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{{quote|''[[Bilingual Bonus|CONTRA-DEXTRA AVENUE]]<br />
{{quote|''[[Bilingual Bonus|CONTRA-DEXTRA AVENUE]]
PS - [[Sdrawkcab Name|TREBOR]] SUX'' }}
PS - [[Sdrawkcab Name|TREBOR]] SUX'' }}


Wizardry is one of the very first computer [[RPG|RPGs]]. It was a hit in the early 1980s and spawned a trilogy, an infamously hard (and decidedly different) fourth title, a fifth that returned to the style of the original trilogy, and a final trilogy of fantasy/sci-fi hybrid games. They are:
''[[Wizardry]]'' is one of the very first computer [[RPG]]s. It was a hit in the early 1980's and spawned a trilogy, an infamously hard (and decidedly different) fourth title, a fifth that returned to the style of the original trilogy, and a final trilogy of fantasy/sci-fi hybrid games. They are:


* ''Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981)''
* ''Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981)''
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* ''Wizardry Online (2012)''
* ''Wizardry Online (2012)''


Spin-off games:
The titles, up to Wiz V (excluding Wiz IV), were immensely influential, and countless tropes established there are still common today. The remaining three games did away with the old engine, spell system and story, added a mix of sci-fi and insane gods to it, but retained the sense of wry humor, resulting in something with a different feel, but really enjoyable nevertheless.


* ''Wizardry Gaiden: Suffering of the Queen'' (Game Boy, 1991)
The Japanese loved Wizardry as well, and made over 20 sequels of their own, sadly most being [[No Export for You|only in Japan.]] ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' writer Yuji Horii states Wizardry was a big inspiration, and one of his earlier games "The PORTOPIA Serial Murder Case" had a direct shoutout in a maze section. There's even an [[Anime]] [[OAV]] based on the first game although it's somewhat dated.
* ''Wizardry Gaiden 2: Curse of the Ancient Emperor'' (Game Boy, 1992)
* ''Wizardry Gaiden 3: Scripture of the Dark'' (Game Boy, 1993)
* ''Wizardry Gaiden 4: Throb of the Demon's Heart'' (SNES, 1996)
* ''Wizardry Nemesis'' (Microsoft Windows, Sega Saturn, 1996)
* ''Wizardry: Dimguil'' (PlayStation, 2000)
* ''Wizardry Empire'' (Game Boy Color, 11/29/1999)
* ''Wizardry Empire: Ikoshie no Oujo'' (Playstation and PC, 12/28/2000)
* ''Wizardy Empire II: Fukkatsu no Tsue'' (Game Boy Color, 12/22/2002)
* ''Wizardry Empire II: Oujo no Isan'' (Playstation and PC, 11/17/2002)
* ''Wizardry Empire III: Haoh no Keifu'' (PlayStation 2 and PSP, 12/25/2003)
* ''Wizardry Chronicle'' (Microsoft Windows)
* ''Wizardry Summoner'' (Game Boy Advance, 2001)
* ''Busin: Wizardry Alternative''/''Wizardry: Tales of the Forsaken Land'' (in North America and Europe) (PlayStation 2, 2001)
* ''Busin 0: Wizardry Alternative Neo'' (PlayStation 2)
* ''Wizardry Traditional'' (Cellphone)
* ''Wizardry Traditional 2'' (Cellphone)
* ''Wizardry Xth Academy of Frontier'' (PlayStation 2, 2005)
* ''Wizardry Asterisk: Hiiro no Fuuin'' (Nintendo DS, 2005)
* ''Wizardry Gaiden: Prisoners of the Battles'' (PlayStation 2, 2005)
* ''Wizardry Summoner'' (PlayStation 2, 2005)
* ''Wizardry Xth2 UNLIMITED STUDENT'' (PlayStation 2, 2006)
* ''Wizardry Empire III: Haoh no Keifu'' (PSP, 2007)
* ''Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls'' (PSN, spring 2011)
* ''Wizardry: Wedge of Life'' (Nintendo DS, TBA)

The series are split in mechanics and setting to Llylgamyn Saga (''Wizardry I'' - ''Wizardry II'', ''Wizardry V'') and Dark Savant Saga (''Wizardry VI'' - ''Wizardry VIII''), with ''Wizardry IV'' separate.

The titles, up to ''Wizardry V'' (excluding ''Wizardry IV''), were immensely influential, and countless tropes established there are still common today. The remaining three games did away with the old engine, spell system and story, added a mix of sci-fi and insane gods to it, but retained the sense of wry humor, resulting in something with a different feel, but really enjoyable nevertheless.

The Japanese loved ''Wizardry'' as well, and made over 20 sequels of their own, sadly most being [[No Export for You|only in Japan]]. ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' writer Yuji Horii states ''Wizardry'' was a big inspiration, and one of his earlier games "The PORTOPIA Serial Murder Case" had a direct shoutout in a maze section. There's even an [[Anime]] [[OAV]] based on the first game although it's somewhat dated.


The first three games are very hard. The [[Big Bad]] can deal 100 damage to your party with one [[Total Party Kill|spell]], and your [[Squishy Wizard]] characters rarely get more than 60hp, so he can kill half your party in the first round of combat and the other half in the next. Random high level encounters can be similarly deadly. For instance, ninjas can kill party members instantly with a critical hit. Resurrection spells don't always work, and come a stat penalty when they do. Your mages have a limited supply of spells, especially early on, which can only be restored by returning to town at the top of the dungeon. [[Standard Status Effects]] are crippling and often deadly if you don't have the magic to cure them. The dungeons are confusing non-euclidean mazes with dark zones, antimagic zones, spinners, teleporters, and generally defy efforts to map out. And your characters can die of old age.
The first three games are very hard. The [[Big Bad]] can deal 100 damage to your party with one [[Total Party Kill|spell]], and your [[Squishy Wizard]] characters rarely get more than 60hp, so he can kill half your party in the first round of combat and the other half in the next. Random high level encounters can be similarly deadly. For instance, ninjas can kill party members instantly with a critical hit. Resurrection spells don't always work, and come a stat penalty when they do. Your mages have a limited supply of spells, especially early on, which can only be restored by returning to town at the top of the dungeon. [[Standard Status Effects]] are crippling and often deadly if you don't have the magic to cure them. The dungeons are confusing non-euclidean mazes with dark zones, antimagic zones, spinners, teleporters, and generally defy efforts to map out. And your characters can die of old age.


Some of the most recent Japanese sequels have been greenlit for a release, most prominently ''[[Wizardry Labyrinth of Lost Souls]]'', which will be released in the US on the Playstation 3 now that the the Playstation Network is no longer a molten pile of slag.
Some of the most recent Japanese sequels have been greenlit for a release, most prominently ''[[Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls]]'', which will be released in the US on the Playstation 3 now that the the Playstation Network is no longer a molten pile of slag.

A MMORPG has recently{{when}} been announced, ''Wizardry Online'', which will see a US release in 2012. Notable for being the first MMORPG with ''[[Final Death|permadeath]]'' as a central concept (despite the games having resurrection) -- [[Adaptation Decay]] is averted; the team involved is the same team that created the very faithful ''[[Class of Heroes]]'' and ''[[Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls]]'', and have flat out stated they're mostly working on adding multi-player to the existing games, with a stated goal of recapturing the early, lawless days of ''[[EverQuest]]'' and ''[[Ultima Online]]'' -- open PVP is also confirmed.


A MMORPG has recently been announced, ''[[Wizardry Online]]'', which will see a US release in 2012. Notable for being the first MMORPG with ''[[Final Death|permadeath]]'' as a central concept -- [[Adaptation Decay]] is averted; the team involved is the same team that created the very faithful ''[[Class of Heroes]]'' and ''[[Wizardry Labyrinth of Lost Souls]]'', and have flat out stated they're mostly working on adding multi-player to the existing games, with a stated goal of recapturing the early, lawless days of ''[[Ever Quest]]'' and ''[[Ultima Online]]'' -- open PVP is also confirmed.
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{{tropelist}}
=== The "original trilogy" plus the fifth title in this game series provide examples of: ===
== The Llylgamyn Saga ==
{{tropelist|tropes in games ''Wizardry I'', ''Wizardry II'', ''Wizardry III'', ''Wizardry V''}}
* [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]]: Only six members are allowed to a party.
* [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]]: Only six members are allowed to a party.
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: In Wiz I especially. Haman is ''easily'' the strongest offensive spell in the game, giving you the option of picking one of three effects (chosen out of a potential five), or in the original Apple II version, simply picking one of the five possible effects at random. The spell effects (which are guaranteed not to fail, regardless of the enemy) include offensive boons such as destroying/teleporting away every single enemy in the fight (including the final boss) while giving the party all the exp and treasure, silencing all enemies, or completely nullifying all enemy magic defense (no more seeing Greater Demons resist your Tiltowait spells). There's also Mahaman, which acts like a Haman spell with two additional defensive effects in the list for a total of seven, the best of which revives all your dead party members (even if they've been reduced to ashes) and heals your party to full health! The downside? You have to be at level 13 or higher for either Haman or Mahaman to work and you ''lose a level'' every time you cast one of them successfully. In order to use these insanely powerful spells, you basically have to be prepared to grind like crazy as every level above 12 is essentially a spell charge for them.
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: In ''Wizardry I'' especially. Haman is ''easily'' the strongest offensive spell in the game, giving you the option of picking one of three effects (chosen out of a potential five), or in the original Apple II version, simply picking one of the five possible effects at random. The spell effects (which are guaranteed not to fail, regardless of the enemy) include offensive boons such as destroying/teleporting away every single enemy in the fight (including the final boss) while giving the party all the exp and treasure, silencing all enemies, or completely nullifying all enemy magic defense (no more seeing Greater Demons resist your Tiltowait spells). There's also Mahaman, which acts like a Haman spell with two additional defensive effects in the list for a total of seven, the best of which revives all your dead party members (even if they've been reduced to ashes) and heals your party to full health! The downside? You have to be at level 13 or higher for either Haman or Mahaman to work and you ''lose a level'' every time you cast one of them successfully. In order to use these insanely powerful spells, you basically have to be prepared to grind like crazy as every level above 12 is essentially a spell charge for them.
* [[Bonus Level of Hell]]: In Wiz V. Contains a [[Bonus Boss]] with the best item drops in the game.
* [[Bonus Level of Hell]]: In ''Wizardry V''. Contains a [[Bonus Boss]] with the best item drops in the game.
* [[Character Alignment]]: [[In-Universe|in-game]]; on the good/evil axis. As explained in the first game's manual, a good PC helps an old lady across the street, a neutral PC crosses the street and helps an old lady across while doing so, an "evil" PC helps an old lady across the street for a fee, and [[Even Evil Has Standards|the evil they all oppose]] helps an old lady halfway across the street. It's actually more along the lines of law and chaos rather than good and evil.
* [[Character Alignment]]: [[In-Universe|in-game]]; on the good/evil axis. As explained in the first game's manual, a good PC helps an old lady across the street, a neutral PC crosses the street and helps an old lady across while doing so, an "evil" PC helps an old lady across the street for a fee, and [[Even Evil Has Standards|the evil they all oppose]] helps an old lady halfway across the street. It's actually more along the lines of law and chaos rather than good and evil.
* [[Character Level]]
* [[Character Level]]
* [[Classic Video Game Screw Yous]]: Teleporting into solid rock, either on your own accord or via a "Teleporter" trap in treasure chests, resulted in the [[Final Death|total loss]] of your party.
* [[Classic Video Game "Screw You"s]]: Teleporting into solid rock, either on your own accord or via a "Teleporter" trap in treasure chests, resulted in the [[Final Death|total loss]] of your party.
* [[Continuing Is Painful]]: Resurrecting fallen party members is expensive, permanently lowers their stats, and doesn't always work, resulting in [[Final Death]].
* [[Continuing Is Painful]]: Resurrecting fallen party members is expensive, permanently lowers their stats, and doesn't always work, resulting in [[Final Death]].
* [[Contractual Boss Immunity]]: Averted. The final boss of Wizardry 1 can be killed instantly by a ninja's random instant-death critical attack.
* [[Contractual Boss Immunity]]: Averted. The final boss of ''Wizardry I'' can be killed instantly by a ninja's random instant-death critical attack.
* [[Copy Protection]]: If you don't know the name of the spells, you can't cast them.
* [[Copy Protection]]: If you don't know the name of the spells, you can't cast them.
* [[Damn You, Muscle Memory!]]: Your characters are assigned a random number of stat points at creation, from 6 to 60. It's heavily weighted towards lower numbers. Many, ''many'' players over the decades have accidentally canceled the screen (re-rolling the numbers) right before consciously realizing they had a character with 30, 40 bonus points or more.
* [[Damn You, Muscle Memory!]]: Your characters are assigned a random number of stat points at creation, from 6 to 60. It's heavily weighted towards lower numbers. Many, ''many'' players over the decades have accidentally canceled the screen (re-rolling the numbers) right before consciously realizing they had a character with 30, 40 bonus points or more.
* [[Deader Than Dead]]: The "lost" status, given to characters that have failed Resurrection twice, or have ended up in some situation they can never recover from, such as teleporting into solid bedrock.
* [[Deader Than Dead]]: Being reduced to ashes, which happens on failed attempt at resurrection. And beyond the "ashes", "lost" status, given to characters that have failed Resurrection twice, or have ended up in some situation they can never recover from, such as teleporting into solid bedrock.
* [[Evil Sorcerer]]: Werdna
* [[Evil Sorcerer]]: Werdna.
* [[Guide Dang It]]: Especially in ''Wizardry V''. It's also combined with [[Viewers Are Geniuses]], as the clue to one particularly annoying puzzle happens to be written in Latin. "Contra Dextra Avenue" means, roughly {{spoiler|"Don't go right"}}.
* [[Guide Dang It]]: Especially in ''V''.
** It's also combined with [[Viewers Are Geniuses]], as the clue to one particularly annoying puzzle happens to be written in Latin. "Contra Dextra Avenue" means, roughly, {{spoiler|"Don't go right"}}.
* [[Hit Points]]
* [[Hit Points]]
* [[Katanas Are Just Better]]: As the Muramasa blade easily outclasses the best non-samurai weapons.
* [[Katanas Are Just Better]]: As the Muramasa blade easily outclasses the best non-samurai weapons.
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* [[The Maze]]: The entire game is one very large 3D maze, devoid of landmarks or even non-repeating textures, and is filled with plenty of nasty devices designed to make mapping the maze impossible like darkness, spinning tiles, teleporters, chutes and ladders, deathtraps, etc.
* [[The Maze]]: The entire game is one very large 3D maze, devoid of landmarks or even non-repeating textures, and is filled with plenty of nasty devices designed to make mapping the maze impossible like darkness, spinning tiles, teleporters, chutes and ladders, deathtraps, etc.
* [[Nintendo Hard]]: Though ''Wizardry'' predates Nintendo games by a few years.
* [[Nintendo Hard]]: Though ''Wizardry'' predates Nintendo games by a few years.
* [[Old Save Bonus]]:
* [[Old Save Bonus]]: Notable in that ''2'' and ''3'' are practically impossible if you *don't* import a party that successfully completed the previous game.
** Notable in that ''Wizardry II'' and ''Wizardry III'' are practically impossible if you *don't* import a party that successfully completed the previous game.
** At least some of the older computer versions ''required'' imported characters. On the other hand, some of the later releases allowed player to create new characters. Probably every version developed after Famicom/NES versions has this option. While Japanese releases of Famicom/NES versions support both created and imported (through additional peripheral released in Japan) characters, the import function was left out when NES versions were released in the West.
** At least some of the older computer versions ''required'' imported characters. On the other hand, some of the later releases allowed player to create new characters. Probably every version developed after Famicom/NES versions has this option. While Japanese releases of Famicom/NES versions support both created and imported (through additional peripheral released in Japan) characters, the import function was left out when NES versions were released in the West.
* [[Purely Aesthetic Gender]]:
* [[Purely Aesthetic Gender]]: The above description of character alignments adds that ''Wizardry'' is "an equal-opportunity universe where female adventurers are not only common, but have been known to help old men across the street!"
** The above description of character alignments adds that ''Wizardry'' is "an equal-opportunity universe where female adventurers are not only common, but have been known to help old men across the street!".
** And this little gem in the first manual, after noting that it uses male pronouns by default when referring to characters: "Wizardry is not a sexist game. English however is a sexist language."
** And this little gem in the first manual, after noting that it uses male pronouns by default when referring to characters: "''Wizardry'' is not a sexist game. English, however, is a sexist language."
* [[Sdrawkcab Name]]: The Evil Wizard Werdna and the Mad Overlord Trebor. Also [[Author Avatar]].
* [[Sdrawkcab Name]]: The Evil Wizard Werdna and the Mad Overlord Trebor. Also [[Author Avatar]].
* [[Standard Status Effects]]:
* [[Standard Status Effects]]: Possibly a [[Trope Maker]] and also unusual in that these are really, ''really'' bad - if your party leader gets poisoned or something, you're not standing right next to the dungeon exit, and you don't have a powerful priest handy to cure him, your leader is toast.
** Possibly a [[Trope Maker]] and also unusual in that these are really, ''really'' bad: if your party leader gets poisoned or something, you're not standing right next to the dungeon exit, and you don't have a powerful priest handy to cure him, your leader is toast.
** Equally unusual is that the Wizard's [[Standard Status Effects]] inducing spells are far more useful than most of their damage inflicting spells.
** Equally unusual is that the Wizard's [[Standard Status Effects]] inducing spells are far more useful than most of their damage inflicting spells; in particular, the sleep-inflicting Katino is by far the most useful first-level wizard spell, capable of incapacitating an entire enemy group in one action even late into the game.
* [[Total Party Kill]]: The dreaded Tiltowait and (to a lesser extent) Malikto spells. A number of enemies with magic resistance (like Greater Demons and the final boss in the first game) can resist these, though.
* [[Total Party Kill]]: The dreaded Tiltowait and (to a lesser extent) Malikto spells. A number of enemies with magic resistance (like Greater Demons and the final boss in the first game) can resist these, though.
* [[Useless Useful Spell]]: [[Averted Trope|Averted]] completely. Every spell is useful - traditional Useless Useful Spells being especially so.
* [[Useless Useful Spell]]: [[Averted Trope|Averted]] completely. Every spell is useful... traditional [[Useless Useful Spell]]s being especially so. Some monsters later on have magic resistance out the wazoo and will ignore uber-nuke spells like Tiltowait, but a few debuff spells like Morlis/Mamorlis bypass magic resistance and make nasties like Greater Demons a whole lot easier. You won't see many other console games where you're ever better off bypassing the Big Damn Nuke in favor of a fear spell.
** Some monsters later on have magic resistance out the wazoo and will ignore uber-nuke spells like Tiltowait, but a few debuff spells like Morlis/Mamorlis bypass magic resistance and make nasties like Greater Demons a whole lot easier. You won't see many other console games where you're ever better off bypassing the Big Damn Nuke in favor of a fear spell.
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== ''Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna'' ==
''Wizardry IV'' is in an entirely separate class from the four other games. You play as the villain, and the rules are turned upside down, as you now must rely on summoned monsters to escort you *up* through the dungeon, while being constantly assaulted by powerful parties of heroes.
''Wizardry IV'' is in an entirely separate class from the four other games. You play as the villain, and the rules are turned upside down, as you now must rely on summoned monsters to escort you *up* through the dungeon, while being constantly assaulted by powerful parties of heroes.


This game is so hard it makes the first three look easy. At least in those, you could [[Level Grind]] to improve your odds of surviving. Not here - the evil wizard Werdna is your only character, and you only level up at 9 specific plot points throughout the game. Your only allies are the monsters you summon, who cannot be directly controlled, never level up, and are [[Final Death|gone forever]] when killed in battle. As a mage, Werdna has little HP, so if you run out of monsters, one hit can kill him. (Fortunately, you can summon replacement monsters for free at any pentagram, so your mini-horde of monsters essentially doubles as your HP.)
This game is so hard, it makes the first three look easy. At least in those, you could [[Level Grind]] to improve your odds of surviving. Not here: the evil wizard Werdna is your only character, and you only level up at 9 specific plot points throughout the game. Your only allies are the monsters you summon, who cannot be directly controlled, never level up, and are [[Final Death|gone forever]] when killed in battle. As a mage, Werdna has little HP, so if you run out of monsters, one hit can kill him (fortunately, you can summon replacement monsters for free at any pentagram, so your mini-horde of monsters essentially doubles as your HP).


Your magical abilities are quite powerful at the highest level, but each of your 9 circles of power may only be used nine times, and no more - you must treat each spell as if it were one of your 9 [[Too Awesome to Use|last drops of water in a desert that goes on forever]].
Your magical abilities are quite powerful at the highest level, but each of your 9 circles of power may only be used nine times, and no more: you must treat each spell as if it were one of your 9 [[Too Awesome to Use|last drops of water in a desert that goes on forever]].


Since you're a villain, your adversaries are heroes - the same variety of heroes who slaughtered hordes of monsters in the first three games - the same variety of monsters that are your only allies now. Ninja heroes will still kill you instantly on a critical hit, mages will destroy your whole team with one powerful spell, fighters will hit 16 times per round, each strike enough to kill you once, thieves will steal your [[Plot Coupon|items]] you need to finish the game, and when you've killed them, clerics will bring them back to life. And since there are no experience points, there's no reward for defeating these heroes. In a nutshell, to play Wizardry IV is to play as a party of generic random encounter monsters against the party of heroes.
Since you're a villain, your adversaries are heroes - the same variety of heroes who slaughtered hordes of monsters in the first three games - the same variety of monsters that are your only allies now. Ninja heroes will still kill you instantly on a critical hit, mages will destroy your whole team with one powerful spell, fighters will hit 16 times per round, each strike enough to kill you once, thieves will steal your [[Plot Coupon|items]] you need to finish the game, and when you've killed them, clerics will bring them back to life. And since there are no experience points, there's no reward for defeating these heroes. In a nutshell, to play ''Wizardry IV'' is to play as a party of generic random encounter monsters against the party of heroes.


{{tropelist|tropes in game ''Wizardry IV''}}
=== The fourth game has examples of: ===
* [[Guide Dang It]]. Big time. Most players won't make it out of the first room without help.
* [[Guide Dang It]]: Big time. Most players won't make it out of the first room without help.
* [[Level Grinding]]: Averted as you now only level up at specific plot points. There are no experience points or any other tangible reward for winning battles against heroes.
* [[Level Grinding]]: Averted as you now only level up at specific plot points. There are no experience points or any other tangible reward for winning battles against heroes.
* [[The Many Deaths of You]]: There are lots and lots of ways to die in this game, death by hero notwithstanding. Basically, even by the standards of a [[Nintendo Hard]] series like this, ''Wizardry IV'' was infamously difficult, to the point where it's only been remade once, and only in a Japan-exclusive game for the Playstation 1 that included the Japan-only version of ''Wizardry IV''. For those masochistic enough to try it, it's mostly in English as well.
* [[Nintendo Hard]]: Doesn't do this justice. You face ninjas who can kill you instantly, mages who happily blow away your entire army with a single spell, thieves who will steal [[Plot Coupon]] items and disappear with them forever, and have little for defense but a small Mook army (the same Mooks that are expendable in the other games) and a finite book of spells.
** All while being chased by an evil specter through confusing and unmappable non-euclidean mazes and having to solve fiendishly hard puzzles that render the game Unwinnable if you make the slightest mistake. While being killed by heroes. Did we mention that said specter can [[Beyond the Impossible|walk through walls, stalks you relentlessly, and kills you instantly and automatically if it catches up to you]]? Also, you can save anywhere, which sounds great... but loading a save causes every hero group on the level to respawn. Generally, between you and the magic circle you need to heal and re-summon monsters. Which means that the game can easily become unwinnable as a result of you ''saving your game''.
* [[Nintendo Hard]]: Doesn't do this justice. You face ninjas who can kill you instantly, mages who happily blow away your entire army with a single spell, thieves who will steal [[Plot Coupon]] items and disappear with them forever, and have little for defense but a small [[Mook]] army (the same [[Mooks]] that are expendable in the other games) and a finite book of spells. All while being chased by an evil specter through confusing and unmappable non-euclidean mazes and having to solve fiendishly hard puzzles that render the game [[Unwinnable]] if you make the slightest mistake. While being killed by heroes. Did we mention that said specter can [[Beyond the Impossible|walk through walls, stalks you relentlessly, and kills you instantly and automatically if it catches up to you]]? Also, you can save anywhere, which sounds great... but loading a save causes every hero group on the level to respawn. Generally, between you and the magic circle you need to heal and re-summon monsters. Which means that the game can easily become unwinnable as a result of you ''saving your game''.
** [[The Many Deaths of You]]: There are lots and lots of ways to die in this game, death by hero notwithstanding.
* [[Not Completely Useless]]: There is only one monster Lord Hawkwind is afraid of...
* [[Not Completely Useless]]: There is only one monster Lord Hawkwind is afraid of...
* [[Platform Hell]]: Of sorts.
* [[Platform Hell]]: Of sorts.


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=== The Dark Savant Trilogy (''VI'', ''VII'', ''8'') has notable examples of: ===
== The Dark Savant Trilogy ==
{{tropelist|tropes in games ''Wizardry VI'', ''Wizardry VII'', ''Wizardry 8''}}
* [[Anticlimax Boss]]: The Dark Savant is a deeply underwhelming final battle for the trilogy.
* [[Almost-Dead Guy]]: Jan-Ette. In the unfinished part, Shaman Dias.
* [[Amazing Technicolor Battlefield]]: As part of the [[Final Boss, New Dimension]].
* [[Bag of Spilling]]: Explained with long space voyages and crashing spaceships. Or the greediness of your hosts.
* [[Bag of Spilling]]: Explained with long space voyages and crashing spaceships. Or the greediness of your hosts.
* [[Barefoot Cartoon Animals]]: Several examples, but the Trynnie from Wizardry 8 definitely count.
* [[Barefoot Cartoon Animal]]s: Several examples, but the Trynnie from ''Wizardry 8'' definitely count.
* [[Big Boo's Haunt]]: The Isle of the Dead in ''6'' and Isle of Crypts in ''7''. The Sea Caves in ''8'' are a borderline example, with lots of crabs mixed in with the undead.
* [[Big Boo's Haunt]]: The Isle of the Dead in ''Wizardry VI'' and Isle of Crypts in ''Wizardry VII''. The Sea Caves in ''Wizardry 8'' are a borderline example, with lots of crabs mixed in with the undead.
* [[Bonus Boss]]: The Chamber of Gorrors in ''Crusaders'', containing six bosses ranging from surprisingly easy (in fact the very first boss you fought) to two [[That One Boss|incredibly difficult]], all with [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]].
* [[Bonus Boss]]: The Chamber of Gorrors in ''Crusaders of the Dark Savant'', containing six bosses ranging from surprisingly easy (in fact the very first boss you fought) to two [[That One Boss|incredibly difficult]], all with [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]].
* [[Bubblegloop Swamp]]: ''6'' and ''8'' both have swamp areas.
* [[Bubblegloop Swamp]]: ''Wizardry VI'' and ''Wizardry 8'' both have swamp areas.
* [[Build Like an Egyptian]]: The Amazulu Temple in ''Wizardry VI''.
** [[Swamps Are Evil]]: The swamp in ''8'' is home to some of the more evil enemies in the game.
* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Umpani are spacefaring militaristic [[Petting Zoo People|rhino men]]: rough, reliable and loving uniforms and primitive firearms... similar to the hippo-like [[Spelljammer|Giff]].
* [[Build Like an Egyptian]]: The Amazulu Temple in ''6''.
* [[Catfolk]]: The Felpurr race, with excellent stats across the board, make particularly good thief classes. And look like good Bards, but that's when you learn the downside of having low Stamina (though Bard is so useful that they are still viable).
* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Umpani are spacefaring militaristic [[Petting Zoo People|rhino men]] -- rough, reliable and loving uniforms and primitive firearms... similar to the hippo-like [[Spelljammer|Giff]].
* [[The Chosen One]]:
* [[Catfolk]]: The Felpurr race, with excellent stats across the board, make particularly good thief classes.
* [[The Chosen One]]: The party in ''8'' is revealed to be the "Third Messengers", which are the ones who will recover the Destinae Dominus from Marten's Tomb. All knowledge is contained in the Destinae Dominus, but it requires the helm of serenity to safely wield, lest the party learn all there is to know too soon go insane. The first and second messengers are the Dark Savant and the Mook, which wield the Astral Dominae and the Chaos Moliri, respectively. All three macguffins are needed to win the game.
** The party in ''Wizardry 8'' is revealed to be the "Third Messengers", which are the ones who will recover the Destinae Dominus from Marten's Tomb. All knowledge is contained in the Destinae Dominus, but it requires the helm of serenity to safely wield, lest the party learn all there is to know too soon go insane. The first and second messengers are the Dark Savant and the [[Mook]], which wield the Astral Dominae and the Chaos Moliri, respectively. All three macguffins are needed to win the game.
** The Trynnie believe they are chosen to inherit the planet when the Ascension happens and the Higardi believe they were destined to ascend and become "Cosmic Lords" (gods) themselves... which really just means they get to go the the Cosmic Circle and write in the book of destiny.
** The Trynnie believe they are chosen to inherit the planet when the Ascension happens and the Higardi believe they were destined to ascend and become "Cosmic Lords" (gods) themselves... which really just means they get to go the the Cosmic Circle and write in the book of destiny.
* [[Cosmic Keystone]]: The Cosmic Forge.
* [[Cosmic Keystone]]:
** The Cosmic Forge.
** The Astral Dominae, Destinae Dominus, and Chaos Moliri (''8'').
** The Astral Dominae, Destinae Dominus, and Chaos Moliri (''Wizardry 8'').
* [[Damsel in Distress]]: Vi Domina in ''8'' although she fights back against her captors and can join your party as a formidable fighter. Nevertheless, she still needs to be saved.
* [[Damsel in Distress]]: Vi Domina in ''Wizardry 8'' although she fights back against her captors and can join your party as a formidable fighter. Nevertheless, she still needs to be saved.
* [[Dead Man's Chest]]
* [[Dead Man's Chest]]: In ''Wizardry VII'', there's a chest with someone's remnants and personal possessions. Players may also learn the cause of death... ones too careless to learn Identify spell may learn this by demonstration.
* [[Death Mountain]]: Giant Mountain in ''6'', the Witch Mountains in ''7'', and Ascension Peak in ''8''.
* [[Death Mountain]]: Giant Mountain in ''Wizardry VI'', the Witch Mountains in ''Wizardry VII'', and Ascension Peak in ''Wizardry 8''.
* [[Demonic Spiders]]: Potentially any monster in enough numbers or if you're unlucky, but some enemies really take the cake.
* [[Demonic Spiders]]: Potentially any monster in enough numbers or if you're unlucky, but some enemies really take the cake.
* [[Divine Parentage]]: The child of a party character and Al-Sedexus in ''8''.
* [[Divine Parentage]]: The child of a party character and Al-Sedexus in ''Wizardry 8''.
* [[Down the Drain]]: The seafaring sections of 7 feature very tedious battles, while the underwater sections of 8 are irritating due to some very nasty residents, including [[That One Boss|Nessie]].
* [[Down the Drain]]: The seafaring sections of ''Wizardry VII'' feature very tedious battles, while the underwater sections of ''Wizardry 8'' are irritating due to some very nasty residents, including [[That One Boss|Nessie]].
* [[Dummied Out]]: A lot. ''Wizardry 8'' game has lots of unused items, item images without items and traces of the whole plot lines scripted halfway, such as the ones involving Trynton slaughtered by the Rapax (and [[Almost-Dead Guy|wounded shaman dying before your eyes]]) and "Bela powder" (did the old chum bite it too, or what?).
* [[Elaborate Underground Base]]: In ''8'', the Umpani set up shop in a mountain honeycombed with caves, while the T'Rang expand existing underground catacombs beneath an abandoned castle.
* [[Elaborate Underground Base]]: In ''Wizardry 8'', the Umpani set up shop in a mountain honeycombed with caves, while the T'Rang expand existing underground catacombs beneath an abandoned castle.
* [[Elite Mooks]]: Later variations in enemy groups, often graduating to [[Goddamned Bats]], if not [[Demonic Spiders]].
* [[Enemy Mine]]: The T'Rang and Umpani allying in ''Wizardry 8'', if you complete the necessary quest.
* [[Enemy Mine]]: The T'Rang and Umpani allying in ''Wizardry 8'', if you complete the necessary quest.
* [[Evil Is Hammy]]: And ''how!'' The Dark Savant has really turned it into an art form.
* [[Evil Is Hammy]]: And ''how!'' The Dark Savant has really turned it into an art form.
* [[Gameplay Ally Immortality]]: [[Averted Trope|Averted]] in the eighth game, which can result in an [[Unwinnable]] situation if you are really unlucky.
* [[Gameplay Ally Immortality]]: [[Averted Trope|Averted]] in the eighth game, which can result in an [[Unwinnable]] situation if you are really unlucky. Also, this means you may want to time mass buff spells just right (e.g. after you summon elemental, but before it ran off).
* [[The Faceless]]: The Dark Savant.
* [[The Faceless]]: The Dark Savant.
* [[Final Boss New Dimension]]: The final battle with the Dark Savant takes place in the Cosmic Circle.
* [[Final Boss, New Dimension]]: The final battle with the Dark Savant takes place in the Cosmic Circle.
* [[Final Death]]: Iron man mode in ''Wizardry 8''.
** [[Amazing Technicolor Battlefield]]: As part of the above.
* [[Five-Finger Discount]]: Used by name to describe the Trynnie's thieving skills in ''Wizardry 8''. One of them steals a tracking module from a spaceport that is needed to solve a optional puzzle later on in the game, and another sells stolen merchandise in an abandoned monastery.
* [[Final Death]]: Iron man mode in ''8''.
* [[Fluffy the Terrible]]: *S P O T*.
* [[Five-Finger Discount]]: Used by name to describe the Trynnie's thieving skills in ''8''. One of them steals a tracking module from a spaceport that is needed to solve a optional puzzle later on in the game, and another sells stolen merchandise in an abandoned monastery.
* [[Game Favored Gender]]: Female characters get -2 Strength, +1 Personality and Karma: worse for melee, but better for psionics and divine magic. Interestingly, females get access to a number of useful pieces of armor and accessories that males do not, and have access to the gender-specific Valkyrie class. The only advantage males have is having a slightly easier time rolling stats for some of the classes, and that advantage pretty much disappears after a class change, or when playing ''Wizardry 8''. Women still get plenty of unique equipment in ''Wizardry 8''. The sorceress' locket, for one, allows stamina regeneration (which is underwhelming for spellcaster classes, but a great advantage for Bards and Gadgeteers) very early in the game.
* [[Fluffy the Terrible]]: *S P O T*
* [[Guide Dang It]]: Mostly in ''Wizardry VII'', in or around the Isle of Crypts.
* [[Game Favored Gender]]: Female characters get -2 Strength, +1 Personality and Karma: worse for melee, but better for psionics and divine magic. Interestingly, females get access to a number of useful pieces of armor and accessories that males do not, and have access to the gender-specific Valkyrie class. The only advantage males have is having a slightly easier time rolling stats for some of the classes, and that advantage pretty much disappears after a class change, or when playing ''Wizardry 8''.
* [[Hidden Elf Village]]: The City of Sky in ''Wizardry VII''. Slightly subverted in that they're there to protect an artifact, and go chasing after the [[Big Bad]] when he steals said artifact.
** Women still get plenty of unique equipment in ''Wizardry 8''.
* [[Guide Dang It]]: Mostly in ''VII'', in or around the Isle of Crypts.
* [[Hobbits]]: Straight ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' style, down to the name.
* [[Homosexual Reproduction]]: The above happens even if you had an all-female party, and so Al-Sedexus took a woman instead.
* [[Hidden Elf Village]]: The City of Sky in 7. Slightly subverted in that they're there to protect an artifact, and go chasing after the [[Big Bad]] when he steals said artifact.
* [[Horned Humanoid]]: Rapax and some demons in ''Wizardry 8''.
* [[Hobbits]]: Straight ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' style, down to the name.
* [[Human Aliens]]: The Higardi, though the manual says they're highly spiritual (but that doesn't account for the staggering amount of bandits in the population...).
* [[Horned Humanoid]]: Rapax and some demons in ''8''.
* [[Human Aliens]]: The Higardi, though the manual says they're highly spiritual. (But that doesn't account for the staggering amount of bandits in the population...)
* [[Inescapable Ambush]]: the characters are just musing about the perfect suitability of road for these types of attack, when suddenly...
* [[Inescapable Ambush]]: the characters are just musing about the perfect suitability of road for these types of attack, when suddenly...
* [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: The *Light* *Sword*. (Written just like that.)
* [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: The *Light* *Sword* (written just like that).
* [[Izchaks Wrath]]: Shopkeepers in ''8'' don't like if you try to sell back their own items. In fact they have special dialogue just for this occasion.
* [[Izchaks Wrath]]: Shopkeepers in ''Wizardry 8'' don't like if you try to sell back their own items. In fact, they have special dialogue just for this occasion.
* [[Killer Rabbit]]: Faeries are horribly lethal in ''6'' and ''8''.
* [[Killer Rabbit]]: Faeries are horribly lethal in ''Wizardry VI'' and ''Wizardry 8''. Some of which may be [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Faerie ninjas]].
** Some of which may be [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Faerie ninjas]].
* [[King Mook]]: Several of them, most notably the king crab and gregor in the monastery. The former is a giant crab and the latter is a giant roach; smaller versions of each creature infest the monastery.
* [[King Mook]]: Several of them, most notably the king crab and gregor in the monastery. The former is a giant crab and the latter is a giant roach; smaller versions of each creature infest the monastery.
* [[Knight Templar]]: Subverted somewhat ''8''. While there are literal templar rapax in the game, there is no serious indication that they think they are serving the cause of righteousness, only that they are serving the will of their goddess Al-Sedexus.
* [[Knight Templar]]: Subverted somewhat ''Wizardry 8''. While there are literal templar rapax in the game, there is no serious indication that they think they are serving the cause of righteousness, only that they are serving the will of their goddess Al-Sedexus.
* [[Large Ham]]: The voice actor for The Dark Savant in ''8''.
* [[Large Ham]]: The voice actor for The Dark Savant in ''Wizardry 8''.
* [[Lethal Lava Land]]: The Rapax Rift in ''8''.
* [[Lethal Lava Land]]: The Rapax Rift in ''Wizardry 8''.
* [[Level Up At Intimacy 5|Level Down at Intimacy 5]]: Overlapping with [[Horny Devils]].
* [[Level Up At Intimacy 5|Level Down at Intimacy 5]]: Overlapping with [[Horny Devils]].
* [[Lizard Folk]]: The Lizardmen race, and the Dracons have a draconic flavoring.
* [[Lizard Folk]]: The Lizardmen race, and the Dracons have a draconic flavoring. The Gorn look lizard-like.
* [[Lock and Key Puzzle]]: You do have the Phoenix egg / Bone comb and brushes / King's Diary with you, don't you?
* [[Lock and Key Puzzle]]: You do have the Phoenix egg / Bone comb and brushes / King's Diary with you, don't you?
* [[The Lost Woods]]: Any wilderness area in ''7'' aside from the mountains.
* [[The Lost Woods]]: Any wilderness area in ''Wizardry VII'' aside from the mountains.
* [[Ludicrous Gibs]] In ''8''.
* [[Ludicrous Gibs]] In ''Wizardry 8''.
* [[The Maze]]: The 3D labyrinth Hall of Past in seven certainly qualifies. Also the Rattkin Funhouse, Rapax Castle (especially the King's Apartments), and pretty much every other dungeon area in all three games.
* [[The Maze]]: The 3D labyrinth Hall of Past in seven certainly qualifies. Also the Rattkin Funhouse, Rapax Castle (especially the King's Apartments), and pretty much every other dungeon area in all three games.
* [[Mecha-Mooks]]: Savant minions, Battle Droids in the final dungeon of ''Wizardry VII''.
* [[Mono-Gender Monsters]]: All Dane, Munk, Gorn, and Rattkin (until Wizardry 8) you meet are male, while the Helazoid are a specifically all-female race thanks to advanced technology.
* [[Mono-Gender Monsters]]:
** And all the Higardi raiders/bandits/cutthroats/etc in ''8''.
** All Dane, Munk, Gorn and Rattkin (until ''Wizardry 8'') you meet are male, while the Helazoid are a specifically all-female race thanks to advanced technology.
*** Although the Higardi roustabouts look a bit different from the other rogues.
** All the Higardi raiders/bandits/cutthroats/etc in ''Wizardry 8''.
** Although the Higardi roustabouts look a bit different from the other rogues.
* [[Mooks]]: There are multiple enemy types that increase in power and abilities of their members as you advance through the games.
* [[Mooks]]: There are multiple enemy types that increase in power and abilities of their members as you advance through the games.
* [[More Dakka]]: The gadgeteer's omnigun in ''Wizardry 8'' will provide the ability to send increasing amounts of bullets [[Abnormal Ammo|or what have you]] downrange at your foes. Also, you can build doubleshot and tripleshot crossbow.
** [[Elite Mooks]]: Later variations in enemy groups, often graduating to [[Goddamned Bats]], if not [[Demonic Spiders]].
* [[Multiple Endings]]: Resulting in an [[Old Save Bonus]]. There is one exception: {{spoiler|if you [[Hostage for McGuffin|choose the Astral Dominae over Vi Domina]]}} during the endgame of ''Crusaders of the Dark Savant'', you can't import to ''Wizardry 8''. [[Total Party Kill|But it isn't that surprising...]]
** [[Mecha-Mooks]]: Savant minions, Battle Droids in the final dungeon of VII.
** [[Night of the Living Mooks]]: Undead of varying kinds are a staple of the games.
* [[Night of the Living Mooks]]: Undead of varying kinds are a staple of the games.
* [[Nonhumans Lack Attributes]]: Surprisingly averted in ''Wizardry 8'' game. Sprites appear as entirely naked flying women with butterfly wings, a demoness fights your party while topless and carrying a whip, and a recruitable female character (Private Sparkle) wears nothing but a pair of pants. It should be noted that in this last case, Sparkle can be given more clothes and there isn't much to see on her chest, due to her white fur. The fact that she sounds like a saccharine seven year old while wielding a small hand axe and spouting military slogans ("duty! power! victory!") and having a propensity for petty thievery (a common trait among her species in the game) is a bit disconcerting.
** [[Superpowered Mooks]]: As you reach higher tiers of mook types, most of them will develop special abilities if they didn't have any before.
* [[Nonstandard Game Over]]: If you act as a complete idiot with the [[Big Bad]] of ''Bane of the Cosmic Forge'', the game rules you [[Too Dumb to Live]] and opens a [[Bottomless Pit|pit]] under you for [[Total Party Kill]]. The creators even include a [[Have a Nice Death|short explanation]] and a clue: 'take a look at the box'. {{spoiler|Yeah, you had to type in the name of the game or a variation of it}}.
* [[More Dakka]]: The gadgeteer's omnigun in ''8'' will provide the ability to send increasing amounts of bullets [[Abnormal Ammo|or what have you]] downrange at your foes.
* [[Noob Cave]]: The Bane Castle in ''Wizardry VI'' and Monastery in ''Wizardry 8''. ''Wizardry VII'' goes one better and only refers to its example as "The Starter Dungeon".
* [[Multiple Endings]]: Resulting in an [[Old Save Bonus]]. There is one exception: {{spoiler|if you [[Hostage for McGuffin|choose the Astral Dominae over Vi Domina]]}} during the endgame of ''Crusaders'', you can't import to ''Wizardry 8''. [[Total Party Kill|But it isn't that surprising...]]
* [[Nonhumans Lack Attributes]]: Surprisingly averted. Sprites appear as entirely naked flying women with butterfly wings, a demoness fights your party while topless and carrying a whip, and a recruitable female character (Private Sparkle) wears nothing but a pair of pants. It should be noted that in this last case, Sparkle can be given more clothes and there isn't much to see on her chest, due to her white fur. The fact that she sounds like a saccharine seven year old while wielding a small hand axe and spouting semi-fascist military slogans (duty! power! victory!) while having a propensity for petty thievery (a common trait among her species in the game) is a bit disconcerting.
* [[Nonstandard Game Over]]: If you act as a complete idiot with the [[Big Bad]] of ''Bane of the Cosmic Forge'', the game rules you [[Too Dumb to Live]] and opens a [[Bottomless Pit|pit]] under you for [[Total Party Kill]]. The creators even include a [[Have a Nice Death|short explanation]] and a clue: 'take a look at the box'. {{spoiler|Yeah, you had to type in the name of the game or a variation of it.}}
* [[Noob Cave]]: The Bane Castle in ''6'' and Monastery in ''8''. ''7'' goes one better and only refers to its example as "The Starter Dungeon".
* [[Offing the Offspring]]: If someone in the party slept with Al-Sedexus in ''Wizardry 8'', their pissed-off demonic daughter shows up at Ascension Peak with the Rapax Prince to attack.
* [[Offing the Offspring]]: If someone in the party slept with Al-Sedexus in ''Wizardry 8'', their pissed-off demonic daughter shows up at Ascension Peak with the Rapax Prince to attack.
* [[Old Save Bonus]]: Characters could be imported from any of the previous games [[Multiple Endings|non-bad endings]] to the next one, keeping some really useful items and alliances (although [[Bag of Spilling]] was used harshly between seven and eight, it was averted for items between six and seven: you could begin ''Crusaders of the Dark Savant'' with the Muramasa Blade and multiple Rod of Sprites). You could save even at the end of ''Wizardry 8'', although a sequel is [[Author Existence Failure|highly unlikely]] and {{spoiler|the characters are gods}}.
** [[Homosexual Reproduction]]: The above happens even if you had an all-female party, and so Al-Sedexus took a woman instead.
* [[Old Save Bonus]]: Characters could be imported from any of the previous games [[Multiple Endings|non-bad endings]] to the next one, keeping some really useful items and alliances. (Although [[Bag of Spilling]] was used harshly between seven and eight, it was averted for items between six and seven: you could begin ''Crusaders'' with the Muramasa Blade and multiple Rod of Sprites.) You could save even at the end of 8, although a sequel is [[Author Existence Failure|highly unlikely]] and {{spoiler|the characters are gods}}.
* [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]]: Wizardry dwarves are par for the course, though they also make good priests.
* [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]]: Wizardry dwarves are par for the course, though they also make good priests.
* [[Our Elves Are Different]]: The player race of elves are said to be easygoing, friendly, and excellent mages.
* [[Our Elves Are Different]]: The player race of elves are said to be easygoing, friendly, and excellent mages.
* [[Our Orcs Are Different]]: The Gorn are militant, xenophobic - and happen to live right between two mortal enemies...
* [[Our Orcs Are Different]]: The Gorn are militant, xenophobic... and happen to live right between two mortal enemies...
* [[Our Werewolves Are Different]]: The Rawulf race (not literal werewolves, but possessing all the qualities to LOOK like them) are kind, have high piety and make AWESOME healer classes.
* [[Our Werewolves Are Different]]: The Rawulf race (not literal werewolves, but possessing all the qualities to LOOK like them) are kind, have high piety and make AWESOME healer classes.
* [[Palmtree Panic]]: Bayjin, the resident [[Scrappy Level]] of ''8''.
* [[Palmtree Panic]]: Bayjin, the resident [[Scrappy Level]] of ''Wizardry 8''.
* [[Petting Zoo People]]: The Rapax and Trynnie in ''8'', and the Rawulf, Felpurr, and possibly T'rang and Umpani. The Mook might be a borderline case.
* [[Petting Zoo People]]: Rawulf, Felpurr, Umpani, Rattkin and possibly T'rang, plus the Rapax and Trynnie in ''Wizardry 8''. The [[Mook]] might be a borderline case.
* [[Reality Writing Book]]: The Cosmic Forge. Anything written in it will become true, albeit often not as the writer expects. If written pages are torn out, history itself will be [[Ret Conned]].
* [[Reality Writing Book]]: The Cosmic Forge. Anything written in it will become true, albeit often not as the writer expects. If written pages are torn out, history itself will be [[Ret Conned]].
* [[Rewriting Reality]]: The Cosmic Forge allows this. However to prevent it from being used for evil, if not used while in the Cosmic Circle, [[Jackass Genie|it will interpret the writing in a way the writer will deeply regret.]]
* [[Rewriting Reality]]: The Cosmic Forge allows this. However to prevent it from being used for evil, if not used while in the Cosmic Circle, [[Jackass Genie|it will interpret the writing in a way the writer will deeply regret]].
* [[Shout-Out]]:
* [[Shout-Out]]: A recurrent enemy in ''7'' is the [[Urusei Yatsura|Demented Munk(sic)]].
** ''[[Thundarr the Barbarian]]'' after a nod in first game, [http://www.zimlab.com/wizardry/ that's where Mook came from in ''Wizardry VI''-''Wizardry 8'']. [[Mooks]] are hairier than Ookla, but ''that'' may be in turn a shout out to ''[[Star Wars]]'' and Chewbacca?
* [[The Smurfette Principle]]: Private Sparkle is the only female Trynnie in Wizardry 8, and she isn't even found living with the rest of her kind, as she left Trynton to get help from the Umpani. Strongly averted with the many female Higardi and Rapax.
** A common type of enemy in ''Wizardry VI'' is the [[Urusei Yatsura|Demented Munk(sic)]].
** ''[[Star Trek]]'' - Phaser Bolts, green somewhat reptile-like humanoids called [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Gorn Gorn].
** ''[[Star Wars]]'', what's with the [[Laser Blade|*Light* *Sword*]] - of [[Weapon of X-Slaying|android slaying]].
** Umpani look rather close to Judoon from ''[[Doctor Who]]'', though act more like the disciplined, but gung-ho Giff from ''[[Spelljammer]]'' rather than borderline [[Lawful Stupid]].
* [[The Smurfette Principle]]: Private Sparkle is the only female Trynnie in ''Wizardry 8'', and she isn't even found living with the rest of her kind, as she left Trynton to get help from the Umpani. Strongly averted with the many female Higardi and Rapax.
* [[Superpowered Mooks]]: As you reach higher tiers of mook types, most of them will develop special abilities if they didn't have any before.
* [[Swamps Are Evil]]: The swamp in ''Wizardry 8'' is home to some of the more evil enemies in the game.
* [[Temple of Doom]]: The Isle of Crypts. Justified in that it was ''designed'' to protect the object resting at the bottom.
* [[Temple of Doom]]: The Isle of Crypts. Justified in that it was ''designed'' to protect the object resting at the bottom.
* [[Tree-Top Town]]: Rattkin Ruins in ''Wizardry VII''; Trynton in ''Wizardry 8''
* [[Tree-Top Town]]: Rattkin Ruins in ''Wizardry VII''; Trynton in ''Wizardry 8''.
* [[Tomes of Prophecy and Fate]]: The Cosmic Forge and Tome of Fate.
* [[Tomes of Prophecy and Fate]]: The Cosmic Forge and Tome of Fate.
* {{spoiler|[[Trick Boss]]: You might notice something is wrong, as there are two of him if you play on Expert.}}
* {{spoiler|[[Trick Boss]]: You might notice something is wrong, as there are two of him if you play on Expert}}.
* [[Underground Level]]: The Mines in ''6'', and the various caves in ''7''.
* [[Underground Level]]: The Mines in ''Wizardry VI'', and the various caves in ''Wizardry VII''.
* [[Under the Sea]]: ''Wizardry 8'' finally takes the party beneath the waves with Umpani-issue scuba gear. Watch out for sea monsters.
* [[Under the Sea]]: ''Wizardry 8'' finally takes the party beneath the waves with Umpani-issue scuba gear. Watch out for sea monsters.
* [[Unusable Enemy Equipment]]: You have probably fought at least a hundred Rattkin Leaders with Vorpal blades until you actually find one. And then it is a letdown.
* [[Unusable Enemy Equipment]]: And when it is, it's not the same equipment. Attack names and drop contents are completely separate. So you have probably fought at least a hundred Rattkin Leaders with Vorpal blades until you actually find one. And then it is a letdown. Same for T'Rang weapons: you may get T'Rangs' ultimate loot (Shock Rod 25%, Stun Rod 5% - and even then it does Plyze 20% Drain 75% instead of their Plyze 50% Drain 25% or Plyze 65% Drain 35%) from Elders, as well as Assassins or NPCs who whipped you with Psi Rod, others drop T'Rangs' basic loot (5% of Shock Rod), including Watcher (with Stun Rod) or Tecnik (who just shot you with Phaser Bolts)... except that one Tecnik who drops Mystery Ray instead.
* [[Useless Useful Spell]]:
* [[Useless Useful Spell]]: Averted again, every spell is useful if you know where to use it. For example the hardest monsters could be killed by [[Critical Hit|critical hits]] easily if you cast one of the seemingly less useful spell at them a couple of times.
** Averted again, every spell is useful if you know where to use it. For example the hardest monsters could be killed by [[Critical Hit|critical hits]] easily if you cast one of the seemingly less useful spell at them a couple of times.
* [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]]: The Temple of Ramm in ''6'' and Isle of Crypts in ''7''. ''8'' oddly doesn't really have one, with Ascension Peak standing in for a final dungeon.
** In ''Wizardry 8'', you can get a taste of it early on: after you meet [[Giant Spider|Gregor]] and make a mistake of ''not'' running from him right away and as far as you can, it's very satisfying to try again with 5-6 level party and start with debuffing the living poo out of him. It takes surprisingly little to turn a ludicrously deadly monster into a fat punching bag, the main problem is that the bug keeps running away when afraid or blind. Then there are those shrieker bats, that are very hard to hit on low levels, but fairly easy to mop up with spells, if you have enough.
* [[When Trees Attack]]: Wood spirits look like humanoid trees in ''8''.
* [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]]: The Temple of Ramm in ''Wizardry VI'' and Isle of Crypts in ''Wizardry VII''. ''Wizardry 8'' oddly doesn't really have one, with Ascension Peak standing in for a final dungeon.
* [[World of Buxom]]: Pretty much all of the females in Wizardry 8, including Vi Domina and just about all other human women (including the purple-robed cultists), Al-Sedexus, the female Rapax, the female Trynnie Sparkle (large for her small size, at least), and many statues of humanoid females. Even the giant breeder rats technically count as this.
* [[When Trees Attack]]: "Man o' Groves" in ''Wizardry VII'', and Wood spirits in ''Wizardry 8'' look like humanoid trees.
* [[World of Buxom]]: Pretty much all of the females in ''Wizardry 8'', including Vi Domina and just about all other human women (including the purple-robed cultists), Al-Sedexus, the female Rapax, the female Trynnie Sparkle (large for her small size, at least), and many statues of humanoid females. Even the giant breeder rats technically count as this.
----
----

=== The OAV provides examples of: ===
== Spin-offs ==
* [[An Arm and a Leg]]: The hero gets his arm cut off

* [[Bishounen]]: Werdna's attendant vampire lord
=== The OAV ===
* [[Cast From Hit Points]]: The old sage's method of casting
{{tropelist|The OAV provides examples of:}}
* [[Evil Weapon]]: The Muramasa
* [[An Arm and a Leg]]: The hero gets his arm cut off.
* [[Bishounen]]: Werdna's attendant vampire lord.
* [[Cast from Hit Points]]: The old sage's method of casting.
* [[Evil Weapon]]: The Muramasa.
* [[Load-Bearing Boss]]: [[Subverted]]: although Werdna's death causes the dungeon to shake around a lot, the heroes wait it out and then calmly walk outside.
* [[Load-Bearing Boss]]: [[Subverted]]: although Werdna's death causes the dungeon to shake around a lot, the heroes wait it out and then calmly walk outside.
* [[Mercy Kill]]: Done to Randy
* [[Mercy Kill]]: Done to Randy.


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[[Category:Amiga]]
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[[Category:Apple II]]
[[Category:Action RPG]]
[[Category:Commodore 64]]
[[Category:Wizardry]]
[[Category:Microsoft Windows]]
[[Category:Video Game]]
[[Category:PC-88]]
[[Category:PC-98]]
[[Category:Sega Saturn]]

Latest revision as of 01:08, 29 January 2024

CONTRA-DEXTRA AVENUE
 PS - TREBOR SUX

Wizardry is one of the very first computer RPGs. It was a hit in the early 1980's and spawned a trilogy, an infamously hard (and decidedly different) fourth title, a fifth that returned to the style of the original trilogy, and a final trilogy of fantasy/sci-fi hybrid games. They are:

  • Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981)
  • Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds (1982)
  • Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn (1983)
  • Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna (1986)
  • Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom (1988)
  • Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge (1990)
  • Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (1992)
  • Wizardry 8 (2001)
  • Wizardry Online (2012)

Spin-off games:

  • Wizardry Gaiden: Suffering of the Queen (Game Boy, 1991)
  • Wizardry Gaiden 2: Curse of the Ancient Emperor (Game Boy, 1992)
  • Wizardry Gaiden 3: Scripture of the Dark (Game Boy, 1993)
  • Wizardry Gaiden 4: Throb of the Demon's Heart (SNES, 1996)
  • Wizardry Nemesis (Microsoft Windows, Sega Saturn, 1996)
  • Wizardry: Dimguil (PlayStation, 2000)
  • Wizardry Empire (Game Boy Color, 11/29/1999)
  • Wizardry Empire: Ikoshie no Oujo (Playstation and PC, 12/28/2000)
  • Wizardy Empire II: Fukkatsu no Tsue (Game Boy Color, 12/22/2002)
  • Wizardry Empire II: Oujo no Isan (Playstation and PC, 11/17/2002)
  • Wizardry Empire III: Haoh no Keifu (PlayStation 2 and PSP, 12/25/2003)
  • Wizardry Chronicle (Microsoft Windows)
  • Wizardry Summoner (Game Boy Advance, 2001)
  • Busin: Wizardry Alternative/Wizardry: Tales of the Forsaken Land (in North America and Europe) (PlayStation 2, 2001)
  • Busin 0: Wizardry Alternative Neo (PlayStation 2)
  • Wizardry Traditional (Cellphone)
  • Wizardry Traditional 2 (Cellphone)
  • Wizardry Xth Academy of Frontier (PlayStation 2, 2005)
  • Wizardry Asterisk: Hiiro no Fuuin (Nintendo DS, 2005)
  • Wizardry Gaiden: Prisoners of the Battles (PlayStation 2, 2005)
  • Wizardry Summoner (PlayStation 2, 2005)
  • Wizardry Xth2 UNLIMITED STUDENT (PlayStation 2, 2006)
  • Wizardry Empire III: Haoh no Keifu (PSP, 2007)
  • Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls (PSN, spring 2011)
  • Wizardry: Wedge of Life (Nintendo DS, TBA)

The series are split in mechanics and setting to Llylgamyn Saga (Wizardry I - Wizardry II, Wizardry V) and Dark Savant Saga (Wizardry VI - Wizardry VIII), with Wizardry IV separate.

The titles, up to Wizardry V (excluding Wizardry IV), were immensely influential, and countless tropes established there are still common today. The remaining three games did away with the old engine, spell system and story, added a mix of sci-fi and insane gods to it, but retained the sense of wry humor, resulting in something with a different feel, but really enjoyable nevertheless.

The Japanese loved Wizardry as well, and made over 20 sequels of their own, sadly most being only in Japan. Dragon Quest writer Yuji Horii states Wizardry was a big inspiration, and one of his earlier games "The PORTOPIA Serial Murder Case" had a direct shoutout in a maze section. There's even an Anime OAV based on the first game although it's somewhat dated.

The first three games are very hard. The Big Bad can deal 100 damage to your party with one spell, and your Squishy Wizard characters rarely get more than 60hp, so he can kill half your party in the first round of combat and the other half in the next. Random high level encounters can be similarly deadly. For instance, ninjas can kill party members instantly with a critical hit. Resurrection spells don't always work, and come a stat penalty when they do. Your mages have a limited supply of spells, especially early on, which can only be restored by returning to town at the top of the dungeon. Standard Status Effects are crippling and often deadly if you don't have the magic to cure them. The dungeons are confusing non-euclidean mazes with dark zones, antimagic zones, spinners, teleporters, and generally defy efforts to map out. And your characters can die of old age.

Some of the most recent Japanese sequels have been greenlit for a release, most prominently Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls, which will be released in the US on the Playstation 3 now that the the Playstation Network is no longer a molten pile of slag.

A MMORPG has recently[when?] been announced, Wizardry Online, which will see a US release in 2012. Notable for being the first MMORPG with permadeath as a central concept (despite the games having resurrection) -- Adaptation Decay is averted; the team involved is the same team that created the very faithful Class of Heroes and Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls, and have flat out stated they're mostly working on adding multi-player to the existing games, with a stated goal of recapturing the early, lawless days of EverQuest and Ultima Online -- open PVP is also confirmed.

Tropes used in Wizardry include:

The Llylgamyn Saga

tropes in games Wizardry I, Wizardry II, Wizardry III, Wizardry V
  • Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Only six members are allowed to a party.
  • Awesome but Impractical: In Wizardry I especially. Haman is easily the strongest offensive spell in the game, giving you the option of picking one of three effects (chosen out of a potential five), or in the original Apple II version, simply picking one of the five possible effects at random. The spell effects (which are guaranteed not to fail, regardless of the enemy) include offensive boons such as destroying/teleporting away every single enemy in the fight (including the final boss) while giving the party all the exp and treasure, silencing all enemies, or completely nullifying all enemy magic defense (no more seeing Greater Demons resist your Tiltowait spells). There's also Mahaman, which acts like a Haman spell with two additional defensive effects in the list for a total of seven, the best of which revives all your dead party members (even if they've been reduced to ashes) and heals your party to full health! The downside? You have to be at level 13 or higher for either Haman or Mahaman to work and you lose a level every time you cast one of them successfully. In order to use these insanely powerful spells, you basically have to be prepared to grind like crazy as every level above 12 is essentially a spell charge for them.
  • Bonus Level of Hell: In Wizardry V. Contains a Bonus Boss with the best item drops in the game.
  • Character Alignment: in-game; on the good/evil axis. As explained in the first game's manual, a good PC helps an old lady across the street, a neutral PC crosses the street and helps an old lady across while doing so, an "evil" PC helps an old lady across the street for a fee, and the evil they all oppose helps an old lady halfway across the street. It's actually more along the lines of law and chaos rather than good and evil.
  • Character Level
  • Classic Video Game "Screw You"s: Teleporting into solid rock, either on your own accord or via a "Teleporter" trap in treasure chests, resulted in the total loss of your party.
  • Continuing Is Painful: Resurrecting fallen party members is expensive, permanently lowers their stats, and doesn't always work, resulting in Final Death.
  • Contractual Boss Immunity: Averted. The final boss of Wizardry I can be killed instantly by a ninja's random instant-death critical attack.
  • Copy Protection: If you don't know the name of the spells, you can't cast them.
  • Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Your characters are assigned a random number of stat points at creation, from 6 to 60. It's heavily weighted towards lower numbers. Many, many players over the decades have accidentally canceled the screen (re-rolling the numbers) right before consciously realizing they had a character with 30, 40 bonus points or more.
  • Deader Than Dead: Being reduced to ashes, which happens on failed attempt at resurrection. And beyond the "ashes", "lost" status, given to characters that have failed Resurrection twice, or have ended up in some situation they can never recover from, such as teleporting into solid bedrock.
  • Evil Sorcerer: Werdna.
  • Guide Dang It: Especially in Wizardry V. It's also combined with Viewers Are Geniuses, as the clue to one particularly annoying puzzle happens to be written in Latin. "Contra Dextra Avenue" means, roughly "Don't go right".
  • Hit Points
  • Katanas Are Just Better: As the Muramasa blade easily outclasses the best non-samurai weapons.
  • Level Grinding: Lots of it. It's made worse by the presence of the extremely useful Haman and Mahaman spells, both of which drain a level permanently as part of the price of casting them.
  • The Maze: The entire game is one very large 3D maze, devoid of landmarks or even non-repeating textures, and is filled with plenty of nasty devices designed to make mapping the maze impossible like darkness, spinning tiles, teleporters, chutes and ladders, deathtraps, etc.
  • Nintendo Hard: Though Wizardry predates Nintendo games by a few years.
  • Old Save Bonus:
    • Notable in that Wizardry II and Wizardry III are practically impossible if you *don't* import a party that successfully completed the previous game.
    • At least some of the older computer versions required imported characters. On the other hand, some of the later releases allowed player to create new characters. Probably every version developed after Famicom/NES versions has this option. While Japanese releases of Famicom/NES versions support both created and imported (through additional peripheral released in Japan) characters, the import function was left out when NES versions were released in the West.
  • Purely Aesthetic Gender:
    • The above description of character alignments adds that Wizardry is "an equal-opportunity universe where female adventurers are not only common, but have been known to help old men across the street!".
    • And this little gem in the first manual, after noting that it uses male pronouns by default when referring to characters: "Wizardry is not a sexist game. English, however, is a sexist language."
  • Sdrawkcab Name: The Evil Wizard Werdna and the Mad Overlord Trebor. Also Author Avatar.
  • Standard Status Effects:
    • Possibly a Trope Maker and also unusual in that these are really, really bad: if your party leader gets poisoned or something, you're not standing right next to the dungeon exit, and you don't have a powerful priest handy to cure him, your leader is toast.
    • Equally unusual is that the Wizard's Standard Status Effects inducing spells are far more useful than most of their damage inflicting spells; in particular, the sleep-inflicting Katino is by far the most useful first-level wizard spell, capable of incapacitating an entire enemy group in one action even late into the game.
  • Total Party Kill: The dreaded Tiltowait and (to a lesser extent) Malikto spells. A number of enemies with magic resistance (like Greater Demons and the final boss in the first game) can resist these, though.
  • Useless Useful Spell: Averted completely. Every spell is useful... traditional Useless Useful Spells being especially so. Some monsters later on have magic resistance out the wazoo and will ignore uber-nuke spells like Tiltowait, but a few debuff spells like Morlis/Mamorlis bypass magic resistance and make nasties like Greater Demons a whole lot easier. You won't see many other console games where you're ever better off bypassing the Big Damn Nuke in favor of a fear spell.

Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna

Wizardry IV is in an entirely separate class from the four other games. You play as the villain, and the rules are turned upside down, as you now must rely on summoned monsters to escort you *up* through the dungeon, while being constantly assaulted by powerful parties of heroes.

This game is so hard, it makes the first three look easy. At least in those, you could Level Grind to improve your odds of surviving. Not here: the evil wizard Werdna is your only character, and you only level up at 9 specific plot points throughout the game. Your only allies are the monsters you summon, who cannot be directly controlled, never level up, and are gone forever when killed in battle. As a mage, Werdna has little HP, so if you run out of monsters, one hit can kill him (fortunately, you can summon replacement monsters for free at any pentagram, so your mini-horde of monsters essentially doubles as your HP).

Your magical abilities are quite powerful at the highest level, but each of your 9 circles of power may only be used nine times, and no more: you must treat each spell as if it were one of your 9 last drops of water in a desert that goes on forever.

Since you're a villain, your adversaries are heroes - the same variety of heroes who slaughtered hordes of monsters in the first three games - the same variety of monsters that are your only allies now. Ninja heroes will still kill you instantly on a critical hit, mages will destroy your whole team with one powerful spell, fighters will hit 16 times per round, each strike enough to kill you once, thieves will steal your items you need to finish the game, and when you've killed them, clerics will bring them back to life. And since there are no experience points, there's no reward for defeating these heroes. In a nutshell, to play Wizardry IV is to play as a party of generic random encounter monsters against the party of heroes.

tropes in game Wizardry IV
  • Guide Dang It: Big time. Most players won't make it out of the first room without help.
  • Level Grinding: Averted as you now only level up at specific plot points. There are no experience points or any other tangible reward for winning battles against heroes.
  • The Many Deaths of You: There are lots and lots of ways to die in this game, death by hero notwithstanding. Basically, even by the standards of a Nintendo Hard series like this, Wizardry IV was infamously difficult, to the point where it's only been remade once, and only in a Japan-exclusive game for the Playstation 1 that included the Japan-only version of Wizardry IV. For those masochistic enough to try it, it's mostly in English as well.
  • Nintendo Hard: Doesn't do this justice. You face ninjas who can kill you instantly, mages who happily blow away your entire army with a single spell, thieves who will steal Plot Coupon items and disappear with them forever, and have little for defense but a small Mook army (the same Mooks that are expendable in the other games) and a finite book of spells. All while being chased by an evil specter through confusing and unmappable non-euclidean mazes and having to solve fiendishly hard puzzles that render the game Unwinnable if you make the slightest mistake. While being killed by heroes. Did we mention that said specter can walk through walls, stalks you relentlessly, and kills you instantly and automatically if it catches up to you? Also, you can save anywhere, which sounds great... but loading a save causes every hero group on the level to respawn. Generally, between you and the magic circle you need to heal and re-summon monsters. Which means that the game can easily become unwinnable as a result of you saving your game.
  • Not Completely Useless: There is only one monster Lord Hawkwind is afraid of...
  • Platform Hell: Of sorts.

The Dark Savant Trilogy

tropes in games Wizardry VI, Wizardry VII, Wizardry 8
  • Almost-Dead Guy: Jan-Ette. In the unfinished part, Shaman Dias.
  • Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: As part of the Final Boss, New Dimension.
  • Bag of Spilling: Explained with long space voyages and crashing spaceships. Or the greediness of your hosts.
  • Barefoot Cartoon Animals: Several examples, but the Trynnie from Wizardry 8 definitely count.
  • Big Boo's Haunt: The Isle of the Dead in Wizardry VI and Isle of Crypts in Wizardry VII. The Sea Caves in Wizardry 8 are a borderline example, with lots of crabs mixed in with the undead.
  • Bonus Boss: The Chamber of Gorrors in Crusaders of the Dark Savant, containing six bosses ranging from surprisingly easy (in fact the very first boss you fought) to two incredibly difficult, all with Names to Run Away From Really Fast.
  • Bubblegloop Swamp: Wizardry VI and Wizardry 8 both have swamp areas.
  • Build Like an Egyptian: The Amazulu Temple in Wizardry VI.
  • Captain Ersatz: Umpani are spacefaring militaristic rhino men: rough, reliable and loving uniforms and primitive firearms... similar to the hippo-like Giff.
  • Catfolk: The Felpurr race, with excellent stats across the board, make particularly good thief classes. And look like good Bards, but that's when you learn the downside of having low Stamina (though Bard is so useful that they are still viable).
  • The Chosen One:
    • The party in Wizardry 8 is revealed to be the "Third Messengers", which are the ones who will recover the Destinae Dominus from Marten's Tomb. All knowledge is contained in the Destinae Dominus, but it requires the helm of serenity to safely wield, lest the party learn all there is to know too soon go insane. The first and second messengers are the Dark Savant and the Mook, which wield the Astral Dominae and the Chaos Moliri, respectively. All three macguffins are needed to win the game.
    • The Trynnie believe they are chosen to inherit the planet when the Ascension happens and the Higardi believe they were destined to ascend and become "Cosmic Lords" (gods) themselves... which really just means they get to go the the Cosmic Circle and write in the book of destiny.
  • Cosmic Keystone:
    • The Cosmic Forge.
    • The Astral Dominae, Destinae Dominus, and Chaos Moliri (Wizardry 8).
  • Damsel in Distress: Vi Domina in Wizardry 8 although she fights back against her captors and can join your party as a formidable fighter. Nevertheless, she still needs to be saved.
  • Dead Man's Chest: In Wizardry VII, there's a chest with someone's remnants and personal possessions. Players may also learn the cause of death... ones too careless to learn Identify spell may learn this by demonstration.
  • Death Mountain: Giant Mountain in Wizardry VI, the Witch Mountains in Wizardry VII, and Ascension Peak in Wizardry 8.
  • Demonic Spiders: Potentially any monster in enough numbers or if you're unlucky, but some enemies really take the cake.
  • Divine Parentage: The child of a party character and Al-Sedexus in Wizardry 8.
  • Down the Drain: The seafaring sections of Wizardry VII feature very tedious battles, while the underwater sections of Wizardry 8 are irritating due to some very nasty residents, including Nessie.
  • Dummied Out: A lot. Wizardry 8 game has lots of unused items, item images without items and traces of the whole plot lines scripted halfway, such as the ones involving Trynton slaughtered by the Rapax (and wounded shaman dying before your eyes) and "Bela powder" (did the old chum bite it too, or what?).
  • Elaborate Underground Base: In Wizardry 8, the Umpani set up shop in a mountain honeycombed with caves, while the T'Rang expand existing underground catacombs beneath an abandoned castle.
  • Elite Mooks: Later variations in enemy groups, often graduating to Goddamned Bats, if not Demonic Spiders.
  • Enemy Mine: The T'Rang and Umpani allying in Wizardry 8, if you complete the necessary quest.
  • Evil Is Hammy: And how! The Dark Savant has really turned it into an art form.
  • Gameplay Ally Immortality: Averted in the eighth game, which can result in an Unwinnable situation if you are really unlucky. Also, this means you may want to time mass buff spells just right (e.g. after you summon elemental, but before it ran off).
  • The Faceless: The Dark Savant.
  • Final Boss, New Dimension: The final battle with the Dark Savant takes place in the Cosmic Circle.
  • Final Death: Iron man mode in Wizardry 8.
  • Five-Finger Discount: Used by name to describe the Trynnie's thieving skills in Wizardry 8. One of them steals a tracking module from a spaceport that is needed to solve a optional puzzle later on in the game, and another sells stolen merchandise in an abandoned monastery.
  • Fluffy the Terrible: *S P O T*.
  • Game Favored Gender: Female characters get -2 Strength, +1 Personality and Karma: worse for melee, but better for psionics and divine magic. Interestingly, females get access to a number of useful pieces of armor and accessories that males do not, and have access to the gender-specific Valkyrie class. The only advantage males have is having a slightly easier time rolling stats for some of the classes, and that advantage pretty much disappears after a class change, or when playing Wizardry 8. Women still get plenty of unique equipment in Wizardry 8. The sorceress' locket, for one, allows stamina regeneration (which is underwhelming for spellcaster classes, but a great advantage for Bards and Gadgeteers) very early in the game.
  • Guide Dang It: Mostly in Wizardry VII, in or around the Isle of Crypts.
  • Hidden Elf Village: The City of Sky in Wizardry VII. Slightly subverted in that they're there to protect an artifact, and go chasing after the Big Bad when he steals said artifact.
  • Hobbits: Straight The Lord of the Rings style, down to the name.
  • Homosexual Reproduction: The above happens even if you had an all-female party, and so Al-Sedexus took a woman instead.
  • Horned Humanoid: Rapax and some demons in Wizardry 8.
  • Human Aliens: The Higardi, though the manual says they're highly spiritual (but that doesn't account for the staggering amount of bandits in the population...).
  • Inescapable Ambush: the characters are just musing about the perfect suitability of road for these types of attack, when suddenly...
  • Infinity+1 Sword: The *Light* *Sword* (written just like that).
  • Izchaks Wrath: Shopkeepers in Wizardry 8 don't like if you try to sell back their own items. In fact, they have special dialogue just for this occasion.
  • Killer Rabbit: Faeries are horribly lethal in Wizardry VI and Wizardry 8. Some of which may be Faerie ninjas.
  • King Mook: Several of them, most notably the king crab and gregor in the monastery. The former is a giant crab and the latter is a giant roach; smaller versions of each creature infest the monastery.
  • Knight Templar: Subverted somewhat Wizardry 8. While there are literal templar rapax in the game, there is no serious indication that they think they are serving the cause of righteousness, only that they are serving the will of their goddess Al-Sedexus.
  • Large Ham: The voice actor for The Dark Savant in Wizardry 8.
  • Lethal Lava Land: The Rapax Rift in Wizardry 8.
  • Level Down at Intimacy 5: Overlapping with Horny Devils.
  • Lizard Folk: The Lizardmen race, and the Dracons have a draconic flavoring. The Gorn look lizard-like.
  • Lock and Key Puzzle: You do have the Phoenix egg / Bone comb and brushes / King's Diary with you, don't you?
  • The Lost Woods: Any wilderness area in Wizardry VII aside from the mountains.
  • Ludicrous Gibs In Wizardry 8.
  • The Maze: The 3D labyrinth Hall of Past in seven certainly qualifies. Also the Rattkin Funhouse, Rapax Castle (especially the King's Apartments), and pretty much every other dungeon area in all three games.
  • Mecha-Mooks: Savant minions, Battle Droids in the final dungeon of Wizardry VII.
  • Mono-Gender Monsters:
    • All Dane, Munk, Gorn and Rattkin (until Wizardry 8) you meet are male, while the Helazoid are a specifically all-female race thanks to advanced technology.
    • All the Higardi raiders/bandits/cutthroats/etc in Wizardry 8.
    • Although the Higardi roustabouts look a bit different from the other rogues.
  • Mooks: There are multiple enemy types that increase in power and abilities of their members as you advance through the games.
  • More Dakka: The gadgeteer's omnigun in Wizardry 8 will provide the ability to send increasing amounts of bullets or what have you downrange at your foes. Also, you can build doubleshot and tripleshot crossbow.
  • Multiple Endings: Resulting in an Old Save Bonus. There is one exception: if you choose the Astral Dominae over Vi Domina during the endgame of Crusaders of the Dark Savant, you can't import to Wizardry 8. But it isn't that surprising...
  • Night of the Living Mooks: Undead of varying kinds are a staple of the games.
  • Nonhumans Lack Attributes: Surprisingly averted in Wizardry 8 game. Sprites appear as entirely naked flying women with butterfly wings, a demoness fights your party while topless and carrying a whip, and a recruitable female character (Private Sparkle) wears nothing but a pair of pants. It should be noted that in this last case, Sparkle can be given more clothes and there isn't much to see on her chest, due to her white fur. The fact that she sounds like a saccharine seven year old while wielding a small hand axe and spouting military slogans ("duty! power! victory!") and having a propensity for petty thievery (a common trait among her species in the game) is a bit disconcerting.
  • Nonstandard Game Over: If you act as a complete idiot with the Big Bad of Bane of the Cosmic Forge, the game rules you Too Dumb to Live and opens a pit under you for Total Party Kill. The creators even include a short explanation and a clue: 'take a look at the box'. Yeah, you had to type in the name of the game or a variation of it.
  • Noob Cave: The Bane Castle in Wizardry VI and Monastery in Wizardry 8. Wizardry VII goes one better and only refers to its example as "The Starter Dungeon".
  • Offing the Offspring: If someone in the party slept with Al-Sedexus in Wizardry 8, their pissed-off demonic daughter shows up at Ascension Peak with the Rapax Prince to attack.
  • Old Save Bonus: Characters could be imported from any of the previous games non-bad endings to the next one, keeping some really useful items and alliances (although Bag of Spilling was used harshly between seven and eight, it was averted for items between six and seven: you could begin Crusaders of the Dark Savant with the Muramasa Blade and multiple Rod of Sprites). You could save even at the end of Wizardry 8, although a sequel is highly unlikely and the characters are gods.
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Wizardry dwarves are par for the course, though they also make good priests.
  • Our Elves Are Different: The player race of elves are said to be easygoing, friendly, and excellent mages.
  • Our Orcs Are Different: The Gorn are militant, xenophobic... and happen to live right between two mortal enemies...
  • Our Werewolves Are Different: The Rawulf race (not literal werewolves, but possessing all the qualities to LOOK like them) are kind, have high piety and make AWESOME healer classes.
  • Palmtree Panic: Bayjin, the resident Scrappy Level of Wizardry 8.
  • Petting Zoo People: Rawulf, Felpurr, Umpani, Rattkin and possibly T'rang, plus the Rapax and Trynnie in Wizardry 8. The Mook might be a borderline case.
  • Reality Writing Book: The Cosmic Forge. Anything written in it will become true, albeit often not as the writer expects. If written pages are torn out, history itself will be Ret Conned.
  • Rewriting Reality: The Cosmic Forge allows this. However to prevent it from being used for evil, if not used while in the Cosmic Circle, it will interpret the writing in a way the writer will deeply regret.
  • Shout-Out:
  • The Smurfette Principle: Private Sparkle is the only female Trynnie in Wizardry 8, and she isn't even found living with the rest of her kind, as she left Trynton to get help from the Umpani. Strongly averted with the many female Higardi and Rapax.
  • Superpowered Mooks: As you reach higher tiers of mook types, most of them will develop special abilities if they didn't have any before.
  • Swamps Are Evil: The swamp in Wizardry 8 is home to some of the more evil enemies in the game.
  • Temple of Doom: The Isle of Crypts. Justified in that it was designed to protect the object resting at the bottom.
  • Tree-Top Town: Rattkin Ruins in Wizardry VII; Trynton in Wizardry 8.
  • Tomes of Prophecy and Fate: The Cosmic Forge and Tome of Fate.
  • Trick Boss: You might notice something is wrong, as there are two of him if you play on Expert.
  • Underground Level: The Mines in Wizardry VI, and the various caves in Wizardry VII.
  • Under the Sea: Wizardry 8 finally takes the party beneath the waves with Umpani-issue scuba gear. Watch out for sea monsters.
  • Unusable Enemy Equipment: And when it is, it's not the same equipment. Attack names and drop contents are completely separate. So you have probably fought at least a hundred Rattkin Leaders with Vorpal blades until you actually find one. And then it is a letdown. Same for T'Rang weapons: you may get T'Rangs' ultimate loot (Shock Rod 25%, Stun Rod 5% - and even then it does Plyze 20% Drain 75% instead of their Plyze 50% Drain 25% or Plyze 65% Drain 35%) from Elders, as well as Assassins or NPCs who whipped you with Psi Rod, others drop T'Rangs' basic loot (5% of Shock Rod), including Watcher (with Stun Rod) or Tecnik (who just shot you with Phaser Bolts)... except that one Tecnik who drops Mystery Ray instead.
  • Useless Useful Spell:
    • Averted again, every spell is useful if you know where to use it. For example the hardest monsters could be killed by critical hits easily if you cast one of the seemingly less useful spell at them a couple of times.
    • In Wizardry 8, you can get a taste of it early on: after you meet Gregor and make a mistake of not running from him right away and as far as you can, it's very satisfying to try again with 5-6 level party and start with debuffing the living poo out of him. It takes surprisingly little to turn a ludicrously deadly monster into a fat punching bag, the main problem is that the bug keeps running away when afraid or blind. Then there are those shrieker bats, that are very hard to hit on low levels, but fairly easy to mop up with spells, if you have enough.
  • The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The Temple of Ramm in Wizardry VI and Isle of Crypts in Wizardry VII. Wizardry 8 oddly doesn't really have one, with Ascension Peak standing in for a final dungeon.
  • When Trees Attack: "Man o' Groves" in Wizardry VII, and Wood spirits in Wizardry 8 look like humanoid trees.
  • World of Buxom: Pretty much all of the females in Wizardry 8, including Vi Domina and just about all other human women (including the purple-robed cultists), Al-Sedexus, the female Rapax, the female Trynnie Sparkle (large for her small size, at least), and many statues of humanoid females. Even the giant breeder rats technically count as this.

Spin-offs

The OAV

The OAV provides examples of:
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