Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

Over the past few days I've been playing through an old classic. Wizardry I: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. This game is actually quite a bit before my time but we owned it for the original NES when I was a kid. It is one of the original RPGs of its time and probably the first First Person Perspective RPG. The game itself is now considered Abandonware and you can pick it up at http://www.abandonia.com/. However, you'll want to install DosBox if you want to play it. This is because of how old this game is, you'll need to slow down DosBox to around 500 clock cycles.

Also, you'll need to get a copy of the manual if you want to have a chance at surviving the Maze. You should be able to pick it up at http://www.replacementdocs.com/. This is because you'll need the manual if you want to cast spells and understand what they do. This game did not come with a built in tutorial like most modern games today. You actually had to read manuals back in the day.

Okay, you now have the game installed and you've read through the 70 pg manual. It is time to venture into the 4 colored world of Wizardry. First you'll want to go to the Edge of Town and create some characters. You have 5 races to choose from: Human, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, and Hobbit. Each race has advantages and disadvantages. You then have 4 base classes to choose from: Fighter, Mage, Priest, and Thief. If you roll high enough bonus scores you might be able to be some of the advanced characters. As far as I can tell you can only roll high enough to be a Bishop (mage / priest combo) and a Samurai (Fighter / Mage combo). The manual claims there is also a Ninja and a Lord. However, I have yet to find the right combo of skill points to become one of these.

Once you have 6 characters, don't forget to go to the store to buy equipment. You start out naked with a little bit of gold. Also, after you buy your equipment don't forget to actually equip it!

Now that you're clothed, armed, noobs it is time to head down to the proving grounds. Here you have a chance to prove yourself to the paranoid king by hunting down Wernda. Make sure you have a piece of paper and a writing utensil so you can make a map of each of the levels. This was one of the *features* of classic first person RPGs. You will need to be careful not to get lost otherwise you may get slaughtered. In Wizardry... if your whole party dies, they are gone forever. Also, if some of your characters make it back to town, you'll have to pay a large fee at the Temple of Cant for a chance to have your character turn to Ash. If you're lucky you can pay an even larger fee to try and resurrect them from ashes but if that fails your characters are truly gone forever.

You will constantly be fighting to stay alive and running back to town to heal and level up. Make sure you have a priest to cast heal spells on your characters. Otherwise, you will have to pay hefty fees to stay at the inn and heal just a few hit points.

I must admit, this game is pretty epic, extremely challenging, and will keep you hooked for hours. Of course, this game is definitely not for everyone. Those of you who have never played a text adventure game will probably never be able to appreciate a gem like this one. Good luck!