Wizardry (The Edge)

Wizardry (The Edge)
Game No.	491
Voting	-
Developer	Steven T. Chapman
Company	The Edge
Publisher	Softek International (The Edge), Mindscape
Musician	Clever Music, (aka Mike Alsop, aka Mark Alphingwood). Composers: Graham Jarvis, Rob Hartshorne
HVSC-File	/MUSICIANS/C/Clever_Music/Wizardry.sid
Release	1985, 1986
Platform	C64
Genre	3D-RPG
Gamemode	Single player
Operation
Media
Language
Information	aka Spell of Destruction (US version)

Description

Wizardry from the publisher The Edge was a 3-dimensional graphic adventure, loosely in the style of "Dungeons & Dragons".

It implemented magic and melee combat against multiple enemies, and involved a lot of puzzle solving. The music was extremely good for the time, and the tune played was in line with what was happening in the game.

Features

The features of this game are:

• A 3-D graphics adventure as you've never seen before!
• Set in a castle, your test is to use spells, solve riddles and fight with demons in search of the evil Elemental.
• Unique 'Dungeons & Dragons' like play.
• Over 70 areas to the castle, with several scrolling 3-D screens in each area.
• Features a revolutionary 'movie' like music score.

• "...the game's graphics and music are truly outstanding with the music giving vital clues to the level of danger in a room".

"Wizardry is a game which ... deserves to push 'The Edge' to a status amongst software houses which at the moment is dominated almost completely by U.S. groups, it's truly superb!"

Commodore Computing International, October 1985.

• "Pick of the Week" in Computer Trade Weekly, Issue 50.

Design

Graphics and sound were extremely good for the time. The 3D effect was very well achieved, and the music was a pleasure to listen to.

What is lacking a bit is the scroll, which causes some graphic corruption right below the main area of the screen, and the fact the game can be a bit slow.

Also there were not many clues in the game (on screen, or by using the TELL TALE spell), so sometimes the player requires to guess what to do.

Drinn at the start of the adventure.

The first boss at the end of level 1.

Drinn defeated the Prime Elemental and won the game.

Hints

Common Spells & Actions

Spell Name	Description
FIND IT	Reveals the location of hidden elements in a room
FIREBALL	Casts a fireball in the direction Drinn is facing
HEAL	Restores your life energy to 99
HOLD IT	Casts a spell (in the direction Drinn is facing) to stop an enemy so it cannot chase you
SWORD	Activates sword combat
TELL TALE	Gives you a clue about what you need to do in the game

Sword Combat

You must face your enemy, ensure SWORD is selected, then keep the button of the joystick pressed and move the stick sideways without releasing the button.

Other Tips

Listen to the music when you enter a room, quite often it indicates what enemy is present!

Do not waste spells. Try to kill using the sword whenever possible (but don't die!).

Elemental enemies (clouds with lightning) are better to be killed using spells.

When you get a specially named spell after playing around for a while in a dungeon level, it is often the one to use on the boss guarding the exit. Other spells with special names are to solve the different puzzles.

When you did something right (such as solving a puzzle) Drinn turns purple.

Solution

A complete walkthrough, coupled with maps of all levels, was created by Michael Lambert in 2008, and can be found on The C64 Adventure Game Solutions and Walthrough Site [[1]]

Cheats

In the CSDb exists Cracks with trainers.

After analysis of the INFINITE ENERGY program in the disk version, this subroutine was modified:

.C:1d71  A9 B3       LDA #$B3
.C:1d73  8D 4A 65    STA $654A
.C:1d76  8D 4B 65    STA $654B
.C:1d79  AD 49 65    LDA $6549
.C:1d7c  C9 64       CMP #$64
.C:1d7e  B0 04       BCS $1D84
.C:1d80  4C 40 6A    JMP $6A40

Simply to disable the carry bit check (BCS instruction).

There're several ways to implement the infinite energy cheat, but one possibility is to replace the entire check with NOP instructions:

> 1d7e ea ea

With the simple change above, energy will decrease, but you will never die.

Voting

Voting of the C64-Wiki-User (10=the best vote):
No votes yet. You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	?	28. November ? - ? downs
Lemon64	?	28. November 2019 - ? votes

Reviews

Name: "No criticism". or Testuser: "No criticism".

Miscellaneous

Cover

"Wizardry (The Edge) for C64 cover"

Screenshots other version

"Spell of Destruction (US release name) cover"

Links

Wikipedia: Wizardry_(The_Edge)

• C64Games.de - Game No. 1982
• Lemon64 - Game No. 2878
• Gamebase64.com - Game No. 8661
• ready64 - Game No. 256
• CSDb
• Zzap64!

Spell of Destruction

• Gamebase64.com - Game No. 7180
• MobyGames.com

Clever Music

• Video Game Music Preservation Foundation Wiki