Ludography
58/100
Players5 ratings
Wizardry V cover

1988 · Sir-Tech · Role-playing

Wizardry V

Despite the defeat of Trebor, Werdna, and L'kbreth, dark times once again threaten the kingdom of Llylgamyn. So once again a party of adventurers must venture forth to vanquish the evil.

Released
1988
Platforms
Apple IICommodore 64Commodore C64/128/MAXFM TownsLegacy ComputerMS-DOSPC-8800 SeriesPC-9800 SeriesSNESSatellaviewTurboGrafx-16Turbografx-16/PC Engine CD
Genres
Role-playing
Developers
Sir-Tech
Publishers
Sir-Tech
Series
Wizardry
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Themes
ActionFantasyDrama
Country
United States
Languages
English, Japanese

About

Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom is the fifth scenario in the Wizardry series of role-playing video games. It was published in 1988 by Sir-Tech for the Commodore 64, Apple II, and IBM PC compatibles (as a self-booting disk) . A port for the Super Famicom and FM Towns was later developed and published by ASCII Entertainment in Japan. Wizardry V was released in the US for the Super NES by Capcom in 1993, and subsequently re-released for the Satellaview subsystem under the name BS Wizardry 5.

›Story

Ages have past in the kingdom of Llylgamyn. The decedents of the legendary heroes have disappeared, but the Orb they brought to the city held a great deal of knowledge. The magicks hidden within the sacred Orb of Earithin were beyond what anyone had ever imagined. It revealed many secrets of life and magic.

In fact, since its discovery the entire school of magic was reorganized. Spells were improved and even new spells were concocted to replace their inferior cousins. Once balance was restored to the kingdom, the Orb was placed in the hands of The Brotherhood of Llylgamyn for safe keeping. Peace once again fell over the land.

Slowly things grew dark again. The strange weather returned, the people began falling ill. What was happening? Did the orb lose it's power?

An emergency meeting of the High Council was called. They spent weeks deliberating behind closed doors. Together through powerful magic and the grace of both the ancient and the new gods, they found an answer...

For some unknown reason, the very fabric in which reality is comprised was unraveling, The source of all this chaos was an unnatural, magical vortex, it seems to be located in a series of maze-like caverns beneath the Brotherhood's Temple. The maze below the city is known as the Maelstrom. The Maelstrom is home to many foul beasts and also to outcasts from the land above. It seems that the vortex is located in the very heart of the Maelstrom.

The rift grows daily, and if something isn't done it will engulf the city, then the kingdom and soon the entire world. Then eventually even reality as we know it will cease to exist.

The sages knew of only one answer, to seek help from the demi-god known as Gatekeeper. Once a mortal, his power grew to a point where he soon evolved to a divine status. It had become his responsibility to watch and preserve the balance of magic and the natural world. He might be the only hope, assuming he would even be willing to listen to mortals at all.

The Sages were confident their call would be answered, so grave was the danger. However, to their utter horror, they learned that the Gatekeeper himself was held prisoner in the heart of the very vortex they wished him to destroy! Terrified, the Sages turned to the Brotherhood, whose knowledge of the mystical and magical exceeded their own. Here, a tale of evil and treachery was scryed by Brother Drew, High Prophet of the Brotherhood.

They learned of a renegade Brother, a woman named The Sorn, whose wish it is to end all order in the universe. She had discovered a means to create an ever-growing rift in reality, the vortex that now threatens our land. From this will come a new universe where chaos will reign and the world will no longer exist. It was she who trapped the Gatekeeper and made him prisoner. She must be stopped, lest everyone will perish.

It's been 3 years since this discovery, and the vortex continues to grow. Time is growing short. Two of the most powerful sages in the kingdom, Fontizan and the High Sage Yeldarb have began to seek warriors brave enough to enter the caverns beneath the temple of the brotherhood, find the Gatekeeper and free him from the vortex. However, first they must defeat the evil Sorn, which is quest in itself.

In order to even have a chance, the adventurers must first seek out G'bli Gedook, the High Priest of the Brotherhood. He is the guardian of the Orb of Llylgamyn. He resides in the first layer of the caverns just under the temple. From their they must descend into the depths of the maze and battle whatever The Sorn can conjure up to stop them.

Who will step up to take this challenge? Will the old heroes return or will new heroes be made?

That is unknown, but whoever takes this challenge may La-La and Kadorto be with them.

Keywords

  • sequel
  • sword & sorcery
  • potion
  • cga graphics
  • broadcast
  • retroachievements
  • satellaview view-limited games
  • blobber

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Story

Following from the events of Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn, Heart of the Maelstrom begins after a period of peace brought about through the use of L'Kbreth's Orb is shattered when the powers of chaos literally begin to emerge into the world. These unnatural energies are especially focused in a series of tunnels beneath the Temple of Sages in Llylgamyn, fittingly called the Maelstrom. Adventurers, namely the player party, are recruited to journey into these caverns and track down a means of summoning a being known as the Gatekeeper who can seal these chaotic energies once more. Unfortunately, he has been imprisoned by a rogue sorceress known as the Sorn.

The party begins by searching for G'bli Gedook, a high priest and guardian of L'Kbreth's Orb. He instructs the party to venture deeper into the caverns. After traversing down to the eighth floor, the party must appease four beings known as the Card Lords by bringing them their respective suit. Once this task is accomplished, the party can venture to the Heart of the Maelstrom and the Gatekeeper may be summoned.

Development

Wizardry V's design was based on a game that Bradley had previously written and pitched to Sir-Tech. Sir-Tech asked Bradley to rewrite the game to fit into the Wizardry franchise. This was finished in 1986, but Wizardry V was held back for two years while Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna was completed.

After Wizardry IV—which did not upgrade its graphics from the first game in the series—sold very poorly, Sir-Tech advertised Wizardry V as "breaking away from the Wizardry system of the past".

Reception

The game was reviewed in 1989 in Dragon #145 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars. Computer Gaming World's Dennis Owens in 1989 noted the game's similarity to the first three games, saying, "Heart of the Maelstrom is, at once, both more simple than Return of Werdna and improved over the first three scenarios". He also noted, however, that the game played slowly due to extensive disk access.

The magazine's Scorpia in 1991 and 1993 wrote that the game was "better than some, not as good as others". Compute! said that the game was good for both those new to and familiar with the series, but criticized the IBM PC version's use of CGA instead of EGA or VGA graphics.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Apple II1 November 1988North America
Commodore C64/128/MAX31 December 1988North America
Legacy Computer31 December 1988North America
PC-8800 Series8 June 1990Japan
PC-9800 Series8 June 1990Japan
FM Towns1 December 1990Japan
Turbografx-16/PC Engine CD25 September 1992Japan
SNES20 November 1992Japan · North America 1 April 1994
Satellaview31 August 1997Japan

Editions and related releases

Included in
Wizardry: New Age of LlylgamynThe Ultimate Wizardry Archives
Followed by
Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge
Follows
Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna

In the same series

Games like this

Collections1 collection

Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.