Currently i bought a cheap copy of Wizardry 8. I lost my third disc from the original game so i never finished it. Now for only 5 euros it seemed a great opportunity to have another go at it. I can honestly say that it's an awesome game. I'd still rate Wizardry 7 as the best RPG ever because i liked Wiz 7's character creation better and how you leveled up. And for some reason i don't like NPC 's in my party but feel the need to fill the slots once they are offered.
Well anyways, i wanted to go ahead and rate Wizardry 7 on gamespot.com but couldn't do so. That's why i took the time to write this entry. :) I'd give Wizardry 7 a 9.5, same as Maniac Mansion II: Day of the Tentacle. Those two games are probably my all time favourites. A few coming close but, unlike many games coming out today, i still enjoy paying them after years. Luckily a few games coming out soon look pretty good so i'm not too bothered about the "state of the gaming industry". That's something many people/magazines tend to complain about. How games used to be better, more creative, ... Sure computer games went from selling a few thousand units to selling hundreds of thousands, even millions. So more people try to make some cash with a few rushed games. So the average game is probably worse but you have to remember two things:
As long as they produce games you enjoy, the industry can't be in a bad state. And there are plenty of awesome games coming out every year. I'll likely list my most anticipated games in the next journal entry.
The other thing is that for every Maniac Mansion II: Day of the Tentacle, GoldenEye for the N64 or Wizardry 7, there were plenty of crappy games. It's just that you don't remember them. And in 4 years you'll look back at '04 and think of it as the year of FarCry, UT2004, The Sims 2 or GTA San Andreas (if that's your cup of tea, although we don't even know what it's going to be like) rather than the year of Astro Boy, Everest or Freestyle Street Soccer.
Well my "Wizardry 7 is the best RPG i played" entry got a bit carried away but i doubt that's a thing that will only happen once so if you plan on reading anything in my journal get used to it. :)