Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant

About Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant

Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (1992) is Sir-Tech's first-person party RPG on the planet Guardia, where rival factions race the player for the Astral Dominae and can beat them to vital quest items.

Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant in Depth

The story picks up where Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge left off. The theft of the Cosmic Forge, the pen the Cosmic Lords use to script the universe, has revealed the hidden planet Guardia and the Astral Dominae, an artefact with power over life itself. Multiple factions converge on Guardia to find it, among them the player's party and the Dark Savant. The setting mixes science fiction, with interplanetary travel and cybernetic androids, with high fantasy arms, armour and magic. Players can bribe, negotiate with or threaten the key characters of each faction, and as time passes those rivals may reach quest items first, forcing the player to change priorities. It was the first Wizardry with VGA colour graphics.

The game is played in the first person with tile-based movement and 90-degree turns, the party's portraits shown alongside the view. Up to six characters can be imported from Wizardry VI or created anew, choosing gender, portrait, race and profession; the first three fight on the front line while the back three rely on ranged weapons, spells or hiding. Besides humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes and hobbits there are lizardmen, faeries, half-dragon Dracons, dog-like Rawulf, cat-like Felpurr and the tall, hairy Mook. Characters may change profession later if they meet its requirements, at a cost. Combat is phased: the fastest act first, so an attack may hit a group already wiped out, or a healer may act too late.

Making Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant

Sir-Tech developed and published it in 1992 for MS-DOS as the seventh Wizardry and the second part of the Dark Savant trilogy. Scorpia of Computer Gaming World called it "the first Wizardry that has a real-world feel to it", with towns, ruins, wilderness, mountains and even a small sea, and approved of the improved inventory, though she criticised the small automap and the backtracking its open design demanded. She later said it "should not be missed" and named it Role-Playing Game of the Year. PC Magazine praised its humour, characterisation and documentation, PCGames and Computer Games Strategy Plus both named it the best role-playing game of 1992, and in 1996 Computer Gaming World ranked it the 105th best game ever.