Wizardry + Bards Tale

Often I'm reminded just how awesome the 80s were. Especially when it came to gaming. I'm writing this post on a smart phone but computers were way cooler back then. On the Apple II, my friends and I were playing Wizardry! The pioneer of computer role-playing games! Later would come The Bard's Tale, and a host of other classics. Wizardry was the game which inspired all the others.

A dungeon crawl with a party of characters, exploring a (pseudo) 3D maze (which you mapped yourself with pen and paper), with monsters, traps, treasures and puzzles. A quest to slay an evil mage and save the world!

It also was like playing D&D. You could roll up characters for your party from familiar classes; fighter, thief, mage and priest. They could be a human, elf, dwarf, hobbit or gnome. Their attributes were close enough to be familiar too: Strength, I.Q., Piety, Vitality, Agility, Luck. Later you could upgrade characters to one of the elite classes: Lord, Bishop, Ninja, and Samurai!

I also played the next two titles in the Wizardry series. Completing each was difficult but you could import characters. Cool. Then Electronic Arts brought out The Bard's Tale. And you could import your Wizardry characters! More adventures! More mapping!

Which makes me wonder... where did I find the time? School, paper run, brass band, orchestra, swimming, lifesaving, soccer, lawn mowing, wood chopping, scouts, odd jobs, Tae Kwon Do, painting, drawing, writing, running, gaming, break dancing... er, anyway, misspent youth?

Wizardry was worth it.