Wizardry Empire (Game Boy Color)

Wizardry Empire (Japanese: ウィザードリィ エンパイア, Uiza-dorii Enpaia) (subtitled "The Emperor of Naraka" in fan translation), published in 1999 by Starfish, for the Nintendo Gameboy Colour portable video game system. A sequel Wizardry Empire ~Staff of Resurrection~ using mostly the same gameplay-system, came out in 2000.

Gameplay
Empire's engine is most closely based on Wizardry Gaiden: Suffering of the Queen and Wizardry Gaiden II: Curse of the Ancient Emperor, but like Wizardry Gaiden III: Scripture of the Dark and Wizardry Gaiden IV: Throb of the Demon's Heart it started incorporating elements of Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge, while retaining the core gameplay derived from Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom. It also adds a significant amount of additions of it's own.

Notable changes include:

 * Added genders (male and female). Males get +1 to maximum Strength while females gain +1 to maximum Vitality.
 * Added the Archer class.
 * Added New Prestige Classes: Valiant, Avenger, Musashi, Kunoichi and Summoner.
 * Added distinct equipment slots for both hands allowing for dual-wielding and shield-bearing.
 * The Ninja class is now male-exclusive (while the Kunoichi is female exclusive).
 * The Thief, Ninja and Kunoichi classes now have a 100% success rate at identifying and disarming traps.
 * Added spell types (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Mind, Magic, Holy and None) and correspondingc type-resistances.
 * Added Valiant, Avenger, Musashi, Kunoichi and Summoner schools of spells.
 * Priest and Mage Spells have been renamed to conform more to Bane of the Cosmic Forge, i.e. been given English names. (Strangely, all the Special Classes' spells are in Japanese however.)
 * The restriction on having Good and Evil aligned characters in the same party have been lifted.

New Prestige Classes
The five special classes have no alignment or stat requirements, but are only accessible by using specific equipment items on a character, which will automatically change the character's class. They are, essentially, more powerful variations on the prestige classes, the Valiant and Avenger being variations on the Lord, the Musashi on the Samurai, the Kunoichi on the Ninja and the Summoner on the Bishop.

The Valiant require the "Shield of Divine Protection" (かごのたて). Heavily defense-oriented, and while not as strong an attacker as the other physical Special Classes, it has exceptionally low AC and access to a large selection of armour (including some exclusive to it). It's magic is mostly stronger variants of Priest spells, focused on healing, curing, resurrecting and buffing the defense and resistance of anyone and doing holy damage. It also has a Level 7 spell that can remove cursed items, the only way for the party to manually do this.

The Avenger require the "The Avenger" sword (ジ・アベンジャー). More damage-dealing oriented than the Valiant, it's spells either deal damage to single enemies, or enemies groups, (usually while also inflicting status effects) or buffs it's own resistance. It can also wear cursed items with no negative effects giving it access to some of the best equipment in the game, although it's selection is not as wide as the Valiant's.

The Musashi require the "Mononofu-no-Kabuto" helmet (もののふのかぶと). They can effectively dual-wield swords. It's "spells" are all physical techniques like attacking to hitting multiple enemies, blocking, evading and aiming to decapitate. The class is named after Miyamoto Musashi, a ronin known for his strategic approach to swordsmanship, his fighting technique based on dual-wielding typically two-handed swords and for writing The Book of Five Rings.

The Kunoichi require the "Gauntlets of Allure" (みわくのこて). It has the ability to inspect and disarm traps with 100% accuracy and can detect hidden doors, but can't lockpick and lack the Ninja's natural AC-decrease and ability to decapitate. What it lacks in defense compared to the Ninja it makes up for in offense, being one of the strongest baseline attackers in the game. It's "spells" are mostly based around evasiveness (temporarily increasing AC or escapting from battle), stealth-attacks, inflicting status effects and decapitation.

The Summoner require the "Robe of Heresy" armour (まどうのローブ). The summoner's spells function the same way as summoning in Wizardry V, but can only be learned from specific shrines found in the maze.

See also: List of Wizardry Empire (GBC) Classes

Bugs

 * Game freezing on party wipe-out.
 * Some items on the game is actually impossible to get in the game itself.