 |
| I wasn't expecting this screen again |
I had gathered my party for some treasure hunting before I dived into the final battle. I figured some extra gear would help my survival, so I selected Yrebe (my ninja) to identify and disarm all the traps. His 18 agility told me he could easily disarm them. Well, I didn't listen to his 12 luck saying otherwise.
 |
| My ninja isn't very stealthy |
I ignored the warning signs: failed identifications and triggered traps. Even after switching to Calfo to identify didn't help his ability to disarm. The gear provided only incremental improvements to armor, and I can only guess some kind of improvement to my weapons. (Any idea if the Sword of Slicing is better or worse than the Sword of Dragonslaying?) Well, no equipment seems to provide protection against a trap.
 |
| Oops? What do you mean oops? |
Teleporter huh? Well that can't be too bad. I mean easy enough to find my way out of the dungeon on this floor. I start to wonder if teleport traps can send me up levels. Well, they'd have to put me somewhere on the map, right? No, not really.
 |
| Here it is. Yet another way to instantly die |
I nearly gave up hope at this point. I was already formulating the post as I stared at the headstones, "well, Wizardry wins." I fiddled with the menu afterwards, checked what characters I had left to throw into a party, and then, as I counted the names available, I realized all the party members of my lost expedition were listed. I added them to my roster, making sure they were real. They were real alright. Dead, but real.
I gathered them for what I hoped was my final outing. I was going to head straight for Werdna and end this. The final battle was a little anti-climactic after all this build-up. I was the first to get Tiltowait off, not to mention I landed a Silence before he acted.
 |
| Well, this fight's over. RNG is on my side this time |
It feels like a hollow victory. There's no great sense of accomplishment. The grinding didn't help, but beyond that the entire game seems too random. There's very little strategy to fighting, and while there are a few interesting spells, interesting doesn't win battles. It only serves to give the enemies an extra turn to tear me apart.
 |
| Uh, can you give me something useful? |
After beating the game I tried out Mahaman, one of the most "powerful" spells. It has a chance, note 'a chance', of summoning a god's powers to aid in battle. Sound overpowered? Well, it does have a catch. In addition to the spell point, it also costs 1 level of the spellcaster, and that's always charged even if it doesn't succeed.
 |
| 1) Cure no ailments, 2) Heal a fully healed party, 3) Silence fighters |
I really don't see why that spell, with it's obscene cost, wouldn't do all three useless abilities. I bet that raise dead power still has a chance to turn a character to ash. Well, with Werdna defeated, I used his amulet to teleport back to the castle. The game needed to get in one last jab before final victory.
 |
| Only about half actually |
Half the party drowns after arriving in the moat, but I still get my reward and congratulatory screen.
 |
| Wait, don't take the amulet, gold is useless to me |
That's it! I'm done with this one! Final rating will come tomorrow, and I'll start Super Hydlide very soon.
Session Time: 1h10m (Total Time: 44h10m)
You teleport into the *moat*? Were you supposed to have a drawbridge lowered earlier so you'd land on it?
ReplyDeleteAlso, congratulations on beating Wizardry after all this time!
Thanks. I think it's the game's way of suggesting there's no easy way out. Teleporting is supposed to be risky because there's a chance to teleport into a rock if you don't know where you are going. Trying to trick the game and get to the surface doesn't run that risk since there's no mapped area. I do wonder if there's a safe section to teleport to now. To add insult to injury, you can teleport above the surface (going 11 floors up instead of 10). I'll let you guess what happens then.
DeleteYes congratulations! Well-fought, and now you can look upon lesser folks who have never beaten this game and laugh at their hard modes and achievements and laugh!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't do that. Like I said, this one felt hollow. If you put in enough hours, you'll eventually beat it because of good luck, not because you have a good strategy. If I didn't silence Werdna on the first turn, it's very possible I would have had the same results as last time.
DeleteBRUTAL. Even when you win, the game gives you a final "Eff you!" Wow. The designers hate you. Like, personally hate you. With a vengeance.
ReplyDeleteGood job finishing this one! I cannot wait to see you move on from this torture chamber of a game.
I'm happy to move on as well. If I get the ratings post out tonight, then I should be able to start Super Hydlide right after. That's the plan anyway.
DeleteDon't know how you found the patience to finish this one, I hope the next game is a bit more forgiving!
ReplyDeleteWell, there's a save feature in the next game, so that's a start.
DeleteThat is great. Seems like you didn't have too much trouble after all. Funny how the game actually seemed pissed at you for beating it. Looking forward to better games. But I guess really by the time this came out on the NES it wasn't exactly new to the PC crowd. It really showed its age here. Seeing how you meticulously play through these games I think you shouldn't have too much trouble with Sper Hydlide. If you are lucky you might even stumble across the secret stache in that game. I guess it's not really about how fast you finish but about the journey with this blog. Even though Wizardry took a while and was grueling, watching the journey was entertaining.
ReplyDeleteOnce I got to Werdna things went very smoothly, but I still had some anxiety even after all that preparation. I'm sure the game resented letting me off so easily, and wanted to prove that it could have easily killed my party off.
DeleteWhen this came out there was quite a lot of other games to easily compare it to and say how dated it was. About the only people I can imagine enjoying this are those that had it on their computer and wanted to relive the experience. I guess it did well enough to have the second game released on console as well (and third in Japan), and I'm not looking forward to that one. The fifth in the series also saw a release on the SNES.
Super Hydlide is up next and I'm looking forward to playing it because it's new while at the same time dreading the experience for I hear it's a terrible game. I'll try to put that predisposition aside and enjoy it for what it is. Any suggestion for character class? I'm thinking Monk at the moment.
I love how this series of blog posts completely justifies how much I hate this game. Wizardry was the first to teach me that just because a game is an RPG with turn-based battles (my favorite genre), that doesn't mean it's fun.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your hard-earned victory! Your comments on sheer randomness and bullheaded persistence remind me of endlessly grinding literally thousands of enemies in World of Warcraft to earn a shiny new mount. At the end of our respective labors, I can fly around on a pretty virtual dragon, and you can... revel in your immortal blog posts? :)
Well, at least we have the Internet to revel in our victories, however they compare.
Delete