I am finally playing Wizardry in 2020

[Kzinssie]

Wizardry is one of those series I've always wanted to get into, but just never got around to it. While stuck inside all day lately, I decided to finally start playing the original trilogy, more specifically the PlayStation version - despite being Japan-only it includes options to switch basically all text with a handful of remake-exclusive UI elements to English, and it also has an automap feature that I find first-person dungeon crawlers nearly unplayable without. I'm kind of surprise at how well it holds up? It's definitely pretty brutal in places, but with automapping it becomes a great game to just throw on and immerse yourself in for a few hours while watching a Youtube video in the background or whatever. I'm currently on Level 5 of Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, and one thing I didn't expect was how this game has the same "gleefully playing with 3D space" quality you see in games like Doom or Mario 64. There's a lot of goofy little bits where they just do whatever with one-way doors, which is kind of cute.

Incidentally, the PSX version includes options to play with "classic" monster graphics, which I think are from the PC-88 version, and while I've always been a proponent of CRT filters for retro games anyway, the classic graphics in this go from "ugly dithered" to "beautifully textured" with a simulated NTSC display:

 

[MetManMas]

I've tried playing a few of the old school cRPGs before. Wizardry, Might & Magic, The Bard's Tale, Ultima IV, that kinda stuff. Comparatively, old school Japanese RPGs like Dragon Quest and Phantasy Star are way more forgiving than the old wRPGs that inspired them. Even the Etrian Odyssey series feels a li'l friendlier.

Not to condemn these old games, though! I wish the difficulty was a li'l less front-loaded, but they still do some really cool stuff.

 

[Poster]

Incidentally, the PSX version includes options to play with "classic" monster graphics, which I think are from the PC-88 version, and while I've always been a proponent of CRT filters for retro games anyway, the classic graphics in this go from "ugly dithered" to "beautifully textured" with a simulated NTSC display:

The Super Famicom version has some great monster art.

 

[Lokii]

I prefer the dithers

 

[Aleryn]

Careful with these. After I became a fan I largely lost patience with other RPGs that have a lot of towns and fetchquests begging for time and attention. Am so much happier just spelunking, fighting, and trying to avoid horrible death any more.

 

[Yimothy]

I definitely feel it’s more “beautifully dithered" to "ugly textured", but it’s a matter of personal taste and I can see how the blurring lends a bit of depth. It’d be interesting to see it running on a CRT to see how close the filter gets.

In terms of gameplay I’ve been thinking of playing Wizardry, too. I played the Bard’s Tale a while back and really enjoyed it. Wiz looks a little more unforgiving, with its risk of permanent character deaths on revival and need to send a rescue party if you have a wipe in the dungeon. If I get to it I’ll do my own maps, though. Nothing wrong with using an auto, but I love getting out the graph paper.

 

[Kzinssie]

I've definitely been heavily abusing resets if I get a wipe or a brutal string of level drains or whatever. The long load times on boot for the PSX version feet punishing enough.

Also, for me the big point for the filter looking better is the eyes on both monsters. You can really strongly see where the pixel artists designed them to look good on this exact sort of display with them, particularly on the frog.

 

[Peklo]

Have fun with the PS1 remakes; they're really beautiful. I don't think Wizardry Dimguil for the same platform has the English-language option, but everyone even slightly interested should seek it out even just to look at it--the monster designs alone are astonishing.

It's still a surprisingly available series now despite its oldest-of-old-school reputation and the life that it took on almost exclusively in Japan after a while-- VI, VII and 8 are just on Steam right there, as well as the delightful Labyrinth of Lost Souls which just had its PC debut this year. Outside of the worthy successors like Elminage, I'd also put in a recommendation for Tale of the Forsaken Land for PS2, Racjin's take on the series full of Katsuya Terada art and a sprawling 3D presentation that puts it in a space of unmissable fantasy work on the system along with stuff like King's Field IV.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

Wow, I used to play Wizardry in 1988 on our IBM PC-Jr. I was too young to make any serious progress, but I remember it being engrossing and utterly merciless. Watch out for the vorpal swords!

 

[Kzinssie]

Update much later: I have finished Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (after a brief break around B7F or so)! I did pretty shamelessly cheat, though, in that I eventually just saved my state right outside Werdna's room and proceeded to reload rather than going through the entire gauntlet every time. Overall: it holds up surprisingly well, and I can definitely see why it was so influential! I'm going to go right on ahead and bring my party (which ended up as Fighter/Lord/Samurai/Thief/Cleric->Bishop/Mage) up to Knight of Diamonds.