I heard that Chaos Strikes Back was indeed superior to Dungeon Master, and I would have loved to try it. Unfortunately, I didn't find a PC release. I still have the original Dungeon Master floppy (not the original release, though), so now that I have my Win98 PC set up again I'll try whether it works. But Chaos Strikes Back was out of my reach back in the days, and I'm not sure I'll find the dedication to play and finish it now.

As for exploits, in DM there were a few generators, which spawned screamers and the worms, which you could kill for food. Even later in the game, when everything else was cleared, it was trivial to go back to the rooms to restock on food if needed. Back when I was young and stupid, I thought about going through the entire game without the extra food, but now that I'm old and stupid I think I have better things to do.

A good choice, but worth nothing to the OP that it'll be re-released on the 3DS next year if you're willing to wait!

Most of the versions released for consoles (specifically the versions made by ASCII corporation) are actually a remix of the scenario which differs from the original in many ways. The maps are different (but many of the original features can still be found somewhere), the game is balanced so that new characters can get somewhere, and there are monsters from Wizardries 1, 3, and 4 in the game. Stat caps are now racial minimum + 10 instead of 18. Some spells had their level adjusted (DIAL is 3rd level in stead of 4th, for example), and there are a few new spells (LADALTO). Monster stats (including those of bosses) have pretty much remained the same, however.

Also note that the ASCII version was released in Japan under the title "Wizardry 3: Knight of Diamonds", as Wizardry 3 was previously released for the Famicom as Wizardry 2. I note that the Famicom version of 3 didn't see an English version, so the English NES version of Wizardry 2 (which, remember, is a remix of the original scenario) was released under its proper number.

The PSX version is a special case, as it is based on the original version rather than the ASCII version. You can create characters, but they start at level 1, which is too low to survive; the pre-made characters start at level 10. Fortunately, that version contains 1, 2, and 3 on the same disk, making transfer between scenarios easy.

I've never seen that as an exploit. In fact, I think the first screamer generator was put there intentionally so that players could get more food and practice if needed.

Incidentally, Chaos Strikes Back has a worm generator really early in the game; it happens if you stand on a square that is notable for another reason (hint: if you've played the game, you've been on that square). With that said, getting back to that room is *not* trivial; the dungeon design isn't that friendly.

That's cool. Maybe if GOG ever gets the first 5 i'll pick them up at some point. Why aren't they here? Is there some kind of legal stuff going on with these games or what?

No idea, could be something as simple as the publisher preferring the last three games in the series as they have more visual design to them (1-5 can be seen as barren visually these days)

Gamepot Inc. is listed as the publisher so it someone could get in contact with them and ask. Sir-Tech is the developer but they had to leave the game industry after Wizardry 8 so I'm sure they have no control over the license anymore.

There's also a pretty faithful freeware remake of Dungeon Master and Chaos Strikes Back for modern Windows, Return to Chaos. I can't say whether it mimicks the originals 100%, and of course it's very questionable whether it's even legal to mimick them like that, but it's been around for ages and so far noone asked for it to be taken off the net. If you can't get your floppy disks to work, and seeing that Chaos Strikes Back or even Dungeon Master isn't sold anywhere for PC anymore, it might be a valid alternative.

My apologies for the late reply!

Thank you for all your recommendations. I've got Grimrock 1 but I kind of gave up on it during the early levels once I found out you have to look at every single wall to find out if there are any secrets, so doing forward, left, right, forward, left, right (in a corridor), got boring however I might come back to it. I understand looking at walls, but looking at every side while in a narrow corridor just isn't what I have in mind as "fun". On the other hand, if you have games where you see walls of the whole room or few steps ahead of you so you can tell from a distance if there's something off about them, and you don't have to turn and inspect every wall section individually, is okay with me.

I like Etrian Odyssey, I'm about 3/4 finished with the first game.

I'll reply to the other posts later! :)

More than fair. I am not very fond of the "wall humping" strategy that some games require for finding secrets.

However, there is a strategy that can help for spotting secrets: Your map. A part of your map that is conspicuously empty can point towards secrets. Heck, sometimes terrain features on the map are shaped in a way to create arrows or numbers.

If you play La-Mulana, walls can often be broken. Eyes in the background will punish you for reckless attacks. Breakable walls often fill up a sizable part of the room or have a different pattern, so that is usually a good sign for when to start whipping. Some of the walls require a specific weapon, usually grenades.