Re: The Passing of the Mad Overlord

On 8/31/2024 1:40 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

 Classic CRPG fans, take note of this sad day. Andrew C. Greenberg, one
of the two co-developers of "Wizardry", has passed on.
 I'll admit it; I never cared much for the Wizardry series. They were
too focused on the mechanical aspects of the RPG genre --the stats,
the loot, the combat-- and not enough on the bits I actually cared
for: story, world-building and characters. They often were ruthlessly
hard too; 'git-gud, scrub' games long before Dark Souls made that a
meme. I played games for entertainment, not challenge.
 But that the Wizardry games had a huge influence on the hobby is
undeniable, and the Wizardry games were some of the first complex
CRPGs to have any real success. They helped prove the medium was for
more than just shooting and jumping. And the Wizardry games were
complex, not only with huge (for its time) maps but multiple character
classes, dozens of spells and numerous character classes which could
radically change how your game played out.
 How much of Wizardry was Greenberg's influence over his co-creator's,
Robert Woodhead, is unclear. Greenberg left the PC entertainment
software in the late 80s, shortly after Wizardry IV's release. But he
remains part of the heart and soul of the games; after all, the
big-bad of the series, the Mad Overlord Werdna, is Andrew spelled
backwards...

It's odd I never got into the series.  I am more of a tactical mechanics combat lover in RPGs and it seems like it was right up my alley. Perhaps it was just lack of funds when Wizardry was in it's heyday, for now I don't have any nostalgia for it, and have mostly moved on from turn based combat.
--
-Justisaur
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