Adventurer's Guild 𝙲𝙻𝙰𝚂𝚂𝙸𝙲 Issue #11 — Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge

[rusty_shackleford]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/684690/d ... 739755460/

What you do is draw a map of the whole game, cover it in fog (in invisible mode) and then have the avatar marker erase that fog as it moves around, creating the illusion of the map being drawn in.

https://docs.gridcartographer.com/edito ... remove-fog

[DagothGeas5]

I need to get back into this, but the plant creature after the mines keeps ruining my day.

I know what you mean, but it is quite easy after leveling up a bit or having a mage, or something like a longsword (two handed) so you can instruct your character to Melee, which will do multiple attacks throughout the turn. Potions have, thus far, been most useless to me, so I just use my one healer and use his turn to heal, or predict heal, while everyone else does no defense nor guard, just the most damage they can do, fireball was quite useful that I recall as well (AoE things). I have not been feeling too well to play recently (I am currently at the volcano guy, need to traverse without dying and was on my way to get what I needed to do so) but I do hope it becomes a breeze because there will be much worse to come, and that plant's "rubber big brother" will be a recurring thing in the next area.

I think ice spells were useful too, but I cannot recall. It might be hard to choose, but I sometimes also sacrifice someone to tank the damage to get through (my mage usually). See it as using him as bait, in a way.

[Tangerine]

I'm paying for a combination of low rolls + bad initial stat assignment and it's time to throw in the towel on this run. Going to bring a mage along instead of a bard and dump the thief for something else. Time to roll.

[rusty_shackleford]

I'm paying for a combination of low rolls + bad initial stat assignment and it's time to throw in the towel on this run. Going to bring a mage along instead of a bard and dump the thief for something else. Time to roll.

My thief is my weakest character, randomly dies in 1 hit all the time too.

[DagothGeas5]

I'm paying for a combination of low rolls + bad initial stat assignment and it's time to throw in the towel on this run. Going to bring a mage along instead of a bard and dump the thief for something else. Time to roll.

My thief is my weakest character, randomly dies in 1 hit all the time too.

Mine is my wizard but it is due to me having used him as bait and meatshield + resurrection too often I believe.
@Tangerine very sorry to hear this run didn't work out for you I hope you won't give up on this game if it might take you yet another run or more, get that monster plant!

[Tangerine]

Found a full restore fountain in the mines, so been doing grinding/class switching to build up skills. Turning off sound makes the game run significantly faster and you're not missing much by turning it off.

[DagothGeas5]

Found a full restore fountain in the mines, so been doing grinding/class switching to build up skills. Turning off sound makes the game run significantly faster and you're not missing much by turning it off.

Highly recommend to turn it back on if you might find new enemies as they have their own sounds and effects that I found quite nice! Will try to disable sound myself just to see in the future as I am lagging when there are many enemies with different animations around, thank you for sharing your find!

[Tangerine]

Unlimited class switching is incredibly overpowered.

[rusty_shackleford]

Anyone know where to download grid cartographer maps? The site for it is down

[rusty_shackleford]

I am not a fan of the grinding this game encourages

[Tangerine]

Muh immersion!

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What do they mean by this?

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Does this count as completion?

► Show Spoiler

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No, no it does not.

[Tangerine]

Completed

► Show Spoiler

Count Dracula got mad about my wearing of the cross and decided to take it out on me in the temple. I politely informed him and his fucktoy that he was incorrect.

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They said the title!

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Of course I want it.

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Can you imagine how much bitching there'd be if they saw something like this today?

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The End

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The Team

► Show Spoiler

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Thoughts

► Show Spoiler

Wizardry VI heavily encourages grinding and save scumming due to its heavy reliance on RNG when leveling up. I went through a lot of class changes trying to do it the honest way without save scumming, but eventually gave in so I could get the stats required for the hybrid classes. By the end of it, I was stacked with skills and spells, and while it makes the game easier, I wouldn't say it trivializes it as there are still plenty of enemies that will ruin your day.

Wasn't a fan of its talking system; it felt more like guessing keywords than even a primitive conversation. Some of it also felt like trying to mindread the devs.

This wasn't my first Wizardry game--V on the SNES was--but it's the first one I sank significant time into to get a feel for it. The turn-based combat in this is much more interesting due to having to consider enemy ranks and groups, your own marching order, and targeting. It made it very engaging. Given that it inspired a lot of JRPGs, it's surprising how little of the complexity they actually took from it.

I hated the mines and pyramid dungeons with all the stair navigation, but the starting castle and River Styx are solid. The forest and swamp felt lazy and rushed.

I enjoyed it well enough after the hiccup of my first underpowered run, but once through will be enough for me.

[rusty_shackleford]

Am I expected to do class changing?

[Tangerine]

Am I expected to do class changing?

The game would be a lot more difficult if you don't because class changes let you grow your HP and MP pools, spell books, and skill levels much higher. Level 7-9 is the sweet spot for class changing based on XP requirements.

[J1M]

Nice to see someone earn that badge. Quite happy with how it turned out.

[Cedric]

Am I expected to do class changing?

It will make you much stronger for importing to Wizardry 7 but doesn't matter that much for 6.

You can either do "reasonable" swaps that make sense (specialize a fighter into an advanced class like Lord, turn an Alchemist into a Ranger later on in game, turn a Priest into a Mage or either into a Bishop, Thief into Ninja) or just teach everyone magic & kirijutsu & ninjutsu which is extremely helpful (but not strictly needed.)

I'm surprised to watch you people use mapping tools. Wizardry 6 has pretty small and easy to memorize dungeons. I just mapped it in my head back in the day. The only area I'd draw a map for now that I'm older are the mines and the river. The river is mean because if you don't walk every square of it you'll regret it.

[rusty_shackleford]

Finding this a bit painful to play, honestly.
World of Xeen is a game I enjoyed and came out only two years after this(Clouds did, anyways), but feels far less painful to play. I find all the UI difficult to navigate/use, and does a very poor job at explaining what it does. The game expects you to constantly be reloading(I assume so, anyways) which I strongly dislike.
Lots of immersion breakers in the text.

I cannot agree with the contemporary reviews for this.

[rusty_shackleford]

I'll probably give the SNES version a try

[DagothGeas5]

Finding this a bit painful to play, honestly.
World of Xeen is a game I enjoyed and came out only two years after this(Clouds did, anyways), but feels far less painful to play. I find all the UI difficult to navigate/use, and does a very poor job at explaining what it does. The game expects you to constantly be reloading(I assume so, anyways) which I strongly dislike.
Lots of immersion breakers in the text.

I cannot agree with the contemporary reviews for this.

I have the idea that the game wants you to kill your way up levels before progressing further, using enemy numbers to impede your path until "you are ready", so to speak, but I quite agree with the immersion breaking. It was quite strange at first and I thought it was just an easter egg when I found some writing (and made either a note or post about it that I recall), but the puzzle solving, strange names given and similar have made me change how I approached this game. I find it to be quite recognizable as a humor now, and something that gives a "certain something" to this game that makes it unique, but I do get what you mean. I have a mind to believe it might be a recurring theme as well in some way as it reminds me a lot of what I recall seeing in the video Sseth made for Wizardry 8.

[rusty_shackleford]

I'll probably give the SNES version a try

Finding the SNES version significantly better so far.

[DagothGeas5]

I'll probably give the SNES version a try

Finding the SNES version significantly better so far.

What are the differences if I may ask? Are the levels also the same or are they changed in some way also?

[rusty_shackleford]

I'll probably give the SNES version a try

Finding the SNES version significantly better so far.

What are the differences if I may ask? Are the levels also the same or are they changed in some way also?

It seems to be mostly faithful to the original game except it controls a lot better(imo) and with an improved UI.

Wizardry VI - Bane of the Cosmic Forge English by TiCo V0.99a - Snes9x_001.webp

(remember, you want lower AC )

[rusty_shackleford]

Oh, I forgot the most obvious advantage: It has automap.

Wizardry VI - Bane of the Cosmic Forge English by TiCo V0.99a - Snes9x_002.webp

[rusty_shackleford]

Just a small video of me flailing around in combat trying to hit a guy then equipping an item

[DagothGeas5]

I am mesmerized by how different it looks, thank you for sharing!
Would love to play this one on a real SNES instead of an emulator, looks incredibly cozy!

[rusty_shackleford]

Anyone aware of where Wizardry got the idea for splitting spell points(effectively MP) between schools of magic?

[Tangerine]

The game expects you to constantly be reloading(I assume so, anyways) which I strongly dislike.

With death causing permanent vitality loss and the rather harsh RNG on level up for stats, you're just asking for a bad time without save scumming.

[rusty_shackleford]

For anyone who wants to play the SNES version,
Here's the patch: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/939/

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Website to apply the patch: https://www.marcrobledo.com/RomPatcher.js/

I use snes9x, you can grab the latest release here:
https://github.com/snes9xgit/snes9x/releases
If you're on Windows you probably want snes9x-1.63-win32-x64.zip

I tried with ares(which is apparently a bsnes fork?) first but it had a bunch of issues, it seems the translation patch was not intended to be used in a cycle-accurate emulator. So, stick to Snes9x.

The translation is… OK. You'll want to go into the settings and put everything on English too. The translation is a bit weird because everything related to the story was taken directly from the DOS game, it's mostly UI elements and various text stuff with issues. The settings(as mentioned above) handles items/NPCs/skills which is part of the base game(no idea why)

[rusty_shackleford]

@Dorateen have you played the SNES version of Wizardry 6 by chance?

I'm assuming you already beat the DOS version long ago

[Acrux]

I'm curious if you've been using the remaster that let's you play W6 in W7 engine?

viewtopic.php?t=3170-wizardry-6-in-7-s- ... izardry-vi

This guy has a lot of remaster mods for old DRPGs. His Bard's Tale Triology one's the only one I've used so far, but it seemed pretty good from what I remember.