Wizardry 6 Bane of the Cosmic Forge Retrospective

[@mindpilotthepilot9140]

You have no idea how many times I've used your Dark Sun video to fall asleep to.

[@VileFemboy]

I hoped I wasn't the only one

[@FrequencyLSD]

All. The. Time.

[@animusdialect]

Haha. Same. That one and the two newer Dark Sun videos by William SRD.

[@vinceleaguedwithlove]

Same here

[@danielclaw13]

​@@animusdialect holy fuckme too!!! It's a big help to sleep after putting the baby to bed.

[@benisrood]

Nobody does gameplay/lore videos like you do, Michael. Brilliant stuff. Great script and delivery.

[@johnisdead]

One of my favorites ❤

[@VileFemboy]

HE FINALLY DELIVERED

[@nifftbatuff676]

Who?

[@elahem6940]

These longform videos are some of the best video game video essays on YT. Thanks, Michael!

[@vicchopin]

Just saw the entire thing in these last three days and oh boy... Michael, you're one **HELL** of a story teller. It seems to me you know the lore of the series like no one (and one can tell you played a bunch of this one and its ports) else does which is something to be truly proud of. The video editing, the movie/cartoons snippets and comic stuff are absolutely well done and add a ton of flavour to this - deservedly - long awaited masterpiece. Everything is well placed so to speak. The intro itself is a telltale sign of superb things to come. Gosh I have so much to say but one has to be effing loco to skip mere seconds of this magnificent artwork. I'm impressed. I usually don't do long comments, I'm more of a lurker online and all but not today, man, not today. So f*%$@ glad I found this channel. You seem to know your audience pretty well if I dare to say. Kudos to ya, Mike!

[@doricdream498]

In a game like this, I wouldn't be ashamed of using an automap. Heck, when I was playing Wizardry 1 i tried to make my own maps, but that proved to be basically impossible because of all the teleporters and looping between sides of the map. I'm one of those players who tries to write every detail down on paper because I find it relaxing and fun (despite being born in the 21st century), but I've learned to accept the help of the internet when it comes to wizardry.

[@dfortaeGameReviews]

Hello Michael! Wow, what a thorough Retrospective! Fantastic work, and thank you for this. Wizardry 6 is indeed an amazing game. I hope others will gain some enjoyment from the remaster!

[@michaelsnow1]

Thanks Dfortae! I've been a big fan of your channel for years!

[@BriteRory]

Your Wizardry 6 in 7 is a wonderful project dfortae! I've been following it on your discord for a long time now, shame I'm so shy to engage with anybody but just wanted to let you know how much it is appreciated.

[@ciscornBIG]

This is the kind of content I am here for.

[@DVX_BELLORVM]

While I believe that Wizardry 7 is the greatest CRPG of all time, Wizardry 6 might be my personal favourite game in the series. The EGA aesthetics and atmospheric descriptions from D. W. Bradley are just so damn immersive. The deep customization of party builds and random item drops has kept me coming back for one more playthrough for more than three decades. And sometimes I just feel like a challenging, straight-ahead dungeon crawler that won't take me 100+ hours to finish.

[@fishmix2439]

I love 6 so much. I play it to this day.

[@jermanator181]

This video is amazing. Full stop. I can’t explain how much I appreciate creators being willing to experience games and bring them to the masses. As for the community question of silence in games: I think the spiderweb software CRPGs are a great example of how well silence can add to the overall experience. Avernum is a great expansive cave network filled with danger and death. The crushing weight of silence while exploring always immersed me more than any orchestral soundtrack could.

[@bookbagfox]

I have watched the 7 and 8 retrospectives so many times. Lets gooooo

[@misterkefir]

Damn, this was such a fantastic video. You're great at this. Now I will have to watch VII and 8, too. Cheers, man.

[@Doagatra]

I've played this game through many times, it's one of my favorites. It's nice to see this forgotten series getting some attention.

[@dungeonchill]

Everything you said about the atmosphere and gameplay, especially the combat, absolutely nailed how it feels to immerse yourself in this masterpiece. Excellent work!

[@solomani5959]

Out of all the Wizardry games this one most feels like a 1980s D&D campaign. Part fever dream, part creative genius with a touch of humor. And some technology.

[@R0omwithoutawindow]

oh my god yes.

[@GeminiJay654]

This was such a joy to watch and to feel awakened to the interest in this RPG, thank you!!

[@martinrios5743]

GREAT content man

[@booradley6832]

The Sea Serpent monsters are still frightening looking 30 years later. Probably the most unsettling of all of them to me.

[@BriteRory]

Just starting to watch now, so I'll update my comment afterwards, but had to say that seeing this video in my recommendations made my heart skip a beat! My God, I've watched your Wizardry 7 and 8 retrospective videos dozens of times now, NOBODY does these games justice at your level, Michael. Yourself and dfortae are my go-to Wizardry guys when I'm unable to play the games myself. One last thing real quick, just my personal opinions on these games, I consider Wizardry 7 to be basically the peak of turn-based blobber CRPGs not only of its time but of all time, however Wizardry 6 is only just shy of matching it for me. I've gone back and forth countless times over the decades as to which one I ultimately prefer, and remain conflicted about it. With 6 the EGA graphics are spectacular, the limited scope and dungeon palettes are constricting yet brilliantly claustrophobic and demented in the best way, the dungeon master narrative prose is just as good, etc. I suppose my preference between the two is basically down to my mood, similar to how I feel when considering whether I prefer Daggerfall or Morrowind, for instance. Anyway thank you so very much for making another Wizardry video that I have no doubt will be awesome, and take care! I love your work just so very much.

[@BenjaminSpencer-m1k]

Got this game free on some disk that came with a mag, it was actually one hell of a awesome game and kept my interets (at tgat age didficult to do) for a very long time.

[@nick_at_knight]

My man; thanks for this video, Michael. Your scripted videos are second to none.

[@davidwright1577]

Given how great of a dungeon master he was I'm guessing the wide variety of races from the Mystara D&D setting were an influence. Since they had at least cat and dog playable races in the 1980s

[@TheCrawl]

I’ve enjoyed the let’s play content, but hot damn it’s great to see you back with a meaty scripted deep-dive-and on Wizardry, no less! Great stuff.

[@anonimoalfin]

[ 50:19 ] Ah, those were the days! [ 1:43:15 ] Awesome writing, great stories, such a different world indeed! Superbly done retrospective, deep and poetic, nostalgic yet true. Actually just came to give you a Like (already subscribed since your awesome Wizardry 7 retrospective from years ago). I especially love how you truly appreciate and explain the deep mechanics, intentions and game-making ideals the Great Gamedev from the golden ages had in mind behind said mechanics, systems and game features. I, too, wish many of those ideals would come back. But they were brave dreamers. Anyhow, fantastic work. Much appreciated. P.S. [ 2:07:14 ] it's not only GoG and Steam doing a good job for game preservation, but mostly those few that, like you with these awesome deep retrospectives, keep the light in these dark times we live in. Hope you're doing well, Michael.

[@gregtaylor9806]

Another great review.

[@brianbrianbification]

Awesome review, interesting and clever as always.

[@mikesol1162]

Well that was fun. Would love to see you give the Might & Magic series a Retrospective look some day.

[@Damienx247]

I love how animated the enemies look when in comparison to rpg enemies from console games from the same era. Also, I've been suffering crashes from the Wizardry remake.

[@michaelsnow1]

Hopefully when the project is fully finished they can take care of the bugs/crashes

[@GS_CCC]

I would have taken more background colors over some animation frames.

[@PaganPilot]

Love how the Demons all look like they're all dancing at the Disco Inferno, just vibing a good time having hell of a time

[@THEFabianValenzuela]

I'm late but I want you to know you're one of the greatest youtubers I've ever seen

[@Grinnar]

Vancian magic is always interesting to me.

[@alexknudsen2759]

Love your videos Michael!

[@cord113]

There's been a lot of warm weather recently. In fact we haven't seen any sign of Snow for months. I wonder what happened...

[@michaelsnow1]

Working on Let's Plays for Temple of Elemental Evil and Arcanum

[@cord113]

@@michaelsnow1 Cool. I'll keep my cold weather gear on standby. :)

[@Rodrigo-fj7zj]

Your scripted content is the best thing on youtube

[@LezCharming]

Love your class analysis!

[@Garner2415]

FINALLY! A new soundtrack for my dreams!!!

[@jim3541]

Thanks for the time and effort you put into this. Your scripted videos are the best

[@joerister]

I believe Rawulfs being very pious might have some connection to cynocephalus mythos. Admittedly, I just very quickly glanced over the whole thing, but TL;DR is: people with dog heads, some saints were depicted as such, very cool. But maybe not, as I said, I didn't look too deep into it. Or maybe they just wanted dog people and the dice landed on piety boost.

[@deceiver444]

Suxh a well written and edited video.

[@Drprophetius]

Dude, awesome video, hope to see more, now I need to watch W7 again.

[@jackp492]

Your the man Micheal

[@theakh4238]

Wiz 6-8 are very good with Wiz 8 as a fantastic cap. The idea that you can import characters from 6 to 7 to 8 is a neat feature. Side note: I once had a party from Wiz 6-8 where all the characters had names that were from the Wiz 1-3 spell book.

[@USALeonHeart]

Does that mean that Tiltowait was your strongest party member?

[@windowsxpabuser]

Epic, hell yeah.

[@charlesdexterward7781]

The best crpg game retrospectives on KZbin. Should Wizardry 6 be taken seriously in comparison to, say, crumbling educational standards? No. If I'm watching a retrospective do I want it to be treated seriously by someone knowledgeable who at least likes the content without a hundred little "ain't this silly?" asides? Yes.

[@zpacula]

I'd say that if there a precursor of Kaijit, it'd be cat traders from Quest for glory. Meanwhile those in Wizardry are more akin to those of Larry Niven / Star Trek

[@WilfredBrimleyGaming]

Great review, love your longform content

[@MarieAntoon]

Regarding playable Cat races = the earliest I know of is the Rakasta in D&D 1st and 2nd edition. Introduced as an NPC class in 1st edition around 1981, the race was later converted to playable via Dragon Magazine, which I don't think was an official entry but I could be wrong. By 2nd edition, Rakasta had official rule set for playing them, even though they weren't considered part of the main common races. (Note: these are not to be confused with Rakshasa which are evil cat-like demons, that's a whole other kettle of kibble.) Rules and a figure were included in a 2nd edition basic heroes figure set which I had around 1991-92. I don't know if this helps but it's all the info I have.

[@michaelsnow1]

This helps a ton. Thank you!

[@Agrahim]

Somehow missed this one. Got the night off so gonna binge it now. Your videos are always so good, thank you!

[@Anyone00TZ]

Saint Christopher was commonly portrayed as a cynocephaly (a race of dog headed people that Europeans thought to exist during the classical through medieval eras). Mystara , the default setting for Basic D&D, had a moon filled with Japanese themed cat people.

[@josephbegley9148]

I actually played the Sega Saturn version of Bane (in Japanese). It was a little different in terms of game mechanics; for example, either the entire enemy party or your entire party attacks first in order, depending on the combat difficulty you chose. The Super Famicom version by contrast is much closer to the original while also fixing bugs and being more accessible, so it is the better console version in my opinion. Additionally, I thought that the Playstation version of Crusaders (in Japanese) was excellent as a standalone game. Most of the contents are exactly the same as the DOS version, except the game creators did make a few slight changes such as adding the Diamond Ring, Ring of Stars, Cameo Locket, and Fang which would be otherwise unobtainable (as there is no import option) through a well hidden chest in the Dane Tower and a hidden encounter with Bela.

[@marianounzue2016]

A most wonderful review! Here's a comment for your algorithm!

[@cord113]

"Queequeg" is a character from Moby Dick. The name turns up in several other video games including Deus Ex: Invisible War (it's the name of a coffee shop who's rival "Pequod" also gets it's name from Moby Dick) and Metal Gear Solid 5 (Queequeg and Pequod are two of the chopper pilot codenames). Just a random bit of trivia for you. :)

[@angrybitternerd1832]

Any plans on doing a retrospective on might and magic 6, 7 and 8?

[@BriteRory]

That would be awesome! Or the Xeen games, even.

[@vicchopin]

Oh gosh yes, YES!!!

[@benisrood]

Hi Michael, just a suggestion: do try to use fades or mixes between audio cuts.

[@cord113]

Yeah, I'm sure I'll get around to playing it one of these days...

[@cord113]

Do you think you'll ever cover Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land? I still consider that one of my all time favourite games and would like to see your thoughts on it.

[@BriteRory]

Is it that good? I've had it ready to go in my emulation library for years but haven't managed to get around to it yet, but if it is a great game I'll try to get to it soon. I definitely prefer the older games, including the old Apple ][ versions of the originals, but I like some of the later Eastern games too.

[@cord113]

I guess it's subjective, really. But I really enjoy it and still play it from time to time. It has good game play, great music and there's one part in the story (no spoilers) that actually moved me to tears. It was also the first Wizardy game I played, so I don't know how it would compare to the earlier ones for fans who played them first.@@BriteRory

[@angrybitternerd1832]

I kinda wish the wizardry series stuck around in the west for a bit longer. Wanted to see what else could be done with the weirdness and the added sci-fi elements. But at the same time I kinda wish some of the Japanese wizardry stuff got a bit more notoriety, like with the blade and bastard light novels

[@fmsyntheses]

I agree, but I really enjoy anime Wizardry. It's kind of my favorite way to enjoy the series. I think we can pretty much just play Wizardry 8 endlessly if we want the very best of 'Westardry'.

[@angrybitternerd1832]

The ova was really good. But the main problem with a lot of the Japanese wizardry games is that not a lot of them get translated in the west@@fmsyntheses

[@JerryListener]

The first walk through I ever wrote was about this game.

[@USALeonHeart]

Got a link?

[@kidocman]

This video is incredible. So much detail. QUESTION! what music did you play during the dwarf mines title card? Thanks!

[@michaelsnow1]

The music during the title cards is one of the tracks from the obscure Wizardry 6, 7 Complete game for the Sega Saturn. I tried finding it again but it may be one of the tracks I had to rip from the games files.

[@ivansukin721]

It would be extremely great to watch your reviews of the greatest Amiga-only RPGs: "Fate: Gates of Dawn" and "Perihelion"

[@michaelsnow1]

I've been interested in Perihelion for a long time but never played it. I want to try it out one day though. Fate: Gates of Dawn I hadn't heard of but looks pretty cool.

[@lawfulstupid3924]

As for the earliest Catman race in an rpg, if tabletop counts then the earliest I know of would be either the Rakshasa, though I don't personally count them as they're not a player race, or the Rakasta from the Mystara D&D setting. Funny enough, the ones from the invisible moon are also samurai. Because why wouldn't those things all be happening at once?

[@strayling1]

Happy memories. In answer to your question early on, I played the game completely unspoiled when it first came out ... with one exception. I blanked on how to use the Tinkerbell right near the end, and resorted to calling one of those telephone hint lines. The one and only time I ever did that.

[@lartensgrill6106]

Hey Michael, love your videos. Have you deleted your older ones where you listed top films by theme or genre, for example, most depressing? I can't seem to find them! Take care man!

[@michaelsnow1]

Thanks! I had to get rid of the really old ones because of copyright issues with KZbin.

[@vicchopin]

dude where are ya?!! eager for some news!!!

[@michaelsnow1]

I'm working on a Let's Play of The Temple of Elemental Evil

[@vicchopin]

@@michaelsnow1 Nice. Hey have you heard about the 2002 game "Enclave"? It got an hd release on consoles a year ago. Totally up your alley imho , dear Mike!! ciao

[@michaelsnow1]

@@vicchopin I do have that one. I played a few hours of it months ago and got my ass kicked in one of the levels, lol. I'm going to go back and try again when I can get around to it.

[@pendantblade6361]

Aww yeah gonna get the popcorn

[@ivansukin721]

Great review, great game, thank you! I always wanted to play 6-7-8 with the one party. Maybe, now is the time :)

[@cord113]

Watching this encouraged me to play Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls again, and well, it's certainly a video game... Random stat loss on level up, side quests that are grind-fests for multiple rare item drops, main quests that give you no idea where to go so you have to either look up a guid or search every square on the map... Yeah, it's not that good. The music is nice at least.

[@hypsin0]

You talk about the text parser being neglected, but with the advent of language models, I expect we shall all be seeing a lot more 'text parser' dialogue from here on out.

[@fishmix2439]

Out of 6 7 and 8, 6 is my favorite. :D

[@da12ofSpades]

Great video as usual!

[@kamineko7728]

ty for the video

[@georgemackay5735]

The River Styx and Swamp area are much more obtuse than the Empty Sack puzzle.

[@geoffchurchill5492]

dnd basic had the Rakasta as a feline race

[@doublestarships646]

There hasn't been a dark fantasy dungeon crawler Wizardry clone that quite matched the feeling of playing these games. There's been the Etrian Odyssey games, the other one that came out on the DS, and some indie titles from Japan like the Undernaughts game but they feel oddly not immersive that this genre should have evolved into.

[@BriteRory]

Grimoire is the closest I've ever found, as a successor to Wizardry 7 at least.

[@Malkasphia]

Hahahah , i love the krull reference at 45:18 ....such a great movie! Ergo the magnificient.....lmao

[@sanny87]

Friggin yuussss

[@maxmuller6730]

😁👍 cant wait to watch this.

[@GreySectoid]

Lets gooooo

[@Th3ba1r0n]

souls players and elden ring fans should give this game a shot. Just like "Dungeon Magic" you have to grind, think, and really conserve resources. It's a frustrating, cleverly-made game with so much awsome replayability.

[@johnisdead]

Oh fuck yes

[@shaftlamer]

This is basically rolemaster rpg 😂

[@benisrood]

12:06 oh god, it's an argonian

[@benisrood]

Quick, hide the silver.

[@benisrood]

12:40 no, no, no, not a tank... you can't till the fields and shear the wheat with one of those

[@geoffchurchill5492]

Dungeon Master had a cat man in the hall of heroes and a dog man and lizard man too for that matter

[@TikiCollection]

Does anyone know of a good guide? I picked the game up on Steam, but found it pretty impenetrable and I haven't been able to find a decent guide.

[@michaelsnow1]

I used this one. Its pretty good and has maps too. www.crimsontear.com/gaming/wizardry-6/walkthrough/

[@zenoblues7787]

Kinda a newbie to old Dungeon Crawlers bought the 3 in recent sale. Would you recommend release order or working backwards starting at 8?

[@michaelsnow1]

If you're uncomfortable with older dos-style games than start with 8 first and see how you like it.

[@infasis]

Was the pen ballpoint?, retractable?, gel?... what?... Good video but most people are going to be very unhappy that you would just leave that out. My advice would be to elaborate with a follow up video (or at least a pinned comment or something.)

[@oldgamehermit]

But... You're NOT able to target specific limbs and areas of the body in Wiz 6 like the intro claims.

[@Toshiro_Mifune]

The Sun bleeds....

[@MrSquareNeck]

Why cover 7 and 8 before 6!

[@Dropbearded]

Hearing how imaginative the Bradley games' races are is weird and pretty funny to me. If "human + animal" is peak imagination then that's just sad, especially since they don't seem to have any cultural quirks or anything else to distinguish them to speak of either. It's just catman or dogman or lizardman or (in Wizards & Warriors) elephantman or ratman. I guess those beat the bog-standard Tolkien ripoff elves and dwarves, but those are in the game too so..

[@Luckmann]

I may be touching a monkey paw here, given the AIDS-state of modern gaming, but I still wish there was a Wiz6-8 remake. I'd love to go through the entire trilogy as a single cohesive experience, likely based primarily in Wiz8.

[@cornucopiaofthings]

Great video except for where race preample into class Why did you use that section to gush over being a furry? Also pro tip: don't use the term catboy. There's only two groups that word is associated with, them being perverts and groypers, and while discerning between the two is a little redundant, I promise that you don't want to be either. Would've subbed if not for the furry weirdness, good video though