Review of Wizardry 4, The Return of Werdna

[@ShiceSquad]

You make the greatest video games reviews! I loved the original Wizardry 1, but I never would have come across this beast of a game in a million years, let alone beat it!

[@dfortaeGameReviews]

Thank you Shice Squad! It definitely is a beast!

[@clintvieira]

Hey, just stumbled across this review three years later. Thanks for it. I played and beat this game on the Apple //e back in the 80's. It's still by far the hardest RPG I've ever played and I've played a lot of them. Thanks for bringing back fond memories.

[@dfortaeGameReviews]

You're welcome Clint!

[@THEFRISKIESTDINGO]

Every battle is, for your opponent, the final boss fight and time to pull out all the stops.

[@sgamer-xc1bd]

Hats off to any one who has beaten (or even seriously attempted) this thing

[@pedrotimoteo329]

There's a screenshot LP on lparchive.org, so someone did.

[@Zenkuja75]

I did on the psx, it was a remake not the dos one, videos are on my channel.

[@davidobrien9042]

Played it the year it released, and three times since. One of my all time favorites.

[@stevenmcsteven6693]

@@davidobrien9042 Yes i'm sure it is lmfao

[@richarddavis8863]

​@@davidobrien9042that's pretty cool man, you're an OG RPG player. Do you really think it's one of the hardest ever made? I'm kind of fascinated by it but don't even know how I'd go about trying to play it today, and I'd definitely want to play this black and white one

[@PCGamer77]

51:31 "Double, double toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble." The witches' incantation from Shakespeare's "Macbeth."

[@booradley6832]

12:50 On the left is the Cuisinart sword, which was as a joke named for the Cuisinart brand of blenders. The Sword therefore is several blades on a rotating spindle hilt, like the thing in the base of a blender.

[@asgardian12]

Thank you so very much for reviewing this game, I dont think I'd ever be hardcore enough to play it. Glad to see it in action with such detailed commentary. Thank you!

[@RossCourtright]

ANOTHER hour review? Oh boy what a treat

[@dfortaeGameReviews]

Yeah, this game deserved to have an hour dedicated to it. Any game that is claimed to be the most difficult RPG of all time deserves the honor!

[@RetroIslandGaming]

Book, Bell and Candle could be from Ultima 4 of two years prior. "Book of Truth, Bell of Courage, Candle of Love" if memory serves me right. Though that itself could be a reference of something else as well. I can't believe you played through this entire game! I thought Wizardry 6 was a tough nut to crack. This must have been insane. Very impressive! :) Anyway, I found you through Diana Rose. Nice videos, man. Always glad to see others with a love of old DOS games.

[@dfortaeGameReviews]

Thank you Retro Island Gaming! I did a quick search and it looks like this may be the meaning of "the book, the bell, the candle": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell,_book,_and_candle

[@RetroIslandGaming]

dfortae - Game Reviews Well there it is! Looks like it was all over the place in gaming too. Cool find.

[@beanbottler]

I thought there was also a section in Wiz4 where you had to use a book bell and candle in that order.

[@antichoice1]

I attempted this blind and got furious when I couldn't leave the first room. How are monster enemies getting in the room to fight you?

[@dfortaeGameReviews]

Yeah, extremely difficult game!

[@andrewjensen8128]

This game's difficulty is legendary among those who have played it. I would rank it as difficult as Nethack. Actually... it plays a lot like a Roguelike.

[@THEFRISKIESTDINGO]

I forgot to re-equip my gloves after enchanting some armor, and punched a cockatrice, immediate end. Yeah I’d agree they’re about the same insane difficulty where you need a wiki and research skills to beat them.

[@pedrotimoteo329]

A tip: the "pink" in the graphics is actually the wrong color; it's supposed to be red. The game (and, indeed, all PC Wizardry games up to V) attempted to use a different CGA mode that EGA and VGA cards typically didn't support. To see the game as intended, you can force CGA graphics in DOSBox. Great review, BTW. :)

[@artao5]

Or play it in an Apple ][ emulator ;)

[@Eggs_is_eggs]

The thing on the left that you mention at 12:51 is supposed to be the Cuisinart sword, which I guess that Lord is holding.

[@dfortaeGameReviews]

+Eggs is eggs Ah, I guess it's trying to show he's moving it quickly??? I didn't notice that it was a static animation before!

[@Eggs_is_eggs]

The name of the sword, Cuisinart, is a joke since Cuisinart is a brand of food processors. So they made it look like a weird blender knife.

[@shadowmanproductions9639]

"Werdna, the mightest of wizards, feared across the land." "Who slayed him?" "Ah. He fell of the roof of the tavern in town." "...what? It's a ten foot drop." "...well I mean he kinda fell wrong, got his head all twisty."

[@Warglobalnews]

I will have my visual novel completed sometime in 2023 and self publish it. My second book will be a tabletop game based on my adventure novel. I want both the novel and the tabletop game based on the novel to be set in the Wizardtry World, but is it worth it? Where is a good source of info on the Wizardtry combat system, which seems like DnD, both of which I have not played in 20 years, no time for anything other than work/write, not complaining. Do you think it would be difficult to get Wizardtry to allow me to base my book and tabletop adventure in their, and more importantly is using their elusive combat system, need more written records, in the adventure, pretty good myself at creating unique combat systems.

[@ryanc5572]

The only wizardry I haven't played. It looks so tough, and I don't think I'd have the patience to complete it without consulting all the walkthroughs and such. On a side note, it must've been satisfying killing everyone at the temple, haha

[@dfortaeGameReviews]

Yes, the toughest! Yeah, it was a very cool and strange experience working your way to the top and seeing the "good guys" at Gilgamesh's tavern, the temple, etc. Awesome being able to see the insides of those places that we had used for "home base" for all those years!

[@molecule1221]

That funny looking knife thing on the Lord's portrait is supposed to be a Blade Cuisinart I think

[@ThatWanderingDude]

Recently played and beaten this on ps1, the only genuine gripe I have over this game are the absolutely dumb "quests" you have to do just to beat the cube. Felt unnecessary and really ruins the flow of gameplay which is a shame because the cosmic cube might be one of my favorite dungeon crawling levels ever. Wandering maze having the softlock room and the entire minefield segment also weren't very fun but those levels aren't too hard with the ps1 changes especially the spinner change.

[@swr3603]

i wonder if the "dio" healing spell is related to smt's "dia" healing spell

[@blushingsprout]

SWR 360 dio in Latin means divine or godlike. Dia is “to pass through” maybe magic passes through the body to heal it

[@presidentsnow7315]

I completed Wizardry 1,2,3, and 5 on the Nintendo, but I never got to play this one.

[@Kain5th]

wizardry 3 was jp only on the NES though www.gamefaqs.com/nes/579573-wizardry-ii-legacy-of-llylgamyn-the-third-scenario/data

[@presidentsnow7315]

@@Kain5th Nah, I had a rom that translated the game.

[@Jourmand1r]

Nice ASMR video, knocked me out within minutes.

[@seewhale8565]

Interesting because in the Dark Souls series, when you rest at a bonfire it also resets the level.

[@Th3ba1r0n]

I actually want to challenge myself to play this game. I have the collection. I know it's hard but it would be worth it.

[@BenjaminGessel]

This game just says, "Bring it." 😂🤣😂🤣😂😂

[@booradley6832]

I really enjoy your reviews but I think there's some things you could do to improve: 1. Use Audacity to remove the fuzz in the background. Free open source program, totally worth it. 2. Plan your reviews slightly. just a rough bullet points plan of what to talk about, not an actual script. 3. refining the videos down a little, maybe multiple takes to add/remove whatever you want. You've got so much experience in the wild and hard RPGs of yesteryear and I think you'd be really popular if your content was slightly more approachable. I love it but the average person is not very competent or thoughtful. Not trying to take away from what you do at all, as I said I love it. Just want to see you rewarded more.

[@dfortaeGameReviews]

I'm not doing this for a living, but if you want to help with reward, I have a Patreon where you can donate/support.

[@Schleimie]

Too bad, you can not use Human Change Class to turn Andrew, sorry, Werdna, into a Bishop or Samurai.

[@Alianger]

Can summoned monsters not level up either?

[@dfortaeGameReviews]

Correct.

[@GothSwan2109]

where on earth do I obtain these pre wizardry 6 games? I've been looking for a lil bit but I can't find anything resembling an official release

[@dfortaeGameReviews]

I would check abandonware sites. There's one called myabandonware.com that has some of them I believe (as of 1-25-2022)

[@GothSwan2109]

@@dfortaeGameReviews Thanks for taking the time to reply, I was hoping third party sites wouldn't be the solution, but what can you do. if it's abandonware, it's abandonware

[@MARCOPLAYSDOSGAMES]

great my friend !!!

[@dfortaeGameReviews]

Thank you!

[@DaxVJacobson]

I think Wiz 3 added mixed alignment, depending on who you attack members of your party would change alignment, Wiz 4 was designed to piss players off and not be fun, it's too much random, I bought this game when it came out back in the late 80s, and it was NOT fun, Sir-Tech thought they were smart using burgundy colored paper, BUT not long before this game came out, red LED hand scanners were all the rage so my new hand scanner was able to deal with the red paper (ignored it) and I made a black and white copy that was much easier to read compared to the original red copy protection code book. I had the orig game before I downloaded a cracked version, so the hard to read copy protection code book mattered to me.

[@sierrakobold6896]

CGA?

[@seewhale8565]

Age 100 on your mage

[@poljkuki]

Whats Werdna backwards ?

[@Cranjis0101]

Werdna = Andrew the name of the dev.

[@poljkuki]

@@Cranjis0101 The final truth is that Werdna is actually Prince Andrew

[@littleampton2]

This is not a review. You're playing the game, explaining what's going on in the screen and then in the last 3 minutes tell us a few thoughts about the game that can hardly even be considered "an opinion".

[@asimplewizard]

He explains character creations and mechanics, shows how they function in combat, gives his opinion on whether or not the mechanics are good each step of the way, and then provides an overall opinion? I know this is old, but literally what??

[@Canoodling]

​@@asimplewizardguy's just a nipple. There's always a critic.

[@SuperUkcats]

This game is the perfect example of when the creators of an I.P. become washed up to a point when they jump the shark, and hardcore FANS of the prime years have to get hired to clean up the creators mess! There is a reason why this game BOMBED harder than WWE 2K20! You are playing from the bad guy's perspective, and with the EXACT stats and abilities just like in the first game, right down to the point where he can't level up! Meanwhile, the heroes are all at high levels because that's how it was in the higher levels of the first game, which the villain by no coincidence starts in! And the heroes have all their cheap ass abilities that enemies hardly use in RPG's! If I wanted to play as say, Ultimecia of Final Fantasy VIII, then damn well I want her to gain levels and I sure as hell want Squall and company to be at fixed levels with most of their abilities cut or toned down! I don't want to play as an Ultimecia that cannot gain levels and abilities while being bombarded by high powered "Squall's" throughout the game! And Final Fantasy VIII is a game I HATED...but not to the degree of Wizardry IV! In fact, I'm GLAD that Final Fantasy VIII had SHORT TERM success, because it would be a total insult if Wizardry IV sold that many copies while FF8 bombed! You may like this game, but the sad truth is, hardcore gamers like you will always be the MINORITY, the mainstream casuals is where the money will always be, and the casuals are not going to play a game where you get killed by the cheapest deaths every ten seconds! And thus, this black mark is the reason why Sir-Tech hardly ever talks about this game. I'm just glad Sir-Tech managed to rebound from this dreck!

[@Moop666]

It has a good concept but just wasn’t executed well