizardry became extremely popular in Japan and you can see the influence it had on all the JRPGs that came after it. Many of these games copied mechanics from Wizardry. That's pretty much it, it's not that deep.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Wizardry is very much a Western/American RPG, but it inspired a lot of JRPGs released after. Wizardry became extremely popular in Japan and you can see the influence it had on all the JRPGs that came after it. Many of these games copied mechanics from Wizardry. That's pretty much it, it's not that deep.

Left to go watch Wicked for hours but exactly this. It’s not a literal JRPG, but its success leading to how RPGs developed in Japan even to this day still makes it fair to class it as such. Doubly so since nothing really predated it over there.

That and the terms JRPG and WRPG have more to do with their overall game design direction more than where they came from. Western RPGs tend to be more like D&D, Japanese RPGs took inspiration and mechanics from Wizardry or Ultima (or both). Basically two extremes of the same genre.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

What

AI Overview:
The first video game RPGs were non-commercial mainframe games from the mid-1970s, with Akalabeth: World of Doom being the first widely recognized commercial release.

What the fuck are you talking about.

First of all: don't use AI to answer a question, you can do your own researches.

Secondly: being the first and the first to define a genre is vastly different.

Fighting games predated Street Fighter II and FPS were a thing before Doom yet they're still defining their respective genre.

Dragon Quest 1 was why we have JRPGs as we know today not Akalabeth.

Same with Super Mario Bros despite prior platformers existing.