The free-to-play dungeon crawler Wizardry Variants Daphne has been released on Steam:
More information.
Wizardry Variants Daphne - Released
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Carnifex
SasqWatch
Free is good, if there are no online requirements I'll be giving this one a shot at some point.
Yeah, Wiz 8 was the last really good game, but that's what happens when you get a bunch of clones made by other developers.
I bought Labyrinth of Lost Souls when it was on sale on GOG a few weeks back but haven't really delved too deep with it yet. Has anyone finished it here on the 'Watch and would comment more about it? I find I get excited in the initial phases of party building and exploration with some of these Wizardry likes but then gradually fizzle out. Elminage Gothic is a good example which I got a fair way into. They're solid games but for me, require serious investment to succeed with.
Carnifex
SasqWatch
I quite enjoyed Elminage Gothic yet haven't played Labyrinth of Lost Souls yet, it's sitting on the back burner right now but I plan on getting to it.
There's one called Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land that I didn't think was bad, but it's a PS2 exclusive. Easy enough to play with an emulator though.
Drithius
Magic & Loss
Was looking at this but reviews are filled with tales of it being a mobile gacha game 
Where are you, Monomyth?!
Where are you, Monomyth?!
I love Wizardry so I had to give this one a look and I'm glad I did.
Now would be a great time to give it a try. It's the 1 year anniversary event. Talk to the "bone picker" NPC standing in town for a special treat.
The game is actually good. I've been playing on/off since launch. Got 150 hours played, up to the 3rd campaign. The 4th is coming next year.
It can get pretty confusing with the system of going back in time to change the outcome of events but you can just go back, change one quest result then jump to the future. You don't unlock this feature for a while though so don't worry about it just yet.
Here's the site with guides and maps, anyway. https://wizardry.fasterthoughts.io
It is a mobile port. Don't expect many graphics settings! 1080p max and it mostly just uses a slice of screen in the middle.Was looking at this but reviews are filled with tales of it being a mobile gacha game
It is also gatcha and the whale traps are massive. However, you can do just fine free2play. The plus side to this is the loot you find is all called "junk" and doesn't take inventory space then you unpack it in town in a similar way to opening a "bone" for a random character.
Other nice features are auto combat, auto mapping and auto move when you click on the map. All optional.
You characters can turn to dust though so if they die while below 50% fortitude and you fail to use your right hand on them in combat then swap them out for someone else and res them at the temple in town later when they're back to full fort.
PS. I'm mostly free2play but there have been a couple of times where I bought 10 bone packs. I think I've spent about $25 USD and my main roster is very solid. (ninja, fighter, fighter, mage, priest, thief)... (Also, thinking about swapping fighter out for a samurai but they're so slow to level)
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Vaelith
Lawful Evil Harbinger
This is a Waifu Gacha game with a Wizardry skin. I played it for a couple hours and read a bit around and most agree that you don't need to spend money to progress at good pace, and there's no PvP, so as long as you don't fall in the microtransaction traps it may be worth having some fun with.
I got a couple of the best legendary heroes in the new player rush gift shower, namely Lanavaille and Alice, there are a number of others, but seems I got decently lucky, although receiving a few of the rarest heroes from free play is not unheard of; the trap is as usual with this type of game, getting the hero is just the beginning, you need to get a number of extra copies to merge/fuse/unlock their potential to make a difference in the endgame, and that's what you'll never see happening as a free player.
So for anyone interested, play at your own risk! Other than that, the game seems to be actually pretty decent.
I got a couple of the best legendary heroes in the new player rush gift shower, namely Lanavaille and Alice, there are a number of others, but seems I got decently lucky, although receiving a few of the rarest heroes from free play is not unheard of; the trap is as usual with this type of game, getting the hero is just the beginning, you need to get a number of extra copies to merge/fuse/unlock their potential to make a difference in the endgame, and that's what you'll never see happening as a free player.
So for anyone interested, play at your own risk! Other than that, the game seems to be actually pretty decent.
Yeah, this is the big whale trap. You can absorb doubles of a character to level their discipline passive. The first time costs 1 double. Then 2, 3, 4. Up to a maximum of disc14. Considering a pack of 50 bones is $100 and its only a 2% chance to get the legendary... It's mostly a mechanic almost no one can max out. But I remember seeing interviews with Lost Ark players who'd spent $750,000 on the game so maybe someone has. xD
I think non-legendary characters up to disc3 is about the most you'd want to interact with this system. That'll get you about 5 hitpoints. (Depending on what their disc passive actually does!)
Carnifex
SasqWatch
I've not tried the Wizardry Variant, will have to sample that one sometime, thanks for the info.
I played it and got to the final boss. Its a single 10 level dungeon like Wizardry 1, nowhere near as epic or long as Elminage. The dungeon levels are distinct from one another though, and there are few side quest along the way. I found it decent. There are better Wizardry (type) games, but worse ones too. Kind of forgettable.
Now I remember why I quit playing last time. Looks like it will take months to get enough "guild tags" from a weekly quest to let my party go higher than level 50.
Or, I could buy the tags in the item mall.
That's the bad part of this game. Hard to recommend it now after remembering that!
Or, I could buy the tags in the item mall.
That's the bad part of this game. Hard to recommend it now after remembering that!