Wizardry I: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

The title of this article is ambiguous. Wizardry (Disambiguation).

Wizardry I: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

Game No.	492
Voting	7.50 points, 4 votes
Developer	Andrew Greenberg, Robert Woodhead
Company	Sir-tech Software
Publisher	Sir-tech Software Inc.
Musician	Musician
HVSC-File	/blubb/blubber.sid
Release	1987
Platform	C64/128, Apple II, FM-7, Game Boy Color, Macintosh, MSX, NES, PC, Sharp X1, WonderSwan Color
Genre	3D-RPG
Gamemode	Single player
Operation
Media
Language
Information	Follower: Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds

Description[edit | edit source]

Wizardry I was called "Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord".

The game features of the game box are:^[1]

Layered windows graphics system
10 diabolical levels of hi-mazes
For ages 7 to adult
80 pages illustrated manual
Best Game of Year (2 Years)-ST Game
Best Adventure Game - Login, Japan
Overwhelmingly voted Most Popular Computer Game of All Time by the readers of Softalk Magazine

Wizardry I: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is a role-playing game originally released in 1981 and adapted for the C64 in 1987. Along with Might & Magic, Ultima and The Bard's Tale, it is one of the defining titles for role-playing games. There is no special story. With a group of up to six characters, you roam the levels of an underground dungeon near a village. The goal is to defeat the sorcerer Werdna on the lowest level of the dungeon and thus obtain an amulet. Werdna had stolen the amulet from Trebor, the Mad Overlord, and by using it incorrectly had accidentally triggered an earthquake, which had created the dungeon's corridors. Trebor then declared the dungeon a testing ground, and lets heroes, like the group of player characters, prove themselves there in order to be accepted into his honour guard.

At the beginning of the game, you are in a village where you can do various things before entering the dungeon. Among other things, you create characters and change the cast of the party. Four races (human, dwarf, gnome or hobbit) are available for creating characters, three different alignments (good, evil and neutral) and four different basic classes (fighter, priest, mage and thief). The basic classes can later become elite classes (bishop, samurai, prince and ninja).

The dungeons are played through in the first-person perspective. Encounters with monsters occur randomly, and the programme then switches to turn-based battle mode. You give each character one command per turn, such as attack or cast a spell. It should be noted that only characters further up the list can attack in close combat.

Design[edit | edit source]

The graphics have not been greatly improved compared to the original version, which appeared before the C64 came out, and are correspondingly sparse. The surroundings of the dungeon are only represented by white borders on a black background, which is why you quickly lose your orientation without map signs. The menus outside the dungeon are also unadorned monochrome. Only during battles or when treasure chests are found are there small graphics to be seen, but no animations. The soundscape is also rather dull, there are only signal tones to be heard from time to time.

Into the castle...

The door to the first aera...

The design of the doors are unadorned as the walls.

Monsters are also there...!!

Hints[edit | edit source]

Solution[edit | edit source]

Cheats[edit | edit source]

In the CSDb exists cracks with a trainer.

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki-User (10=the best vote):
7.50 points at 4 votes (rank 276). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	7	28. November 2019 - 20393 downs
Lemon64	7,7	28. November 2019 - 14 votes
Kultboy	7,5	28. November 2019 - 4 Stimmen
Amiga Joker	41%	Sonderheft 03/92 (special issue)