Wizardry: The Five Ordeals

 Ever since I took my departure from Wizardry Daphne as I believe Drecom no longer fit to be the one in charge of Wizardry series Legacy, I have been searching many substitute Wizardry clones DRPG candidates. This is not exactly difficult thing given the immense influence of Wizardry series in Japanese game industries and Nintendo Switch is blessed with tons of DRPG titles both new and remaster. One of the game that I come across obviously a Wizardry series called Five Ordeals which have been getting remaster few years ago only to make it as Switch Port around 2024 with translation came up couple months ago.

Wizardry Five Ordeals is one of the two available Wizardry series apart from Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord and available in Physical Copy with English Language option. For 40 USD SRP which is equivalent to Wizardry Daphne Gacha currency for a single 10-Pulls, you got yourself a Wizardry game that have 5 main Scenario modules to play with and 2 additional Scenario based on Wizardry Gaiden as DLC option. Apparently Wizardry Five Ordeals was available in PS2 before it gets remastered so we can expect somewhat decent production value that didn't aged too badly but still expect brutal Dungeon Crawling difficulty which is well known selling point of Wizardry Series. 

Each of the Wizardry Five Ordeals Scenarios could last up to 10-20 hours so expect overall more reliable mileage out of the money spent compared to spending it on a Gacha version of this series. In near future perhaps I could discuss DRPG series in regular basis considering I do have deep fascination for this genre probably due to being a Millenial.

Giving up on Wizardry Variant Daphne

Usually I don’t even bother to write any long winded article when I make an exit from a Gacha game for any sorts of reason. But given the recent great blunder made by Drecom for their Wizardry Daphne game and refusal to make any meaningful subsequent follow up action or make any amends after significant period of time has passed. Therefore, I decided to write an extensive Blog post to articulate the issues that I had with Wizardry Daphne which ultimately make me decide to quit the game after sticking around for almost 6 months.

My main grievances toward Wizardry Daphne stems from the mismanagement of Blade & Bastard collab which is supposed to be the high point of this game, yet the Devs never even bother to fix the issues over a month duration of this game. It was folly of me to stick around a little bit longer to expect Wizardry Daphne change to be a better when I should have just quitted as Drecom’s Blunder with Blade & Bastard event was a massive red flag. Ultimately, these accumulations of massive blunders along with minor ones make me deem Wizardry Variants Daphne to be managed as Kusoge and unworthy successor of Wizardry series legacy and conclude in making me decide to make a departure out of it.

This article will contain my criticism toward Wizardry Daphne which is bad enough to make an old-timer Gacha player ragequit and make a scathing commentary on it. This is actually quite an achievement since not many games could make me do the latter action apart from Netease with their shitty treatment on Super Mecha Champions. Even so, my primary driving force to write arguably what can be considered as hit piece and harshly criticize Wizardry Daphne is due to the lousy management by Drecom. As the owner of this game that will ultimately ruin Wizardry and deny its rightful potential with their arbitrary Greedy pricing policies.

Wizardry Variants Daphne: Grand Legion 2nd Abyss True Ending GET!

 
 About more than one month since I finished my 2nd Abyss Clear and now I managed to get the True Ending of 2nd Abyss! If it was not for the buggy Cursed Wheel of 2nd Abyss, Perhaps this endeavour would have been done in a week or two. Because the True Ending requirement for 2nd Abyss is actually quite simple and less convoluted compared to the First Abyss. In any case, the efforts to reach 2nd Abyss True Ending is still worth it and you get to save another Waifu in this Dark Fantasy.

This Article will feature general guideline to reach Grand Legion Abyss True Ending as well as the overall storyline for the second abyss.

Wizardry Variant Daphne : Port Town Grand Legion 2nd Abyss 1st run Clear!

 One month to go before the Blade & Bastard collab hailing Wizardry Daphne and New Abyss Dungeon appear to be coming up soon as well. Over past two weeks, I have been grinding my way up to the Second Abyss which is Water based Dungeon filled with Aquatic Deathtraps and Sahagins Fish Demi Human. Overall with proper preparation I have overcome the tribulations that this Dungeon had to offer and managed to clear my first run even if it is not a perfect one which is very acceptable since you need another run for the True Ending anyway.

Wizardry: Blade & Bastard

Considering that this particular Wizardry Spinoff Manga & Novel getting a collab with Wizardry Daphne within a month, might as well talk a little bit about it. Given Wizardry popularity in Japan, the series is kept alive quite well for more than 40 years beyond the shelflife of its original counterpart. One of the recent medium for this Classic JRPG series is a Light Novel called Blade & Bastard released in 2022 and this one is written by the Author of Goblin Slayer, Kumo Kagyu Sensei.

Blade & Bastard is a story of a Wizardry Dungeon adventure featuring a Male Samurai named Iarumas with mysterious past who got resurrected recently after ended up as a Corpse for a long time in the Dungeon. Accompanied by a young girl Fighter who simply called Garbage, Iarumas explore the Dungeon while retrieving Adventurers corpses as a part of recovering his Memories. 

So far the Blade & Bastard Manga only have 10 Chapters and nothing much going at the moment. but since we have Goblin Slayer author at the helm of this work, we can expect a good Dark Fantasy series as the Author had quite an expertise on Old School RPG and the manga perfectly encapsulate the Sombre Dark Fantasy Atmosphere that Wizardry had. 

I suppose Wizardry Daphne Dev picked this particular series as the first collab material because the close Resemblance of Iaruma Archetype with Daphne Main Protagonist who still have many secrets yet uncovered after being resurrected as Ghoul with plenty of Godlike ability and it would be a good timing to release Samurai Class in Daphne. If the collab is successful enough perhaps we could even get Goblin Slayer Collab which is a perfect fit for Wizardry Series apart from Dungeon Meshi. 

Wizardry Variants Daphne - Beginning Abyss True Ending GET

 Supposedly I should have written this article before talking about making Wizardry Variants Daphne main article. But in this instance I would like to share my experience in clearing the Beginning Abyss Dungeon which is only achievable on Second run of the Dungeon. For the First tutorial dungeon, Wizardry Variants Daphne choice to put a very brutal challenge for new players is rather Peculiar. Because It took me like Three Weeks to reach the True ending with respectable amount of effort which is kinda unheard of for a Gacha Game. If you minmax and have time to Spare, probably you can reach Wizardry Daphne Beginning Abyss True Ending in One week but typical target demographic of this game unlikely have that kind of time with their Full Time job.

While the Difficulty level of the Beginner Dungeon is way too brutal for average casual gamer, It definitely sets the tone of a Epic Dark Fantasy that will come out from Wizardry Variants Daphne.

Wizardry Variants Daphne

 
 Over past 1 month I have been playing this new Gacha game called Wizardry Variants Daphne. As expected from a Game that bears the same name with one of the Progenitor of JRPG, Wizardry Variants Daphne is a Solid classic Dungeon Crawling JRPG that comes with Brutal Difficulty yet fun Old School RPG experience. For a Gacha Game made by Japanese Dev in a time where Chinese Gaming Industry reigns supreme, Wizardry Variants Daphne is promising JRPG game that is quite well made and could have sold well even as a console game. But for some reason the Devs decide to make this new iteration of Wizardry as Gacha game that overall have solid production value and potential. Interestingly the Illustrator of this game is the same one with Fire Emblem Awakening series.

Wizardry (OVA)

 Wizardry is a Legendary RPG series that cannot be understated for its immense influence in Japan. This series is essentially one of the main pillar of JRPG genre that was well known for its brutal and unforgiving Fantasy Dungeon Crawling experience. Due to my recent encounter with Wizardry Variants Daphne, I end up came across the OVA anime of this 40 Years Old Classic simply dubbed as Wizardry.

Based on Wizardry 1: Proving Grounds of Mad Overlord, Wizardry OVA is a short and intense Fantasy adventure. The OVA is a hack and slash fantasy rollercoaster with a basic premise where a Group of experienced adventurers for various reasons decide to challenge the Mad Wizard Werdna who tried to unleash Evil Power from an Amulet stolen from his former friend in the deepest part of the dungeon he created.

As a Fantasy Anime, Wizardry OVA is very fast paced and goes straight to the meat of Fantasy Adventure and did it well, which is quite a rarity for Japanese anime as they usually tend to prefer their weakling protagonist went through some character development first. Even a DnD fan will enjoy this Wizardry OVA because it is a good depiction of Level 5-8 DnD Campaign where the Adventurers are somewhat experienced but still very vulnerable against the threat that a Dungeon had and will have to rely on their wits to survive the challenge presented to them. 

If you like Fantasy Anime, you won't have nothing to lose to give this Wizardry OVA a watch just to show a glimpse what Japanese were capable of back in the Golden Age of their economy. I will definitely discuss Wizardry Variants Daphne in near future which make me got into this old yet venerable Classic RPG series.