Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land

"The best RPG for PS2!"

Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land was a game that I had seen screen shots of, and was moderately interested in since late 2000. It was released in the U.S. for the PS2 with no hype; in fact, I hadn't realized it was released until nearly a month later! Needless to say, after checking the boards and seeing how much people liked it, I ran out the next day and bought it! The game met and exceeded most of my expectations.

==Graphics==
The graphics in Wizardry are both great and bland. The various monsters are modeled well with great textures and convincing animation. The 2-D artwork in the town is phenomenal: it is done in a pseudo-realistic style, with much attention to detail. The character art is a mixture of mostly western high fantasy art and Japanese cartoon style art. Since this game is a Japanese interpretation of a classic western computer RPG, the art style fits very well!
Unfortunately, while the dungeon graphics get better as you progress in the game, they remain somewhat bland.

==Sound==
The music score is fairly well-done, although subtle. The battle music is not very good, and you may be tempted to turn the volume down after many many battles. Boss battles are accompanied by an interesting guitar piece. The music outside of battle is more ambient. Sound effects are also very subtle.
I was hoping for screams and growls from the monsters, but they are curiously silent. I was somewhat let down by the music and sound effects, although the town music theme is quite good.

==Story==
I wasn't expecting much of a story in a game based off of an old computer RPG series, so I was surprised by how well told the story is. There is a definite sense of progression as details in the plot reveal themselves. Much like the soundtrack, the story line is quite subtle; unlike the soundtrack, the story line is very good.
The script was translated very well and, except for a few embarrassing attempts at modernizing the dialogue through the use of poorly done slang, really helps in establishing a mood. Since most of the story is told with 2-D artwork that doesn't animate, the script uses the third-person perspective to describe motions and gestures. It's actually very effective.

==Gameplay==
This game is great. Actually, let me explain that: this game is great if you can appreciate the kind of RPG Wizardry is. This is not Final Fantasy. It isn't even Dragon Warrior, though it is close.
Wizardry, for those who haven't played the older PC games, was a dungeon crawl. You created a party of adventurers from a selection of races and classes, and went off into the dungeon, working from a central hub, the town. The game centered around combat and character improvement. There was very little plot.
Wizardry: TotFL changes the formula slightly. You create one character, and are joined by various characters throughout the game. These characters have stories to themselves, which develop as you go deeper into the labyrinth. Later, when your fame increases, more characters gather in the bar, and you are able to assemble a party out of these characters. This is a great way to keep elements of party customization, while adding elements of a story line.
Combat is still the main part of Wizardry. You will fight many many battles, win treasures and items, and, if you're not careful, get your characters killed- at times, permanently. There is a wealth of options in combat, including the interesting allied actions (AA). AA allow you to use your party more efficiently, by using teamwork. AA include guarding against powerful attacks with front row members while rear row characters launch spells and ranged weapons at the enemy, interrupting enemies' powerful spells and attacks with a well timed ranged attack, and other useful strategies. The AA system adds a lot of strategy to the battles.
How to gain AA? You have to build trust with your party members. Wizardry:TotFS includes an interesting personality and alignment system. Each character has a personality; if your actions jive with the personality of the character, that character will trust you more. As your party gains trust, they learn to work better together, which allows them to learn new AA. Trust levels are gained and lost according to your actions on and off the battlefield (for example, killing friendly enemies would hurt the trust level, while refusing to bow to the queen would help the trust level of your evil characters, while hurting the trust level of your good characters). If your trust levels get too low, your characters may leave the party forever.
Enemies can be seen in the dungeon before battle, so you are able to try to avoid many battles. The old Wizardry games used to start the fights off by showing unidentified monsters, unless a character in your party could identify it. So unless someone in the party knew you were killing an orc, you would just see ''humanoid.''
Wizardry:TotFL, perhaps in a nod to the older games, has wispy, ghost-like monsters running around the dungeon. Their form allows you to guess what kind of monster it will be (insect, humanoid, flying), but you won't know until you actually run into the form. Once battle begins, all monsters will be identified.
Combat in dungeon crawls usually get boring quick, but thanks to the AA system and the amusingly animated and well textured monsters, it's almost a pleasure to fight! The only annoyance is the mandatory sweeping camera that causes you to wait a full 5 seconds before being able to actually fight the monsters. It seems that there is some loading going on during the camera sweeps, so a sweeping camera is definitely preferable to a ''NOW LOADING'' screen.
Just as in the older games, the town is the central hub from which you will operate. There is a store, bar, guild, temple, inn, and save point in the town.
The store is where (obviously) you'll buy your equipment, but also where you will have unidentified items appraised. You'll also create your spells here, using a very interesting system of mixing monster pieces together to create spells that can be learned (permanently) by your characters. Spells use the old AD&D system, where you don't have spell points, but instead are allowed to cast a certain number of spells of a certain power. As your levels increase, you can use more spells, and higher level spells.
The bar is where you'll find new party members, and also where you'll sign up for quests. Quests generally award you with a useful item, and will also usually advance the plot.
The guild is where you'll change your class, and also where you'll buy some new AA.
The temple is where you'll cure your characters of various afflictions, including death (bad) and ash (terrible). Yes, your characters can permanently die, thanks to the Reaper chasing you around in the dungeon and possessing your characters.

==Control and Interface==
The interface is simple and effective. Controlling the game is simple, although you might wish for analog support in movement. Walking is also quite slow, and dashing helps very little. There is an auto map, but it only shows a tiny portion of the map, which makes moving around slightly more difficult. You can cast spells and use items that allow you to view larger maps.
Battle menus are plainly laid out, and execution of any command is quick. Overall, I had no problem with the controls or the interface.

==Overall==
This is, right now, my favorite PS2 RPG. I'll compare it to Final Fantasy X, since most people will ask which one is better: I feel Wizardry is a better game than Final Fantasy X, although I do enjoy the sphere board and battle tactics of FFX. I, on the other hand, grew up playing games like Wizardry, Ultima, The Bard's Tale, and other classic computer RPGs.
If you liked the old CRPGs, or think you would like a game that takes the interesting tactical battles and character advancement of FFX and modern console RPGs and builds upon them, you should really enjoy Wizardry:TotFS!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/13/02, Updated 01/13/02