I just did some digging and in Japan, Wizardry 1 - V were remade for PC as well as PSOne and Saturn and all are partially in English... hmmmm...

Yeah, yeah, I know it's Good OLD Games and as a old as hell Wizardry fan myself, yes indeed, those crusty old originals SHOULD get respect they deserve, ugly or not to some gamers.

THAT said, the remakes have two versions of each game on them - old wireframe visuals, and the other with nice textured artwork. I was yakking with a friend about 6 - 8 being on gog.com and he pointed me to this page:

http://theodor.lauppert.ws/games/llylsaga.htm

and asked if it was part of the same series. I had no idea this existed, but it would be cool to see it here at some point. Then again, I think that would require a lot more work than what it took to get 6 - 8 out if there's still translation to be done and such... oh well...

BTW, here's a video of the game in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYvVAz4Zocg

yeah that really is wishful thinking,since they were done by a different company then Sir tech and the current rights holder so there will be some licensing issues and the PC version has some issues running on newer set ups.Not to mention needing to be translated into english.

Hey, it never hurts to dream, right? Interestingly enough, there have been enough different versions of Wizardry I - VI done for a few Japanese consoles and PC that it's actually worth tracking them down to see the differences for purely historical purposes. The different publishers who were handling the license actually did a much better job of keeping the older games in the minds and hands of gamers there than in the US, that's for sure.

I know the PC-98 games were playable in English (and yes, by another developer/publisher entirely) and as far as the version here (and the console versions) - the only Japanese in the game are the menus and magic descriptions. The game text proper can be set to English.

My Japanese isn't the best as I'm still learning, but all this talk of other versions and spinoffs is making me feel like actually tracking some of these down and playing them myself. Anyone know what's considered the best Wizardy spinoff or remake so I can start off on a good foot?

nevermind

The Llylgamyn Saga can be played via an Emulator and does have an English Patch - I play it on my PSP - it is a great re-make. Faithful to the original but some nice updates.

I've heard of that emulation and of course, I'm a bit of a stubborn one about that sort of stuff unless I can get my grubby paws on an original disc and use that patch. Still, I do own the PS versions of Llylgamyn Saga and New Age of Llylgamyn (which were partially in English), so I've played a good deal of them.

Still... that PC version is really tempting me (although I'm not fond of those multiple Mac-style windows that version has)...

Wizardry 1-5 can be released on GOG if they sort out the IP licensing. In 1998, there was a collection that had Wizardry 1-7 ( the seventh was the gold edition ). It was called The Ultimate Wizardry Archives. The games were made to work on Windows '98. Seriously doubt, that the japanese spinoffs or remakes will reach us in other form than emulation.

P.S..: if you liked Wizardry and you still didn't play it, check Wizards and Warriors. One last hurrah from D.W. Bradley. Dungeon Lords ( his last game ) was completely underwhelming.

Ultimate WIzardry Archives was a bit clunky for the older games on (then) modern hardware.
However, in Dosbox they're totally fine.

However I find the actual adventures (at least 2 and 3) a bit tedious.

Still, I'd be happy to see them here and would probably buy again.

what licensing issues? the only thing that happened with 1-5 is that Sir Tech owed series creator Andrew Greenburg tons in unpaid royalties and as far as I know that only extended to Sir Tech. I don't mind 2 myself but I agree 3 is ridiculas mainly due to their hole you can't create a party but instead have to import from 1 or 2 and then have to have either A. two parties one good and one evil since each alignment can only access certain floors and each floor usually has something you will need to advance or B. A neutral party with a good or evil charecter that can be swapped in at the final level since neutral parties can access all floors but the final one,unless they have a good or evil party member with them .

Amusingly enough, I reinstalled Wizards and Warriors two weeks back just to see if it would work (it does) and yeah, it's OK, but needs a way to shut down the mouse movement in favor of keyboard commands and a 3D card fix, as choosing to use it mucks up the visuals and makes the game unplayable.

Other than that (and the fact that you have a party of six riding a single horse!), it's a decent game.

BTW, here's a 2011 pic of the PC collection - it's grown a bit since then:

http://fanboydestroy.com/2011/12/14/gallery-pc-games-library-most-of-it/

Why not add Wizardry 1 - 5 as a extra to 6+7? I mean those original release from way back when it was first released in 1982 on PC.

The PC Booters Wiz 1-5 was english back then, yes it's only CGA graphics, but it's playable in english.

Wizardry 1's PC Booter cover
(http://www.mobygames.com/game/pc-booter/wizardry-proving-grounds-of-the-mad-overlord/cover-art)

Another thought would be to release some or all of the first five Wizardrys as freebies, to help promote the 6+7/8 downloads. I don't expect this to happen either (or if it does, it would only be, at most, perhaps Wiz1-3), but I could certainly see some people giving even an ancient, no-frills, hard-as-nails CGA dungeon crawl a try if it's free.

I had no idea the rights to the original quintilogy were as muddled as all that, but then, most software-rights issues from back in the day are hopelessly muddled as it is.

the rights are not muddled, seriously where are people getting this? it's just that Sir Tech owed series creator Andrew Greenberg back royalties for 1-5 as his deal with them either when he was working there or when he departed required them to pay him X amount from the sales of 1-5