Wizardry consumer question.

[Jarak]

If Sirtech decided to upgrade some parts of the game;

[new voice acting
complete some of the omitted quests
a couple of new quests
" " areas
a decent axe
spice up some of the barren areas,
etc.
nothing major, just the same engine]

I'd pay the price of a new game. Not only would I extend my Wizardry delight, but I'd consider it an investment towards the elusive W9.
What would you pay?

[Ziggurat]

I would gladly pay full price for a modestly improved game with, say, sea travel to new areas, the light house dungeon, fish fountain puzzle, riddle of the sorceress's temple, space travel in Mook ship to another planet, grand battle with Rapax, T'Rang and Umpanis, etc., that they didn't finish. I would even pay a higher cost. This game is that good. I doubt they will do this, though, it would be an "expansion" and that is not their style.

BTW - (Totally unrelated to the game) Price is never a concern of mine if I want something. I buy what I want whenever I want. I look for quality, not economy. My wife tells me she can't buy anything for my birthday (and usual doesn't except a card) because of this. The good thing is although I appreciate expensive things, I rarely buy them. And we have no debts, zero. One of our wiser decisions.

[ 06-19-2003, 10:53 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

[Zaks]

This might be a grave news but I heard that the company is retired after Wizardry 8 ... So this game was something like a said-goodbye to all WIzardry 8 fans in a mannered way... - What can I say - great game (just doubt there will be another one soon)...

-Zaks

[tuckyboy]

Zaks,

See this post:

http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...;f=15;t=003180

Wiz9 may be coming at some point.

- tuck

[Morlac]

Yes, there is some chance of a W9, but if I udnerstand correctly, I seriously doubt that there would be a W8 Gold or a W8: Expansion pack. When the development team *briefly* worked for Strategy First, the sole project they were able to ship was a "Gold" version of their other major title -- Jagged Alliance 2.

From what I could tell, JA2 Gold had a lot of initial enthusiasm on fora like this one, but the sales must have been disappointing. (For one thing, many of the fans are not from North America, and so distribution of the game to the many countries where Sirtech had fans was spotty at best.) The company spent a modest but significant amount of money advertising it, but the game didn't exactly fly off store shelves. Hard to blame the general public, as by that time the original game was many years old, and the Gold pack tweaked a few things but didn't really do all that much more.

Since W8 had a dated look even at the time of its initial release, I would think that any expansion pack or gold version would be greeted with even less enthusiasm. And any attempt to upgrade the look and feel would likely be better invested in W9.

If the developers do have an interest in developing a W8 Gold, the biggest thing that I would want to see would be some capacity for easier editing and modding. Not that the game seems particularly amenable to that, but I've been absolutely shocked by how well JA2 has held up over the years and even developed somewhat of a cult following, largely on the strength of a talented and dedicated modding community.