tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post5178703021342460815..comments2024-03-28T04:44:28.648-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Wizardry II: Won!*CRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-81000503650475774062023-06-15T02:04:45.141-04:002023-06-15T02:04:45.141-04:00Thanks, I think you're right. Your guess expla...Thanks, I think you're right. Your guess explains that "G" that my guess doesn't.Exploradorrpghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17491422055928443184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-5558042815045733332023-06-14T21:21:09.863-04:002023-06-14T21:21:09.863-04:00I'm sorry to mislead you, but I'm pretty s...I'm sorry to mislead you, but I'm pretty sure I was making a joke. I was referring to how the other major names in the <i>Wizardry</i> series are just the names of the development team backwards.<br /><br />My guess is that "Gnilda" is a simple anagram of "Glinda," the good witch from <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-71409600086335853782023-06-14T03:56:36.939-04:002023-06-14T03:56:36.939-04:00"Rare bit of trivia: Greenberg and Woodhead n..."Rare bit of trivia: Greenberg and Woodhead named the goddess after their Korean friend, Adli Ng."<br /><br />I've searched for a reference to this on the internet without success. How did you find out about it?<br /><br />At first I thought it was an anagram related to Linda Sirotek (today Linda Currie), the little sister of Norman and Robert Sirotek, the founders of Sir-tech together with Robert Woodhead, since she appears in the credits of all the games of the series starting as playtester.Exploradorrpghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17491422055928443184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-66838741217462736202021-07-28T15:09:45.119-04:002021-07-28T15:09:45.119-04:00I really enjoyed reading your coverage. For everyo...I really enjoyed reading your coverage. For everyone else's benefit, it's here:<br /><br />https://www.retrogamestrove.com/game-100-wizardry-ii-the-knight-of-diamonds/CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-74216942126012108282021-07-27T16:28:23.837-04:002021-07-27T16:28:23.837-04:00I really, really enjoy playing and experiencing on...I really, really enjoy playing and experiencing one of these games, finally finishing it, then coming over to see what Chet or others had to say about it. It's very entertaining and thought provoking. It is brutal and pure will power to stay completely away until after I've finished.Professor_Moneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01922483054239419750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-47693782573377718622021-07-27T16:24:50.289-04:002021-07-27T16:24:50.289-04:00I just finished Wizardry II: Knight of Diamonds my...I just finished Wizardry II: Knight of Diamonds myself and completed my write up. I agree with just about everything here but wanted to point out that I felt the overall combat in Wizardry II was very unbalanced. I felt that they got it right with the first dungeon level but afterwards combat could easily go off of the rails. The KOD armor pieces did nothing to help but made things more like a Quentin Tarantino film. I'd be curious to know if anyone ever just put everything on one character and tried to do the last couple of levels completely solo. Now having said that, I completely agree with Chet. There was just nothing like this game during this time period. I think that Wizardry I fans wanted a high octane, high level thrill ride and they got one. Transferring high level characters for another adventure was a big allure and very exciting for many during this time period. It was also a negative for all of the reasons Chet stated but also I felt it took some of the grinding excitement from the first game away. The second game was all about the story and if you played with no thief you weren't going to get any cool items either. All of these observations aside I greatly enjoyed my experience with the game. Wizardry I is a MUST PLAY game and while others did things better later this still remains one of my all time favorite seriesProfessor_Moneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01922483054239419750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-24365503631441484082017-06-04T22:44:54.599-04:002017-06-04T22:44:54.599-04:00Indeed. Much later, I started to do that. Somewher...Indeed. Much later, I started to do that. Somewhere around my 2014-2015 entries, you'll stop seeing map key and instead see little colored corners in the Excel maps.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-46865025411730682442017-06-04T20:15:11.565-04:002017-06-04T20:15:11.565-04:00Have you thought about using Excel comments to mak...Have you thought about using Excel comments to make notes of the map squares with messages on them? They're associated with individual table cells and are easy to hide and unhide, so it seems less annoying than looking up and down constantly between the map and the keyDialMforMarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991827182885226471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-43495584725446301622017-04-19T14:50:38.949-04:002017-04-19T14:50:38.949-04:00Hi, Alch. I don't think you're correct abo...Hi, Alch. I don't think you're correct about the mechanics by which the increases and decreases work. In another thread that I'll have to find, someone analyzed the source code and explained what was happening. That's beyond my ability, but I can verify that with save-scumming, it is possible to get increases--sometimes big increases--with every level-up, which shouldn't be possible if it's working the way you suggest. <br /><br />It may not be a bug that decreases are possible, but our consensus in that other thread is that the math was probably implemented incorrectly in the DOS version, since the numbers seem to decrease in this one a lot more than the others.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-74122990518185427872017-04-19T09:30:09.022-04:002017-04-19T09:30:09.022-04:00Reducing stats is actualy not a bug, the game rero...Reducing stats is actualy not a bug, the game rerolls all characters numbers at each level up but with more dices based on his level.<br /><br />Hp is the simplest one, each class has their own hp dice(like d&d) with the number of dice being the character level, if the roll happens to be smaller it just adds 1 and call it a day<br />which is why after getting a level with a huge hp boost you end with following levels getting a bunch of 1s. but it all tends to average out in the end<br /><br />when come to stats i never fully understood the exact mechanics behind the rerollings except that: <br />each class favors certains stats over others(i dont know how race is affects it)<br />it does the oposite of hp, instead of adding a token amount on lower rerolls it will decrease a token amount(how much depends which wizardry)<br />bonus point doesnt affect the reroll in any way, so if you put all bonus points in strength on mage he will keep losing them at level up, in fact a character with lots of bonus point will surely lot of stats as his level catches up to his stats<br />and just like hp it will eventualy average out as the characters level up, and a level up with big growth in a stats will be followed by levels with smaller growth or even reductions<br />Alchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-6489701603077890992016-02-23T11:47:47.435-05:002016-02-23T11:47:47.435-05:00It occurs to me that this blog has probably helped...It occurs to me that this blog has probably helped my composition a lot in real life. When you crank out the equivalent of an 8-page article every few days, minor writing assignments don't seem so daunting.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-72538668983356525982016-02-23T11:22:50.347-05:002016-02-23T11:22:50.347-05:00Thanks, will do from now on. While I enjoyed this ...Thanks, will do from now on. While I enjoyed this more than the first Wizardry, I'm not keen on grinding to win. So, I don't think I'll ever look back on this series as fondly. The majority of the port was well done except for a couple oversights. I definitely enjoyed this one more than the first. I guess these didn't do as well in the US (or possibly due to the aging console) because the third game never got a translation. I'll revisit this series in the fifth game on the SNES though, and stop by again with my thoughts on Pool of Radiance next.<br /><br />Also, I'll take this opportunity to say keep up the great work. I'm always impressed by the eloquence of your prose, and speed in forming your posts. I've only recently found a nice balance where I can get one post out a week. Looking forward to a number of games in 1991 for you, and I hope the slog through the more uninteresting games don't bring you down.Zenic Reveriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16441583549326102945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-8221082742060353492016-02-23T11:03:20.350-05:002016-02-23T11:03:20.350-05:00Good Progress Zenic. We appreciate your reporting ...Good Progress Zenic. We appreciate your reporting the progress! JJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-49654676020314943042016-02-23T10:37:59.290-05:002016-02-23T10:37:59.290-05:00Feel free to link to your posts! For everyone'...Feel free to link to your posts! For everyone's benefit, Zenic's coverage starts here:<br /><br />http://allconsolerpgs.blogspot.com/2016/02/game-51-wizardry-knight-of-diamonds-nes.html<br /><br />I appreciate hearing about the differences. "Climax in <i>Wizardry</i> usually ends in a complete party wipe." Indeed. Oddly, I kind of miss these games.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-26519247119322652572016-02-22T19:27:30.296-05:002016-02-22T19:27:30.296-05:00Well, finally reached the game in my console list....Well, finally reached the game in my console list. Most obvious change is characters aren't imported, and battles are rebalanced to a party that starts at level 1. The sage was on the fourth floor, and gave the same spiel. No noticeable changes to the spells from the first game though. There weren't any riddles to answer. Level layouts were modified heavily: 1, 2, and 3 changed about half the map... -- 4 become floor 5 with a slight change (to accommodate the gauntlets), and 4 was a completely new map. Floor 6 stayed the same. The new map layouts had a fatal flaw though, there's no chute from 5 to 6, so the only way to get the gauntlets is either teleport blindly down to floor 6, or two spaces through a door that normally kicks you out without the gauntlets. This makes floor 6 mostly superfluous. The gauntlets themselves have access to all spells, and have 100% magic resistance. It took a lot of grinding to get enough HP to handle two Tiltowaits a turn (in the end unnecessary, as they didn't both cast it). By the time I felt strong enough (400 HP on my fighters), my main fighter with Hrathnir was doing ~200 damage in a single hit. Very anti-climatic way to finish, but climax in Wizardry usually end in a complete party wipe. I'm glad to be done with this one.Zenic Reveriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16441583549326102945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-30974988899814860542015-07-16T14:12:37.330-04:002015-07-16T14:12:37.330-04:00by ANY character class...I really miss the edit bu...by ANY character class...I really miss the edit button.fireballhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01094871771537115267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-53448286533073171182015-07-16T14:10:56.201-04:002015-07-16T14:10:56.201-04:00Just played through myself. Well, the battles agai...Just played through myself. Well, the battles against the five armor parts were less tough then I expected, with the exception of the shield for some reason. <br /><br />What surprised me the most was the inclusion of doors that even LOMILWA doesn't reveal beginning with level 5. How in hell are you ever supposed to expect this? It completely breaks the established game rules, I only knew after looking up a walkthrough. At first I reached the gauntlets the exact same way as you did via a chute from level 5 to level 6, stumbling through darkness and somehow ending up at the stairs to level 5 back to where the gauntlets are. But the sphinx on level 6 tells something about searching the level for hints about the answer. Well, I did not know the right answer (so obvious, damn...), so I wondered where those clues are supposed to be..and ended up cheating by looking up a map online after loosing patience. <br /><br />There are actually 3 hidden paths besides the visible door to the sphinx which lead to those hints and some neat weapon found at an altar of gnilda called the staff of light, which does a lot more damage than any other weapon except Hrathnir perhaps, and that can be equipped by character class. Too bad items get lost when transfering the party to the next part of Wizardry.fireballhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01094871771537115267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-28663379066831339912014-08-15T00:01:48.282-04:002014-08-15T00:01:48.282-04:00Also, partway through Wiz 1 I found a site with de...Also, partway through Wiz 1 I found a site with details about what the stats do, that helped me when creating my second party. Vitality and Luck are probably the most vital stats for the front line, Vitality and Agility for the spell casters, and Agility, Luck and Vitality for the Thief. My Thief with 18 Agility and 18 Luck very rarely fumbled.<br />Vitality dictates chances of successful Resurrection and amount of HP, and is crucial for surviving spells, breath attacks and those nasty Pits. It's typical that the only party death, except for the one against Werdna himself, was from a Pit.<br />Luck affects chances of saving against monsters' special attacks, like Decapitation and Level Draining. Level Draining is the second most annoying thing to happen, aside from not surviving Resurrection, so the 15% extra bonus from 18 Luck can be a life saver.<br />Agility is important for spell casters to get their spell in ASAP.<br /><br />If I should play it again I think my front row would be three Evil Fighers with max Vitality and Luck. Samurais will be stuck with mediocre stats (under 15 don't do much good) and are thus a worse choice IMO.PetrusOctavianusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-25817313759014384762014-08-14T23:22:59.285-04:002014-08-14T23:22:59.285-04:00I recently completed Wiz 1 and Wiz 2. I played the...I recently completed Wiz 1 and Wiz 2. I played them mostly Iron Man, I rolled until getting 15-19 Bonus Points, but I did not play them "blind". That is, I checked items lists since I hate not having any in game way of knowing what they do except trial and error, and possible eradication.<br /><br />I had two party deaths in Wiz 1. One was a room with both a Pit and an encounter. Had I known the Pit would re-activate after the battle I think I could have avoided that party death. So I rolled up a new characters to rescue the old ones, but in the end only one of the the old guard was better than the new guys.<br />I didn't do any save scumming, accepting character deaths and decreasing stats. The one exception was before the final battle, since there's no way to send a rescue party there. First battle went badly; my fighters hardly scratched Werdna who nuked them with a massive TILTOWAIT. But on second try I got lucky and surprised him and his blood sucking friends.<br /><br />Wiz 2 I found much easier, partly due to the overpowered Kod pieces. No party deaths, and only a handful of character deaths. Only had to replace one character.<br /><br />Seeing how much trouble you had with Wiz 1 and 2, I guess you played them blindly and didn't re-roll until getting 15-19 Bonus Points?PetrusOctavianusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-58819384767170716092014-04-14T00:43:48.477-04:002014-04-14T00:43:48.477-04:00Oh and Ogre Battle 64 has a hidden stat that deter...Oh and Ogre Battle 64 has a hidden stat that determines what ending you get and which allies join you. That is damn hard to actually raise. Also you basically need maps to find all the hidden items on the maps, which are, of course, all the best ones in the game. Also there are dozens of hidden character classes. And monsters you could recruite, each of which had its own class. Canageekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03770924810559440307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-2427426489560310932014-04-14T00:41:46.349-04:002014-04-14T00:41:46.349-04:00Chet: It is funny, these days a lot of JRPGs are s...Chet: It is funny, these days a lot of JRPGs are significantly harder and more complex then western ones. Permanent character death, insane levels of gear tweaking needed, character fusions, branching dialog paths that give in game relationship bonuses, complex battlefield placement....<br /><br />Examples:<br />Persona series<br />Ogre Battle 64<br />Shin Megami Tensei series (Basically, Pokemon for adults, crazy ones who like weird Japanese plots and unforgiving gameplay)<br />Fire Emblem series (Gah, try beating it without ever letting a character die. I should go back to Path of Radiance)<br />Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.<br />Heck, apparently even pokemon is now all about breeding the right ones to do stat optimization, then levelling them in a certain way, then breeding THOSE to get such and such special move....<br /><br />Anyway, most of those won't come out for a very long time, real world, but expect me to try to talk you into playing some of them in a decade or two, OK?Canageekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03770924810559440307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-65754448447092034782014-03-31T23:52:36.377-04:002014-03-31T23:52:36.377-04:00In the small subset of games I've played from ...In the small subset of games I've played from the past to completiion, I'd say Dragon Warrior II is about as open a world as Quest of the Avatar. although smaller in some ways. Not sure how that's kept up in the sequels, but I could see it growing in that direction.Zenic Reveriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16441583549326102945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-74736498978471419542014-03-31T22:59:34.993-04:002014-03-31T22:59:34.993-04:00Oh shit. Well, forget what I said about FTA2. It&#...Oh shit. Well, forget what I said about FTA2. It's a great game. You'd enjoy it all the way from the start to the end. Especially the end.Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-66032691250806487842014-03-31T22:57:48.256-04:002014-03-31T22:57:48.256-04:00ALL the Ultima games on NES/SNES were dumbed down....ALL the Ultima games on NES/SNES were dumbed down. It plays more like an arcade beat-'em-up than an RPG, seriously.<br /><br />Anyway, back on the topic about "Western RPG" Vs. "Eastern RPG" (I've played enough CRPGs from ROC & PRC to know that they share most common grounds with Japan's).<br /><br />The choice paths of a Western RPG typically looks like a funnel; meaning, many decisions to be made and actions to be taken that the player is overwhelmed with the entirety of the game. As the player explores and solve quests, he/she is led ultimately to a singular/very narrow amount of choice(s) for the endgame.<br /><br />An Eastern RPG, on the other hand, is a rosary-like diagram. Each small section of the game is blocked by a certain boss/obstacle that requires the party to kill/remove before moving on to the next area (rosary bead). Sometimes, they even come in chapters. And when you complete the game, some games even offer New Game+ for you to continue playing the game, thus the rosary shape.<br /><br />Anyway, we are slowly seeing an amalgamation of the two schools, some borrowing a certain aspect or even have a core gaming mechanism based on their counterparts' influence.<br /><br />For instance, Dragon Age and Mass Effect pretty much describes how an Eastern RPG plays like. Depending on how many Japanese RPGs you played in your youth will dictate how much you can accept these 2 games.<br /><br />Chrono Trigger and Dragon Quest series are, I personally believe, would be great games to climatize any Western RPG player to Eastern RPGs. The artwork and system are undeniably Japanese but the concept and openness of the game, however, makes them feel like Western RPGs.Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-14142360032716656652014-03-31T19:14:23.022-04:002014-03-31T19:14:23.022-04:00Starting with 4, the Ultima games actually had a v...Starting with 4, the Ultima games actually had a valid use for a full keyboard, and the conversation trees took up a lot of space (which was excessively expensive on a cartrdige, and the only actual inferiority hardware-wise in the NES era. At that time, PCs tended to be significantly weaker). For that matter, the NES port of Ultima 3 used an excessively cumbersome menu system to mimic the original interface as much as possible. <br /><br />What I was referring to as "excessively complicated" were all the Use (X) direction, which could have been done with one command that activated whatever you were standing on (the exception being stairs that go both up AND down).<br /><br />A quick example of what I'm trying to say:<br /><br />Ultima 3 had 27 keyboard commands (every letter plus the spacebar). At least 5 could have been assigned to one button, while 13 of the rest could have been relegated to a fairly simple party and equipment menu. This would have left you with Fight, Fire Cannon, Cast Spell, Use, Menu and Unlock/Steal as the commands, and you could trim that down more by putting Fight and Cast Spell onto one button (Opening a menu to chose between the two) that acted as Use outside of combat, while merging Unlock/Steal with Fire Cannon, as you won't be unlocking things while on a ship.<br /> <br />This leaves you with 3 buttons plus directional controls (which just happens to be one less than the number of buttons on an NES controller), without changing the game design at all, simply by adding a couple simple menus and consolidating functionality.<br /><br />Now, I'm not criticising the programmers of the older games for not doing things this way. Both interface design and programming techniques were being invented at the same time as the games were being made, and there was probably some programming reason why it would have been harder to do (or harder to port it) if you did it that way, even if they thought of it. Not to mention, of course, that there's a solid argument that not needing to go into a menu to reorganize your party or light a torch is more convenient, so you might as well just use the keys that are there. Nor am I criticizing the U3 porting team for not putting in the extra effort to redesign the interface that radically.<br /><br />My point, however, is that there is no need to assume that "I only have 4 buttons to work with" necessarily translates to "The game-play for this game must be much simpler than a game on a full keyboard."Nomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02317814736043426457noreply@blogger.com