Wizardry Series Part I: The Legacy of the Series
When you begin Wizardry I, you find yourself in the Castle, with no party formed yet. From the Castle you can visit the following places:
- Gigamesh’s Tavern
- Adventurer’s Inn
- Temple of Cant
- Boltac’s Trading Post
- Edge of Town
The Edge of Town is your gateway to areas beyond the castle. These include the Training Grounds and Maze. You may also return to the Castle, use the Utilities, or simply Leave Game.
The Utilities are a collection of options that you may find useful. One is to Change Name to rename your character. Another option is to Restart an Out Party. If you happened to have quit your game while in the maze or somehow didn’t properly leave the game, your character might be then designated as OUT and unplayable. This utility will restore the character back to the Castle when he or she was last in good standing.
The Training Grounds are where you’ll generate your characters. Once you enter the training grounds you can: Create a Character, Inspect a Character, view a Roster of Characters, and Leave.
Wizardry I: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord broke the mold and set the standard for character generation in future computer role-playing games. This was the first time that the computer user could control six different uniquely detailed characters and control how they progressed.
When you create a character you start by choosing a name for the character, then the character’s Race and Alignment. Having the freedom and capability to make these kinds of choices was a marvelous achievement in 1981. Robert Clardy’s Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure allowed you to command a group but each individual was not distinct and were only really representations of hit points. This is the first time that you are tracking experience point progression, equipment, and spells for six unique individuals.
When you choose a Race the computer assigns base attributes, and a random number of bonus points that you may assign to the attributes. Your attributes drive the character classes that are available and help to determine what class you can play. There are six particular attributes:
- Strength – augments the amount of damage that you can inflict upon an enemy
- I.Q. – the higher your IQ the better you are at casting spells
- Piety – the more Pious you are the more likely the Gods will grant your prayers
- Vitality – affects your hit points and likelihood of being resurrected
- Agility – this makes you faster and harder to hit
- Luck – influences the other attributes in various ways. A high luck is good
The race that you select has a large influence on the classes which are likely available to you at the start of the game. Each race has a different set of initial attributes. Humans are the most balanced but have the lowest initial attribute total. Hobbits start with a very high luck of 15.
There are three choices for alignment: Good, Neutral, or Evil. Certain classes require a particular alignment Alignment comes into play when forming your party and can cause problems for you during the game. Good characters will not travel with Evil characters and vice versa. If you encounter a friendly group of creatures in the maze and attack them anyway; after doing this a few times it will affect your alignment and you can change from good to evil. The opposite is true as well and it is possible for an Evil character to become good by showing mercy.
These are the Basic Classes that you have to choose from:
- Fighter – a warrior that excels in combat and typically can withstand more damage
- Mage – I.Q. is the primary attribute and they tap in the ability to wield spells. Terrible in hand to hand combat and cannot take much damage
- Priest – a holy warrior. Piety is the primary attribute. They pray for spells, can wear any armor, but can only use blunt weapons. They have the special ability to Dispel undead.
- Thief – Agility is the primary attribute. They are capable of detecting traps hidden in chests and may disarm those traps as well. No other class can do this. They can only wear leather armor.
There also Prestige Classes:
- Bishop – a cross between a Mage and Priest and can learn spells from both classes however at a much slower rate. They do get a weapon and armor advantage over a regular Mage and they have the special skill of being able to Identify magic items.
- Samurai – cross between a Fighter and a Mage. They have the skills of a fighter but can eventually cast spells too but at a slower rate.
- Lord – a cross between a Fighter and a Priest. They can cast spells at higher levels but they do not have the ability to Dispel undead.
- Ninja – an advanced fighter on steroids. It has the highest restrictions of all of the Prestige Classes so it is difficult to attain. They can fight much better without armor and can inflict a higher percentage of critical hits that can instantly behead or kill a foe. Ninjas can only be Evil.
It is possible to become a Bishop when creating a new character particularly if you select Elf as your Race. If you choose an Elf or a Gnome you have about a 10% chance of having high enough rolls to create a Samurai. There is less than a 1% chance of having high enough attributes to create a Lord or Ninja.
I am playing the MS-DOS Wizardry Archives version of the game. I recommend that you are patient and take your time creating your group of characters. You can keep refusing to keep a character until you are happy with your random bonus point roll. I would keep rerolling a character until you get 18-25 bonus points to spend. It is possible but requires a lot of patience.
This brings up the topic of what is considered to be the perfect party to explore the game’s dungeons. Most would probably recommend that you at least include two fighter-type classes (Fighter, Samurai, Lord), one thief for disarming traps on treasure chests, and two to three spell casters with at least one Mage and one Priest.
When I was in my late teens I remember beating the game with a stereotypical party construct like the one outlined above. Years and years later I would beat the game gain with a similar party makeup. This time around however I decided that the only thing the thief is really good for is opening treasure chests and disarming traps. Albeit that IS an extremely important reason to include a thief, I thought this time around I would avoid the treasure chests and I went with the following:
- Dwarven Fighter
- Dwarven Fighter – my thinking here was that I was going to change classes late in the game – something I had never done before – and change one fighter into a Lord – and then make the entire party evil and change the second fighter into a Ninja. Unfortunately, this plan went right out the window, more on that later
- Elven Samurai
- Elven Bishop
- Elven Priest
- Elven Mage
I was excited to challenge myself with this party lineup because I knew my funds would be meager due to no thief in the party. I knew money and loot would be scarce and that I was sacrificing the opportunity to find magic items. The powerful trade off was that I felt this lineup was very strong for a combat intensive game. If you are not familiar with the term grinding, Wizardry I is the epitome of a grinder. Grinding is the time spent doing repetitive tasks within a game to unlock a particular item or to build experience needed to progress smoothly through the game. There are ten total dungeon levels in Wizardry I and each level is progressively harder than the last. While a thief is awesome for acquiring loot and magic he causes a weak spot in the lineup and often times you’re resurrecting the thief in question or the priest fighting in his stead.
Unfortunately, much to my chagrin, I came to realize that there is a “bug” in the Wizardry Archives version of Wizardry I. When the characters gain a level, they can gain new spells, additional hit points, and their abilities might gain or lose in value. What usually happens is that over time, after having gained many levels, your attributes are high enough that you can make a class change to possibly a Lord or Ninja. The “bug” in the Wizardry Archives version however causes the character’s attributes to more likely LOSE points rather than GAIN points. So my plan to change classes is simply not going to happen and I’m too invested in this particular game and party to change versions or systems.
There are many different theories as to what makes the perfect party make up for Wizardry I and I’d love to hear yours if you have one. In my next blog installment we’re going to look at the overall plot of Wizardry I as well as a detailed look at the first level of the game’s dungeon. I am leaving for a much needed vacation tomorrow and my wife and I are going to be hiking in Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon over the weekend and then exploring Sedona, Tucson, and Phoenix Arizona the following week. I will be doing no gaming during this week however you can expect the posts to continue when I get back, unless I accidentally find a WayGate…