Which is your favorite Wiz and why?

[Wyvern]

Until we have Wizardry 8 in our hot little hands - we can discuss Wiz 1 - 7.

So which was your favorite and why??

Wiz 1-3 are my favorites - they were quite something when they came out and I had a lot of fun playing them over and over until my characters were "gods".
LOL!!

Wyv

[Xignal]

Wizardry was my first RPG (Apple II days). My favorites were 1 & 3.

I considered Knight of Diamonds (#2) as more of an expansion to Proving Grounds than a whole new scenario, and a little too easy. It was good for upping my characters' stats in preparation for Wiz 3.


Rick

[skywalker]

The first does hold a special place in my gaming heart. I can remember fretting over it not being available on the C-64 for a long time and reading in Computer Gaming World that it would not be ported to the Commodore. The machine could not handle it they said.

But it eventually came out and it was excellent (of course).
That being said, though, Bane of the Cosmic Forge surpasses it and IS my favorite Wiz game. I hope Wiz 8 passes it.
(I do like Wizards & Warriors the best right now, it is the only CRPG that I'm playing a second time!)

Mark

[Scronan]

Well, oddly enough I didn't play Wizardry in the olden days of yore when it came out. I had played Bards Tale II back in the late 80's, but for the most part I was quite behind with the RPG scene...

I didn't actually play Wizardry 1 until it came out on the NES, which was probably around 1990 or so.

I enjoyed the game immensely, and after seeing the original version (AGH!), the NES copy was really nice. Easier layout and controls, but still hard as hell.

I have played and completed 1,2,5,6 and 7, 3 seemed good but Wiz 4 just didn't seem appealing to me (Werdna was supposed to be dead, dammit!).

Hmm, if I was to make a choice, I would say Wiz 7. Also I loved Wiz 6, the concepts in Wiz 7 just blew me away. Trying to kill Blindmeis to get the Cane of Corpus for my Faerie Ninja (no small task!). And of course, the Gorrors, which is something I love in a game, BIG NASTY BOSSES! I really was disappointed that Wiz 7 didnt have a big fight at the end, which I also found disappointing with Wiz 5, the ending just wasn't super tough. The same goes for WW, Lord Cet was a mickey mouse final boss. But he sure was UGGGGGGGLY!

I do love the concept of an almost gladiator type arena where you can take on the biggest and baddest of them all! I think that, combined with the rest of that great game, really made for a great gaming experience.

On that note, how did the rest of you fare against the Gorrors? I'd be curious to hear your stories. I killed them all save the Beast with 1000 eyes, who had so many damn hit points (I counted tens of thousands of damage I did to him, and he still didnt die). I did wipe out the Fiend from 9 Worlds, who I hear was the toughest of them all (I'd debate that personally).

So, Wiz 7 gets my vote! Matter of fact, now that I've found my saves, I may go back and wipe that last Gorror out, just for fun!

I also loved that game since I used no cheats of any kind, just lots of repetitive level building. I felt somewhat guilty cheating with the gold in WW, which is something I will not repeat in Wiz 8!

Ok, Mr. Sebastio is shutting up now. Next!

Scronan

[Wyvern]

Would you believe that I never played Wiz 7 ??

Wyv

[Sazerac]

Not to sound like a "ditto" here, but Ditto to what Scronan said.

It's a toss-up between Wizardry 1, 6, or 7 for me. I didn't care for 3, and 4 can get lost any time they want to (what WERE they thinking on that one)?

Wizardries 5, 6, and 7, of course, were Bradley's creations, and a unique philosophical style comes through. I tend to think of them in terms of mental vignettes; blurbs from the past, rather than a logical sequence of actions, things that make up a grand collage.

Like the hilarity of the "Duck of Sparks" from Wiz 5 (a huge, walking, quacking, NPC duck, LOL!) or the philosophical ramblings of Thelonius Loon (very interesting encounter, completely Bradleyesque, having one create a stopwatch to reverse time to bring him back into your timesphere), and the whole concept of the playing cards as trumps of the aspects of the Spirit. To he** with the end game, Scronan! The getting there was the best part. I never play a game for the end game; if I did, I'd be ever disappointed. Sorry, but I've yet to see an end game that someone somewhere didn't find disappointing.

Or the entire unravelling storyline of Wizardry 6 with the foul King and Queen and Wizard; even though (and I'm sure you'll remember this, Wyvern) that Xorphitus and the Bane Queen rivalled Sabastio for long-windedness; it took them forever to get to the points of their stories! I specifically remember the hilarious snake-apprentice, and Smitty (who we now revisited in Wizards & Warriors), and the hilarious response you get when you gave the Amazulu Queen the cheap trinkets left by QueeQueg, or the rolling-on-the-floor tombstones in the Isle of the Damned (what was that one, Scronan...Desired Affection...Died of Infection? ) or the final confrontation in the temple (now THERE was a ending dungeon!) and the final unraveling of the storyline. BTW, I played on the side of the Bane King and Rebecca; I trusted that Queen "witch with a capital 'B' " about as far as I could throw her... so I ended up with the diamond ring.

And then Crusaders of the Dark Savant...hilarious memories...having to get "stoned" (and not the petrified variety either, LOL) to get out of one of the dungeons (complete with pipe and stash), and the Umpani and T'Rang, and a dungeon that was a funhouse, complete with water slide, Orcs that were actually the "good guys" (the Gorn, I believe), and a race of evil priest/magicians that you had to combat in a 7-story tower, finally summoning a demon at the end to terminate all of them...and the good witch whose face was stolen by her evil sisters...the hunting down of the five flowers in the wilderness...the summoning of the sphinx (which was GORGEOUS, much better than the one in Wizards and Warriors, even with 256 color pixellated graphics), the finding of the Valkyrie Queen in the City of Sky, and the Tomb of Gorrors (anybody ever kill all 6 of them? I finally did, but I had to get to about 80th level to do it, and have everyone hidden to take out the Beast of 1000 eyes...it was the last one that I tried 20 times to get, and finally did. And then Vi Domina, and the final unexpected twist at the end..

Wizardry 8 is going to have some enormous shoes to fill. I can only hope that it will be up for the challenge.

Thanks for a great trip down Memory lane.

-Sazerac

[Sazerac]

WYVERN!!! You NEVER played Wizardry 7??

You don't know what you missed. If you can get ahold of a copy, play it!

If you want one, I'll zip one and send it to you.

Trust me when I say, it's worthwhile.

-Sazerac

[Wyvern]

Yep - I never played Wiz 7 - was rather a reaction to having spent months with Wiz 6, playing, taking notes and then writing a walkthru (complete with ascii maps) and having some serious issues with how females were presented in the game. The result was I passed on Wiz 7 when it came out.

If I happen across it sometime, I may reconsider!

Wyv

[Sazerac]

Wyvern, your ASCII maps saved my "rump", if you get my drift. I never knew then that I'd be chatting with you 10 years later, LOL!

I understand what you mean about the feminine representation; it was rather sexist in many ways. Even in Wiz 7, Vi Domina is kind of a post-punk "Go-Go's" kind of female in skimpy garb (but at least she's covered up, unlike Rebecca in Wiz 6...)

-Sazerac

P.S. Do reconsider...Wiz 7 did redefine that entire genre, and it may explain a lot of things that are going on in Wiz 8 at the beginning...

[Scronan]

Saz,

That's great we had some simillar experiences with Bradley's game. I did enjoy Wiz 5, but I played in on the Super Nintendo in the early Nineties. I don't remember much of it now, a few things but not a lot.

Wiz 6 was such a leap in a new direction, but it was a blast. I always remember the lonely French guy who lost "Snoopcheri" his beloved doll, whom I thought was some old girlfriend of his or something! It was that game that got me hooked to play Wiz 7.

Ah yes "Don Juan Lovepuppy, he desired affection, he died of infection." That was in that grave yard in Wiz 6, I was rolling on the floor over that one. Another Bradley moment I presume.

You took out all the Gorrors Saz? I'm totally impressed, but LEVEL 80????

Gosh, I just checked my files, my last one has my characters at around level 30, but mind you they all changed classes close to 20 times, in fact perhaps more like 50. All have 100 (or close to it) in Ninjitsu, Kirijitsu, and most have 400-700 magic in each spell realm. For instance, the Faerie Ninja (with the Cane of Corpus, god I hope that transfers to Wiz 8!) has 100 Skullduggery, 100 Pickpocket, Alchemy, well you get the idea! Basically put, they are super human characters.

The odd part is, I have 6 Party Memers, an Elven Paladin, Gnome Valkyre, Faerie Monk, Faerie Ninja, Rawulf Samurai and a Whiska Samurai. The Faeries have as much HP as the stronger classes, around 300 HP or so. Not that it matters, with -21 armor class, they never get hit.

Hmm, I just couldnt whack the Beast with 1000 Eyes, but maybe if I got them to level 40 they could do it.

On that note, what was your favorite weapon? I still love the Sword of Light, its pure kick butt power and only weighs 3 pounds, which lets even a Faerie wield it! Also Excaliber, the Zatochi Bo and a few others were awesome.

Wiz 8 better come out soon, so many memories!

Scronan