98 replies to this topic

[Taskmaster99]

I want I want I want!!!!!!!!

[Taskmaster99]

moycon, on Sun May 8, 2011 7:26 PM, said:

Hopefully when PSN comes back up there will be a glut of backlogged games in the store including this one.

I have about 100 bucks in PSN cards to redeem.........Im hoping for this too man!!!!

[cimerians]

moycon, on Sun May 8, 2011 7:26 PM, said:

Hopefully when PSN comes back up there will be a glut of backlogged games in the store including this one.

LOL I know thats what I was thinking. Except now I will never use a credit card again so I need to start getting points cards or getting them through Amazons service and not PSN.

[Gabriel]

moycon, on Sun May 8, 2011 7:26 PM, said:

Hopefully when PSN comes back up there will be a glut of backlogged games in the store including this one.

Funny side note:  Every time there has been a game I've really wanted from the PS Store (Super Stardust HD, Tekken Dark Resurrection, Mortal Kombat II, Q*Bert, etc), there has been some kind of problem and the store would be down.  So, if the pattern holds, then Wizardry will be available when the store comes back.  

Of course, I'm not holding much hope for that, but it would fit my previous experiences.

[VW]

I am really curious about this one as I never got to play Wizardry back in the day.  As I recall, it never came out for the Atari 8 bit.  I am just afraid it is going to be like a lot of the remakes now and completely lose the things that made the original great.  Although since I never played the original and as long as it's a good game, I may not notice  

[Gabriel]

Gabriel, on Tue May 10, 2011 6:30 AM, said:

Funny side note:  Every time there has been a game I've really wanted from the PS Store (Super Stardust HD, Tekken Dark Resurrection, Mortal Kombat II, Q*Bert, etc), there has been some kind of problem and the store would be down.  So, if the pattern holds, then Wizardry will be available when the store comes back.  

The pattern still holds true.  Wizardry is available this morning.

There's even a demo.

Of course, every time I try to download it, I get an error.  Same ol' PSN.

Edited by Gabriel, Thu Jun 2, 2011 6:38 AM.

[cimerians]

Argh! I get the error too.

[cimerians]

I just played the demo briefly its very old school. LOL
Created a party and fought a few battles.

I think the price is pretty good for this game. So far the music is great and I like the art even though its Japanese style. The voices are a bit underwhelming. LOL.

The trial dungeon looked a bit plain and drab. I didnt get far as it was during my lunch hour but it seemed the random battles were constant.

Edited by cimerians, Thu Jun 2, 2011 1:12 PM.

[moycon]

Gabriel, on Thu Jun 2, 2011 6:33 AM, said:

Of course, every time I try to download it, I get an error.  Same ol' PSN.

Just back up and keep trying. I backed up and tried again and it started downloading.
Only 33 Minutes for a less than half GB demo....yep same ol' PSN.

So how do we get our PS+ membership? I thought everyone got a month free. Is that still true?
I tried to download another 50% off game, but it still listed the normal price.

[cimerians]

moycon, on Thu Jun 2, 2011 1:50 PM, said:

Gabriel, on Thu Jun 2, 2011 6:33 AM, said:

Of course, every time I try to download it, I get an error.  Same ol' PSN.

Just back up and keep trying. I backed up and tried again and it started downloading.
Only 33 Minutes for a less than half GB demo....yep same ol' PSN.

So how do we get our PS+ membership? I thought everyone got a month free. Is that still true?
I tried to download another 50% off game, but it still listed the normal price.

I guess you have to sign up for PS+ as if you were going to do it for real and you simply get the month free. I would cancel towards the end of the month. Of course I dont see any info on that nor do I see any info on getting our free games. I have no idea. Idiots.

Which 50% games are you looking at?

[VW]

The free games part is still being worked on, according to Sony.

[moycon]

cimerians, on Thu Jun 2, 2011 2:06 PM, said:

Which 50% games are you looking at?

It's the new exclusive RTS called Under Siege. PS+ members get it for $10 instead of $20.
I don't see any information about a free months worth of PS+.

[cimerians]

moycon, on Thu Jun 2, 2011 2:58 PM, said:

cimerians, on Thu Jun 2, 2011 2:06 PM, said:

Which 50% games are you looking at?

It's the new exclusive RTS called Under Siege. PS+ members get it for $10 instead of $20.
I don't see any information about a free months worth of PS+.

I saw Under Siege and I did see the discount for plus members (a nice 50% off).

I dont see the PS+ discount either. I guess we have to wait (per VW) for this so called welcome back package, maybe its part of that as well as the free game downloads.

[Gabriel]

In honor of this game arriving on the newly reborn Playstation Store today, I've decided to change my avatar to Harry Pottercorn, the awesomest gnome who ever lived!

[moycon]

I need to pick up some Sony store cards.
When/if we get PS+ I plan on snapping up some deals and snagging Wizardry as well.

[cimerians]

moycon, on Thu Jun 2, 2011 9:40 PM, said:

I need to pick up some Sony store cards.
When/if we get PS+ I plan on snapping up some deals and snagging Wizardry as well.

I get mine from Amazon.

Here's the links. They will give you the code as soon as you pay for them.

$20:

http://www.amazon.co...ASIN=B004RMK4BC

$50:

http://www.amazon.co...ASIN=B004RMK4P8

[Mendon]

Being a long time Amazon customer, one thing I've noticed is that while there will be frequent sales on XboxLive Gold and Point cards, I've never seen a sale on Playstation Store cards... they seem to be always full price.

Anyone ever see a sale on them on Amazon?


Mendon

[cimerians]

Mendon, on Fri Jun 3, 2011 7:19 AM, said:

Being a long time Amazon customer, one thing I've noticed is that while there will be frequent sales on XboxLive Gold and Point cards, I've never seen a sale on Playstation Store cards... they seem to be always full price.

Anyone ever see a sale on them on Amazon?


Mendon

I have never seen a sale on Sony cards either. Which really sucks cause this is what I'll be doing from now on.

Then again I never looked that often in the past because I had my CC card on PSN.

[moycon]

cimerians, on Fri Jun 3, 2011 8:21 AM, said:

I have never seen a sale on Sony cards either.

Ditto.

We've all been looking out, (I know I have for months and months since last year) and haven't seen it happen yet.
I'm just going to pick up a $50.00 card from Wal-mart. There are no deals when it comes to PSN cards.

[Gabriel]

According to the trophies, I've been playing this for 30 hours now.  I can say this is definitely old school Wizardry with some minor concessions to modern gaming which, quite frankly, are all improvements.  I'll just say two things: automap and save-anywhere.

There are no tutorials.  There are no long winded cutscenes with walls of text.  You make a group of characters and then you go to the dungeon and whomp thousands of monsters.  The game throws you to the wolves immediately.  Everything except the floorplan is random and the dice have no mercy or compassion.  It is a definite descendant and deliberate homage to Wizardry 1-3.

The opening difficulty isn't as bad as classic Wizardries.  In fact, your characters have a lot of staying power in the dungeon.  This is a good thing, because fighting a single battle and then running back to town to  recover spells and make up 1-3 new characters to replace the guys you lost in the dungeon isn't entertaining.  However, the difficulty picks up soon enough, and characters will be dropping like flies and causing you to reload in frustration before you know it.  It's just that the game lets you get your sea legs before it hacks them off with a bloody axe.

Not unexpectedly, the game's old school strengths are also its crippling flaws.  The first one is the randomness.  This is kind of a staple of Wizardry, which is like a tabletop game run by a sadistic GM who ALWAYS insists on letting the dice fall where they may.  But it's tedious.  Character generation becomes an exercise in merely re-rolling for hours until you get the optimum number of points.  The same thing happens when leveling up.  Treasure is also completely random, so you can spend hours and hours waiting for one specific item drop.

I can't help but feel that starting characters should have been given a set number of bonus points and only be able to select from the four basic classes.  The elite classes should have been saved for promoting into after some adventuring.  Also, treasure chests in the dungeon should have had fixed items of loot instead of the random contents they currently have.

I liked how there was no shopping to do at the beginning of the game.  All characters began equipped with basic items, and the item shop didn't sell anything a starting adventurer could really afford.  However, I feel the shop was poorly implemented otherwise.  It should have carried more wares to help equip higher level characters.  As it stands, after you buy about 5 or 6 key items from the shop, there's no purpose for money other than tithing it for XP.

I'm also disappointed with the spells.  It seems the only attack spells which ever do any appreciable damage are Flame Field, Volcanic Burst, and the NAL spell.  Those are always reliable, while I've never seen any of the other attack spells even do double digit damage.  Also, the status affecting spells never seem to hit.  I don't know how many times I've desperately cast Silence Field only to see it completely whiff.  There are also very few buffs, and I'm not sure they really do anything.  I always cast Battle Aura and Advanced Reflex, but I really don't notice any difference from when I don't have them running.

However, Levitation is an absolute MUST.

Edited by Gabriel, Sun Jun 12, 2011 11:15 AM.

[moycon]

Nice write up Gabriel. I was surprised at the lack of any information about this game even though it's been release for a bit now.
For instance IGN has the game listed, but no review.

http://ps3.ign.com/o...028/028378.html

I wound up picking it up anyways. So far I am still in the first dungeon. Not sure if it changes later in the game, but right now I haven't been creating new characters when they die. I've just been going to the temple and paying 30GP to cast resurrection and bring them back to life. It's really too soon for me to pass any judgement on the game, I want to at least get a few Guild hall quests under my belt. So far I've only passed the first one, killing Kolbolds and bringing 3 of their weapons as proof.

[cimerians]

This is an exact replica (almost) of the last Wizardry game for the PS2.

A HUGE important factor in surviving also is the selection and placement of character classes.

In the PS2 game you almost HAD to have a samurai and ninja along with a healer or two (and a mage) to have an easier time later on.

Also of importance is the selection of weapons. I cannot remember right now but I know that having the right combination of characters and items helps a lot.

I'm in the middle of Borderlands now and haven't played much further into the level 1 dungeon.

Are the random battles that frequent? It seems every few steps I'm fighting something. In the PS2 game the creatures roamed around as ghosts so you can see them and avoid them.

Also there is an in game manual at the title screen which helped me a whole lot with the controls.

[cradelit]

If it doesn't autosave when you die and force you to stay dead it isn't old-school enough for me
Automap also destroys it for me.. mapping was like 70% of the fun in that game!

[Gabriel]

Tonight I started doing some exploring on level 8 of the Shiin dungeon.  The encounters are much  more frequent on that level.

My characters range from level 22 to level 31.  Current party is a Lord, Samurai, Ninja, Priest, and two Bishops.  My nicest drops are a Dragonslayer Sword, Bushido Blade, Mithril Armor, and Dragon Kite.

[Gabriel]

Got the Odin Sword today.  Woot!

Explored a bit on Shiin level 9, but it was scary.  There were tons of Vampire Lords and Vampire Ladies who could could drop my 830 HP frontline Lord with one hit.