Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant
| Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant |
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| Developer(s) | Sir-Tech |
| Publisher(s) | Sir-Tech Night Dive Studios (digital) |
| Designer(s) | David W. Bradley |
| Series | Wizardry |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS Microsoft Windows PlayStation PC-98 FM Towns OS X Linux |
| Release date(s) | 1992 |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing video game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (originally known as Wizardry: Crusaders of the Dark Savant) is the seventh title in the Wizardry series of role-playing video games by Sir-Tech Software, Inc., preceding Wizardry 8 and succeeding Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge. It is also the second entry in the 'Dark Savant' trilogy. The game was published in 1992 by Sir-Tech, originally developed for DOS. In 1996 it was remade into Wizardry Gold, designed to work on Windows and Macintosh, and distributed by Interplay.
The setting is a science fiction/fantasy universe, featuring interplanetary space travel and cybernetic androids, alongside high fantasy arms, armor and magic. The story picks up where its predecessor left off. The recovery and subsequent theft of the magical artifact known as the Cosmic Forge in Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge has revealed the planet Guardia, the hiding place of another power artifact, the Astral Dominae. Multiple factions have converged on Guardia attempting to locate this artifact, including a party of adventurers controlled by the player, and the principal adversary, the eponymous Dark Savant.
The game is notable for featuring an early example of a well developed diplomacy mechanic. It features multiple competing factions with different interests in the world of Guardia. The player may engage in diplomacy when key NPCs of the factions are encountered, and may attempt to bribery, peaceful negotiations, or threaten force. It is also an early game to feature NPC competition with the player; as time progresses NPCs may beat the player to obtaining certain quest items, forcing the player to change their priorities. It was also the first game in the Wizardry series to feature 8-bit VGA color graphics.
Crusaders of the Dark Savant is played from a first person perspective, with the party's character portraits visible alongside what they see in the game world, and movement is tile-based, and the player can only turn in 90° increments. The game supported contemporary VGA displays and a variety of sound cards for effects, and synthesized background music. The player could use the mouse or keyboard to navigate the user interface.
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