Wizardry 1 - Completed!

After an epic trip to the bottom of the dungeon, I met Werdna and his vampire friends.
The first time I was here, I was met by 2 Vampire Lords, 4 Vampires & Werdna himself,
who cast Tiltowait (the biggest damage spell there is) two times in a row and wiped out the party.

I had to then level up the reserve team (by this time I had a full roster of twenty characters), and
used a magic dagger to change a fighter into a thief then into a ninja.

Going back, Werdna's friends seem to have deserted him, there was only Wedna, 1 vampire lord
and 1 vampire.  To make it even easier, Werdna kept casting a spell to dispell undead on my party,
which of course had no effect.

I then loaded up Wiz2 and had a quick look at it, I was surprised to find that my characters went
back to level 1, I thought that they kept their levels.  Oh well, at least I still have a ninja for the
sequel.  I've decided though to play another game first and come back to wiz2.

Wizardry I

After completing Breath of Fire 3, I decided to start another classic RPG - Wizardry 1, with the aim of completing 1 through to 5.  I have previously played 1 a few times, first on the Commodore 64 (never finished), then on a old Powermac (completed), and more recently the PC version (completed a couple of years ago). 

I've never started 2, 3, 4 or 5, so am looking forward to them. 

After researching the various versions, many people seem to report that the SNES version is the superior one, so I'm playing that one on an emulator running on my PSP.

 

Character creation, went for a party of 2 fighters, 1 thief, 1 bishop, 1 cleric and one mage.

 

The dungeon proper.  Looks a lot nicer on this version than the DOS one I remember.  So far am not really noticing any differences that matter, just a few little ones, like the @ sign next to Balno above, this signifies that he has enough experience to gain a level.

A terrifying encounter with some skeletons.  Combat at low levels is brutal, you have to make sure you keep a few steps away from the stairs until you have gained a few levels.... 

 

... or this happens.

I seem to remember that spell points are regained automatically in the PC version when you return to town, however in the snes version, you are required to sleep at an inn to get them back.  I wonder if this will affect aging by the time I complete the game(s) or whether they are short enough that it doesn't matter.

I had a minor set back, when my lawful cleric got changed to evil when I attacked a group of friendly monsters ( by accident I swear, I just got a bit carried away hitting the NEXT button and ended up in combat! ).  This means he can't journey with the rest of the group, and I have retired him and created a new one.

I plan to have a few spare characters which I can use for rescue missions in the dungeon (if your whole party is wiped out in the dungeon, their bones remain there for you to discover and bring back to town for resurrection later.)

Well, still progressing through the desert of death, keep getting lost and running out of water.  At least the experience is good, with all characters leveling up nicely.  Money isn't bad either.

Moon Tears - one of the more useful items found in the desert

Drak

 This firebreathing desert lizard is somehow unable to attack in the first round of combat due to being overcome by the heat, something that doesn't seem to affect my rather overdressed party!

One of the random drops gave me some royal armor, the best armor I've found to date.

 My thoughts exactly.  The whole desert sequence feels unnecessary and overly long. 

 Hey, this is new, a big monster popping out of a hill, maybe this means progress at last!

Breath of Fire 3

The first game I'm posting about is Breath of Fire 3.  Originally a Playstation 1 game, it was ported to the PSP in Europe/Oceania.  I've been playing it for quite a while now, and am currently wandering through a massive desert.

The Valiant Heroes

Nearly there

I've been walking around this desert for about 4 hours real time now, trying to follow the stars, but so far am not getting anywhere.  The screen shot above is one of the more exciting ones, being in the daytime, unfortunately I ran out of water before making it to the oasis, maybe next time!

Posioned again

Every couple of minutes you are forced into a battle area, where there is always a bag containing either a healing herb, a multivitamin or a fishing lure (why someone has scattered fishing lures all over the desert I'm unsure about).

Hopefully I will progress more and leave the desert soon.