Have we gamers forgotten our roots?

Wizardry: Proving grounds of the mad overlord turned 30 this year this series was instrumental in the creation of the RPG as a videogame genre, even the creator of Dragon Quest said he was heavy into computer RPG's at the time and that even simple things like the slime creature was taken from the Wizardry games

yet here we are, the series turned 30 and no one remembered it

well I remembered it

happy Birthday Wizardry

how come Wizardry gets a cake on its birthday, while on my birthday I got nothing ? :P

happy birthday Wizardry :P

how come Wizardry gets a cake on its birthday, while on my birthday I got nothing ? :P

happy birthday Wizardry :P

Darkman2007

All hail Wizardry, the Black Sabbath of CRPGs.

By jove, is that Cherry Mountain Dew I see in that photograph? You Americans get all of the cooler beverages.

On Topic, I've never heard of Wizardry, my gaming years didn't go back that far. Of course, now you've piqued my curiosity. TO THE INTERNET!

By jove, is that Cherry Mountain Dew I see in that photograph? You Americans get all of the cooler beverages.

On Topic, I've never heard of Wizardry, my gaming years didn't go back that far. Of course, now you've piqued my curiosity. TO THE INTERNET!

FaithfulBro

My roots are in the fighting genre and I must say for the most part I have forgotten them.

I am going to have to check these out. I've honestly never heard of them until now.

I am going to have to check these out. I've honestly never heard of them until now.

logicalfrank

[QUOTE="logicalfrank"]

I am going to have to check these out. I've honestly never heard of them until now.

ohthemanatee

Hmmm... All I am seeing is Wizardry V and VI for SNES. There is a remake of the first three on PS1 and Saturn though.

[QUOTE="ohthemanatee"][QUOTE="logicalfrank"]

I am going to have to check these out. I've honestly never heard of them until now.

logicalfrank

Hmmm... All I am seeing is Wizardry V and VI for SNES. There is a remake of the first three on PS1 and Saturn though.

wizardry 1-3 were remade into a single game for the SNEs but it was never launched outside Japan, I think there are fan translations though

Pffft, "Wizardry". Let's talk "MicroSoft ADVENTURE". No graphics, two-word max commands. "You are standing in the doorway of a small cottage, with a path that leads off to the West... On the table is a lamp."

Get. Lamp.

I'm sorry, I don't understand the word "get".

Lift. Lamp.

There is nothing under the lamp.

Carry. Lamp.

You are not holding the lamp yet.

Hold. Lamp.

The lamp is too hat and it burns you, so you dropped it.

F-. You.

I'm sorry, I don't understand the word "F-"

By the time Zork hit the scene and could actually interpret more than a two word command, we thought HAL9000 was right around the corner. I remember ASCII graphics. I remember monochrome screens. I remember when a Mouse was not something you desired in your home. "Wizardry" was fairly advanced, compared to what I started gaming on, back in the day. "Oubliette". Now THERE was a dungeon crawler!

:lol:

I haven't forgotten MY roots. Grey as they are!

Happy Birthday. And Cherry Mt Dew is not something to be envied, even if mixed 5 to 1 with Captain Morgan (also on the table).

I actually never heard of this game until now...but cut me some slack I'm ten years younger than it :P
Thanks for letting me know.

I mean I knew of Text-Based adventure games, but I don't know any titles.

And I tried playing one of the games...(Don't ask for the title) And it didn't like my commands or inputs lol.

I actually never heard of this game until now...but cut me some slack I'm ten years younger than it :P
Thanks for letting me know.

I mean I knew of Text-Based adventure games, but I don't know any titles.

And I tried playing one of the games...(Don't ask for the title) And it didn't like my commands or inputs lol.

NodakJo2010

[QUOTE="NodakJo2010"]

I actually never heard of this game until now...but cut me some slack I'm ten years younger than it :P
Thanks for letting me know.

I mean I knew of Text-Based adventure games, but I don't know any titles.

And I tried playing one of the games...(Don't ask for the title) And it didn't like my commands or inputs lol.

ohthemanatee

Dude, 'Wizardry' might as well have been called a text adventure. You had a static view window which showed your immediate path, and a monster block-graphic would appear in said window when encountered. There was precious-little in the way of sound or animations in the original game, each move the window re-draws what you're facing and what you would see, but it wasn't even the simple animations ala FF or DQ (I have no idea about the Nintendo ports as those were well after I had moved on from 'Wizardry').

Don't get me wrong, I loved the game, but it was a long way from what people play today and call it an RPG... It was a fairly literal translation of Dungeons & Dragons on a computer so you didn't need a Dungeon Master or other players in order to form a party and explore a crypt. There wasn't much in terms of an over-world or town life, etc either. It was "Heal Up, Go Back In".

[QUOTE="ohthemanatee"]

[QUOTE="NodakJo2010"]

I actually never heard of this game until now...but cut me some slack I'm ten years younger than it :P
Thanks for letting me know.

I mean I knew of Text-Based adventure games, but I don't know any titles.

And I tried playing one of the games...(Don't ask for the title) And it didn't like my commands or inputs lol.

MonkeySpot

Dude, 'Wizardry' might as well have been called a text adventure. You had a static view window which showed your immediate path, and a monster block-graphic would appear in said window when encountered. There was precious-little in the way of sound or animations in the original game, each move the window re-draws what you're facing and what you would see, but it wasn't even the simple animations ala FF or DQ (I have no idea about the Nintendo ports as those were well after I had moved on from 'Wizardry').

Don't get me wrong, I loved the game, but it was a long way from what people play today and call it an RPG... It was a fairly literal translation of Dungeons & Dragons on a computer so you didn't need a Dungeon Master or other players in order to form a party and explore a crypt. There wasn't much in terms of an over-world or town life, etc either. It was "Heal Up, Go Back In".

I guess I'm a few years younger than you, since I never got into Wizardry at the time.I got really into the original Bard's tale game on the C64 in the eighties for that reason. I didn't "need" my friends to come over, I had the opportunity to play as 6 different characters in the same party. I played wizardry retrospectively in the 90's though and Wizardry definitely deserves respect. But for me the Bard's tale (heavily "influenced" by Wizardry) was the main CRPG.

[QUOTE="ohthemanatee"]

[QUOTE="NodakJo2010"]

I actually never heard of this game until now...but cut me some slack I'm ten years younger than it :P
Thanks for letting me know.

I mean I knew of Text-Based adventure games, but I don't know any titles.

And I tried playing one of the games...(Don't ask for the title) And it didn't like my commands or inputs lol.

MonkeySpot

Dude, 'Wizardry' might as well have been called a text adventure. You had a static view window which showed your immediate path, and a monster block-graphic would appear in said window when encountered. There was precious-little in the way of sound or animations in the original game, each move the window re-draws what you're facing and what you would see, but it wasn't even the simple animations ala FF or DQ (I have no idea about the Nintendo ports as those were well after I had moved on from 'Wizardry').

Don't get me wrong, I loved the game, but it was a long way from what people play today and call it an RPG... It was a fairly literal translation of Dungeons & Dragons on a computer so you didn't need a Dungeon Master or other players in order to form a party and explore a crypt. There wasn't much in terms of an over-world or town life, etc either. It was "Heal Up, Go Back In".

well in my case I call it an RPG due to all the stats, stat building, equipment buying, party management, that sort of stuff, but I can see where you're comming from

just for fun, my hand drawn map of the first floor:

I haven't forgotten about Wizardy. I own Wizardry V for the SNES, and I'm actually on the look out for Tale of the Forsaken Land for the PS2. If anyone knows where I could find it for a reasonable price, I'd appreciate it. :)

Lawks-A-Mercy, Manatee! You ROCK!!!

:D

Seing that manual, and the GRAPH PAPER... !!! Lawdy, man... You have just taken me back in the Wayback Machine, Mr. Peabody!!! And I think I still remember that level, oddly enough - Well, having moved through it to get to the next ladder/ stairwell, these things become burned into the brain like the Konami Kode.

Thanks for the trip, dude!!!

(Makes me want to play the game again).

hehe, I love drawing maps, it's why Phantasy star for the master system is one of my all time favorite JRPG's :Pohthemanatee

Y'know, the younger set laughs heartily at us for doing that (maps on graph paper)... But you had to, it was the only way to get it done. We didn't have auto-mappers, and gamefaqs.com ... We had graph paper, aaaaaand weeeee LIKED IT!

:lol:

Educate me, is there a way for me to play "Wizardry" on my Vista machine? I'm a bit ignorant when it comes to retro-fitting on today's PC.

[QUOTE="ohthemanatee"]hehe, I love drawing maps, it's why Phantasy star for the master system is one of my all time favorite JRPG's :PMonkeySpot

Y'know, the younger set laughs heartily at us for doing that (maps on graph paper)... But you had to, it was the only way to get it done. We didn't have auto-mappers, and gamefaqs.com ... We had graph paper, aaaaaand weeeee LIKED IT!

:lol:

Educate me, is there a way for me to play "Wizardry" on my Vista machine? I'm a bit ignorant when it comes to retro-fitting on today's PC.

dosbox is your friend :P

just be sure to set the cycles down to 500 otherwise the text messages scroll way too fast

EDIT: Also, you should see my girlfriend, she's already on the third floor

I love this game. Glad it was mentioned, it deserves the recognition.

Hard to believe it's been 30 years. Wizardry, Bard's Tale, Might and Magic. Just awesome.

Glad we have games that try to bring back that experience, like Dark Spire and Etrian Odyssey, but it's just not the same. And there aren't enough.