Wizardry: The Five Ordeals - Coming to Steam Early Access

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Gematsu reports that Wizardry: The Five Ordeals will be coming to Steam Early Access June 18th. The game will be fully translated over the Early Access period.

The Early Access release includes all the features of the original 2006 version, with all official scenarios implemented playable up until the ending. The user interface and editor, however, still require adjustments.

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The best spin-off of "Wizardry", beloved for 15 years in Japan, is coming to Steam

The Wizardry series was born in 1981. In Japan, it is known as the originator of hard-core fantasy games, and many japanese fantasy works have been under its influence. Old "Wizardry" which follows the old hack and slash TRPG style, the objective is to create a character/party in the training center on the edge of town, and conquer the labyrinth in first person dungeon crawl. Combat is a simple turn-based system, now synonymous with JRPGs, and storytelling is narrative heavy, the Japanese still believe that is one and only master piece. Wizardry: The Five Ordeal made 2006 that aspires to go back to the old school. Created by the staff of the "Wizardry Gaiden" series, a spin-off of the Wizardry series known in Japan. Five independent scenarios (each taking a dozen hours to complete) can be played in one software package. Main Monster Design are Jun Suemi (Japanese famous illustlator), BGM Made by Basiscape (known by 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim).

Made and share Your Own Adventure

This Game's biggest main feature is Scenario Editor. You can make your own old-fashioned dungeon crawler, and you can also play those made by others. Of course, the balance of the game is yours to decide. Over the past 15 years, Japanese users have created more than 110 scenarios, and were the driving force behind bringing the game to Steam.

Brand New Enhanced Version

In Wizardry: The Five Ordeal on this version, remade under the Unity engine. almost has been overhauled except for the game balance and foundation of the game. You may be able to play this game as an old-school new one, made in 2021.


  • Widescreen/high resolution support, 3D labyrinth and high resolution monsters.
  • 4 UI modes in total, including 2 completely new ones.
  • New built-in scenario selector.
  • Gamepad support.
  • Steam cloud support.
  • Custom portraits support.
  • Various editor updates and enhancements
More information.
 
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I will buy this for the editor alone. I spent a ton of time with RPG Maker, wishing I could make a game like Wizardry or Might and Magic with it. I hope the editor is as easy to use as RPGmaker is.
 
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It doesn't appeal to me personally, but I guess this will be good for those looking for an old-school blobber.

I'll be curious to see how they price it over here considering it's a 15 year-old game.
 
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I'm right there with ya, Forgottenlor. I'll be visiting to play the game, yet moving in to really get involved with that editor!! And yes, hopefully it's a simplistic and easily learned editor.
 
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Is this something like Elminage Gothic, one of the games that Fluent really liked - but in that particular case, he liked the Elminage series and I really didn't so much. I need a little more story and… I don't know. It just wasn't for me.

This seems like it hints of that. Is this basically just a JRPG blobber from 2006 with an editor attached? Because if that's what it is, that's still pretty cool.

(Edit after watching the trailer:

Cons: It does remind me a bit of Elminage… just that alien, hard-to-get-into feel.

Pros: There's a shot with a rabbit with antlers on its head so I'll be buying this.)
 
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I imagine this will be very much like Elminage, which are an excellent series of game. I'm hoping it has a little bit more of the Wizardry vibe, yet even if that's missing I think I'll still dig it.
 
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it won't be English at launch, just keep that in mind guys. They are working on the English translation and if it sells well, it shouldn't take long to finish. All 5 ordeals will be translated, and I'm thinking that if the editor is also translated, we will see some English translations of user modules by the FANS (devs said they aren't going to translate those.) So let's hope for some good sales and support for the game. I will be playing it day one when the English translation is finished. :)
 
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it won't be English at launch, just keep that in mind guys. They are working on the English translation and if it sells well, it shouldn't take long to finish.

I don't understand that. The game was originally released in 2006, and it seems like it was pretty successful in Japan. Not sure why they would need to release it over here before being fully translated.
 
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I don't understand that. The game was originally released in 2006, and it seems like it was pretty successful in Japan. Not sure why they would need to release it over here before being fully translated.

It's an Early Access release.
 
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It's an Early Access release.

Thing is, who's going to buy it when it's not in English at launch? Apparently the interface can be switched to English, but none of the scenario is translated, and one of the developers recently said there's no "concrete ETA yet."

Not trying to sound negative. I'm just wondering if they're dependant on it selling well outside of Japan.
 
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I'm just wondering if they're dependant on it selling well outside of Japan.

I think that this is case and using the early access monies to fund the translation of the scenarios and the editor.

These, like any other Japanese Wizardry, are based on the mechanics and playstyle of the original Wizardries 1 - 5.

This is good as it is rare for any of the Japanese Wizardries to be released on Steam, even though many of them were released on Windows (e.g. chronicles, five ordeals, empire).
 
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I think that this is case and using the early access monies to fund the translation of the scenarios and the editor.

Yeah, that's kind of my point though. How many people outside of Japan are going to buy a game that's still in Japanese?
 
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Yeah, that's kind of my point though. How many people outside of Japan are going to buy a game that's still in Japanese?

There are not many, as the Japanese Wizardries are not very well known in the west (although familiar more to console players). Steamdb shows few hundred followers so far (https://steamdb.info/app/1308700/graphs/) which might be sufficient to continue fund the translation.

I for one will jump into the early access to support the further development and translation.
 
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I'm a bit confused, is this an Early Access of a re-release of a 15 years old game? I hope I'm missing something because I feel the absurdity is reaching new heights.
 
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Yeah I'm really keen on this yet I'll be waiting for a full english translation before I break out the wallet. The entire early access thing these days sets my teeth on edge, and no matter how much I love and enjoy this storied franchise, that's just a difficulty I have trouble getting over these days. Principles and such.
 
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