Wizardry VII: Crusaders of The Dark Savant - Differences Between Wizardry VI and Wizardry VII

Differences Between Wizardry VI and Wizardry VII

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 exists because NPC interaction is more complex in Wizardry VII, involving negotiation through peace or force to speak with NPCs. Mapping came as a result of the new map system in Wizardry VII, where more skill reveals more of the surrounding area to the player when using a map. Swimming became a skill because characters in Wizardry VII can enter water without a mode of transportation, like in Wizardry VI, and success in Swimming keeps the character from drowning. Finally, the Climbing skill was added, because it was changed from random success in Wizardry VI to a skill-based roll in Wizardry VII.

• Personal Skills like Eagle Eye and Power Strike can be unlocked through items in Wizardry VII, and are not present in its predecessor.

• When levelling up in Wizardry VI, 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...). This meant that classes that previously gained high skill in everything (Fighters, for example) could no longer place their many skill points at level up wherever they chose. Instead, Fighters gained more weapon skill, Mages more Academia skill, and so on.

• The illness "Disease" was added in Wizardry VII as a rare, but dangerous and lingering, ailment.

• A character's mana bar is now portrayed in the game's main window, and the player no longer has to manually choose a character to see how much magic they have left.

• A character may be selected by clicking on their portrait or pressing 1-6, instead of being "Reviewed" through the menu like in Wizardry VI, saving a click of the mouse or a few keystrokes to achieve the same result.

• The party may sidestep or turn at any time in Wizardry VII, but there are separate modes for turning and sidestepping in Wizardry VI.

• When talking with NPCs, they no longer automatically like (talk with) or hate (attack) the party. In Wizardry VII, it is sometimes necessary to "Peace" or "Force" a neutral or hateful NPC into being friendly. In addition, there is a "Lore" command, which exchanges all of the player's information on the world with an NPC in exchange for all of theirs.

• Lockpicking in Wizardry VII 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.

• In Wizardry VI, portions of a treasure chest 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." Chests in Wizardry VII are opened by disarming specific devices in a certain order.

• 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. The player no longer has to 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 new to Wizardry VII. Cure Disease did not exist in Wizardry VI because there was no Disease condition to cure, and Find Person did 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.

• Spells could be cast to the 6th level of power in Wizardry VI. This meant that if a spell did 1-6 damage, a power level 6 version of the same spell would do 6-36 damage. Wizardry VII unlocked a new, 7th level of power.

• Carrying Capacity, the ability to carry more weight without suffering negative effects, was permanently set in Wizardry VI from character creation, depending on the character's initial Strength and Vitality values. In Wizardry VII, the ability of a character to carry more or less weight changes on a level by level basis, depending on whether they gained or lost points in these same statistics.

• Some bugs were fixed, such as "strike everyone" spells like Nuclear Blast and Mind Flay being resisted by everyone in Wizardry VI.