The first game in the Cosmic Trilogy of Wizardry games, this was the part of the series I was looking incredibly forward to playing because of being able to play through all 3 games with one party and them all having interconnected stories. I don't like this one as much as V, but it's quite good.
On the plus side, despite the graphics still being ass, this is the most coherent Wizardry world by a long shot, the dialogue does an excellent job of painting the environment and playing with the imagination, and the way everything connects is so cool and makes sense. The world is quite small overall, mostly just the castle and the weird shit going on around it, but damn is it a really fun setting.
The gameplay is a bit mixed, on one hand, the spell power system and much freer class changing is very cool, I love all the new classes and it was nice playing this game with a completely unique feeling team. (Samurai, Valkyrie, Monk, Ranger, Bard, Alchemist was my initial setup, but it changed a little bit, turning my last 3 into Ninja, Priest, and Bard) The new skill system is fun albeit a little awkward with how a lot of skills naturally progress.
The downside is class changing is still a pain if you aren't planning a ton ahead of time, it resulted in a lot of points where I would have to save scum stats and try to get some decent stuff. It mostly resulted in everyone but my Bard and Alchemist staying the same, which resulted in some weak feeling characters in the end game.
Save scumming is a big note, this is the first Wizardry that features saving anywhere (outside of battle), and this is fine except for the fact it ends up resulting in A LOT of save scumming cuz battles are much more dangerous and the game is a lot more endurance heavy. That plus the fact full party spells are unreliable at best results in some annoying combat, ESPECIALLY in the last three areas.
While the pretty ugly graphics and some annoying save scummy stuff gets in the way of an experience greater than Wizardry 5, I still think this is a great game worth checking out (though maybe play 5 on PS1 first to get a taste of the series), and I'm very much looking forward to continuing off the cliffhanger where Wizardry 6 ended off.
P.S. The game says it will be continued in Fall 1991, but Wizardry 7 came out in 1992!!! This is the canon reason why Wizardry died after 8.
On the plus side, despite the graphics still being ass, this is the most coherent Wizardry world by a long shot, the dialogue does an excellent job of painting the environment and playing with the imagination, and the way everything connects is so cool and makes sense. The world is quite small overall, mostly just the castle and the weird shit going on around it, but damn is it a really fun setting.
The gameplay is a bit mixed, on one hand, the spell power system and much freer class changing is very cool, I love all the new classes and it was nice playing this game with a completely unique feeling team. (Samurai, Valkyrie, Monk, Ranger, Bard, Alchemist was my initial setup, but it changed a little bit, turning my last 3 into Ninja, Priest, and Bard) The new skill system is fun albeit a little awkward with how a lot of skills naturally progress.
The downside is class changing is still a pain if you aren't planning a ton ahead of time, it resulted in a lot of points where I would have to save scum stats and try to get some decent stuff. It mostly resulted in everyone but my Bard and Alchemist staying the same, which resulted in some weak feeling characters in the end game.
Save scumming is a big note, this is the first Wizardry that features saving anywhere (outside of battle), and this is fine except for the fact it ends up resulting in A LOT of save scumming cuz battles are much more dangerous and the game is a lot more endurance heavy. That plus the fact full party spells are unreliable at best results in some annoying combat, ESPECIALLY in the last three areas.
While the pretty ugly graphics and some annoying save scummy stuff gets in the way of an experience greater than Wizardry 5, I still think this is a great game worth checking out (though maybe play 5 on PS1 first to get a taste of the series), and I'm very much looking forward to continuing off the cliffhanger where Wizardry 6 ended off.
P.S. The game says it will be continued in Fall 1991, but Wizardry 7 came out in 1992!!! This is the canon reason why Wizardry died after 8.