I dipped into Wizardry Online today and found it rather charming. It's an old school game, what '90s MMOs might have been had they been based on AD&D rather than Ultima. It's well put together and the occasional Asianisms are amusing rather than jarring.
Many elements are very basic - character classes are the original dungeon foursome, races are standard except for the addition of what seems to be a race of 8 year old children.
The initial experience focuses quite heavily on the death experience with dire warnings that you might die and lose your character/get robbed of all your stuff. But dying is well worth it as you get this amazing Omenesque scene of chanting and spellcasting when you're brought back to life.
The structure is similar to Guild Wars 1 or DDO - a town hub from which you get teleported to dungeons.
Dungeons are mazy and you don't get an auto-map. I think you have to find pieces of the map and that fills it in for you. I found one piece in the first area.
I didn't get very far. I got beaten down by zombies once then when I went back I got murdered by a player and gave up for the day. I think the harshness will keep it very niche - you absolutely will get ganked by an unkillable player opponent while still in your starter gear in the first dungeon. Still for those of us perverse enough to plough through I think it could be a very enjoyable game experience and utterly different from yet another WoW-like.
I'll probably try to find some sort of guild before I go back in though - it's a scary game to solo in!
Sounds interesting, I might have to give it a try sometime. How about a few more details like is there a free demo, what are subscription plans and maybe a link?
ReplyDeleteDownload it free here: https://www.wizardrythegame.com/index.vm
ReplyDeleteIt's a Sony Online Entertainment game so if you've played Everquest or one of their other games before that Station Cash is available to spend in Wizardry. I don't think you need to spend anything at all though unless you get hooked.