Wizardry

Wizardry I:
Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
Sir-Tech Software Apple II, 1981
Wizardry was the first game to really suck me in. Hours and whole days and afternoons on Donnan's Apple II because he had it and I didn't and we mapped out the mazes and Inspected #9 and had kick-ass bishops with funny names and finally whupped Werdna and still kept playing.
there's something about the simplicity and directness of the graphics that still says adventure to me - I love this game even today. although i do miss some nice interface elements of modern gaming. typing in the names of spells is quite a chore frankly. it's work though - like you actually have to remember all the funny stuff the programmers came up with. so it's not all bad that way.
I think something like that would be perfect for the Pilot. Dragon's Bane (based more on Bard's Tale) is sorta like that, but needs mo' better plot or something.
Did Wizardry have a good plot? or just a good world - good spell names and nothing but fight recover think. I guess that was superfly in 1981 because they were early.

Here's a good bit on the origin story of Wizardry and Sir-Tech:

"In 1981 another entertainment softare company appeared, almost by magic. When Robert Woodhead was hired fresh out of Cornell by a New York and Canadian-based concrete business, he was not hired to write computer games. He was hired to computerize the accounting system of Fred Sirotek's construction company. Robert proved himself to be such a hot programmer that he was able to convince Fred to underwrite the publication of a fantasy role-playing game designed by himself and his friend, Andrew Greenberg. In 1981 Sir-Tech Software - a pun on the Sirotek family name and the medieval era that the game was based in - published Wizardry: Proving Ground of the Mad Overlord. The publication was a tremendous success and the Wizardry series remains, along with Ultima, one of the benchmarks of computer role-playing today."

from Dvorak's Guide to PC Games, John Dvorak, Bantam, 1991, Page 13.
Amazing in-line Java Wizardry I level walkthrough.

this guy likes wizardry too, and he has links:
http://members.aol.com/dsullo/wizardry.htm

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