2008 Woodie Awards
Video Games: Wizardry 8: Sometimes, fireballs do work
Mike Egbers
Issue date: 6/2/08 Section: Arts and Entertainment
Wizardry 8 is a first person RPG that was released for the PC back in 2001 by Sir-Tech. With little to no advertisement, this game went completely under the radar of almost all gamers, including myself.
While not quite up to today's standard, it is still one of the most amusing games I have played in recent time.
Story:
This game is the third part of a trilogy, and sadly I have been unable to find the first two. The story that is presented in this game is fairly straightforward, but it does its part. The party starts out in a broken monastery on the planet Dominus, after their ship was shot down. Finding their contractor dead and themselves stranded with little resources, the party begins to set out through the monastery.
As they get through, they are told that they have been appointed to take place in a ritual that will effectively make your group the Gods of Dominus.
The only downside is that there are several other factions attempting the same goal. The rest of the game is spent in the pursuit of defeating the other factions. All in all, the story is there for the sake of being there, and it gives you a reason to go on. It is presented well and does not have any massive flaws, but it will not be one of those that have you sitting and debating on its meaning. 3.5/5
Sound:
The sounds in this game are what you would expect from any game of its type: metal clashing on metal, swords thunking into limbs, mages chanting and fireballs exploding. While all the sounds are there, they can tend to be a slight bit bland. On the other hand, the music track for this game is done quite well, with somber tunes playing while in deep forests and war drums in the background as you explore castles. However, what really makes this game shine is the voice acting. Dialogue is completely spoken in this game, with a few minor exceptions. While this does not seem like much now, when this game was first on the market, RPGs only had speech during full FMVs. What's more, your characters also have a large variety of things that they can say in response to the events happening. Considering that all of your charters are made by you in the beginning, this is not something often seen. And it's always nice to hear your loud mouth of a fighter talking trash as he hacks down foes. 4/5
While not quite up to today's standard, it is still one of the most amusing games I have played in recent time.
Story:
This game is the third part of a trilogy, and sadly I have been unable to find the first two. The story that is presented in this game is fairly straightforward, but it does its part. The party starts out in a broken monastery on the planet Dominus, after their ship was shot down. Finding their contractor dead and themselves stranded with little resources, the party begins to set out through the monastery.
As they get through, they are told that they have been appointed to take place in a ritual that will effectively make your group the Gods of Dominus.
The only downside is that there are several other factions attempting the same goal. The rest of the game is spent in the pursuit of defeating the other factions. All in all, the story is there for the sake of being there, and it gives you a reason to go on. It is presented well and does not have any massive flaws, but it will not be one of those that have you sitting and debating on its meaning. 3.5/5
Sound:
The sounds in this game are what you would expect from any game of its type: metal clashing on metal, swords thunking into limbs, mages chanting and fireballs exploding. While all the sounds are there, they can tend to be a slight bit bland. On the other hand, the music track for this game is done quite well, with somber tunes playing while in deep forests and war drums in the background as you explore castles. However, what really makes this game shine is the voice acting. Dialogue is completely spoken in this game, with a few minor exceptions. While this does not seem like much now, when this game was first on the market, RPGs only had speech during full FMVs. What's more, your characters also have a large variety of things that they can say in response to the events happening. Considering that all of your charters are made by you in the beginning, this is not something often seen. And it's always nice to hear your loud mouth of a fighter talking trash as he hacks down foes. 4/5
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