The Death of Wizardry Online
Well. Honestly. Who didn’t see this coming? I have mixed feelings on this. I really do.
As a lifelong Wizardry fan, I was extremely excited to hear SOE was bringing this game to the US. But, I admit I was extremely let down by the product that was delivered.
Longtime readers of this blog will know that I was VERY hyped for this game. I even started a podcast aimed at Wizardry Online. But, once I got my hands on it…. my excitement faded. Fast. So that leaves the question… what happened?
I know that Wiz Online is healthy in Japan. I don’t know if their client is identical to ours or perhaps has a bit more polished… but the success can’t simply be chalked up to cultural differences.
Look at other j-mmos like Final Fantasy. FFXIV 2.0 is thriving in both Japan and the US.
I really hoped that Wizardry Online was going to spark a new interest in the Wizardry series here in the west. But now, I fear that it will actually be the final nail in its coffin.
Perhaps one day, years from now the rights will change hands again and someone will reboot the series, restoring Wizardry to its former glory.
One can hope.
I was so excited for this game to be released and was a huge fan of your podcast, but after the game was released I did not put more than ten hours into the game. I really hope that this does not stop more Wizardry games from being ported over to the U.S., but it seems inevitable now.
Also I could not remember for sure, but I thought on your podcast that you mentioned wanting to see a modern remake of the first game and I found a nice remake for the PS1 last year that allows for all text to be changed into English except the saving/options menu stuff. It’s called Wizardry Llylgamyn Saga and it is a remake of Wizardry 1-3 with updated graphics and a new soundtrack. It also had a sequel with Wizardry 4 and 5 remakes called New Age of Llylgamyn. I have only played the Wizardry 1 remake so far, but it is fantastic. I am currently working on a party build of six ninjas with maxed mage and cleric spells, once I finish that I will be moving on to the next game finally ha.
Here is a video I found if you are interested: https://youtu.be/RlprISspzXM
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I’ve seen that port and tinkered with it a bit. It seems like a pretty solid remake. I’d really like to see some modern-gen remakes of the games, but I’m not sure how realistic that is.