Wizardry 1st Trilogy: Story of Llylgamyn for Super Nintendo
I didn't get a ton of opportunity to play the early Wizardry games when I was growing up, because I didn't have an Apple computer, and didn't have an IBM-compatible computer until at least 1990. Wizardry 1: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord was released on the NES, and I managed to rent it for a weekend (and even purchased a cluebook!), but the cartridge I never did find for purchase. This was most disappointing. Fast forward a few years, and I find Wizardry 5: Heart of the Maelstrom in a Toys Я Us store... I snarf up that copy sight-unseen. I spent quite a bit of time with Wizardry 5, and loved every minute of it. Old school computer role playing at its finest 
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The Super Nintendo versions of the first installments in the Wizardry series are probably the most graphically advanced versions available, and they are likewise arguably the most accessible. The menu-driven nature of the gameplay makes them very simple to pick up and play. Easy to play...
... and extraordinarily difficult to master. These games were very unforgiving to new players, who often find their first parties smiten by an early encounter, and the game doesn't blink about telling you when it destroys you. Then your party is lost, and it may never be recovered. So why am I modding this game, and why do I think you would want to subject yourself to such difficulty when there are so many other games which are worthy of your time and consideration?
First of all, my Rebalancing mod is not an Easy-Type mod. That said, care has been taken to ease the player into the difficulty a bit. Several rather arbitrary rules that end up making life difficult for players have been removed... for example, party members 4-6 can now attack like the first three characters in the lineup and certain upper-level spells do not drain experience levels in order to cast them anymore. However, many weapons that used to grant extra attacks to players do not grant this boon anymore; it is relatively rare to have a character's number of strikes augmented this way. In this manner, a character doesn't become a demi-god simply because they found an Infinity -1 weapon... they still have to be worthy to hold it.
It should be noted that the this 1st Trilogy was translated into Japanese and released, and never saw professional translation into English. The Japanese to English translation, upon which my mod depends, was done by Gideon Zhi of the legendary ROM hacking group Aeon Genesis Translations. Without their landmark work, this project would never have been attempted (as I don't speak Japanese).
And so... four and a half years after I released the first version of my Wizardry 8 mod, I offer a Rebalancing mod for Wizardry 1st Trilogy: Story of Llylgamyn. Clicky to download the current version.
If you have any questions on the Rebalancing mod, or find any bugs, please let me know!
Wizardry 1st Trilogy: Rebalancing mod— Info Pages
Copyright notice
The content in this portion of the website pertains to "software" known as "Wizardry 1st Trilogy: Story of Llylgamyn", which was developed and published by Sir-Tech Software Inc., and licensed by Sir-Tech to ASCII Corporation. Game Studio is responsible for the Japanese translation of the game, which was reprogrammed by Gung-Ho (Marigul) for distribution on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Wizardry is a registered trademark of 1259190 Ontario, Inc.
This software was subsequently translated into English by Gideon Zhi of Aeon Genesis Translations. Both my Rebalancing mod and the Japanese to English translation are completely unofficial, and both were amateur fan-driven projects. As a modder I respect the intellectual property of Sir-Tech, ASCII Corporation, Game Studio, Gung-Ho and Gideon Zhi of Aeon Genesis Translations, and under no circumstances will I distribute the ROMs for the SNES versions of Wizardry 1st Trilogy. The Rebalancing Mod patch available for download is a derivative work and is completely my own. It is offered totally free of charge. If Aeon Genesis Translations objects to my offering their Japanese to English patch here, I will promptly remove it from the mod download.