(or: The Proving Tower Of The Mad Overlord)
I picked this up yesterday because I am masochistically intrigued by Atlus' ongoing attempts to publish the hardest game ever made.
In short, this game is Wizardry. Not Wizardry-esque, but almost literally the original Wizardry, with names changed to protect the programmers. You assemble a party and explore the tower of your neighboring mad overlord. The game mechanics are largely based on 2nd Edition AD&D, you need to cast a spell just to find out where you are on the map, the interface is maddeningly obtuse, and your party's first-level adventures are certain to be nasty, brutish and short.
None of these observations are necessarily complaints.
I haven't gotten very far but there seems to be a pretty deep system beneath the game's primitive trappings, with skills to learn and probably no small amount of unlockable classes. The bold-on-black art style is appealing, but if you want to rock it really, really old school you can always opt for the Classic mode:
No, really. That's an option.
Anyway, if you think CRPGs peaked in 1981, or if you thought Etrian Odyssey was for pussies, or if your username is neaux, you should probably check this out.
I picked this up yesterday because I am masochistically intrigued by Atlus' ongoing attempts to publish the hardest game ever made.
In short, this game is Wizardry. Not Wizardry-esque, but almost literally the original Wizardry, with names changed to protect the programmers. You assemble a party and explore the tower of your neighboring mad overlord. The game mechanics are largely based on 2nd Edition AD&D, you need to cast a spell just to find out where you are on the map, the interface is maddeningly obtuse, and your party's first-level adventures are certain to be nasty, brutish and short.
None of these observations are necessarily complaints.
I haven't gotten very far but there seems to be a pretty deep system beneath the game's primitive trappings, with skills to learn and probably no small amount of unlockable classes. The bold-on-black art style is appealing, but if you want to rock it really, really old school you can always opt for the Classic mode:
No, really. That's an option.
Anyway, if you think CRPGs peaked in 1981, or if you thought Etrian Odyssey was for pussies, or if your username is neaux, you should probably check this out.
