Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge
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| Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge | |
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| Developer(s) | Sir-tech Software, Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Sir-tech Software, Inc. (Amiga, DOS) ASCII (SNES) |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, DOS, Super NES, Macintosh |
| Release date | 1990 (Amiga, DOS) 1995 (SNES) |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media | Floppy disk, Cartridge |
| Input methods | Keyboard, Gamepad |
Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge is the 6th title in the Wizardry series of computer role-playing games. It was the first in the trilogy surrounding the Dark Savant, which was followed by Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant and Wizardry 8. It was developed by Sir-tech Software, Inc. and was released on the Amiga and DOS platforms in 1990 by the same company, and for the SNES in Japan in 1995 by ASCII.
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[edit] Gameplay & Atmosphere
Like its predecessors and successors, Wizardry VI is a first person RPG, where the view represents what the party sees. Dialogue boxes will pop up when something can be interacted with on the screen (like treasure chests or monsters), but otherwise, the party is free to explore their surroundings through tile-based movement and manual searching.
Wizardry VI's monsters and races are made up of many mythological creatures and people, from the fictitious, to even some real life races and people. The player may meet Sirens and Charron from Greek mythology, the Amazulu (a group of black warrior women, whose tribal name is derived from the Amazons of Greek legend, and the Zulu of Africa), and even the Caterpillar from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
[edit] Story
The player controls a party of between two and six people from numerous fantasy backgrounds, identical to those found in Wizardry VII and 8: the Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Hobbit, Faerie, Lizardman, Dracon (a half-Human, half-Dragon), Rawulf (anthropomorphic dogs), Felpurr (anthropomorphic cats) and Mook (aliens that resemble Yeti). They have come upon a castle that has been abandonded for 120 years, and which is rumored to contain the Cosmic Forge, a pen said to control the destiny of time and space; whatever is written with the pen becomes instantly true. Nobody knows what became of the King, Queen and Wizard who once lived there. Once the party enters the gates of the castle, the gates close behind them, making escape impossible.
The party visits many exotic locations. The ruins of the castle and its turrets have become overrun by creatures such as giant rats, vampire bats and carnivorous vines. Its basement has become a den of thieves, pirates and other ne'er-do-wells. Once the party finds a path through the castle and into the mountains beyond it, they meet the hostile giants and dwarves who mine the rock there, and a tribe of warrior women called the Amazulu in the jungles nearby.
In the mountains, they free the spirit of the Wizard, Xorphitus, who used the Cosmic Forge to learn everything there was to know in the universe. By doing so, his essence was split into two separate beings: the ghostly vision that the party meets, who seems reflective and benevolent, and his insane, violent, physical self who appears much later. Xorphitus explains that this was because the nature of man was to be divided, and to know all things constituted a breach of this natural law, so he was naturally separated into two beings, each containing half of the universe's knowledge. He warns the party not to use the pen as he did, because using the Cosmic Forge outside of the Cosmic Circle would cause the user to suffer its Bane: to have their desire twisted into a mockery of the writer's intent.
Using a pair of red rubies gained from their dealings and combat with the Amazulu of the jungle, and the giants and dwarves of the mountains, the party gains entrance to the River Styx which runs beneath the basement of the castle. There, they eventually meet the King and Queen, and the King's lover, Rebecca. The King, having used the cursed Cosmic Forge to wish himself immortal, suffers the Bane of living forever as a vampire, unable to feel even the most simple of human emotions. He attacks the party and drinks their blood, and leaves them weakened, but alive.
The party also meets the long dead Queen, whose spirit still haunts the world. She relates the story of how she was forced to be impregnated by a demon at the King's command, and after she gave birth to the half-demon creature Rebecca, the King took the young girl as his lover, then ordered the Queen put to death. Her vengeful spirit gives the party a silver cross and instructs them to use it to kill both the King and Rebecca.
In actuality, her story is utterly untrue. The King, in fact, took Rebecca in as his own, when a holy man known only as the Vicar and his betrothed, Annie, left her in his care. This caretaker relationship eventually developed into a romantic one. The Queen's death was not by the King's order, and was in fact, her own doing. Jealous at having been tossed aside for the young girl as the King's lover, the Queen used the Cosmic Forge and wrote of the death of the "witch," which the Bane interpreted as meaning herself, and she slipped and fell on her own knife.
Finally, the party meets Rebecca, who hypnotizes them and brings them to meet the King a second time. The story branches from here, depending on whether the party believed the lies of the Queen. If they did, they still have the silver cross given to them by the Queen, the King burns himself upon it, and the party is thrown into prison. If they did not believe the Queen and threw the cross away, the King drinks his fill of blood, then throws the party into prison anyway.
The choice the party makes becomes much more important later, after they make their escape from the prison. After eliminating the physical form of Xorphitus, they enter a final meeting with the King. The King relates to the party his struggles with a life of no emotion if they disbelieved the Queen, and then kills himself by thrusting a holy stake of wood into his own heart. Rebecca appears afterward, and asks the party to take care of both the Cosmic Forge and her half-brother, the dragon Bela, who was born of an affair between the Queen and the Vicar.
Interestingly enough, when Rebecca first appears, if the party says, "I love you," she will give them a diamond ring. This ring has excellent healing and defensive stats, and can be used in Wizardry VII to get some of the strongest items in the game, and can be returned to Bela in Wizardry 8 for a massive experience bonus.
On the other hand, a party allied with the Queen is forced to fight the King, and on the more difficult game settings, his lover Rebecca. As vampires, the two of them may only be damaged by holy stakes of wood and holy water. After his death, the spirit of the King relates his struggle, and then disappears.
At this point, the party enters a chamber ahead of them, which houses the Cosmic Forge. If they decide to secure it, a voice says, "I'll take that!" (this is the voice of Aletheides, a cyborg who returns in Wizardry VII and 8). At this point, a screen appears to tell the player to save a savegame for use in the sequel. The party is then transported back to the forest outside the prison so they can level up or adventure some more.
If the party does not take the pen, they continue on through another door to meet Bela, and the final story branch occurs here. If the party did not believe the Queen and did not kill the King and Rebecca, Bela is elated at having new company. Together, if the player so wishes, he and the party enter the mouth of a spaceship and take off for the stars to chase Aletheides.
On the other hand, a party that believed the Queen is forced into combat with a vengeful Bela. After killing him, they may enter the mouth of the spaceship on their own, and blast off into the stars by themselves. A shipbound party that goes with Bela meets the Umpani in the next game, while a shipbound party that goes without him will end up captives, and unwilling servants, of the Dark Savant.
The origins of the spaceship are explained, rather tongue-in-cheekly, by Bela during the story path where the party befriends him. He apparently made it through instruction gained from a peculiar device in his possession (the device is clearly some kind of interstellar communication device, and he was talking with the Umpani, who are in Wizardry VII and 8). Amusingly enough, he also says that it is powered by the remains of the dinosaurs in the forest, i.e. oil/gasoline. Also, if the party refuses Bela's offer to travel the stars, he offers them the key to the castle so that the party may return to the entrance where the game began. Oddly enough, he also asks them to turn the lights out when they're done.
In all, there are three different endings to the game:
- The "Bela" ending, which requires dropping the silver cross before meeting the King for the second time (and therefore, disbelieving the Queen), then accepting Bela's offer to chase Aletheides.
- The "Ship" ending, which requires holding on to the silver cross when meeting the King for the second time (and therefore, believing the Queen), then choosing to board the spaceship after killing Bela.
- The "Cosmic Forge" ending, completely independent of whether the party believed the Queen, which is acquired by trying to take the Cosmic Forge when prompted.
[edit] Differences between Wizardry VI, Wizardry VII and Wizardry 8
Although most things about Wizardry VI and Wizardry VII are similar, there are some key differences between them:
- The graphics improve from 16 color EGA in Wizardry VI to 256 color VGA in Wizardry VII.
- The skills Diplomacy, Swimming, Mapping and Climbing do not exist in Wizardry VI. Diplomacy does not exist because NPC interaction is more simplistic in Wizardry VI, and Mapping does not exist as there is no map. Swimming also does not exist because the party cannot swim, and must utilize different vehicles for water transport, and the success of Climbing is done randomly in Wizardry VI, rather than being a skill, so the Climbing skill likewise does not exist.
- There are no Personal Skills like Eagle Eye and Power Strike in Wizardry VI, which are unlocked through items in Wizardry VII and training in Wizardry 8.
- When levelling up in Wizardry VI, as well as in Wizardry 8, acquired skill points are all part of a large pool which can be placed anywhere. In Wizardry VII, skills are split up into Weapons (Swords, Martial Arts, Shields, etc...), Physical (Swimming, Lockpicking, Scouting, etc...), Academic (Spellbooks, Critical Strike, Mapping, etc...) and Personal Skills (Power Strike, Eagle Eye, etc...).
- The illness "Disease" does not exist in Wizardry VI.
- A character's mana bar is not portrayed in the game's main window; a player must manually choose a character to see how much magic they have left.
- A character may not be selected by clicking on their portrait or pressing 1-6, as is the case in Wizardry VII and 8, and must instead be "Reviewed" through the menu.
- The party may sidestep or turn at any time in Wizardry VII and 8, but there are separate modes for turning and sidestepping in Wizardry VI, switchable by pressing the down arrow.
- When talking with NPCs, they automatically like (talk with) or hate (attack) the party. In Wizardry VII and 8, it was sometimes necessary to "Peace" or "Force" a neutral or hateful NPC into being friendly. In addition, there is no "Lore" command, which exchanges all of the player's information on the world with an NPC in exchange for all of theirs.
- Lockpicking in both Wizardry VII and 8 involves sliding individual tumblers into place to pick the lock open. In Wizardry VI, every tumbler is activated at once, and must therefore all be in the correct position before the door lock is successfully picked.
- Trapped treasure chests in Wizardry VII and 8 are opened by disarming specific devices. In Wizardry VI, portions of the trap's name are revealed, letter by letter, according to the skill of the character inspecting it. For example, a character with high skill might see a "GUARDIAN" trap as "RUDGNIAA," while someone less experienced might see "DA."
- There is no "Terminate Game" option in Wizardry VI as there is in Wizardry VII, which allows the player to kill everyone in the party and restore a savegame immediately when the party faces impossible odds. Instead, the player must either run first, or wait until everyone is dead, before restoring a savegame.
- The spells Psionic Fire, Dazzling Lights, Restfull, Superman, Draining Cloud, Cure Disease, Shrill Sound, Death Cloud, Whipping Rocks, Crush, Confusion, Watchbells, Spooks, Find Person, Healthfull, Zap Undead and Recharge are in Wizardry VII, but not in Wizardry VI. Cure Disease does not exist because there is no Disease condition to cure, and Find Person does not exist because NPCs don't begin to wander until Wizardry VII. The rest of the spells were added to help support lagging spellbooks and spell classes (for example, by adding more fire spells for the Psionic, and more spells in general for the Alchemist), or to add new features, like the ability to recharge magic items.
- Some bugs were fixed for the sequels, such as "strike everyone" spells like Nuclear Blast and Mind Flay being resisted by everyone in Wizardry VI.
[edit] External links
- Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge at MobyGames
- Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge at GameFAQs
- Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge at Hall of Light: Database of Amiga Games
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