Dungeon crawlers have been a staple of videogames since the inception of the personal computer. No longer were gamers chained to other people’s schedules for their favorite tabletop game, such as Dungeons and Dragons. Provided one had some free time, one could indulge in some exploration and monster slaying in the digital realm on one’s own. Some of the games provided a stronger sense of atmosphere than an actual person could ever provide. Others failed in different areas that a person naturally covered, such as an engaging narrative. So keep those two extremes in mind as you read about Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls for the PS3 off PSN.
Wizardry takes place in the typical high-fantasy realm in which three nations have an uneasy peace. The game, obviously, takes place in one of the warring nations in the city of Aitox. Of course, you would know the back story if you watched the introduction movie — even though none of the characters in the game seem to mention this at all. Instead, you create a character (out of 10) who has his/her own back story becoming an adventurer. But it rarely continues from there.
Wizardry is a traditional turn-based dungeon crawler on a 19x19 grid in which you meander around the level looking for monsters, switches (always switches) and the next set of stairs. There are eight classes: fighter, mage, priest, thief, samurai, lord, bishop and ninja. Each class has its own unique skill and fighting abilities. Fighters, samurais and lords all excel in melee combat with varying interests in magic. Mages are magical damage experts, priests heal and can exorcise spirits while bishops can master both magic sets and appraise items. Thieves and ninjas can pick locks and traps with incredible accuracy and ease.
Combat is turn-based, and you enter commands at the beginning of each turn. There are three rows and can be filled with about seven enemies of the same type. Each character can perform different actions, such as attacking (you can choose the row but not the individual monster), spells, defending, exorcise (kills undead for half the experience), item usage and running away. Spells target either an individual, group (row) or the entire enemy party. Money is, initially, scarce, and it is difficult to properly outfit your party. Of course, this is a par as other dungeon crawlers as you find more potent equipment in the dungeon. Furthermore, you can sign up for and complete various quests. Most of them are of the “find X amount of Y” (Y being the item you’re supposed to find) variety.
But there’s a problem with this system. No matter how tried and true (for lack of better words) the system is, it doesn’t feel balanced. Attacks of all types either cause massive damage or light scratches. For example, frost giants seem to be weak against thunder but not fire; the undead resists holy spells with uncanny ease. (Aren’t undead supposed to melt with sunlight?) Priests are only suited for healing, not filling in a backup role as fighter or mage. As such, it’s almost better to have a party with a second bishop or mage than a character who fails to fill a role. Treasure chests are rare, occasionally dropped by monsters and are usually filled with either generic items or just plain oxygen. Even worse is the way the quests are set up. Quests are, for a lack of better term, the bread and butter of dungeon crawlers. They help provide reasons to explore and fight monsters besides the main plot. They help give the game depth. However, when it takes HOURS upon HOURS to complete a single quest because the monster you need is 1) rare and 2) the item drop is also rare. So what does that say about what the game thinks about one’s time?
Graphically, Wizardry looks very nice for a game filled with concept art. While that may sound harsh, it is an accurate assessment. Character portraits are rich and vibrant, and there are only two character portraits for each race (a male and a female). They’ll never move save for blinking eyes and hunching over when injured. The same is true for the monsters (minus the blinking eyes), and there’s a good variety of them: goblins, mummies, kobolds (what’s an RPG without kobolds?), skeletons, monstrous plants with teeth and long tentacles, spirits and blood-thirsty bunnies. The dungeons all visually look the same with different wallpaper. Spells, which are usually flashy enough to compensate for the lack of movement, are plain. Traps just “occur” with no special visual effect. As such, it can be considered a disappointment because it doesn’t push the PlayStation 3 to its limits. If this was a DS, PSP or maybe even a Wiiware game, then it would be understandable for the lack of major fireworks. This is on a next-generation console; the bar is much higher for [downloadable] games.
Sound design wise, everything is just average. There are the typical grunts and screams from characters, swords and footsteps. There are only a handful of tracks in the game: the bustling city theme, the soothing inn music complete with violin, the stately march of the castle and the drum focused combat music. Voice acting is, surprisingly, present. There is a catch: it’s in Japanese. It’s pretty good — I think. It’s astounding that the voice acting wasn’t localized for English speakers because it would go rather well with the translation.
Thus, when I look at Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls I see a game that has a solid foundation with several minor issues that slowly add up to conspire against it. The game engine is from yesteryear, the combat is done in a die-hard RPG style, the classes are unbalanced, quests are masochistic ordeals, the in-game manual doesn’t explain the rules and the interface is a bit cumbersome. This is not a game worth its $15 price tag.
However, this does not mean I did not enjoy [most of] my time with it. That’s because its target demographic are hardcore RPG fans. Those who enjoy exploration, tense traditional RPG combat and have immense patience will be those who get the most enjoyment out of Wizardry. Perhaps the best way to describe the game is to sound like an ominous entrance to a crypt: “Those who are cowardly and foolish will die while those with bravery and wisdom shall find salvation.” Rather fitting, don’t you think?
