Wizardry - Labyrinth of Lost Souls being localized!

[cj iwakura]

After decades of a series made in the west being resigned to the east, the wait is finally over.

http://www.siliconera.com/2011/03/20/wi ... -to-xseed/

Color me shocked.

Epic opening

It's a PSN game, later localized in disc format with awesome art:



Here's some more hotness:









The originator is back!

[Vyxx]

Awesome!

I still play Wizardry on the PS2

[drauch]

Awesome. Love the style! Another reason I need to get a ps3...

[rancor]

Not being a fan of the genre I suppose leaves me a bit more critical, but I'm surprised scenes such as this are still acceptable:



Seriously? I mean it's 2011 and on the PS3 we're still using the exact same image 3 times to represent 3 different bears? Is that just laziness, or an important/enjoyable aspect of RPGs? Excuse my ignorance.

[drauch]

I'd say if anything it's just a throwback to dungeon-crawler RPGs from yesteryear. I can understand your grievance, but damn, it looks really pretty

[Mortificator]

Exactly. It might not even represent three bears, rancor; in classic Wizardry style it could be 30.

[Drum]

Not being a fan of the genre I suppose leaves me a bit more critical, but I'm surprised scenes such as this are still acceptable:



Seriously? I mean it's 2011 and on the PS3 we're still using the exact same image 3 times to represent 3 different bears? Is that just laziness, or an important/enjoyable aspect of RPGs? Excuse my ignorance.

In all seriousness, with no nostalgia goggles, I think that's genuinely awesome and hilarious. I have no problem with three identical bears.

[CMoon]

I just need to know when it is coming out.

I am curious though if they are still sticking to the 'classic' one dungeon/one town thing, or branching out more in the direction of Wizardry 7/8 with an open world, but I'll buy it one way or the other. Just never got why the ground broke with 7 was completely ignored in favor of Wizardry 1.

As far as the three bears, seriously, if that's an issue for you, put this game on your avoid list right now.

[maxlords]

I'll buy it. 3 bears, 4 bears, 12 bears....I'm happy

[Ruldra]

Watching some videos on youtube, I see a 'Playstation Store' option in the main menu...so this game has DLC? What's the extra content?

[Ganelon]

The disc version actually contains both the localized game, its sequel (well, what's likely to become the first installment of a multi-part sequel), and some DLC.

JP Wizardry games are usually 1 "town" (of the menu-based type) and don't have any special mechanics past the original trilogy. This game has 1 town and, if they release both parts, 2 dungeons.

DLC in the JP version consisted of a bunch of different items (weapons, armor, useful items, stats, etc.). There was also a key to unlock more of the first dungeon (later bundled with the game itself) that I'd bet will be packaged with the US version.

As for the enemy art, I think it's excellent (they're reused in part in the DS games) but that Grizzly isn't a great representation. However, do note that there's no enemy animation.

[hedorah]

I seem to recall either Nick Rox or Casey from WAHP saying how bad this game was, and Casey is a huge dungeon crawler fan. Heck if they can bring out this, why cant we get one of the newer Elminage releases?

[BryanM]

Seriously? I mean it's 2011 and on the PS3 we're still using the exact same image 3 times to represent 3 different bears?

I suppose efficiency isn't important to those who like to press the space bar a lot of times with no payoff, but..

It isn't like those squiggles take five minutes to draw and paint. Even MSPaint squiggles can swallow a few hours. Those bears, at the very, very least, took 4 hours of work to make. More likely, around a couple of days. Needless to say, the budget is better spent on art for moar monsters than variations on the same type of bear. How is this even a thing - every game reuses assets. Closest thing to an exception I can think of is overworld NPCs in Earthbound games, esp. #3.

Sure sure, it would be lovely if we lived in a wonderful world where everything sold Dragon Quest numbers so they could make several animations for several different levels of being bloodied up..... but until we have free robot artists, we won't see it in the real world.

[Ganelon]

BTW, the original art is really high HD, compressed for the game. You can see the original assets if you google previews of Inochi no Kusabi. There are of course color swaps of some enemies but overall, there's a good amount of enemy selection.

It's clear this budget PSN game wasn't released with superior production values in mind. There's hardly any music in the dungeons. I'm not sure where you'll find a turn-based dungeon crawler that satisfies those tastes though, even amongst games going for full price. Other games certainly offer more features but the successful ones have all stuck with 2D artwork, which is how I prefer things myself.

[Jeneki]

Something that I found interesting about the early Wizardy games (and similar early RPGs such as Might and Magic, Bard's Tale, etc) was how most of the challenge was in creating a usable map just to find your way around. Teleporters, spinners, dark sections, spell nullifiers, and other such trickery made just getting to the next floor difficult. Even more fun was when they moved you or spun you with no notification at all, throwing your mapping process into loops until you figured out what happened. At times they felt more like puzzle games than RPGs.

I'll have to at least take a look into this one, even if the dungeon mechanics are different these days.

[Ruldra]

Something that I found interesting about the early Wizardy games (and similar early RPGs such as Might and Magic, Bard's Tale, etc) was how most of the challenge was in creating a usable map just to find your way around.

I was hoping this game didn't have maps, and was a bit disappointed to know that it does. Having no maps and trying to find your way on your own was one of the things I liked the most about Phantasy Star.

[ZOM]

Played the Japanese version - like Ganelon pointed out, clearly a budget production. The art is nice and all, but disappointed me was how they handled the sound department; silent dungeons aside, the battle sfx sound like those of a school-project flash game, and there's nothing added to give more "weight" to the battles either, like screen shakes for example.
Even the DS game has a "heavier" feel to it. (if that makes sense)

Having no maps and trying to find your way on your own was one of the things I liked the most about Phantasy Star

Suddenly memories of sleepless nights with notepad and pencil in hand arise...

[Obiwanshinobi]

Somewhat off topic, just how bad Dungeon Lords by David W. Bradley is? Has anybody patched it up to the state of playability? I like designs and animations in that one (nothing special, but they have so called personality, Gothic way). Could've ended up looking a lot worse, even back in 2005.

[Lance Boyle]

JP Wizardry games are usually 1 "town" (of the menu-based type) and don't have any special mechanics past the original trilogy. This game has 1 town and, if they release both parts, 2 dungeons.

However, do note that there's no enemy animation.

I'd rather replay Wizardry 8 than an anime-reskinned rehash of the original trilogy.

How is this excusable? Why can't we have an actual Wizardry 9? Why are the Japanese perpetually stuck in the early 80s when it comes to RPG design?

[BryanM]

Super conservatism? Frightened of pushing away their niche? That throw backs might be what they feel their audience wants from the trademark?

It may be frustrating that changes in many franchises come along in incremental baby steps, like they were in the sports genre, but the alternatives are waiting twelve freaking years for more cat food, or the thing morphing into a completely different genre.

We can't have Wizardry 9 because the original developers can not/will not work on it | you won't get off your hands and make it | we can't let go of some specific proper noun and look at other games that might fill that space?

I really liked Dungeon Master, is that game more or less like Wizardry 8 than Wizardry 1 is? I never played 8..

Multiple choice questions are over rated in my opinion. Where reality and the model of it in thought meet can only be expressed through multiple choice answers.

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Wizardry 8 was pretty sweet.
Although if I ever played it again I would edit the .ini file to cut the level-scaling back a bit.

Might & Magic 7 is awesome too. Just got that off GOG for $6. Really good stuff.

[Jeneki]

Wizardry helped me learn to type. Well, at least words like LOMILWA and MAPORFIC (yes everything was CAPS back then). I still had to hunt-and-poke if I wanted to spell my name, but dang I could enter a spell name fast.

[cj iwakura]

Games like this continue to sell like crazy in Japan, that's why.

That said, English screens!













EUROPE AND AMERICA, Spring 2011.

[drauch]

Regardless of the complaints, those screens have me interested.

[cj iwakura]

Rest assured, this is not a happy-go-lucky game. The dungeons are dark, bleak, and foreboding.

It's pure Wizardry.

[Lordstar]

old school dungeon crawl with nice graphics to boot. Lol the three bears are awesome.

[Lance Boyle]

It's pure Wizardry.

[Jeneki]

I remember renting the NES port of Wizardry 1. One of the options was to replace the dungeon backgrounds with wire-frames to make it play more like the original. I really got a kick out of that.

[CMoon]

So I guess you all played this...

[Jeneki]

Heck yea, I can't wait to play a dwarf with pink hair and no beard, and 52 hit points doing 27 damage at level 1. (in all honestly though, I would say moving away from the D&D-style stats is a good thing)