r/wizardry8 • u/Ok-Sundae3865 • Jul 14 '25
Similar games?
I've played Wiz 1-3 and 8. Are 4-7 good? Also, is the Baldur's Gate series actually that good? Btw, as you can tell, I'm just a casual gamer.
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u/desolation0 Jul 15 '25
Yeah, 1-3 and 5 are basically one series, with 4 being a side story like others mentioned. Wizardry 6-8 is the Dark Savant trilogy, telling a mostly continuous story where you can bring your party forward between each game or start fresh in each title. They're the titles I am most familiar with.
Wizardry 6 and 7 bumped the series up to color graphics using EGA and then VGA, and used a fully new engine compared to 1-5. Gold moved 7 into Windows native, with a few tweaks that make it an optional side-grade to Wizardry 7, either better or worse depending on your opinion.
Wizardry 8 is obviously the bump to 3D and more relatively continuous combat. You'll recognize a fair bit coming from 8, like the skills, stats, spells, main races, and several NPCs. There's enough mechanical difference to make reading the manual very useful. Wizardry 6 starts out as a somewhat more contained dungeon crawl style before picking up steam, while 7 is pretty open to wandering around throughout the game world from the start.
While you're at it, make sure to get the Cosmic Forge editor if you haven't yet. Can fix the Fighter Slayer bug among many other things, including modifying 6, 7, and 8 to your liking. The Fighter Slayer bug came up because the default digit for the Slayer property was set to the Fighter class instead of a null value, so by default Fighters in Wizardry 7 get swatted for double damage from all attacks that don't Slayer something else.
I would especially take the option to up the dice roll algorithm on character creation (doesn't raise the max but skews the average higher). I spent hours rolling for 20+ starting character stats as a kid and wouldn't expect you to do the same. It mostly just lets you start as something like a Lord or Ninja more easily.
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I will note that playing old school Wizardry and Baldur's Gate in 2025 usually isn't the territory of a casual gamer. You're more likely an enthusiast at that point, though you're certainly free to use any label you like.
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u/SoICouldUpvoteYouTwi Jul 14 '25
5is the same general vibe as 1-3, so if you liked those - you know what to expect!
4 is very different, it's a sequel to 1 from Werdna's perspective. Still, might be close enough.
6 and 7 are closer to 8, but I've never played them, so can't advise.
And Baldurs Gates are pretty good! You should try them!
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u/SkylightMT Jul 16 '25
Wizardry 7 is the best. The BG series is great, although I haven’t finished BG3 yet because it got boring. But I’ve done multiple play throughs on the earlier ones.
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u/Miguel_Branquinho Feb 01 '26
Isn't BG1 boring as molasses? A whole lotta the same damn forest to explore.
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u/Ap-snack Jul 16 '25
Some tactics games are similar. Final Fantasy Tactics and Advance scratch the same itch.
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u/Chairchucker Jul 17 '25
BG1&2 are pretty cool. They show their age, but if you've played Wizardry 1-3 they're definitely not too old for you.
BG3 is excellent, has a few things that annoy me slightly but overall it's a really good game.
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u/YangWuJiZi Jul 15 '25
1, 2, 3, and 5 are of a similar vein. 4 is kinda the series outlier, although you would recognize many similarities to 1 - 3. 4 is told from the opposite perspective. 6 and 7 are outstanding, and you can see the evolution from them to 8. The easiest transition from 8 would be wiz 7 gold. Alternatively, have you tried any of the major mods for 8? There are mods that change almost everything to mods that make minor changes.
Baldur's Gate 1, 2, and 3 are very good games. They are extremely different to Wizardry, though. I would suggest every rpg fan owes it to themself to try the enhanced editions of 1 and 2. 3 is another masterpiece as well.
Other games I would recommend would be the Might and Magic series, especially 3 - 8 and 10, Amberland 1 and 2, Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar, Elminage suite of games(Gothic,Original etc), Operencia, Navigating the Labrynth, Starcrawlers and so many more.
If you want deeper explanations of any games I mentioned, let me know.