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PS2
Wizardry XTH: Mugen no Gakuto -
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NCS
Game Synopsis
«©NCSX»
Back in
the 80s, the big names in RPGs were Ultima,
Wizardry, and the ever lovin' Questron. All three
found love and fanboy adulation on the Commodore 64,
Apple IIe, and PC before fanboys were properly
defined. The Atari 8-bit computer got up to Ultima
IV and Questron before it fell off the map. In any
case, Wizardry has been around for a long time and
its lifespan can be measured in decades. NCS recalls
poetic Wizardry subtitles such as Proving Grounds of
the Mad Overlord, Heart of the Maelstrom, and Bane
of the Cosmic Forge. Makes us want to dig out the
old Apple IIe and the dusty pile of 5.25" floppy
disks that bent like cardboard.
In the olden days, Wizardry games had a certain formula where a
traveler would enter an adventurer's inn and then
recruit a party before stalking out on multi-level
dungeons. Battles were fought with primitive
subroutines where die were cast behind the scenes to
determine hit or miss on a hulking monster. Dungeon
walls consisted of white lines on a black background
and creatures looked like the creations of 3rd grade
school children. That was how the multi-billion
dollar video gaming industry started.
Although the calendar currently reads 2006, not much has changed in
Wizardry XTH. The graphics are much improved and the
sound effects are surreal but the basic skeletal
framework is the same as the age old Wizardry games
of yore.
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NCS
Game Notes
» In the intro to the game Team Muramasa logo
follows the Michaelsoft logo. A crescent moon may seen crescent
while blues skies are quickly darkening. The camera pans down to
a quaint village while the crashing of waves may be
heard until nightfall hits. The scene shift to the
busy daytime din of a busy village as crowds are
heard in the background, people are murmuring, and
the clink of metal work sounds off. After a while,
the title screen appears.
» Chris Kingdom, Aria Sea Sbyss Sea. A host of
beings are marshaled together while war is called
and banners are raised while thronged by weapons.
Flick screen intro where animation is limited to
blossoms falling from cherry trees.
» At the outset of the game, a Felpurr or cat girl with grey
hair and grey tail greets you at the adventurer's
inn. Upon entering, the murmur of an invisible crowd
may be heard since the quarters are empty inside.
Here, you may assemble a party of six warriors to
accompany you into battle and adventure. The classes
that are available are:
Human
Elf
Dwarf
Gnome
Hobbit
Faerie
Felpurr
Bahamoon
Diaboros
Celestia
»
Humans and elves are well rounded with balanced
attributes in the STR, INT, PIE, VIT, AGI, and LUC.
Gnomes are weak but are very intelligent and pious
(good for priests and magic users). Hobbits are
basically weak and stupid based on their STR and INT
values of 6 but they're very agile (12) and lucky
(14).
Based on attributes, characters may be fighters,
mages, priests, thieves, summoners, alchemists,
rangers, samurai, and others.
» Character creation variables allow for male/female,
age, orientation (good, neutral, evil), occupation
(fighter, wizard, priest, etc), and character
portraits from 11 available ones for the various
classes of characters. Once a character portrait is
chosen, you may further customize the color of skin,
type and color of hair, shape and color of eyes, ear
style, facial hair, eyewear, and even facial
aberrations such as moles and marks.
» Upon starting the adventure, the heroes are in a
chamber of some sort where they may explore. If you
walk the gang into a wall, they exclaim in pain with
groans and shrieks. Movement is performed by
pressing on the D-pad and the crew will walk in
single step action. An early enemy to be encountered
is a gang of black bats. Attacks for each
character are chosen and then acted out where the
bats shudder as they take damage. If a member of
your party takes damage, they'll groan in pain and
their portrait on the bottom of the screen shudders
a bit. If the tide of battle turns against you, you
may elect to run and you'll hear the echo of
multiple feet as your party attempts to vamoose. If
you're successful, you'll be back in the dungeon but
if not, you'll miss your turn to attack as the enemy
piles on the hurt. Enemies may also escape from
battle if they wish and you'll hear the echo of
their feet as they run. Battles are rudimentary and
nothing like what modern gamers will expect since
they hearken back from the days of the original
Wizardry where button presses are all that ignites
attacks and die casting that determine hits or
misses based on your attributes matched against
those of the enemy in play.
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This document is ©NCSX 2006. All rights reserved. No
reproduction in whole or in part of this document
may be made without express written consent of
National Console Support, Inc.
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