Which Version of Wizardry 1 Should You Play?

[@Vidvid57]

Just a few notes: 1. The NES version of Wizardry 1 has a bug where AC does nothing. There's a patch to fix it. 2. The GBC versions(which don't have the above bug, and all 3 have english translation patches,) might actually the best instead of the Playstation 1 version. The differences are: - The maps are slightly smaller - Wizardry 1 has extra content in the form of the Treasure Vaults, which can only be accessed after you beat Werdna. Finishing the Treasure Vaults gives you a second "achievement" mark in addition to the one from beating Werdna, on your character. - Any characters can be transferred (back to level 1 and base stats, but still have achievement marks,) by having the game give you a password (all Japanese characters,) for that character, and you can transfer any characters between any of the first 3 Wizardry games. - The Japanese numbering order for these versions of the games is slightly different, as Legacy of LyllGamyn is considered Wizardry 2 and Knight of Diamonds is considered Wizardry 3. - The interface seems better designed and / or streamlined for the fact that it was on Gameboy Color, with portability in mind. - IMHO the best reason to play these 3 is that you can just load them on your phone in GBC emulator and play then that way, anywhere, anytime. Also, for almost ALL versions of Wizardry 1-3, there's a great Japanese site with incredibly detailed specifics regarding equipment, monsters, monster drops, map quirks, etc. I've been using it for years: www.pekori.jp/~emonoya/ Google translate helps with it, although I suppose knowing a little Japanese helps too.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Thank you for the helpful notes! I was aware that the GBC versions existed, but have never spent any time with them, and didn't try them for this video due to some combination of needing to draw the line somewhere, and inexperience with them. Having your perspective on them as being your fave is very helpful. At some point I should probably also try the Sega Saturn version!

[@Misa_Susaki]

I would personally NOT recommend the GBC version, because it is kind of a "revision" or remake of the original; it doesn't have the same maps or design of the original game. You're getting a totally different experience with different maps if you play that version. It's a great game on its own, but not recommended for people who want to play the original and experience it the way it was designed.

[@RMeisterMusic]

I have been enjoying this video as I've recently purchased the new Wizardry. I am a longtime fan of the NES Wizardry where I got my start. That was one of the most brutal gaming experiences ever. One thing I love is when you say around 10:50 that video games "were really toys." I thought to myself ... Wizardry was a way of life. This was no toy; this was no joke! I mean it had a 244 page manual and the strategy guide (Proving Grounds of the Mad Overload - haha) was 74 pages. Ahhh, back when games were GAMES. Anyway, thanks for this vid. It was enjoyable to watch.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

That comment needs a little bit of explanation. What I mean is that home consoles (think: Atari 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision) were firmly viewed *by the people making them* as childrens' toys, in the same class as Cabbage Patch Dolls. They were expected to be a short-lived fad, not an entertainment sector that would eventually make more money than movies.

[@edwardlwittlif]

This is a wonderful video! I was looking for simple advice on which version of Wizardry to play, but I got so much more. The story about playing Wizardry with your finger on the disk drive latch? As somebody interested in the history of video games, and *especially* the history of difficulty & frustration in video games, that story is solid gold. I also love the way your personal ritual of rolling hobbits for high stats developed. It brings me back to my own childhood with Pokemon Red/Blue- "There's a Mew in the truck! I heard my cousin's neighbor's friend caught one!" Like I said, I'm keenly interested in difficulty & frustration in video games, particularly the creative potential of frustration. I'm really torn between playing the PS1 version and the Apple 2 version. It looks like I won't be sacrificing much difficulty if I play the PS1 version, especially if I never open the automap. And yet, staring at the Apple 2 screen and knowing I'm in the exact same virtual world that got Yuji Horii and Koichi Nakamura cooking on Dragon Quest... It feels like a test of my own mettle as a hobbyist game historian. Either way, I'm off to the store to buy some graph paper. Regardless, excellent video. Subscribed!

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

So glad you liked it! I think whatever you decide it will be fine, you're clearly motivated enough to deal with the frustrations of Apple II play. But in all seriousness I don't think anyone is sacrificing anything by playing the PS1 version and getting the convenience of save states :-D

[@Gamerhenky]

You didn't actually used my updated translation of Story of Llylgamyn since I've fixed every issues found in the original AGTP patch, and you also forgot the other ports (e.g. Game Boy Color as Vidvid57 said, PC Engine CD, WonderSwan Color). The WSC port of the first game has extra content and new Survival Mode, also has English patch made by me.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Thanks for the additional context (and for your translation work!)

[@MartinRodriguez-qk4hc]

I played the NES, SNES, GBA, PS1, WonderSwan Color and TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine) versions. This last one is very particular because although you can get the Blue Ribbon, when you want to use it you discover that the Private Express Elevator does not work, and there is no way (that I know of) to fix it. I beat that version with a female dwarf mage, named Olga... I did all my experience on the first level of the dungeon, killing Creeping Coins and Murphy's Ghosts. I leveled up until I got the Haman and Malor spells, and teleported directly above the hole at level 9, which leads to level 10... The rest is history.

[@WonderSilver]

Hello! I'm a very young person, who is in love with anything RPG/JRPG. So i recently found out about this series and been struggling on how to start. So this video was amazing, thank you so much! For allowing people like me who never had the chance to grow up with these old masterpieces, to be able to find the necessary information to play them. Surprisingly hard to find info on things you never grew up on And i must say this video is incredibly charming. Your voice is quite soothing. Its clear how passionate you are ^^

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Thanks! It's so fun to see new people experience these games. I appreciate your kind comments about my narration.

[@stevebowles9086]

I’m pretty sure that in the Apple games, you could move any character from I to II, asterisk or no. They just said, don’t move low level characters, because they will die. So, you could run it with your team, even if you hadn’t finished (in my case because my older brother had beaten me to Werdna).

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

I looked it up and you are correct. Thank you for the correction! I remember being terrified when I moved my characters to Knight of Diamonds.

[@stevebowles9086]

No worries, I really appreciate what you are doing here. I was shocked at how quickly I got through KOD. I thought there had to be more. Now, #3 (Legacy) burned some brain cells…

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

I finished PGMO and KOD (it was short but fun) but LoL was where I stopped. I didn't have both good and evil parties rolled up and so it felt like starting from scratch. I think I gave up just a few floors in.

[@RetroPaul6502]

I played through Proving Grounds last year on an a2 emulator after hearing about the zimlab recompiled 3.1 version. They made some minor quality of life changes and took out the Bishop bug that Sir Tech kept in from rev to rev. The character password prompt was removed, thankfully! It was fun to go "old school" including reading the WiziSystem tips book and drawn maps. The spinners on the apple II are obvious if you keep quick draw off. The image will erase and redraw, but one does need to pay attention.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Oh, I vaguely remember this - this was the thing where if the Bishop tried to identify item #9, he got tons of XP? Need to run back to my Apple II game and try that out.

[@donaldxavier2056]

I recently picked up the PS1 version of the game. I am a big console gamer so that is the version I am playing through. The combat is fun, exploration is great, and the soundtrack is top notch.

[@ObiJuanKenob]

Currently on SNES emulator, pick it up for the battery consumption on my ipad vs ps1. I also understand the font, can’t explain why; if you know you know.

[@G_Travel99]

I always loved RPGs, from the tabletops to video games, and when it comes to video games i never really played anything older than Super Nintendo RPGs, Final Fantasy 4 might the oldest i ever played. But i always heard about the classics, the pioneers of the RPG video games, things like FF1 (witch i did play on the GBA port), Rogue, Ultima, and of course Wizardry. Those first generation of video game RPG always had a Mysterious and Aluring vibe to me, like some ancient dungeon, old and merciless, where one wrong step or unlucky break could kill you, But also, the reward of beating them being way more satisfying because of their difficulty and limited hardware making it a more frustrating experience. What made me finally get the courage to give these old RPGs a chance was completing a 3 year old campaign of ADnD (AKA D&D 2e) with my group. The whole vibe of old, classic fantasy with its gritty setting and brutal gameplay was a thing i learned to love with this campaign. Ever loss was heavy, but every victory was something to celebrate over, because of the brutality of the TTRPG we played not only way more cautiously, but also, roleplayed our characters with much more love and attention. to this day, my main character from that campaign, a ex-slave Fighter named Teryal, is still my favorite character i ever created for a TTRPG. I learned to love the old RPG culture because of this campaign, and thats why i began to research on how to get into Wizardry, being the RPG video game that (to my understanding) pioneered the whole genre, and without it a bunch of the RPGs and JRPGs i love would have not existed. Thank you a lot for this video to help me get started on the first trilogy. I was pretty lost on how should i start since i discovered that the first few wizardry had a bunch of different ports, and i wanted to make sure to play the "definitive" edition of it. By what you explained i will see to play the ps1 version since i was intersted on the whole trilogy.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

You're right, the feeling of overcoming those old RPGs is unmatched.

[@GreedFeed]

Absolutely grateful for this video! Do you play the later Wizardry games?

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

I just picked up Labyrinth of Lost Souls in the Steam sale and am giving it a go. I played Wizardry 8 (and liked it), but have tried 6 and 7 several times and always bounce off for some reason.

[@carlcouture1023]

I'm absolutely one of the people that this video is for because I want to try to get into the games but find the decision of where to start kind of daunting. I'm also someone who finds this particular type of tile based first person movement extremely confusing. Even if I had my grid paper in hand I would get hopelessly lost. I think my brain just has a hard time making contiguous space out of that. But these games are a huge part of the hobby I love so I want to at least see them. Also, PLEASE do that video on SMT spell names coming from Wizardry! Dragon Quest does the same thing and Final Fantasy does it to a lesser extent. People tend to forget it.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Thanks for the comments! I have been thinking about that SMT video for a long time.

[@kinglysandus]

"Hate to break it to you, you are probably a nerd." LOL! Epic.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Meant with love.

[@Zombielokii]

Agreed brother. Fantastic font.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

It is the best font!

[@Mutex30]

I'm a compete nerd who played both the original version on 5.25" floppies on an Apple II+ clone 40 years ago and the new Early Access version from Digital Eclipse 6 months ago, and this is exactly right. Just play Digital Eclipse's version. It captures all the fun and difficulty of the original, while updating the graphics, sound and quality of life features to match 2020's standards. The thought that there is some intrinsic benefit to something just because it is from "back in the day", before developers had any kind of quality control or proper development processes or professional graphic art and sound and musical editing involved is just wrong. Games are better now. There is nothing wrong with admitting that. Just play the new version.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Thanks for sharing your pov!

[@niche2k4]

Im a bit late to the party here but i started yesterday Wizardry Trilogy on the SNES and I can't confirm what your sayd about the first floor and the chest your found because on the first trys on floor 1 i lost my thief 3 times because of poison needle from a trap ^^ .. After playing Wizardry Gaiden 1 (gb/c with fan patch) i want now playing the main series.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Thanks for the update!

[@justinbaldwin66]

The remake plays well on Linux through steam. You just have to turn it on in the compatibility tab.

[@SaffronWorldCR]

The Japanese SNES trilogy game that had been fan translated (Wizardry I-II-III: Story of Llylgamyn) is my favorite version: it is the closest to original, includes all the quality of life updates you expect without being too much, and doesn't have the now outdated 3d graphics of the Saturn and PSX ports. I would love to play the Steam remake but it lacks the QoL and improvements introduced in the SNES version. You can't speed up battles in the remake, that alone breaks a game focused on grinding. And I agree, the SNES font is the best one 😅

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Speed of play is so important. I’ve been playing Tale of the Forsaken Land and although I am really enjoying it, it is just SO slow.

[@SaffronWorldCR]

@@TeaLeavesProgramming 100% I played that game years ago and loved it, but the combat is soooo slow. I love how some JRPG nowadays include a fast forward option during combat. It's a game changer.

[@AndersondosSantos]

Obrigado pelo vídeo, foi muito nostálgico rever esses clássicos e aprender algumas novas curiosidades.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Obrigado pelas suas palavras gentis! Você tinha um sistema de jogo ou computador na era de 8 bits e, se sim, qual?

[@AndersondosSantos]

@@TeaLeavesProgramming Não tinha, bem por curiosidade vou contar a história: Nasci em 1984 mas só tive contato com computadores a partir dos anos 90. Meu primeiro PC foi um 386 que tinha uma versão do MSDOS que acompanhava o aplicativo para programação QBasic. Eu resgatei antigos livros de programação e de jogos (que traziam a listagem do código, geralmente BASIC, do jogo impresso) para computadores como MSX, TK e CP (os computadores mais populares aqui no meu país na época) e transcrevia esses códigos para o QBasic. Como já existia internet consegui regatar códigos para Basic ou Pascal de versões desses jogos ou o port deles para DOS.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

@@AndersondosSantos Uma das minhas versões favoritas do jogo "Star Trek" baseado em texto foi escrita em Q-Basic. Era uma versão muito estranha que imprimia longas citações de "Meditations" de Marcus Aurelius de vez em quando. Tantos jogos bons! (Eu não falo português, então isso foi traduzido por máquina. Por favor, perdoe quaisquer erros.)

[@AndersondosSantos]

@@TeaLeavesProgramming Esta certo, em 2024 estamos indo muito bem com esses sistemas de tradução automática, tanto que se tu se sentir mais confortável em escrever no seu idioma nativo não tem problema. Isso também é legal para experimentar jogos do tipo em outros idiomas, surgiu uma dúvida, aponte o celular para a tela e pronto, não é magia é tecnologia 😀 Aqui no Brasil tem acontecido um movimento de resgate de jogos em texto, uma publisher chamada Bitnamic/Teknamic tem conseguido entrar em contato com vários desenvolvedores de jogos locais dos anos 70 e 80 e trazendo clássicos do tipo nesses ultimos anos. Tem um desenvolvedor chamado Renato Degiovani que inclusive lançou uma game engine moderno focado para a criação e publicação de jogos em texto. Jogar esses estímulos é uma experiência bem estimulando e imaginativa, diferente dos jogos atuais muito focado em visuais impactantes.

[@zwxn123]

Very informative and straight to the point, many thanks. I'll probably stick with the Playstation 1 version...

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Good luck!

[@Jack-bk7fg]

A good video. I have chosen to purchase the PS1 version. Thank you

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Good choice, and please report back with your experience!

[@MaidLeila90]

I have absolutely no idea how you got such good RNG in the SNES version. When I played the SNES version, I lost 4 thieves to poison needles because they kept failing to disarm. One of those thieves had 19 bonus points. lol

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

I was convinced the game was just easier because I wasn't getting poisoned! But I've since watched other people's Let's Plays and I have reached the conclusion that I was just INCREDIBLY lucky.

[@josephpurdy8390]

The luck stat is crucial for thieves.

[@AndersondosSantos]

Só uma curiosidade aqui sobre o recente Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, parece que, assim como a maioria dos jogos da franquia, ele tem tipo bom desempenho no Linux ao usar o Pronton da Steam. Pra quem usa linux pode valer a pena testar.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Yes, and it plays very well on the Steam Deck also.

[@kinglysandus]

(sorry, I am typing these as I watch your video) Regarding the Spinners and Teleporters, those were most effective if you had to map on paper as you play. In-Game mapping really makes them obsolete.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Absolutely.

[@mercster]

The Digital Eclipse remaster works 100% perfectly on Linux, using modern technologies. (WINE+dxvk/Valve's Proton.)

[@mercster]

God it's killin me, you say it three times "If you're on Linux, play on Playstation!" 😂 I know not your fault but, whew boy.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

@@mercster I've had enough terrible experiences with Wine that I'd never recommend it to someone as their first choice.

[@mercster]

@@TeaLeavesProgramming Sir... most people don't use WINE from command line anymore, do you use Steam? Steam has Proton, which is WINE+a whole bunch of other technologies wrapped up, pretty with a bow. Linux gamers run thousands of games just fine in Steam with Proton, it "just works." I'm tellin ya, you're giving outdated info. Have you ever used Steam's Proton? When's the last time you gamed under Linux?

[@mercster]

@@TeaLeavesProgramming In fact, Wizardry remaster is verified Steam Deck Playable status... this means it just works on the steam deck. Which runs Linux.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

@@mercster Sure, I think for anyone with a Steam deck (who doesn't want to go on to play Knight of Diamonds or Legacy of Llyllgamyn), the Digital Eclipse version is a reasonable choice.

[@Xenoforge78]

Oh cool, exactly the kind of video I was looking for, I'm a massive fan of dungeon crawlers/blobbers (Shin Megami Tensei, Might and Magic, etc) But somehow never got into any Wizardry games.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

I keep threatening to do a video exploring the connection between the spell names in Wizardry and the spell names in Shin Megami Tensei/Persona.

[@OrphenStudios]

Randomly found your channel. Been on a retro RPG kick so I guess I was blessed by the algorithm. Thanks for this video and for not being a weird elitist retro snob! A lot of the time when I find a smaller gaming channel it's run by a massive jerk or a bigot or something. Wizardry's remake was already on my list but you moved it to the top!

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Really glad you found the channel, and welcome aboard! Extremism in the defense of being nice and normal is no vice.

[@shaunmcisaac782]

NES Version is the hardest in practice. AC does not work. At all. There is no "identify item 9" bug to get 100,000,000 XP When you level up stats go down, similar to the DOS bug. Chests have plenty of traps; not sure why you think they don't. But the real risk is teleporter trap which just permadeaths the whole party. And that can absolutely show up in the first few levels. Even if you give your entire party 100,000,000 XP and gold and level them up to 20+ you are in no way a shoo in to beat Werdna, sometimes RNGesus just hates you and you get TPKd

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

Thanks for the corrections!

[@MGMan37]

Digital Eclipse version sucks because of forced autosaving. The developers are completely delusional seeming to believe that everybody did not reload after every +1HP level up. Not being able to speed up the forced combat animations also does not help. They decided not to address any of these in the 1.0 full release.

[@TeaLeavesProgramming]

After learning more about how the HP rolling works, I never reload - it all works out as long as you get another roll later.

[@josephpurdy8390]

You can create a backup save that is independent from your primary save. Quit out and copy the backup save onto your primary save. Then, reload the primary save.

[@MGMan37]

@@josephpurdy8390 That's still more tedious than even in the original Apple II version.