Elminage Gothic is a very conservative, but incredibly well done, extension of the basic Wizardry 1 mechanics. Like Wizardry 1, the game deemphasizes boss fights (though they exist) in favor of fast-paced but challenging random encounters and convoluted mazes that will stretch your resources to the limits. Elminage Gothic manages to enrich the basic Wizardry 1 classes without making things complicated (as opposed to say Etrian Odyssey or Wizardry 6-8). Each class gets one or more special abilities that differentiate them. For example, the Hunter can go first in a round a limited number of times, high level Lords increase their allies' special resistances. High level Fighters get the biggest damage boost in the game. These special abilities are incredibly well balanced and possess subtle nuance. They give each class its own unique character, but without the complicated talent trees of Etrian Odyssey or the elaborate skill system in Wizardry 8. A fighter and a brawler both just spam the attack option, but somehow both feel and play very differently, with very different strengths and weaknesses. Indeed, the Brawler's strengths and weaknesses even change over the course of the game! Elminage Gothic has managed to resist the almost irresistible allure of bloating enemy HP while nerfing their damage. Enemies are frail, but hit hard, and often with nasty side-effects. Combats (even boss fights) are fast and intense. They're over in seconds (well, some boss fights might last minutes), but a lot of can go horrifically wrong in those seconds. The game isn't perfect. Its early game is a bit weak, the dungeons perhaps too convoluted and the gameplay perhaps too slow. But from the midgame on, the game takes off like a rocket and doesn't slow down, and before you know you'll be level 200+ and fighting gods at the top of a 20 floor tower. Well worth checking out if you loved Wizardry 1 and want to see the ideas in that game nurtured to their full fruition.
