Re: The Passing of the Mad Overlord

On Mon, 2 Sep 2024 08:17:20 +0200, "Werner P." <werpu@gmx.at> wrote:

Am 01.09.24 um 20:16 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:

Were the Wizardry games actually/harder/ than "Bards Tale" or "Ultima
I"? Maybe not. Like I said, I'm not enough of an expert on those games
to really say. But my subjective experience was that they felt a lot
less forgiving.

Well Bards Tale was at least unfair (the first title) it let you choose
a party without a Bard and then you failed miserably without it in the
last dungeon before finish...
>
But I think Bards Tale sold well due to its visuals, it simply had the
best visuals for any RPG of its time back then. Wizardry until Bradley
took over the series always had dated graphics. They were fine when part
1 came out, but they kept the same engine without significant visual
improvements until including part 4. Part 5 was a bradley game renamed
to wizardry, Part 6 was the first real wizardry under Bradleys rule!
>
Btw. hardly an expert myself never played any of the Wizardries, but
thats what I gathered about those games on the net!
>
Btw Unlike Ultime which was killed by EA, Wizardry still lives, the
series just went to japan over various really obscure paths, and new
Wizardry games are developed there which now slowly make their way back
to the West!

Undeniably "Bards Tale" looked better. But it's not really a fair
comparison; the first three "Wizardry" games all came out _years_
before the first "Bards Tale" was released.

Of course, this defense breaks down with "Wizardry IV", which came out
in 1987 and still looked a lot like its 1981 predecessor ;-)


    [It's also quite subjective, but I also thought the
     visuals of the early "Ultimas" (contemporary with
     "Wizardry I-III") looked nicer. Sure, the dungeon
     graphics in "Ultima" were _a little_ more primitive,
     but the overworld was colorful and detailed.]


Still, Wizardry didn't /always/ have dated graphics. At one point, it
was quite advanced. But it definitely couldn't compete with later
games.

So I don't think Bards Tale won solely on its looks. Certainly they
helped. But the gameplay was solid -and arguably, was more accessible-
and I think that contributed too.


    [On a related note: the first game that /really/
     impressed me with its visuals? The one that made me
     stop and think, 'wow, this game has awesome artwork'?
     "Dragon Wars", released in 1989. Until then, all game
     visuals were quite workaday in my eyes; they got the
     idea across but still felt crude approximations. But
     "Dragon Wars" felt special; its visuals made it feel
     like a real world. Even though the gameplay really
     wasn't anything special, I have such fond memories
     of that game.]





A Timeline of some of the games discussed:

Game Initial Release
-------------------------------
Wizardry I (1981)
  Ultima I   (1981)
Wizardry II (1982)
  Ultima II  (1982)
Wizardry III (1983)
  Ultima III (1983)
Ultima IV (1985)
  Bards Tale I (late 1985)
Might & Magic I (1986)
  Bards Tale II (1986)
Bards Tale III (1988)
  Ultima V (1988)
Might & Magic II(1988)
  Dragon's Age (1989)