It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Answer the call of The Cosmic Forge!

The Dark Savant Trilogy, that is Wizardry 6+7 and Wizardry 8, an RPG epic originating in the harsh but glorious 1990s, the fabled golden age of PC dungeon crawling, is available up to 60% off on GOG.com. That's only $2.39 for one, and $3.99 for the other if you get them both or complete the bundle. You can also get just one of them with 50% discount.

When you hear the expression "Cosmic Forge", what image comes to your mind? A gleaming nebula pulsating with primal energy, suspended in the dark cold void of the still young and empty Universe? A mystical smithy of wizard marble on the top of the highest mountain, where the ancient gods forge the matter of the world and the destiny of the mortals? A place where where master craftsmen create mighty weapons for angels and demons? All the ideas seem plausible, but The Cosmic Forge is in fact--wait for it--a pen. An ancient artifact which can be used to rewrite reality at its users whim. Such power is, of course, greatly desired by all who seek dominion over the Universe. It's up to you, and your party of daring adventurers to secure it first, and use it for the right purpose. Your purpose.

Wizardry 6: Bane of the Cosmic Forge came in 1990 setting some standards for what we call a challenging and complex dungeon crawler. Then, in 1992, it was followed by Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant which brought in even more depth and diversity into the already epic setting. Nine years later, the story was concluded with Wizardry 8, that successfuly bridged the gap between what we call classic and modern RPG gameplay. The trilogy as a whole, takes 500 hours to beat at the average and remains a shiny example of how epic a computer game can get. Be warned: this isn't your casual role-playing. Prepare for a hardcore challenge.

Treat yourself to a huge chunk of PC RPG history. Get Wizardry 6+7 and Wizardry 8 up to 60% off today, on GOG.com. If you already own one of the games it will count towards the discount rate. The promo lasts until Tuesday, August 27, at 9:59AM GMT.
avatar
tburger: OK, thx. I see that if you add 2 games from gamecards you also get -60% But I agree it should be linked on promo post.
avatar
G-Doc: Oh, but it is! :-) You just need to click the promo image. It should work with most of the small stacking promos. :-)
Gasp! So it does. The "easter egg" approach to promo functionality!
avatar
tinyE: Thanks that helped. Not thrilled with the small window but to be honest I just bought this whole thing for W8 and I thought I'd screw around with 6 & 7 while 8 is downloading.

Owe you one.
The windows version is kinda wonky, it also has voice-acting (narration) which is excruciatingly bad, but it also has better music/sfx and the graphics which are a bit less pixelated than the DOS version, and new portraits which may or may not be to your liking.
avatar
tinyE: Thanks that helped. Not thrilled with the small window but to be honest I just bought this whole thing for W8 and I thought I'd screw around with 6 & 7 while 8 is downloading.

Owe you one.
avatar
Crosmando: The windows version is kinda wonky, it also has voice-acting (narration) which is excruciatingly bad, but it also has better music/sfx and the graphics which are a bit less pixelated than the DOS version, and new portraits which may or may not be to your liking.
Yeah there is actually a very extensive post about that in the W forum. The kicker for me is that evidently the DOS version is only in German, which I don't speak so that kind of kills the option. :P I will say even with the small window I was surprised how good it looks. As for music I turn that off in 90% of the games I play anyway. As for narration, nothing could be as bad, NOTHING, and the guy impersonating Lando in Star Wars Galactic Battleground.
avatar
tinyE: The kicker for me is that evidently the DOS version is only in German
Lol, no it's not. I believe there's a German version of Wiz 7 DOS, but there's definitely an English version, I know because I played it the other day, the installer is in the Extras section.
avatar
tinyE: The kicker for me is that evidently the DOS version is only in German
avatar
Crosmando: Lol, no it's not. I believe there's a German version of Wiz 7 DOS, but there's definitely an English version, I know because I played it the other day, the installer is in the Extras section.
Another +1. Keep this up and I might be your indentured servant by the end of the day.
These are compulsory purchases for me... but a few questions to determine play order. Is it necessary to start with Wizardry 6 then end with 8 to fully enjoy the "Comic Forge" trilogy? ...or if I jump right into 8, will I be fine? Also, I read you can import your Wizardry 7 character into Wizardry 8... does that mean that enemies scale to your level? Thanks in advance for any replies.
This is the day I've been waiting for! I thought we wouldn't see something like this until the winter sale.

I logged on five minutes ago, and needless to say I now own these games.
avatar
ofsaturn: When I first signed up for GOG I could not understand why so many people claimed to have a backlog of unplayed games... Now, after purchasing at least one game from every promo they've offered since I signed up, I totally get it.

Continuing with that fine tradition of unnecessary purchases, can anyone elaborate on the gameplay of these two (three) games, particularly Wizardry 8?
500+ hours appeals to the anit-socialite in me, but I've read some of the reviews and I'm still not sure what these games are all about.
About the backlog, yeah. Just... yeah.

Re Wizardry 8:
You don't mention which, if any, RPGs you've encountered, so it's hard to know if you want a general overall idea of gameplay, or specifics on how they differ from the genre...

Basically, you'll create a party of up to 6 characters. Their race, class and attribute scores will determine each character's combat options while things like gender, appearance, voice and personality are there to inject the feeling of travelling with real people.

Once you're in the game, you'll be moving about in a first person, real time view (not tile-based). Your characters will appear as portraits whenever they have something to say, or you otherwise call them up to give them orders or check stuff. When you encounter hostile creatures (which is often) you'll go into turn-based combat, with each character taking whatever action you told them to, and their success being determined by their current stats. Combat is pretty tactical, and can be tense, but it features random encounters, so there'll be times when you just want the enemies to get out of your face and stop wasting your time when you're trying to get somewhere.

There's a ludicrous amount of depth in how you choose to create, equip and level up your characters. Finding and choosing the perfect weapons, armor, class, spells and skills for your party is at least half the fun. :-) In addition to the standard talking, selling and quest-giving, some NPCs are recruitable into your party.

Take a look at the first 10-15 minutes of this Let's Play video. It's bound to give you a better idea than my poor description:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfUZipYEd-w
That was as "instabuy" as "instabuy" can be.
Oh no! Can't... Resist... Temptation!

The reason I didn't buy them when GOG first released them was due to me not having that kind of time commitment then. Sadly, things still haven't changed much in that department. I've had very little time to play games lately. Life stuff and all; considering how few responsibilities I have outside of work, it's scary to think how much more time that would gobble up if I were less of a loner (not intentionally though). In addition, taking into account my other entertainment stuff - boardgames (my social event of the week), lots of lots of books, catching up on favorite shows on Netflix - I wonder at times how I'm able to actually squeeze any video game time in there.

Long story short: When am I ever going to find time to play these? =P
Now this is a promo.
avatar
ofsaturn: When I first signed up for GOG I could not understand why so many people claimed to have a backlog of unplayed games... Now, after purchasing at least one game from every promo they've offered since I signed up, I totally get it.
Yeah. I've been a member less than two weeks and I already have several thousand hours worth of games to play.... and on average I only have about 10h of 'game time' per week.

Oh well, what's another 500h...
Whelp...
avatar
ofsaturn: When I first signed up for GOG I could not understand why so many people claimed to have a backlog of unplayed games... Now, after purchasing at least one game from every promo they've offered since I signed up, I totally get it.

Continuing with that fine tradition of unnecessary purchases, can anyone elaborate on the gameplay of these two (three) games, particularly Wizardry 8?
500+ hours appeals to the anit-socialite in me, but I've read some of the reviews and I'm still not sure what these games are all about.
avatar
zlep: About the backlog, yeah. Just... yeah.
*You* my dear sir or ma'am, are fantastic! Thank you kindly for your response and the link, I believe you've talked me into yet another promo purchase. ;-)

This Wizardry 8 almost reminds me of an advanced version of an old SNES game I used to play called 'The 7th Saga'. It was brutal and unforgiving and the game forced you to fight waaaaaay too many fights, but man, it was so addictive.

Anyway, thanks again for your help, and good luck with your backlog! =)
Post edited August 26, 2013 by ofsaturn
I was wondering if Wizardry 8 required knowledge of 6-7 and found this information...

"As with the first two installments of the Dark Savant trilogy of Wizardry games, Wizardry VI and Wizardry VII, Wizardry 8 has multiple beginnings that continue from the previous games' multiple endings. There are five beginnings in all."

Looking more into the GOG Wizardry forum there seems to be a complicated connection between elements from one game to the successive follow-up so I will plan to start with 6.

Also, due to impending bankruptcy the developers had to sell and insert some non-invasive advertisements into Wizardry 8... but the advertisement can be removed with a patch although some feel it's part of the nostalgia.
Post edited August 26, 2013 by undeadcow